William's Aunt Galena

Alli's Russian "Aunt" Galena came very fond of our William while she was in Utah. And he is quite taken with her as well. Galena got William to smile for the first time - when he was just under 6 weeks old. The two were almost inseparable. Whenever I wasn't feeding William, Galena wanted to hold him. She would let me know when we needed to change his diaper. (She helped change it too.) I don't think William was set down - except to sleep - all week! He was definitely spoiled by "Aunt" Galena.

Aunt Galena & William with my Grandma Gretchen at Alli's bridal shower.


At the wedding reception:


Sunday night:


Monday Morning:


When I walked into the kitchen with William at 5:45 am - just before we left for the airport - Galena got a big smile on her face and said, "one more present!" Having her hold William one last time was definitely a sweet moment for both of us.


Come again Aunt Galena! We miss you already and love you so much!

William's Blessing

Since everyone in my family - including my Russian relatives - was in town for Alli & Tony's wedding and Roger's sister was visiting from Ohio, Rog and I thought it would be great to bless William while we were in Utah. My mom made this super cute corduroy outfit. She made the 3 month size and it barely fit! Our "little" Will is such a chunk!


Thanks again to Auntie Katie for the special afghan she made for our family. We also used it for Sarah's blessing.


Rog gave Will a super special blessing. I am excited to see Will grow into the promises he was given. Being a 4th is a pretty cool thing when you consider the three great men he's named after.


It was nice to have so many family members in town to be part of Will's special day. Roger's brother Jeff & family hosted a dinner afterward for the Osness family. Everything was super yummy. Thanks again for taking such good care of us!

Congratulations Alli & Tony!

My little sister Alli tied the knot! We are so excited to have Tony in the family. He is so good for Alli as she is for him. Sarah and Will are so lucky to have such great aunts and uncles. My siblings do a good job of picking their respective spouses. They are such fun to be with!




George and Sarah are such good friends. When they weren't busy knocking each other over or fighting over toys, they redefined the term "kissing cousins."


Sarah and Mommy


Sarah had quite the time at Alli's reception. She went all-out when the Russian music came on.



This picture was actually taken before ...


The sisters ...


The grandkids ...


Dancing with Dad ... and a look at the back of Alli's dress.


And of course, a family photo ...

Katie's Christmas Performance

Sarah, Will and I forged through the snow tonight to listen to Katie's singing group "Friends" perform at the Tabernacle in St. George. The snow slowed us down a little, but we were only 15 minutes late. Will slept like a champ and Sarah was her very BUSY self. I distracted her for a little bit with my spare change, but Grandpa finally took her out with 5 minutes left to go as she was all over the place. Katie did a great job. It was fun to be able to go to her performance. I love being home for the holidays.

Singles FHE Nativity

My parents host "mid-singles" Family Home Evening at their home each Monday night. Last night, Sarah, Will and I attended as well. I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies - some of which had M&Ms baked in them. YUMMY!

For the lesson, one of the men read the Christmas Story from Luke 2. Sarah got to be a shepherd. Here are the pics:

SNOW!!

When I walked outside today I was greeted by snow flurries. Yes, Utah is known for "The Greatest Snow on Earth" but not typically in St. George. Sarah didn't know what to do with the snow at first, but it didn't take long for her to start to play in it.



I figured Snow necessitated going to The Children's Place to buy Sarah another sweater and a couple of long sleeved onesies for her wardrobe here in St. George. Roger's hoping it's still snowing when he gets to town on Friday ... I think I may be sick of it by then. :)

Come What May ... and LOVE IT!

My sister Katie, Sarah, Will and I had quite the adventure traveling from San Francisco to St. George yesterday. It only took 11 1/2 hours. Now, that's a typical amount of time if you are DRIVING but we weren't...

We rushed out of our apartment around 9:30 am and drove to the airport in Cyndi's luxurious car. (She was nice enough to let us borrow it so we had enough room for our luggage and the 5 of us.) We checked in curbside at SFO at 10 am (an hour and 15 minutes early) just to find out our plane was delayed a half-hour. Plenty of time. Even with checking in most of our luggage we still had two carry-on bags each, along with the car seat and stroller (snap and go) with us. But, we made it through security seamlessly and made our way to our gate.

Since we had extra time, we chose to settle in where we could see the airplanes come in and go out (Sarah LOVES "eh-manes"). After a while, Sarah got restless so Katie took her on a walk. When they got back Katie let me know people were in line at our gate and ready to board. The plane ended up not being as delayed as much as we initially were told. I hurried and grabbed the stroller, coat and bags. Will needed a diaper change so when we got to our gate I changed him and we barely made it when they called for family boarding.

Even though we were told it was a "completely full flight" there ended up being one extra seat and Sarah got it! Bliss. Sarah did a great job on the plane. She ate her "booty" and watched her Care Bear Moo-ie. The only tragedy on the flight was when we had to turn off the movie and then were stuck up in the air an extra 20 minutes due to a dust storm in Vegas. Katie kept Sarah entertained with the Christmas sticker book Cyndi gave Sarah for Christmas. (Thanks again Cyndi!) We finally landed after a roller-coaster descent. When we were gathering our belongings Katie couldn't find her purse. We looked through each bag and realized her purse - complete with her wallet and keys for her car parked at the airport - were hanging out at the San Francisco Airport. In our rush it didn't get picked up. AWESOME.

Now the true adventure began. We called the Southwest Baggage Claim and found out that some great, honest person turned in her purse. We also got authorization to have Roger pick it up later that afternoon. In the midst of everything, I accidentally smashed Sarah's fingers in the water fountain push bar. There was a really kind Southwest employee that ran and got her some ice. We called my mom to have her send down the keys on the St. George shuttle, which runs regularly to the airport throughout the day. She sent my Dad with a tip for the really nice driver. We got lunch (it was now after 1:30 pm) and called my aunt and uncle to have a place for the kids and me to stay (and sleep) for the afternoon while Katie waited for her keys. We picked up our luggage down in the baggage claim area, walked over to passenger pickup and waited for my Uncle Kay to pick us up. I left Katie with my own phone and wallet so she could have the means to get back to us and off we went. My uncle and aunt were fantastic. They set us up in a room with a crib for Sarah. It took a little while for my very over-tired Sarah to fall asleep, but once she did I was also able to take a nap. Aunt Lynn took Will for me and I fell asleep immediately. I got only four hours of sleep the night before. The next thing I knew it was 5:30 and Katie was at Kay & Lynn's house to pick us up. My aunt and uncle made us sandwiches and popcorn and gave us water and oranges to take with us. And we were off.

We had to make a quick stop at the grocery store and gas station on our way out. Somehow in the process we got turned around while looking for I-15 North. We got on the 515 North instead. Since we didn't know where that freeway ended up, when we saw a sign for the airport we got off at that exit - Tropicana. That's a familiar road! We took Tropicana towards the Strip and counted our blessings that there wasn't bad traffic on Saturday night. It took almost an hour (most of the care bear movie) to get to I-15 but that's OK, we were excited to see our freeway and be on our way.

When we got to the Littlefield/Beaver Dam exit there was a sign that said "Accident in Utah. Road closed." By this time, Katie and I had dubbed our trip, "Come What May and LOVE IT!" This comes from Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin's talk from October General Conference. I think the title speaks for itself. We got off at Littlefield to take the old route over Utah Hill on Highway 91. I called my parents to tell them our route and to come looking for us if we didn't make it home in 45 minutes to an hour. (Cell phone reception is spotty at best on this route.) William had fallen asleep and Sarah was entertained by the portable DVD player. We watched "Frosty Returns" and were part-way through "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" before the battery started to wane. We hit a little snow going over the mountain, which slowed us down, but overall it was uneventful the rest of the way home. When we drove into my parent's driveway we just grabbed the children and RAN into the house. It was soooo nice to be done with our marathon day.

Things to be grateful for:
* A mindful Heavenly Father - it may have taken all day, but we got home safely.
* Prayers - by family and us
* Honest people - all Katie's contents were still in her purse!
* Airplane
* Portable DVD player
* Care Bear movie
* Cell phone
* Fabulous husband who was passing through the Presidio on his much anticipated cross the Golden Gate Bridge mountain bike ride that he has been dreaming about for years, when he received a call from his beautiful wife informing him to pretty please return to SFO to pick up Katie’s abandoned purse, consequently postponing the historic ride to some unknown day in the future.
* Sleeping babies
* Amazing relatives
* Great company - if I had to have a marathon day, it was nice to have such a great sister and children to be with.
* Laughter - you either have to laugh or cry. Laughing was so much fun!

Sarah is 22 Months

It's going to be fun keeping up on both Sarah and Will's monthly updates since they are just two days apart. Hmmm. We'll see how long I keep them both up :)

Sarah is a great big sister. She LOVES giving Daddy, Mommy & William kisses all the time. Most routinely is when Daddy goes to work or when Sarah goes to bed. But sometimes she'll just come over to William and kiss him on the head and then go back to doing whatever she was doing before. Super cute.


Some of Sarah's most noticeable achievements this month are her putting together words to get what she wants, such as "wansome" ie. "I want some" and "notherun" ie. "another one." Of course, there is also her ever useful "Nar, Nar" (more).

Sarah asks for yogurt at least once a day. She also LOVES pizza and most fruits. Daddy's Juice is also near the top of the list. Candy has recently come to the for-front as well.


Sarah is also addicted to Mooo-ies. She LOVES "Bears" (Care Bears). We recently picked up the Classic Claymation Christmas movies so she's been watching Rudolph, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Frosty the Snowman. While I don't want to have her too addicted to watching movies, it's been so nice lately. It's getting pretty cold and I don't have quite the motivation to get out more than once a day. (Once-a-day is what I shoot for, but lately it's been more like once every other day.)

She is also getting quite good at her CHEERLEADER routine with Daddy. Look at these awesome spirit fingers and claps. Good thing her nickname is Rah-Rah. (I think Sammy Jo gets first credit for this one, but it is also her official Aunt Katie nickname.)

Night in Bethlehem

For our ward Christmas Party our activities committee decided to focus on the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. Each family was to bring canned food for "taxes" and dress in Bethlehem period clothing. I unfortunately put the camera on it's night setting all the pictures were super blurry. This is the best we got.


While we were eating, Michelle who was in charge of the evening's events - called upon Rog, Will and me to fill in as Joseph, Baby Jesus and Mary in the Christmas Program. (We were the "understudies" and the main baby Jesus didn't appear to be cooperating.) Well, Rog gave a flawless performance as Joseph. His scruffy beard has now found it's purpose! He did awesome. Will slept most of the way through the program and sucked on his binky during the rest of the time. I was just happy to play Mary instead of playing my violin. (Long story, but to sum it up I was planning to play with Jenna and Mary. However, when I went to practice on Thursday, I found that my "D" string was broken. I'll get it fixed and will start practicing so I won't be as embarrassed when someone asks me to play in the future.)

Here's the link on youtube if you want to see our great nativity performance. Michelle is emailing me photos of it and when I get them I will post them.

William is 1 Month Old

I can't believe my *little* baby is one month old! We took Will in for his one-month checkup and he's gaining weight like a champ. Here's his stats:

* Weight: 11 lbs 1/2 oz - 75th Percentile
* Height: 21 3/4 in - 50th Percentile
* Head Circumference: 37.8 cm - 50th Percentile


Will's one month achievements are as follows:

* Eating: He does this really well. I can nurse him in 20 minutes or less. He goes on average 4 hours between feedings. Soooo nice.

* Sleeping: Will is also a good sleeper. He's only waking up one to two times at night to eat and goes right back to sleep. Bliss.

* Diapers: Lots of wet and poopy ones. He can blow out with the best of them.

* Neck Skills: While I'm not the best at giving him tummy time, he impressed the doctor this morning with his neck strength. He can hold his head up pretty well. I was impressed too.

* Alertness: Will is pretty alert and loves to look around taking in his surroundings. I love his "serious" face that tells us he's definitely thinking about something.

We love you Will! Keep up the great progress :)

Katie's Here

Sorry ... I ran out of time to post yesterday. I'm sure we were having way too much fun with my sister Katie. It's amazing how Katie can win the hearts of all her nieces and nephews within minutes of seeing them - even if she hasn't seen them for several months. Katie woke up with Sarah and took her to the park so I could enjoy some Will time and take a shower. Katie even let her put on her "COOL" glasses.


Last night we gave Katie a break after Sarah went to bed and went over to Jennie & Ryan's apartment to play games. Rog and Ryan were all giddy about staying up late on a "school night" playing games. I think we wrapped up at 11:30. We played Princes of Florence and I won. Wahoo! Let it be known that Prince of Florence is the only game I've been able to win with this group and I am very proud of coming out victorious! I told Rog we need to own this game.

Today, we treated Katie to Mama's a San Francisco Favorite. Rog even went in late to work so he could join us. (Shocker, I know.) I was happy not to wait outside in the cold - like EVERY other time I've been there. I think going at 9 am on a Thursday had something to do with that. I ordered the Monte Cristo and was nice enough to share with those who didn't (Really, why does anyone order anything else? The ALWAYS end up wanting the Monte Cristo.) I do have to say, I liked Rog's omelet and Katie's club sandwich. Sarah enjoyed her bowl of fruit but she wouldn't touch the Monte Cristo. I should teach her to love the Monte Cristo like Mommy, but I'll just keep it as my little secret for now.


After Mama's we played at Alta Plaza. Sarah LOVED having the attention of 2 adults. She slid down the slide, played in the sandbox and even let Katie push her in the swing for more than 5 minutes. I think that was a record for swing time for Sarah.



Katie (and the kids) let me sleep for 2 hours this afternoon. It was blissful. Yippee for having Katie around!

The Elf Cottage

It was super fun to watch Sarah's reaction to the gingerbread candy farm this morning. There were lots of woahs, looooook, wows and such. (Yes, she had her PJs off before we could get her out of her crib to see it ... What am I going to do with that girl?)



Sarah ate a few reindeer droppings and some shingles from the roof. She would pick up, eat the candy and say "gooooood!" I knew I would need to channel her candy-eating or my barn would be undecorated by the time Rog got home from work. Why she didn't eat the "snow" by the side of the barn is beyond me.


Since William was nice and slept so well last night - really - I was feeling ambitious. I invited Jennie & Owen over to make graham cracker candy houses. I wish I would have put up a hidden camera to get Owen and Sarah eating all the candies while Jennie was building Owen's house. Will woke up right as we got everything out and wanted to eat. Sarah was happy to eat the candy while waiting for me to get her infrastructure in place. I think by the time we were finished, both Sarah and Owen had eaten 10 times the amount of candies they put on their houses. Now, that's how you're supposed to make gingerbread houses! (Rog and Cyndi didn't eat ANY last night. Bah Humbug for sure.)

I think the two did a great job with their houses. I may keep up this part of the tradition. It was seriously so cute to see them together. (We did have to bribe them for the picture though.) After we were finished decorating, we watched the old clay-mation DVD of Rudolph. Classic.



Thanks again for coming and indulging my spontaneity Jennie & Owen. We had a great time.