Spring break was so nice. I love how early and long it is in AZ which means we can take advantage of the nice weather. It does
Wind cave hike again! It was worth repeating.
Gorgeous sunset.
Momma too.
Climbing on the rocks in the pretty light.
The desert can be beautiful.
My oldest and my youngest.
Catching a couple winks on the hike.
Such cool lichen on the cliffs.
Earlier on the hike. Happy baby face poking out.
One of Holland's kindergarten projects: making butter. It takes a lot of shaking!
Getting there.
We made it!
Delicious.
It actually was delicious! Extra creamy and melty.
I can't help including this photo again. Sheesh I love that baby.
One of Ellie's school projects. Candy + marshmallows + toothpicks + hotglue + decorations = a good time for my little 12 year old.
We went on a hike on the other side of the valley. The west valley! The White Tank mountain preserve.
Family selfie!
Easy nice walk with cool cliffs!
If the rock were red, you'd think we were in southern Utah.
All kind of fun rocks to climb.
"All hail Queen Darcy!" This is an actual game the girls play with the baby.
Grandpa and Grandma visited. It is so cute when my dad reads to the kids.
We got our first covid vaccine shot. They opened it up to all adults and we got an appointment that day! It was a crazy slow line (like 3 hours) but we were glad to have started the immunization process. We were glad we brought Darcy when we realized how slow the line was moving. Thankfully John just got his shot at the same time and they didn't make him come back at his appointment time (4:20 am). Darcy just hung out with us in the front seat and nursed occasionally. It was pretty because when we actually got to the point of receiving our vaccine the person was so chatty. "Your baby is so cute. I have a baby too. Is it safe to nurse after you get a vaccine(?!)?" Um...do you know how long this line is? We should stop chatting and just get to it. Thankfully my parents were visiting at the same time and stayed with the older kids while we were gone. Honestly, we had a nice time being together.
Holland wrote a sweet prayer about not getting covid.
On Saturday we took mom out to White Tank too. Miriam had made cupcakes at a birthday party earlier and was delighted to bring them to the hike for a fun treat.
Triple chocolate cupcakes. We heart chocolate. Well, except for Ellie.
Sleepy baby on the way home.
Holland sent the cutest, sweetest note to her best friend Sophie who moved to Utah.
"Dear Sophie, I love you! I think you are graet! I mis you so much! You are my best frend! I can't wait to see you! We will visit you in Utah. What do you want to play? What toy's do you have? We *heart* you forever. love Holland."
That stinking mollescum came up again. Thumbs down.
My grandma's engagement ring.
Look how tiny she wore that band to! It's like a wire.
Smiles after nursing.
Happy grandma, happy baby.
Fancy tea party with Grandma with the pretty china and silver.
A Peeps experiment to see which liquid a peep dissolved in the fastest. I want to say the winner was vinegar. Also, that was a sad waste of orange juice.
We took grandma to the Usery mountain park for a wheel chair friendly walk.
Whose hair Mommy or Ellie? We're hair twins for sure.
Pretty roses from the yard. They smell so good.
We went to the zoo with Daddy and Grandma! This it the first time Daddy has gone to the zoo. I have been to the zoo several times, especially with Erica, but John has never been before now. It was fun to go this time because we went at the end of the day. I have always gone before in the morning and left before afternoon naps and school pick up. It was interesting to go at a different time of day and see different animals that were active. It was also interesting to see how few people were at the zoo that time of day. We nearly had the place to ourselves! We stayed until closing (at 5:00) and really enjoyed our day. Holland is here to help tell us about it.
It was fun! We got to see a bunch of animals that we haven't seen before like a jaguar. This is a orangutan. It was funny. It has these little colorful legos, actually they're big. There was a baby orangutan.
This is the baby orangutan with Miriam.
Here is a cute picture of Mommy and Darcy. Darcy is the baby. You can't even tell who Mommy is with her sunglasses, mask, and hat.
This is the family with elephants with their place. We liked watching the elephants move around. They ate some grass.
We walked up close on the other side. They were trying to get carrots out of the hanging buckets. They liked to eat the carrots, but one of them dropped it on the sand and just left it there. That's funny, huh?
We loved seeing the elephants be active.
There was something yucky that happened there. The elephants played with their poo. (Mommy doesn't remember this happening.)
Here are some monkeys. They were playing around being active.
This is the rhino. It is the first we have seen the rhino being active. He was trotting around and being playful.
That's a really big wingspan, huh? Do you know what? We have a game called Wingspan. Funny, huh?
Oh yeah! The mountain lions! These were being active, like really active. They jumped up all around and were pacing. They came up an inspected us.
Oh, Ellie.
Oh, Darcy! Sleeping, awww. She's so cute with that stuffed animal on her face. I love her ssssssssssssssooooooooooooooooo much.
Daddy flew home with Grandma and the girls stayed home together. We sent him this picture. Look at Darcy.
We watched General conference together. Look at all those arms and legs! Not that many legs.
Mommy again: John drove home from Utah in a rental van with a bunch of stuff from my grandparents. He drove part of the way back on Friday night and and the rest of the way on Saturday. It got a little too eventful in Las Vegas when for some unknown reason a driver in a white truck tried to get him to pull over. The driver started driving way too close, nearly merging into him, waved at him to pull over, and just overall driving erratically. It got so bad that John actually called 911. They directed him to turn on his flashing lights. After the other driver saw that John was on the phone and had turned on his flashers, he started driving normally and exited the freeway. The 911 officer told him that this was the desired result and that people often get scared off by just drawing some attention like that. John was pretty shaken up though and definitely didn't get sleepy on the rest of the drive home.
As part of the things that John brought from my grandparents there was all this stationary from the different businesses over the years. My grandpa owned Lucas Lumber as his main career and business, but also was apart of building the ski resort Powder Mountain. It is on the land that belonged to my great grandparents (on my grandma's side) where they had sheep.
Later in life he really got into magic squares and even tried to get into the Guinness Book of World Records by creating the world's largest magic square. I am sure he did (it was as big as a wall), but they didn't accept his entry because it wasn't something they kept a world record of. He created a little booklet that described how to do magic squares and other fun number games.
We were also returned all of the cards and letters we had given them over the years. I wish some of these had a date.
Sweet Ellie's handwriting when she was about 4 I'd guess.
Something I made when I was a kid. No idea how old I was, but turns out I made crafts too!
We received some fancy dishes (my grandma collected tea cups) and Grandma's cedar chest. Of course the girls had to put together a play tea party.
There were also a handful of momentos from their many travels. Darcy got some maracas from Mexico that double as fun rattles.
We received some china from my great grandmothers and a great great grandmother. We also got a rubbing form Cambodia. I still can't believe we ended up with the gun that belonged to my great grandfather. It was made in 1898 for the Spanish American War. It is a carbine rifle that says US Springfield armory on it. It would have been carried in a saddle with a bayonet. I was always told he used it in WWI. On the stock it has his name scratched into it with the year 1901.
I also received my Grandma's wedding dress. It is satin with a zillion buttons down the back. I love it.
I miss my grandparents and love them a lot. I feel grateful to receive these things and remember the legacy of where I came from.
11 months! How can we be here already?! It is so bitter sweet. You are such a fun, sweet baby. It is so fun to watch you learn new things. But honestly, could we just extend your babyhood five more years please? We all just adore you. And we still will adore you when you grow older. There is just something magical about babies.
This is a happy face. We probably recruited Miriam to help make you smile. You love it when Miriam plays "splatt" with you. She pretends to hit herself with a stuffed animal and yells splatt. Highly entertaining.
This is one of my favorite pictures ever. Too precious for words.
Little angel.
Your smile makes my heart sing.
Showing off one of your tricks. "Clap, clap." You also can shake your head and nod your head. It is so adorable. You have also learned to do "Hands up!" which is about as cute as could be because you put your eyebrows up when you stretch your short little arms up.
Oh that cute mouth! You love using your mouth in all kinds of new ways. For example yelling. You like to yell at us when you want attention. This is particularly true if we are all talking or I am listening to something. "Mommy, I hear a lot of noise and I want to join in on the fun." "Mommy, look at me!" "Mommy, pick me up!" These are things I imagine you are saying with your squeal-yells.
Another time you like to yell is when you're unhappy. We noticed this month that you don't like it when Mommy or Ellie holds anyone else. This includes giving hugs to people. It was so funny one day, you were playing on the family room floor. Daddy and I were in the kitchen chatting and giving each other a hug, when we hear you start doing a squeal yell. We turned and you were crawling towards us clearly expressing that you were displeased with the situation. You calmed right down as soon as I started holding you and not Daddy.
We've noticed you have the same reaction when Ellie holds someone too. Nope, not okay, says you. You get jealous when she holds/hugs someone else. It's pretty adorable.
Let's see, other mouth things. You are eating more and more solid food. Right before your birthday when you turned 12 months, we gave you a little bit of cherry. You loved it!! We have also tried watermelon and blueberry for sure. Probably other fruits. You love the sweetness. You also eat other food really well too. Cucumbers and cheerios are hands down your favorite. You also like lettuce, tomato, almond butter, corn, beans, and anything with flavor!
You have also found other foods you don't like as well. I swear it is more of a texture things than anything else. You have discovered that you can pull food out of your mouth after I put it in. Which is funny because you don't hesitate to accept a bite, but then you might just reach up to pull it right out. You still don't love avocado (c'mon Darcy, just give in on that one!). You have also pulled out celery, cabbage, cheese, and bread. I am surprised that you don't seem to love cheese and bread. What kiddo doesn't like cheese and bread?
You have hit another new phase with nursing too. You really, really prefer to nurse on the left side. So much so that I when I nurse you I have to start on the right side and then switch to the left, or you aren't hungry enough to be interested in nursing on the right side after you have nursed for a bit on your left. I wouldn't think there would be that big of a difference, but you sure seem to think there is.
To be fair, you have come up with a new nursing position that you seem to love. When you are sitting on my lap facing me (with a leg going each direction around my waist) you tend to dive forward and latch on and just start nursing sitting up. It is the funniest thing, and we all love to see you do it.
Another reason you love to hang out in that position is you love to play with my squishy belly. It is soft and squishy and you like to sink your fingers into my extra skin down there. You'd think that it would make me self conscious about how squishy my tummy is but honestly it just makes me like it more. You are judging me, you just like it. And I love that I have that extra skin there because of you and your sisters. Having you four is by far the coolest thing that my body has ever done and it is only right that there should be some sign of that on my person. So if that mean extra skin and stretch marks on my belly so be it. And all the better that my baby is delighting in it.
As much as you like my belly though, you definitely picked a favorite for a few weeks this month and it wasn't me. Eliza was your top pick for a while there. She of course just relished your favoritism. And I can't blame her. When she is holding you and someone else reaches for you, you tend to kind of bat their hands away. And if they are holding you and she come close, you kind of dive for her. It's pretty sweet.
Oh that crawling. You started crawling right at the beginning of this month. Wowee, that sure changed our lives. Unfortunately we still haven't babyproofed everything like we should have. Although we have made progress. The cheese plate glass lid bit the dust when you pulled on it. In all fairness, we had left it on the open shelving in the kitchen and Holland had draped a homemade necklace over the top of it. You crawled over to it and one good yank was all it took on that necklace. It sure made a huge glass mess, but thankfully no one was really hurt although your hand bled just a tiny bit.
How much do you love books? A LOT!
Once you started crawling though I couldn't believe how fast you became adept at it. You went from the living room to the family room like it was no problem at all. Thankfully you have ignored the stairs so far. You have discovered all kinds of interesting things to crawl towards, with your favorite things being the shoes/flip flops left on the floor. We're all a lot better at putting our shoes away than we were a couple of weeks ago.
You also like crawling and finding the glass door track (we wash your hands after you play with that one). You love it when you find an occasional dropped cheerio (although you haven't quite figured out putting it in your mouth yet). One night you were crawling the kitchen and you totally spazzed out for no apparent reason. We watched you crawl over to the dishwasher and reach under the edge of it and pull out a cheerio. You were so happy with your discovery. (Don't worry we didn't let you eat that one. That's when it comes in handy that you haven't figured out feeding yourself.)
You were also pretty excited one day when you found the printer on the shelf of the desk (we have way too much open shelving down low). I had to use swift action to distract you from that one and you haven't made your way back there again (yet). Of course the things that are easy to keep you out of we are getting better doing. Like closing the doors to the shoe closet, bathroom, pantry, those are Darcy magnets for sure.
You also love crawling to follow people around. It's adorable.
One of the funniest things about you crawling is that a couple of weeks into you crawling, you occasionally started doing the wonkiest crawl. You pike up on your toes or in a plank position. Then you kick your right foot out and still have your left knee pulled in normal. You do still move forward, but you like to straighten your legs weirdly while you go. I wonder if it is because the ground is hard and your knees are feeling tender, but it is like you don't want your knees on the floor.
You love, LOVE being read to. All the baby books. You sometimes want to turn the pages yourself. It is pretty rare that you get too impatient to listen to the whole book. If you don't grow up loving to read books like your sisters, I will be quite surprised.
You still love being in the carrier with mama, but we don't get as many chances to walk/hike as the weather has turned hot, hot, hot.
Twinners. Sometimes I wonder if you'll end up looking the most like Miriam because it looks like your eyes are turning brown like hers. Also, which way is your hair going to swing redish blond or redish brown?? We can't tell!
In case you can't tell from this picture, but you LOVE baths! You shriek and squeal and splash and thrash. It is highly amusing. It looks like you are trying to make snow angels but with water. You legs and arms just don't stop agoing in there.
Happy, happy baby.
That jaw jutting out showing off those two teeth is your signature look right now. :)
Oh, I caught you sucking on your toes! You just do it every once in a while and we all think it is pretty funny. Such a flexible girl.
Just crawling all over the place. It is not my favorite when you play with the dirty door tract. But look what else you found...beads!
We were also horrified/amused when we looked over at you playing at this door and saw you trying to crawl through it and lick it. Nope, no licking doors.
Road trip to Sedona with Grandma and Grandpa
I love your cheeks and lips when you sleep.
As much as you love the bath, you HATE the pool. This was surprising because our pool is as warm as a bath. The kids kept the water all calm, but you didn't care for it one bit. You cried and cried until I took you out in just a minute.
Honestly, how cute are you? You're so cute it kills me.
A friend gave us a baby chair that hangs on the side of the table. We love it, especially because it has enabled us to put off getting out the huge high chair.
