Lynlee's First Birthday

                It is a good night to make a quick entry in our blog.  Lynlee is in bed for the evening.  She is so good about going to bed every night.  She has a routine with her dad of going into the room, pushing her door shut, turning on the fan then turning off the light.  Then dad turns on her projector and noise maker and they look at pictures around her room.  She especially gets excited to look at the picture of Jesus and say “jehjeh.”  Then daddy will sing to her and she lays her head on his shoulder.  Finally she will give kisses and a hug and will want put down into her crib where she is tucked in and her miniature blanky is handed to her.  Most evenings she will go to sleep quickly and she sleeps until the next morning.  We love our little angel so much!

                Last night dad was not home so she was put to bed by mom, I don’t think I do the routine just right.  Before we even finished singing “I am a child of God,” she was diving for her crib.  So I put her down to sleep, she opened her mouth for a kiss, I leaned down and kissed her goodnight then she waved goodbye.  It was so cute!  So again tonight I put her to bed and after I put her down and gave her a kiss she waved goodbye.  I don’t know how long this will last, but it is extremely cute!

                Now it is time to back up a bit to the beginning on February.  On Saturday the 2^nd we were able to celebrate Lynlee’s first birthday with family and friends.  Kari & Kyle’s family, Sharlyn and kids, and both sets of Lynlee’s grandparents made it.  Charity came with both her boys, and Tammy & Reece’s family also came.  We had tons of fun.  We had pizza because Lynlee loves it!  JaNae was sweet and brought bread sticks, even though her boys were sick and they weren’t able to come celebrate.  We felt so much love from family and friends and their support for Lynlee. 

                We had decorated the room in lady bug theme and Lynlee had her own lady bug cake.  The night before the party we had help from Aunt Patrice, Kristy Jo, her boyfriend Chris and Grandma Ellison with decorating cakes and cake pops.  Everything turned out perfectly.  The day of the party Lynlee got to eat her own little cake and loved it. Over all she ate more frosting than cake.  She was so good at eating pizza, opening gifts and eating cake.  She was walking a little and was using the chairs and table to stand up so she could get started walking, she was doing a lot of crawling under the tables too, which seems to be her favorite spot sometimes.  She was given a lot of fun birthday gifts, and is such a lucky little girl!

                After the party we cleaned up and Lynlee fell asleep quickly while driving home. She had worn herself out!  We feel very blessed to have such a perfect baby. On Tuesday February 5^th it was like Lynlee almost had another party!  She had a ton of gifts to open from my coworkers during her lunch time with us.  Tori and Adriane both got her some really cute outfits.  Ashlie bought her a fun polka dot dress, Laurie got her some Hello Kitty dishes to keep at work, and cup to drink from (she LOVES them, and knows they are hers). Mandy bought her an adorable outfit and a pair of pajamas.  I feel lucky to have so many people love Lynlee and care for her.  My co-workers are wonderful and will always hold a special place in my heart.

                Since her birthday she has improved greatly on her walking.  She can now stand on her own and walk almost anywhere.  We are not seeing her crawl much anymore, it is sad to see our cute baby growing up! We are excited to see what the future holds for us as a family.  Lynlee has started to say her first words.  For a while she has said “daw,” for dog.  But the first very clear word she said was “da-da.”  Josh was getting her ready for daycare and I was doing my hair and listening to them over the intercom system.  He told Lynlee, “say da-da,” and she immediately said, “da-da.”   I was very excited to hear her.  She is trying to say more and more words, but continually reverts back to “tha-“ if she can’t say anything else for what she wants.  She is so much fun!

                Josh is busy busy busy in his school, work and volunteering.  He has Organic Chemistry 2 and Bio Chemistry, and advanced Book of Mormon studies.  He is also a supplemental instructor for Organic Chemistry 1.  He is volunteering once a week at Mound Fort junior high to help students who are struggling is school and also volunteers at Ogden Regional Hospital once a week.  He also picks up occasional graveyard shifts at Chancellor Garden’s.  Most days he is gone early and home late because he is studying and preparing for classes and teaching.  I know that I never studied as hard as he does currently, and I am so amazed by his dedication and his knowledge.  He is doing so well in school.

                Monday was President’s day.  I finally had a day off to go snowboarding with my dad while Josh had to study and Lynlee went to Aunt Kari’s for the day.  I have been itching to go up all year!  Well we got up to Brighton and it was a beautiful, clear day with a high of 25 and almost no wind.  All the trails had been groomed.  On our first run down I was flying down the hill really fast on my snowboard… Well I ended up catching my back edge and crashed hard.  The toe end of my board dug into the snow and I ended up jamming my left ankle.  I kept going, thinking “I will be okay.”  We went three more runs and I decided the pain was getting pretty bad, so we went to the lodge to see what damage I had done.  Well that ended our day at Brighton.  My ankle hurt bad enough that I wasn’t hardly able to walk.  So instead we went to lunch together, and had an enjoyable day.

                The next day, while at work, Laurie loaned me her crutch, which helped a ton.  Mandy had the great idea that I should go get a brace.  So we went to the store and she helped me pick one out.  It has made the biggest difference!  I am still sore, but I can walk mostly without limping.  I feel blessed that I am not worse off and I only sprained my ankle.

                It is getting late and I plan on waking up early to get some exercise in.  Last week Lyn and I got up early three times to exercise, my injury kind of stopped us on that path so I need to jump back on the wagon and keep exercising.