a little suggestion...

I have gone back and added pictures to some of our previous posts from October/November times, since our computer is now working. If you'd like to see those pictures...feel free to go back to those posts...
Hope you enjoy!

Grandma Parker's Visit Re-visited

Yes, I know I already posted about how much fun we had in November when my mom came for a fun visit. We had a great time, but my computer was acting up, has had several issues, and now, months later, seems to be acting more normal. SO I am taking advantage of this to share some pictures and stories from the last several months....It'll take a few days, but we'll get it all in there...slow and steady to win the race, right? or at least to get all our memories documented while they are still somewhat fresh.

So, my mom visited. Elise loved having tons of play time with Grandma. They did so many things, it is hard to describe all of them, so we'll let the pictures tell how wide ranging their experiences were.

They played with dancing scarves....

They worked on some activity pages my mom was making for Elise...She (Elise) loves using these for quiet time during church.

We had a birthday party for my mom which involved balloons and a cool table cloth....


They played with the fishing puzzles...


And we were extra crafty and brave with the glue gun and made snowman necklaces. It was a blast, even if they didn't quite stay together how I pictured they might....


Elise read stories to anyone who would listen....


And helped make special treats...


We also got a family picture (well, of the three of us...next time we'll get one with Grandma in it too!)

We love Grandma Parker!!! Her only wonder was why everything had to be so far away? When Elise would ask Grandma to play something with her, like pretending to go to the park or something similar, and Grandma would agree, Elise would declare joyfully, "Good, let's go, its very far." And proceed to try to drag Grandma all over the house to look for her various pretend destinations....its a good thing we don't live in a bigger house!

The New Coat

I found this way cute pattern and was inspired to make a coat for my girl. It was a fun project, and she looks so cute and so grown up for going out in the snowy winter weather. We finished it in November, and even though she wasn't so thrilled with posing for the camera at first.....

she finally came to agree that it is a great addition to her wardrobe. She has really enjoyed having something special that her Mama made "just for me". And I admit, I am enjoying it too, making things special for my girl.

Hoopa Hoop Funny Show

We know we haven't updated in a while, and that's partly due to being busy, and partly due to the computer problems we've had. We're glad to report that the computer problems, we think, have been solved....at least for the moment. In celebration of this, we're going to try to post a video for now, and then work over the next week on updating the blog with the events of the last several months. So here is a video (if it works) of our grown up girl having some fun with her 'hoopa hoop'. She's wanted one for a long time, and finally earned it and has been enjoying it loads and loads!

Happy Holidays!

Thanks to the good fairies, (some kind hearted visitors who brought their external hard drive).....our pictures are BACK!!!! Hooray! And we will get back to blog posting soon, complete with pictures of all our adventures this winter in Alaska. For now, we can share our latest family picture, and wish you all a wonderful holiday season!!!

The Latest Bad News and Something Funny

Ok, well, it turns out that my backup system, where I was making sure ALL my picture files, music files, and document files were all organized and backed up just crashed and erased itself. So....that means I don't know if I have all those files in areas where I can get them all back together and re-organized.....and I don't know that I have an area where I have access to all those files again to make more back ups...WHY does this happen? I have no good answers, except that it seems like it happens to me a lot. Hmmmm....Well, we're gonna do our best to find all the files and get some pictures up here, as soon as the computer wizzes give our computer and external hard drive back.

In the meantime, the my wonderful girl has started doing the funnest thing. We have decided licking with our tongues when we are pretending to be a cat or dog is not really ok. So yesterday, Elise came up to me and rubbed her nose on my cheek. When I asked what she was doing she replied, "Giving you nose licks." She is so great! She has been giving nose licks to me and her Daddy whenever she can today. She is also getting to the point where she wants to play with the stuffed animals we've gotten over the years. She named my soft baby cougar from BYU Kisa, and carries her around a bit, as well as a small, soft puppy I got in NY. For lunch time today, she helped them fold their arms for prayer, and had them sit with her while she ate. Since we don't really see lots of people during the week, it is fun to have some other 'friends' to play with, including Elmo and Abby, and all kinds of other animals. The biggest step she's taken lately is that she is also willing to play with puppets too, which she was so nervous about before, but is now comfortable with. We're having some fun time together, and she is getting really good at pretending to be dogs and cats and giving some good nose licks!

She also woke up one day last week and told me she had imagined Grandma while she was sleeping. It was very cute. We are pretending a lot of things she did with Grandma during her visit. She sat in one of her toy boxes today and pretended to call Grandma, and then her aunts and even Daddy to tell them all about pretending dance class today, and building a tower with blocks. What a great girl she is, and how blessed we are!

So for now, we're going to try to get more updated on our blog, without pictures, until we can figure out our computer glitches. A bit frustrating, but always an adventure!

What was that topic assignment again?!

Logan and I got a phone call one Sunday, in mid-November, and were asked to speak in sacrament meeting the next Sunday. Logan was the one on the phone with Brother Williams, and I asked him what the assigned topic was. He relayed the question to Brother Williams, and then turned to me with a puzzled expression on his face, and said, "protecting the Saints." I said, "Protecting the Saints from what?", and he relayed that question to Brother Williams. Brother Williams replied, "Well, if you pray about it, I'm sure something will come to you." As we sat and thought for a quick second, I realized he probably meant something else...I said, "Does he mean PERFECTING the Saints?" And Logan said, "Oh, do you mean perfecting the Saints?" After we got the affirmative response to that question, Logan admitted that he had been trying to imagine taking his gun in and giving tactical drills, and thought that might have been a bit wierd for a sacrament meeting.
Anyways, we did our preparing, even though we thought it was wierd to not be speaking about gratitude the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We did our best, and even practiced ahead of time. Mine was about 11 minutes and Logan's was about ten. When we got into the meeting, the youth speaker used lots of the quotes I was prepared to use, and Logan had told me to not cut things out so he wouldn't have too much time, so I was a bit worried. I ended up cutting out some of the quotes, but used more personal experiences from my life where we are given the chance to become better people, but we don't always see it that way. It turns out I ended up speaking for about 20 minutes, and Logan had to cut his talk short. But it all worked out ok, and Elise did great and was patient while we worked on that challenging assignment. And we're both doing great in the nursery. It is fun to be back with the kids who have the most energy in the smallest packages, and to get to go over lessons with Elise during the week as practice for teaching. She really enjoys playing with all her friends. She has become better about sharing, and even about playing with stuffed animals, puppets, and even dolls now. Although she is having a bit of trouble playing WITH the other kids....I think at home she gets to make lots of those play time decisions, and when other kids are involved, it can get tricky. I'm glad she has the chance to learn those great interacting social skills, and that I'm there to help/observe, and we can talk about things after wards, and figure out ways to handle situations. She certainly is growing up FAST! And I love that we can be buddies!