Addison's First Haircut

Well, at the age of over 2 and a half, Addison FINALLY got her fist haircut on April 21, 2009. (Yes, while we were still in California)She looked like this for most of the haircut. Stock still watching the lady cut her hair in the mirror with a sort of tired skeptical look on her face.She looked so serious I finally asked her to smile. She looked at me and gave me this lovely smile.The finished backThere's the smile I was hoping for in the previous pictureDoesn't she look adorable!
Ahhh, her first haircut. My baby's growing up.

Baby Shower

While we were in California, Lisa threw me a baby shower. She did such a great job! She's an AWESOME party thrower.


She had a chocolate fountain with lots of yummy fruit to dip in it, a delicious cheese and cracker platter, and gorgeous decorations.
She also made these adorable diaper cupcakes! They were SOOOOOOOOO cute! She also gave me this little chart of who gave me what with a little place to put a check next to each name once I wrote the thank you card. This list was on a clipboard and behind the list were address labels she had made so that I didn't have to look up any one's address! SOOOO nice since last time I had a shower, finding the addresses was the hardest part and as a result, some of my thank you notes got lost. Thank you so much for all your hard work Lisa. I had a great time!!!


It was wonderful visiting with people from my home stake. I even got to see some old friends. Christa (on the right) I've seen fairly recently, but it was still good to see her again, and my friend Christine was able to come too (on the left). I don't think I've seen her since my wedding reception (almost five years ago), so it was great catching up. Overall it was just a great shower!

California Vacation

Well, this past week and a half we got to go to California to visit with my family. We did a ton of stuff, so I'm going to attempt to keep it brief with few words, but lots of pictures. So here goes:

We went to Descanso Gardens. Addison LOVED feeding the fish.

And looking at all the pretty flowers.And feeding the fish...did I mention she loved feeding the fish?We went to the opening game at Dodger Stadium where we got o see Orlando Hudson hit for the cycle. That was pretty cool.We went with my dad and my sister.And my handsome husband and myself.And the Jonas Brothers.Okay, so technically we didn't go with them, but they were there a few rows in front of us...okay so it was a lot of rows in front of us and I have a good zoom, but my other sister who decided not to go was kicking herself when she saw that picture.

We ended the day off with this....an overheated car. It actually stopped working. But the engine didn't crack...or the block didn't crack...or something that always happens when you push an over heating car to it's limit. The mechanic was amazed.Bart had an art Education conference in Minneapolis, so he flew out to that (it was cheaper to fly from Burbank than it was to fly from Salt Lake...like half the price...even though he had a layover in Salt Lake and was on the exact same flight he would have taken had he just left from there.

So without him (much to his chagrin) we went to the Zoo. These are our three little ground hogs, Addison, Stacy and Emily.Addison was upset because the Elephant exhibit was closed, but we made it up to her by going to the petting zoo, which I'm pretty sure was her favorite part! She wasn't scared of the Animals at all!!!AT ALL!There was this cool Pyramid trough thing where you washed your hands once you were done. I had to get a picture of it.On Saturday we went to the Santa Monica Pier.And rode the rides.And the Ferris WheelThen we went to the Beach.Where Addison became a mermaid.

And carried water from the ocean to her sand castle.Did I mention that she built a Sand Castle (with some help from Aunt Lisa). If I didn't, you can just ask her what she did at the beach and she'll spend hours telling you all about it.None of us adults wore our swim suits because we thought Addison would touch the water and decide it was too cold to play in. Such was NOT the case. She just ran right into the waves!!! She was even upset because we couldn't swim! My pants were soaked from standing in the little waves with her and she kept wanting to go out further. She may look like her dad, but she definitely takes after me when it comes to the beach. Next time we will come prepared.

We also played in Grandma & Grandpa Collyer's pool. Addison stepped off the big step and fell under the water while I was sitting on the side of the pool. It nearly gave me a heart attack. I jumped in with my clothes on and pulled her out. I thought she'd cry, but nope. It didn't even phase her. She just wanted to get back to playing. I swear I have given birth to a fish.

We absolutely loved our time there. I always love going home to visit. It was wonderful!!! Thanks for everything mom and dad! We miss you guys, Lisa, Mat & Stacy already!

A Charmed Day

Okay, so today has seriously been a charmed day. Especially Lunch.

We played in the pool for a long time this morning. Then we decided to go to Los Gringos Locos for lunch.

I always debate whether or not to get Addison anything because most of the time she won't eat anything. Well, we got her a corn dog and she ate THE WHOLE THING!

About half way through her meal she started looking around. Finally she asked, "Mom, where is the bathroom?" I pointed it out to her and she said, "Oh, okay. I have to go potty, can you please take me?" Totally shocked I said yes. She NEVER tells me she has to go potty...not even in our familiar house where she knows her little toilet is.

On the way to the bathroom I asked her if she needed to go poo poo or pee pee. She said poo poo. I assumed she had probably already gone because the only time she tells us she needs to go poo poo is when she's already gone. But nope, I checked her diaper and it was clean. Then came the toilet. It was just a regular toilet, so I had to lift her up onto it. She was able to hold herself there, but her feet were dangling. I thought for sure after a few seconds she'd decide she'd had enough and want down. Nope. I heard her pee. I was telling her how proud I was of her for going pee pee in a strange toilet and asked if she was done. "No mom, I have to go poo poo too." So I waited. And waited. And waited. I thought for sure she didn't really need to go, but then sure enough, she went poo poo! On a strange toilet! With her legs dangling in the air! I was blown away! It was AWESOME!!!

Not only had she sought out a bathroom and told me she needed to go BEFORE she had a dirty diaper. But she had actually gone! It was AWESOME!

We returned to our table and told Grandma and Aunt Lisa what she had done. She was so proud of herself. Then she finished her meal.

On the way home I said how tired I was, and Grandma and Lisa said how tired they were too. Then Addison said how tired she was and that she wanted to take a nap.

I briefly thought the charmed day had snapped when Aunt Lisa helped her down from the car...something that Addison had decided she wanted to do on her own, and as a result started crying. But Aunt Lisa helped her back up and let her get down on her own. Then she asked Lisa, "Can you please put me to bed?"

Aunt Lisa is currently in the other room putting Addison to bed. Any tips on how to make every day like this?

Easter

So I have not been home for Easter since my senior year in high school...which was in 2000. This year I broke that streak! YAY!

Easter Morning this is what was waiting for us downstairs.To give you an idea of the scale of these baskets, here is a picture of Addison with her gigantic bunny. :o)

Lest you mistakenly think this was the product of my extremely excited mother finally getting me home for Easter...okay, finally getting Addison home for Easter...my dad was the one who actually purchased the baskets. I guess there was a scout fundraiser that was a silent auction, so he bid on the baskets and won them. :o) (Although technically the donkey pinata was purchased by my sister for my brother in law...it makes total sense if you know them.) :o)Bart was especially fond of his Teddy's onsie. He Couldn't believe how big it was, although I'm pretty sure some of Addison's are that big too.Addison and Bart had some great bonding time. This is why kids need both a mom and dad. I would never think of sitting on my daughter as a way to grow closer to her, but she loved it.

It was so wonderful being home for Easter. We all got to go to Church togeather and then have Easter dinner togeather. It was great.

My mother in law gave me a bunch of Envelops a while ago that were basically a walk through the last week in Christ's life. You opened an envelope each day of the week before Easter and it had some scriptures that corresponded with the day, a thought of how to apply principals from that day in your life, and a story. I was planning on copying it for my Young Women, but didn't get around to it, so I decided at least I could do it myself. It was wonderful!!! Thank you so much Maralee, it seriously just made my Easter week! It made me think of things I had never thought of before. It was a wonderful Easter present.

He Thinks My Waddle's Sexy

I had that "She thinks my tractor's sexy" song stuck in my head...well, the line "she thinks my tractor's sexy" anyway, since that's the only part I know of the song. But I thought the title went well with this post.


Last week Bart, Addison and I were all at the grocery store. Bart is a naturally fast walker...like I seriously need to jog to keep up with him. I, on the other hand, am not. And being 7.5 months pregnant isn't helping with the discrepancy between our speeds. I have given up altogether with trying to keep up with him. As he put Addison in the grocery cart and sped off to the section of the store that was our destination. I yelled after him, "Just go, I'll catch up." It had been a particularly tiring day, my back hurt, my feet hurt, and I was exhausted, so I just sort of put my head down and trudged along very slowly attempting to avoid as much pain from moving as possible.


When I was about half way to the intended section of the store, I looked up to see Bart stopped with the shopping cart turned in my direction, a huge smile on his face.


I was like, "What?"


"You're waddling."


Alarmed, I immediately straightened up and did my best to not sway back and forth as I walked. He looked horrified and said, "No! What are you doing? Don't stop! If you got it, work it!"


LOL! Did I mention that I love my husband?

Kittens & Hula Hoops

When I was in high school I loved my calculus teacher. He also taught several other classes including basic math. One day we asked him which class he liked teaching the most. He told us he liked our class the best. At first we were very pleased at his feeding our egos, but as we thought about it, we asked, “Really? Don’t you like teaching basic math the best because it’s the easiest?” (looking back, our naivety still amazes me). He looked thoughtfully for a moment and then gave the following analogy:

I feel like my basic math class is full of a bunch of kittens. And my job is to keep the kittens inside hula hoops. They’re very cute kittens, but these silly little kittens keep jumping out of the hula hoops and I smile and pick them up by the little scruff of their necks and say, “No no little kitten, stay inside the hula hoops” and I put them back in. But they always jump back out again.

I left class that day very confused. I had no idea what he was talking about. But now I think I’m beginning to understand.

I will try and illustrate with a possibly theoretical conversation that I may or may not have had several or more times with someone or a group of people at work…or somewhere else.

Joe Slow: Rebecca, there’s something wrong with my XYZ account. I’m going to fix it with a journal entry that will increase your cash account.

Rebecca: Have we received money in our bank account?

Joe Slow: No

Rebecca: Then it’s probably not a good idea to say on our accounting books that we have received money in our bank account, which is what your entry will do. Do you agree?

Joe Slow: Hm, yeah, that’s probably not a good idea.

:::Joe slow walks away pondering what I have said.::::

I feel all warm and fuzzy for having taught an apparently difficult accounting concept to someone who has been working in accounting for, I don’t know, the past three years…at least until Joe Slow comes back next month:

Joe Slow: Rebecca, there’s something wrong with my XYZ account (not a cash account). I’m going to fix it with a journal entry that will increase your cash account.

Rebecca: ::::Stunned silence as visions of kitten jumping out of hula hoops run through my head::::