7 month milestones

I love technology! Now, that we have the internet again we can post everyday :)

Azure has reached SO many milestones these last 2 weeks! She can finally sit on her own without the support of her hands (though she does prefer to lean) and she has made more improvements from the army crawl to the regular crawl. But this news just in.....

Earlier this week I felt something sharp on her bottom gums but couldn't see if it was a tooth but today we got a closer look and, indeed it is a TOOTH! A cute little tooth just barely poking out! I never thought I'd get so sentimental about a tooth, how silly huh? But, I feel like our little Azure is growing up now, almost ready to pack up a lunch box and head off to school!

"These are the moments" that I am so grateful to live, to have an eternal family, an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter and to discover a tooth while having Sunday dinner!

27th Annual Festival of Lanterns

Well, it's that time of year again where we dust of the papier-mache and decorate our lives for three months of non-stop celebration. Each year from January 4th to March 27th, we celebrate what is quickly becoming an international sensation, that's right, THE FESTIVAL OF LANTERNS! This year's festivities could be the most extravagant to date. Perhaps the most telling aspect of the festival is the consumption of meat and/or cake, coupled with recitation of Indian lore. Please, let us know what you have planned for this year's festival!

We thank Thee, O God, for a prophet

Our dear prophet, Gordon B Hinckley died Sunday night. Charles and I didn't find out about it until the next morning and both of us were sad upon hearing the news. He has been the prophet the whole time I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I have grown to love him dearly. I have seen him speak more than a few times and I will never forget the feeling as the whole congregation stood to greet him as he entered the room. The spirit of God burning in my heart testifying to me that he was truly a prophet of God! I am grateful to have prophets and apostles living today, just as there were anciently, to guide our church so that we can know God's will for us!

Of all the things he has done for the church I think the one that has influenced my life the most was his revelation on the building of small temples. Before this revelation there had only been the construction of large temples which took years to build, complete with laundry facilities, cafeterias and just in general, big. With the new revelation to build smaller temples more could be built faster and in more places. And because of that I was able to go to the open house of the Redlands CA Temple with my family upon returning home from my mission. And what was even greater was the announcement of the Newport Beach Temple where Charles and I were married and sealed to one another and our children for eternity!

We will also be blessed by the Columbia South Carolina Temple (another small temple) when we move to Savannah.

Trip to CA

Now that we have our internet situation resolved for the time being, we will catch up on last weekends trip to California. Our purpose in traveling was to attend the life celebration of my Uncle Jim, who passed away in December after fighting cancer. Jim was a very fun man, and my fondest memories of him include intense games of pool, numerous jokes, projectiles at weddings, and his willingness to open his home to us. We will miss him. The trip was quick, but we had a great time spending time with our family members from both sides. Azure was fortunate enough to meet many more relatives and relished in the attention afforded her. Miraculously, we drove home on snow-free roads, which became extremely non-snow-free the next day.

Slackers

I have two reasons why we haven't posted in awhile. One, because we were in CA this past wkend and two, our internet hasn't been working for almost a week now.
But we do have some fabulous news to share so I am presently in my car with the heat blasting "borrowing" a free wireless network because I can wait no longer... AZ has decided to put us on the alternate list AGAIN this year so we've decided that we are moving to Savannah, Georgia! We are both very excited and feel really good about it. We'll pack all our stuff up before our Hawaii trip and will say goodbye to Provo sometime around May 17.
Other exciting news... Azure is now saying her 2nd word, dada. Maybe boof really means mom :) She is also army crawling now and sometimes will bust out into a real crawl. I can no longer leave her alone in her room anymore to lay down and look up at her playgym because she is off exploring every corner of the room!
Stay tuned for pictures and hopefully a video!

Funny story of the day

I haven't worn contacts very often since Jan 2005 because it was then that my eyes starting freaking out and rebelled against UT's dry climate, so keep that in mind as I tell the rest of this story.
This morning after Azure awoke I fed her and put her in her swing which I do every morning. She plays for awhile and about 20-30 mins later she falls asleep for about 30-60 mins. While she was napping I got myself ready for the day and decided to wear my contacts since I haven't for about a month or so. Upon hearing Azure awake, I walked downstairs into her room to get her out of her swing so I could feed her again. As I opened her door and walked into her room she looked at me with a suspicious face and almost let out a cry of...stranger anxiety! I then realized she didn't know who I was because I wasn't wearing my glasses! She continued to look frightened so I reassured her it was me with my voice. When I picked her up out of the swing she pushed back to examine my face and then began palpating first my lips, then my nose and cheeks! Poor little cubby! I think part of it was because she had just woken up too and was a little groggy. It wasn't until about 10 mins later that I convinced her that I was indeed her mother!

New toys and food!

2008 should be yet another exciting year for us. We have decided on either AZ or GA for pharmacy school and both schools start in June so we will be moving in May for sure. Now that we have a definitive time to leave Provo, I am actually sad because Provo has been so good to us. I never thought that I would be here for so long (I moved here in Aug. 1999 and Charles in Aug. 2000) but our time here has been wonderful! Such great memories!

We are also planning a 10 day Hawaii trip for our 2 yr anniversary at the end of May, thanks to Charles' parents. And thankfully my parents are watching Azure for us so that it REALLY will be a vacation!

Azure is really enjoying eating now that she has figured out how to do it. She's eating rice cereal, oatmeal, banannas, avocados and apples! I've started feeding her twice a day now and everytime I put her in her chair to eat she starts opening her mouth wide before I even have the food ready, it's hilarious!

She also enjoys playing with tags. Forget the cool toys, unless of course it has a tag!

Her destructiveness has only increased as you can imagine. She is now trying to thrust herself off of the changing table!

Daily scripture reading with mommy

Her favorite part is trying to eat it!

We got her a new toy last week, a jumper. She's having a blast in it!