Fort Pulaski

2 weeks ago we went to Fort Pulaski. After having somewhat cold weather, it was sunny and warm and perfect for visiting this historic fort. We got a kick out of this. Those brazen Southerners :)

We've been hit!

Day at the park

On Friday we played at a park while Dada was at work. It was such a nice day. I am grateful for parks nearby and for fairly warm weather year round here.
Azure used to be somewhat leery of the slide. Now she loves it and can almost go down without any help from Mommy.

Happy Valentines!

Just saw this video and wanted to share it. It's less than 4 mins and worth every second of your time. Valentines is all about love. True love is charity, the pure love of Christ.

Thank you for reading our blog (and commenting!) and for caring about what's going on in our lives. Thank you for all the times you've laughed with us. Thank you for being amazing friends. Thank you for all the charitable things you've done for us and our family.

Happy Valentines Day, we love you!

Words of the week

Here's my attempt to remember all the words and things Azure has learned this past week:

After she called out, "Mommy!" from her crib (my cue to come get her out) I was greeted by a sweet, "Morning!" A combination of me saying this to her every morning and watching a new Signing Time DVD with these words helped her to learn it.

"Bless you" (after we sneeze) She's so courteous :)

"I love you" (dada taught her this one when he puts her down to sleep everynight. He has the magic touch. Fine by me. She wouldn't fall asleep w/o me the first 13 months or so of her life. I'm happy w/ the change :)

She's sucessfully figured out how to flip the light switch on and off with only minimal help from me (mostly only to lift her up to it).

After her bath every night I tell her to put her ducky away (b/c she insists on holding it). I say, "Tell your ducky bye bye. He's sleepy. Good night ducky." Then I put a cup over him so he can have some privacy as he sleeps. Then Azure says, "Bye bye ducky, sleepy." In the morning when she goes into the bathroom she points to the cup where the ducky sleeps beneath and repeats this. Sometimes she'll shake her head no as if she knows she's not to play with him yet b/c he's still sleeping :)

Something else that makes me laugh is when we hear our neighbors pipes as a result of them turning their water on, Azure yells, "Bath!"

Azure has also made up a new song. It's almost the same tune as "Badabadabada" with some slight variations. The lyrics to her new song are as follows: "Yucky poop, yucky bug, yucky poop, yucky bug." Repeat 38 times.

She also learned the sign for awake and says it very dramatically as she closes her eyes and then opens them. This girl is quite hilarious.

Exciting News!

Sorry to disappoint anyone who thought this was an announcement of my pregnancy because I am NOT pregnant! (not yet anyways.. :)

Some of you actually already know this news from facebook- I auditioned for, and am now a member of, the Savannah Philharmonic Chorus! I am just late in blogging about it. This is a pretty big deal for me. It is the first time in awhile that I feel like I am exclusively developing a talent of mine. I have lots of thoughts and opinions about this and hope to be somewhat articulate explaining them.

Our late President Faust described phases of a woman's life as "seasons". Usually as a stay at home mother, a woman temporarily puts her career ambitions or other pursuits on hold to raise children. Elder Ballard pointed out that our children only live with us for one-fourth of our lives. Not very long. "And the most formative time of all, the early years in a child’s life, represents less than one-tenth of a parent’s normal life."

That puts things into perspective. It's a sacrifice, but WELL worth it. A friend of mine posted this story on her blog which further illustrates this point. I am grateful that I am in a "season" right now where I can pursue singing by being in this choir. I only have 1 child and she is at an age of semi-independence. Plus I am at rehearsal while she's sleeping. I remember feeling so overwhelmed when she didn't take a bottle or eat solid foods (first 7 months of life). I seriously could NOT be away from her more than 2 hrs. I thought that's how the rest of my life was going to be as a mother, very short sighted I know.

All of this leads me to my next point (what? there's a point? yes). Women and men have a desire to create, to be creative. God is the Ultimate Creator of us all; of this earth, of the universe, of all things good. As His children we've inherited the divine quality, and gift, from Him to create as He does. The greatest creation of all is another human life which I am so grateful to have taken a part in. I feel the joy of creating something when I sing, particularly when I perform. Creating things rejuvenates us, however small. A meal, a smile, a photograph, a remodeled room...

I would love to hear your thoughts and feelings on this. If you have the time and are looking for good reads on these topics, here are some of my favorites. We Are Creators, Daughters of God, and Happiness, Your Heritage.

Speaking Out

Today in church Charles helped out in a baby blessing. As he got up to go Azure said, "Bye, bye Dada!" and waved. It was so cute, even though it was somewhat loud. A few minutes later another child started crying. As the mother removed this child from the chapel into the foyer Azure announced, "She's sad." I had taught her how to say that on Friday and she remembered. I am so impressed with her memory and vocabulary. And I am so excited for this new phase of speaking in sentences!Because we don't have any TV reception, the only thing we watch is Signing Time. Luckily our library has lots of copies now so we check out new DVDs every 2 weeks. She can do about 80 signs now! At the end of some of the DVDs is a segment on the alphabet. Azure follows along except her version of the alphabet is much more exciting and changes every time. It sounds a lot like this: "C, shoe, B, shoe, G, B, shoe, C, dee, da, shoe." I love that she thinks shoe is a letter! Our goal is to get her saying this on video. Hopefully we can post it soon. Munching on star fruit.

Star and fruits are some of her favorite words so she loved saying them together. This girl is just too much fun! Her love and enthusiasm for life and inquistive nature always puts a smile on my face and warms my heart.

Out and about

I haven't had the computer much these past 2 wks to blog so I'm catching up now.

3 weeks ago we visited the historical Bonaventure Cemetery. What a cool place! It was like going to an art gallery almost since a lot of the tombstones have beautiful sculptures and artwork on them.
Last week Azure and I, along with a friend and her kids, went to Jekyll Island, about an hour south of here. Jekyll Island is home to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.
I had as much, or more fun than Azure because I love sea turtles, they are so dang cute! One of the most interesting things I learned was how the gender of the turtles is determined. A few weeks before hatching an egg will be a girl if the temperature is warm, and a boy if the temperature is cool. Usually the eggs in the middle will be girls, and ones on the outside will be boys. But, if there is a rainstorm or the mother lays her eggs in the shade of a tree, then the whole batch will be boys! And if it's a hot summer night, or the eggs are exposed to lots of sun, they will all be girls. As I read that I felt extremely grateful that our gender is not decided at the whim of a temperature change due to environmental factors, but that it is eternal and was determined long before we came to this earth.

"Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal,
mortal, and eternal identity and purpose" (The Family: A Proclamation to the World).