House/River Pictures

I just wanted to offer a little clarification about our house. It's not really a house we're having built from scratch. We are going through Hayden Homes. They offer a hand full of different layout options that we chose from. Then we chose a plot we liked. Then we get to choose different upgrades and colors and that kind of thing. It is exciting, but a little bit nerve wracking to make these decisions that are so permanent.

Last week we took a little walk down by the river and took some cute pictures of Darcy. When we got close to the water Darcy was ready to head right it. One of these days I'll let her feel how COLD it is and then she will never want to get in again.

Family Update/Cowgirl

I think it is time for an update:

- The due date for this baby is August 11th. I am a week behind where I thought I was.

- I am mostly done being sick, but it's just not going all the way away which is kind of a bummer.

- Drew is loving his job. He works on a flex schedule so he gets to go in early and come home at 3:30. It's so awesome to have him home that early every day.

- Drew's uncle owns a gym here and we have been trying to go regularly. The problem is that Darcy absolutely HATES going to the daycare. When we walk in the building she starts whimpering and basically doesn't stop crying until we leave. It is torture for her and us. We have been going less and less every week because it is so hard to do that to her. She hates nursery too. She is going through a really serious separation anxiety phase!

- My brother Nick comes home from his mission on March 2. 11 Days!! We are so excited!

- We are having a house built in a nice little community here and we are really looking forward to getting in it at the end of May. Since we are only living in this apartment for a few months we haven't completely unpacked a lot of things and we are living in the middle of boxes. I can't wait to be somewhere more permanent. I am really looking forward to this!

The home site. Obviously there's not much to see at this point. We chose a nice flat corner lot so we can have a bigger yard.

Now on to the cowgirl. It has been so fun for Darcy to be here close to our parents as she's starting to really get into animals. She gets to see a dog at Grandma and Grandpa Christensen's and horses, cats, and chickens at Grandma and Grandpa Jenne's. Plus there are cows all over the place here. The other day my dad saddled up the horses and we took Darcy on her first ride. Before we went out my mom surprised us and gave Darcy some adorable pink cowboy boots. We found a little hat to go with the outfit.

Cowgirl!

The picture is so funny! Ashley made her a belt and belt buckle. Obviously it was a little big for her. :) Plus her hat is all messed up.

Another picture that cracks me up. The hat was a little big.

Take two.

Darcy riding a horse for the first time with me!

Brian and Haley went on a ride too.

I just got this new dress for Darcy and I thought her new boots looked so cute with it.

Friends

Yesterday my mother-in-law gave a really great lesson in Relief Society on friendship. The whole time I kept thinking how blessed I have been in the friend department.

Since Drew and I got married, almost six years ago now, we have lived far from our families. It is a little bit hard on me to be so far from my family. While we were at BYU-Idaho, in different states around the country in the summers, and in Pittsburgh I was so blessed to be surrounded by great friends who I relied heavily on to fill my family void.

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all of those girls and their husbands and little families that spent time with me and cared about me and my little family over these traveling years. I don't think I can really express how much those friendships have meant to me. I love you friends! Thanks for everything!

18 Months!

This past Sunday was Darcy's 18 month mark. I was really excited to get to take her to nursery and to actually get to listen a little during church for the first time in a long time. It didn't go over so well though. They brought her to me after 10-15 minutes because she was inconsolable. I ended up having to sit with her for the two hours in nursery which I was pretty bummed about. I tried leaving again a couple different times but she would immediately start screaming again. I've decided I'm just going to keep trying to leave her and hopefully soon she'll decide it's ok.

We are really loving this age. She keeps us on our toes for sure, but she's learning fun new things all the time which is really exciting.

Some things we want to remember about Darcy at 18 months:

- (I didn't pay enough attention at her 18 month appointment so I'm not really sure about these numbers, but I'm going to write down what I think I remember.) 26 lbs. 36 inches tall. She is around the 80th percentile for everything. Her body has finally caught up to her head! :)

- She is such an awesome sleeper at night! She goes to bed - HAPPILY - at 7:30 and wakes up between 7 and 7:30 in the morning. I keep waiting for her to take these 2-3 hours naps during the day that I keep hearing people talk about, but the most she usually sleeps is an hour and a half.

- She still loves all food. Haley introduced her to suckers last week and then they gave her a sucker again at her doctors appointment and she thinks they are the coolest thing ever. I think they are sticky. :)

- She really loves her grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles she's been spending time with these past couple months. She is working on saying all of their names.

- A little story. Early in my pregnancy when I was feeling really sick I had one of those really hard days with Darcy when I felt like I couldn't keep her happy because I couldn't do what she wanted me to. That night Drew prayed that Darcy would be able to communicate with me so that it would be easier for me to help her while I was sick. The very next morning she was reaching for some food on the counter and I asked her if she wanted a cracker. Then she repeated "cracker" (which actually sounded more like "caca"). I was SO excited. I had been trying to get her to repeat words for months and months, but she never seemed interested. I really felt like it had been an answer to prayer. I know it's kind of a small thing, but at that moment I really needed it and I felt like it was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father. Ever since then she has started saying lots of new words. THE END

- She says (or at least repeats when we ask her) cracker, juice, socks, shoes, grandma, grandpa, Ash (for Ashley), Jesus, horse, cat, dog, brush, yes, diaper, mama, dada, it go? (for where'd it go?) and a bunch more I can't think of at this moment. So far she can't really say the long "e" sound which is kind of rough because all of my sisters and Darcy have the long "e" sound at the end of their names. I have really been trying to get her to say Ashley and Haley and Darcy, but she just looks at me with a blank stare. Hopefully that will come soon enough.

- If you ask her where something is she will put her arms out to the side with her palms up and shrug her shoulders and say over and over again, "it go? it go?" It's one of our favorite things.

- She is going through another separation anxiety phase.

- She loves the piano. In fact she seems to really love all forms of music. She loves to dance and she has even started singing. I taught her the Gloria song that the angels sing at Christmas and she walks around singing that tune all day long. She likes to drum on her belly and her legs or anything in front of her like Drew does.

- She loves to be free to run around in stores or the mall and she is kind of a charmer with all the people she passes.

- She loves to be outside. No matter how cold it is outside the weather never seems to affect her.

Talking to me with her hands.

Her favorite place in the house.