Besss Fraannnsss

I love that these two love playing together. I just wish I can get a pic that's not blurry. #fwp

I hope they stay best friends. They're different enough, so it might just happen...when they're 23 and 20. :)

Days off

We love when Daddy has days off! Today we went to the mall (among other places) to see how much money Emma needs to save to get her ears pierced. Basically I'm stalling because I'm nervous for her! A mall visit is never complete without a ride on a mall money waster. The girls love this ice cream truck the best. Adele is beyond serious when it comes to steering and honking the horn. She's intense and screams the second it stops and you pry her hands from the steering wheel. Emma prefers serving the goods and posing for pics. :)

Mantra

My new one. Even though it's cheesy. :)

Nicest neighbors

Our neighbor, Ron, came over on Saturday showing us a nice coat he got from SAMs club for a super discount deal. Naturally, we were interested. Today, this coat showed up on our door.

Nicest neighbor!!

Blessed

My brother, Logan, got into a motorcycle accident tonight. A few days after hearing he got a bike, I had a dream that he died. I'm glad that dream only partially came true. He had 2 broken knees, a broken arm, and a broken thumb. Extremely lucky. Everywhere his temple garments touched was perfectly fine. So grateful he decided to be endowed and sealed. So grateful for temple covenants. Who knows what would have happened tonight if he hasn't gone through the temple!

Visitors

It's always fun to have family and friends visit. My brother Logan and his family came up for a quick day trip. It was fun to play in the freezing snow, have the girls play, and have Logan and Ammon jam together.

Thanks for the visit! We miss you already!

FHE

I forgot to post about FHE last night. Emma decided she wanted to do FHE on the Tree of Life (thanks, Living Scriptures!). Ammon and I unwound his ginormous climbing rope all over the house. I told her she had to get to the end of the rope, but she was not allowed to let go of the rope no matter what. I then gave her the start of the rope and turned off all the lights. It was DARK!! Emma is super scared of the dark. I totally thought she would freak out. Ammon stayed close by whispering encouragement to her. I stayed further away telling her to let go because the dark is really scary. She kept telling me, "it's not scary, Jesus will help me". I was a teary-eyed proud mom! She got to the end of the rope super fast, and got to eat her giant bowl of ice cream. I was so impressed by her faith and testimony! She is so sweet and full of tenderness! Love my Emma!

Today...

...was pretty much this (see below) until about 4 when I finally let her cry herself to sleep. Adele is not the best sleeper when Sundays ruin her schedule. Who even invented 1:00 church? Ugh!!

On a happier note, I started another semester of dance, Emma had an awesome morning before school (first time without a major meltdown), I went visiting teaching, and we passed income review on a government program to refi our underwater house in Gilbert!! Hooray!!!

Hoping Adele sleeps through the night tonight, and that tomorrow is much less eventful. :)

Lesson learned today:
Prayers are always answered.

Climbing

Ammon went rock climbing in Sedona today. My girls (and I) slept in til 10:30. Don't know who had a better day.

Adele gets her climbing skills from Daddy. The girl cannot walk. Yet, she can do a somersault (I need to post video of that) and climb up absolutely everything. My favorite ones are when she goes through the puppet show stage at the library, and when she's straddling two toys.

Who is this girl?

Utah

On Christmas Day, we packed the car and headed to Utah to spend some time with Ammon's family.

We had a lot of fun visiting Ammon's whole family since we don't get to see everyone very often.

Ammon made a snow cave, which the girls loved playing in. We went ice skating, which Emma absolutely loved doing, and Adele absolutely loved watching through the plexiglass. :)

Adele and Emma loved family jam sessions. Emma even contributed. Adele just rocked out from her perch on a guitar case. Emma loves her grandma and aunts, while Adele bonded more with grandpa and her uncles.

Only wish we lived closer so we could hang out more...and so we wouldn't have to put ourselves through the 8-hour torture of Adele screaming to get out of her carseat. So glad Emma was a sweetheart and so great on the road!

We miss everyone already!! <3

Christmas

We spent Christmas as a family of four this year! It was wonderful!

Christmas Eve we ate yummy homemade chicken noodle soup, then reenacted the nativity. Emma was Mary. Adele was a lamb (she totally mastered the Baaaa). Ammon was the narrator. And I was everything else. We then "gave gifts to Jesus" by writing down ways we could be better next year.

We then opened jammies and family gifts, read Christmas stories, and jumped into bed before Santa arrived.

Emma awoke first on Christmas morning, and was the one to break through the wrapping paper Santa left. Adele awoke shortly after...totally dazed and confused. Emma loved every gift from Santa, and even helped Adele open her gifts.

After presents, Ammon made crepes and and gave us all gifts. It was a fabulous morning!! So glad we decided to be together this year. We are hoping to make a tradition out of it! 🎄

Adele One Year

Adele is my feisty one. She doesn't take "no" for an answer. She screams until she gets what she wants, and she holds her own against her four-year-old sister: pulls her hair, hits, and takes all Emma's toys away. Her favorite thing to do is to throw everything out of a compartment, then climb inside.

I (my mom and sister-in-law, Jen) finally got Adele to take a bottle at 10.5 months when I had to be gone for 24 hours. On her 1st birthday, she started taking a binky (see below). She crawled at around 7 months and still isn't walking in her own. She'll cruise around walls and furniture, but sits or lunges forward when you try to get her to walk. However, she has managed to master a somersault. Go figure.

Adele isn't a great eater. She loves applesauce and chocolate. But not in that order. If she doesn't like what you offer her, she will either hit the spoon (or your hand) or pick it up and throw it on the floor. If you are lucky and it ends up in her mouth, she'll spit it out and throw it on the floor. She's not super picky, but good luck trying to guess what she's in the mood for.

Adele hates carseats with a passion. She will scream until she gets out, falls asleep, or you give her chocolate.

Adele is my cuggler. She LOVES being held, and will nuzzle you. She loves kisses and hugs. She'll blow kisses and wave at complete strangers. Such a flirt.

Adele loves climbing on EVERYTHING! How can she not walk yet? Daddy loves it, but Mommy gets annoyed of finding Adele in the dishwasher, in cabinets, on top of Emma's two-story bed, and dangling head first off the arm of the couch.

Adele says: Mama, Dada, Baba (or Baaa when talking about sheep), Hoo (for an owl), Dudu, and she also loves babbling all sorts of various "words". She's much more vocal than Emma was.

Her first birthday was fun! We had the Russells and Clarks over for dinner, cake, ice cream, and presents. Adele inhaled the cake (see below), and was awesome at opening gifts.

Nicknames:
Deli
Deli Belli
Deli Bells
Belli
Bells
Sister
Adeli
Turtle
Squish
Crazy

Here's to hoping she walks before 18 months, I can take her binky away at 18 months, and her terrible twos start and end early like Emma's!! Love you, Bells!!