NILMDTS

Now I Lay me Down to Sleep (NILMDTS) is an organization I came across because a friend needed their services. I just wanted to share this because I think what they do is incredible. I wish I could help but maybe you can - whether it be by volunteering or donating. If you are interested, their site is here. My heart aches and the tears flow when I watch or hear about these situations because I cannot imagine the sorrow they feel.

Side note: Do NOT watch this video unless you are prepared to CRY, it is not the most uplifting video. I also wouldn't recommend it if you are pregnant.

(scroll down to the bottom of this page to pause the music)

My First Window..

It's paint on an old antique window. So much fun, there will be more to come. However, I take absolutely no credit for this project because I completely stole the idea from my completely multi-talented (and well-rounded :) sister. I originally made it for Norah's room but then realized all her furniture is cherry. I'm thinking about painting the frame. (New post below, too).

Our Snuggler

Norah is completely weaned. Consequently, she has turned to the bottle. Norah has always had a hard time falling asleep in our arms. Normally we just put her in her crib (without her bottle) and she will fall asleep, but lately she has let us snuggle her to sleep every once in a while. We like it. Here are a few funny pictures in a true sequence (please excuse the mess in the background and see post two below for explanation).

This picture was taken last night. We had dinner at a friend's house and she was so exhausted when we got home that she immediately crashed. What a cute little buggy (and a cute daddy, too).

The Bees and Hogle Zoo

On Monday we went to a Salt Lake Bees game. Joe's company was kind enough to provide a picnic dinner and tickets to the game. It was our first baseball game and we liked it. Definitely not the most action-packed sport to watch but it kept our attention. Norah couldn't care less about the game because she had her eye on the BEE. Yes, the mascot. As soon as she spotted him she tensed up (see explanation in post below) and pointed and grunted. Her dream came true when she got to sit right next to him. She was a bit bashful and I think she was left speechless when she was finally face-to-face with him.

On Tuesday Norah and I went to the Hogle Zoo with my sister-in-law, Shannon. Norah of course loved it. It was fun but I think it will be even more fun next year when she's almost 2! Her most favorite thing at the zoo was a huge fan that sprayed water. She kept pointing me back to it. Her hair looked pretty funny when I finally got her away from it.

On Wednesday Joe went on a daddy-daughter date with his niece Emily (shown in the middle above). Emily's dad (Joe's brother Aaron) is in India right now with his two oldest children picking up his parents from their mission. Joe was flattered when Em wanted to take him to the date. It was very cute and I'm sad I didn't take a picture of the two of them. We are very excited to welcome home Grandpa and Grandma Brown in ten days! It will be the first time Norah will have met them! They have spent the last 3 1/2 out of 5 years in India and we are looking forward to hearing all their stories.

10 Months Old - Likes and Dislikes

LIKES:

Balls. Norah will hold a small ball in her hand all day long. Sometimes she'll crawl around with one in each hand and reminds me of a gorilla.

Animals, mostly stuffed but non-stuffed too because she thinks they're stuffed. I avoid at all costs the stuffed animal section at the thrift store because if she spots it she will flex every muscle in her body with excitement and demand that I take her over to them. This picture was taken at IKEA.

Outside. Norah loves to be outside. If we happen to be inside, she is probably pointing at the door and waving, telling me she wants to go outside. Walks, swings, flowers, trees, birds, trucks - she loves it all.

"Driving" the car. She loves loves loves to stand on the driver's seat and hold the wheel. She'll pretend to press buttons and even turn the windshield wipers on and off. We usually have to peel her little hands off the steering wheel when it's time to get in her seat.

Pools. Daddy bought Norah an awesome little pool and she loves it. She mostly loves to crawl in and out of it but she'll stick her bum in the water every once in a while.

Pictures. Norah loves to look at pictures of anything and anyone, but especially of herself, Mama and Dada. When we say, "Where's Jesus, Norah?" she crawls over and finds the picture and points to Him.
So cute.

Taking things out. She can destroy a tidy house in a heartbeat.

Putting things away. She did this all by herself and of course I thought it was adorable.

DISKLIKES:

When she can't have and/or do one of the above.
(Enter tantrum).

I Thought This Day Would Never Come...

After nearly 10 months of waking up sometimes up to 4 times a night, Norah slept 11 hours straight last night! The night before she slept 9 hours (although, Owen woke up 4 times, go figure - we figured out he was scared of her blow up pool we put in the living room). I still woke up once last night, I guess my body is just used to it, but hallelujah - she is sleeping through the night! Since we moved on Saturday (oh yeah, PS we moved and yes that is our 6th move in 2 years), I have reason to believe that that could be part of the reason. We previously lived in a basement apartment and it was really hard to keep a constant, comfortable temperature down there at night. Whatever the reason we are VERY happy about it! Go Norah!!

Love Languages

The first time I heard about The Five Love Languages (a book written by Gary Chapman) was in a Dating and Courtship class at BYU-Idaho. The concept was new to me but made so much sense. It recently came up in a conversation I had so I thought I'd share it with you.

Basically, there are five love languages. Each person possesses a "language" as to how they feel loved. The five are; physical touch, gifts, words of affirmation, quality time and acts of service. You may "speak" more than one of these languages but for the most part you are "fluent" in one of them. For example, a husband (we'll call him Bob) might not feel loved at all when his wife cleans up after him (acts of service is not his love language) but might be overwhelmed with gratitude and love when his wife tells him how important he is to her (words of affirmation is his love language). Interestingly enough, how we SHOW love is most often the way we FEEL love. So, in this prior example, Bob's wife shows her love by serving him. It is most likely true that this is how she feels loved. Now think about this; if you feel loved through words, speaking another "language" will be difficult (Bob serving his wife). When you understand these concepts and principles in your relationships it can be so so so beneficial. Anyway, if you are interested, click here and take the love languages quiz! It would be interesting to know what your results are!

Anniversary/Vacation

I think I feel a tradition coming on. Last year Vegas and California, this year Zion and Lake Powell. I like it. It was such a fun week! I loved spending time with my little family for a few days and then Joe's family for the rest of the week. We drove down to Hurricane, UT (a 4 hour drive) on Friday night where our sister in-law's sister was so kind to let us stay with her and even fed us breakfast in the morning. Thanks Chris and Tony! The next day we drove to Zion (a 40 minute drive) and spent the day there. From there we drove to Bryce Canyon (a 3 hour drive) and stayed at a hotel. We decided that going to the Bryce Canyon visitor's center and looking at all the tour books was enough instead of paying the $25 to get into the park. So we were on the road again (a 4 hour drive) to Lake Powell. The drive was beautiful and I was amazed at all the hundreds and hundreds of miles of untouched land. I think I really got in touch with my hippie side on this vacation. I was loving the landscape and animals. We really do live on a beautiful earth. When we got to Lake Powell we did a little swimming and ate dinner while we waited for Joe's brother Aaron to arrive. They got there around 10pm and then we loaded onto the houseboat. Aaron and Shannon were so generous in inviting us to invade on their family vacation! Thanks guys! Joe's brother Eric and his family arrived the next day.

It was a big party. In all there were 13 kids (all blondies) and 6 adults. We all slept on top of the houseboat, under the stars, and it was beautiful. Norah did so well! I was a little stressed out about her sleep schedule and stuff but hey, she slept when she needed to sleep and actually ended up taking 2 hour naps (very unlike her). It was a good experience for her to have all her cousins around. They constantly wanted to pick her up and play with her. She was well socialized. Joe did a lot of wake-boarding (I'm so sad I didn't get any pictures of him doing it) and he was really happy about that. The weather was beautiful the whole week. I was actually kind of surprised at how hot it was and after spending a little over a week in the desert I decided that I love trees and the ocean breeze. We planned on driving home (a 4 hour drive) on Thursday but ended up staying until Saturday because it was just too much fun. We pulled into town just in time for the Stadium of Fire fireworks at BYU.

OK, I just spent way too much time uploading all the pictures to facebook so to see them all you can click here. For those of you not familiar with facebook, there are three pages of pictures so you have to click "2" and "3" at the top of the page to see the rest, or you can just keep clicking "Next" at the top of each picture.