Chase's Farewell  

Posted by Amber

 
We took a quick trip to St. George July 20th and 21st for my nephew, Chase's, farewell.  We left Payson at about 12:15pm.  Henlie slept for about 1 1/2 hours.  After waking, she was just chillin' for a bit, but then she got upset with the whole situation.  We took a quick break in Cedar City to nurse while Matt went into Walmart and picked up some trail mix for him and Oreos for the BBQ that night at Makayla's.

Using the handles of her sippy cup on the drive down.
 
We first stopped in Washington at Monica's where we visited for a bit and got to play with Myron and Maritza's baby, Ari.  I will have to see about procuring some pictures of Ari and Henlie together since I didn't take any.  Then we headed over a few blocks to look at the progress on Mom and Dad's house they are buidling. (Most unfortunate it wasn't done so we could stay there. :))

Lainee, Felicity, and Marquessa serenading us from the hot tub.
 


Chillin' on the grass at Aunt Makayla's
 
 
After the house tour, we headed to Santa Clara to Makayla's house for a BBQ.  It was so HOT.  Oh my goodness.  Before dinner, we ended up on the grass since it was cooler than the cement.  A storm rolled in, bringing lots of wind.  It was a toss up to stay outside with things blowing around but enjoy the cooler weather or to go inside.  Food and stuff got moved inside, but we stayed outside.  It only sprinkled a little.  The storm brought humidity, though, which made the heat later intolerable.

Mom, Myron, Dad, Makayla, and Dennis

Mom, Myron, Dad, and Greg
Once Greg informed me not to take pictures of him, it became my mission to take pictures of him ;)

I forgot I was zoomed in - but I think it's a fun picture anyway :)
 
Grandma coming to take a few pictures of her cute granddaughter ;)

Ryan and Matt

After the BBQ, we went to Dave and Lori's house where we were staying.  We visited and played with the kids.  They loved Henlie :)  Henlie thought they were pretty great, too, especially all of the toys they were sharing with her.  She had a hard time going to bed, though.  I finally got her down about 9:30pm.  I then went upstairs to finish watching soccer with Matt.  I think we got to bed at about 11:30pm.  Then Henlie woke at 1:30am. That was the longest stretch of sleep I got all night. She then woke at 2:10, and 3.  I was up for about an hour with her then. She woke up again sometime in the 5 o'clock hour.  It was ridiculous.  I was quite tired.

Grandma Erdmann, Henlie, and Grandpa Erdmann
Henlie's way interested in Grandma's sunglasses!

Maritza, Myron, Ari, and Monica

Greg grillin' :)

I have Grandpa and a cup.  Can life get better?
I submit that it canNOT!

Checking out something fascinating on Grandpa's shirt, I'm sure.

In the morning (the real morning when people wake up and move about, that is), we watched TV with the family and had homemade chocolate doughnuts.  We headed back out to Santa Clara at about 12:30pm.  We made it to church on time and had a place to sit thanks to the family.  Henlie hung out with Mari and Ryan for the first part of sacrament meeting.  I think Ryan is Henlie's favorite uncle now.  He's like the baby whisperer lol 

Baby whisperer in action.
 
Myron, Ari, and Grandma
 
Monica, Ari, and Grandma.  Ari taking a nap :)

The last part of sacrament, Henlie hung out with Grandpa.  Ari also came to play with Grandma for a bit.  We shared toys when Ari started to fuss.  I have to admit, I only heard part of Chase's talk due to the babies and the aforementioned exhaustion.  (Sorry, Chase!)
Fascinated by Ryder's iTouch

Henlie, Ryder, and Rylee

All ready for church!

Great-Uncle Dave making funny noises :)

After sacrament, we went back to Makayla's for lunch. We scored comfy lounge chairs in the shade in the yard :)  We had yummy food and chatted with family a little.  We also filled out cards for Chase with an easy recipe on one side and advice on the other.
Henlie loves flying!

She lost her dress because it was just too darn hot...


Before we knew it, it was time to head home again.  I think Henlie was asleep before we hit Bluff Street.  She slept for about two hours.  We got off in Fillmore for a potty break.  I nursed Henlie and Matt took a nap.  After a diaper change, we were back on the road.  We made it home at about 8:30pm and put Henlie to bed after getting her a bath (the heat and humidity made her cradle cap kind of bad - and the wind got us kind of dirty...).  (She was up the last bit home.  Mini Nilla Wafers kept us sane.  Can't cry if you're eating!)
The Missionary with Myron's family.
Myron, Maritza, Ari, Porter, Jaycie, Ellie, Chase

It was a short trip (they usually are), but it was fun to see family and get to see Chase off before he heads to Florida on his mission.  He will do great!  As for our short trip issue - we're planning on Thanksgiving this year and actually spending a few days in St. George :)

Henlie and Chase
Now to wait two years to compare!

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Jackie's Baby Shower  

Posted by Amber

Thursday, July 18th, we held a baby shower for Jackie.  Camile has amazing artistic talents (yeah, I'm a little jeaous ;)) and made the cutest invitations and decor - water colored dinosaurs.  Seriously, adorable. (I'd show you a picture, but I didn't take any....)

I made mini cheesecakes for dessert.  I had to still buy supplies that morning, so we did that, and made 96 cheesecakes. Busy busy.  As for toppings, I didn't want to force anyone into toppings, so I bought chocolate, carmel, and strawberry squirt bottles :) (Chocolate and carmel from ice cream toppings, strawberry was squirtable jam...) I think it worked out quite well - plus, less mess.  Can't go wrong there!

I ended up dropping the cheesecakes and Henlie and Mocha off at Grandma's early because I had a primary presidency meeting.  We were done by like 5:30, though (shower was at 6), so I made it back in plenty of time.

We had very yummy food and got to visit with family, which is always fun.  Jackie got some cute stuff (again, I didn't feel like taking pictures, so I have none.....sorry.)

We're excited for Jackie and Curtis and their little boy - it's just unfortunate they are moving across the country in a couple of weeks (and about 1 month before the baby is due :( )  Pictures, Jackie.  We'll need lots and lots of pictures! :)

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Payson Scottish Festival 2013  

Posted by Amber

The Payson Scottish Festival was held on July 13th.  Matt was soloing in the morning at 10:15 and 10:30-ish.  Henlie and I weren't having a good morning, so we didn't get there as early as I was hoping.  Then, parking was awful.  It always is, but we drove around for ages.  I was just about ready to head home and say screw it, when a spot I've used in the past was open on my way out.  It's about as far away as I was willing to park, so I flipped around and parked.  We got to the park just after Matt's second solo.

The fun part of the Payson games is seeing lots of people I know.  White Peaks wasn't playing since a lot of the band is in Nauvoo, but I visited with Natalie and Tashina.  Next, I headed across the park to see Matt at the band tent, but he was rehearsing.  I chatted with Janna for a bit before heading back to the competition field.  

My family eventually made it over, so we set up shop next to them so I could feed Henlie. For the rest of the day, I hung out around the competition field, leaving our stuff for Steven to watch while I played social butterfly catching up with people. :)  It was fun to see people (because I never see people anymore - not in real life.  Yes, I'm partly to blame for that :))  We watched the grade 5 competiton and round 1 of the grades 4 and 3 competitions.  After that, Henlie and I packed up (my family was all leaving anyway) and headed home.  Matt made it home later and informed me the grade 4 had won both competitions. (I don't remember the other grades' standings.)

Truth be told, I'm kind of over Scottish festivals.  They pretty much are all the same.  They definitely are the same when you go to the same ones every year.  Next year? I think Henlie and I will skip Thanksgiving Point for Art City Days. (I haven't been to Art City Days in years....like, since I started piping lol).  We'll still go to Payson as that was always a tradition for me, and it's free ;)  Regardless, once we finally made it to the park, we had an enjoyable time at the Payson festival this year.

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Hogle Zoo 06 13 13  

Posted by Amber

Since it was last month, I don't really remember why Matt took a Thursday off, but he did, and we headed up to the zoo for the second time this year.  A few months makes a difference when it comes to Henlie's interest in the animals.  The zoo was much less crowded this visit.

This poor giraffe was trying so hard to get that leaf.
He was unsuccessful.
 
On the way back from the giraffes, Henlie managed to pull her headband in her face trying to get her flower clip :)

We made it up in the afternoon and found a great parking spot in the north lot. We stopped at the Beastro first thing to have some lunch.  Henlie shared garlic knots with me. :)  We sat next to the window facing the elephant's enclosure, and there was a butterfly hanging about that we got to watch while we ate.  We also picked up some souvenir cups.  They weren't that much more money than a regular cup to purchase, and the refills are cheap.  Plus - lids! (The disposable cups don't have lids because they don't want things getting in the enclosures and dangering the animals.

Henlie at Rocky Shores - souvenir cup in the background.

Since Henlie can sit in her stroller sans car seat now, she could actually see some of the animals.  She is still too young for them to hold her interest for very long, but at least she could watch!




We missed the bird show, but we caught an educational encounter at Rocky Shores.



It was a pretty toasty day.  Even though we were still able to go through everything pretty quickly, the fact we got there late in the day and the heat made it seem like a full day!  Matt and Henlie recouperated by napping on the way home. :)

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8 Months  

Posted by Amber

It's true - another month has already passed.  Four more months and I'll be throwing a birthday party.  Craziness.


This month has brought about a lot more of Henlie's personality and independence.  She's growing into such a little person :)

 Speaking of personality - she loves to stick her tongue out now.  It's pretty cute.  And silly.  And cute :)  She also blows lots of raspberries, especially when she is tired.  I think she uses it as a way to help keep her awake.


 She also reacts to social cues.  She'll smile and laugh on her own, sure, but if you are playing with her and laughing, she'll smile right back at you.  Sometimes she'll even laugh.  She has the cutest laugh and smile.

 She experienced a lovely growth spurt this month.  Last month, Dr. Fullmer said she was maintaining her growth rate where other kids start tapering off.  We took her in for another weight check on the 5th, and she is now 15 lbs.  That is almost 3 lbs in the last month!  Who knows, she may actually end up on the curve after all!  As for height, I measured her at 25.25 in. this month.

 We've had some sleep struggles this month.  I'm pretty sure it was a three-part issue. 

1) Growing.  Seriously - constantly eating (and that's how you gain nearly 3 pounds in a month!)  

2) Going to bed too late.  Previously, she was fine with getting to bed by 7:30/8pm.  Now I have started putting her to bed between 6pm and 6:30pm.  She is usually asleep by 7:30pm.  I think by the time bedtime (set at 8pm) rolled around, she was much too tired to actually sleep.

 3) Developmental milestone.  She is soooo close to crawling.  Plus, if she could actually balance, I'm sure she'd just be walking.  All of this movement development I think has disrupted her sleep.  (Why does this happen?)


 So, moving - if she's sitting on a chair or the couch, she is pretty immediately moving forward trying to get things and go places.  She has fallen once.  She was fine, and I was right there to help break her fall.  Silly girl.  Usually she gets up on one knee and one foot.  Once she has gotten both knees under her on her own. (She usually lets them spread out so her pelvis is on the ground instead of her knees.)  She rocks, but she hasn't actually gone forward.  A little backwards, though.  And with all of this trying, she can move around a little bit and get into things.


She still loves standing and walking (with help, of course).  She's getting better at her balance, but still can't stand on her own for very long.  She can pull herself up now, at least if she can actually grab something, like the side of her bassinet where we change her.  So mobile - and it's only going to get worse.... :)

 As for eating - she really can just eat and eat and eat.  Sometimes she gets three actual meals in, but usually just two.  We nurse four to five times/day.  Usually she does get to help eat whatever we're having, though, so I guess it's kind of like three meals.  (Usually it's bread related, too....)  I was shocked at how much she'd gained, though.  Her pattern has been around a pound per month.  Almost three is pretty crazy!

 She's eating all sorts of new foods and food combinations, too.  No signs of food allergies so far, and she has had a little bit of the more allergenic foods (a little bit of a peanut butter cookie, anyone?)  We still try to go two or three days between new foods, but I've become a little lax since she has been doing so well with new foods.  (Plus, there are a lot of mixed foods available, and it's hard to find things with nothing new in them....)


Part of these new foods would be Cheerios.  She still hasn't developed a pincer grip to feed herself.  Although, she does grab food (like Cheerios or bread) and plays with it....  Cheerios have been great.  That's my new go-to at church to keep her quiet.  That's probably not a good habit, but when she's just chatting and not doing anything that really warrants taking her out, I don't want to take her out....  She loves Cheerios.

 We've also tried ham (the only meat she has tried).  She is not a fan.  We haven't tried again beyond a couple days.  Meat is supposed to be used sparingly anyway, right? :)


 This month has also been one of firsts.  Henlie went to her first movie.  Camile and I took Henlie and Charlie to the movies in Spanish Fork.  They do a family/children's special on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday each week in the summer.  They do kids' movies for $1.  Since our girls are so little, they are still free, so it was $2 for the four of us.  We saw Kung Fu Panda 2.  Henlie did really well for most of the movie.  Then for the rest of it, she did pretty well being held in the back of the theater.  I'm just glad I got to see the rest of the movie since I hadn't seen it before :)

I finally managed to get her hair into a ponytail, too.  It has been long enough for a little one, but every time I'd try, she'd move and I just couldn't get it in.  We were finally able to do it, and since then, we've gotten better at it.  Her hair just keeps getting longer, too.  I'm a little excited for when it is long enough to do different styles, but at the same time, it is a little annoying having to do her hair every day.  It's only going to get more involved the longer it gets.  Oh well, maybe she won't be mistaken for a boy anymore. (Yeah, that has happened all too often. Curse not wearing pink in public I guess.)

First ponytail - 06 21 13

 She also got her first balloon.  We went to Payson Market for groceries, and they gave her a balloon for being so darn cute :)  She wasn't quite sure what to do with it, but it was cute.  She got some play out of it.  She loves exploring new things.  It was so sweet of the ladies to do that for her, too.  There is something to be said of shopping at a small local market.
 

 
  The other first was on her 8 month birthday exactly.  We were at Jason and Camile's for Independence Day celebrations, and Henlie and Charlie played on the swing set.  Henlie wasn't sure what was going on at first, but once she got balanced and figured out how to work things while swinging, she had a great time.  She really loved it, even laughing at one point (although once I got the camera out, she stopped all of the giggling).

I can't believe how quickly time continues to fly.  It's pretty crazy.  I'm just glad my little girl is growing happily and healthily.  I'm excited (and a little nervous) for what the next month holds!

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Utah Scottish Festival 2013  

Posted by Amber

June 8th was the Utah Scottish Festival held at Thanksgiving Point.  Matt had solos in the morning, and we had decided we weren't going to make it to his first one because of how early it was.  However, Henlie had a really crappy night of sleep, being up at 2:30am, 3:30am, and then 4:30am.  At that point, I gave up and we just stayed awake.  We watched the sunrise on the patio with the dog and cat at 5:30am.  



We got ready and were able to make it to Thanksgiving Point in time to watch Matt solo his MSR.  It was a really nice day, considering how the weather has been the past few years at this games.  Matt was going to scratch his Hornpipe/Jig competition, but Glenn let him play it early so he didn't have to.  Mocha loved Glenn.  Henlie was okay with him.  But not sad or afraid, so that was good lol.

Daddy warming up

Henlie watching Daddy drum.
 
After Matt's solos and Vivian's solo (he was playing for her too), we headed back to the tent.  Henlie and I walked the booths and visited my cousin Ashlee at the Damsel in this Dress booth.  While we were wandering, I got a text from my other cousin Lindsay.  She had her baby girl that morning and sent a picture.  We had to go back to tell Ashlee and show her the picture :)

Matt soloing in MSR - Glenn Kvidahl is judging
 
Since I've been to so many Scottish festivals, I didn't really care to go to massed bands.  So, Matt had me go get him and his piper lunch (he offered to buy him lunch since he has been playing for him :)).  We did this, and Mocha tried to ruin it all.  Dog, plus people, plus food, plus stroller = PAIN in the BUTT. Anyway.... Fortunately, there was an extra piece of fish on one of them, and Mocha only caused me to lose the two fish of the fish and chips.  So instead of being a three piece and a two piece, they became one and two pieces. Dumb dog.  Getting all of that back plus my food was also a bit of a pain, but we managed.

Watching Daddy solo.
 
We also didn't go watch Matt or the grade three or five compete.  (I'm still a little confused why we ended up going lol)  Henlie took a nap at one point, so that was nice.  Otherwise, we hung out at the tent.  We visited White Peaks' tent too to visit with our friends there.  
 

We found out that Henlie warms up to other gingers pretty quickly.  I'm pretty sure Callin was her favorite.


We ended up leaving around 3pm.  We also took my cousin's daughter, Sydney, home.  She wasn't competing and didn't need to stay for closing massed bands.  She didn't have a ride home, so we fit her in and dropped her off afterward.

 
After we got home, Henlie nursed and took another nap.  It was a pretty good day.

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