Loves Christmas Except...

...Santa. That's right. Natalie HATES Santa!

At our ward Christmas party on Saturday night she freaked out when he walked in. He was half a gym distance away and she was still frantically trying to climb over Mike's shoulder to get away from Santa.

She eventually calmed down and I stood in line with her to see if she would sit on his lap. She was fine while we were in line (even when she saw him), but as soon as we were the next up she started crying, screaming, and climbing over my shoulder to get away from him. So, this is the best that we are going to get this holiday season of Natalie sitting on Santa's lap.

Other than Santa, Natalie loves Christmas! She loves looking at the lights, the tree, etc. We decorated our gingerbread house the other weekend. I made the gingerbread house from scratch (just as my mother did for us growing up). Natalie loves the licorice on it!

This Christmas will be fun with Natalie when it comes to opening up presents. Hope you all are getting in the Christmas spirit!

P.S. All is well with Natalie's arm. It must have just been sprained.

A Sad Sight

Natalie had a little accident on Tuesday. She fell off of a little neighbor girl's bed and hurt her arm. She hardly cried at all. I observed her throughout that afternoon because I suspected that something was wrong. She didn't cry when I felt her arm, but she sure didn't want to use it.

So we went to the ER to have it checked out. They could tell that about mid forearm Natalie didn't like them touching or turning her wrist to rotate it. The x-rays revealed nothing. So they called it an occult fracture (or hidden fracture) and sent us home with a splint and a sling.

We go to Natalie's pediatrician tomorrow to see what they think and see if another x-ray needs to be done. She's been using her arm more since yesterday afternoon. And her poor little hand is swollen from the fall. Natalie's a good sport and doesn't mind the splint or sling too much.

Pink Puff and White Stuff

Having a kid makes you feel more like a kid. I get all excited when I think of things that Natalie can experience. So when it snowed about 8 inches Saturday night I couldn't wait to take her out in it the next morning.

I just love Natalie in her winter coat! She looks like a big pink puff marshmallow. When she is wearing it, it reminds me of the little brother in A Christmas Story where he can't put his arms down.

See the resemblance!

I think that Mike liked the white stuff too because he was able to use our snow blower for the first time. It sure was a back saver considering how wet and heavy the snow was.

But we also put Natalie to work too!

Falling

The other week Mike was cleaning up all the leaves in our yard. Natalie loved watching him blow all the leaves into a pile. But she sure wasn't happy when I put her in it for pictures.

We found out the next day that we think that a spider must have crawled up her pants and bitten her thigh. That may explain why she wasn't too happy being in the leaves!

Nappy Hair

Natalie + nap = some funky hair!

Natalie is one funny little girl! She does something on a daily basis that makes me smile and laugh. We are just glad that she's ours!

Beautiful Fall

At the beginning of this month we spent the weekend in Midway with my family. We had lots of fun being with them. One of the evenings we went to Cascade Springs up American Fork Canyon.

Gotta love those little chipmunk cheeks!

I absolutely LOVE this picture!

P.S. Isn't my little brother an excellent photographer?! He took all of these pictures since I forgot our camera.

Oh the places you'll go.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own, and you know what you know.
And you are the one who'll decide where you'll go.
Oh the places you'll go.

~Dr. Seuss~

"It's Like Tuhmater Without The 'Tuh'"

Homegrown tomatoes = Heavenly

I have loved going out to my little tomato patch and picking some ripe tomatoes, then look at the plethora of green ones, and it all brings a smile to my face!

This also brings a smile to my face!

Natalie absolutely loves her new sunglasses and will actually keep them on!

She kept making me put them on her throughout church last week.

Can You Tell...

...that I LOVE beets!

YUMMY!

P.S. Grandma Lewis, I think that you would like them too if you gave them a try!

Marcie & Sam

I have been meaning to post about this for a while because these people mean so much to me.
You see, my wonderful cousin Marcie and her husband, Sam, are trying to adopt a child to begin their little family. They are a wonderful and loving couple who would make fabulous parents.


You can click on their button on the side of my blog to read more about them. Please spread the word if you know of anyone that may be interested!

My thoughts and prayers are with them as they go through this journey!

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Natalie had her 1st birthday on Sunday.

We had family over for cake and ice cream.

Before the cake...

...after the cake.

This year has really flown by and we love having Natalie in our family.

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Don't Think Don Aslett Did This...

Growing up my mother would always talk about cleaning like Don Aslett. I have had a project on my summer "to-do" list of cleaning my windows (inside and out) and cleaning all of the blinds as well. Last Thursday I finally got around to start cleaning the windows.

I used this product. AMAZING! So worth it.

I was feeling very productive.

But I don't think that Don Aslett did this...

As I was putting the huge blinds back up in my kitchen, they slipped and fell on my foot cutting it. Luckily Mike came home from work 3 minutes later and took me to Instacare where I ended up getting 6 stitches.

Lewis Reunion

The other weekend (July 9th and 10th) we had our Lewis reunion. We camped up Logan canyon and then spent the next day swimming, playing on a waverunner, resting and relaxing at Bear Lake.


Natalie did much better than we thought she would camping in our tent for the first time. She was a little ornery and woke up crying a couple times in the night. The day after we got home we found out that her two top front teeth were coming through...poor little girl!


During the reunion we.....

had s'mores and sat around the campfire...

slept in stylish fashion...

splashed in the water...

ate...

and took naps!

This was a shock seeing Natalie take a nap. She was just sitting on Grandma Lewis' lap as we all were sitting around and talking and the next thing I noticed was that Natalie had fallen asleep. Grandma Lewis eventually slouched to make it a little more comfortable for her and Natalie.

It was a great weekend relaxing and being around family!

Independence Weekend

The 4th of July weekend was a fun filled one for us. On Saturday the 3rd we went to the Murray parade.

This was my favorite "float" in the Murray parade.

We then went to Grandma and Grandpa Readings to play in the water and have a BBQ.

Sunday the 4th was filled with two baby blessings. Mike went to his sister's baby's blessing with Natalie in while I went to my brother's baby's blessing.

On Monday the 5th we went and spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa Lewis. Of course it involved more eating and a yummy BBQ...

...splashing in more water...

...and riding Grandpa Lewis' 4-wheeler.

Yellowstone

We went to Yellowstone this last week for a family vacation. It was a fun trip! Natalie did very well with it being her longest car ride and her first time sleeping somewhere else (the first night was rough, but after that it was great). We got there on Thursday and it was very cold, a little rainy, and a little snowy. We went into the park for a bit and saw Firehole Falls and a few other things.

Throughout the time that we were in the park this weekend we saw buffalo, elk, a coyote, a huge wolf, bald eagles, pronghorns, cranes, squirrels, and ducks.On Friday the other Reading clan (Jeffrey, Keri, and Maddie) joined us. We began our day by seeing Old Faithful and the geysers around it.

Natalie sure enjoyed having her cousin with her throughout this trip!

Then we hiked to Lone Star Geyser.

Mike and Natalie hiking to Lone Star Geyser.

The two kiddos were so tired that they eventually gave in and took naps and let their daddies do all the hard work.

We took our picture with the Lone Star Geyser while it was doing one of it's minor eruptions.

Lone Star Geyser is an awesome geyser that has a couple of minor eruptions and then a major eruption. The major eruption happens about every 3 hours and after it is done it has a huge steam let off. It was an impressive sight watching it all!

On Saturday we went to Mammoth Hot Springs and wandered around. We did the lower and upper terraces area near there.

Mike and I got a kick out of watching other people's reactions when they saw Maddie pushing her baby around in her stroller. Maddie had to have her stroller since Natalie was in hers.

Natalie and Mike checking out the Artists Paintpots.

It was a fun trip and nice to get away for a bit. But it sure was nice coming home to our own bed! We enjoyed having the other Reading clan with us. Going to Yellowstone was a great way to begin our summer fun!