winter in Canyonlands

Eager to get out in the snow.  Minus naps and food we were out from sun up to sun down.

No doubt, this place is amazingly beautiful. North six-shooter in the distance. 

Hannah getting ready to intimidate the snow into melting. It was already working on me. 

Brian before work. I snapped this photo for his feature in the USU magazine. 

Liesel overflowed her diaper while playing due to her consumption of icicles and snow. Dang, that's a lot of icicles. 

love those lashes.

I love winter in Canyonlands. 

multi-tasker

Hannah in a moment of calm that never happens between 5-7pm. 

I have mastered the art of doing three things at once while having my mind in 10 places at once. Which means I'm no longer effective at anything. Brian has started demanding my complete attention when he talks to me. I have total mom-brain. I don't remember anything until I sit down to nurse or go to bed at night and suddenly I remember everything but there's no pen and paper. Then I forget it all over again.

A more accurate photo would have been of me folding laundry while talking on the phone to one of my sisters while balance-nursing Hannah on the Boppy while reading L a book. But this is a G-rated blog. So instead you have me toting H while cutting feta cheese and chatting. And you're lucky because although my hair isn't done, at least I'm out of my pjs by dinnertime. Can't say the same for Hannah Marie.

On a side note I noticed that our family initials spell BLAH. Does that mean something?

My ability to memorize nursery rhymes has not diminished (along with my extra-wide post baby hips).

Bless this mess. I sat down and ate my plastic strawberry along with Doe, Dolly and Liesel. Mommy sit down right der (finger pointing to the exact spot in the carpet I am to sit).

there's an angel on my bed.

my dad always calls little babies cherubs and while that word is weird, it is completely accurate. Little babies are angels. I mean, look at that little one passed out on my bed straight from Heaven. And apparently my mom knows how to sew an angel dress. It is perfect.

Brian trying to get Hannah to smile. 

 Instead she yawned. 

 Sylvia Height (a name synonymous with my childhood) crocheted these beautiful booties and a pink blanket for the girls. 

 We had to bribe Liesel with Lucky Charms to get this shot. Still working on the whole "love my sister" thing, but at least she seems fascinated by the number of rolls in Hannah's forearm. 

 My other angel who has definitely turned two. With a capitol T. Budding independence, rebellion, constant messes and continuous chatter. She's my little buddy and I would be so lonely here without her. 

 Last Sunday was Hannah's baby blessing. I spent the morning getting both girls ready. We drove to the chapel on the snowy roads, we met Clay and Leslie there and all sat down. I nursed to make sure she would be happy. We waited for the announcement and then. . . they forgot. A quick note to the bishop and an apology announcement and she was blessed after the sacrament. Whew. Didn't want to have to get them ready again the following week and with Leslie due the next day our chances of having our family away from family there the next Sunday were slim. 

The blessing was beautiful. She was silent through the whole thing. The congregation let out an "awwww" when she was presented by Brian (although they always do, don't they?). 

 It was special and wonderful but more chaotic than Liesel's because let's be honest, everything is more chaotic with two kiddos. 

At church after the blessing:

The Allreds and us. 

and since Hannah wouldn't smile in her blessing dress: 

the open road

 there is a lot of space between my house

and yours

a lot of beautiful open space

i may not have an easy time getting eggs

when mine run out

but i saw an owl on my run

over the slickrock and through a canyon

and a golden eagle as i drove.

sometimes the 90 minutes to town 

(and we really do say, "to town")

are filled with tears and pleas for dvds

but sometimes it's peaceful

or we sing songs

E-I-E-I-O

or we chat as we go

about 'beautiful beautiful little tiny stars'

or point out the horses

or the cows eating who-knows-what 

as they trample around the desert sage

next I should teach Liesel Home on the Range

it is quiet here

so quiet 

i don't think it could be more quiet than this quiet

so it's a good thing i have two littles

who make so much noise

and sisters who call so the phone rings often

and friends who make the trek all the way

down

here

to the beautiful open space that's home

for

now. 

desert Christmas

Set up our tree this week and watched Liesel fall in love. She has broken 2 ornaments so far and continuously unplugs the lights on the christmas tree and tells me to turn them on again. She loves to hang out behind the tree and I've found several interesting things back there including doll shoes, blocks, orange peels and several ornaments that she has managed to yank off the limbs. Despite Brian's three day absence, we managed to make it the the ward Christmas party and spend the night with the Watsons. We were both sans-hubby and I stayed up way too late chatting for the number of times both L and H woke up. 

And guess who is smiling? Love. 

and in other news:

Hannah was blessed today

the last remaining couple down at the Needles is coming over for dinner tonight

it snowed

our car is fixed (after hitting a deer)

and I accidentally asked the girl I was photographing yesterday if her friend was her mother. 

whoops.

I'm Two

December 2011

 Liesel's growth this year could probably be measured in the length of her pigtails. 

Nov. 30, 2012

  Happy Birthday L!

PS: a Liesel 2yo interview coming soon. This girl is getting funnier by the day. 

Moab Christmas Parade

Dirty knees, pumpkin bread, eatin' snow and smelling fir trees. 

I have to admit that I didn't actually cut my tree. Nor did I do really anything besides sit in my car and nurse Hannah while listening to Christmas for Cowboys by John Denver on repeat. I guess something about the "wide open plain" resonated with me this year. Okay. Anyway. Clay went and cut down our tree for us since Brian was "working" in Arches (Do you count canyoneering as work? Because that's what I do when I'm having fun). 

Later that evening we blew Liesel's mind when we showed up at the Moab Christmas Parade. Remember that from last year? Liesel was so little then! My how they grow. Babydom is so short. Yesterday when I put on Liesel's purple coat she said, "going to the Christmas light parade again?" She was in fact going on a walk with dad while I went trail running. That should be a subject for another post since trial running and I have recently fallen in love. Don't worry, B already knows. Anyway. 

the whole town 

free loft house cookies 

and free cocoa

met up with our best buddies

and ran into familiar faces

my little girl in christmas bows

and a red turtleneck

the other one in 10 layers of fleece

snoring softly

me in flip-flops

(this year is too warm!)

She didn't even notice the dum-dums being thrown at her feet. 

The NPS float. Made us proud. And hoarse. We may have been the only ones cheering. 

Liesel and Rylee spontaneously holding hands while sitting on their dad's shoulders. Sigh*

 

christmas bells

Liesel singing Christmas Bells + photos of our tree hunt = 21 seconds of adorable.  

at the crag

me nearing the top of Rock Lobster

The day Lindsey left the Needles and headed back up to SLC, Van and Kendra (friends from up North at Grand Teton) arrived. We ate burgers and waldorf salad (which for some reason has become a sort of obsession for me-- I never had craving during pregnancy but now all of the sudden. . .) and hit the sack my style at 9pm.

These guys are either serious troopers or desperate to climb. They insisted (or did I insist?) that they didn't mind having two kids at the base of the climb. We drove out to Broken Tooth and I hiked up with Liesel and Hannah while they hurried ahead and set up the climb. 

Brian leading on the left and Hannah crashed out on my lap for a mini-nap. 

Liesel's Jackson Pollock on the sandstone. Instead of Number 1 she's naming it 5.10. Sidenote: sandstone pebbles make great erasers. 

This is perhaps the first non-booty shot of me climbing ever. And the sad thing is, I told Brian to take it. Truth hurts. 

doing double duty with the babes-- you know, just 40+ lbs of little people plus soggy diapers and gear. NBD. 

I didn't want to push my luck and chase Van and Kendra off forever, so I hiked down mid-day to put the chitlins to bed. Although I abandoned my resolve the next day when Kendra volunteered to carry Hannah and food/H2O for the two of us to Paul Bunyun's potty. After an 8-mile sand slog and 5 hours of baby talk we may never be seeing them again. . . 

Meanwhile B was climbing one of the Bridger Jack's with Van.