you've changed.

Leesie surprised us one day when we asked her during dinner where the bears are and she pointed right to the bathroom (there's a photo of two bear cubs). Then we asked where the wolf was and she pointed right to the spot on the wall (notice a photo-theme?)! Today as I was reading three "That's not my. . ." books in a row, every time I asked her where the mouse was, she looked around the page until she spotted him, pointed and looked up. A little sponge I tell you. 

She's also started throwing mini-tantrums. The photo in the bottom right was after I took something she was playing with and the photo in the top left was taken about one second later when I gave it back. But Liesel also gives the sweetest little hugs and will lean over and give you a wet one on the lips when you say "give me a kiss." She was making great progress walking (like 10 steps in a row!) and then decided she wasn't interested and now she'll only do it if I'm holding both hands. She goes down the big twisty red tube slide all by herself. She still loves books and animals and babies and other kids. 

Liesel has also started talking somewhat. She'll say:

bebey (baby) every time she sees one- on the wipes, in a photo, in a book. . .

duh- (duck). She especially loves to point out the duck in her animal book.

dah- (dog) dogs often get the double point as shown in the bottom right photo

djee-je (Jesus)- she's already righteous

and she signs "more" and "milk"-- both of which I only did like twice and she picked right up on. I should probably do more of those. We really love this little pookie. 

What does the lion say?

rawrrrr. And Liesel will let you know anytime. The mamas of Moab have started a little preschool for our kiddos once a week. Last week we learned colors, this week we listened to animal sounds, visited the chickens and tortured them took pictures of them.  

The boo-boos: Owen Allred, Liesel Hays, Rylee Penrod

It has been amazing to see everything that Liesel has learned in the last few weeks! She's on her way to walking (8 steps in a row is her record so far-- video to follow), she says about 5 "words", knows a bunch of animal sounds, loves the pool, goes down the slides on her own and acts up constantly in church. She's almost a toddler-- and I can't believe it. 

Swiss Cheese and Sandflats

The other day Brian and I decided to get out and explore Swiss Cheese Ridge-- a high ridge full of amazingly deep potholes. . . pretty dang cool. 

The next day I went hiking with the Allreds out on Sandflats. We wandered out over the sandstone until we came to Mill Creek Canyon. The weather was unseasonably warm and the hike was awesome. 

Even the boos were happy all day! Just another reason to love Moab.

reality

 It will be a miracle if L doesn't die by falling down the stairs, falling onto a rock, infection from putting her hands in the toilet or choking on hair ties. 

She will like TV. And I will feel guilty every time she watches it. And yes, that's Baby Einstein in the car. A whole lot better than crying baby in the car (we've made this girl travel a lot lately).

She'll have more baby pictures than her sibblings. 

Parties will never be the same. Please note that Owen is taking steps between his parents, Liesel plays with blocks in the background, Luxton plays the marimba, Liam picks his noes and Rylees yells "moooo" while the adults try and carry on a conversation. (while parties may not be as carefree as they once were, they're even more necessary-- and this one was awesome).  

My house will never be truly clean again. This is my floor for the 20minutes I was cooking. I was so lost in thought I didn't notice that she had taken out the tinfoil and pulled all of it out, then crunched it all up. I then spent 20 minutes painstakingly trying to smooth it back out. 

And every night Brian and I will go to bed thinking we're the luckiest to have this little one upstairs.

love her.

this doesn't necessarily mean we're voting for Mitt

Getting ready to enter a neighborhood in Compton, LA

This marks the 7 year anniversary of leaving on my mission. I realized I've never really mentioned this significant part of my life on my blog before. Both Brian and I served missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints before we met. Both of us were called to the jungle: I was in Los Angeles, California, and Brian was in Fiji, South Pacific. Our missions were some of the best experiences of our lives. We fell in love with people from all over the world, strengthened our faith, learned new languages (me: Spanish, b: Fijian) and served others. 

Biking in LA III-- my area in downtown. 

Juan feeding us dinner. Banana leaves, pollo and chorizo. 

Mariachi band playing on the street in Willmington. 

Armenian's playing backgammon on the street in Hollywood. We saw these guys every day.

Getting ready to tract and apartment complex. 

Brian on the beach in Quamea

Fish dinner.

In the Missionary Training Center.

On the way to the village. 

While we are Christians and the church is called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we're frequently called Mormon's because in addition to the Bible we read The Book of Mormon (the spiritual history of the ancient Americans-- like the Bible is the spiritual history of the people in the Middle East). The church has been in the media a ton lately and we wanted to clarify our own reasons for following our faith. To find out why (in Brian's words), click HERE. Mine hasn't been posted yet. 

little wild horse

Goblin valley + one sweet easy slot followed by Ray's Tavern=good day. 

goblin valley

I've been trying to get Brian to Goblin Valley/Little Wild Horse for about a year now. We finally went with Brian's dad and it was as cool as I remembered it. I hadn't been there for about five years. I about killed myself playing hide and seek and tag with Brian. Which meant I was it the entire time and trying to get him the entire time. We lucked out the a beautiful day!

Liesel had a great time excavating the sand. There were little minefields courtesy of L within a 40ft radius of us on all sides. She threw a fit when we packed her up to go. . . can't blame her though! She's been a travelin' baby these last few weeks. 

let's be frank.

Brian's dad Frank came to visit this week. He was a sport and came to our (sometimes) weekly friend dinner. Then on Friday we headed up to our old stomping grounds; the Island in the Sky is as beautiful as ever. We didn't run into many people out there. January is really the only time of year here that things feel genuinely slow. Despite that, we found at least one restaurant open in town after a few failed attempts: Eddie McStiff's. The Baja fish tacos did not disappoint. 

Mountain Belle

Ouray, Colorado is known as the Switzerland of America. A beautiful valley surrounded by 13,000ft mountains. Knowing he was going to get new skis for Christmas, Brian organized a hut ski trip to Mountain Belle at 11,000ft. We were originally going to go with his dad, but he couldn't make it (and neither could any of our friends)-- so we headed out for a little family vacation. We stayed two nights and three days in this beautiful little place. 

I didn't get pictures of our moonlight ski in. Or Liesel's love of the snow (crawling through tunnels, eating the snow). Or our ski runs down the slopes. Or the gray jays that tried to eat off our plates. Or the magenta sunset.

We had a great time up there and slept warm and cozy with the insane heat that a wood stove generates and ate awesome goodies left over from our stockings. The only thing that would have made it better were the hot springs-- they didn't open till noon on our drive out so we missed a warm soak. Next time!

in case you were missing this face:

we may have used the following names today: my little grape soda, pookie-licious, mushroom head, little purple puffball. This girl steals the show in whatever she wears. 

new year moab style

rappel Corona Arch 

hang with Mary and B-rad

nerf wars at Clay and Leslie's

Mission Impossible 2

Actually stay up till midnight. Wow. 

sparkling cider toast

sparklers

intense game of Cranium

taquitos 

brownie sundaes

babies sleeping