Uh-Oh, Gold

Zachary added a word to his vocabulary! He said "Uh-Oh" after destroying a block tower. Yay for new words!

Olivia and I were having a little discusion about hair. I asked her what color my hair was to which she replied "brown". I got the same answer for Daddy's hair and Zachary's hair. Then I asked her what color her hair was and she said "gold". I guess we really do have a princess!

This morning she was playing with her balloon right after Daddy went to work so I asked her what Daddy's job was to which she replied "blowing up balloons". I asked what my job was and she said "making dinner". I asked what her job was she said "helping". And that Zachary's job was crawling. I guess she wants him to go back to being a baby, ever since I held a friend's baby at church she has been wanting a baby sister. She has even named her Ella the Elephant. No worries Lu, we have our baby insurance almost in place.

Poll Question

I am considering the idea of making this blog private. Meaning you would need to sign in to read it. My reason for doing this is to keep my little ones safe from the crazies in the world who could use information on here to harm them. My reason for not wanting to do it is that I love to read other people's blogs and would like others to read ours which would be harder if it were private. I have added the poll to get your opinions so please vote, I have also added a tracker to see who is viewing the site so I can see if there might be people I dont know reading it. I dont want to live in fear but my first job is to keep my family safe.

Too Sweet

Tonight after we had gotten the kids all ready for bed and were about to put Zachary in his crib, Olivia noticed the gospel art kit and said "I want to learn about Jesus more, lets have Family Home Evening.". Well we couldnt very well say no to that so we had Family Home Evening for the second time this week. Do you think having it twice in one week will help make up for all the weeks we have missed? I am so glad to have a little girl who loves to learn and is such a great example to us.

A Few More Birthday Pictures

Some more pictures of opening presents and enjoying the cake that Daddy made.

Zachary's 1st Birthday

Zachary turned one on the 16th. I cant believe that it has been a year since he was born. We had a nice day at home. He took a super long nap in the morning which is really unusual but if it had been my birthday I would have taken a nap, too! We had Aunty Jen and Grandma and Grandpa Haslam here for pizza and cake and presents. Olivia though the whole thing was for her and was not too good at letting Zachary have the spotlight. She loves all his new presents. We also had his 12 month checkup this week. He hardly cried after getting his shots and was pretty good for the doctor. He weighed in at just over 20 pounds which is only the 12%. He is almost 30 inches tall which is the 27% so it looks like he might be short like me and Olivia. He is just a little guy who is really really active. The doctor was surprized at how well he can walk and climb.

Sweet Dreams? Part 2

Notice the little hands and feet just sticking out from under the cushions.
Sound asleep on the downstairs couch.
Really? I have no idea how she can sleep like this.

Olivia is still getting out of bed at naptime and bedtime, we never know where she will be sleeping!

We love Aunty Jen

Are those your teeth Aunty Jen?
Lu always wants to sit in Aunty Jen's lap during dinner.
Playing in the snow.
Making snow angels.

We sure are lucky to have Aunty Jen living so close to us. Olivia just adores her and is her shadow when she is here. Zachary has recently decided that he wants in on the Aunty Jen love too. On Valentine's Day he was right there at the door to greet her with a hug.

Crazy Weather

The snow on the back patio after one of the storms in January.
The huge pile of snow next to our driveway after the storm on the 3rd, there was so much snow that some wards cancelled church. See even in Utah there can be too much of a good thing!

During
The next day
During
The next day


We had a real blizzard on the 13th. These pictures show the before and after. I was really surprized that Rob was able to make it home saftley but luckily he did. There were some people stranded at our local grocery store for 10 hours since the roads leading out to Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs were closed due to accidents and blowing snow. We were so glad that Rob's parents brought the 4-wheeler down here on Valentine's Day so that Rob could do some snow removal.

Earthquake

I felt the earthquake that was centered in Nevada this morning. I would have liked to have still been asleep at 7:15am but Zachary has decided to be an early morning baby. I was downstairs checking my email when it started to feel weird then I looked at the lights in the kitchen and they were swaying. Kinda a weird way to start the day. It was nothing like the few earthquakes I experienced in Washington growing up but it was enough to make us think about having earthquake insurance!

Book Tag

1. Pick up the nearest book. (At least 123 pages long.)
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence and post it.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag 5 other people.

The book nearest to me was Piggy Back Rides and Slippery Slides by Lynnae W Allred

Fifth sentence of page 123:

It isn't even the activity that seems to matter.

Next three sentences:

It's just the time spent enjoying it. While it is tempting to promote active play as a method for improving children's physical health, it also seems important to emphasize that this is not the only reason, nor even the best reason for active play. Physicians Hillary Burdette and Robert Whitaker put it best when they said, "Play has the potential to improve all aspects of children’s well-being: physical, emotional, social, and cognitive. We argue that the current emphasis on increasing physical activity in young children to address the problem of obesity, while an important public health agenda, might be more successful if the exposure (physical activity or exercise) were promoted with different language (play) and if a different set of outcomes were emphasized (aspects of child well-being other than physical health)."

I tag anyone who wants to answer :)

Valentine's Questions

A question and answer from my friend Krista's blog and Rob's cousin's wife's blog:

1. How long have you been together? We will celebrate our 5th Wedding Anniversary June 20th, we started dating about 6 months before then.
2. How old is he? 29
3. How old are you? 29 (I am 17 days older)
4. Who eats more? Rob, unless it is candy then it would be me
5. Who said "I love you" first? Pretty sure it was Rob, he is the sweet one
6. Who is taller? Rob
7. Who sings better? Probably Rob, but neither one of us will be asked to be in the choir any time soon.
8. Who is smarter? I would say Rob he has his Masters
9. Who does the laundry? Me, Rob will fold stuff like towels and socks though
10. Who does the dishes? Usually the disherwasher :) but I load it most of the time, its Rob's job to wash our knives since I always cut myself
11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you are looking at the bed from the foot it would be me
12. Who pays the bills? Rob set up auto pay on all but our gas bill which I write the check for most of the time
13. Who mows the lawn? Always Rob, the fresh cut grass makes me sneeze
14. Who cooks dinner? 70% of the time me but Rob cooks better things
15. Who is more stubborn? Honestly we are both really stubborn
16. Who kissed whom first? Rob kissed me first.
17. Who asked whom out? Rob asked me out first
18. Who proposed? Rob
19. Who is more sensitive? Well Rob cries more at movies then me but I cry when we argue
20. Who has the worse temper? It really depends, I have much more patience with the kids but when I loose my temper watch out!
21. Who has more friends? Rob, I am much more shy then him
22. Who has more siblings? Rob has a brother and a sister, I only have a sister
23. Who is more cuddly? Definitely Rob
24. Who snores? Rob
25. Who drives when you are together? Rob always, I think I might have driven three times with Rob in the vehicle.
26. Who pays when you go out to dinner? Rob, it comes out of the same account but I don’t always bring my debit card.
27. Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong? Usually Rob
28. Who’s parents do you see more? Rob’s they only live about a half hour away, my mom is still in Washington and my dad is in West Yellowstone
29. Who works harder? I will say me just because Rob couldn’t do what I do everyday, Rob is a hard worker too though.
30. Who wears the pants in the relationship? I liked Megan’s answer of "Trent does, because I let him". So I will say Rob does, because I let him!

Now its you turn! Copy and paste to your blog and help us get to know you better!

The Piano

Our little kids love to "play" our piano. Which is something that hopefully they will always want to do.

One Year Ago

Here I am one year ago, its hard to believe that Zachary is nearly one. Or that I was so big and uncomfortable just a year ago! I am glad to not have the awful heartburn and to be sleeping much better, but most of all I am so glad to have such a happy and sweet little boy in my life.

Sweet Dreams?

I have no idea how she can fall asleep on the stairs, this can not be comfortable.
Sound asleep in the laundry baskets.

Passed out on the couch.
Again sleeping on the stairs in a not so comfortable position.
Our little Lu is having some issues sleeping in her bed. Here are some of the various places we have found her sleeping lately. Last night she slept in our bed, I was too tired to move her back to her bed so I was squashed between her and Rob, needless to say it was not my best night of sleep ever.

How Many of Me

There are 511,271 people in the U.S. with the first name Heather.
Statistically the 104th most popular first name.
More than 99.9 percent of people with the first name Heather are female.

According to this website there are 5 other people in the United States with my name, 48 with Rob's, just 1 Olivia, and 2 with Zachary's name. When Rob was going to the U and we were engaged he brought me home a campaign sign of a girl who was running for something that had my name, it was kinda weird!

See how many there are of you at http://howmanyofme.com/

5 Years Ago

Okay continuing with what I was doing 5 years ago. Rob and I had just barely gotten engaged in early Feb of 2003. I was working at the South Salt City Best Buy and Rob was finishing his degree at the University of Utah.

Who Knew

I had no idea that when I became a mom I would have to learn to listen for all the new names that I might be called. Olivia has taken to calling me: Mary as in Mary had a Little Lamb, Alicia as in Deigo's sister, Fisherman because I played with her fishing line, Grandpa Richard because I will throw a ball for her to retreive in her teeth like the real Grandpa Richard's dog Mocha, Doctor Mommy as we play doctor, I can only wonder what will be next.

10 Years Ago

I received an interesting email asking what I was doing 10 years ago, 5 years ago, and 1 year ago and what I think I will be doing in the future. So here goes the 10 year version.

10 years ago I was busy being the Grand Representative of California from Washington and Idaho for the International Order of Rainbow for Girls. That means I spent most weekends traveling around the state wearing a bright green dress and a hairpiece. I made some great friends including my friend Megan who was the Grand Representative of Washington/Idaho from California. She and I are still friends to this day! I loved the beauty of the memorization work we preformed and the big dresses; these were happy times for me.

You can check out this link for more information on the International Order of Rainbow for Girls
http://www.iorg.org/membership.htm
Giving my report of California's IORG Grand Assembly at the WA/ID Grand Assembly in 1998.
Grand Officers of 1997/1998. I am on the end of the left side on the second row from the bottom.
Megan McMichael and me at California's Grand Assembly in 1998.

7 Years Ago

February 4th was 7 years since I was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. What a happy day! This was the best decision I ever made. I love the Church and all that it brings to my life. I love knowing that we have a prophet here on earth to lead and guide us. I love knowing that my family will be together forever. I know that I lived in Heaven, before I was born on Earth, with my Heavenly Father and that I choose to come to Earth to be tested and prove worthy to return home to His presence. I love that I have had to opportunity to make such wonderful friends both in Silverdale and here in Utah. I am so thankful that my family while thinking I am slightly strange has been supportive of my decision. I pray that Heavenly Father will continue to bless me and that I will live worthy of those blessings.

God Be With You Til We Meet Again

From the Deseret News: President Gordon B. Hinckley, who led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through explosive growth during his more than 12 years as president, died 7 p.m. Sunday at home of causes incident to age, surrounded by family. He was 97.

He traveled the world during his tenure, which was marked by a number of significant milestones, including the "Proclamation to the World on the Family," construction of dozens of small temples and the creation of several new quorums of the Seventy. He called for increased fellowshipping of new converts and reaching out to other faiths. LDS Church membership has grown from 9 million to more than 13 million members during his administration.

His ministry was characterized by a strong desire to be out among the people. He traveled nearly a million miles and spoke to hundreds of thousands of members in at least 160 nations, employing his mastery of electronic media to bring unprecedented press attention to the church.

His proposal to build small temples launched what some have termed the most ambitious temple-building program in world history. Some 124 temples are now in use. His goal of having at least 100 temples in use, authorized or under construction by Jan. 1, 2000, was accomplished with the dedication of the church's 100th temple in Boston on Oct. 1, 2000.

Three of the temples were at major sites in church history. The Nauvoo Temple was rebuilt to 21st-century standards, a temple was dedicated at Palmyra, N.Y., and another was dedicated at Winter Quarters, Neb.

In his first address to the general membership during the 165th Annual General Conference on April 2, 1995, he urged LDS faithful to move forward and become more Christlike.

"The time has come for us to stand a little taller, to lift our eyes and stretch our minds to a greater comprehension and understanding of the grand millennial mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"This is a time to be strong.

"It is a time to move forward without hesitation, knowing well the meaning, the breadth and the importance of our mission.

"It is a time to do what is right regardless of the consequences that might follow.

"It is a time to be found keeping the commandments.

"It is a season to reach out with kindness and love to those in distress and to those who are wandering in darkness and pain.
"It is a time to be considerate and good, decent and courteous toward one another in all our relationships. In other words, to become more Christlike."

President Hinckley also presided over the biggest construction undertaking in church history. In the early 1990s, the church was building a chapel a day; 10 years later it was averaging almost two a day. There were also 18 missionary training centers, 434 seminary buildings and 313 Institutes of Religion.

He married Marjorie Pay on April 29, 1937, in the Salt Lake Temple, and, in the busy years that followed, they reared five children: Kathleen H. Barnes; Richard Gordon Hinckley; Virginia H. Pearce, who served in the Young Women general presidency; Clark Bryant Hinckley; and Jane H. Dudley.

Sister Hinckley died at age 92 on April 6, 2004, two days after President Hinckley announced at the Sunday afternoon session of general conference that she had been stricken with weariness en route home from the dedication of the Accra Ghana Temple. Her death came on the 174th anniversary of the restoration of the church.

As President Gordon B. Hinckley reflected on his wife's 90th birthday in late 2001, both were still in relatively good health. Even so, he shared a wish not surprising for longtime spouses: "That we might live together for as long as the Lord wills and that when the time comes for us to move on, that we might go together or very close together, without one lingering a long time after the other. We've lived together for a long time. I hope we'll continue to move on together."