Our Trip to Cabela's

For those of you who have never been to Cabela's, you are missing out-at least Molly seems to think so. This has become her new favorite place to visit. We've been there only twice but both times we stayed for a while and both times she had so much fun. They have a big aquarium that she can look at all the fish swimming around. They also have two different displays of animals from all over the world. It's pretty cool, even for me. Justin wanted to stock up on some fishing gear so we went there last week and while he shopped, I just let Molly walk around and look at all the animals. We spent a lot of time in the aquarium. At first she was scared when we took her out of the stroller but she warmed up pretty soon and was running around pointing at all the fish and making her fish face.












At the display with the African animals, her favorite was the Warthog, or pig. She kept running up to it, pointing to it, and making pig noises. It was pretty cute!









They also have a huge display of animals like bears, moose, mountain lions and goats, etc. We went to this place last. Molly was probably wearing out about now considering we had been there longer than an hour. So she found a place to take a rest and sat down.












Well, I don't think she realized what was behind her. But when she finally turned around and saw all those animals, she was out of there! They really scared her and there was no way I was getting her to go sit down again! This is her running away.












For all those of you who are close enough for a visit and are tired of being stuck inside with your little ones, you should check it out!

"We Thank Thee Oh God For a Prophet"

On Sunday during church, I was showing Molly a picture of President Hinckley and telling her that he was the prophet. Then later that night, I learned that he had passed away. I felt sort of shocked just because he has always been so constant, and I guess it seemed like he was invincible. Since then, I've been thinking back on my memories of him and the influence his example and service has had on my life. I had just barely turned 12 when he was ordained as the prophet so he is really the only prophet that I have memories of. The handful of times that I got to be physically present when he spoke were great experiences. I love this quote by him: "I would like to suggest that we stop seeking out the storms of life and enjoy the sunlight. I am suggesting that we accentuate the positive. I am asking that we look a little deeper for the good, that we still our voices of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment virtue and hard effort. There is good all around us--if we will only look for it." I think that he did a great job "accentuating the positive." The life that he lived was one of service to the Lord. In fact, I came across this in an interview with his wife: She says that she knew from the beginning that she would never be No.1 in Gordon Hinckley's life--God held that position--but she took comfort in that.
Anyways, my words are inadequate but I felt like I wanted to say something. I am grateful for a living prophet and I love President Hinckley!

Molly-girl

As is the case with all parents, our little girl is our pride and joy. We are so thankful to have her as part of our family. Sometimes after Molly is in bed, Justin and I will laugh about the things that she has done that day and go "Wow, can you believe that she is ours forever?" Anyway, I could get all sentimental on you but I wanted to show some of Molly's latest antics...Molly has a new love for dancing. Along with dancing, she likes standing on her head occassionally. Our new favorite song to dance to is "All-American Girl" by Carrie Underwood. Whenever that song comes on the radio, we stop whatever we are doing and go out into the front room to dance. For Molly, dancing is just running around in circles, clapping her hands, and every once in awhile, patting her thighs.
Molly is extremely curious (what 16-month old isn't?). I think one of her favorite things to do is get in the way of whatever Justin or I am doing. She especially loves Daddy's tools. I snapped this picture a few weeks ago. Molly thought she was so smart because she got to help Daddy!
Molly often finds that random things (like bike pumps) make for more fun than her toys do. She came across Justin's bike pump in the closet last week and carried it around all afternoon. It was a little awkward for her to carry, but she perservered anyway!
Molly is our little climber. She has been climbing on things before she could walk and will climb on anything she can. This was taken right after she climbed up on the kitchen table. She's amazingly coordinated. A lot of times I don't think she'll be able to make it but somehow she does!Molly loves bathtime and will spend a long time in the tub. And while it's fun to watch her in the tub, our favorite part about bathtime is when she snuggles up to us when she gets out.This happened just a couple of days ago. I was in the front room doing something when I heard a crash come from Molly's bedroom. When I went in to investigate, this is how I found Molly. She had somehow fallen in her toy bucket behind the rocking chair and couldn't get out. What made it even funnier, though, was the look on her face and the partially eaten cookie in her mouth.Molly loves playing with our glasses and has succeeded in breaking both of ours. We just thought this picture was funny and were amazed that she left them on long enough to snap a picture!

Well, that's enough for this post. Stay tuned for other silly Molly stories!

Fun with daddy

Last week we were just trying to get a few things done around the house. Molly found a little end table that was light enough for her to push around. Well, she would push it all around chasing Justin. When the table would hit him, he'd jump to the side and let out a little yell. Molly thought it was the funniest thing ever-really, I don't know that we've ever seen her laugh so hard. This video was taken at the end when she was settling down but it's still pretty funny!

Moving day!

Well, it's been a few weeks since we've been here in Lindon but we wanted to thank everyone for all the help they gave us in the moving process. We couldn't have done it without all the help! Our camera was packed up somewhere but fortunately Camille had her camera with her and took some pictures of everyone unloading the truck. Thanks to Mom and Dad for helping me pack. What they helped me do in one day would have taken me two weeks by myself. We had some ward members in Logan help us load up the UHAUL. They were extremely efficient and got everything finished in less than two hours. Justin drove the UHAUL down while pulling one car behind that. Me and Molly followed behind him. I felt very blessed to have Molly sleep in the car the whole way. I was worried about the UHAUL in front of me (it didn't seem too stable) and it helped immensely not having a wiggly, squirmy and crying baby in the back. Justin's family pulled into the driveway in Lindon right after us. They gave up their plans for New Year's Eve to help us get everything out of the UHAUL and inside. Thanks everyone for your help! We are now happily settled into our new apartment, which we love. Here are the things that we especially enjoy: first, no mold in the closets (wahoo!), fireplace, huge sink, dishwasher, roomy fridge and freezer, a place for our own washer and dryer, pantry to fit lots of cans and food, central vacuum in kitchen (I just sweep all the gunk on the floor into it and it sucks it up-it's pretty cool), walk-in closets in the rooms, and we love the quietness of the location. The mountains here are beautiful-we've seen lots of deer in our backyard and in the neighbors yards. And Megan is getting used to the area and it starting to love it. We know this is where we're supposed to be and are grateful to Heavenly Father that He has blessed us with so much!

What a Man!

Okay so maybe this story is only funny to us but I thought I'd share it anyways...Last night, Justin was fixing a Willow Tree statue that Molly broke. When he was finished I was telling him that he did such a great job because you couldn't even tell where it had been broken. So he flexes his muscles and in this deep, masculine voice says, "Yeah, I'm the man." Then he stood up really fast and, BANG, hits his head really hard on a mirror we have hanging up. He hit it so hard that he fell over. I tried to be really sympathetic but I was laughing too hard. Well, we both laughed until I was crying and he was snorting uncontrollably. It was pretty funny. Justin claims he did it on purpose because he hadn't made me laugh yet that day, but I don't know...Anyways, thanks Justin for making me laugh!

Cousins

Molly has become more and more social now days. She especially loves her cousin, Chloe, who is only 3 months older than her. She gets excited anytime she sees a picture of Chloe or when she gets to play with her. Last month when Molly and Chloe were playing at Grandma's house, it got really quiet. So of course we knew they were up to something. Well, we found them playing in the closet behind all the coats. They were running in and out and laughing. Then they figured out how to open and close the door. Molly would go out and close the door and then open it. Chloe would wait with her nose practically on the door and as soon as the door would open would dissolve into giggles. They were both having a ball! It was pretty cute!

Sisters

Ali and Jeff made it home for Christmas and it was great to spend some time with them. We all miss them tons while they are away so I can't wait to see Ali again in March for her baby shower. Ali drew my name for Christmas and made me a cute stitching that says "Having a sister is like having a best friend around for your whole life." Thanks, Als, I love it!

Christmas fun!

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Christmas Eve was spent with the Moyes' in Plain City. It was snowing like crazy and we almost thought we wouldn't make it, but we decided to brave the storm. So we packed up an extra change of clothes for everyone and snow boots (just in case we had to push the car out). Sardine Canyon was pretty bad but we made it safe and sound! Mom always goes to so much work on Christmas Eve making food, preparing games, and (more importantly!) wrapping presents. We had a great time, as always, so thanks Mom!

The weather let up so we were able to make it back to Logan for Christmas morning. We put Molly to bed and then stayed up putting the finishing touches on presents and stockings. I think Justin and I were more excited than Molly (she's still a little young to understand the whole Santa thing). In fact, we were both up before she was in the morning just waiting for her to wake up. We had so much fun with Molly-we had to practice a lot of restraint to not spoil her like crazy! Molly loved the bubbles we put in her stocking and kept bringing us the bottle of bubbles! She also liked her new shoes which are still too big but fit over her pajamas that morning.

After a quick stop in Plain City, we headed down to Sandy to spend Christmas evening with the Goodrich's. As always, we had a great time, although we were missing the Brown's. All the boys got together after Thanksgiving to make a toy chest for April. It turned out looking really good and she loved it. As soon as we have a place to put one, I'm going to make Justin make one for me!