Helping out in the yard...

Justin's parents are doing a major renovation in their backyard. His dad has taken a couple of Monday's off so that Justin can go down and help out. Molly and I usually tag along rather than stay home alone. Molly loves being at Grandma's house and getting dirty in all the dirt. Pretty sad though now that I look at all my pictures I took that there is not one of the boys working-just all of Molly and a few of Tiana. Guess I need to be better at that!

This is one reason why Molly loves Grandma's house: cookies and these stairs. Anytime we go there Molly loves climbing up and down the patio steps.Helping Grandma haul cement back and forth.Tiana and Molly eating spaghettios. This is a favorite of Molly's but I always take her clothes off when she eats them. Tiana must have thought it sounded fun to eat with no clothes on too.Tiana and Molly play so well together. We found them camped out in Grandma's room reading books. After naps they went down in the basement to play. About 1/2 hour later I went down to check on them. They were both sitting on the couch, watching TV, and I kept hearing them laughing. I asked them what they were watching and Tiana says, "We're watching a really funny show." They were watching Seinfeld! Probably a little too young to start watching that, I would think!They dug these holes for the trees to go in and Molly thought it was so fun to play in them! Justin and Gene worked really hard all day both times we were there. Their yard is starting to look really great-we can't wait to see the finished product!

Starring: Molly (yes, again)

Molly's been up to so many things lately that it is once again time for an update on her! So, here goes...

Molly discovered our neighbors trampoline a couple of months ago. Anytime we go outside, she heads straight for the tramp. She calls out to me, "Mommy, I bumping!" I sure hope the neighbors don't care!She also made a new friend, the owner of the trampoline. Her name is Brynn and she's 10. She is so good with Molly! I often hear them on the tramp and Molly is just giggling away. She's usually so shy around others so Justin and I were pretty surprised. Lately, Molly loves coloring. This is what I have been finding my kitchen floor to look like more and more:She now knows that she can only color on paper but now she thinks that any paper is okay. For instance, she drew on a book Justin got from work that he has to return. Oops!
And if coloring normally wasn't enough, she will only color if she's laying down.She also thinks she has to eat ice cream laying downplay with her toys laying downthrow rocks into the river laying downand everything else laying down. Honestly, I can't count the number of times she says, "Mommy, I lay down and ______________" (fill in the blank with whatever she is doing at that time). We have no clue where she got this silly new quirk but we think it's pretty funny. And whenever we laugh at her for doing it she says, "Mommy/Daddy, stop laughing."

Molly has also learned our names and she calls me Megan instead of Mommy quite often. She mostly does it when I'm not paying enough attention to her. It's pretty funny although I do prefer the title of Mommy.

Molly is really liking nursery lately-at least she is staying the whole time. Each week she comes home with a new song that she has learned. It is so cute to listen to her sing the parts that she remembers. One of my favorites is when she walks around the house singing, "Sun-BEAM" and jumping at the appropriate times. I also love hearing her sing "Na na na, na na na, Elmo's World!"

It seems like whenever Molly is at a loss for what to say she throws up her shirt and shows off her belly button. She never does it to Justin or me, just anyone else who tries to talk to her.She's waking up from her nap, so I'm just going to throw in a couple of cute things from earlier today.
My face is peeling from a sunburn I got on Saturday and today Molly says, "Mommy, your face is messy." Then she ran to the kitchen, got a towel and then came and washed my face.
And the cutest thing ever: I gave her some Goldfish crackers earlier this morning for a snack. I put them on her table and then went back to what I was doing. When I looked over at Molly a few moments later she was folding her arms. She said, "Mommy, I bless it." Then she mumbled a few words, said a very pronounced "Amen!" and then ate her crackers! It was so cute!

Logan, Utah, USA--We love you!

As we drove to and from Bear Lake we were able to drive through Logan. Justin and I have many, many memories from our time spent in Logan. I started thinking of all of them and here is what I came up with:

-Logan, of course, is home to Utah State University, the greatest school in the world! Justin and I both started at USU in the fall of 2000, both just freshly out of high school. I finished my degree in Family and Human Development in Dec. 2003 and Justin finished a dual degree in Finance and Economics, Minor in International Business, and emphasis on Korean language in May 2007. -Logan is where Justin and I became True Aggies.-Logan is home to the beautiful Logan Temple where I was able to receive my endowments on Dec. 6, 2003. That was a great day and I felt very blessed to be able to return often with Justin and remember that day. -Logan was where we made our first two homes. They were both extremely small, basement apartments, but we loved them because they were our homes!-I love being near a canyon and Logan Canyon is beautiful! We spent many nights around a campfire roasting hot dogs, marshmallows, etc. In fact our first camping trip as a married couple was in Logan Canyon.-Logan is home to the Park Avenue Ward, the best ward in the whole world! We spent 4 years in the ward and it was probably the hardest thing to leave when we moved. We met so many great people who we love so much. Justin held many callings but I was in the Young Women's for almost the whole 4 years. I loved every minute of it! Justin and I were also able to be Ma and Pa Goodrich on Stake Pioneer Trek last summer. It was hard but fun! -Logan is home to Cafe Sabor, one of the best restaurants that I have ever been to!

-Logan, of course, is where Justin and I fell in love. We met in September of our freshman year and never looked back!-I was fortunate to have 3 1/2 years of GREAT roommates! -Logan is where I fell in love with the fall. Logan is absolutely gorgeous in the fall. I would use any excuse to drive down Center Street because it's lined with trees and when they all change color it is beautiful.

-Logan is where Molly was born. She is the best thing that has ever happened to Justin and me.-Logan is home to the Spectrum where we attended numerous Aggie Basketball games. For those of you who have never been in the Spectrum to watch an Aggie game you are totally missing out! Go Aggies!

-Logan is home to good old Old Farm where I lived for 2 1/2 years (and where I met Justin since he was living there too). Great times were had there!

-Logan is where we perfected this nifty trick:You can't tell very well but Justin is riding a unicycle. Yes, it's true that we can do that-we call ourselves the "Goodrich Circus."

-Logan is where you can find Aggie Ice Cream, the best ice cream ever. I was also employed there for 3 years and met lots of fun people while working there. Mmmm, Oreo Fudge...
That's all, I'm sure I'm missing lots and lots. For those of you who have been most fortunate to live in Logan let me know what I'm missing! Justin and I are happy to be down here in Utah County although we didn't realize how much we'd miss Logan now that we are gone. But we're happy that we have so many memories and we'll always hold a place in our hearts for Logan, Utah, USA!

Kickin' off the summer

For Memorial Day weekend we made the trip up to Bear Lake. We are not used to it being so far away! We used to head up there quite often when we lived in Logan because it was only an hour drive. Now it's about 3 hours. So this was our first trip this year! Bear Lake is a great place to just relax and be with family. We had a great time, as always.

Dad and Justin took me on a 4-wheeler ride on Sunday afternoon. It was so pretty-I'm still mad I forgot my camera! Molly also loves riding on the 4-wheeler although her ride was quite a bit shorter. She came back from her ride with Daddy extremely excited that she had found a golf ball!She also had fun throwing this monster-sized frisbee over the deck with Justin and Ben. Bryce would then throw it back up so they could do it all over again!Molly had fun playing with her cousins......while the adults had a horseshoe tournament. Justin and I were the champions!And everyone loved the s'mores!We can't wait until we can go back again!

Tag, Molly's it!

Molly was tagged by her cousin Abby! Here are five things about Molly:

1. Molly is our climber. Ever since she was mobile, she has been finding things to climb on. At first, this scared me so bad because she wasn't extremely steady. Now it's just a normal part of our life and doesn't scare me quite so much although I still make sure I'm close by when it's something new just in case. Here is a video of her newest accomplishment:


2. Molly makes a mess out of everything. Honestly, it can be something as simple as fruit leather. I have her some today at the grocery store and the next time I look at her it's smeared all over her chin, forehead, nose, and shirt! I should be used to it although I do wish sometimes that she could be a little bit more like her cute cousin Chloe who always seems to be neat and clean! Go here and here to see some of Molly's messy eating habits.

3. Molly is incredibly stubborn. I cannot force Molly to do anything she doesn't want to do. I'm sure most kids are like this! Two examples: Molly was spoiled rotten when she was little because I always rocked her to sleep and then put her in her crib. I didn't realize what damage I was doing until it was too late. And the whole "let them cry themselves to sleep" thing really did not work for us! She would cry for hours if we let her (which we never did). She just got progressively more and more worked up until she was crying so hard she was almost throwing up! She was so hard to get to bed and she would only fall asleep for me! It was very frustrating. Well one day about 6 weeks ago, she decided that she was going to put herself to sleep. Really in just a matter of a week we went from me rocking her to sleep (taking anywhere from 1/2 hour to 2 hours) to her lying down fully awake and putting herself to sleep! Needless to say, I have learned my lesson and will do it differently with the next one. The second example: Molly loves to have her milk before bed but would only have it in a bottle. If I tried a cup she would become hysterical. (I was relieved that my doctor gave me the go-ahead with the bottle until she's 2- he said as long as she wasn't falling asleep with it in her mouth there would be no damage to her teeth.) Anyways about a month ago or so she said to me, "Mommy, milk in a cup." I gladly gave it to her in a cup and we've almost made the full switch! So we've decided that we can't force her into anything but she'll decide to do it on her own and we're all happy!

4. Molly loves playing in her room with her mommy. Before her nap we always go to her room to play. She always wants me to get out her tent and then we cuddle up inside and read books. It is fun for her and pretty much melts my heart. That time I spend with her in unstructured playtime is very precious to me and I wouldn't change it for anything! Here is a picture of her playing in the tent:5. Molly loves her binkies. She has been hooked on them since a nurse gave me one in the hospital. Forget blankies or stuffed animals to get her to sleep-all she needs is a couple of binkies. When she was probably 5 or 6 months she started needing at least 2 to fall asleep-one in her mouth and one in her hand. She kind of strokes the part she sucks on with her thumb and it soothes her right to sleep. I am happy to report that we are pretty much off of binkies except for naptime and night-time. She knows the rule and never really asks for them anymore.Hope you learned a few things about Molly. She is the joy of our lives and is such a good little girl!

Molly tags Lizzy and Andrew whenever they get around to it. They are leaving tomorrow to make the trek from Washington D.C. to Sandy. Good luck you guys!

My Daddy's better than yours!

Hello, my name is Molly Goodrich and I love my Daddy so much. Here's why:

My daddy always lets me play on the counter. Mommy always makes me get down cause she says I'll get hurt.

My daddy always plays silly games with me in sacrament meeting that make me giggle. Mommy always says "Be reverent."

My daddy does all the voices when he's reading books with me.

My daddy plays fun games with me in the tub. He even lets me put his head under the water and splash all over him. Mommy always combs her hair or reads a book when I'm in the tub.

My daddy lets me stay up way past my bedtime. Mommy always makes me go to bed.My daddy lets me have suckers and chips for lunch and dinner. Mommy always makes me eat fruits and veggies.

My daddy always tosses me in the air really high. Mommy's not strong enough.My daddy holds the priesthood and can give me blessings when I'm sick.My daddy sings funny songs and when he doesn't know the words he makes up silly words.

My daddy is really nice to my mommy. He always kisses her which makes me giggle.

My daddy will wade in the river to get a lost ball. Mommy would just leave it there.

My daddy always lets me help him with his projects even when I'm in the way.My daddy loves to cuddle with me.My daddy will let me try new things that Mommy thinks are too dangerous.My daddy works so hard so that my mommy can stay home with me.

My daddy lets me get dirty whenever I want.

Thanks for being a great daddy to me! I love you!Love, Molly

Justin, thanks for all you do for Molly. She really does love you so much and talks about you all day when you are gone. When you're home, she follows you around and wants to do whatever you are doing. Happy Father's Day! We love you so much!We'd also like to wish our dads a Happy Father's Day. We've both learned so much from their examples. Neither of them are men of very many words but their works speak volumes. I think my dad and Justin's dad are two of the hardest workers I have ever met. They both honor their priesthood which is a huge blessing and there is no question of their commitment to the gospel and to their families. Thanks both of you, we couldn't ask for better dads and better grandpa's for Molly!

Molly loves both of her Grandpa's. She always tells me "Gampa's house!" and anytime she picks up a phone she says "Hi Gampa!"

Goodrich Gardens

In an attempt to brighten up our front porch area, Molly and I planted flowers. I had a few flower pots lying around the house so I thought I'd put them to good use. And yes, Molly helped! She was right in on the action-getting the dirt in the pots and watering the flowers. She still helps me water them everyday! It would be easier without her "help" but it brings her so much joy that I purposely wait for her to wake up from her nap to water them.

Helping Mommy plant... I don't have much experience in this area so I'm somewhat surprised that they haven't all died yet! Here they are all lined up-aren't they pretty?