Monster-ocity of an Update

Yes, it is sad. I have fallen off of the blog wagon and this is my feeble attempt at climbing back up! Let's start by pushing REWIND.

The first Saturday in January brought the baptism of our niece Elise (aka 'big Ellie'). She had her smiley dimples out in full force and was a picture of purity. I love the warm spirit present at such events and will forever remember her standing up on a chair after the ordinance as a 'perfect person' free from everything bad, radiating everything good.
Here she is with my father-in-law and his darling wife (and my dear friend) Cynthia. This day was a day of happiness and deep reflection.

The following day (which was the first Sunday of January) brought more joy to our family. It was the day Adalie was given a name and a blessing. My Father-in-law did the honor in our home ward and did a beautiful job of serving as the Lord's mouth piece. Interestingly enough, during the blessing I heard a baby crying and wasn't able to clearly hear much of the blessing. I was wondering why a parent would not take a fussy child out of the Chapel during our special event. Um, I suppose I should think nicer thoughts....Cliff (FIL) indicated that it was ADI!!! Here she is in her beautiful dress...hand made with love by Grandma Sugar!

Dayton was busy playing Jr. Jazz in West Jordan. His Uncle Bryan was his coach and his cousin Neal was on the team. This was his second season playing and he did a great job! His little face was so intense and he really had a blast! I can promise you that he was the only player skipping up and down the court and I loved watching him throw his little skinny 6 year old arms in the air to play defense! He shot the ball a few times and was one proud little man when he got a medal at the end of the season.

Here are the girls in their scarves (yes, I am now a knitter!). Kayla has the cutest little A-line hair cut thanks to her Aunt Mindy. She has been doing really well at her new school and is happy to be back spending time with her Grandma in the afternoons. She has been seeing her tutor each week and progressing quickly with the assistance. I love watching her confidance level increase as she learns. She stayed with us last week while her Mom was travelling and we really enjoyed having her with us.

Someday Ellie will be quite unhappy with the moment we captured here. However, she has been learning to read and it's really clicked for her. She loves it so much that yes, she reads on the toilet so much in fact that she posed for this picture! She is the youngest in her kindergarten class simply because she didn't meet the cut off date. Given that we put her in a private school we were able to circumvent the school district for now. Even being a year behind the others chronologically, she still pushes to the top of her class! We are very proud of her. She refuses to ski with Dayton and my Mom because she insists that it is too dangerous. She is however taking tap and ballet. She is one of the oldest in her dance class yet remains one of the smallest as she prepares for her recital this spring!

While Adi is far from being able to tell any secrets, she is also far from the quiet little girl sleeping in this picture! She is one busy little monkey and hit the 7 month mark on 2/19. She rolls all over the place and is rather aggressive in her pursuit! She is able to sit, reach out for people and will click her tongue in response to you when you click your tongue. She does NOT like to lay down and is quite the rubber necker. Curiousity will never kill her cat! She loves to smile, giggle and has a slight (very slight!) dusting of hair.

It is hard to believe that we have FOUR kids! We are blessed and we feel it. The days go fast and the time passes quickly. They each have different schedules and are in different places during the day. It is a lot to keep up with and certainly keeps us on our toes! All of them together make for a lot of noise complete with giggles, laughter and tears! They do a great job plaing together most of the time and Adi really does complete the circle that is our family!


Here is a blurry snap taken on Superbowl Sunday at my Sister-in-law Jenny's. The fact that it is a blur is only representative of the sheer chaos they all cause together! They are all different ages with different interests but they always have a great time together. Leah and Adi are in the center (only 2 weeks apart) and yes, Adi is very unhappy. We all had a great time and no, I did not watch one minute of the game but enjoyed the get together!

The other item of note was Valentine's Day and while I do not have a picture to document our evening, we did have a really great time. Mark and I went out on Friday the 13th. We took our little Adi Cakes with us and had a really nice steak dinner. Afterwards we went shopping and Mark got me the most darling black patton leather purse/laptop bag! We also picked out some more dishes together to further complete our Fiesta obsession! It was a really simple evening and I just enjoyed being with my Marky.

On the B Side: I love our family, all of our family! There is one special event that I have not highlighted simply because there is much elaboration that I would like to add and it goes hand in hand with a special announcement. Those two pieces of information will be forth coming. In the mean time my Dad is set to arrive on Friday and I will be leaving for Philly on Saturday. With a little bit of luck, my good pal Krystal will join me during my business trip to the hood!!