Conversations to Remember

Yesterday our home teachers came over. One of our regulars was out of town, so our home teacher brought his father with him as a companion. While chatting and getting to know one another, he asked about Lucy "Does she abuse herself a lot?" I really didn't know how to answer. The last thing you want people asking about as a mother is abuse! After stumbling a little I said "Well, I guess sometimes she accidentally whacks herself with things." He responded "Well, like Eric here, he used to entertain himself for hours by himself." At first I was confused, and then I realized he had said "amuse herself" not "abuse herself." Dave thought he had said "abuse" as well and was wondering what on earth he was thinking. I laughed and explained to him my strange response. Anyway, just a funny day to day occurrence!(Anyway, you have got to love this little look of mischief! What a silly girl! I think she gets her great sense of humor from her Daddy.)

While on the subject Lucy has really started to amuse herself. She used to need me a lot, but ever since she started crawling last week she feels like life just got a whole lot better! Just for a little taste of our new life, all within one week of mobility Lucy has accomplished: breaking the antennae off our cd player (and it mysteriously is not reading cd's anymore, which I highly suspect Lucy of causing), after turning my head for one second her little finger was practically jammed in the outlet hole (okay, so that is my fault, I am a little behind on baby-proofing), this morning she learned to open the sliding closet, climb in and throw the shoes out (as pictured to the right), I have found leaves and paper in her diaper ( I guess our bodies don't digest tree very well), and last, but not least, last night while getting in bed I found Lucy awake, sitting up in the dark, not making a peep, just waiting for us on our bed (needless to say i was completely startled and worried about ever putting Lucy to sleep on my bed again). That is just a small look at the big adventures that are just beginning in my life. Hopefully, I will be able to do my job protecting this sweet little miracle from all the trouble she wants to get into! (It seems like every other picture I get of Lucy looks like this now, because she wants the camera sooooo badly and goes into attack mode!)

And here is our mischievious little Lucy thug, trying to act a little cooler and tougher than she is!

G-Pa and G-Ma

Since I got some great shots of Lucy and her Great Grands, I thought I would highlight David's Grandparents. David calls his Grandpa Dale and Grandma Betty "G-Pa and G-Ma." I think it is really cute! (David definitely gets his sense of Humor from his Grandpa. They are 2 peas in a pod! I think this could be very close to how handsome David will look when he is old, except about a foot taller.)

Both G-ma and G-pa are very sweet people. Dale always has a joke, works as a Barber for his very own Dale's Barber Shop (in his Basement) and whittles in his free time. He grew up as one of 21 kids. No, that was not a typo, 21! Dale's Mom and Dad both had 7 kids from different marriages and then they had 7 more together when they got married. Needless to say, David has no idea how many second cousins he has! We found out that he had a Grandma Lucy who was full blood Cherokee Indian. I was excited Lucy's name had family heritage, especially that of an Indian (except I'm wondering why she had such a modern name instead of howling Wolf or something...)

I love this beautiful shot of Great Grandpa Dale and Lucy. I will cherish it forever!

Here is the adorable rocking horse Grandpa made for Lucy! Grandpa and Grandma are quite the team when it comes to making things. Dale makes them and Betty paints them and makes them cute! What a special present I'm sure Lucy will truly learn to cherish (although right now all she wants to do is eat the hair. We will put it up for a little while until she is old enough to brush the hair instead!)


Playing with her Great G-Pa and her new handmade toy!

David's G-ma, on the other hand, is very caring and concerned about all her Grandchildren. She always gives us phone calls and is the first to invite us to breakfast when we are in town! She is definitely a very sweet Granny!

I was thrilled about this picture. Although Lucy isn't smiling, Betty is! I don't think I have seen a single picture of her smiling and I am going to brag forever that I got one of her!

Thanks for all of your love throughout the years G-ma and G-pa! We are lucky to have you!

Lucy This Week

I thought we would give you a little glimpse of Lucy's personality these days...

Lucy has always loved her tongue. Now she is really enjoying the different sounds she can make! Watch Lucy's tongue tricks here:

I love this trick. I go around mimicking Lucy all day and am really starting to feel like, just a silly big kid!That is one of my favorite parts of being a parent... you definitely get all that built up silliness out!

With David for a Daddy, Lucy is pretty much always having a blast! If you need some new ideas for play with your baby watch Lucy and her Dad here:


Babies are definitely born with their own personality! Neither David nor I have ever really been thrilled by Mariachi music, but apparently Lucy has a little Latin Sass from somewhere! While flipping through the stations, trying to distract Lucy, we found that none of the stations really did anything, except the Spanish station. She just started moving! For your enjoyment we caught a little clip:



This is pretty much what Lucy is like these days. She also started crawling backward, although I am pretty sure she is trying to crawl forward. The other day she was trying to get closer to me and just kept getting farther. Every time she moved she got a little more upset until she was far away and starting to cry. It was a very funny scene, despite the fact that our daughter was very sad.

We are watching her personality emerge everyday. As much as I thought I liked being a Mom before, I am finding that it is really starting to become an absolute joy! I have moments everyday where I am just tickled by the new skill Lucy Masters or a cute smile she gives me (sometimes I just enjoy it and then other times I run for the camera as you can see). I can't help giving her little hugs and kissing her head all day long! I even wrote a poem about her at 2 a.m. a few nights ago! What a Crazy Mom! Hey when you get the inspiration you gotta do it! And watching your little baby sleep definitely puts me in a "Life is Beautiful" kind of inspirational mood! I am also currently working on a children's story about Lucy. I don't really know how to get published, but after reading Lucy some rather dull stories in my opinion, I thought "I could write one of these!" It is turning out really sweet (maybe I will put a sneak peak up on my blog one of these days) and I am really excited! If any of you are artists and think you could help me out, please let me know! I seriously lack art skills! There are probably 3rd graders who are better than me! Of course, I have seen some pretty bad art in some of these books as well! Anyway, for now...all is well in the Pendergrass Home!

Newborn's Conversation with God

I got this adorable poem from Renee's Blog (thanks Renee) I thought it was perfect for mother's day. It really captures what it means to be Mother, trusted with a little spirit from heaven.

I hope I will be able to help Lucy remember who her Heavenly Father is and how much he loves her as I was taught by my sweet mother. I am only starting to see how much our Heavenly Father loves us as I raise this sweet and loving baby girl. Sometimes I just don't think I can tell her I love her, or kiss her enough. I know we are this precious and much more to our Heavenly Father. Thank You Lucy for making me a Mother on my first Mother's Day. And A special Thank You Mother on this 23rd Mother's day you have celebrated, for teaching me how to be a good mother by your loving example. Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed at the task of Motherhood I look up to you and think, "If my Mom could do it, so can I." I really never realized the countless hours of love, care, worry and prayers that were put into making me the person I am today. Thank You for waking up for me when I was a baby, for keeping up with me when I was a toddler, for putting up with me while I was a teenager and now lifting me up as a Mother. You are truly the best Mother and Friend a girl could hope for! I can never thank you enough and dedicate this to you, My Angel Mother!

A baby asked God, 'They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?'

God said, 'Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.'

The child further inquired, 'But tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy.'

God said, 'Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy.'

Again the child asked, 'And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?'

God said, 'Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.' 'And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?' God said, 'Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.

''Who will protect me?' God said, 'Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life.'
'But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.'
God said, 'Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.'

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, 'God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.'
God said, 'You will simply call her, 'Mom.'

Home Sweet Home

We returned from our adventures in Spokane on Monday. Funny Travel Story: While going through security the security ID Checker guy pointed out that my ID says "Wendy Pendegrass" and my boarding pass says "Wendy Pendergrass." I got this license about a year ago and I never noticed that they left out the "R" before and neither did any of the billion people who checked my ID in the last year! Luckily the guy was nice and said I looked honest and he would let me pass, but that I should get it changed.

As fun as it is to travel, coming home is just wonderful! And this time it was better than ever because all of Provo had blossomed while we were away. I felt like we returned to a completely different place! To celebrate our joy we went on a walk early this morning over to BYU Campus to admire the changing scenery.

I decided my new hobby is going to be photography, so I went crazy taking pictures from different angles. Some of them turned out pretty good! Here is what I got:

Spring had brought me such a nice surprise, popcorn popping right before my eyes!

This is my favorite tree in our yard! The rest of the year the annoying leaves that we rake and cherry's that fall are all worth it this time of year!
SOOOOO beautiful it deserves two picture spots on my blog
The waterfall at BYU
Daddy and Lucy
Mommy and Lucy
My sweet photography skills. Only a true photographer takes pictures of rocks in water! (Ha ha)
What a beautiful day! The one problem with my new found photography hobby is that David has to be the subject a lot and he doesn't really like posing for photos. Thanks Dave for putting up with your nutty wife who always asks for just one more picture!

p.s. I have a lot to post from the last two weeks and I am just going to date everything on the day it happened instead of have a million posts all on one day!

Nana and Lucy

Lucy had such a fun time reuniting with her Nana Lisa. Here are my favorite shots!


She knows how to make her smile!


Cute little QP doll in the bath at Nana's house


Could a kid be any happier!


Lucy's new favorite thing to do: Pet the kitty! For the first time ever Lucy started making whining, kind of screachy mad noises. Yeah, whenever she saw the kitty she started whining because she wanted to go touch it! I think it is neat that she is at a stage where she is realizing she has her own agenda, minus the whiny screachy noise, of course.

Cute shots of Nana with her 2 grandkids, Lucy and Dominic!

Thank You Lisa for such a wonderful trip and being such a fun and loving Nana to Lucy!

Lucy's First Haircut

Today, Lucy's 8 month birthday (can I just say again, my how the time flies!) her Great Grandpa Dale, who is a very fine barber, gave Lucy her first haircut. It was crazy trying to cut a wiggly baby's hair! I was also surprised that I was a little emotional. It is just a little sad to cut away that original baby hair, but she sure looks a lot better with her bangs out of her face! It was time!



Wiggle
Squirm
Can you count how many people it takes to cut Lucy's hair?


I had to put the whole sequence up so you could see just exactly how wiggly she is. I am sure most kids are this bad, but I thought the sequence was just classic.
A very fine haircut! Thanks Grandpa Dale!

Leavenworth (We are famous:part 2!)

Ah, back in Leavenworth today! It has been almost three years since we David and I made our mark in Leavenworth, July 2005, while on our Honeymoon! What a charming little Bavarian village. What a great job capturing that fairytale feeling that Germany has...

I loved this mural painted on one of the walls. The reason I liked it so much was that I remembered seeing it the last time I was here and thinking "cool castle" not even imagining that it was real. Now having been to Europe and seen the magical Schloss Neuschwanstein, in all it's majesty, this painting really had meaning!


Ah...the land where fairy tales really do come true...


This is my adorable sister in law Renee. I love this picture of her! She is such a fun and spontaneous person. She was telling me the other day about when she lived in England as a young girl and danced around the maypole, so we had to take a picture with the maypole mural!

Just capturing some charm of the village.


Very Charming, especially with the mountains in the background!

And of course while we were here, we had to see if the rumors of our picture being up in the studio were true, so we paid Studio 1890 Old Time Photos a visit!

3 years later our portrait sits in the front window

Here we are taking some pictures in front of our fame for all of our fans! There was another picture inside on the wall as well as a picture in one of there example Marriage Certificates! We talked to the ladies at the front desk. They were excited to see us and said that our picture was everybody's favorite. She says everyone wants to copy the pose we thought up! So there you have it. It is real. Fame and Fortune are all coming our way!

What? You, still don't believe that this really happened to a couple of nerds like us? Watch it on video here:





See, I told you!


You have just got to love Vince, David's older brother. He just tried the hottest hot sauce on this planet! See his eyes watering. He was on fire for at least an hour, despite the attempts with root beer to drown out the flames in the back of his throat!


Right behind the village we went on a pretty little walk by the river.David and Lucy flash a smile from the bridge! Lucy made me sooooo happy today! There is nothing like your child calling for Mama. While her Nana was holding her in one of the shops, Lucy started getting fussy. I was giving her tough love and told her that she could be happy with Nana and if she really needed me all she would have to do is call "Mama." I was just kidding around, but about 3 seconds later she looked at me and with a whiny tone said "Mama." I couldn't resist after that and went right to her!


Here is all the ladies on the trip (Renee, Lisa, Christy Perkes, Me and Lucy , of course!)
Okay, Okay I am standing on my toes trying to be as cool and tall as Christy! For those of you not from Spokane, Christy is David's best friend from growing up.

And this picture is for all of you married Spokane people who have nothing better to do, but talk about single people's love lives. Yes, this is Christy and her man Byron. I really don't want to overstep my bounds and embarrass Christy, but he is pretty cool and David and I are wagering that he could be the real deal for eternity. This could even be their announcement photo...you never know!

Anyway, if you ever get a chance to visit Leavenworth do. What a charming place full of little treasures everywhere.

Riverfront Park

While parking at Riverfront Park we saw this lady just fishing over the bridge. Not only is she fishing, we see her real in a big fish. While crossing the bridge we talked to her and found out that she is from Ukraine.

She was very sweet and proud of her fish. This was definitely one of the most random things I have seen in a long time.

It was one of those things that just kind of made you sit back and think about life. What was this lady worrying about...dinner probably, and what are the things I worry about...and are they worthwhile?

Lucy had her first carousel ride. What a little cutie. She rolls with all the crazy things we make her do.

Not to often you get family pictures, so I thought I would share this one of a beautiful day in Spokane. I am sad I didn't take a picture of the goat. I was too busy trying to get Lucy to feed it. They have a goat at this park where you push a button and it eats your trash. It is one of the most novel ideas! I love it! It sure makes kids excited to pick up their trash!

And that pretty much sums up our trip to Riverfront Park.