Icicles

Instead of complaining about the snow, like usual, I decided to be in a very positive mood and just be grateful that it would soon really be spring and that we got one more chance to enjoy the snow before it is gone for good!This is Lucy complaining about the snow, until I told her she had to be positive! (I love this expression!)

Saturday, the weather was beautiful, so I pruned the roses while Lucy played in her Pack n' Play that her Nanna got her! Contrast that day to:

Sunday, we awoke to a gorgeous an unexpected blanket of snow. It snowed all day! Every time I looked out the window it shocked me!

On the way to church I couldn't help singing:

"Spring had brought me such a nice surprise,
snow is falling right before my eyes!" (To the tune of Popcorn Popping)

Today it began to melt and vwalla:
I was very impressed by these icicles. I thought they were magnificent. I don't think the camera could capture how truly beautiful this whole icicle design was, but I tried. You will just have to use your imagination a little.
While examining these marvelous creations of nature, I was reminded of how beautiful the world really is. God is truly an artist!

The song in my heart today is "My Heavenly Father Loves Me"
which I will quote for your enjoyment:

"Whenever I hear the song of a bird
Or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face
Or the wind as it rushes by,
Whenever I touch a velvet rose
Or walk by our lilac tree,
I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Father created for me."

"He gave me my eyes that I might see
The color of butterfly wings.
He gave me my ears that I might hear
The magical sound of things.
He gave me my life, my mind, my heart:
I thank him reverently
For all his creations, of which I'm a part.
Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me."

I took a little extra time to marvel at the world today. I love how Lucy listens to every noise she hears. The sound of birds has her so enthralled, while my weathered mind pretty much tunes them out. When Lucy feels the wind she always smiles. It is one of her favorite feelings. I wonder what she is thinking about when she feels it. Without her around, I would just as soon forget that it is there. It dawned on me that one of the reasons having children is part of the plan for happiness is because they make you so aware of the world and its wonders. They call your attention to the small things that they are noticing. You get to enjoy the wonderful new experiences they have with their eyes, ears, hands, and heart. This song above puts it so perfectly that we might "hear, The magical sound of things." To babies new sounds really are magical and if we listen closely, I believe we can also hear and feel how magical these small things in life are.(We saw this rainbow from our window last summer 2 days before Lucy was born and marveled)

Sometimes, I just get in such a rush to do everything I forget to look around and be still. I think we have been given the commandment to Be Still so that we might let that awe and wonder of this beautiful world, and all that Heavenly Father has done for us, overtake our spirits. One of my young women leaders, Paula Larsen, once said something about this that had a profound impact on me. She explained (I can't remember the exact wording, but something to this effect) that if the Lord had wanted to, she believed that he could have made the world black and white and we could still learn all the lessons we were put here on earth to learn, but he didn't. He made it in color. He made it in color that we might enjoy. That we might awe. That we might wonder. That we might imagine. That we might know that he is God when we look out upon all of his creations.

I would like to encourage everyone to take a little more time to be still.

As said is Psalm 46:10:

"Be still, and know that I am God."

PINA COLLADA

This is Me and Lucy on Easter trying out a sweet new "do" with her beautiful growing hair. The rest of this post has nothing to do with the picture, but posts are always better with pictures so enjoy!

Tuesday night I decided to be really creative with some left over coconut milk from a yummy dinner over the weekend. PINA COLLADAS!!! Yum. Those are my favorite! So I mixed Pineapple juice+ Coconut milk+banana+vanilla. It turned out decent, but something was just lacking, it didn't quite have the pina collada taste, but a decent smoothie. 1/2 hour later I decided to clean out the fridge and get all those yucky moldy things out that I had basically just been keeping in their because I didn't want to clean them and I was secretly hoping David would see them and say "Oh, moldy things in the fridge, I should clean these!" as husbands commonly do. As I begin, I see the coconut milk...uh oh! If that is the coconut milk, what did I put in the smoothies. It was something white and milkish. I think about it for a moment, and then I see the moldy leftover pumpkin from pumpkin pudding I made about 2 1/2 months ago (David and I kept joking we were just saving it and letting it grow for Lucy's science experiment in sixth grade, because neither of us ever wanted to take it out and clean it!) I mixed the pumpkin with evaporated milk for the pudding, and the stuff I put in the smoothies definitely could have been evaporated milk. I raced through my mind trying to think of something else I made with evaporated milk and I can't think of anything! That is really gross! I run out and tell David not to drink his second helping of smoothie, because I don't want him to die from super old food gross germs! I am still not really sure if that is what I put in the smoothies because if it was that old I would have thought it would taste and smell gross. Oh well, 2 days later we are still feeling okay! I guess we lucked out! David is still laughing over what I did, with that "what else can I say, that is my wife!" kind of grin! Just thought I would share one of my classic "blond" moments! Although my hair seems much darker since having Lucy, I guess your true color never fades from your personality! Wish me luck on my next Pina Collada session!

Lucy: the current low down

Lucy is starting to really move around. Last week she finally rolled from her back to her tummy. Today, she got really silly in the evening and just kept rolling back and forth. She also started scootching around on her back to try to get stuff. I don't know if she will ever crawl. Although she is strong enough to hold herself up if I put her in the crawly position, she doesn't like it. She would way rather walk around with my help. I am worried because I heard that if babies skip crawling a certain part of their brain doesn't develop and then later in life they don't have very good language skills. Sometimes while sitting she flings herself back trying to stand up. When she lays down, she does little crunches trying to get to the sitting position. Her favorite thing is when I hold her so her feet are touching the ground without her weight, she jumps and jiggs and giggles. What a funny girl!

I finally tried feeding Lucy solids again after her spit up episodes 2 weeks ago, this time I tried Oatmeal Cereal, which is what the doctor recommended. She didn't like it yesterday and she didn't like it today. I was wondering what was going on, because she is almost 7 months and is definitely showing all the signs of being ready for solids, but then doesn't want them. When I say she doesn't want them I mean, she opens up for the first bite and then locks her mouth for any future attempts.Then at dinner tonight she really looked like she wanted some of our food, like usual. David decided to give her a big slice of zucchini and just put it on her high chair tray to see what she did with it. Although it was too big for her to swallow or anything, she attacked it! She loved it and was really trying to eat it! She kept dropping it and really looking for it, and just munching away! She finally got a little chunk of it off and tried to swallow, which I anxiously pulled out of her mouth. So, I determined baby cereal is just gross and Lucy must have an elevated sense of taste, because let's be honest, have you ever tasted that stuff? Poor babies! Maybe tomorrow I will try pureed zucchini.

We went to a WIC appointment today and Lucy weighed in at 20 lbs! (I won't mention her height because it was shorter than her 6 month doctor's appointment. The method for measuring height on infants doesn't seem all that precise!) The shirt she has on is size 18 m and she wears size 4 diapers. Let's just say she is a chunk and I am loving it! I can't get enough of tickling her little sausage thighs. I hear once they start moving they lose some of their baby fat, so I am trying to eat it all up!

My favorite thing about Lucy right now is how she loves to sleep with the blanket completely covering her face (of course, I also get less sleep because I am constantly worried about her suffocating!) We finally stopped putting her in her straight jacket (swaddle) a few weeks ago because she was protesting, and she is loving her new freedom. I know you are supposed to leave the room so they can learn to go to sleep on their own, but I just love watching her fall asleep, so I usually stay. After I lay her in her crib, we play peekabo with her special blankey, I snuggle her and then she takes the blanket and puts it over face, off of the face, over the face, off of the face, while kicking her legs. When she is really tired it is adorable because she has so much energy and then after one minute she is completely still and asleep, with the blanket over her face. I always move the blanket so it isn't covering her mouth and nose and then while she is sleeping she just moves it back. Last night I did it about 5 times. I couldn't believe she just kept moving it back with her eyes closed and without fussing. Even if I put the blanket down around her waste she finds it and puts it over her face. So I just pray she will be able to breathe. Anyway, that is the current low down on the light of our lives!

FitcomXpo: Check this out!

This is a fitness conference that David signed up for and is really excited about. It is all the top latest greatest speakers in the Fitness industry, speaking at one online conference. It is roughly $1 per speaker which is a great deal, for what would usually be a conference costing hundreds of dollars, plus paying for an airplane ticket and a hotel. The live conference starts tomorrow, but I am sure you can still purchase the online lectures after they have been given. Click the icon above for more details or feel free to shoot David an email (david.pendergrass@gmail.com).

Follow Up Photo Shoot

These are Lucy's Post Nap Easter pictures. Too bad I was too lazy to put back on the yellow dress that Nanna gave her, because I think the extra colors really made the pictures gorgeous! If only we could cut and paste all of our favorite things about pictures for the absolutely perfect shot...oh well, I guess that is what gives the professionals a job.



I love when Lucy does silly tongue pictures. It really shows off her personality. She is so silly!
I included this photo so you could see how beautiful this flower garland is. My neighbor let me borrow it. It turned out to be the perfect thing, even better than my original idea of bunny ears, which I am sure would have been much more tacky!
After finally realizing that Lucy didn't like sitting in the basket and there was no way I was getting a smile out of her in it, I took her out for a few full gum Lucy smiles!

I guess since we are posting this after Easter I will just say...Happy Spring!

Happy Easter!

Here is Lucy just wishing you a Happy Easter!

The Sun is out and so are we!

My wonderful neighbors invited me and Lucy to go with them on an outing yesterday. We headed to Ikea and then hit the Thanksgiving Point Barn. Sometimes I feel like it is hard to go out with a little one. It takes way more preparation and extra time-outs, but it is very very worth it in the end! I am always a way happier wife and mother when I take the time to get it all together and get out of the house! (The sunshine makes me feel like a new person)!

So it started, like I mentioned, hard to get out the door. It was just one of those mornings. After a last minute invite, I tell my neighbor we will be over in a few minutes. After getting myself dressed as quickly as possible, I decide we better feed and change Lucy. What should we do first, I never know. If you change her first she is likely to go again, but if you feed her first who knows what might happen. We feed first and then as I lift up her legs to change her diaper, out comes the spit up! Wrong choice. Should have changed first. Man, I thought we were done with spit up. Go get the rag. Return. Wipe spit up, off Lucy and carpet. Lift Lucy's legs for another try. Pooh , out the back of the diaper, onto the carpet because I was in such a rush I didn't put a blanket down. Clean pooh. Sit back down. Wipe bum. Wear is the diaper cream? I know I brought it out here! Oh, here it is! I was sitting on it. Lucky for me it is a little squeezable sample, that was already opened and now it is all over my bum. Ask David if it is that bad or if I can just leave it and go. He asks "What the bird pooh on your bottom?" Okay, so it is bad, but I am determined to wear these pants. Use Tide-To-Go Pen to take the edge off and decide not to care what anyone thinks and go (being a Mom has really helped me not to care what anyone thinks and it is usually because of moments like this when I am thinking: "don't judge my outfit, you have no idea how much effort it took just to leave the house!"). Finally throw a bunch of extra things in the diaper bag and head out!

IKEA: I loved this bed. It is circular, but you can't tell from the pictures.
While doing this photo shoot at IKEA a couple passing by stopped. The man announced "See this is what girls do, photo shoots. You would never see a bunch of guys doing this!" I could help, but crack up because we did look pretty ridiculous and boys really don't enjoy photo shoots. David practically cried when i took him in to get family pictures.IKEA is awesome. If you have kids there are a million things for them to do. I mean a play place with babysitters. You are kidding me! If you have a baby, they have a family restroom with a nursing chair. That is like heaven at this point in my life because Lucy is thoroughly done nursing under a blanket. Anyway, guys might not understand why it is any different than any other store, but ladies know there is no other place like it on earth!

The Barn at Thanksgiving Point was really fun. This time of year there are lots of new babies, which made it extra special. I couldn't resist snapping some shots of these darling babies, so animal lovers enjoy!
This is a black little Lamb. So adorable!


Here is the white Lamb. Just prancing around!


We went on a wagon ride. You can't see from this picture how funny this is, but we carried the stroller up a few really steep stairs and it is just funny that we took the stroller on the bumpy wagon, while Lucy was sleeping.



Wow. These horses were gorgeous. Lucy just woke up, and I still can't find her other sock. What do kids do with things?


The Horse bucked Taylor in the head throwing us all off guard. Here we are a little shocked.


We recuperated for one good group shot!


Hey Mom, I'm trying to be a good girl!

Rachel and Taylor, what a cute shot at the little jail!


Mom, I really don't want to go on this pony. You get kind of crazy when you want a cute picture.


Get me off!


Fine, but I am still mad and if you think you are gonna get a smile out of me...GOOD LUCK!

Anyway, it was a really fun day, with beautiful weather. Lucy was very good despite the looks she is giving in these pictures. I think they are classic mad kid photos!

Neighborhood Fun

We absolutely adore our neighborhood and especially the darling kids! Our place is pretty much the hangout for the youngsters. Tuesday they were playing in the yard with my sister, Lani, and I realized I didn't have any pictures of all of our little friends, so we took some on Tuesday!Here is the gang with Lani. She is soooo great with them. They always knock on our door and ask if she can come play. She really has a gift and I am glad she is using it and majoring in Elementary Education here at BYU.

Here are a few of my favorite stories about our neighborhood gang:

Tuesday Ethan, the blond boy,eight years old, comes and asks us "do you have anything we can climb on?"

I answer: "I can't really think of anything. Did you have something in mind?"

Ethan: "Well maybe I could just look around in your garage."

"Okay" I answer hesitantly "let me go get the keys"

After opening the door I told him he had about one minute to look, while I supervised. He came out with our mini trampoline. They played with it for the next hour until it was time to go home.

Wednesday, David answers the door. Ethan asks him "Can I have the keys to your garage?"

Dave asks "What for?"

"We want to play with your trampoline." David says he will get the trampoline for them.

I just love how the first day he asks if we have anything to climb on and the next day he just asks for the keys. He is so funny.Ethan and Taylor fighting over Lucy. This was Taylor's idea. She is very creative.

One of my other favorite stories: one time when I was waiting for my family to arrive, I decided to take a shower and left the door unlocked for them in case they showed up. While getting dressed in my room, I see two sets of fingers sliding under the door. Wondering if my family is playing a prank, I quickly throw some clothes on and open the door. There are our cute neighbor kids and the yell:

"You forgot to Lock the door! Ha ha ha! We got in your house because you didn't lock the door."

Good thing I locked the bedroom door!Here is Linnea, Ethan's little sister. She is the youngest of the bunch. SHe is three. Sadly, their darling older sister Mathilde wasn't here for the photo shoot.They all speak French fluently. It is amazing!Linnea, Lucy and Rachel (Tayolor's younger sister)

There are so many great memories of them from making there own homemade lawn mower that attached to their bike so they could mow my lawn for me, to hundreds of snowball fights, the first time we met Ethan. David and I were dancing our hearts out to Lion King while washing our car. He brought a washcloth and asked if he could help. This was just before he started Kindergarten! What a sweetheart!

What cute little kids. I am actually hoping to write a novel about them, but so far I'm only brainstorming, so if you have any ideas for a children's adventure do tell! ANyway, here is the gang playing with Lucy. They really adore her and she is quite fond of them. SHe loves to stare at them while they play.
While snapping these shots, I noticed these gorgeous flowers in our yard. Okay, maybe gorgeous is an exaggeration, but I am really excited for spring!

Little Irish Jig

This may catch you off guard, but St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays. I am not Catholic and I am not even Irish, but I love it! I think it is because it holds so many dear memories from my childhood. I remember wearing green the night before so that no one could come pinch me in the morning before I woke up. Sometimes I tried to be really tricky and wear green underwear so that when somebody pinched me, wrongly thinking I wasn't wearing green, I could pinch them back twice (does everybody pinch back twice if you are wrongly pinched or is that just my family?). I always had my outfit picked for this special day weeks in advance. Then as I walked into the kitchen I always knew that, because the Leprechaun had been all through the house, we would be eating something green. The milk was green, the pancakes were green, and anything else you could think of was green. I think we even ate green eggs one time. Anyway, I used to look all through the house trying to find the Leprechaun. It was really a fun day!



Now, our family traditions at the Pendergrass House include Lucky Charms (okay, we actually ate Marshmallow Mateys the cheap version) for breakfast and Corned Beef and Cabbage for dinner (which David so delightfully introduced me to on our first St. Patrick's Day of our married life). Oh, and of course, all of our holidays now include a Lucy photo shoot! I am hoping to develop more traditions as we go along! If you have any really fun traditions with your family please do tell!

Here is Lucy just enjoying some of her family's traditions for the first time!

As for this St. Patrick's Day, I think I finally caught that little Leprechaun. Watch Lucy perform her Irish Jig:



If that isn't the cutest little leprechaun there ever was, what is? She definitely has some Irish Pendergrass blood. I am so excited to have an Irish daughter!


Lucy would like to leave you with a St. Patrick's Day wish:


"LET YOUR SHAM ROCK!"

I know I did!

Ratatouille

I have been trying really hard to learn how to cook. When David and I got married I knew how to make about 2 really good meals (neither were very hard). I warned him of my weakness, but he didn't seem to mind. Now that I have a child and I am at home this amazing urge to take care of my family the best possible (which includes good healthy meals) has taken over. I have actually started planning our meals out for the week. I try to pick some easy ones and some harder ones, go grocery shopping for the items and then go with how I feel that day which meal I make. I keep a list of good meals I have made for future planning (plus it makes me feel good when I look at it).
The only problem is when you pick a recipe that looks good and then find out one ingredient at the store is outrageously priced! Anyway, I am working around the stumbling blocks. In the past, most of my meals were home cooked, but not from scratch. I used a lot of cans and some boxes here and there. Real meals from scratch just terrified me!
Basically, this post is just to brag about how cool I am. I went big this week. Real big! Last Saturday, I cooked a chicken. Surprisingly easy, once you get past the grossness factor of seasoning the inside. Sunday, I made my Great Grandma Maple's Chicken Noodle Soup, a favorite from my childhood and handed down to me by my wonderful mother. This one really has always scared me, but after watching my mom prepare it while on vacation last week, and calling her a dozen times to make sure I was doing it right, I did it! Everything from boiling the bones to make the broth, to homemade noodles! This was the hugest step for me in the cooking department by far! I even added a few of my own ideas. David loves it when I start adding my own spices and being adventurous. He calls me "Little Ratatouille." He sometimes asks me while we are eating, if I was "Ratatouille" today. As you can see, this post is in honor of this nickname and absolutely fantastic movie. When I first watched this show, I just felt like cooking something wonderful (as I am sure many of you can relate)!

So, to top it all off, I decided it was high time I make Ratatouille! I made it on Wednesday, highly delicious and jam packed with vegetables! It really wasn't too hard ( of course, that is for someone with my caliber of cooking skills which as you have read are increasing to great heights) I highly recommend it, especially if you haven't watched the movie, try making this meal and letting it simmer while turning on "Ratatouille" for a great date night you won't regret! Thanks for listening to me brag about "my skills!"