A Month of Love!

I learned a powerful lesson this Valentine's Day and now I am feeling like a relationship pro after only 6 years (which I am sure to look back at laughing in years to come...kind of like when you think you aren't a newly wed anymore on your first anniversary, so not true!)

Valentine's Day is usually just not very good. It usually consists of me trying to make dumb little mushy meaningful crafts for Dave which I find under the bed months later, and him being so stressed about doing something for me that he ends up doing nothing and then me thinking he just doesn't care when really he did care, but it just didn't work out. Sound familiar?

This year I had the best Valentine's Day ever and it's not because Dave surprised me with a trip to Paris, although I would be okay with it if he wants to use that idea sometime in the future. It is kind of cheezy and you have heard it your whole life, but serving others is really what makes you happy. It was a very busy day. We had to get treats and crafts ready for Lucy's valentine exchange party, and then played at the park with friends and read valentine's books to the kids. Next me and Lucy made a Valentine for Daddy as well as Lucy's friend Marcus, and a make believe Valentine to her crush Oliver from the play we were in last November (she hasn't seen him since November and yet she still talks about how she is going to marry him). Then we made the pink pizza dough and frosted the treats. I squeezed a quick photo shoot in of the kids. We visited Marcus with Lucy's valentine and then picked up Dave and made pink heart shaped pizza. We had a short Family Home Evening about loving your neighbor, delivered treats to all the neighbors and then finished with a heart hunt. Lucy found hearts all around the house until she found her valentine including nail polish, body glitter and princess gloves. Well then I made a little heart hunt for Dave and I can't tell you what his Valentine present was.

I was sooooo tired by the end of the day and yet soooooo happy. I contemplated why it was such a good valentine's day and realized I was so busy thinking of all the things I was going to do for Lucy and Dave, and the party and the neighbors that I never thought about what anyone was going to do for me. And that is the formula for happiness!!!! If you aren't concerned with what you are getting you will be so much happier. This sounds like a Christmas moral, but it hit me on Valentine's Day this year. I didn't even realize until the next day that I really hadn't gotten anything and it was so refreshing to not be expecting anything. I realized all these years (the whole 6 we have been married!!!)I have been wishing for Dave to be superman on Valentine's Day and that is not what it is about. It is about how you can show your love for others.

I feel like, duh! I mean theoretically I have always known that you should serve other people and be selfless and then you will be happy, but I guess I never actually internalized it.

Love really is a verb. It is something you do and then you feel. The more I find myself waking up thinking, "what can I do for Dave today?", the more I feel like he is the most amazing husband ever. Anytime, I have been upset with Dave it was because I was thinking of things he wasn't doing for me and I hadn't given any thought to his needs. I sure Love this adventure of Love. My favorite moments in life are when you feel like you really grow and have a whole new awareness in life. That is the whole purpose of this life right? To learn and grow and be able to Love more fully.





I caught some of the cuteness and love on camera!

Photo Shoot:






Valentine Party at the Park:


Lucy's Valentine from Marcus

Levi found his Valentine!
Lucy and her friend Emma at the party

They are so full of personality. I love it!


Lucy's hunky Valentine, Marcus!

Lucy helping me make the pizza dough.


The pizza turned out pretty cute!


Lucy wearing all of her valentine gifts the next morning. Notice the body glitter and princess gloves!

Anyway I hope your month and I guess your entire life are completely and totally full of LOVE!!!

4 YEARS TODAY!!!

Just wanted to let you all know that it has been 4 wonderful years for me and David today! So, in honor of this blessed event I posted tons of kissing pictures! Just kidding! I will post about our fun date later...I just wanted to profess my love and put up a few pictures that I think capture our marriage in a nutshell!

David is truly, as the gang used to say way back when, a g.e.m. (great eternal mate)! He is patient and kind and always adds a little humor to my day. He stays positive and keeps me going. He is genuine and loving and a man of such integrity. I look up to him and respect him more than he will ever know. I feel like the most blessed girl in the entire world. Thank you David for the best 4 years of my life!



I LOVE YOU!!!!

Pendergrass Happenings

Just a bunch of Random pictures and pieces of news. I have been pretty busy babysitting everyday so I don't get to the fun stuff as much anymore.

Lucy had a doctor visit on June 10. She weighed 21 lbs and 12 oz, still in the 90th percentile. The doctor was a little shocked when I told him she had food allergies with vomiting and diarrhea when she ate the wrong thing. He said he didn't know how she was able to grow so well with all of those problems! Just lucky I guess (it's probably because she has the best Mom in the whole world!Duh!) I am definitely learning as a Mom you have to go with your instincts and take matters into your own hands, because the doctor just checks to see if they are growing and then gives you a few suggestions and acts like everything will be fine.



Here is David and Lucy on Father's Day. Happy first Father's Day to Dave! If you look close you will see the sweet photo tie Lucy gave Dave for Father's Day. I am pretty sure everyone thinks we are nuts because we always walk to church with the baby backpack and then go hide it in the coat closet. We get a lot of looks when we first come in with the backpack and me wearing tennis shoes, but it has become a fun tradition I look forward to on Sundays. In fact, I love it so much that I wake up early and we have actually been on time, as opposed to our usual excitement if we make it for the Sacrament. (Don't ask me how that adds up?)

About Dave: He got a job! A full-time job! Woa! We are becoming real people! He interviewed on Tuesday and started work on Friday, working at Gold's Gym as a Hottie Personal Trainer. (No, he's the hottie! Hopefully he isn't training too many hotties for my sake!) San Diego...we will still be with you someday! I guess we will be in Utah a little while longer, which is fine with me at this point in the year (try telling me that in December and hear a different story!)

I had to include this adorable photo of Great Grandma Anna and Lucy. We went up there a few weeks ago to record my Grandma singing all the cute baby songs and poems she knows, plus some great readings. I wanted to capture her great theatrical voice and remember all the cute songs she sings so I can sing them to my kids. I am planning to put it on a CD for all the family who wants one.

As I mentioned I have been babysitting Mon-Thurs lately. 2 Girls, 6 and 10. As a result, Lucy goes around wearing ridiculous outfits most days. I just let them pick her outfits out because they love doing it so much. Anyway, I'm glad we are getting use out of some of the clothes that I never put on Lucy, just because they weren't practical. Here is one example of Lucy's new style.


Here is a funny one of Lucy. Now that she can get around, she gets to choose what strange activities she participates in. SHe loves to have her legs up in the air and I caught her doing this. I thought it was funny and worthy of a picture spot on the blog.


Our little Kitten! I was sad the other day and so David went through the hand-me-downs we have and dressed Lucy up like this. It definitely put a smile on my face.


I have always loved kitties and Lucy does too. She goes absolutely bonkers when she sees them and cries if we don't go pet it. She usually doesn't have such an aggressive personality about what she wants, just when there is a kitty. Well, I never realized how much I could really love a kitty until this little sweet one.Last, but not least, after talking about it for months and finally getting up the courage to do it, I got my haircut short and I love it! It has been years since I was happy after getting my haircut, so I kind of just stopped cutting it and let it grow out more because I didn't want another short haircut that I hated than to really be growing long hair. Yeah for good haircuts! For those of you who know her, Malerie Daines cut it for me and I would highly recommend her to anyone! I am sad she just moved to Colorado,( lucky Colorado!) Dave suggested flying me out once a year for a haircut. We'll see... for now, I'm lovin' the new look!

Noteworthy News

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Right now there are lots of exciting things going on at the Pendergrass home. First and foremost David has now joined the quarter of a century club (His Birthday was on Sunday!). To celebrate we did a photo shoot of Lucy! Okay not really to celebrate, but we did do this photo shoot above on his birthday and I can't figure out how to move it to a lower position in my post (hey, at least I learned how to put a slideshow in a post so you don't have to scroll for hours), so once again Lucy takes the spotlight!

Here is a picture of the Birthday Boy. I wanted to mention that for only being 25, I think David has the most character of anyone I know. When it comes to being caring, patient, kind, honest, humble and truly serving others, those things are so innate in David. He doesn't even realize that he has mastered some of the hardest qualities it takes people their whole lives to even come close. And yet when he makes the smallest mistake he still worries so much that he didn't make the right choice. I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to be with him forever and hope that in our life together some of his greatness will rub off on me. Thanks for holding up our family and taking such wonderful care of me and Lucy, David! I couldn't be a luckier girl!

Also, I thought it was a good time to explain what David and I are really doing in life right now, since you are all pretty sure we have a cute kid, but are wondering if we have jobs other than playing with her! This is the David, Wendy and Lucy Too page so it is high time I mention something about me and David. Here is the lowdown: David is currently camping (yes, literally he is camping to try and save money! Oh, how I love that man and his many adventures!)in Cedar City attending graduate school at Southern Utah University in Sports Performance and Conditioning. He will be there for two weeks doing all the hands on stuff and then be able to complete the rest of his year long program online from home. After a year of Grad school at BYU he decided Health wasn't exactly what he was going for, and a Sports training program was more what he wanted to do with his life. When he gets home he will be working on starting his own business while he is in school. He hopes to get a Fitness Boot Camp rolling somewhere here in Provo or Orem. We think it will go over big because it will be way more fun for people to get a great workout with a personal trainer in the outdoors doing interesting activities, opposed to being on some machine in a gym when its gorgeous outside! He has already got liability insurance and started talking to people about locations, so as soon as we get a definite location we will be ready to roll!

And now its my turn to talk about how cool I am. I passed my Real Estate License Exam on Saturday, so as soon as I sign on with a broker I will be ready to help all of you find your dream home! I am so proud of myself for finishing, because I only had a few classes left when Lucy was born and i thought it wouldn't be too hard to finish once I had her, but then I realized everyone going to school at BYU with 2 kids and making it look like it is easy are pretty much liars! Either that, or Lucy is just a special baby who needs her Mom. Anyway, go me! Next week, I will also start babysitting for a neighbor 3 times a week, which is such a blessing right now while David is trying to start up his own business. Other than that I am anxiously trying to publish children's stories while getting nowhere because I would rather blog about my life! Oh, and I forgot to mention my other hobby is taking pictures of Lucy, but I am sure you have realized that by now!

The other huge and monumental thing going on is that I am on a diet! Okay, I know some of you are thinking...what? Wendy, miss anti-diet herself who is always telling people "You are doing great, just try to eat healthy and don't give yourself strict rules or else you are bound to break them and then hate yourself," is going on a diet? Yes, actually I have been on it for 2 and 1/2 weeks now and been keeping it a secret from all of you, so I could lose tons of weight and then surprise everyone with how awesome I look! Just kidding! I am actually on a diet because we suspect Lucy has food allergies and since I am still her primary food source, I have eliminated all the common food allergens in my diet and will soon be slowly introducing each food back into my diet to see if there is a reaction. What are the common food allergens I am eliminating? oh just a few like: Nuts, Dairy, eggs, wheat and whole grains, soy, chocolate, seafood, berries or citrus fruits. Yes, I have actually eliminated all those from my diet for two weeks now. What am I eating? Well, less food than I ate before, that is for sure. I am not going to lie, it has been really hard to think of things to eat sometimes. Mostly I have been eating rice and chicken with vegetables. If you really look there are tons of substitutions for stuff and I am getting better at cooking with them. For instance, On David's Birthday he wanted biscuits and gravy, but he didn't want to eat it if I couldn't, so I made biscuits using rice flour for white flour, Rice milk for the milk and applesauce for the shortening. They were a little chewy and weird, but tasted okay. The gravy I also made with rice flour and rice milk. It turned out better than just edible so I was excited! I also made spice cake with a gluten free mix I bought at the Good Earth and Egg substitute. It was kind of good, hey at least we had somewhere to put the candles! You may think I am crazy for doing this, but Lucy's rashes have been improving, she has had fewer messy diapers (She used to be at about 10 a day, now we are at around 6), and most importantly she doesn't wake up every two hours anymore. It is funny because Lucy slept great until about 4 months she started waking up again which is right around the age some kids start developing food allergies. I felt very strongly with Lucy that I shouldn't let her cry it out to get her to sleep. I just knew something was wrong and it wasn't just a bad habit like the doctor said and now I am very glad I didn't because I probably would have missed this problem and then poor Lucy would just be miserable and alone in her misery. I think Mom's really know their children and have a very strong instinct when it comes to what is best for them. Anyway, I have done a lot of research on the subject and am finding this is actually a somewhat common problem ( in fact many kids have eczema because of a food allergy) so if any of you have kids with food allergies or suspect them feel free to ask me any questions about what I have learned or more importantly if you have to do a crazy diet like this ask me for recipes.

Well, that is what we have been up to. Pretty interesting, huh? Well, now you know why I would rather post cute pics of Lucy and talk about what she is doing, rather than rant and rave about crazy diets! But hey its life and I am learning how to love it more fully, even when I seem in the midst of trials!

Lucy's First Valentine's Day

So this was Lucy's first Valentine's Day and what do you know? Mom decided to celebrate with a photo shoot!

Welcome to my homemade studio with a red blanket draped over the couch! How many of you have tried this at home?

We ate heart shaped pizza for lunch, a tradition we started last year. I used to expect an overdose of creativity from Dave on Valentine's Day, but now I have realized we both have a way better time if we keep it low key. I found out that boys actually dread Valentine's Day because they are so worried about what to do for their wife. This tradition is our first step to helping David love Valentine's Day just as much as I do!

I absolutely love getting flowers, but boys kind of think they are ridiculous because you spend money on them, they sit on your table for a week, and then die. I told David he didn't have to get me flowers because I would rather save money this year. He compromised and got me these wonderful live roses we can plant outside in a few months. He doesn't think they are a waste and I got my flowers! What a genius! Now my centerpiece will last for months!

We topped off the evening with a wonderful dinner at Touch of Seoul. We practically had the restaurant to ourselves and I am starting to absolutely love Korean food! This was our first date without Lucy! My three sisters babysat her and said they had a wonderful time with her crying most of the time (her new found stranger anxiety is delightful!). I was very impressed that amidst the crying, Lani somehow got her to go to sleep just as we pulled up. It was really sweet to find her laying by Lucy with lullabies playing and then whispering "shhh, the baby is sleeping" when I walked in the room. It was nice to have someone else saying that for a change!

Happy Month of Love to all of you!