Spring!

It actually kind of feels like Spring all year long here, but still...what would you call a completely yellow, completely flowery photo shoot? I am really happy Lucy's "anti-picture taking phase" appears to have passed! Bring on the photo shoots!








"I'm sure I can reach that flower..."


"He loves me...he loves me not..."



"Guess what? He loves me!"


Honestly, how could he not love you girl?!!!

There is beauty all around...even in my backyard!

I don't know if my memory is failing me, but I never remember our porch looking this much like paradise. Maybe it is because of all the rain we had this week. I don't know, but I'm in heaven! I really feel like we have a little piece of Paradise . Of course, I knew these weird feelings would start happening. About this time of year I always tell Dave, "I really don't mind living in Utah, we can stay here" and then the summer or winter hits and I'm like "wait, only 2 weeks of perfect weather? What is the deal?" Anyway, I am trying my hardest to appreciate it while it lasts!
We got this patio set for $40 last year at a yard sale. Grandpa would be proud! (He is a yardsaling man, if I ever met one!) And that is my little car, still holding strong after 8 years of life with Wendy Pendergrass.Lucy and I always (well, since it has been warm enough) just chill out here on the swing chair and look up at the flowers. She always points up at the flowers because she can hear the bees (she loves bees!). I always point up with her and talk to her about the bees and flowers.
And as much as we all love looking at random pictures of my yard, let's face it, a picture is always better if Lucy is in it (at least that is my philosophy, if you haven't noticed all the pictures I have of her!) So to make the picture complete, here is Lucy on the patio furniture.


I think Lucy said her first word (other than Mama and Dada, of course) . On Sunday, while I was posing her for a photo shoot she looked up at a bird, pointed and said something that started with a "b"! I was thrilled, but still a little unsure if that counted. A few minutes later another bird flew by and she did it again! Now, that was for real! I can't believe she was really listening to all the talk we have been doing about bird.


And here is the rest of our photo shoot:
Lucy loves the grass, but I am worried she might be allergic because David is. It is hard for me to hold her back from exploring even when I know she shouldn't. I just love watching her learn and examine the world. Even at such a young age she truly cherishes her agency and is so upset when anyone tries to violate it.
She got a piece of grass, and is overjoyed while she examines it (this is within seconds of her putting it in her mouth and me fishing it out. Of course, there I go with my letting her explore, I couldn't take it away earlier because I wanted to encourage her learning, but I think I am the one who is really learning!)


Lucy in front of one of my favorite backyard bushes. And the sunlight in the background couldn't be more picturesque!


Here's a funny look to go along with a silly hairstyle. I guess her head is getting a little too big for this bow!
Just a sweet little look. Lucy loves to clap. She is always doing things and then looks over at us and claps, like "aren't I great you guys! Can you say yeah for me one more time!" It never gets old!
A little bashful look, before we close our photo session.

And I had to end with a photography moment! This is Lucy's foot, just in case you were wondering!

I say this all too often, but it is always just right at the top of my heart:

Happy Spring!

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!

Crazy Traveling!

We planned our big long trip to Spokane, starting last week and lasting two weeks, however Lucy and I took a little vacation from our vacation this weekend and flew back to Salt Lake just for the weekend so that we could attend my Grandpa Russell's Funeral. And then we will be heading back for the rest of our vacation. The amount of traveling back and forth from SLC to Spokane, to SLC to Spokane and then back to SLC in just two weeks just seems comical to me, but it was worth it to be there for the beautiful service and to see cousins and family that I haven't seen for 15 years!


I have sooooo much to tell and so little time, as I am due back at the airport again soon. I will definitely be telling about our adventures in Spokane with Nana and Papa, as well as a little more detail on the trip back to Salt Lake, but for now I will just leave it at this: Lucy is a well seasoned airplane baby now that we will spend every weekend traveling 3 weeks in a row! Most of this weekend was spent in Logan, however we made a short stop home today and to my surprise my yard looked more beautiful than ever! The Tulips finally blossomed so I thought I would share my joy with you!

After a long, long winter....

SPRING IS REALLY HERE!

Big adventures with Small miracles

My Mom and Sister, Heidi, decided to come for a visit last minute! What a wonderful surprise! Lani (other sister), Lucy and I picked them up from the airport at 1:00 on Saturday. They were hoping to catch a live session of conference. I was very doubtful at this point without having tickets, but in the past we always managed to get some and my Mom was being very optimistic and that kind of spirit is just contagious! So we decided to give it a shot! We quickly drove to the conference center. We dropped Lani and Heidi off on a corner to beg people for extra tickets while Mom and I looked for parking. We tried to park in the conference parking without tickets, the guy asked if we had tickets and I replied "No we don't have any, but we are hoping to get some. Where would the best place to park without tickets be?" He smiled and answered "We will just pretend you have them" and let us drive ahead. I LOVE PEOPLE LIKE THAT! We get the call from Lani that they had found tickets from the first person they talked to. MIRACLES ALL OVER THE PLACE! Mom changed into her church clothes in the car, while Heidi just slipped her skirt on over her pants outside. Lani calls from outside the conference center and says "Everyone is running, I don't know why. You guys should probably hurry!" At 1:45 we start running to the conference center! I told my Mom to run ahead because I wasn't planning on attending (as I had Lucy with me) and I was really slowing things down with Lucy in her carrier, the diaper bag and blanket bag over my shoulders, plus a little basket to take pictures of Lucy in! (Ever looking for the perfect photography moment!) They made it! Yeah! What a typical Poppleton adventure! It all seemed crazy and like it would never work, yet it just did! I looked around for a good place to watch conference. In the past we just sat outside and listened, but it was cold and windy so I ducked into The Joseph Smith Research Building. After unpacking Lucy's gear and letting her roll around on the floor, the fire alarm went off! The message starts blasting "Please evacuate the building. This is an emergency." Hoping it was a false alarm, I was purposely moving slowly, until nice people saw the lone mother with a baby and ran to help me carry piles of stuff, because I ridiculously carry around photography props wherever I go(I didn't bring the stroller to leave room for my family's suitcases, although they packed so light I am sure we could have fit it all in!). ANOTHER MIRACLE! When we get outside I see the perfect setting for my latest photo sesh! Feeling like the fire alarm was meant to be just so I could evacuate and find this little piece of heaven, they tell everyone we can come back in the building. I declined an offer for help back inside from the nice man who had helped me out, explaining my upcoming photo shoot.

After I have just about got everything ready except for the subject, Lucy, in the prop, basket, an old gentleman walk by an says "let me help you," before I could decline, he had picked up my basket and diaper bag for me. I just couldn't crush his noble spirit and so I let him accompany me back into the building, secretly planning how I would sneakily escape back to my photo shoot. (Here was the spot I was standing when everyone kept asking me if they could help me. You just have to love Mormons at Conference! Note the sheer enjoyment on my face. This picture was too funny not to include!)

While trying to sneak back out I ran into a very kind woman in a wheel chair. She was just thrilled to meet Lucy and asked if she could hold her. She told me about her grandchildren and how she loved to sing "I am a Child of God" to them. I asked her if she would be so kind as to sing it to Lucy. Delighted, the cute woman sang the song to Lucy. It brought tears to my eyes to see such a sweet scene, and reflect on the power that song holds. Lucy truly is a little child of God and it is my precious job to lead her. I love people that notice the small miracles in life, and this woman truly recognized what a miracle children are. She hugged Lucy goodbye and I could see true joy in her eyes to hold a dear precious little child of God.

Little Child Of God

By this time conference was out so we looked for the family. We hooked up and then took adorable pictures of Lucy. She was very very exhausted, but still managed to give a few cute looks. Here is what we came up with:

Picking the Posies

Trying harder to pick the posies

I love this "not so thrilled" look with what she finally got after all that hard work to pick them

The people walking by were hilarious! Everyone was pointing and awing at Lucy. "Look at that little baby in the flowers" amidst other cries of "poor kid." Anyway we really created quite a scene!

The adventure wasn't over, as we headed up to Logan to visit Grandma Anna and Grandpa Russell. We watched conference with them on Sunday and then headed back to Provo. While passing through Draper, My Mom and I reminisced about a wedding reception we had gone too there up on the mountain somewhere. We both agreed it was the most beautiful house we had ever seen. Lani said "I want to see it" and then we were off on another adventure.

Miraculously, we found the house without instructions, just another typical Poppleton adventure! This time a new house was built a little higher on the hill that outdid our favorite house. For your enjoyment I thought I would give you a little preview of my future home that we will be building on the coast in Southern California:

Here is the right side of the house...

...And here is the left side! Yes both pictures are of the front of the same house!

Okay, this house is probably a little big for me, even in my dream land, but it was still too incredibly gorgeous not too share!

Here is the original house we were looking for:This house looks a little nicer than the first one because is has landscape, but you can just imagine what it will look like when it gets some landscaping too. I just love Cinderella spires. I just flip over them! Why? I guess at heart I just think my life is one big fairytale, full of small miracles like Lucy every day!

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."

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!