Turkey Run

We have exactly one year left in Indiana, and there are so many neat places we still need to see before we go. This weekend we spent a few gorgeous hours at Turkey Run State Park.
Lots of beautiful scenery and some good hiking trails.
There was this delicious little gully trail called the "ice box." As soon as you take a few steps down a bridge, the temperature immediately drops 20 degrees. It was misty and quiet and felt amazing on the humid day.
Daphne was such a trooper for the first hour and a half, but she decided she needed to be held for the last mile or so.
It was so humid the camera lens fogged up every time we tried to take a picture, and it looks like my hair is wet. Nope, just moist and frizzy.

Having fun as a family
We encountered some wildlife...

And really enjoyed the day. One more Indiana adventure checked off the list!

Things my brother told me...

Which turned out not to be true

This is my big brother Daniel

He's three years older than me and as a little girl I worshiped him as little sisters tend to do.
I followed him around, I tried to play with him and his toys. I thought he knew everything and believed every word he said.I was always amazed at how smart he was and how he knew sooooo much.

As I've grown up I have realized that some of the things Daniel said that I took for fact weren't true, not by a long shot.

Examples:

Don't ever drink a glass of water that you left out over night, because a daddy
long legs might have dropped some venom in it, and if you drink it, it could kill you.

If you drink a Squeeze-It while lying down, you will choke on it and drown and die.

If a praying mantis gets on you, it will run around really fast and tickle you to death

While babysitting me one night, "Jen, I hear burglars breaking in. Hide here and I'll go check."
This was actually just a good tactic to keep me frozen with fear and out of his way so he could play video games until my parents got home.

(These are just a few examples. There are many more that run in a similar vein.)

Throughout my adult life I have realized that a lot of the things I knew to be true were totally false, whether he made them up or really believed them himself, I sure believed him. He was also full of useful facts about dinosaurs, space and square roots. But most of the things that stuck were the various tips that would help me avoid an early demise.

Hey, I've lived this long, so I guess I'm pretty lucky to have a big brother.

Little Bunny's 1st Easter

After a week of birthday festivities, we were partied out. So this year we opted for a relaxed Easter. We didn't even dye eggs since Little Lady has been playing with and sucking on the plastic ones for the last month. Not only is it hard every year to use up the hard boiled eggs. I can only imagine the struggle I would go through looking for recipes that call for slobbered on hard boiled eggs.

But we did do the baskets up right.

Getting into her goodies.

Finally got an Easter smile on camera

We didn't manage to get a shot of the whole fam. Church is just miserable for the poor darling because she won't sleep there but can't happily go 3-4 hours without a nap. So we put her to bed right when we got home. But here's a quick shot with each parent.


We also didn't miss out on our traditional dinner, not the traditional Easter dinner, but ours.

Ham is one of the three foods I won't eat. So on this festive feast day we opt for what we call

"Easter Bunny Poop"
on a bed of grass

MMmmm, delish!

Birthday

It was our birthday this last week. But since Bryce doesn't really care and I care A LOT, we're just going to focus on my birthday.

It was a fabulous day/week. Some of my sweet girlfriends took me to breakfast at Cafe Patachou. We made quite a spectacle of ourselves with all of our babies. After we ate we braved the record rainfall to go to the Flying Cupcake. Thanks ladies, it was so fun!
After Bryce got home we went out for our 3rd baby free date in 7 months thanks to the Jones for babysitting. We went to Saffron Cafe, which I've been dying to try. Mmmm. Moroccan food=fabulous.


We saw a movie and headed home. I scored some fabulous birthday loot. A Shabby Apple Dress, some perfume, lots of good books and some $, and lots of snuggles from my favorite girl.Then the next night my amazing bestie *Courtney* and I had a movie night. She even made me my favorite cake (lemon). I don't know how she even has time to think about people with how crazy busy she and her 4 kids are.

This weekend we were supposed to go on a ward campout. However, it was raining, pouring, flooding and otherwise wet. SO we got a hotel room downtown,went swimming and slept in! The next morning we went shopping and played tourist in our city.

It was such a great birthday. I'm so excited to be 23, (once again) it's going to be the best year ever!

7 months

Our princess is 7-months-old and exhibiting plenty of personality.

She sits as long as you help her get up.
she rolls and army crawlsSleeps 12 hours at night, takes 45 min. naps
Still no teeth and no hair.
She just started reaching up when she wants to be held.
Eats solid food but still loves to nurse

Daf loves to be around other kids and she's getting fast with her worm wriggling method of moving around.
Still loves the dogs.
We've taken her swimming a couple of times. She tolerates is, but is not really over the moon about it.

Favorite things to eat: any kind of paper or tissue.
Such a doll, we enjoy her so much.

The Fortner's Visit

Bryce's parents came to visit and we had so much fun. The above picture is of Daphne expressing how sad she is they had to leave.

We mostly just hung out around the house. Chuck and Jan came to see us after spending time in Kansas City and Omaha visiting other grandkids, so they were a little tired by the time they got here. But we did have to show them the sights of course. We walked downtown and went to the Pres. Benjamin Harrison Home Museum. They came to church with us and Bryce and his dad played with the dogs.
And Grandma bought Daphne this pretty dress!
We're so glad they came and wish we saw them more often!

6 months

I can't believe how much fun it is to be this girl's mom. It just gets better and easier every day!

At her checkup today, her stats were:
27 inches, 90th %
16 lbs. 14oz, 50th %
Looks like someone is going to take after her daddy.

She is a good sleeper, wants to eat everything she sees and can sit up for a couple of seconds before toppling. We really enjoy watching her roll over and over to get around the house.

Her favorite toys are a stuffed kitty, a pink dragon and all of her hair flowers. She thinks Hazel and Buster are hilarious. No teeth yet, no hair either. If you look really closely you can see tiny blonde hairs but not many. Luckily, she has a perfectly round, beautiful head. She could totally rock the bald look if she wants to when she's older. In fact, she may have to.

This last month Little Missy had her first cold, strep throat and got to visit some of her cousins in Utah, so it was a pretty big month.

That's our girl!