The Stages of Her Smile

Addie does, of course, have many moments when she isn't particularly smiley. We just love catching the moments when she IS!!! =D She makes us laugh with all her cute and silly little antics (even the unhappy ones), but there is something about her smile that is so endearing.
Who is that looking at you?
Is that daddy?

A Little Overdue...

I decided after reading my s.i.l., Rachelle's, post that I would go ahead and do this post... I too had never been "tagged" until about 4 weeks ago (ok, maybe a little longer than that) and then I was tagged a lot all at once. To date, I think it's been 4 times. Maybe 5... I'm not sure. I've lost count. While I've never felt so loved, I've also never felt quite like such a slow-poke! I actually started filling my responses to the first two tags in a word document, and I haven't kept up with the others... I've decided that I can't! I hope my response to these two will satisfy all!!! =D



Fives:

Five years ago, I:

1. Was attending LDS Business College, preparing to finish my degree the next semester.

2. Was attempting to figure out where I’d go from there.

3. Taught the 4^th Sunday lessons in R.S. and absolutely loved it.

4. Was working at Lonestar… the fourth in three states (pretty impressive, I know)

5. Was introduced to Cranium at Girls Night with some Lonestar coworkers.

Five things on today's "To Do" list:

1. Do the dishes

2. Fold laundry

3. Prep my English lesson

4. Mop the kitchen floor

5. Figure out how to use the mop

Five snacks I enjoy:

1. Bliny—thin Russian pancakes (think crepes) stuffed with lots of yummy things--sweet to savory--sweet are my favorite!!

2. Ice cream

3. Creamy Rooibos tea

4. Rahat candies (freshly made from a local factory here)

5. Cucumber & tomato salads with fresh dill and a lot of salt. YuM!!!

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. Pay tithing

2. Invest for children & retirement

3. Buy a house

4. Help family

5. Help others around me (preferably anonymously)

Five places I have lived:

1. Virginia Beach, Virginia

2. Sandy, Utah

3. Mesa, Arizona

4. Williamsburg, Virginia

5. Almaty, Kazakhstan

Five jobs I have had:

1. Spiegel Brands Inc. (Executive Assistant)

2. DMH, Attorney at Law (Legal Assistant)

3. Lonestar Steakhouse (Server & sometimes Asst Manager)

4. Einstein Bagels (grunt worker)

5. Westminster-Canterbury (server)

Tell about 6 of your quirks:

1. I am a very tactile person and have bought things (mostly just clothes) simply because they felt soft to me…

2. I’ve been known to get into trouble for laughing. Probably because I have a tendency to get the giggles at the worst time (like during prayers). [I am progressively getting better]



3. As a youth/young adult I never mulled over “girly” things like my future wedding (and all the details), decorating my home (before I had one of my own), where I would live with my future (at the time non-existent) husband [isn’t he happy about that!], naming children, etc.



4. I guard my food. Chris loves to tease me that he’s going to steal it because I always react to his teasing (with a horrified, protective look over my food).



5. I avoid watching t.v. for a number of reasons, one of which being that I have a tendency to zone out—where I don’t even realize people are talking to me. It apparently runs in the family.



6. I hate picking favorites—the reason why is probably the quirkiest part about it—somewhere in me I feel like if I were to, for example, say yellow was my favorite color then it means I don’t like hunter green as much, and I really like hunter green, so it’s not really fair to demote it. I think there’s also a small part of me that thinks it would hurt hunter green’s feelings. (We won’t go into the fact that a color has no feelings, ok?... ^_^)

A Pacifier Pro

Ok, not quite. The only time Addie has effectively taken a pacifier was the week we flew across the Atlantic. We still give it to her on occasion simply because she likes having something in her mouth.

An Anniversary of Sorts

A year ago today we sent out an email to our family. It looked a little bit like this...

This year, we want you to guess what we were for Halloween. Examine the picture and select the most appropriate answer from the choices below. Reply to this e-mail or give us a call to submit your answers.

a. A poor student and his hardworking wife.
b. Overwhelmed assistant nursery leaders of Jamestown Ward
c. A newlywed couple enjoying their first Halloween together.
d. A pregnant mother-to-be and a proud father-to-be.
e. All of the above.

Isn't it amazing how much can happen in a year??

If Only...

If only I could tell you how excited my sweet husband has been for this past Sunday! Some time ago we learned that Steven Covey was doing a tour and would be in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Arrangements were made and he was scheduled to give a presentation at church Sunday evening. We made it out to the event and were able to listen to Covey's presentation. Chris was well-prepared with his well-worn (practically tattered) copy of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Although we generally keep our camera with us anyways, I made sure the batteries would last... and we were able to get a picture with the man himself... and an autograph for Chris' book.

Isn't the back of Addie's head lovely? She decided she was more interested in daddy than the camera. =)

The Drool-Maister

Addie has been drooling a lot for quite a while now (two months?) and after her onesie was especially wet Chris wanted to change her. She didn't have many clean outfits at the time (we are line-drying our laundry afterall) so we stuck a burp cloth (aka cloth diaper) in her shirt.
Her wardrobe accessory obviously didn't bother her any! In fact, it was pretty close to her mouth when she looked down, so she was able to spend some time licking it (the fate of anything close to her mouth).

Sitting Up

While she may not be doing it by herself, she is sitting up, and getting better and better at it every day!

Finding her toes and getting her slobbery hand all over the couch...

Now there's that smile!

And a little laugh to go with it!