March 2010 family recap

Although the first item of business actually occurred at the end of February, it didn't really sink in until March. We bought a 2004 Toyota Sienna minivan! This is life changing people. In August, we will celebrate our 9th anniversary. We've never had two cars before. Heck, there have been times in our marriage where we have been completely carless. I can't even tell you how spoiled I feel. There have been many weeks where I haven't been out in the daylight with the exception of going to church on Sundays. As Aunt Claudia (aka Nana) described it, we didn't purchase a car, we put a down payment on freedom.

We ended up taking 200 miles and 35 hours worth of road trips the next three weekends. It was both fun and exhausting. The end result is that we're ruined now. I don't think we could take a road trip with our kiddos in our Accord again. The minivan is so much more comfortable, spacious, and convenient for traveling.

The sunroof is great in Arizona.

Navigation and lots of buttons that Carter loves to explore.

And the DVD player was the luxury/necessity that kept Carter sane when Ruby was fussy.


Ruby hit her seven month mark in March. She accomplished quite a lot and we have been floundering to keep up with her. Just off the top of my head, she started clapping, crawling, pulling up, standing (she constantly has a bruised forehead from all the spills she's taken, about half of them thanks to Carter), talking (mama, baa for bath, and dadada for dad), and signing (she just signs bath anytime she thinks there's hope, like when we change her clothes or diaper -- baths are her favorite activity). She moved into size 4 diapers, 12 month clothes, and 18 month pajamas. She endured yet another fight with an ear infection (I think this is her 4th since December) and a cold, and her top four teeth moved in, leaving us awake many nights. What a doll baby though. She has never had to work hard to keep us wrapped around her chubby little fingers!

St. Patrick's Day brought us to the table for a festive breakfast. Inspired by my creative friend Andrea, I decided to serve green pancakes with buttermilk syrup, green eggs and ham. We also used green dishes. Carter thought it was fun, so mission accomplished, right?
Carter got an overdue haircut. These were the before pictures, but I totally spaced out taking an after pic...still, I love his faces in these. They are so HIM.

Just a couple of our favorite quotes by Carter this month:
*While pushing his forearm up into a faux muscular bulge, he exclaimed, "It's a tree mountain! It grows up two times! See Mom?" And then he did it again, this time with sound effect to indicate growing, "Wooooopt!"
* While eating oatmeal for breakfast, Carter noticed Ruby crawl into the kitchen and look up at him. He explained, "Rube smelled my oatmeal and it smelled tasty. And she looked around and around and around and she said, 'Hooray! Where my oatmeal?!'"

We rented a beautiful house in Moab, UT over the weekend of March 19th for the 2010 Canyonlands 1/2 marathon and 5-mile race. Shane ran the 1/2 marathon and I the 5-mile. Shane did pretty darn well for not running for the three weeks prior to the race (since he ran Ragnar). I finished. And not in last place! So, I have to admit I was pretty proud of myself. It might not seem like much, but 5 miles for me was scary. My heart kept having freaky palpitations and I could barely walk for days following the race. I even ended up at Urgent Care thinking I might have a fracture in my foot, but the doctor said it's a bad strain/sprain and could take up to 8 months to heal. But I finished!

As an added bonus, we had visitors in Moab. Shane's parents and youngest siblings, Joseph and Sarah, stayed with us the first night and took care of Carter and Ruby during the race. My two oldest nieces, Eliza and Lizzie, joined us the afternoon following the race. They stayed with us that night and we had a blast! Thank you all for making the drive. It made the trip so much more fun!
We also were happy to get to see/meet adoption friends at the race! Here I am with the famous (in the adoption world) Mrs. R! I hate this picture of myself, but had to include it for the love of adoption!
We went out to lunch afterward together and I just wish we would have had more time to spend with those fab girls. Thanks to Lindsey (aka Mrs. R), we planned ahead to do the race together. You can see her post about the race here. Adoption rocks!!!

Shane had the chance to meet up with a friend from high school (at the zoo with the kids) while I was at an adoption workshop on the 27th. Here are a few pictures from that day.

I was working feverishly preparing items for the Boutique in the Barn.

I had a lot of fun being part of a Spring swap.


Carter talked us into showing him how to use the camera (under our close supervision - it's heavy) and ended up with some surprisingly nice shots, all things considered.

This one was with a timer, but Carter composed it.

After seeing his excitement with photography, Shane gave him his old camera phone and put it in airplane mode. He gets so excited and comes running in to tell us when he takes pictures of Ruby, or the ceiling fan, or his subject of choice - his finger half covering the lens. Love that boy!

Last, but certainly not least, we were saddened to learn of the loss of Shane's Uncle Kevin. It was a blessing to be able to make the trip to gather with everyone in celebrating his life. What a beautiful, faithful family he has here to take care of one another in his absence. In closing, I just want to say that our thoughts and prayers continue to be with Kevin's wonderful family. We're so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel in our lives!