Heather Visits Twin Falls

I met one of my best friends when we were placed together as roommates our freshman year at BYU. I am so grateful to have her in my life, especially because she makes it a point to visit me every year even though she knows we won't do much. We took her to Shoshone Falls, Dierkes Lake, Perrine Bridge, and the Herrett Center. Sprout was obsessed with her. It was so nice to have her here! (I also feel really lame that I didn't take way more pictures.)

August 2014

So, the biggest thing that happened in August was finally getting to see our beautiful, baby girl. Click here to read about our adventures with baby #2. We've had a girl's name picked out since I was pregnant with Sprout and we've decided to stick with it. Her name makes it so that everyone in our family will have a 'B' in their name except for Mr. Mitchell (a.k.a. Paul). I've decided to change his name to Baul because, really, it's not that different from Paul and then he can be included in the 'B' club.

Mr. Mitchell was gone quite a bit this month on fires and so I was able to spend time with my parents and my sister's family. Unfortunately, we're learning that Sprout does not travel very well, and so we'll be cutting down immensely on our visits to family until he gets that figured out.

We were also able to receive a visitor this month: Heather - one of my best friends. We mostly just talked and watch movies, but we were able to eat out at a few places and go to the zoo in Idaho Falls. It's a small zoo, but it was very nice.

I think red pandas are adorable. I geek out every time.

They're watching the lions sleep.

He was fascinated with the tiger.

Pretty flamingos.

Sprout's favorite were the penguins. We had to go see them one more time before we left the zoo.


Sprout enjoyed Heather's electronics very much.

I think he's telling me to bug-off.

The month of August was a little frustrating because the landlord decided to have the siding on our house redone. Instead of just coming and doing the job and moving on to the next one the siding guys would come for only 2-3 hours each day. Magically, they ALWAYS came at nap time. This is not a joke - it was as though they had placed a camera in Sprout's room and decided to come once they saw me put him down. This means we had no naps for almost a month straight. On the plus side, they're done now and the house looks better. Here is what happens when a child is nap-deprived for weeks:

He passed out an 1 1/2 before bedtime and WOULD NOT wake up.

Sprout has definitely hit his terrible two's. For us that mostly means he has just decided not to listen anymore. I spend most of my days giving warnings and putting him in time-outs. Time-outs don't seem to phase him at all. In fact, sometimes he'll put himself in time-out for fun. The worst is when we're out and about and he decides to walk into the parking lot without me. I'm so afraid he's going to get hit because he won't listen.

A positive side to this age is watching his personality boom. He's had a definite personality from the time he was wee, but now it's hilarious. I love to hear him talk, and I love to see the way his brain works.

Because who doesn't wear sunglasses while eating indoors?

He is a goofball, and, even on the worst of days, I am so happy to have him in my life.

February 2014

February is one of the dreariest months of the year I think. Luckily, we had a few events that made it less so. We had a Valentine's party with my family in Mendon where we enjoyed the company of the Smiths, Logan Holdaways, Garrison, and my parents. I only got pictures of the party prep, but it was a nice little gathering. We had food (as is required at all Holdaway functions), lots of Valentine sweets, games, and chatter.

The master food prepper.

Angela was quite excited about this picture.

Not as cheerful as usual.

They weren't much help in the prep-work.

For the extended weekend my best friend Heather was up to visit. It's always nice to have the extra company, and I'm so grateful to have a friend willing to make the drive to come and visit. I don't make friends very easily and get lonely.

The next weekend Garrison came for a visit. Garrison, unlike me, makes friends easily and has them everywhere so he was in and out visiting people, but it was very nice to have him here to make us laugh and to play with Sprout.

Now to the Random February Treasures:

Sprout LOVES it when I work out while he's awake. He very enthusiastically pulls out my mat and rolls it out for me. He clambers all over me, weaves between my legs, and sometimes tries to mimic what I'm doing - especially if it involves legs. We have some funny videos, but I feel a little awkward posting videos of me working out on the internet. Here's a picture of him on Yoga day.

I love that he's reaching the mimicking stage. He's decided lately that he needs to wear Dad's hat, and if Dad's wearing it he'll go find one of his one. 

A favorite game lately is getting out the pots and utensils and mixing whatever he can find. He especially loves to do it while I'm cooking.

Sprout is learning to stack blocks, but he mostly loves to knock them over.