General Update

Thanks to life, morning sickness, and the hectic summer, I have fallen very behind on documenting what has been happening with our family. The last thing I posted was a catch-up for March, so, you're in for a whirlwind of a catch-up.

April
Garrison and Gabi got married in St. Louis. Abigail and I flew out for the event and had a wonderful time. I was only able to get phone pictures because adding the camera to the luggage felt like punishment. I guess I also missed getting pictures of the couple on my phone, but I did get some of the travelling.  FYI: It's a little claustrophobic getting to the top of the arch. My sister about had a panic attack.

May
Mr. Mitchell and I celebrated our sixth anniversary with a date night and temple sealings. No photographic evidence available.

We do, however, have evidence of our trip to Zoo Boise with Grandma and Grandpa Holdaway. Sprout was king in his wagon, and Little Lady loved the ocelots.

June
In June we had a visit from Grammy and Grandpa Earls who picked up mommy's morning-sickness slack and made up for daddy being gone so much with the start of fire season. They got us all caught up on yardwork and planted our garden for us.

During the summer we spent one afternoon a week at the lake. This tradition started in June with the warmer weather. Both of the kids LOVE digging in the sand. (Little Lady usually preferred to be sitting in the water up to her armpits to do this.)

July
We spent the 4th of July at home. We went to the parade and festival in Buhl, made fun treats and crafts, and enjoyed fireworks at home.

We spent a day driving the Thousand Springs Scenic route and stopped in to dig up some fossils in the middle of nowhere.

We spent the 24th of July in Mendon so Caleb could experience the holiday. It's a great small-town experience.

August
Mr. Mitchell was gone on a long assignment in August, but he was only a couple of hours away, so we were able to visit him for a day. We played in the river, rode a gondola, saw where Daddy is working, 'flew' the helicopter, played in a fountain/mini-splash pad, ate lots of food, and had a great time with Dad in Ketchup (as Caleb called it).

September
This month we finally got to celebrate the newly weds on our side of the country with a cute open house.

Our Sprout turned 4 years old! We celebrated with a little birthday party with family after the open house, and on his actual birthday we opened presents. He was very insistent for a few hours that he wasn't four years old yet because he still didn't reach the '4' on the measuring stick. We were finally able to convince him that height and years are different and rarely the same.

Hopefully I do better in the future of keeping our long-distance family updated with our doings.

Sprout Moments #6 (May - August 2016)

I was terrible at recording things this time around with my morning sickness. I feel terribly about it because he's always saying priceless things I know I'd love to read again years down the road. Here's what I did catch:

July:
We were driving home from Utah and Littly Lady was upset and crying the entire time. At one point Sprout says, "Let's say a prayer. Heavenly Fadder, Pwease make Abby stop cwying. Amen." Little Lady actually went completely silent. Sprout yelled, "It worked!" He didn't seem at all dismayed when she continued crying about 1 minute later.

"The British are just mean jerks to Americans ALL of the time!"

He went on his first river floating trip with grandparents, uncles, and cousins while I stayed behind with Little Lady. He made himself captain of his raft and had a great time commanding his crew on the 'rapids.'

August:
I asked Sprout how his Sunbeam class went after I picked him up from the room and he responded, "I was a little bit naughty and a little bit good and a little bit naughty and a little bit good."

"I have obedience in my heart today. It makes me obedient. So, can we go to Chick-fil-a?"

Little Lady Turns 18 Months

I'm a little late in posting this because I forgot my camera at my sister's house, and then I forgot the blasted camera again. We're moving ahead with the photos I have available because who knows how long it will take me to get my camera home again.

At 18 months this girl is a talker. She speaks quite well and can put together two or three word phrases. She has four molars in and is starting to figure out how to run or go 'wewy fatht' as she calls it. She loves to play with her brother and snuggle with her mom and wrestle with her dad. She can be quite the drama queen and is starting to scream when things don't go her way, but for the most part she is very happy and easy to please. She enjoys eating most fruit and broccoli, but no other veggies are allowed past, or even on, the lips. Pancakes and yogurt are breakfast favorites, hot dogs and peanut butter sandwiches are lunch favorites, and any type of pasta is a dinner favorite. Everything else is pretty much a no go unless she's in a 'giving' mood and decides to make meals easier for mommy. She is starting to sing (her most recognizable song is 'You Are My Sunshine'), loves to dance to almost any music, and enjoys playing on the piano. She knows most of her body parts, loves saying animal noises, and likes to pretend to count objects ("Fwee, fwee, fwee! Five, five, five! Counting!"). She is a much bigger colorer than her brother ever was and enjoys sneaking crayons out onto the back patio to color the concrete with. She loves to be outside and asks to be out several times a day, and she loves to be in water so long as it's shallow enough for her to sit down. She sleeps through the night unless she gets thirsty and needs to ask for water. She's so fun to watch, and I'm excited to see her grow.

Recognizable Words and Phrases:
paddo - piano
K-bear - Caleb
horse
bird
kitty
doggy
mingo - flamingo
cappelar - caterpillar
duck
piggy
Mommy! Are you? - Mommy! Where are you?
saddich - sandwich
dog - hot dog
juice
appow - apple
nana - banana
gapes - grapes
stawby - strawberry
siwwy - silly
dross - gross
yucky
Danks you! - Thank you!
shoes
dwess - dress
pants
dipey - diaper
shirt
ow
petie - computer
work - (used most often to say, "Daddy, bye-bye, work.")
Gabba - Grandma/Grammy/Grandpa
My turn

That's all I can recall off the top of my head, but she really is such a talker and very bossy. One of my favorite things she does is walk around saying, "Happy Abby, Happy Abby" to herself. What a cutie pie.

This is the most recent picture I have of her on our computer from April 2016. She already looks so much older!

March 2016

March this year consisted of a bridal shower (see prior post), Easter, and family pictures.

I made Caleb a bow tie with better luck than last time, but it still needs work. The Easter egg hunt had to be confined to the front porch since it was raining.

Sprout enjoyed stealing his sister's eggs out of her basket, and Little Lady was just thrilled to have a basket.

We attempted our own family pictures this year with our new tripod. They 'll do. :)