pea turned one

These poor photos of Pea's 1st birthday celebration have been all ready to post for weeks now. The motivation to actually write the post alluded me, but tonight I am kicking myself into gear and saving these photos from wasting away in the recesses of Photobucket.

I posted about the boys' bug collecting adventures on our way to Idaho, and that (Idaho) is also where we celebrated our little gal turning one. My aunt and uncle that live in Idaho (Kim and Ken) are truly some of my closest and best friends (they lived with us on and off when I was growing up, and I still talk to Kim on the phone multiple times a week), and John and George love them as well (George is borderline obsessed with "Big Jake"), so it was easy for us to want to be with them on Pearlie's big day.

There is something really sweet about going in to pick up your baby from her crib on the morning of her very first birthday. It is a swelling feeling of equal parts overflowing joy and overwhelming love, mixed up with a twinge of bitter that her life really is whirling and swirling by, that she will not ever be this little bundle of one-year-old happiness ever again. How can you measure the heaven that is watching your very own baby become One over the course of 12 glorious, soul-bonding months? There is nothing else like that first year of new life.

John and I both wanted to go get her when she woke up, so we both did. We hugged her and squished her and went into the bathroom for a second (can't remember why) where we took this picture in which I look so awkward and creepy that I should not be posting it. But Pearl was just so smiley and happy and sweet that I am going to take one for the team and let you guys see her. Just try not to look left.


We made our way downstairs to the mantle where Pearl's birthday banner hung and my jammied babies sat for a few pictures. In the second photo Pearl is proudly waving her one little finger around for everyone to see how old she is.


Emma got to hug the kids before she left for school, and insisted on bringing Pearlie out to her bus stop to meet her friends :). There is a picture of me on my first birthday where I am sitting on the kitchen counter in my pajamas (a blue gown), holding one little finger up. We wanted to re-create that with Pearl, but we didn't have a gown and she wouldn't hold her one finger still (she likes to bounce it up and down while we sing, "One one one one one one one! Pearl is wuh-uhn!"), so this was as good as we could do. I'll have to hunt down the picture of me sometime and post them side by side.


Josh is gonna be a good daddy. He loves Pearl and she adores him.


Kim and I went to the store to pick up a few things for Pearl's cake and while we were there I had the fancy idea to make her cake into a little bathtub. I saw a package of yellow Peeps and imagined it being a little rubber ducky, so we went with it. So the outside was covered with plenty of refined sugar, but on the inside there was some serious health. It was mostly just applesauce, spelt flour, some spices, and a little sucanat. If you know my husband at all you will not wonder why Kim has a huge glob of frosting on her nose and doesn't look too thrilled about it.


While the cake baked and cooled and got bathtub-ized Pearl chilled in her birthday skirt, mostly looking out the sliding glass door and wanting to go outside to see the dog, who she insisted was called, "Gah." (My parents' dog's name is "Garth" so that is the word she uses for any and all dogs.)


We've established by now that I am clearly not an awesome party planner/giver, right? I don't really do cute themes or elaborate invitations (or, let's be honest, any of those things at all). Maybe one day I will, but I just haven't really wanted the pressure of a big birthday bash before my kids are old enough to request one on their own. Anyway, I really am not a good party thrower at all. I also am not good at getting gifts for babies who are turning one. Really. She didn't have one single present until the day of her birthday when my aunt and I went out and found some really great clothes for her at a few second hand shops in town. I figured the actual having of a present, wrapped and ready to be opened, was more important than Pearl being interested in what was in the present, so we wrapped up a few of the outfits and called it good. I am seriously not awesome, am I? Don't tell Pearl, she didn't care :). In fact, she really wasn't interested in the presents very much at all. She just kind of held them for a second and then dropped them so she could turn around and grab the balloons (much more exciting).


See?


We let George take over in the present-opening department because he, on the other hand, was very interested in the gifts.


He even feigned some excitement over the articles of clothing for his little sister that he found inside the packages: "Look Peng! Some new pretty clothes for you!" She still didn't care.


So, the bathtub cake did not turn out to be everything I ever dreamed of. It was totally makeshift, and a little messy. Next time it might be a good idea to, oh I don't know, maybe have a plan or picture or something other than just making it up as you go. This is what I ended up with-- it sort of resembles a bathtub, right? Sort of?


I love that she is holding up her one finger in the background of this first picture. And I love the second one because she kept doing that with her hands. She would hold her hands up like, "Really? What is this for? You really want me to just touch that food?"


Haha, see this picture on the right? She had just touched the cake for the first time and she was like, "Seriously? I just get to do this? What is going on here?!" So cute.


She discovered the Peep and had a little nibble. She wasn't so sure about it-- look at her suspicious eyes checking it out. I feel the same way about those icky little creatures.


Eventually she got more into it. This was pure torture for George. He was highly disturbed that we were letting Pearl ruin a perfectly good cake that he could have eaten.


She was very precise about licking her fingers off. It was cracking us up.



Her sweet little frosting face. (And is it just me or does she look like she has a mullet in this picture? Please be honest because I will get out the scissors real fast if I need to.)


Mama and Dada with the birthday baby.


Every good cake demolition ends with a party in the tub, am I right?


And a fresh clean baby for a mama to hug.


So happy and so grateful that this fresh clean baby came to this mama. Oh I just love her.


She got to play with her balloons again (seriously, skip the gifts and just get balloons) before bed, and then, just like that, the huge rite of passage that is turning one was in the books.


I think it should be a rule that people get to have a perpetually-one-year-old child forever.

biology, bugs, boys

Trying not to be sad and mad about Jimmer and the boys tonight (and please, let's not even mention the Jazz. At least there's RSL, right?), so I shall blog of happier times :).

John is working on his thesis right now, and he is in the thick of collecting aquatic insects (pteronarcella, which are stoneflies, to be exact) for his research. He has gone on a couple of collecting trips by himself (he is collecting from all over the western US), and has many more in the plans, but we are also trying to make some family trips out of them. BYU issues him a car and credit card for gas since his research is funded, so hey, why not take advantage of it and hit the road together, right? Yes, well, that is the plan anyway. John needed to collect at a few streams en route to Boise, ID, and my aunt and uncle's family lives right near there, so we decided to combine the two and make a weekend trip to visit my dearest family and collect a few bugs on the way. Best of both worlds, ya know?

One of the happiest things in my life right now is the feeling of peace I have that our family is headed in the right direction for us. There is still plenty of uncertainty (like, uh, where we will be moving to next year for John's PhD), but I feel so blessed to know that the career path that he is on is the right one for him, and the best thing for our family. I love so much that he is doing something that he is so passionate about, and something that he is so naturally gifted in. I am also so grateful that this is a career path that will ensure that our children grow up learning about, experiencing, and appreciating nature and the beautiful creations that surround them. I am so grateful that my kids will have childhood memories of going on collecting and research trips to the woods and streams with their dad, that they will have the opportunity to know and love nature from their infancy. With that said, here are some photos from one of the collecting stops on our way.

Pea and I looking all kinds of disheveled from being in the car for a few hours, and the boys with their collecting paraphernalia, getting ready to head down to the river.


It's really hard for me to get normal pictures of George these days.


George waiting patiently on the riverbank to see what his daddy rustles up.


Waiting patiently is easier when you have sticks to play with.


Or to throw into the water.


And here they are, my two little biologists, surveying their finds.


George seriously loved this. He maneuvered those forceps around the icky little creatures like a pro, and was actually a help to John in getting all the bugs collected quicker. I think they will make a good team for years to come.



Check out his forceps about to snatch up that bug.


When John went back down to the river to get some more creatures, George stayed back by himself to continue the collecting. He insisted on putting a few sticks ("for the bugs to crawl on and sleep on") and leaves ("for when the bugs want to eat") in the collecting jars. I didn't tell him that the alcohol he was dropping them into would pretty much kill them instantly.


Oh see, there he is, dropping a bug into certain death. It's for research, people. It must me done :).


Maybe my favorite picture of the bunch. I just love this little boy and all his boyish ways.


Wielding forceps makes him very happy.


And here are a few shots of the little bugs themselves. The little bugs that are currently living in vials above my computer desk. Lucky me.



If I am remembering correctly, this bug on the right is going to eventually turn into a dragonfly. Perhaps gomphidae? I would ask my biologist, but he's sleeping next to me right now and he has to get up in like 3 hours. I'll let him sleep and risk being totally off on my aquatic entomology terms.


Ah cuuute! They both have one!


This one makes me laugh. He's like, "Wow! Mom! Look at this one!" He was pretty excited about it. Looking at it now, in the photo, I'm pretty sure it's a piece of wood. Good trying though, Georgie :).


Baby Girl and I were there, too. I had my 50mm lens on, which makes self-portaits most tricky :).


We tried a few times. Blurry, runny nose, half of faces. Oh well :).


This was as close as we got to both of our faces being in the frame.


So happy that I have a little pal to keep me company. I'm sure she will be a bug-lovin', forcep-wieldin' little kid just like her brother one day, but for now I love getting to bring her back to the car to warm up while the boys stay out to collect "just a few more."

mostly just tell me what to do with my hair

We partook in at least three Thanksgiving feasts. I was so busy eating that I didn't really take many pictures of the festivities except for these few of our early Thanksgiving in Idaho.

Best turkey I've ever had, Grandpa. Seriously. You wish your grandpa could cook like mine, I promise.

G licked the whipped cream off the beaters.

I love how no one is looking at each other in this picture. We were clearly all way too busy staring at our plates and stuffing our faces to engage in social interaction around the table.

And then, of course, some football was watched. The best part of this picture? J holding G's frankenstein spatula. That spatula seriously goes with us everywhere. G sleeps with it every night. Perhaps the best purchase my mom has ever made for G.

On the actual day of Thanksgiving we hopped in the car and headed south to eat with some of J's family in St. George. The food was delicious, the company was fantastic, the weather was divine, but I took exactly zero photos of it all. J snapped this one of some of the little kids out in the backyard playing in the waterfall. G was in heaven with his stick pretending to be fishing. He was soaking wet by the time we had to leave, and I'm positive that was the highlight of his entire Thanksgiving.
We left St. George and continued south to Las Vegas for one of my little sister's soccer tournaments. We had so much fun playing, watching Hannah's team win the whole tournament, and enjoying the warm temperatures, but again, I failed to even take my camera out with us once. I did get this really awesome picture of G in the hotel though, which makes up for all the other pictures I didn't take.

Did you notice that I am in exactly zero of those pictures? That has a little to do with the fact that I really didn't care about taking pictures in general over the weekend (obviously), but more to do with the fact that I could not stand my hair and I felt entirely unattractive most of the time. It was at that really awkward length of not short or long and I was tempted to chop it all off myself. Instead I waited and let my fabulous stylist (and cousin) get to work on it when I got home. It's short. Really short. I can't decide for sure how I feel, but it is definitely better than it was. I am kind of starting to miss long hair, but I can't figure out how I'll ever get it long again because that would require me to suffer through that awkward stage. Have any of you done that? Here is a picture of the current length. Short, huh? Yay or nay? Should I try to grow it out, or am I destined to have short hair forever more? Very important, not-at-all-superficial questions, I know :).