Easter/Spring

We had a lovely Easter Day with family, including cousins from England--the token photo--I love it when she plays with my hair.

Rainey with her twin cousins, just before the meal. They are so stinkin' cute.

The fabulous Easter meal. Rainey felt so big sitting at the kids' table with her cousins. As you can see, she's very aware of the food she dropped on the floor--that was just the beginning. We're still all about the high chair.

With the change in weather, our attention has turned to the yard--we've got some serious yard work ahead of us. But it's so nice to spend time outside. I LOVE the tulips and daffodils. I wish they lasted longer. One morning, Kevin mowed the lawn with Rainey--she loved the beginning of the ride until she put her fingers in her ears and said "loud." She then helped me with branches, sticks, and pinecone duty.

Just had to show Kev being a good sport. We watched cousins for a night and we went to this place that had indoor rides. Rainey was in heaven, especially as each cousin took her on the various rides. For Susie's turn, Kev had to go with them. Both of us are wimps when it comes to spinning rides. Poor Kev was a bit queasy after this one. (This was before the ride began)

Rainey loves to sit in laps--mine, her "moo", a random wooden bear, and Sophie  (her younger cousin). Here, she's sitting in Sophie's lap with Claire behind them both. love it.

This video captures the top two words for the month--my favorite: graham cracker & Kevin's favorite: baby powder.

Josie shout out

So Rainey has been walking around the house with the announcement picture of her newest cousin, repeating her name over and over. This is mainly for Clint, Diana, and Josie...

She had put her "moo" in Noah's ark and said, "night, night" to it. And she has the picture of Josie in her hands--you just can't see it. Had to capture the moment--I love it when she plays with her cow or "moo."

Just thought I'd post a couple other pictures of our recent activities. She loves to feel the steam from the dryer, especially if it's cold outside. We just got snow after a week of perfect weather.  So she's freezing here at the end of March.

Two of her favorite toys, still rocking the pink boots.

3 months left

 It's true. We're counting down the months until nursery time. Rainey is so much fun, but we're wandering the halls of church these days. We can no longer sit up front with the family--it's near the doors for us. However, she's moving to one nap, which starts in the middle of church, so nursery might not even help us. =) 

She says new words everyday, car trips aren't as painful, and she's improved on her already fabulous dance moves. Here are some great moments over the past months.

While she's still obsessed with all types of balls and her blankie ("bay-bee"), she's added swings, raisins, grapes ("tah-pees"), and these fabulous pink boots to the list. She insisted on putting them over her jammies:

We tried a new hairdo, but I'm not sure her hair is ready for that. Her hair is struggling.

I forgot to mention that her other favorite is yogurt. She calls it "yo" and it's always whispered for some reason. Here I put the empty container on her tray to show her it was all gone, and she picked it right up and went to town---Grandpa Peterson style.

Per the request of some family members, here's some more video of Rainey. She's still working on being able to say "Grandma." 

More winter

The January to April stretch is long and a bit rough. We're lucky we get to visit cousins often, and we do have some things to look forward to... Today wasn't too warm, but at least we didn't have a ton of snow on the ground. So we bundled up and made the most of outside. Rainey was in heaven as she got to walk around and explore. We did some swinging, but I had to stop well before she was done because I started to feel sick. I'm getting old.

Here she is pointing to her hood (so I will say "hood") and holding her pine cone.

Just after Kevin's tonsillectomy, Darren and Ivey saved us with their Vitamix--they lent it to us while Kevin was recovering and we loved it! We made some amazing soups and such. They spent a fun afternoon with us and Rainey was lucky enough to get a bath with her cousin, Annie. She was so excited to have someone in the tub with her. She gets just as excited if one of her cousins sits in the back seat with her. When she's excited, she shows us with her whole body. 

Another day inside, about to play the beloved piano.

Thanks for the dress, Grandma Raynie. She's a little tired after church with no nap yet.

Rainey has started to repeat most of our words--it is so fun. Her vocabulary is exploding. She has yet to master "please," so you'll hear what she does instead. It's much more preferable to her intense and sometimes whiny grunts/noises for things. And she now points to her mouth if she wants to know what she's eating, as you will see. We love this stage.

Christmas and then some

We spent Christmas in California with the Mitchells. While it was a bit cold for that area, we still had a wonderful time with everyone. We had all the great food from In 'N Out to Yogurtland, and we played games, had backyard campfire. We loved it all.

Christmas morning:

Playing with one present--it didn't last long:

Picking limes with Papa. She loved this, and it was one of the first and few sunny days:

She LOVES this swing:

Thanks to Lorayne, we got to make these as one of our gifts. I'm not crafty, and yet, mine turned out ok. It's in our kitchen now:

Once we got back to Utah, we got to spend close to a week with my out-of-town siblings, which was so much fun. We did paintballing and fondue and got to see our niece and nephew baptized. Another wonderful week. It was tough to get back to reality.

Back at home in the crib she likes to bite with her new, beloved cow from her aunt and uncle:

On Thursday, she had to have her tear duct probed. Knowing she was going completely under made me a bit nervous, but she did really well and her eye looks great. Here she is just before the procedure. All of us were very tired since we had to be there at 6am. The blanket got to go with her when the anesthesiologist took her from our arms to go into the O.R.

First Birthday

I can't believe we made it. Rainey had her first birthday party with all the family in the area--It was so fun to be together. She loved everyone singing to her, but when we set the cupcake down in front of her, she gave the "all done" sign. Even after I gave her a taste of the frosting, she still signed "all done." I basically had to feed her the first bite of cupcake, but then she was sold.

Playing with her new toy and cousins.

First Steps

This is obviously a very exciting moment for just the parents, but we thought we'd share anyway. Her first steps were on November 21. She's getting more and more confident as she takes steps multiple times a day now without our encouragement. Love it.