Big Rock Backyard

Just behind our new property is a beautiful hike to the rock-climbing of the century. It is originally named "Big Rock." We have made good use of this activity during the last few weekends!

Our April 2011 General Conference...

looked like this:

April 2011 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

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We have been willing in the spring by spending a lot of time outside. Mia has a whole "outside" routine. After going to visit Izzy and Winnie, she RUNS down the hill to the "jump" (trampoline). Here she is cruising down the slope!

Gma K's friend, Doug, who is a former Math teacher, got this awesome wooden cutting set for Mia. She has got all the names of the fruits and veggies down, and, as was Doug's intention, is subliminally learning her fractions.

One of our parks is exclusively for toddlers. It has these fun climbing rocks! While there, we got to meet with Mia's beautiful birth mother, Asia, and her cute son, Nemo.

Nemo is 18 months older than Mia, but with her hair, they are close to the same size!

Grandma K always begins the birthday season for my family. We went to Texas Roadhouse for her dinner, and I could hardly believe her courage while the staff sang to her and set her on this saddle. Mia wanted to get in on the action:

We have been washing and prepping all of our baby things for our new addition!

Mia thought the Boppy worked better as a clothing accessory. She danced around with it on her shoulders all day!

Since we have been at Grandma & Grandpa R's house, we've had party after party with the cousins. Mia is in heaven when Talan and Sydney come to visit!

Aunt Arianna's 13th birthday, which followed Uncle Ethan's and Gma K's, was celebrated at one of our favorite winter destinations: the giant indoor water park. Mia slept well that night!

Smelling the pansies only to feign delight at their non-smelliness:

Mia loves the reaction she gets from Mom when slimy hands meet newly washed hair.

A sweet moment between our two girls:

Featured here is one of Mia's many pole-dancing moves, complete with subtle smile.

On the same note, here is some nearly nude table dancing to

Sesame Street:

Dr. Ghee-reg

Last week, we were so privileged to attend one of Greg Mortenson's lectures. As one would expect, it was incredible. My sister, who joined us, commented that he is not the most stellar speaker- it is true, he did not schmooze the audience. His content, however, was inspiring and informative. We were elated as we left. He was just the way we envisioned him...an ordinary, matter-of-fact guy with an extraordinary heart and drive.

David and I both reveled in Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, as does everyone who reads them. His overarching theme is to create peace by empowering through education. His particular focus is on educating girls (a wholly un-Talibani effort) because he adheres to the belief that women have great influence. It is a familiar principle, and one that we often hear about every Sunday in Relief Society.

Since not all of us can spend 80% of our lives jaunting through the Himalayas to distribute our resources, what does Mr. Mortenson suggest we do in our own corner of the world?

1. Spend time asking questions and listening to the wisest people in our lives...our elders. They know stuff. Our culture is lacking in sincere interest for our history, the rich lessons we can learn from the past, and those who have witnessed these things first-hand.

2. Hold education in high-esteem and express gratitude for the easy access we have to it by taking advantage of it!

3. Sesame Street answer: accept and appreciate differences in each other. Fight to dissolve barriers and ignorance.

4. Invest these principles into rising generations!

5. Check out these organizations:

http://www.penniesforpeace.org/

http://www.ikat.org/

C.C.C.C.

"C" is for Chewy Coconut-Chocolate Cake: a good birthday cake for my good mom. It was so tasty, even with a post-Texas Roadhouse belly.

The chewiness comes from oatmeal, and the coconut comes from the coconut milk the oatmeal is soaked in. The chocolate comes from the special dark cocoa powder, and the rest of the goodness comes from a stick and a half of butter and real vanilla with some fancy liquor from Mexico.

The original recipe is at Hillbilly Housewife. Substitute 1 cup of water with 1 cup of coconut milk (I used the light kind). For the frosting, I just made a regular butter cream chocolate frosting, but used a generous amount of coconut milk for the liquid (I wanted it to be runny enough to drizzle).

Mia has a well-practiced "more chocolate please," then, to emphasize her sincerity, she does a little dance while I sing "chocolate is a girl's best friend."

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This body can hardly contain all its personality.

Mia has been exercising each morning with her dad. As you can see, her hard work is paying off.

Mia has spent much of the last month nestled into whatever box she can find

(we've got a couple stragglers from our move).

This is our morning Mia, complete with her 4 "B's"- bunny, blankie, binki, and big hair.

I am always surprised by how closely and stealthily toddlers observe their parents. A few weeks ago, I found Mia situated, almost perfectly, with my running accessories.

Grandma R will often allow Mia to work her hair magic. Mia loves it and the results are always stunning! For payment, Grandma R gives Mia free reign in the laundry room...

Now that we have access to a full-fledged entertainment system,

we get to see this smile every weekday at 9:30 am. Elmo's World!

Mia has learned to name her parts.

She is somewhat camera-shy, so I had to bribe her to perform with a blue jelly bean at the expense of articulation, but you'll get the jist.

Handy & Dandy

Mia's got a handy dad. Although it's been tempting, we have never had the courage to spend $300+ on the Nordic ski attachment for our bike trailer. So, having found ourselves determined to squeeze in another ski excursion last weekend and without an unoccupied Grandma to babysit, David got creative:

He worked late into the night...

...only to up the ante on his morning workout.

It's easy for me to say, but this view was well worth the effort!