A shiner that makes you look like Quasimodo

Hannah got an ugly looking black eye today that made her look like Quasimodo.

Hannah was walking from one couch to the other and as she lost her footing she started to turn around to go back to the other couch, fell down, and hit her face right smack on the wooden portion of our sofa.  I saw the entire thing happen and there was nothing I could do to stop it.  I grabbed her afterwards as I knew she had hit the couch (plus, there was a rather large thud) and I immediately saw that her eye was swollen, blue, and enough skin scraped off to have a small amount of blood.  Fortunately, however, I think the laceration was fairly superficial and didn't warrant sutures.  We'll see how it looks tomorrow morning.

On the plus side, Hannah did the sign bath for the first time on Monday.  It was so adorable that I had to take a video of it.  Hannah is actually getting pretty good with sign langage.  She can physically do about 6 signs, though she understands about 4 more but hasn't quite figured out the dexterity on how to do them yet.

FYI--the reason Hannah is naked in this video is because I was just about to put her in the bath (which she LOVES), but decided to grab the camera and capture this fun moment.

Quasimodo picture courtesy of Google images

A birthday in the WEEK-OF-DEATH

This week has been the week of death for Nathan and I.  All three of us (yes, including Hannah) have been sick with a very nasty cold.  Luckily, Hannah did not get it as bad as we did and for that we are grateful!  This cold was so bad that it literally wiped Nathan and I out for 4 days.  I am not kidding (one of the first days we were sick I was so out of it that when I was putting my clean Cutco knife away I tried to put it in my refrigerator).

But thanks to LOADS of dayquil/nyquil, LOADS of ibuprofen, Mentholatum, Vick's vapo-rub, 6+ boxes of Kleenexes (w/lotion of course), many hot showers, homemade chicken noodle soup, another spicy dinner to drain the sinuses, and some rest we started to recuperate from this nasty bug.  Thank you for everyone that offered to help--we really appreciated it. :)

In fact, yesterday I was feeling so much better that I was a cleaning machine and cleaned all day long.  I cleaned everything from the bathroom to the inside of my refrigerator, to wiping off the face of cupboards and door frames to Hannah's high chair.  I wanted that nasty bug out of my house!

As the week progressed, I felt bad for Nathan because it was his birthday week and this is not the most welcome way to spend a birthday.  He got behind in work due to being sick that he had to spend most of his birthday playing catch up.

We did have a few pleasant things happen this week: Nathan got a nice bundle of birthday cash, we got to go out to dinner this weekend to celebrate, he got to eat his favorite dessert for his birthday (cake batter ice-cream from Heyns), and he was able to spend time with Hannah.  It has been fun to play with her this week because she started to walk this last Sunday.  She gets so excited and has such a proud face as she is walking that it just melts your heart.  We took a video of her for the family to see, as some have requested walking videos.

One of the best highlights for Nathan (besides his ice-cream) was a conference call with his family (unfortunately, not everyone has web cams).  Look at Kronk all bundled up next to Nathan.  So cute!  By the way...can you tell that we were sick this last week with pillows on the couch with tissues and Mentholatum up are the back of the sofa?

Happy Birthday Nathan!  I'm just sorry that it had to land in the week of us being deathly ill.

The glory of skyping

Yesterday, Hannah started to get sick and it just got worse as the day progressed (runny nose and lots of sneezing to a low grade fever).  Last night, Nathan and I had a little pow-wow so that we could plan out how Sunday was going to work with our church responsibilities.  It was decided that Nathan (who wasn't feeling so great at that time) would skype into his stake presidency meeting in the morning while I got ready for church, and then he would stay home with Hannah while I went to church.

And here is where the glory of skyping comes in.  Look at what Nathan wore to stake presidency meeting: his black suit coat, an un-tucked white shirt, a tie, and his comfy pajama pants.  Oh, and he's barefoot too.

I love modern technology.

P.S. If you're thinking to yourself "it looks like she had a rough night."  Well, then your thinking is correct.  She did have a rough night.

Caucus

The title says it all.

We caucused this evening.  Hannah took a late (and long) afternoon nap so I decided to go to the Iowa Caucus at the last minute with Nathan because I knew Hannah could tolerate staying up a little later.  Who did we vote for?  I guess you'll never know!

I will tell you one thing: I'm so glad that this caucus is over.  We have been bombarded with phone calls and junk mail like crazy.  I receive about 8 phone calls a day (yes--on my home AND cell), and our mail is over 50% of political junk.  So today I celebrate the end of all of the campaign shenanigans, at least until the fall when the real election takes place.

Happy 2012!

For New Year's Eve we headed over to our neighbors house (the Wards) for some yummy food and fun games with several other families too.  It was so much fun!  However, I didn't bring my camera and take any pictures.  Grrr!

Our New Years was spent by going to church (9:00 am church is awesome!) and having the Dalton's over for dinner--which was a blast!  But I didn't take any pictures--again!  What is wrong with me?  I am usually so good about taking pictures.  This is not a good habit to get into with the New Year.

Since I didn't take any pictures over the last few days, I'll compensate by posting some pictures and videos that we took this last week with Hannah.

Here is Hannah playing with her walker toy that my parents got her for Christmas.

Here Mom.  This video is just for you. :)

On Friday night we started to get her ready for bed and we were trying to put her PJs on, but she just wanted to play.  After a while, I grabbed the camera and I couldn't resist taking this picture.  Look at the legs!  I love her chubby rolls!

One of Hannah's favorite things is to be chased--especially by Nathan.  She loves to do this each night (and we like to as well because it makes her more tired).

Merry Christmas * Feliz Navidad * Joyeux Noel * Frohe Weihnachten

Though it's been sung many times, many ways---Merry Christmas to you!

I got up at about 7:15 am this morning and got started on the turkey, the cookies, and defrosting the rolls.  Then I quickly did my make up just as Hannah was starting to wake up.  Around 8:30 am we opened gifts and Hannah loved it!  Well, she mainly enjoyed the the wrapping paper and boxes.  But she did enjoy her presents as well.

As usual, Kronk also had a blast in the wrapping paper and ribbons.

Nathan got a bicycle helmet, and some 180s for his ears (he's been really wanting some for a couple years).

I got the complete collection of the Jane Austen novels (my goal is to read all of them next year), some earrings, the book Decorating for Dummies (I'm trying to learn how to decorate my house), some M&Ms, and an old Night Before Christmas pop-up book that I used to have when I was a kid.

Hannah got three books, some clothes, a princess kit, and a walking toy.

After opening gifts we finished getting ready (doing our hair, getting into church clothes, etc.) and went to church.  It was a nice change to have church on Christmas Day.  When we came home from church we changed into more comfy clothes and put Hannah down for a nap.  Unfortunately for us, she only took about a 40 minute nap!  Yep...a 40 minute nap for ALL DAY meant that we had a very cranky child.  The only good part about that was she went down for bed at 6:00 pm.

We had our friend Dan over again for dinner this year.  We really enjoy spending time with him.

I managed to get a picture of my table, but I didn't get a picture of the food--darn it!  Oh well, at least I took more pictures this year. :)  For dinner we had turkey, Paula Deen's twice baked potatoes, green bean casserole, Rhodes rolls, and raspberry shortbread thumbprint cookies.  Yes...it was a fantastic (and fattening) dinner.

Throughout the day we also talked with our families on the phone and on webcams.  I am so grateful for technology these days.  When we were skyping with Nathan's family I noticed that Kronk was underneath the tree, all snuggled up to the light box.  So funny.

The best part of the day though was in remembering why we celebrate Christmas day.  I often reflected about the miracle of the Savior's birth.  What a glorious and wonderful event for mankind.  Because Jesus Christ was born, he was later able to atone for our sins so that we could return to live with Him and Heavenly Father.  I'm grateful for this day that the world sets aside to commemorate the birth of our Savior, and Him giving us the best gift mankind could ever receive--eternal life!

2011 Goals Accomplished!

Goals for 2011:
R Read the New Testament

R Read the Book of Mormon
R Read the 2011 Ensigns cover to cover

Last year I decided to set the goal to read the Ensigns cover to cover because one of my good friends Cylynn had inspired me.  I liked reading the magazines so much last year that I decided to make it a goal for 2011.  Well this morning I finished the December issue of the Ensign.  Now all of my 2011 goals are done!  YIPPEE!!!

Thank you so much Cylynn for your example.  It has done a world of good for me!