Happy Birthday to My Baby!!

My sweet little spit-fire turned TWO the other day. March 18th to be more specific. :)
It was SO MUCH FUN!! She was such a doll on her Birthday and we had so much fun!! Topher took the day off school, just to stay home and play with his baby girl! She loved it, and of course so did I. We just relaxed, played at home and enjoyed each other. My Mom was also in town and it was awesome to have her come visit as well.
We gave her a few little surprises throughout the day that she loved and we sang to her a lot. As a matter of fact, I woke her up by singing Happy Birthday to her. She looked at me like I was crazy, and kinda scary and asked for her Daddy. haha!! She warmed up to me later on that day though and really liked that we were spoiling her, showering her with attention and singing and clapping to her throughout the whole day. :)


So, the party, music, family, presents and friends didn't actually happen until the day AFTER her Birthday because we wanted as many people there as possible from our two families and Friday worked better than Thursday. Sadly, her fantastic attitude and demeanor sort of wore off by Friday. :( So she wasn't as happy for her Birthday party...but hey..she was still cute and happy and excited, probably just a little overwhelmed.

We decided to do a Princess Theme because lately Grace has been obsessed with Disney Princesses, more specifically Belle. My mom and I undertook a Princess Cake. One of the funnest things I've ever done!! We had Princess decorations, Princess music, balloons, tablecloths, banners, flowers, the whole works!! I've never had so much fun decorating in my life!! My mom thinks I did the princess party for me more than Grace...it is entirely possible that I had as much FUN as Grace...but I did actually do it for her. :)
My Mom and I stayed up past midnight baking cakes, decorating towers and talking and then spent almost the whole next day artfully crafting our masterpiece palace-cake. Then we made CDs, got food items together, and spent the early evening decorating my amazingly accomodating in-laws home for the party.


The cake turned out amazing if I may say so myself. : ) Thank you mommy!! You're the BEST!!
For the Dinner my sister Dacia had this FABULOUS idea from out of no where that we serve Grace's ACTUAL favorite foods, rather than real crowd-pleasing food. She may have been kidding, but I decided that sounded AWESOME! We ended up doing side dishes all around the table of all her favorite foods: Oreos, Pickles, Cheese, Grapes, Cocoa Puffs, Yogurt Melts, Cheese Puffs, Cinnamon Sugar Bread, Carrots w/Ranch, and a few others. So we surrounded the table with her favorite things and then did Spaghetti as the main dish, which is also one of her favorites. No doubt, the dinner was a hit, and then we had a lot of fun just playing games, enjoying each other's company and opening a TON of gifts. My goodness, that girl came away with way too many presents!!


So those are all the details of our super fun Princess Party and now I just really wanted to do something my sister always does for her boys' Birthdays. Sort of like a survey of Grace's personality at age 2.
1. Height and Weight: 23.6 lbs. & 33 inches

2. Fave Color: she doesn't know. obviously i need to work on colors more. hah! she does tend to pick brighter colors for things though. yellows and pinks.

3. Fave Movie: Beauty & The Beast, Shrek, Toy Story & Princess & the Frog

4. Fave TV Show: Mickey Mouse Club House

5. Fave Food: Pickles, Cheese, Bananas, Spaghetti

6. Fave Restaurant: Probably Texas Roadhouse because for her Birthday they let her ride their saddle. She LOVED it. She cried when they made her get off.

7. Fave Treat: Oreos. Any and all candy. Any and all chocolate.

8. Fave Toy: Baby dolls, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Barbies, baby stroller

9. Fave Outfit: her Princess nightie. Yeah, I realize it's not an outfit she'd really be out in public in...but it's what she always wants to wear. Tied with the nightie however, would probably just be her 'birthday suit'. This girl LOVES to be naked. Or "nay-e!!" as she calls it.

10. Fave Activity: Playing outside. Loves to swing and slide. Loves to run around. Loves to play with anyone and everyone, most esp. her Daddy. Aside from that, she likes to watch Beauty and the Beast and have her Daddy TELL her the Beauty and the Beast story.

11. Fave Subject in School: this isn't really too applicable right now. :) My guess is that it'll be recess. :)

12. What do you want to be when you grow up: My guess for her right now...would be a mommy. Cuz she likes to do everything. And Mommies are the only ones that do it all. :)

13. What makes you happy: "Daddy happy" "My Joey". "Duh-ies! Wah! Wah!" "Swing. Sie. Ou-Sie". "Shower with Mommy Daddy." Translation: Daddy makes me happy. Joey. Duckies that go "quack quack". Being outside on the swing and the slide. Showering with Mommy & Daddy.


14. What makes you Sad: "Bi Nake! Git me! Eat me!" "My Joey!" "My pa-eh cut"
Translation: Big Snake! Gonna get me!! Gonna eat me!! This is new btw. As of last week when we went to the Living Aquarium, this is her biggest fear. The Joey one is pretty obvious. The last one, would be paper cut. She got a paper cut about TWO WEEKS ago, and still wants us to kiss it better more than once a day.

15. Best Friend(s): "Ellie Belly Boo" "Joey" "Maya". I would add her aunt meggie, and aunt Anni, and her cousins.

16. One Wish or Dream you have for yourself: "Eat Eat". "Eat eat Daddy".

17. Personality Traits: Affectionate. Crazy. Silly. Independent. Needy. Funny. Mischievous. Diva. Aggressive. Dramatic. Smart. Quick. Creative. Forgiving. Helpful. Friendly. Defiant. Energetic. Stubborn.

18. Your Testimony: "Jesus kie mommy daddy sad. Jesus ha-ie Mommy Daddy ha-ie." "Jesus pretty picture." Translation for that one is "Jesus cries when I make Mommy & Daddy sad. Jesus is happy when I make Mommy & Daddy happy." I taught her that. :) The last one is "Jesus is pretty in pictures.". She points at every picture of Jesus in our house and knows exactly who it is. Where the pretty came from, not sure. But she thinks he's very pretty. :)

19. Thoughts on you from the last year: Where to begin!! You are such a funny little girl!! You constantly make me laugh out loud, and probably just as often make me want to pull my hair out. :) You are a very energetic vibrant little girl and are constantly bouncing between extreme happiness and extreme sadness. You love to be outside, even if just in our ridiculous excuse for grass behind our apartment, running around finding birds. You love to play. You always want to make new friends. We took you to Nursery for the first time about a month and a half ago and even though it was a totally new envioronment with people you'd never met or seen, you probably hugged about two different little girls and were always very concerned if anyone cried. You love to laugh, you constantly make jokes and then clap at your cleverness. The other day we couldn't find your binki, people asked you where you put it and what happened to it, you said "Anni hide it". Then you smiled mischievously and laughed with your head thrown back. You are so defiant sometimes. This irritates the snot outta me, but at the same time, if we can learn to harness your defiance at the correct things and teach you to be stubborn about the right things, it might just make you a force to be reckoned with for good. You are very smart and catch on quickly. It makes me so happy inside when you see pictures of Jesus and know exactly who it is. You know how to pray, how to fold your arms and bow your head. Even though, the other day, Grandma says she peeked at you during prayer and you opened one eye, looked around to make sure no one was looking and stole a piece of dinner before the prayer was over!! You are so fun to be around. You definitely tire people out. But once people spend a good two STRAIGHT days with you, they get the gist of your personality and fall head over heels in love with you. You love to play tag...only you really call it "git me!!" or "I git you!!" You love to give hugs and kisses and always insist on getting kisses better when you get owies. Grace...I love you to pieces.

I want you to know I love you so so much little grace. And there really is nothing else I should be doing besides learning to care for and love you. You make my life so much more fun and full. You make me a better person and make me realize it's ok to rely on a 2 yr. old to be my best friend. I want you to know that that is something I look forward to: someday, maybe not too far from now, we will be the best of friends and you will hopefully love me as much as I love my Mom. I love you little Gracey!! Keep growing, learning and having fun! You've been given a second chance at life and I'm so grateful you are living it to the fullest!
Happy Birthday!

Happy Anniversary To Us!

Today is my and Topher's Three Year Anniversary! Yay for us! We celebrated last weekend since Topher has school this week...that and I'm going to Vegas tomorrow. (yay!)
We were lucky enough to have my Dad's wife Karen watch Grace for an overnight, (Thank you so much!!!) and so we went to the Anniversary Inn - a definite favorite of ours. We have probably been about 6 times and we love it. Especially the Logan one. And this may sound silly, but one of the prime reasons I love going to Anniversary Inn so much, is not their awesome jetted tubs, or huge showers, or fun themed rooms....no no, its much better than all that. It's the food. Seriously. Moan. They have the best breakfasts in this whole world! They have these home-made ham and cheese filled croissants, and home-made raspberry cream filled croissants. Then this awesome yogurt with fresh fruit and granola. And your choice of 2 drinks per person. It doesn't get better than that. Well, it does. It's delivered to your room, whenever you want. Awesome!! Then there's the fact that there's an iced bottle of sparkling cider and 2 cheesecakes waiting for you in your room when you check in. Seriously? So sweet.
Yes, that is what I was looking forward to on our overnight more than anything else. :)
We also went out to dinner at the Olive Garden, and the next day, we drove home, hung out, cleaned our house (minus a gracey!!! so nice...) and went to dinner at the Melting Pot. We have always wanted to try this restaurant. Because we like Fondue, because it looked/sounded fancy, and just out of curiosity. Well, it was definitely good, but I don't know about $100 good!!! That was our first ever $100 meal!!! We have never even been close to that before!! It was crazy!! I mean, it was good...but not THAT good. Oh well. Our curiosity has now been satisfied. :)
All in all, it was an awesome way for us to celebrate our fabulous, fun and stress filled 3 years and I love my hubby so much.
He really is so perfect for me, and that is obvious for everyone to see. Anyone who knows us as a couple and knows us individually, knows that we compliment each other just right. We are "equally yolked" as someone said in church yesterday. We fulfill each other's needs, challenge each other to be better and support each other in every goal, no matter how lofty.
I love my Topher so much and am so grateful he saw past all my flaws and decided to marry me. We have our hard times, but I know no one could make me happier and make me feel more loved.
Happy Anniversary Topher!! Thanks for the past 3 years! I'm excited for all the ones to follow. Thank you for our beautiful little girl! She is so fun!
Love you Sweetie!

Lengthy Ode to My Love

Today is a very special day. :) It is my Topher's 26th Birthday!
The love of my life is one year older (wiser too perhaps?). And yes, I try to be appreciative of him on a daily basis, not just on his Birthday, and yes I COULD write blogs about how much I love him on a regular basis, but...people would most likely get annoyed, and no longer read my sappy blog. And Topher would be embarassed. Those of you who know him know he has quite the adorable pink cheeks when embarassed. BUT, since it is his actual birthday today, I can go all out. Write just how much I love and adore him and no one can complain, and he only has to be embarassed for a few short minutes. :)

Anyone who knows me, my dating history, and Topher, KNOWS that Christopher Curtis Andersen marrying me, is well, a miracle!! For me, his being my husband is the most powerful confirmation of God's love for me. There is no way He would send me someone as AMAZING as Topher, unless he loved me A LOT.

That aside, I just want to take a minute, for Topher and for me and my kids in the future that read this....to just name some of the many reasons I love my Husband so very much.
Topher is a trooper. This week we have ALL been sick. It started with Grace being sick. Then Topher and I both caught it a day or so later. As of yesterday, Grace was getting a little bit better, and Topher and I were both getting worse. Now...it's his Birthday week people. But, has he once complained about being sick? NO! He has stayed home a whole day from school (which is a HUGE deal for him at this point in school) JUST to be with me. Yes, he rested a little, but mostly he cooked, cleaned and babied me and Grace. On top of that, yesterday he let me lie around moping and feeling sorry for myself, while once again, he cleaned and babied me and Grace. He put movies on for us, tucked us into bed together, put laundry away, brought us drinks. And let me remind you, he IS STILL SICK.
I know, I know, my family is thinking that I'm the worst wife ever. And that may be. But, Topher doesn't think so!! I know!! What is the MATTER with him!! He says he loves me. But, I'm still wondering if my parents are secretly paying him. ;)
If that is not reason enough to love him to pieces, then let's add on to that the fact that I have been INSANELY grumpy the past few days. I have been crying randomly and sad constantly, un-motivated, whiny, and completely un-helpful. I know for a fact, that I would drive myself and many others crazy. I feel that I should have been driving Topher crazy. But instead, he told me how much he loves me and how beautiful I am. This is with no make up, 3 days of unwashed hair, no deodorant, a fever, a cough, and a tissue up my nose, while whining and being self-centered.
See why I think he is being paid??!
He is such a sweet heart. I wish I deserved such a Prince, but deserving or not, I am SO GRATEFUL HE IS MINE!!!
Not only is he a wonderful husband who for some reason adores me, and loves me unconditionally, he is the most loving, affectionate, and attentive Daddy.

He is so sweet with Grace and everyone who knows us, knows that Grace's favorite person in the whole world is her Daddy. And it's not hard to guess why.
He plays with her, tickles her, lets her give him kiss after kiss, even when she has a snotty nose. He'll watch Shrek three times in a row for her, or 10 minutes each of Mulan, Shrek, Toy Story, & Peter Pan before she decides that really she just wants to eat. He plays hide and seek with her, takes her outside on adventures, plays "1-2-3 wee!" over and over and over. He helps her feed, change, and put her baby dolls down for naps.

He makes her favorite TinkerBell and Buzz Lightyear characters with his Mr. Potato Head stash. He reads her stories, dances with her, sings to her, even when its out of key. He has no problem changing diapers, even if it's Grace's 3rd in 25 minutes. He lets her put him to sleep, even when he is trying to put HER to sleep. And he is so so patient with her. Little Grace can be such a handful sometimes, and most of the time when she is whining, crying, screaming or even screaming her Graceysaurus shrieks, he can just smile and think she's adorable.

So, yes, he is an amazing family man. But it doesn't stop there.

I had a lot more written out here, but, re-reading it, it was too much to share in such a public blog. So....although this has already been quite the ode to my man...I'm going to lengthen it a little more and name my 10 most favorite Topher qualities. :)
1. I love how smart he is. He is dedicated and works hard in school and personally, I think he's a genius. Even if he CAN'T keep track of his phone or car keys. :)
2. I love that he is in the Navy. Maybe it's because I grew up in a military family, maybe it's because military to me means masculine. ;) But I love that he has taken our lives in the direction of the Navy and all it has to offer us. :)
3. I love that he wants to be a Doctor and go to Medical School. It's going to be a LOOOONG road and definitely hard. But so rewarding. And I think he'll be amazing.
4. I love how much fun we have together. He is a genius yes, but he has no problem acting like a big nerd with me. We laugh so much together and I love that.
5. I love how much he loves the outdoors. I know we'll never have a summer without multiple vacations that include camping, kayaking, picnics and kite flying. I love that he takes us on adventures and gets us outside.
6. I love that he is adventurous. He always wants to try new things and just about everything he tries, he's good at. This summer he finally did kite-boarding lessons and it was a blast for him and for me to watch.
7. I love that he plays games with me!!! We have about a bazillion games, and we play games constantly. We like to take a day off from everything, watch movies and play games and it's the greatest!
8. I love how much he loves me, and Grace. And I love knowing that he would do anything for our little family's well being.
9. I love his testimony and strength in the gospel. He is such an example to me and I love having that in my life. He always brings a strong spirit into our home no matter what and that means the world to me.
10. I love that he loves my cooking!!! He thinks I'm the best cook ever! And what wife doesn't like to hear that??!!
and 11. because I need a #11...I love that my husband is a babe!! I love that he can grow a beard and it grows in red!! How awesome is that!!? I think he has the sweetest most perfect face, (esp. his nose!!) and I love that my head fits perfectly in the nook on his shoulder. :)
I love you Topher!!!!!!! You are my everything!! Thank you for being the perfect Husband for me! No one could love me better!
Happy Birthday!! I'm so excited to celebrate you!

Clean House!!

Now, you may be thinking that a post about a clean house is not blog worthy...and if that's the case... well then you really don't know me. Because an ENTIRELY clean house...is DEFINITELY blog worthy in my world.
We have been so all over the place since about...mmm....the beginning of Summer??...that our house has dearly suffered the consequences. It has not been completely clean since...well, I can't even remember.
Now, I don't do well with messes. They make me angry, and frustrated and grumpy. So, eventually we always cave in and clean. But, with a problem called "Gracey", we never get further than 1 or 2 rooms....1 or 2 loads of dishes and clothes. The house is always half clean.
Well, this time, we really got down and dirty. We cleaned the WHOLE HOUSE!! BOOM BABY!!
It was wonderful. I am so happy.
So, to document this momentous occasion...I'm blogging about it.
Including pictures.
Don't worry, i'll throw in a cute picture of Grace too. Just for giggles. :)
Would you look at that??? Clean dining room....living room. Ooh! Ooh! And you can see the floor in our bedroom!! The WHOLE floor!! There isn't even a basket of clean clothes waiting to be put away! Go me! Oh! And my desk?! It RARELY gets to be that clean. So nice.


And here is my adorably beautiful baby. She's happy the house is clean too. :)

And....another one. Because I can. And...she's too cute for only one photo of that smile. :)

The great thing about a clean house...is that when I wake up in the morning...I don't have to dread trying to clean my house with my ankle biter. Instead....I can focus on her, and me. And us having a good time together doing things that are way more important than cleaning...like having tickle wars and watching Shrek 4 1/2 times.

Getting Better...

On Saturday morning, Grace was still really sick. Her fever had persisted for over 7 days, as had her cough, cold and diarrhea. So we decided to go into the Dr. again. Just to double check that things were o.k.
They did a viral panel, which she HATED. We got the results back on Sunday and YAY! She tested positive for R.S.V. We lovingly passed this along to our neice Maya (so so sorry misty!!) and I may have also passed it on to Ellie unknowingly!! Ugh! I hate getting people sick!
We have no idea where it came from...but for now...I'm going to blame Caden. :) He was the only person sick at Christmas time (afte which grace got sick) and it makes you feel so much better to point fingers doesn't it?? Ok, fine, maybe not. :) I love you Caden!
But anyway, she tested positive for R.S.V.
However, R.S.V. really is just like any other common cold. Just about everyone has had R.S.V. at some point, they just don't know it because it was a mild case. We are scared of the diagnosis R.S.V. because we hear about all the kids in the hospital with it. BUT, the kids in the hospital with it have the RARE bad luck of having a more severe case of the virus. So, since Grace's condition was normal and nothing severe, they offered no extra advice, no medication. Just that we stay home and take care of her there, unless her condition worsened, and mostly, if her breathing became labored. So...we are at home, waiting out this nasty virus.
The good news though, is that it finally seems to be going away!! She has had it now for 2 weeks but it seems to be making its exit. She hasn't had a fever for almost 2 days, the cough is less persistent, the diaper changes are less frequent and disgusting...so this is good!! We are on our way back to our healthy girl.

Along with her health, her personality is also returning. She wanted to take a bath yesterday and was all smiles and silliness for me. So so sweet.

Also, I think part of the reason she's been getting better is thanks to her many naps. She has taken about three every day for the past week or so, and in some unusual places too. :)
We love her so so much and just think she is the sweetest thing. Sneaky yes. Shockingly defiant, yes. Dinosaur Tantrum thrower, yes. But so so sweet too. Yesterday I realized more than ever just how much I love her little face. It is so sweet and beautiful and I just love it. She completely abused this however because she did all sorts of mischeivous things yesterday and then she'd look at me with this BIG mischievous grin and those beautiful blue eyes, and when I'd say "that's not ok, we don't do that", she would giggle and say "okay", with the mischievous grin and eyes that say..."ok...I won't...at least not when you're looking...."
We love and adore her and are so glad she is getting better.
Topher's first day of school was yesterday. It seemed to go well. It was a long day, he didn't even get home until almost 6:30 and had left at 7:30 that morning. But, I think he'll do great. He is capable of so many amazing things and I'm looking forward to the semester more than I thought I could. After all, this is our second to last semester!!!
I just hope I can be the wife he needs me to be. I've learned that a lot of how Topher performs and does in school, is a result of the support I give him. Whether it me keeping Grace out of his hair, feeding him, getting him up in the morning, or getting him to go to bed, getting him focused on homework or just giving him pep-talks...I really do influence him a lot! Wow, huh? So, I hope I can be helpful to him as much as possible, and not be a detriment in any way.
Anywho...that's all for now...oh, unless perhaps you were wondering...
YES I DID WATCH CHUCK ON SUNDAY!! The season 3 premiere was on Sunday, and let me just say it has not budged as my favorite show ever!!! I also watched it again in its usual time slot last night. It is such a great show! I love it! And I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. Mondays. NBC. 7p.m. Be there or be square. :)
Ok...there's my Chuck fan moment for you. :)
And BTW thank you everyone for your sweet comments last post. I didn't mean to sound down. But it was really nice to have all the thoughtful comments saying to keep posting what I want and need to write. Thanks so much. You guys are all great. :)
Lots of love
the Andersen Family

Don't Know Where To Start

I keep falling behind in blogging. Sometimes I wonder if I should just give up! Every time I post, there's a good five weeks to catch up on...so each entry is a re-cap rather than daily happenings... or for that matter even weekly happenings. Geesh.

The last post I did was talking about the end of October and all of November. The post before that was our entire summer in one post. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail because too many of my family members COMPLAIN. So. In short.

I put our tree up after our Thanksgiving in Preston Idaho with Topher's family.

This picture is from Nikolaus.

Finals happened. Winter Break came. We went to Temple square with Mum & Sam.

We left for Idaho on the 17th of December and stayed for a week. Did Christmas with them and a day after Christmas party with Sam's kids.

Christmas Day in Idaho. With our matching pj pants from my Mom.

We left two days after Christmas and did Christmas with Topher's parents. Then did Christmas with my Dad and family. And New Years was with the Andersen family.

I'm so sorry this is coming off very impersonal and uncaring. I am feeling pretty hopeless that I'm so behind in updating. This is supposed to be my journal in a way, and I hardly ever write!! And I sure don't write in my regular journal any more than I write here, so, Im just sad that I've done so poorly at making and keeping a record.

I need to be better. I hate New Years resolutions...but maybe this should be an exception and I should make a resolution to write weekly...or at least every other week. Who knows.

At the moment, Grace is sick. She has been since last Friday. She has a fever, sore throat, cough, cold, diarrhea. The whole works. We already went to the hospital, and she wasn't dehydrated, so, all we can do is take care of her at home. But that was Tuesday and it still won't go away!!! Our poor baby. The saddest part is that she tries to be such a trooper but it is so very evident that she is miserable. Oh well. This too shall pass. This is her snuggling her daddy with her two new stuffed teddies the nurses gave her while waiting for labs.

We, or maybe just I, am dreading Monday when Topher goes back to school. Its been so wonderful to have him 24-7 for the past 3 weeks. This semester promises to be even more work than last and that is too overwhelming to even think about.

Aside from Grace being sick...I was able to do actual PIG TAILS on her about a week ago. You may be thinking that this isn't blog worthy...ooooohhh but it is. She has hardly any hair, and what she does have is kinda wispy and not worth mentioning...but I was able to do pig tails the other day. I personally thought it was adorable. Took about 10 pictures of the back of her head.

Anyway. Not really sure what to mention. Too many family members complain about my insanely long posts...so I don't want to do another re-cap that just puts people to sleep. So. yeah. The Christmas holiday was fun, tiring, full of wonderful family, involved sisters, tearful farewells, good food and lots of driving as well as some relaxing.

I'll try to do better at updating more frequently. But as i've said before, no promises here. :)

We're Alive!!!

Geesh I have not blogged in a LONG time. Most likely because the last two months have been insanely busy. Everything from bed bugs to Disney World and everything in between. Definitely a lot has happened. I would love to go into detail about everything but that would probably take an incredibly long post which I know a lot of my family is not interested in reading through to the end. To start with though, back in October I was supposed to go to my sister Emily's house in Vegas. However, my neice on Topher's side got the swine flu and passed it along to Grace, who then unknowingly exposed all my brother's kids as well as my sister Dacia's little girl. All three of us and our kids were planning on traveling to Emily's house, but because we were all potentially sick and exposed to Swine Flu, the trip was cancelled. :(
We were so disappointed and sad, but, again, Heavenly Father demonstrated his all knowing and we were actually being given an answer to prayer. Those of you who have seen Grace at any point since EASTER, know that she has consistently had a rash. Not just any old rash either. It was terrible. Red, itchy bumps took over her entire face, neck arms, legs and sometimes her tummy. It was awful. She didn't even look like a beautiful little baby. She looked diseased, and sick and she would itch all the time and it was just awful. We had been to dermatologists, pediatricians, cardiologists and family doctors about the rash numerous times. Everyone who saw her had a different idea of what the rash might be, from chicken pox to rosacea. A dermatologist we like had prescribed a cream for her that would sometimes work, sometimes not. We had been praying for months that this rash would subside, or that we would be able to discover what was causing it...but we never thought the answer would come in the form of Swine Flu!
When Grace came down with the Swine Flu, I decided it was time for a deep cleaning of her room. I sanitize it frequently, wash the sheets frequently and lysol her toys a lot also. But I hadn't stripped her bed completely and washed the whole frame or the surrounding floor and walls in quite a while, so I decided I would do that to try and get her room really sanitary again.
I took off the blankets and pillows, then I went for the bumpers around her crib. I undid each tie around the posts of the crib, and found this...

not just one of this either...but in extreme numbers. Each tie of a post was undone only to unleash over 15 bugs that would scatter all over her bed. I remember being frozen in shock for a split second, and then I screamed, then I gagged, and then I cried. Bed bugs in my baby's bed! TONS of bed bugs in my baby's bed! Disgusting, creepy big bugs! It still gives me the heebeejeebies.
It was a horrible couple of days, however, we were so grateful that we were finally able to discover what was causing Grace's rash (which was in actuality bed bugs, eating my baby's flesh every night) and then put a stop to it.
Yes Grace got swine flu, as did Topher and I. But Grace was sick for a total of a day and a half. As soon as we found the bed bugs, and Topher and his Dad gave her a blessing, she was back to herself by that evening. So miraculous. Swine flu SHOULD have put her in the hospital. But all it did was serve as a means to an end. It was the only way I would have found those bugs, and so it was the only way Heavenly Father could answer our prayers.
We had an exterminator come that same night and spray the entire house. Curtis and Topher also took over 9 jumbo size garbage bags to the laundromat because the exterminating company said that any laundry around or near Grace's and our bed needed to be washed at extreme high heat to get rid of any possible bugs/eggs/feces.

It was an exhausting and upsetting couple of weeks what with cleaning and being sick. The day after we found the bed bugs, I came down with the swine flu, and the next day Topher did as well. However, we came to realize even more how very blessed we are with loving, helpful and supportive family and friends. Our "adopted" sister Francesca, AND her mom came over to our house the night we found the bed bugs and brought us dinner. They also took some laundry for us and then stayed to clean and sanitize different rooms in the house. Toph's dad came twice to give us all blessings. My adorable sister came and brought us about 10 bottles of juice and snacks and medicine. My sweet sister in law also came, bearing medicine and pie. She also took Grace in the days that followed so I could recuperate and clean. And my even dropped off soup and medicine. We felt very loved and are still so grateful that we had friends and family so willing to help. Thanks to all of you! You are wonderful!
After the laundry, coughs, fevers, and bugs had subsided, we were left with a destroyed house, which kept me too busy to ever post about the adventures we'd had.
Then came Halloween with my family, (my awesome sister even came up from Vegas!!) Grace was a "Fairy Witch". Topher and I decided she needed to be something that fit her personality. My sister's adorable angelic baby Ellie was being a fairy, and Daysh said we should do the same thing so they could be fairies together. But...you see, Ellie is angelic....Grace is destructo girl. So it didn't fit right. But when we added the adorable little witch part...it suited her just right. Adorable, yet sassy. My mom and I made the costume together, which was a blast, and it turned out so so adorable and fun.

A trip to my Mom's (including the Tetons)

Thanksgiving in St. George (which included a 5k with my whole family!! Dacia & Joe participated as well but left early to get dibs on the shower),

Thanksgiving in Preston and a Thanksgiving in Farmington (yeah...probably gained about 10 pounds that week)
and finally this last week...DISNEY WORLD (!!!) with my Dad, Karen and Rachel.

I am finally home again. And hopefully will be for a while. It would be nice to finally get my house in order and get back on a schedule.
Here's a couple of my favorite moments of late though...
In St. George there was a sweet garage sale...I got matching dresses for all the little Johnson girls, new shoes for me, and they had a stack of barbies and a barbie car. I asked "how much for all of this?" She answered "2 bucks for the whole stash." In my mind I was jumping up and down like a school girl, on my face I was the image of absolute maturity. So I bought them all for Grace, then went back to the St. George condo we had, and gave them all a bath in soap and lysol, washed their hair, brushed and styled their hair, dressed them with Barbie clothes I just happened to have in my trunk and then let Grace play with them. I only creeped out about every person that walked past the bathroom and saw me primping and styling my barbies. hahaha.
To put it simply, Grace has found a new love. And that's her barbies. She loves them, hugs them, kisses them, rocks them, puts them to sleep in a shoebox we fashioned into a bed and carries them around everywhere saying "baby baby". She is so cute.
Also, her newfound talent....snorting. She has always snorted if you get her laughing hard enough. And it was made me laugh hysterically. But she has finally reached that age where she loves to make me laugh, so she'll do it on command now, just to make people laugh.
I got this video of her for your viewing enjoyment. Sorry it's so dark, but the noises its what you want anyway.

She is so adorable and I love her so much. She was so good at Disney World. I Really wanted to go and I felt fine about taking her, but that didn't stop the worries and fretting over if she would scream the whole plane ride, or if she'd sleep and eat enough, or if I'd be able to keep her clean and healthy, but she was an angel. Or, at least, she was on her best impish Gracey behavior. She was still her sneaky mischievous adorable self, but she was so happy and energetic and sweet too. No tantrums (except when I took her off the carousel),
hardly any whining, she ate well, slept well and was just a joy to be with. It felt like a mommy daughter date that was too good to be true for 4 days. I loved it!

This is her on the carousel. It was easily her favorite ride. She loved being on it and each time I took her off the ride she would go nuts. I asked my brilliant dad to take a video of me taking her off the ride at the end because I just had to show Topher how much Grace loved it. Somehow...there was a communication break down between my Dad and myself. So when I handed him the camera, he thought it was recording. I thought it made sense that I just had the camera on the record setting...but not recording when the ride wasn't started yet, and I was handing it to my Dad...but that aside...the best tantrum thrown the whole trip...was not actually caught on video because Dad was not recording as he thought he was. So, she used up all her could fetal position screams and shaking in anger for nothing. So, when we went to put her on the ride AGAIN, she was a little less energetic. So, watch this video and then imagine her being three times as upset. Because that's what the norm was. :) Knees locked up against her chest, arms at her sides shaking, and screaming in distress. That was how powerful this little girl's love was for her horsie. haha

Her two new favorite words of late are "wee" and "side". She absolutely loves to swing and slide. This video is really cute, its her saying her two favorite words, and then also talking about ellie and dacia who were in the room with us. It was also a demonstration of her ability to clap for herself when she eats. Such an over achiever. Her favorite food is bananas and we clap when she eats, so she was trying to remind me to clap for her. When we were in St. George there was a little playground in the back yard of sorts, and the slide was all she ever wanted while we were there. Day in and day out, she would ask for it.

I love this picture of her on the carousel. It should have a title like "baby on cloud 9" or something.

When we tell her to smile, she goes "eeeeeeee" with this big cheesy grin.

Disney World was so neat with the Christmas decorations. The castle was all lit up in icicle lights that made it look so neat and frosted! It would change color too which was awesome.

Karen and I were the model of poise and maturity during our Disney vacation.

My dad, seriously, he needed a time out every now and then. Seriously.

Or maybe...its just that the picture of Karen and I is one of a series of pictures that became less and less poised and mature looking....hmmmm....
This is my favorite picture of her lately. Her skin is finally getting back to the baby softness that its supposed to be. And I just think she is so pretty and so adorable. I love those eyes and that perfect little nose. I just love this little girl so much!
Anyway...that's about all the time I have to post...so...although this is a very random post, I'm gonna be done now.
Just know that we are alive and well and having fun with our ever growing and adorable little Gracelyn. :)
I will try to post again soon! Thanks for keeping updated on our little family!