Heidi turned 2

Here she is....2 year old Heidi and her silly sweet smile! We sure can't get enough of her and are grateful she is the big sister in our family. 

She started to get a little cold the day or so before her birthday, so we warned her little party friends. Luckily, we still had some guests come: the Ellsworth's and Mandi and Kennedy Isom. Heidi was thrilled.

We enjoyed a wonderful sausage,egg, biscuit an smoothie breakfast. Then we moved on to singing happy birthday. Heidi had a fun time blowing out her '2' candle repeatedly at her request.

We had balloons and a carousel cake: chocolate with caramel sauce whipped cream and berries. The berries were a real hit with the girls and Heidi has even enjoyed the paper animals Spencer and I made for the top.

Her friends gave her sweet gifts that they could all play with right away: window crayons, construction paper, crayons, and a Minnie and Daisy puzzle.

When Heidi first woke up and saw the balloons, she held them by their strings and marched around the house with a sing song voice saying things like birthday and party! 

Happy Holidays With Family in NV & UT 2012

A game of Munchkin is most enjoyed with Jordan & Amanda.

Grandma Green playing with Heidi in sunny St. George.

Grandma Houk met us in Las Vegas for a few days from New Mexico.

Baby Heidi lying in a manger at Grandma LaRayn's house in Las Vegas.

Out exploring the backyard in her cozy pink winter clothes from Aunt Annie!

Grandma LaRayn and Grandpa Don greet Heidi. 

Heidi loves her boots! 

Group photo in Vegas.

This was our fist stop out west: LA Temple for Tiffany's wedding. Here we are with Tiffany's sister and another BYU roommate and friend, Su. 

We got to stay with my cousin Nicole and her husband while in California for the weekend. 

Our next stop was Carson City, NV to spend the week with my Dad and JoDee. 

We had a great visit.

We even enjoyed a lovely drive up to Tahoe for a couple of pictures with JoDee.

Grandpa Steele and Heidi.

Grandma LaRayn Sorenson during our stay in Las Vegas at their house. We also enjoyed going to Josh  Hardy's wedding. 

Grandpa Sorenson with Heidi.

Here we are after our Ethel M. Chocolates "tour" in the cactus garden.

Grandma Green has a lovely display of boxes of all kinds in their new house.

Grandpa Green at home in Washington, UT.

Giving Thanks at Thanksgiving

 To kick off Thanksgiving break, we took a road trip to Boston, MA. We visited Spencer's sister, Kristin in her new apartment. We wanted to return because of the wonderful time we had in the summer discovering the cozy city and complete our tour of the Freedom Trail with a visit to the U.S.S. Constitution and Bunker Hill. We also counted it as our 2nd wedding anniversary vacation. Kristin babysat Heidi for us while we took a date to a restaurant Greek Corner, to the Boston Temple to do sealings, and then to Whole Foods. It was wonderful to be in the Temple together and think about the blessings those promises bring to our family.

Unfortunately the U.S.S Constitution was not open for us to tour. We had to soak in the feeling of it at the Museum.

Walking around Bunker Hill. Holding on tight to Daddy's fingers. Heidi is not quite walking on her own at this point. Close.

Heidi surveying Boston from the top of the Bunker Hill Memorial.

Kristin so graciously gave of her room and hosted us. We also got to see friend and Bishop Joe Parry who had been in town for a conference.

 

Here we are back in Highspire for Thanksgiving at our house! We were so glad that the Stilson family, my cousins who are living in NYC this year, could join us. We did miss the East Coast Greens that we were expecting. The Joneses completed our feast with their amazing turkey and stuffing skills. We made three pies: Apple, pumpkin, and blue/blackberry. And, since its tradition: Pomegranate salad adorned our table. I found them for a dollar at Sharp shopper the night before. I had already bought and opened some for much more before our Boston trip. Our friend and neighbor, Bonnie Hansen also joined our thankful group. 

Stacie and Brandon happy after the feast.

Nancy, June and Scott. Happy Turkeys.

Between bites at dinner, grab the camera family portrait.

We had a kid table. Anne, Boston, Easton and even Heidi gravitated toward it.

A nice after dinner walk to the neighborhood park with everyone!

Enjoying our buggy ride through Amish Country with the Stilson bunch the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Our fine looking horse, Kate, and her buggy near Intercourse, PA.

"Trick or Treat!" Halloween Dress up!

Grandma Houk came to visit her girls! It was a short week, but we loved having her close. 

Little Mermaid Anne, Ursula Nancy, Fairy and Pumpkin Annie and Mabel. Grandma Houk joined us Trick or Treating round 1 before the storm. 

Out walking the streets of Hummelstown. Heidi wasn't good at begging for candies, but she held them tightly in her fists when the kind neighbors gave them to her. Lots of people enjoyed her costume and even guessed what she was. 

Spencer was out of town for a conference for our first Trick or Treat. Glad he could dress up with us for Halloween Night in the Joneses Neighborhood. Our costumes were inspired by the Hunger Games movie. 

Before we lose power: Hurricane Sandy Days

Well, Hurricane Sandy is upon us, not in its full force, maybe, but there is rain and wind and we still have power @ 11:15 pm Monday night. The last couple of days have been interesting as far preparing for the storm has gone. I grabbed some more water on Saturday Morning and filled up the car with gas on Saturday night. Sunday was restful and we watched and waited for rain and wind-but really we went to church and practiced the primary program. We made a great dinner of butternut squash soup and cheesy pizza rounds with red peppers.

This morning Spencer made the rounds to a few stores where he picked up a few more bottles of water, canned beans and some butane/propane for a cooking stove I didn't know he had in his hiking stuff in the attic. I made bread-the full 4 loaves of Mary Jensen's recipe that we love, and got apples into the slow cooker for applesauce. We did all of our laundry and dishes and watched an episode of Survivor. I felt like we have been consuming all the electricity we can get all day before we maybe lose it.

Heidi has been a delight, though she was not ready to get to sleep at her usual 8pm bedtime. She has not been happy to be put down much lately, but Spencer did see her stand up without holding onto something for the first time yesterday.

As I type, I hear the winds picking up and the rain spraying the windows. It makes me a bit anxious-the unpredictability of it all.


Last night Heidi helped Spencer knock down block towers. Spencer loves building awesome structures with blocks. They have a good time together and I love watching and joining in too.

It looks like she is building this tower. (She has also examined our pack of water bottles closely.)

Not so. Heidi is all about the demise of the block tower.

 Heidi is so hilarious. She does this scrunchy faced fast breathing trick from her nose with Spencer. Spencer got some great pictures of it tonight at dinner when she sampled the hummus spatula.  

Some nice hummus to top off her black bean, bread crumb, carrot, soup feast

Heidi's Summer Style

Our sweet little Heidi is always grabbing after her mama's sunglasses, so we thought we would let her try them on.

She also reached up to play that toy piano on her own. If she kept her shades on and played, we would be convinced of some foreshadowing of a successful music career.

Heidi Bath, Fruit, Dad

Bath time from above. 8/22/12

Heidi started enjoying bath time even more when she started sitting up. Playing with rubber duck and splashing makes our Heidi happy. We are using hand towels as slip protection and to keep her clean and comfortable. 

Heidi enjoyed sucking on some of the peaches we picked at Strite's Orchard.

She REALLY did like sinking her two bottom teeth into that juicy peach. 8/24/12

Heidi loves her Daddy's excited smiles!

Is it the shirt or the man in the shirt? Daddy is the best! Skyping with Aunts Kristin and Natalie. 8/24/12