Happy 18th Devin!

Well this past week went by in such a blur! Tons of homework, (with still tons to go but at least I am still on track) and Josh is worried about money as we are about to embark on vacation-really it's about time-and so he has been trying to work as much as possible...so he has been picking up an extra day. Which really means that even though he was one day off, we have then Thursday afternoon together. I just tell him that once we are on vacation, he is completely prohibited from being cranky! But thankfully we are all looking forward to time with our extended family and with each other. So I have realized that this week I have not taken as many pictures as I usually do, and this is not due to a lack of Ada being cute or doing very adorable things, just a lack of focus I suppose. But I am sure the brief hiatus from 8 million pictures will harm no one...at least not indefinitely.
Yesterday was my best girlfriends' birthday (don't worry Josh, you are still my best friend). This person is someone I have not always been able to get along with over the years, especially when we were younger. Our younger encounters usually consisted of cleaning up her messes, and me getting in trouble for fighting with her as I was older, and I suppose for that reason more accountable for my actions. The I got older, and I went away to college and things were better for a while as we both grew up. But when I moved back home, she liked to take my things, insist she hadn't, I would get upset, and boom! Guess what? Still got blamed for getting upset with her. So how is this person my best girlfriend you may ask? Well, we are now both older, hopefully wiser, and most importantly, we do not live in the same house! But she is one of the kookiest people I know (sorry but Mom, you get the kookiest person award of all time-and we all love you for it! ) and she by far makes life interesting and different. I have known her all her life, and looking back and seeing all the things we made fun of you for-which were incredibly ridiculous like stating your head was shaped like a Dorito-I have always loved you and always will. So Happy 18th Birthday Devin! And welcome to adulthood.

Look at the Birthday girl!

Ada was smiling for the camera, but then was too captivated by the flash
Working on some hand-eye coordination

Snow and other activities

As you can most likely guess from the title, it snowed yet again this week-not enough to make snow veterans like us cringe-but enough to remind us that we live in Idaho, and that it is basically winter here.
In terms of voting, I will say that here in Idaho you can register to vote on Election Day-no need to be proactive here (even though I figured you had to register beforehand and sent in our information a few months ago-to which I received a postcard, not a voter registration number or card, stating that we are registered) and that here you fill out a type of scan-tron card, bubble sheet and all, and then drop your paper into a box. Seriously, hasn't anyone here ever heard of technology and wanted to update their systems sooner than every 25 yrs? But other than that, I am not going to go into which candidate for which we voted, stating which one is basically endorsed or not by God, nor will I go on a rampage about which one loves/upholds the Constitution more than the other...and so on and so forth...I will only say THANK GOODNESS that it is finally over!
Ada has really started "talking" and we have a video in which she is very talkative! We went to the pediatrician on Wednesday, and sadly I had to go through Ada getting more shots (geez-like I need to complain-I didn't get them!) but she did much better this time, and consequently so did I, with Josh there for my moral support. So now Ada is just shy of 26 inches and 14.4 lbs, our long skinny weed of a daughter-but more like a dandelion-at least a very pretty weed. So we have 2 new videos and if you'll continue below-more adorable pictures!

I love snow!...for now...Ada has really been teething, and she has finally decided she likes this teething toy We went to a friends' birthday party on Thursday and everyone had to wear a party hat...yes even Josh!

Ada all ready to brave the fierce weather to go to the pool on campus

She sure does love Lucy...her bunny

Trying to stay awake until bedtime

Don't take Lucy away!

Naptime

Wow! What a week!!

Well, if I said last week wasn't busy, then this week sure made up for it! This week, Ada has discovered her toes and loves to constantly try to get at them. She is a lot more grabby and tries to get everything within reach of her hands or feet. We went to eat this week at Subway, and now that she is a "supported sitter" I can hold her with one hand and let her hit her hands on the table and keep herself otherwise occupied; but not any more. She almost knocked the cup out of my hands, causing me to spray her with some soda, and she grabbed the subway paper that my snadwich was sitting on, almost bringing it into my lap. She loves to grab my hair, earrings (which I know only wear studs after a particulary bad earring yanking session), necklaces or clothes. So watch out for those hands! See the video for this too!
Then there was Halloween. Our Ward didn't want to have a trunk-or-treat, so they decided to have a dance instead, without arranging for anyone to watch the children some of us happen to have; so we dressed Ada up and all went together. The dance started off with some of the most attrocious music ever, like the Adams' Family theme without any sound, and Thriller, which no one knew any part of that dance but me so it made it a bit awkward. So we left soon thereafter, but I have to admit, our costumes were inventive and cute. Ada was a monkey, and it was the cutest outfit I have seen her in; Josh was Clark Kent halfway busting out of his suit with his Superman shirt underneath (so it was Clark Kent without a phone booth), and I was Rosie the Rivetter. One of the other pictures is of Devin and her boyfriend Leo, who were kind enough to babysit Ada when both Josh and I had to work on the 31st. They even took her to a Halloween party! We also started Ada on rice cereal mixed with a trace amount of apples. She will usually sleep from 9-6 or 7, which makes it easier on me as I stay up at night doing homework while she is alseep! So watch the video of her 1st feeding; it's hilarious! On Saturday, it was a joint party (for those of you who know how much Josh loves his birthday-he was glad to share it with Ada) as Josh is now 25 and Ada is 4 mos. Josh got an RA Salvatore book he desperately wanted, magic card protectors, the Bourne Supremacy movie, 3 new ties, magic card box and wonderful cards and money, which we used to go out to eat! So he wants to say thank you again to everyone for making his birthday a lot of fun (no really, he enjoyed this one!). I also tried my hand and used fondant to cover his cake to make it a Magic Card cake, but I think I really need more practice; but at least it looked ok and tasted good too-although the fondant was a mite too thick! Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Catching her feet

A joint party, but only Josh got presents Blowing out the candles. Doesn't Ada look apprehensive about being that close to the candles?

The Magic Card Cake
Rosie the Riveter
Devin, Leo and the Monkey (Ada)

Our 1st Family Halloween Smiling Ada playing with Dad Being like a true monkey and playing in the leaves
More eating of leaves

New Happenings

Well nothing earth shattering happened this past week, unless you count that we got some great pictures of Ada being adorable (yet again!-jeez kid how do you do it?) She keeps progressing in her rolling over phase, doing it better and better each time, and is honing her hand-eye coordination by taking her Binky out of her mouth constantly, which unfortunately does not always work out so well and she get very frustrated. But take a look at her cuteness!

Check out my friends! Do you recognize them?
Nope, Bambi is mine!

My new hat and mittens. Do you think the hat's too big?

Kissing the toucan

Two Holes

Well our little girl now has two holes permanently in her. No she did not have any bad reactions to shots or the like, but she got her ears pierced. We decided that even though the small town in which we live is in fact small, that does not mean that our finances can accommodate us going down to I.F. (Idaho Falls- another smallish town about 30 mins away with a rather un-imaginative moniker) whenever we wish. So we have decided that we will go down once a month for some great family fun...so what better to do then get Adas' ears pierced?

We are glad that we did it now rather than later. Adas' big, strong Daddy even had a hard time keeping her a still as he could! Now, many of you may know that I have a huge irrational fear of all things related to needles, so I had no real desire to be anywhere in the vicinity. However, I had to help keep her calm and try, however unsuccessfully, to soothe her. Luckily, due to clever apparatus configurations, there was no needle in sight, which made it much easier for me. But Ada now has two permanent holes in her ears, bearing her beautiful red birthstone (which for those of you who know Josh know how much he hates color red, but after some deliberation decided not to let his personal dislikes affect our daughter-way to go Josh!) Anyway, what do you think?

Um...what did you want me to do again?
Partially strangled by butterflies!

How's this face?!

It's Cold Out There!!

Well "winter" has officially hit, even though the calendar says it's still Autumn; that's South East Idaho for you. It has flurried the past few days, and today it snowed/rained, but tonight they are forecasting 1-3 inches of accumulated snow. At least I can have fun with Ada in the snow and we are very grateful that church is right across the street! So we won't have to warm up Fred (the car) for 30 mins to drive 5 mins to church with other crazy drivers who act like they have never seen snow before and drive even worse then they already do! Anyway, again Ada never ceases to be extremely adorable to enjoy her never ending outpouring of happiness (ok she's not always happy but is sometimes fussy as we think she is already teething!!)

Leaning forward in earnest to get Bert (the frog so christened by Josh)
Gotcha!
See? Told you I'd get him.
Playing in her high chair
Our baby girl is always smiley in the morning
Loving her bear jacket/suit which protects her from the elements...so far!
Mama and Ada

Devin with her hair curled. Doesn't she look great?

Be sure to check for more videos!

More cute pictures

Does every Mom feel that every day her child does the cutest things in the world? Well, I do! She is so adorable and here is the photographic evidence to prove it!

Waking up from her nap
isn't the blanket supposed to be around the other end?
chillin' with Daddy
suckin' on her hand after bathtime
Too many toys!!
Food?
Definately food!

Playing around

Sorry for so many pictures...but she's so dang adorable!