Temple!

The Brigham City Temple is almost done!  The construction fences around the perimeter are gone and there are just a few construction workers here and there touching up things on the grounds.
And in case you want to come see it, the open house runs August 18- September 15, excluding Sundays and September 8 (for Peach Days).  Reservations will be available tomorrow, July 30, at templeopenhouse.lds.org.  I hope you all can come see it!  The open house is for anyone and everyone to come the inside of the temple.
Also, we have volunteered to help with the open house.  Right now Caleb and I are assigned to usher inside the temple on Saturday, August 25 from 12:30-5:30pm.  So if you come then, you can see us inside!
The dedication for the temple will be Sunday, September 23.  As far as I know, the dedication will be broadcast to all stakes in Utah, as well as the temple district.  We are so excited for the Brigham City temple!

Achaia at the temple's main gate.

The Brigham City Temple

Apple trees on the temple grounds- note the real fruit!

Springtime

With springtime in full bloom, we have spent a fair bit of time working outside.  Achaia loves to be outside and likes to be involved when we work in the yard.  She especially likes to wear our gloves.

Ready to help in the yard.

For Easter dinner, we went to my Grandma Peterson's house.  She had a mini egg hunt for Achaia and my cousin's kids.  Achaia loved looking for the "eggy's".  After she found each one, she would pop it open and find the candy inside.  She was so excited and exclaimed "candy-candy" each time.

Easter Egg Hunt

Popping the Easter egg open

Another egg!

Achaia found the bag of Easter eggs about a week ago.  So all this week has been a perpetual egg hunt.  She plays with them and then they get spread randomly around the house.  Then she will wake up in the morning, spot an "eggy", and commence the next round of the hunt.  She has some very creative, unintentional hiding spots for the eggs, too- inside my slippers or in a pitcher.

In April, Achaia and I met our friend, Heather, and her daughter in downtown Salt Lake to explore the new City Creek mall.  We had a grand time and the kids' favorite was definitely the Disney store.  Though, I bet if we stopped to play in the fountains, that would have been a favorite, also.  While waiting for our friends to join us, I got some pictures of Achaia exploring near the Conference Center.  She was having fun playing in the dirt and climbing on the steps.

I like how it looks like she is posing.  This was near the Conference Center.

Also near the Conference Center.

Behind the Conference Center. Achaia like to lay on her belly and play in the dirt or poke bugs.

Tired and ready for a nap after seeing City Creek.

Here are some more fun pictures from this spring:

Another example of the fun with the Easter eggs.

Achaia sitting in the irrigation channel in our yard.

At my mom's house.  Achaia loves helping with the laundry and enjoys watching it spin and spin.

Achaia with the tulips at my parents' house.

Achaia and Caleb driving my uncle's go-cart.  She wasn't sure what to think about it.

Favorite Quotes from Primary Today

Teacher: "What is procrastination?"
Kid: "Isn't it like adultery?"

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Teacher: "President Eyring was born in Mexico."
Kid 1: "He doesn't look Mexican."
Kid 2: "Well, my mom doesn't look Canadian, and she was born in Canada." (His mom is white/Caucasian)

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Teacher: "Which apostle was born in Logan and likes sports?"
Kid:  "Is it L. Tom Lincoln?"

Once There Was A Snowman

... in the sun he melted... small, small, small.  I am so glad it's springtime!  I have always loved winter- the quiet while the snow falls gently; the beautiful white landscape.  But just as much as I love winter, I love being outside without stuffing two of us into five layers every time we go out.  And today was beautiful! We went for a walk and spent some time playing outside. (By the way, I have the snowman song stuck in my head now. Anyone else?)

Well, here is our life, I hope it isn't too long for you.  Caleb was in Oklahoma last week for some Army training.  Caleb finished his four-months-long Army course, which was in Missouri, at the end of October.  When he returned, he was placed in a new Utah National Guard Company (the 118th Sapper Company, if it means anything to anyone else) and was put in charge of a platoon.  He was just recently (two weeks ago) promoted from 2nd Lieutenant to 1st Lieutenant.  It's a fairly minor change in rank, but we'll take the slight pay increase.  I am so proud of him!

On the civilian side, Caleb was offered a full-time position with Layton Construction.  He's on the management team on the individual project level.  Right now he is working on a project constructing a high-end mall in Lehi.  So, yes- we are living in Brigham City and he is working in Lehi.  It kinda stinks.  However, we have chosen not to move because this project will be completed in the fall and we want to see where his next project is located before we move.  We usually spend at least a couple nights at my parents' house to cut down on the commute time.  But we are so glad he has a job.  He likes the people he is working with and enjoys his job, so it's all good.

As for me, I am really enjoying be a stay at home mom.  Achaia has been so good to me.  She's starting to try out her independence and I know once we add more kids life will get more crazy.  But being at home really is the place for me.  Sometimes it is hard, but it is great, too.  We (Achaia and I) love to take walks outside or just play in the yard.  We spend a fair bit of time with Caleb's two sisters and their families when we're in Brigham City.  They have young kids so I feel right at home hanging out with them.  Um... what else to say about what I do?  I try to keep the house, do a few little fun projects, and spend quality time with Achaia.

I currently am serving in the ward primary as secretary, and the unofficial substitute pianist.  Caleb is the Teacher's Quorum adviser.  Right now Achaia comes to primary with me, but in a couple more months, she will be in nursery! I think she will really like it.  While I'm on church stuff, the Brigham City temple is just up the street from us and it looks so good.  The exterior is done and they are currently working on the landscaping and the interior.  It is supposed to be done in the fall and we are very excited to be a part of this neat experience in our little community.

And here's a little bit about Achaia.  She is walking like crazy now.  She started walking around Christmas time, when she was about 13 months old.  She is even starting to run a little.  Walking outside is one of her favorite activities.  She can say a ton of words- too many to count now.  Here are a few of her favorites:  "What's-that" (this was her very first word/phrase), "walk", "rock", "cracker", "car", "go-go-go", "belly", "Dadda", "Momma", "Papa" (grandpa), "ball", "book", and so on.  She also knows the sounds of a lion, tiger, dog, cat, cow, car, monkey, horse, and a few others.  And she can point out most of her body parts when prompted.  She is so smart and can communicate her needs pretty well.  And she can follow one-step directions, like put something there or take this to someone.  I just love her so much and love to brag about her.  Below are some fun pictures of our life:

Achaia was walking around with her hands behind her back so Caleb was copying her. Sorry it's blurry- it was a phone picture and they were moving fast.

Bed head

She loves to pull the pans out and sit or stand in them.

Cute, huh?  Walking near my parents' house.

Wearing Daddy's uniform.

We were walking outside at my parents' and Achaia kept bending over to look through her legs. It was funny!

Me and Achaia

Playing in the snow

I love this picture of Achaia!

I was doing some dishes and thought she was simply playing with the radio.  But when I turned around, this is what I found.  She stepped into our can-rotator thingy.  She was able to get herself out, too.

Achaia and Caleb at the Living Planet Aquarium. She loved seeing the animals, and especially loved the gift shop and hugging all the stuffed animals.  She grabbed these penguins and ran away with them.

The Holidays

 Time to play a little catch up again.  In November, Caleb's brother Gabe was married at the Logan Temple.  We had a good time spending the whole day with the Sharp family.

We also celebrated Achaia's FIRST Birthday in November.  We had a simple party with her grandparents and some family that lived close.  They all came over in the evening for dinner and cake.  We made her a yellow ducky cake, because that was the first animal she could identify.  She would get real excited while she pointed and said "duck!"  She also opened presents, which included some clothes, a toy walker, stuffed animal, and some books.  On her first birthday, she couldn't yet walk on her own, but loved to walk around while she held our fingers.  She could also say about a dozen words, including "duck", "what's-that", "dada", "dog", and "fwoh (woof)".

Our family at the Logan Temple after Gabe's wedding

Achaia and her duck cake

Opening presents

After the traditional First Birthday Cake

 For Thanksgiving, we spent the day with the Peterson family.  We had a great time seeing all the family and playing games together.  Then in December, we attended several Christmas parties with the ward, work, and the military.  It's always fun to get out and spend time with family and friends.  I enjoyed meeting some people that Caleb works with and knows at work and in the military.  Speaking of which, Caleb is currently working with Layton and Construction and is in the 118th Engineer Sapper Company for the military.
The Sharps celebrated Christmas a week before so everyone could attend.  As always, it was a good time!  Then we spend the days around Christmas in Salt Lake with the Petersons.  Most of my pictures below are of Achaia.  I realized there aren't too many of us.  But what can I say?  She's just so cute!

Achaia reading with Matt and Amy

Achaia loves sitting in boxes, bins, and baskets.  She was delighted that this one fit her just right!

She loved taking the bows off the presents.  She helped us all get the bows while we opened presents.

She got a panda bear that is bigger than her.  She loves stuffed animals and gives them great big hugs.

She also got this Disney princess car.  It has buttons all over that make music and the seat even opens to a compartment.

Holli, Adriann, and Caleb playing Just Dance 3.

New Years was celebrated at my dad's brother, Jeff's house.  The evening was filled with good food, games, and bingo!  It was fun to hang out with this side of the family and we even got some cool prizes!

A Glimpse

I have been a bit behind on my blog, so I wanted to use this post to give you a glimpse of the happenings of our family during the summer and up until a few weeks ago.  I am going to use pictures and captions to tell the story.  Enjoy!

Visited the Air Force Museum at Hill Air Force Base.

Achaia enjoying swimming.

The Sharps at Bear Lake

Watched the Angel Moroni get placed on the Brigham City Temple (this picture is from our front yard!)

We went camping at Payson Lakes with some family friends.

Achaia on the beach at Payson Lakes after deciding the water was too cold. (Can you see her "fangs" just inside her mouth? Those two top teeth were her first teeth to come in.)

Taking pictures at the Manti Temple, just before visiting my sister at Snow College

Visiting Thanksgiving Point.  Achaia was overdue for a nap so it was hard to get a good picture.  I loved this face she is pulling, though.

Achaia's aunt put her hair in pigtails. I think she looks so cute, but it also makes her look older- more like a toddler than my little baby!

One of our favorite things to do is going for a walk!

Florida and Caribbean Trip, Part 2

The second week of our trip in June was spent on a cruise in the Caribbean! We were on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas. It is one of their largest ships (maybe even the biggest?).

The first day of the cruise we were at sea. So we got settled in, explored the ship, and enjoyed a quiet day.  The cruise ship was so fun.  We loved traveling this way because we only had to unpack once and just about everything is included, even food!  The our cruise ship had a rock climbing wall, multiple pools, mini golf, FlowRider (for surfing or body boarding), ice skating, many restaurants and dining rooms, a theater, among other things.  Every day we returned to our room, there was an itinerary for the next day and a towel animal. 

The second day we arrived at Labadee, Haiti.  This port is leased by Royal Caribbean and is very tourist-y.  But we loved it!  We went on a historic tour and learned a lot about the history of Haiti.  Then we had a great time watching Caleb speak to the natives in their own language (Caleb spoke Haitian Creole on his LDS mission in Florida).  The people were so surprised that this white guy could speak their language!  We also enjoyed lounging on the beach and in the warm, beautiful water.

Unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures in Haiti.   But we did buy this red dress in Haiti.  This picture is on the bed in our stateroom.  (Excuse the red eye, I just noticed it and don't want to reload another picture.)

The third day we arrived in Falmouth, Jamaica.  Caleb and I didn't have anything planned to do at this port, so we explored some shops and saw some of the countryside while on the bus to the shops.  The picture below was taken while we were waiting to get back on the bus to return to the port.

Caleb and Achaia at some shops near Falmout Jamaica. The bus in the background says "Chicken's Magic Bus Tours"

On the fourth day, we stopped at Georgetown, Grand Cayman.  The ship couldn't come into port here, so we took smaller boats to shore.  At Grand Cayman, we went on a boat tour of the salt water forest.  The salt water forest is made of mangrove trees.  These trees are unique because they use salt water, not fresh water like most trees.  This tour was nice and we learned about some of the animals in Grand Cayman.  On the ride back from the tour, we stopped by Seven Mile Beach.  This beach was beautiful!! We were going to swim here, but Achaia was so tired and grumpy, we decided to head back to the ship.

Holli and Achaia on the ferry to Georgetown, Grand Cayman.

Grandma Peterson (far left), Achaia and Holli on Seven Mile Beach. (Beautiful, huh?!)

The fifth day and last place we stopped was Cozumel, Mexico.  Here we went to the Tulum Mayan ruins.  There was quite a bit of walking, but it was really neat to see the ruins.  All the doors and entryways on the ruins were short, so Caleb and I thought we could fit right in, back in their day.  After our tour, we found an LDS tour guide that told us a little about the ruins from a Book of Mormon stand point.  That was really interesting to connect the three portions of the Mayan temple to the three members of the Godhead.

The tour guide offered us an umbrella for shade.  At one point I was holding all this and a bottle in Achaia's mouth.  I love this baby carrier, though!  We used it a ton on the trip.

Then we spent one more day at sea before we arrived at Cape Canaveral, Florida.  The last day we tried to do everything on the ship that we hadn't done yet.  For me it was trying the body boarding on the FlowRider.  Then we got every packed up to disembark the ship the next day.  After we disembarked, we got a few rental cars and got ready to go separate ways.  Caleb, Grandma Peterson, and Grandma Bailey went to Orlando to catch a flight home.  Caleb had to get ready to go to Missouri because his Army training started the next week.  My mom and dad, threes sisters, Achaia, and I traveled down to Miami to spend a few days with some family friends, the Fabianos.

Achaia did pretty well at 7-months.  She had her moments of tiredness or grumpiness, but overall she was a trooper.  We enjoyed bringing her along, even though it was a lot of work.