Surprise Visit

Troy and Nancee had been on a long road trip from Tuscon, Arizona all the way up to Seattle, Washington. So, on their way home they thought.... whats a couple hours out of our way to stop at Grandma & Grandpa Tutu's house?
So, they came and ended up staying a whole extra day. Then, Mom offered to let Troy and Nancee drive the rest of the way home in peace while we watched Erica and Sadie. Mom and Dad were planning on flying to Houston at the end of the month anyways, and they had a layover in Phoenix so they thought it would be easy to just drop Erica and Sadie off at the Phoenix airport on their way to Houston.
I suppose being able to make, manage and adapt to plans like this is why Mom and Dad were able to raise 8 kids (somewhat) successfully. I have a hard time keeping up with their crazy hectic schedule. But, they do anything they possibly can to help out their kids as much as possible, and we love them for that. They are actually in England right now trying to help Roo and his family transition to life in a new Country. Mom already has her fake British accent down pat.

This is what happens when people from Arizona visit Idaho. It was about 40 degrees, which is pretty cold when you're used to it being 100 or so.  40 degrees in mid-June is pretty lame.  

Nancee's darling daughters. We are playing memory here. Erica totally kicked my butt. And she even let Sadie hold the instruction card so she felt like she was playing. We had lots of fun with the girls. Dad watched them a lot and played outside with them, Mom took care of them in the mornings. I took Erica out on a special date where we went to McDonalds and we went to see "The Lorax". After it was over I asked her what she learned about it and as a joke she said, "I think I'm gonna go cut down some trees". Too funny! 

Grandma Tutu and Erica hanging out at the office

It started snowing while the girls were visiting, and Erica was staring out the window trying to count all the snowflakes as they came down. It was pretty cute. 

Summer Conventions

Right after returning home from North Carolina, Mom and I packed up and went to San Diego to attend the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry trade show. Summer is usually very busy for Baby Banana Brush because of all the conventions that are going on this time of year. 

We debuted our new product, the "Octo-Brush", and people seemed pretty excited about it. A few weeks after getting home from San Diego, it was off to Phoenix for the American Dental Hygienists Association trade show. Both shows were very busy, which is great news for our company! 

Here are a few pictures from our travels....

Mom and Janet standing in our booth at the AAPD meeting in San Diego. 

Uncle Dennis and Aunt Janet capturing a Kodak moment at the San Diego show. 

 \Working these long hours can make you feel a little silly at the end of the day. We found this fun hat shop in Seaport Village and took some funny pictures. 

 We ended the weekend with an awesome authentic Italian dinner in "Little Italy", just outside of downtown San Diego.

 Troy, Nancee and I working the booth at the ADHA meeting in Phoenix. We had a great location, new shirts, new "models" for the products, and an awesome new professional looking sign.

I think this picture shows that all of our efforts were worth it! It was a very busy but very good show. Thanks for snapping this sweet picture Troy! 

North Carolina Trip

Dad, Mom and I went to North Carolina for a long weekend to celebrate mothers day and Nolan's first birthday. We had such a fun time! We ate a lot of delicious meals.... and cake. We saw movies, went to church, went on walks, took lots of pictures and just hung out. The weather there was absolutely beautiful, no humidity yet. 

Thanks for letting us celebrate Nolan's first birthday with you, and for being excellent hosts! 

Just a few of the many darling pictures from Nolan's first photo shoot: 

We had a fun first year birthday party with yummy white cake and a special "Fudgy the Whale" ice cream cake that were sooo good! Jennifer had the whole room decorated with cute under the sea themed balloons, table cloths, and even a poster with Nolan's picture on it. 

Nolan was very tentative about his cake at first.... gently examining it and just dipping one finger in the frosting at a time. But, it didn't take long for him to figure out how this whole "cake" thing works. 

Here are some cute videos we took while in Charlotte too. Nolan did such a good job modeling the Baby Banana Brush for us, that we have decided to officially make him the new baby model for our brand new product, the Octo-Brush! 

"Ahhhh Nolan.... Don't ever be a college president". 

 He was trying to get my iphone from me here, but it turned into a super cute picture. 

We love you guys! Thanks for letting us hang out for the weekend. :)

Marissa's Concert

Mom, Dad and I drove down to Salt Lake City to see Marissa's concert. She has been playing the flute this year and she is doing really well! We got to hear a few songs during her school's end of the year concert, and then we all went to Leatherby's afterward. Mallory got flowers too--for obtaining her yellow belt in Hop-Ki-Do, which is a special blend of martial arts. 

We can't believe how big Austin is getting! We all took turns holding him. 

Then we slept at Spencer & Kristin's (beautiful) new house in American Fork, and early the next morning we were on a plane to North Carolina to celebrate Nolan's first birthday! 

[more to come on that next week]

Esmé in Idaho!

While Annie and Roo were busy packing up their house and having baby Penny, Grandma and Grandpa Tutu thought it might be helpful if Esmé came and spent a week with us in Idaho. Unfortunately, Mom got really sick with the flu that week, but she still helped to take care of Esmé. Grandpa Tutu was also very helpful and tended Esmé every morning so Aunt Natalee could sleep in. Then, after Esmé woke up from her nap, and Aunt Natalee woke up from her hibernation, they would spend the afternoon doing fun activities together.

Driving Grandma's new car

Esmé loves to be constantly on the go. As long as we were in the car about to go somewhere she was happy. There were a few times at night when I told her we were going to bed, and she thought we were going out. "Gotta go? Gotta go??" she would ask over and over. But, when she figured out we weren't leaving, she was really good about crawling into her bed and going right to sleep.

Aunt Natalee taught Esmé about "sea-food"

We did lots of fun afternoon trips like McDonalds, Fred Meyer and Grandma's office. We sang songs from "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid" while we would drive. (I was surprised at how many of the lyrics I remember from when I was little). We also sang "Old McDonald had a farm", and everytime she saw any animals she would say "E-I-E-I-O". We went to the indoor playground at the mall (because it was freezing cold all week), and Esmé loved going on all the little rides. She also just wanted to run up and down the corridors of the mall. 

She loved the car-like rides at the mall 

Check out this super cute video of Esmé on a windy day in Idaho. 

We had a really fun time! Thanks Roo, Annie & Penny for letting us borrow her! 

Nolan Updates

We have been long overdue for a post, sorry about that everyone. Here are some recent pictures of Nolan for your viewing pleasure. He will be 1 year old in May (can you believe that?). 

 He is a super fast crawler, and he's started to pull himself up on things.

 He loves to play with basketballs. Mommy and Daddy will roll them and he chases after them.

 Super cute!

 Smile!

 He has SO much cute hair!

Happy Birthday Sadie!

Today is Sadie's second birthday! We can't believe she is already 2 years old, it seems like just yesterday that we were in Tuscon to meet her for the first time. I volunteered to take the "late shift" so Troy and Nancee could get a break. I remember she was sleeping in her carrier right next to me, and she would make all these little gurgles and funny baby noises. Every time she made a noise I would wake up, so I pretty much got no sleep and I got a little taste of what new Moms must go through every night.

Me and Sadie 

Sadie has grown a full head of hair since then, and she even lets people fix it for her sometimes. The expressions that she makes remind me a lot of Mallory.

Sadie is very independent, she is not concerned as much about what other people are doing. She likes to entertain herself. Some of her favorite things to do include playing with her dog, Kayla and mastering apps on the iphone and ipad. Its so cute how she already knows how to swipe her fingers across the screen like a pro. Sadie likes to read books, she loves to race around outside and jump on the trampoline.

Mom says Sadie is one of the easiest babies to put to sleep. As soon as she is laid down in her crib she snuggles up with her blanket and goes right down.

Sadie and Uncle Barratt
Sadie's talking has really taken off in the last few months. Some of her favorite words are ipad, bye-bye, doggie and milk. She also enjoys copying what others say. One of Sadies favorite new things is to chew gum as much as possible. She doesn't swallow it either, she has learned to spit it out! 

Sadie adores her big sister and likes to imitate the things that Erica does. But, she doesn't take a lot of guff and she is not afraid to defend herself when necessary.

We love you Sadie and we hope you have had a wonderful birthday!

 ***Sadie's birthday marks the final birthday blog post. I started with Nathan in March 2011, and we have now done a full year of birthdays--over 30 of them!**