Finding Your Voice

Everyone likes to feel like their voice is heard, and some are more assertive than others I think in making sure that it is. I have this feeling that our little man will have no problem making himself heard...what do you think?

The Temple

One of the things I love about every Temple that I have been to is that each is unique and beautiful in it's own special way but that each one feels like coming home. It is amazing that no matter where I am in the world, I can walk into a Temple and feel safe, loved and at peace.

Alan and I went to the temple this afternoon to do some family sealings-which were amazing. We sealed 2 families from my line that lived in the late 1700's from Germany. I love the sense of accomplishment that I felt in completing this ordiance for them. These families were the missing link that we needed to determine where in Germany the Kisslings came from and ever since finding them I have had a special connection and I am so happy to have been part of providing the opportunity of eternity for them! I love family history work, the spirit is contagious.

Apples, Squash, Pears and Peas

After the holidays we started Peter on cereal since he reached his 4 month mark (he is up to 15.5 lbs and 25 1/4 inches). As you can tell from the video he seemed to do pretty well and he wanted to help in the process so much!

Alan likes to give Peter visual cues when he is feeding him. :)

We started with just cereal but then moved on to applesauce, pumpkin, pears (which he loves), and butternut squash. And then we tried peas-that did not go so well. From the first bite he started making gagging sounds and the most aweful faces ever. He then proceeded to spit it all back out like it was a hair ball or something. Unfortunately we did not capture this on video, which is probably good since Alan about fell on the floor laughing as Peter made as many gross vomit sounds as he could. We will try peas again later and see if he has the same reaction.

Peter can sit in his Bumbo really well and he loves his new tray. He thinks it is the best thing in the world for smashing and killing things like I dunno...toy keys.

He also tried to eat this apple since everything seems to have to go straight to his mouth, but once he was done he promptly threw it at me. He has quite the arm!

Happy New Year's

I know this is weeks late in posting but I've been sick, what can I say. My little sister Leslie came to stay with us for a few days during New Year and we had lots of fun. I think she was most happy about the fact that she and Alan got to eat corndogs everyday, but we also had fun painting blown eggs and we went to the New Year's celebration here that was a great family event. They had a place where you could make hats and masks.And you could also get your face painted, which we of course did. They used a spray painting technique that was really cool because it did not smear when you touched it. Leslie's even stayed in place through the night and next day.
They also had fireworks for the kiddos at 10 and some circus clowns, acrobats, jugglers, bands and a hot chocolate truck. It was a lot of fun even though it was freezing cold outside. I am glad they have events like this for families to participate in especially for a holiday that is usually centered around alcohol.

Rodanthe

After our adventures in DC we headed down to Rodanthe, NC for the next week. It was amazing to start driving from a snowed in area and end up at the beach and it be 50degrees all in one day. This is the house we stayed in, it was beautiful-and huge!This is the view of the Atlantic Ocean from the balcony off our bedroom. It is crazy to me that people build houses like these on this narrow strip of island so close to the water. Have they not ever heard of what happens when you build on sand?One afternoon Alan, Peter and I took a walk on the beach. Alan would get up every morning and go treasure hunting on the beach-I was usually too tired after being up with Peter which was sad because I love beach combing. Anyway it was a beautiful day, just a little windy so Peter was not super happy about that.But I was able to bundle him up with me and he fell right to sleep. You can see the top of his little blue hat sticking out. So this was Peter's first trip to the ocean.This was an old dock that I thought was pretty just south of where we were staying. Peter in his Chirstmas PJ's from Grandma and Grandpa Jensen and yes that was our homemade Christmas tree-quite colorful don't you think.Peter relaxing with Grandpa Jensen. They are good buddies, I think Peter enjoys sitting on his belly and just taking everything in.

Peter opening his Christmas presents on Christmas Day. He got some new toys and CD's.

Here is Alan playing with his neice, she was quite the entertainer during the trip.

After all the craziness of the weekend, it was nice to just relax for a while and the weather was beautiful. Even though it was a little cold there is just something about the ocean that just calms me, it is so soothing.

Sickness

I dislike being sick so much! I have been sick for a week now and my poor nose has been abused from excessive nose blowing. I think I have gone through 3 boxes of kleenex and a couple bags of cough drops, herbal tea, 3 kinds of cold medicine...I won't even go into detail about what happens when I cough. Yuck! Thankfully I have managed not to pass this on to Peter, he is getting much more sleep than I have that is for sure. I guess it was my turn though since Alan and Peter have already been sick, I guess they decided to share. Anyway, I hope no one else has had to endure the torture of being sick this season, but if you do, stock up on the good kleenex! Or you can invest in this handy invention.

DC Blizzard

We headed to DC on the 18th for Alan's sisters wedding and lucky us we got in right before the big blizzard hit. Peter did pretty good for his first plane ride but it was a long day of travel for him and when we got to the hotel we let him hang out in his diaper and get all his wiggles out. This is the first time I think that Peter is starting to look like me. Check out the picture below-what do you think? He is getting his mommies rolls!

Since I couldn't go to the sealing because we did not have anyone to watch Peter and there was a blizzard I stayed at the hotel and watched Alan's neices. Good thing she brought her sunglasses for the snow storm!
Dianna and I were lucky to fly into DC when we did. Not too long after we got there, the really severe snow storm hit DC and dumped over two feet of snow in 24 hours. The roads and runways quickly filled up with snow, and all the airports (and many of the major highways) in the DC area shut down leading to cancelled flights all over the nation. My poor pregnant sister Lara, her husband Brent, and their two kids had their flights cancelled like 3 or four different times. After driving from Boise, Idaho to Salt Lake City to catch a different flight which ended up being cancelled as well, and spending two nights in the La Quinta Inn driving back and forth to try and catch one flight after another, they finally had to call it quits. They were never able to make it to the wedding. We were sad to have missed them, but there was nothing that could be done. They put more effort into trying to make it than most people would have, thats for sure. Back to DC- the night before her wedding, the temple called my sister Marci to inform her that they were closing the temple due to the weather. I can only imagine what she must have felt like when she heard that news- and after everyone had already flown in for the wedding, and all the plans had been made. Not something a bride really wants to hear the night before her sealing. At that point, we weren't really sure what we were going to do. I guess there were a lot of people in the same situation, because the temple decided to open that day just for the people who were getting married. So the next day we all packed up, faced the crazy ice covered roads, and made our way to the temple.
This is a picture that I took just outside of the temple. I really wasn't that far away from the building- but notice how little you can actually see the temple. Just to give you an idea of how heavy the snow was falling at the time. It made for crazy plans and driving, but it sure was pretty.And here is the newly wed couple. Isn't my sister just beautiful? It was crazy trying to get there, but the sealing was great, and everyone was very happy. Congratulations Marci and Alan (yes, his name is Alan too)!!! We love you guys. Here is a picture of my family, or at least those that were actually able to make it. Notice my freakishly tall younger brother and his freakishly tall wife on the right hand side. Yes, they are giants. But friendly ones. We enjoy having them in the family.


Just to give you an idea of the amount of snow and the driving conditions, here is Alan trying to help his parents get unstuck driving back from the temple to the hotel.
Besides preventing family from attending and almost cancelling the wedding itself, the snow storm also decided to destroy their reception. Because DC is so big, it is only able to plow major roads. The reception venue was NOT on one of these roads. Since nobody could actually make it to the reception center (seeing as how the roads were not driveable), they had no choice but to cancell the reception as well. Sad thing is, all the food for dinner had already been prepared, and since the company was not able to store any of it, ALL of their food for the reception had to be thrown away. The thought of that, with all the time and money that was spent on it, just going to waste makes me sick. Well, we couldn't just let all of it go to waste, so the next day the families of the bride and groom went to the venue (nearly getting stuck on the way ) to get pictures taken and at least have some cheesecake in celebration of the event. The people who decorated did a great job- it was much more beautiful than this picture can show. Luckily, the venue allowed them to keep the decorations up so they could have a big party with all of their friends in DC once the weather cleared up (even though all their food is already gone). A very nice gesture from the venue.

Here is my handsome little man, I think he looks adorable in his tux. I realized after reviewing our pictures that since I take most of them I am not in many of them so I told Alan he had to take some pictures of Peter and I this trip. So here we are-I kept his hat on for a while because it took a little time for the room to warm up and well because it is too cute also.

I'm a Big Boy Now!

So right before we left for the holidays Peter started acting like he wanted to sit up so we thought we would try the bumbo out. He really likes it although after sitting for a while he usually spits up. But it is like a whole new world has opened up for him.