{ellie}

A while ago I posted something about a very special boy in our life...he passed away about a year ago. But this little girl was also extremely special to us. I ran across an ensign article that I saved about her and her beautiful Mom. Read it to be inspired.

We taught this beautiful girl for 3 years in Provo. She taught us more than she will ever know.

{In full sun}

I am loving it around here. Spring is so beautiful here! Maybe we don't get ALL the flowers like other people do, but we are sure enjoying what we have. Our little garden is growing like a weed. We took Jared out for his pre-mission photo shoot.

You can find most of his pictures here. 
My new Photography website. It's still not perfect, but I am slowly tweaking it to my liking.Any suggestions would be helpful.

I have also been reading like crazy:

Missing May
Such a cute and creative perspective on life. One of the best 90 pages I've ever read. My favorite part was that the characters were so real, and that you could actually feel, smell, see and almost touch what was happening, without being bogged down by the usually lengthy descriptive words that come with this phenomenon. Love it.

a mommy moment

Today, about 2:00 I say
'Aria, are you about ready for your nap?'

She responds with her usual... '..no!...'
I usually have to warm her up to the idea of taking a nap, so I ask her the same question several times before I actually carry it out.

Not today... a few minutes later, I hear her yelling something from her bedroom.
I go in to check on her and she's closed the door to her bedroom, climbed into her crib, has her binky in her mouth and looks at me and says 'take a nap!'
This surprised me on two levels. She's never climbed into her crib before. and two, she doesn't willingly go down for a nap very often.
I love my baby!

Also a few weeks ago when we were getting ready for church, this is what she did with her dollies. I was determined that she not have an attached bear/doll or blanket.... So she compensated by being attached to all bears/dolls and blankets. She just loves to play and sleep with them.Isn't her dress beautiful? I love the colors, it reminds me of my Grandma Swallow. She got this dress from her Indian Friend Dhaya for her birthday. She loves it.

{there's no manual}

But I found something that was helpful and gave me comfort in knowing that my child is normal. It helped me wrap my fingers around it. How do you teach a child no, without using 'no'? and so that they understand when you're serious about something hurting the child, or if it's a precious item that can be broken. This article was helpful for me.
Teaching Not To Touch

Thank-you Huggies!