A birthday and a baptism

V. was baptized on her birthday! How special! We asked her if she wanted to be baptized on her birthday or Thanksgiving weekend{thinking that might be easier on family, maybe?}. She chose her birthday!
The night before, Steve's parents came over to give V. their birthday gifts to her. Grandma Hammond had made a lovely blue afghan for V. What's funny, is V.'s room used to be pink and we had just painted it blue that week! {Blue and green are her favorite colors}. Grandma Hammond didn't know that, but just felt the need to give V. a blue afghan. We also had asked Ruby at the start of the year if she would give V. a Navajo name when she turned 8. So she had been thinking about it all year and consulted with her Aunt Pearl. She said that she described V. to Aunt Pearl{she's never seen a photo of her that we're aware of}. Then they compared names they had picked. They both had picked names for V. that were very similar. So that's the name Ruby gave her. She explained a little bit about the tradition of girls names. Then she told us the name and what it means. So V.'s Navajo name is ~NIZHONI' YAZHI' BAH . Which means~ Beautiful Little Girl.  It was a very special evening with Grandma and Grandpa Hammond!
V. helped me with the program. We chose to have Grandma's and Aunt's on the program since her Grandpa's and Uncle's would be able to stand in on the Confirmation circle.
She chose the songs herself.
It was a very beautiful day! Steve got a little choked up while baptizing her and confirming her a member of the Church. Later, he asked me if he sounded silly. I said no. He isn't one to show emotion very often, so when he does, you know he is feeling some strong feelings. I told him it was very tender. And he gave her a beautiful blessing. V. was a little nervous before hand, but when it came down to it, she was calm. She had a special baptism towel to use that her Grandma West made for her embroidered with her name and date. Afterwards, we all went to our home for a luncheon. Family helped with food and it was all yummy! We also had birthday cake for V. It was in the shape of the CTR shield. We also had a little cake for Boyd since it was his birthday as well and we sang Happy Birthday to them both! She received some nice gifts from family members.
*Side note here* We bought her a nice, genuine leather bound scripture set, tote for her scriptures and a nice new CTR ring. That all cost a good amount so I thought it was good. The night before her birthday Steve asked if I had anything else for her. I said no. Well, yes, I had a couple other things I had bought for her but was holding off until Christmas. Steve asked me to wrap those up to give her for her birthday instead. He loves to spoil her! So we gave her those gifts first thing in the morning. She seemed happy, but I could tell she was sad she didn't get scriptures for her birthday.*
We waited to give her her scriptures and such until all the family was there. So after she opened gifts from them, we told her we had tricked her and still had a gift for her.  She was excited as she opened her tote and scripture set. The CTR ring was in the pocket of her tote. She was very happy and immediately found the Articles of Faith in her new scriptures and highlighted them.
We had the Elder Missionaries over for dinner the week before and had invited them to come to V.'s baptism. They came to our home after the baptism and explained that they had wanted to come, but had a service project that morning. But they wanted to give V. something. They first shared the story of Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty {found in Alma 46 {Book of Mormon}}.Then they said they had looked around and tried to think what they could give V. They tore one of their white shirts, wrote the Title of Liberty on it, looked around their apartment and found a wire hanger that they straightened out and tied the torn shirt too. They also gave her a card. V. was pretty excited when they gave her these. We thanked them. Then I thanked them again and told them they don't realize that she will never forget the Elders that gave that to her the day she got baptized. They have made a permanent mark on her and are such a good example to her.
It was a wonderful day! I'm so grateful for all the family and friends who love and support V. Since we are a small family, I've always hoped and have been grateful for the love and support she gets from her extended family. She will need it someday when Steve and I are no longer around.

37 Reasons I Love Steve

Today is Steve's birthday. He turned 37! So I thought I'd share 37 reasons why I love him!{Even though there are many, many more!}

1} He makes me laugh!
2} He snores. Sometimes it keeps me awake, but usually the sound of his snoring is comforting.
3} He works hard to provide for us.
4} He encourages and supports my desire to be a stay at home mom.
5} I love when he grabs me and starts humming a tango tune and twirls me around and dips me.
6} I love the way his tongue sticks out a little when he is focusing/working on something.
7} He always lets me have the last piece of pie or cake.
8} He spoils our daughter {and me}.
9} I love when he starts tickling matches with V., or I or the both of us!
10} He takes me for rides in the mountains in the Fall because he knows I love Fall so much.
11} He loves me even when I say or do stupid things.
12} He is always the first to be humble and say sorry when we have a disagreement.
13} He sometimes brings a no-bake cookie home from the cafeteria at work for me because he knows I like them.
14} His facial wrinkles. I love knowing that those wrinkles are a sign of living life. Laugh lines,worry lines, lines from hard work, etc. I love that we are going through these life experiences together.
15} I love that he lets me warm my cold feet on his warm ones in bed.
16} He laughs at my jokes.
17} He makes me feel beautiful because he tells me I am.
18} He is a worthy Priesthood holder. And he uses his Priesthood power to heal and bless and lead us.
19} I love when he spends time with V. She adores him and he adores her. 2 peas in a pod they are!
20} He is forgiving. Many times I have said or done things that aren't right and are hurtful to others. He always forgives me.
21} He holds my hand.
22} He takes care of me when I'm sick. Or like now, with the restrictions I have because of my back he does my housework for me.
23} He brings me breakfast in bed every Mother's Day. { Usually donuts and hot cocoa.}
24} He holds his tongue and comments back when I'm being crazy. Like some of my O.C.D. things I do that really are rather silly but I HAVE to do anyway!
25} I love the way he snuggles up to me at night.
26} I love how he plays with V. and encourages her to follow her dreams.
27} He supports me in my hobbies and craft selling business.
28} He has been to almost all of my races and always has flowers or something for me when I finish.
29} I love when he puts his arms around me while I'm in the kitchen. And sometimes a kiss follows! ;)
30} I love that even though it seems like we always have a doctors bill needing to be paid off and it's usually because of me, he never complains about it or makes me feel bad about it.
31} I love how he sometimes will stay up late at night when I have a migrain and rub my head and neck until I fall asleep.
32} He is so patient with me.
33} He knows my favorite flower, color, candy, food, musicians, and most of my favorite movies.
34} I love how sometimes all we have to do is look at each other and immediately know what the other is thinking!
35} He is so easy going.
36} He is my calming agent. Back when I was in the Primary Presidency and it would be my turn to do Sharing Time, he would always stand outside in the hall where I could see him through the open door. I always got so nervous{ even had a panic attack a couple of times }. Being able to see him always comforted and calmed me.
37} He loves me. Just the way I am!

Our little girl turns six!

This year's V.'s birthday week was kinda crazy! She was sick on her birthday and I kept her home from school the following day which was the day she was going to bring cupcakes to school. She was kinda bummed she missed that.

 I hadn't been feeling well that week either. To make a long story short, I had a tetanus/pertussis booster earlier in the week. My arm got infected. I was miserable, in pain, and miserable for a few days! And I had no energy. I made no homemade anything this week for her birthday. I felt like I kinda dropped the ball on things, but oh well! You do the best you can, right?

We started a new tradition this year. When V. woke up on her birthday there were 6 balloons{one for each year she is} waiting for her. In each balloon was a dollar bill. I think we'll do this every year until she gets too old and we can't afford it!:)
{ She still hasn't popped the balloons to get her money out. She likes the balloons too much!}
My brother and his family came to town for a couple of days and V. did enjoy playing with them. Luckily I was feeling somewhat better by the time they got here and my awesome sis-in-law helped me make a few Christmas gifts.

Then V. had a choir concert on Friday night. I'll post about that later.

On to the birthday photos!

 I accidentally up loaded these photos in reverse order.
So we'll start with the end of V.'s birthday and work our way to the beginning!

Last year, we let V. invite friends to her birthday because she usually didn't have a whole lot of cousins show up. But this year, we were expecting a good amount of cousins, so we told her no friends. She was fine with that! She loves her cousins!

The day of her party 3 of her cousins ended up not coming because of being sick. :(

Thank goodness my brother from Utah was up with his 3 kids!{4 if you count the baby}

If they hadn't come up, we would have had no cousins, no other kids for V. to play with.

This is a photo pf her with 2 of her cousins. These girls are 6,7,and 9 years old. So they all get along great! 

 This was right after she blew out her candles and her cousins are shooing the smoke away!

 I was going to make a cake myself. I had bought the princess toppers and everything. But this week was crazy!  And with all the normal stuff going on, I just didn't care to make the cake myself anymore. So I took the toppers to Ridley's and asked them  to make a cake and use my toppers. They did a good job and V. loved her princess cake!

 Opening up gifts. She got some really nice gifts from everyone!

This was before the party. V and Steve had run to pick up the pizza, and the cake. When they came back to the park V. came running to me with these balloons! I told Steve I wasn't planning on doing balloons, I wanted to keep things simple. He said,"It's a birthday party! There has to be balloons! I got one for each kid that will be here." That was very sweet of him! And V and her cousins loved the balloons!

 My parents weren't going to make it to her party, so they took us out to eat earlier in the week. They let her pick the place and she picked Pizza Hut. We had alot of fun with them and it was nice to have a quiet dinner with just them and us!

I can't believe our little girl is 6, in Kindergarten, and just growing up so fast! We love her to pieces! She has been such a blessing in my life!

Dinseyland~ Day 1, May 24th

So we took a trip to California!

We were all so excited to go! Prepare yourselves for a photo overload!

{Steve took alot of these so they are mainly pics. of V. and I}

The first morning of our trip we had a 'Magic Morning' pass for all three of us.

That meant we were able to get into the park an hour before it regularly opens.

V. was so excited to go thru the gates! She was up at 4:45 that morning.

I told her to go back to sleep, so she would be ready to have a fun day at the park. But I heard her at 5:30 getting dressed and brushing her teeth. When I finally woke up, at about 6:30 she was all ready to go waiting for us to get up!

Right when you enter thru the gates you see this big Mickey Mouse head made out of flowers.

Then we went to City Hall and got buttons for Steve and V. that said, 1st time visit.

Then Steve told the lady it was my birthday, so I got a button that said Happy Birthday, Mary. 

V. and I in front of 'Sleeping Beauty's Castle'.

We walked thru the castle. They had little scenes and such that told the story of Sleeping Beauty.

This was my 3rd time at the park, but my first time going thru the castle.

Steve and V on King Arthur's Carousal.

Trying to pull the Sword out of the Stone.

We hung out around Town Square alot this first day. There were many characters that came out so you could get their picture and autograph. Since V really wanted to meet characters, we decided we would focus on that and not on riding tons of rides.

This next photo was over at Disney California Adventure Land.

We didn't hang out there a whole lot...

Back at Disneyland, we took a ride in an old Firetruck. The guy driving it said that Mr. Walt Disney, HIMSELF! used to drive this firetruck around the park!

{V. is busy sucking down her drink. She was so thirsty!}

Steve said my bag was like Mary Poppins bag. I had everything you could think of in it. Here I am digging around in it, up to my elbow, looking for something.

We had reservations to eat at Ariel's Grotto for lunch. {That was located at California Adventure Land}

We chose to have lunch here because there was going to be Princesses there.

We saw Ariel right off the bat.

Then we sat down to eat and other Princesses were going to come around to the tables.

V. was so excited to see the Princesses!

Snow White came out first.

Then V. couldn't believe Sleeping Beauty was coming out next!

She was so funny, she hardly ate because she was so excited to meet the Princesses.

I think this is so precious!

Whenever it was our turn to have a Princess come to our table, V. would grab her napkin and wipe her face, then ask me if she looked clean.

She wanted to look good to meet her Princesses.

And you know, if I was meeting a celebrity that I loved, I would want to make sure I had a  clean face too!

This was perfect for V! She was in heaven meeting her favorite Princesses.

And the food was really yummy as well!

After lunch we walked around some more and got a pic in a 'toybox'.

V. was playing with bubbles here.

Then we went back to Disneyland and took the train ride around the park.

We met Mickey earlier{right when we first entered the park!}, but we ran into him again.

We had been trying to meet Goofy all morning. But he was leaving every time we saw him.

Goofy is V.'s favorite! We finally got to meet him in the afternoon!

We tried to catch Mary Poppins as well. I couldn't believe it when I a saw her across the street! I didn't know she'd be there! We went up to where she was and heard her telling everyone she had to leave. Then She looked at me and said 'Happy Birthday'! Sweet!

Cinderella and Goofy also wished me a happy birthday during the day.

V was asleep by 6:30 because she had gotten up so early. But Steve ran to Albertsons and bought a cake for us to have back in the hotel room.

A very fun first day on our trip!

And a happy birthday as well!

Steve's early Birthday present

Steve's birthday isn't until later this month. However, a friend of ours,Nate, called me a couple of months ago and suggested  we mount Steve's Pope and Young record making antlers from this deer for his birthday. He said he could do the work and everything. So I said okay.

Now, Steve is very proud of these antlers. He had them hanging in the garage so that he could see them every time he pulled in. So I told Nate he had to wait until the last possible moment before taking the antlers. Because I knew he would notice them missing. He called me a couple of Saturdays ago and told me he was ready for them. So, while Steve was napping I had Nate come over to get them. He had brought another pair of antlers to trade for Steve's, in the hopes he wouldn't notice them missing. So for the next few days I kept waiting for Steve to come in and tell me his antlers were missing. But so far, he hadn't noticed we had switched them out! Finally, Nate said the deer was done, so we set up a a time to go out to dinner with him and his wife and son, with the plan to go to their house later to make the grand reveal! So we get in the car, and was almost ready to pull out of the garage when I see Steve staring at the antlers that were hanging up in the garage. I was like,"Oh Crap! He's noticed!" But I said to him,"What are you looking at? Let's go, or we'll be late!" I was trying to distract him but it didn't work. He gets out of the car and walks up to the antlers. Then he turns around to me and mouths,"What the..!" He then looks around a little bit. Then gets in the car. I asked him what was wrong and he says," Someone stole my antlers and replaced them with a different set!" I acted all innocent and played along, rather well, I might add. Finally, after we'd been in the car for a little bit driving to dinner, he turned to me and asked if I had anything to do with his antlers missing. if not, he was going to call the police. So I told him I knew where they were and that they were safe. He was so relieved! He tried to get more details from me, but I wouldn't tell him anything. So we had dinner with our friends and then went to their house. They had a bunch of heads hanging on their walls. Nate told Steve to pick one out and take it home. At first Steve didn't understand. Then he looked at the far wall and said,"There are my antlers!" He was so surprised and pleased!

 

Steve and Nate talking about the deer and antlers.

Steve said this is the best birthday present he has ever gotten! Score! I'm the best wife ever!

[Now I just gotta find somewhere I'm comfortable having this deer head hanging!}