Isaac & Maeby Playtime

I took some video of Maeby playing with one of her friends, Isaac. He has probably been Maeby's friend the longest. So fun together.

EASTER!!!!!!

This year was the first year we've dyed Easter Eggs. Maeby was actually terrified of the whole process until she watched me do most of them - but come time for the LAST egg....she decided it was the best thing EVER!

Now, while many of my friends who have children have adorable Easter morning-basket opening-adorably dressed pictures....we don't. We have the real deal.

Would Maeby let us get her dressed? NO WAY!

Would she even put back on her pj's after having her diaper changed? NO WAY!

She INSISTED with a stubbornness of a thousand generations from both sides that she would ONLY wear a diaper....oh and her beloved boots! Yes, boots....at that hour of the morning!

This is Violet, her new puppy that sings to her, teaches her how to spell her name and sings and plays games about her favorite things. Maeby LOVES her (although she is NO Shirley Bear)

Getting her ears on herslef and wondering....when is Mama and Papa going to move all of this stuff so I can eat? Quickly followed by...wait....they WANT me to touch this stuff?

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is probably her FAVORITE movie right now - girl's got good taste :)

Later, we packed up and headed up to the Portland LDS Temple to take some pictures with cousins. We figured there couldn't be a better place to spend Easter than the Temple as a family.

We had a very nice time walking around the Temple, talking about it and taking pictures.

This is as close to an Easter Egg hunt as Maeby could manage - too much excitement.

I'm pretty sure they thought she was being sneaky by running off with one of the eggs.

Where there is water - there is Maeby. I'm just thankful she didn't dive into the fountain.... You may think I'm joking, but seriously, given a chance, she'd be in there rain or snow or sun.

One of my most recurring memories are of family outing in which my dad would end up taking pictures of us smelling the tulips - I think that in the future, Maeby will look back and remember the countless times in which she had to pose with various species of birds. (Sorry dad, she wouldn't smell the tulips, she kept trying to tear off the petals, so we stopped trying to get pictures of her doing that for you)

When there are rough days with her, I think back on times like these and know without a shadow of a doubt that it is all worth it.

My two favorite people in my favorite place.

I am so grateful to know that no matter what happens we are an eternal family. What a blessing in our lives! What a great day, Easter, the day we reflect on the Saviors atonement, to spend at the Temple.

Beach Day (Spring Break edition)

For the final day of Spring Break, we headed out to Lincoln City for a family beach day. We played on 3 different beaches, Maeby went through 4 different outfits, and we had - ion the whole - a spectacular time.

Below, I've posted dozens of pictures. Enjoy.

Outfit 1, at the beach right by the Lincoln City Mo's (no, we didn't get any clam chowder this time - we stuck to peanut butter sandwiches from home)

Ah, the boots.

Mama and Maeby both wore their boots, and this seagull here needed to check them out

THAT'S my daughter! "Bird! Bird" she squeals every time she sees one (that's a female seagull there in the water, a little out of focus), and Papa's heart just bursts.

And here you'll see the wettening of outfit 1. She kept lying down in the water, only to stand up and scream in shock and outrage "mya all wet!" or "mya cold!" ("mya" - pronounced "my-uh" - is her way of speaking in the first person)

Outfit # 2, at the beautiful State Park in Northern Lincoln City. This is my favorite beach in the area.

She's very into rocks right now - picking them up and turning them over and over (and sometimes tasting them.) On this trip, she learned that one can throw the rocks into the ocean, and then have them brought back to oneself by the tide. This was repeated ad nauseum.

Just some folk enjoying the sand on their toes.

Most of our time at this beach was spent taking turns chasing her as she ran the 50 yards from our spot to the water's edge, trying to dissuade her from jumping in, and then carrying or walking her back, only for her to break away again after a minute or two. This went on for hours, but it never stopped being fun.

This picture just about makes my year.

While we were having fun and laughing here, I was also sprinting in a genuine effort to keep her dry, just as she was sprinting in an effort to thwart my plan to keep her dry.

Mama's turn.

Lying in the hole we dug for her.

After finally getting her way and soaking her pants in the surf, she went diaper-commando for the rest of the afternoon (don't worry - it was actually quite warm in the sun.)

Give her a little time and any bucket you can find, and she'll put it on her head.

Outfit 3: at the Tide Pool beach in central Lincoln City (I forget the actual names of these places.) Here, I was doing a longer exposure to try and accentuate the blowing sand-streams, and while this turned out a little blurry, I'm actually quite fond of it aesthetically.

Outfit 4: after sitting down in a tide pool. I LOVE these shots of her relaxing in the (parked) car with her mama.

Sometimes, parents pose their kids in pictures like this to make it look like the wee one put themselves in that position as if they knew what they were doing. This is not such a photo. She totally put herself in the driver's seat, grabbed the wheel, and pretended to drive.

And thus ended our day at the beach. It was, in all sincerity, one of the best days of my life. Hopefully, Maeby will remember it that way too.

braided

This is how she went to church last week.