The girl who changed our world

Taylor and I put together a movie of Sage's first year. I think it took longer than either of us anticipated it would. It was tough trying to fit a year of life into a reasonable time frame to watch. It's still a little too long in my opinion and I am her mommy! Maybe it's just because I have already watched it over and over again... (I may have even shed a few tears) Anyways, we had fun making it and reminiscing on the past year. Little did we know the impact this little girl would have on our lives and in our hearts. She has changed our world and we feel so blessed to be her parents. 

(For some reason Blogger won't let me upload it right to the page, but

if you're interested in watching it click this link!)

Mischief

Last night after putting Sage to bed we found an old cell phone that we gave Sage to play with in the toilet along with a whole bunch of toilet paper. I do not have any idea when she did that. Now that she is walking around she walks all over the house. She disappears for a a minute of two and then comes walking back out to the living room and waves to me and walks back away. She's a little stinker. This is how I found her the other day though. She isn't always up to mischief (just most of the time). 

A few more new things about our girl:

• loves to pull down the dishtowels that hang down from the oven and uses them as blankets for her baby dolls.
• She can usually be found under the table, usually with her baby doll.
• She tries to feed her babies and stuffed animals her bottles and sippy cups (she learned that one on her own)
• she tries to look under the door when you're in the bathroom.
• laughs after she sneezes. 
• likes making funny sounds with her mouth.
• loves to scream, just because she can.
• loves walking. 

Twins

We are grateful for the Peterson's trusting us with their Cole Man while they were away. We had such a good time with him. He and Sage are good friends. Of course he missed his mommy and daddy, but as you can see from the pictures Sage (and us of course) gave him lots of love! We were a family of four for three days and two nights. Saturday our good friends the Averyts came over and spent the day with us four. It was our last hurrah before they leave for the summer. We barbecued, went to City Creek, relaxed and watched a movie and picked up dinner. It was such a fun day. Monday I braved it out by myself since Taylor had work and the kids made it so easy. I even took the both of them to Target and put them in the double shopping cart. Everyone asked if they were twins. We got a little taste of what twins would be like; so much fun, but of course double the work. We love Cole Man and are grateful Sage has a good little friend. 

Best buddies

We have had Sage's little buddy Cole staying with us for a few days while his parents are on a cruise. We're having lots of fun. Lots more pictures to come once our new computer arrives. For now this is all!

Busy

<p>We are busy playing. Our computer finally died so I'm writing this from my phone which is not the easiest. I try really hard not to be on the computer while Sage is awake but a broken computer guarantees no computer time and a lot more playing time and a lot more time organizing. It has been a good thing.&nbsp; </p>

A nice weekend

No pictures of the weekend, but wanted to at least write something. Friday night we ordered pizza. A free pizza at that. Dominos gave away a certain amount of artisan pizzas this past week and we were lucky enough to get one. Taylor picked it up on his way home from work. The weather was nice so we ate it outside on our balcony. We are starting to look for homes again. I found one that I fell in love with in American Fork. I called the realtor to find out how long it has been on the market and he said maybe a half hour. We are hoping to see it this week and get everything in order and hoping nobody else puts an offer in the mean time. I am kind of obsessing over it. We spent the rest of the evening watching Biggest Looser. We love that show. We watch on Netflix. We started several months ago with season 1 and are now on season 6. It is so inspiring. Saturday we cleaned up around the house. I am grateful for a husband who helps so much. I feel like the word helps isn't correct because he does just as much as I do, even though he would disagree. Taylor had taken a survey online for his health insurance and they sent him a $150 gift card. We went to Park City to the outlets and I got a few things. I really wanted to go to Children's Place and to Carters for Sage and also wanted Taylor to look for some things too, but he sure is stubborn; he insisted I spent the money on myself. The weather was lousy. We came home and put Sage down for a nap and I went to the gym. Taylor and Sage were going to meet me there at the rec center, but it was pouring and we decided we didn't want to take Sage out. We made a yummy picante chicken rice bake, watched an episode of BL and the movie Skulls. Today (Sunday) we spent the morning at church. The Sunday School lesson was on the life of Jesus Christ and in another meeting we talked about the immortality of the soul. I have several friends looking for a church to raise their families in and as I walked the hall during part of a meeting with a baby that needed a nap and wanted to scream and wave to everyone and anyone who would look, I thought about how grateful I am to belong to our church and know that it's teachings are true. After church Sage went down for an overdue nap and Taylor and I ate a yummy crockpot Italian Chicken we had waiting us when we got home. Taylor is napping now and my girl is waking up. I love Sundays. I love the weekends that we get to spend time together as a family.

Our Big Girl

Sage is getting to be such a big girl. Several people have commented on how he has lost her baby look and that she is looking like a little girl. I know I am biased but I think he is pretty cute with her hair up in a pony tail. Thankfully she is napping right now. Yesterday she was up at 6:30 in the morning and did not nap all day. She has such personality. She is walking more and more every day. She took several steps right before her first birthday, but has refused to walk ever since. She would bend her knees and throw her head back if we tried to get her to, but this past week she has done it on her own. It's all on her own time and her own timing is perfect. She loves necklaces and is really good at putting them on herself. She also still love her baby dolls. We recently adopted two new baby dolls into our home because she took one from her Grandma and Grandpa's house in Paradise and also took one from her cousins. 

This is where I found Sage . She usually is hanging all over me as I try and get ready, but not this morning... I really was looking all over for her and calling her name. Her little giggle gave her away.  She was under the table with her baby. 

4 moms, 4 strollers and 9 kids

Yesterday we all met up at the Hogle Zoo. It was crowded and warm, but nice to get together.

Melted Knife

Taylor insisted I blog this. I guess he thinks it is important family history. It's the every day things that make our history, right?  So here it is... I dropped a knife in the oven when I was checking the chicken. I didn't want to take everything out and thought I'd get it out after. You can see what happened. I obviously wasn't thinking straight... I was trying to get Sage to bed and get the veggies cooking and just wanted the chicken to cook faster... Lesson learned.

H is for Hat

I am still working on the alphabet book for Sage girl. I wanted to get a cute picture of her in the hat the Easter Bunny brought her, but she does not love the hat as much as I do! She sure looks cute in it though. After a few minutes of fighting her to put it on I gave up and put the camera away. Next thing I knew she had the hat on and was laughing. She's such a funny girl.

Thirsty?

LOVE this picture. Forgot to post this with the Easter post. After a long day of fun these two cuties were ready for a bath and bed. And yep, that's my girl drinking the bath water. I'm sure Kaylee was just about to take a sip too! 

Easter in Paradise

We all went up to Paradise on Saturday to spend some time and celebrate Easter together. It was so much fun. We colored eggs, went on an egg hunt, road the 4 wheelers, played kick ball, opened Easter baskets and ate a yummy lunch and dinner. It had been a while since we all went up to Paradise, so it was so nice to be together and the day was perfect. The Easter Bunny brought Sage and a bubble machine, a book, a Minnie  Mouse, a cute summer dress and hat and a sweet picture of Christ with children framed for her room. Sunday we went to church with Tony and Jeanne and then spent some time and had dinner with Grandma and Papa. It was such a nice Easter spent with family. We are so grateful for such wonderful families and grateful for our own little family of three. We are grateful for our Savior and knowledge we have that He lives!

early bath

This little girl insisted on taking a bath at 6:30 this morning. She followed me into the bathroom and kept signing bath. When I brought her back to the front room with me she just kept waving her arms up and down for bath and helped herself back to the bathroom. I really just wanted to lay on the carpet  cuddled up with a blanket as she played, but as you can see I gave in. She asks to take baths quite often throughout the day and I usually tell her "later" or distract her. She sure is a girl who know what she wants and when she wants it!

Silly Sage

We are in the process of making a video of our little bug, but until then here is just a little clip. It is too funny not to share. I took it of her yesterday.  I know I have said this before, but I will say it again... Sage is so funny! She is silly and has lots of personality. She is independent. She insists on feeding herself with a spoon, including lots of finger foods. So funny to watch her try and pick up a piece of toast with a spoon. Lots of times I have to put the food on the spoon for her and then she will put it in her mouth. She is also very helpful. This morning as I was putting clothes into the dryer she pulled them out faster than I could even get them in. She is also very curious. She has learned how to slide the closet doors open. She scared me to death the other day because she  had opened the sliding door and was outside on our balcony; Our balcony's railings are way too wide. She can fit right through them without any effort- so scary. Luckily she was distracted by a can of spray paint I had sitting out there... scary too, but at least she was safe.

 A few more things I want to remember about this girl:

• is eating a lot better. Some of her favorites include: strawberries, pears, bananas, ritz crackers, chicken, toast with butter and yogurt. 
• likes to walk on her knees
• screams at the top of her lungs to get peoples attention and then will smile and wave
• likes to brush her teeth
• signs: bath, brush teeth, all done, eat, milk, I hear something, dog
• if we ask her for our phone or keys she will get them for us
• the other day I read her the book Five Green and Speckled Frogs and when I was singing it a while later she remembered and went and got the book
• she likes to pull the pillows down off the couch and lay down on them
• gets so excited if we put a show on for her, but doesn't watch more then a minute 
• has been sleeping through the night most nights, but fights us often at nap time- we are trying to find a good routine.  
• LOVES her milk 
• gives good hugs

Conference weekend April 2012

My childhood friend Alicia and her family, which is a second family to me, came into town this weekend. Sage and I spent Friday with them shopping at the Gateway and we all went to dinner at Tucanos. Taylor took Sage home and I hung out with Alicia and Josie. We walked around City Creek and had a good time together. Saturday and Sunday was General Conference. We tried to time Sage's naps so we could really focus on the messages that were being shared. This was one of my favorite messages: Stop it!. (Even if you are not of our faith I would encourage you to watch it.) Saturday evening while Taylor went to dinner with his dad and brother and then to a meeting for the men in the church, Sage and I spent time with Jeanne, Jodie and her girls. Sunday morning Alicia and her family came by for a yummy breakfast of french toast, strawberries and bananas on their way out of town. It was so nice to visit with them and wish we could see them more often. We spent the day watching more of Conference, relaxing and napping. We were going to invite the Chezik's over for dinner, but they had already started dinner and we hadn't put our dinner in the crock pot yet, so they invited us over instead. Dinner was  delish and we love visiting with them. It was such a nice weekend spent being uplifted and spent with friends and family.

Downward-facing Dog

Sage has a new trick. She likes to do the downward-facing dog yoga move and she thinks it is so funny. I did it once and she picked it up and does it to be funny now. She also loves food. When I am preparing dinner she is right in the kitchen hanging on my side signing to me "eat".  I showed her dinner in the over the other night and told her, " in a minute" and she kept going back over to the oven for a look. She would point and look at me and sign "eat" over and over again.  I distracted her by showing her the downward-facing dog again and then she was busy being silly while she waited for dinner to be finished.