A trip downtown

The other day when we had our Mother's Day Brunch Taylor and Sage were banned from the house. Papa had driven down from Paradise to bring Grandma so the the three of them went to City Creek and to Temple Square. Here are a few pictures Papa snapped while they were downtown.

Being a mother...

I brought Sage home early from church. She was being a terror even as Taylor and I took turns walking the halls with her. She is napping now and so I wanted to take a minute and write some thoughts I have about being a mother. I love being a mother. I am not a perfect mom. Sometimes I lose my patients and count down the minutes until the clock strikes 6 pm. Sometimes I forget to brush her teeth or forget to give her her medicine. Sometimes I tell her "no no" a little too much. But every day is a new day and every day I try to love her a little more than the day before. I am so grateful for the trust Heavenly Father has in me to be a mother to our sweet Sage girl. One of the talks today at church a woman was sharing some thoughts about her own mother who just turned 100 years old and said how her mother has always been her best friend. I want to live to at least 100 years old and hope that at that age Sage could say the same about me. Being a mother has taught me a type of love that I never knew existed. It has opened up my heart in a way that I didn't know was possible. Being a mother gives me just a little glimpse of the love our Heavenly Father must feel for us. I have also decided that Mother's Day cannot pass by without mentioning  and expressing how grateful I am for my other best friend, Taylor. I know he has his day next month, but really I could not be the mother I am without him by my side. He helps me remember what is most important on days that I try and do too much or days that I try and do anything at all and cannot get a single thing done because I have a little munchgin reaching her arms up to me and whining while I am trying to do things of no eternal importance. He reminds me that the other things can wait and lets me know how unimportant it is to him if the house is in perfect order and dinner is made, but that my number one job is to take care of and just love our girl. That job can be overwhelming at times, but I sure do love it and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Feet

Love her wrinkled swimming feet that she crosses at her ankles. 

Mother's Day Brunch

In honor of Mother's Day and some of the wonderful women in my life I hosted a Mother's Day Brunch. It was really nice to have everyone together, enjoy good food and visit.  We had fruit pizzas with creme cheese/marshmallow frosting, a yummy potato bacon casserole, muffins, deviled eggs and creme puffs. I had printed out (or I should say I made Taylor print out - since he has our color printer at work) several quotes on mother's and framed them. One of my favorites says, "Motherhood is a choice you make everyday to put someone else's happiness and well-being ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons, to do the right thing even when you're not sure what the right thing is... and to forgive yourself over and over again for doing everything wrong." - Donna Bell. I feel like I have made lots and lots of mistakes in the year of being a mother, but Sage is so patient with me and so quick to forgive and forget. I am grateful for all the wonderful women in my life and the examples they are to me. I found another quote I loved that I ran with and made a favor to go along with. The quote reads, " A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie."  ~Tenneva Jordan. I think it goes along with the other quote of putting someone else's happiness and well being ahead of your own... I think so many times that "piece of pie" or whatever it may be that is sacrificed goes unnoticed. I have been wanting to try making single serving pie in a jar for a while and so when I came across the pie quote I knew exactly what I was going to do with it! Grandma Fenton wasn't able to make it because she had another commitment to attend. We missed her but Taylor and I were happy that we got to spend some good time with her the day before and have lunch together. I don't think I really got a chance to tell them at brunch, but I really am grateful for such a wonderful grandma who is a mom to me, mother-in-law, sisters-in law and Taylor's grandmas who I consider my own. I love these ladies! I look up to and admire them all so much and they inspire me to be a better  wife, mother and woman!

 

Thing I want to remember...

about my chocolate chip muffin faced girl...

• The other day I asked her to bring me her "Five Green and Speckled Frogs" book and she did. I asked her to bring me her "Kiss, Kiss" book and she did. I asked me to bring me her book about Jesus and she did- she brought me her Book of Mormon. 
• She signs for "help" all the time. She asks for help for things she does not need help with. Her baby doll was out of reach and so she signed for help. I tried to tell her to walk around and then she could reach her, but she just kept signing help so I took her hand and walked her around the table so she could reach and she signed help and got mad and threw her baby doll. 
• She reaches her arms out to complete strangers standing in line or walking by for them to hold her.
• She loves to play with my measuring cups and measuring spoons. Taylor and I were making the chocolate chip, maple pancake muffins (which she clearly enjoyed) after putting her to bed and we had to search the entire house, bath tub and toy bins to find the measuring cups/spoons we needed.
• She loves to get the tupperware and measuring spoons and stir.
• She waves her hand over face when something is stinky or if we tell her she is a stinker. 
• gives real kisses now and not just a kissy sound into the air. 
• laughs when Taylor hugs me and then gets jealous and tries to get between us.

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Aquarium and Sugarhouse Park

Sage and I spent a morning at the aquarium and went out to lunch together the other day. She is my best little buddy during the day while Taylor is at work. We have so much fun together. After her nap we went by and surprised Taylor and he decided he could use a break and joined us at Sugarhouse Park for a nice little walk and fun at the playground. Sage loves the swings. We love her sweet little laugh. She is unsure about walking in the grass, but boy can she run on the sidewalk. The weather has been so nice and it was a perfect afternoon to be outside and play together all three of us. 

Gotta Move

We used to go all the time, but haven't gone for a while since the weather has been nice, but we went to the library for the Gotta Move class today. Sage did a little bit of dancing and clapping, but mostly people watching, finding other babies to hug and kiss (and other mommies too), running around and trying to steal other children's toys (as you'll see at the end).