This time of year

(Johnny, me , Josh, Natalie)

Once a year my friend Natalie Marti wakes up and remembers a very traumatic event that occurred in her life, now 7 years ago, on that day. (ok, so she remembers it every day of her life really.) For the last few years we have been able to spend that day with her. Its become a tradition that I am loving. On Feb. 27, 2003 Natalie's 24 year old husband Shawn and 5 month old daughter Sage were killed in a car accident when all three were hit head-on by a drunk driver going the wrong way on the freeway. Natalie was in a coma for several weeks only to miraculously awake and deal with the news of losing her family. I CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE losing Johnny and my 5 month-old Lucy.Oh. my. gosh.

Now, 7 years later Natalie is thriving. She graduated this past winter with a bachelors in communication and speaks all over the state and in other states about the tragedy that drinking and driving can cause in someone's life. Check out the link above if you want to know more about that.(And you really do.) Josh, is the one who created that awesome website for her. Of coarse she misses Shawn and Sage everyday (like crazy), but she presses forward.

Last year Johnny and I went to Natalie's house and she brought out all her Shawn and Sage stuff. Pictures, videos, newspaper articles, and other things. We had dinner and spent most of the evening talking about the crash and everything that has happened because of it. Tears were shed and laughs were shared over good memories. This year she came to our place along with our friend Josh and we made homemade pizzas, sang around the piano and played games.


Each year I am reminded of my blessings, and each year I am grateful to have Natalie in my life as an example of faith, and perseverance. Love you Natty-poo!

p.s. Do we like my new haircut?

Let me count the ways

One of the MANY reasons I love my husband is because he makes me laugh.


(This was about 5 years ago before we were dating)

4 month Check-up!

Stats:
Weight:15lbs 6oz.-75%
Length: 26 inches-95%
Head: 17cm.-95%

Conclusion: GROWING LIKE A WEED!

Unfortunately Lucy has been sick these last couple days, no fun! But she really is such a good baby because tries hard to be happy even though she feels yucky. What a trooper. All during her sickness she has continued to sleep through the night which is awesome. Until last night. Her nose was all clogged up and she wanted to suck on her binky, but couldn't breathe, so she kept waking up. Poor girl.

In other news...



Lucy is learning to read!





He he.

Mmmm, Mmmm, good!

Next week Lucy will be 4 months old. Lately she has been hungry ALL THE TIME. Just an hour or two after eating she'll get fussy (and she's rarely fussy). So I feed her again and then she's fine. Monday we got a Gerber pamplet in the mail about starting on rice cereal. There was a questionaire that said if we could answer a majority of the questions with "yes" then our baby was ready to start. After answering 7 of the 8 with a yes, we decided to give it a try.

Needless to say, she loved it! It took her a little bit to get used to it. At first it was just running right down her chin (which she also seemed to love), but soon she started to get the hang of it and was eating from a spoon! What a big girl. We got some hilarious video of the event. After a while she would start moaning between bites like I wasn't going fast enough, and grabbing the spoon while I was trying to get it in her mouth. It was so funny.

And here's my little Rocky Balboa. She got this sweat suit from aunt Sherstine for Christmas and we tried in on today for the first time.

"Eye of the tiger"

She's not fooling anyone, she's no tough guy. She's the sweetest little girl, even if she was desperatley trying not to take a nap today. :)

Lucy Spjute... I mean Waite!

Lately people have been telling me that "Lucy is such a Spjute!". It is usually accompanied by laughter ( not sure what to think of that). From the day she was born I have heard "Lucy looks exactly like you," and being that she is super cute, I couldn't help but agree. It seems that the Spjute gene is a bit stronger than the Waite gene in her case. She definitely has Johnny's chin (you just wanna grab it, and I do), his ears, and his long fingers. But that large head, those big blue eyes, and that fuzzy blond hair (which resembles my dad's in quantity), is definitely the swedish Spjute coming out in her. My in-laws say that when she scowls she looks like grandpa Spjute, which definitely comes from my grandpa Spjute, Lucy's great-grandpa. I love it. So, what do you think? Is Lucy more of a Spjute or a Waite? (in looks of coarse.) Don't worry, Lucy has Waite cousins that definitely look like Waites and they are super cute too, maybe our next one will look more like a Waite!

DEAR BRANDI,

Thank you for coming to Boise last week. I was impressed with your talent and humility. You put on a GREAT show.

DEAR TWINS,

YOU ROCK!

I got Johnny tickets to Brandi Carlile for Christmas. He is pretty obsessed with her music and let me say she did not disappoint. I was semi-familiar with her music when I went(I knew the ones on the radio). Leaving, I am a huge fan now and have been listening to her music in my car for the last week straight. Johnny told me this would happen...
If you have not had the pleasure of hearing or seeing Ms. Carlile please do so here. You won't regret it.

3 months of Lucy

Lucy is getting so big! She turned three months old yesterday and we are so in love with her. She is really starting to develop her own cute little personality and its so much fun to just sit and watch her.
Some things she does:
*Smiles and coos on demand
*Sucks on her fists (to the point of making them raw)
*Bats and grabs at toys
*Recognizes mommy and daddy's voices (and rewards us with smiles)
*Rolls over (has for a month)
*Sleeps through the night
*Loves baths and getting lathered with lotion after
*Has taken two road trips to Utah and was a CHAMP

Lucy, we love you so much and are happy to have you as part of our family!