Remember that time...

That Dan had all his camera equipment stolen?
 >well he got most of it back!! (high five!) with the exception of his big lens because of a silly $1,000 deductible. He's much happier these days now that he has a camera permanently attached to his back!

That time I took Sylvie to the Dr. about her lymph node?
>3 Dr. opinions later, and it turns out that it's normal and that she will always have it. HUGE RELIEF!

That time that Dan took the LSAT?
>back in June... :) well he officially applied to Law School a few nights ago. Now he's more nervous than ever! We could find out anytime between March and August---hopefully March so I can start planning. Our options are : BYU, U of U, U of I, Pepperdine (Malibu), and Wyoming. He may apply to some a little later, but the cost and time to apply to each place is kinda ridiculous. (WA, OR, AZ).

That time that my kids were sick?
>Which time-- cause they have pretty much been sick for 3 months straight. Most recently though, Bronchitis/ear inflammation/colds/dehydration. Poor Sylvie got it the very worst. Stori got better after about 2 weeks with antibiotics and basic medicine, but poor Sylvie just got worse and worse even while on antibiotics. Finally, last Sunday she got a fever of almost 102, and she began throwing up like big people and had no wet diapers. We called the Dr. on call and he told us to go to the ER. They treated her for dehydration with a stomach relaxer, and 2 hours later, (after they made sure she could keep fluids down) we headed home.

That time that I hate packing
> All. Day. Every. Dang. Day.

That time that I ran 5 miles and was so sore because I hadn't ran since Thanksgiving?
> I blame Alicia and our ability to talk the whole time.

That time that I get to play Vball with my friends every monday>
>We don't usually win, but it's still great fun to play.

And that time that I love my kids and husband more than anything..
>Every moment of every day.

Yes, I remember all of these things... and now some pictures.

Dan went out and took some pics of Stori to test out his new camera... Stori loves her umbellla that was my Grandma Lila's.

not a fan of the camera that morning.

We loaded everything, including her crib. into the storage unit before we moved, but she loved sleeping on the ground in her "big little bed." 

Astoria Rose Radford 2.5

This girl. Oh this girl.

She is sincerely spunky.

Precisely spicy

and has practically mastered the terrible two's.

She knows exactly what she doesn't want, and yells tells us about every 2 seconds.

However, she is very good at cuddling with me and giving me all the kisses I want.

She is also quite hilarious, and keeps me laughing all the time. These are some of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite red heads.

When getting ready to go potty, stori lifted the toilet seat, saw a little piece of toilet paper in there and said, "oh noooo! That poor wipe is so sad cause he can't find his family. I forgot to flush him!" 

Dan asked Stori to race him up the stairs at my moms house. About 2 stairs into it, Stori exclaims, "you go ahead dad. I'll catch up."

I was pretending to be sad cause Stori didn't want to give me hugs, and she got a sad look on her face and said, "don't be sad! I know Toy Story will make you feel better."

When Dan left for work one morning, Stori began to cry. She walked over to a very content Sylvie and said (while still whimpering) "oh punkin, you sad cause you misses yours daddy!?" 

While sitting on the ground happily playing with the kids, Stori came up to me and said, " don't worry mom, dadda just went to work and he'll be right back!" 

Haha I think she was saying it more for herself than me! 

She still sleeps 12-13 hours/night and takes one nap for about 2 hours.
She still doesn't like candy, chocolate, or anything really foreign. If I sneakily give her new food while she's distracted, she will continue to eat it, but doesn't do well with the idea of eating it on her own.
She also gags herself if she eats something she doesn't like. The little stinker.
She is absolutely the best big sister and delivers the binky to Sylvie like she's Stockton and SJ's Malone.   She always wants to be 'best friend twins' with her---matching outfits.
She wants to share bath time with her every day.
She shares her toys, does tummy time, encourages her when she holds onto a toy by herself, and begs me each night to let her sleep in her crib with her.
She loves Princess's, Mickey Mouse, and Toy Story. If she isn't in the mood to have her hair fixed, I ask her how she wants it fixed and she always replies, "Minnie Mouse ears!" She is really into "princess outfits" (dresses or anything that resembles a dress) and will twirl and say, "Look Mom, I'm a beautiful Princess!" All of her boots, and panties, and shirts, and coats have a different Princess assigned to them so that she will wear them. For ex: her brown boots are "Princess Tiger boots."Haha ya, she's a funny one. I can't believe in 6 months she will be THREE!
It's so crazy! She makes me crazy. And I LOVE her like crazy!
To end this, I will end it with what we say to each other before bed each night after prayers and our family cheer, (which, by the way, she has been wanting to say 'Millennium Falcon' for the family cheer---makes her dad happy haha)!
Love you sooo much.
Best Friends. ForevER. and EVerrrr
Sweet dreams.
("don't close the door please. And just tell me one more story.")

the "minnie mouse" hair

^^ A cute video of these 2 on our way home from Sam's Club :)

Arctic Circle shenanigans.  

Stori was soooo excited that Sylvie got out of her infant bath tub to "swim" with her.

It took exactly 2.5 years for this Car Cart to become available for her to drive! 

I asked her if she wanted to hug her snowman and she said, "But mom, I don't know how." This is what she figured out.

P.S. we took her to Idaho Falls to celebrate her half birthday and let her choose where we ate. She chose Sam's Club. She's a crazy one for sure! Love you Astoria!

June bug the 5 month old

-I might as well let Sylvie tell you about her 5 month info, because she is talking ALL THE TIME! If she is awake, she is jabbering. It's pretty cute... most of the time... :) She is also laughing and smiling all day long. I can't believe what a happy baby she is! Her giggle/squeal is so darn cute!

-As far as sleeping goes, she had another rough patch during Christmas where she was sick and would cry during her sleep around midnight and wouldn't stop until the medicine kicked in. Talk about break your heart. Now that she's feeling better, she goes to bed at 8 and sleeps until 7:30/8:30am with a random feeding in there----it's kind of frustrating that she requires a feeding during the night now, because she never needed one before getting sick, so let's hope she stays healthy for a while!
  Her napping schedule is very consistent and she takes 3 naps a day-with her longest one in the afternoon when Stori is also snoozing (about 3 hours long). She has hit the stage where I just lay her down wrapped up with her binky, her bear, and the sound machine and she falls asleep on her own. It's kind of bitter-sweet. If Stori is asleep, I go pick up Sylvie from her bassinet and hold her while she sleeps....i'm not quite ready to give that up yet.

loves her bath time and is very modest! :)

-Eating is something she also excels in! She is a speed nurser, and now she has started baby oatmeal once a day. She loves it! With Stori, I had to put the rice cereal on her binky and feed it to her like that for a while haha... but Sylvie took right to it! She is also great at drinking from a bottle AND a sipper cup. I'm still having her drink from her bottle once a week on Sundays.

 

Check out her chub

-Rolling over---but is very content on her back, so she only rolls over that way a few times a day. She can only sit up for about 1 minute before collapsing to the side. That's what we're working on right now.
-Likes all toys, but LOVES her sister!!!! If there was a word greater than LOVE, then that would describe it. The second she sees Stori, she can't hold still and just giggles. She loves me too, but I'm a close second... poor SDR is in 3rd place :)

All 3 of us girls where showered, dressed, and fed by 10am today! high five!

I have never taken a picture of her cute birth mark

I imagine that she's singing "Cotton Eye Joe" here... and doing the dance...haha

Each month is more fun than the last with this lil lady! 

*Love*

Do you wanna build a snowman??

 

This is our 3rd annual 'Life-size-snowman' building extravaganza. Each year we make a snowman the size of my tiny humans. These are way better than the other ones because Dan had the day off and helped us! (hence the mustache on Stori's snowman haha)!

And this...this is my husband. He built this Millenium Falcon while wearing his Millenium Falcon shirt. Future lawyer right here! 

2014 loves us so far.

After all the sickness during Christmas, we more than welcomed the new year! New Years Day was by far my favorite day!
We got all bundled up (including Sylvie June and Granny Faylene) and Dan pulled us in the sled all around Lewisville! While we were out sledding, we saw other sledders being pulled by tractors and 4-wheelers; but who needs those when you have Dan Dan the Maytag man? We even got my mom on the sled! (the pictures prove that she had a blast)!
On our way home we stopped by to say hi to neighbor Dorothy. Well next thing you know, she was taking her turn on the sled also! :) She said it made her feel like a little kid again!

After Dorothy took a turn, Stori decided she wanted to pull Sylvie... man this was so darn cute! She pulled her home and then some---about 10 minutes worth. Sylvie loved it and actually fell asleep for a little bit. I've loved the snow more this year than any other year before. I think I'm just going to assume that everything with kids is more enjoyable.

 

 

While I'm writing this, it's a complete white-out outside and I love it!! I can't wait for dan's day off tomorrow to go build a snowman with the kiddos. 

And a special bonus during Christmas/NYE vacation-------------------dinner with the ALLREDS!!! They decided to stay the night in IF on their way home from Canada, so we had exactly 2 hours with them at Texas Roadhouse, and it was a blast! Sure miss them.

Cheers to 2014!

Christmas times means laughter... or sickness

Low key Christmas has some perks...

-when you get sick, you only infect 4 people instead of 44
-more food to go around
-clean-up is much easier
-and everyone fits into one car when going out on adventures
To help us get in the Christmasy mood, we went to the Museum to see the Nativities from around the world for FHE. It was wonderful. They had carolers there singing the whole time. They also had gingerbread houses and a play area that Stori really enjoyed. two thumbs up!

 

It was definitely weird not being with a lot of family this Christmas, but when I'm surrounded by my family of little red heads and my brown eyed guy, it still has the same feeling.
We still did our same traditions on fake Christmas Eve.
-I made rice pudding for the first time and, by coincidence, Dan got the whole almond! I didn't plant it, he just found his way to the correct cup! :) Finding the almond means good luck for the next year; when I found the almond in the pudding, I met Dan, my brother Ty met and married his wife, etc. So I'm really hoping that Dan's almond brings us good luck with Law School!
-Sylvie was baby Jesus this year in our nativity.
-Stori was a little grumpy so she was first a lamb, then an angel, and then possibly a grumpy inn-taker?
-Stori was also a heckler during the talent show. She was originally going to sing Christmas songs, but the grumpy gus wouldn't perform! :) Still love her though.
-and we made lot's of yummy food to last for days

this is the ONLY picture I took from Fake Christmas Eve. Hopefully my family took pictures...

On actual Christmas Eve we...
-went to Josh's house
-had a yummy dinner
-had a scavenger hunt to find the Christmas jammies
-made name tags for Santa
-watched I'ts a Wonderful Life
-and in bed by midnight

Actual Christmas
-woke up around 9 haha
-enjoyed what Santa brought-Christmas with kids is AMAZING!
-devoured a delicious breakfast made by SDR
-watched 'Ghost Town,' and then I started to develop my sickness
-Dan turned into a 2 year old because he didn't want to wait until the evening to open the rest of the presents. :) I almost had to put him in time out to help him calm down.
-finally opened presents after nap time---Dan wins the present game AGAIN!
-and enjoyed a cozy day out at granny faylene's house

Thenext few days my 2 girls and me experienced a disease of all diseases! Chills, then extremely hot, then so miserable that I couldn't hold still/sleep. One night Dan went to the movies with his brothers, and Stori and Sylvie were so sick that we just laid out big pillows and watched movies all night. MAN I am soooo glad that sickness is over! We had a good time hanging out at my mom's house for a few weeks though! Nothing can quite beat Christmas at home!

And for some reason the video of Stori seeing her presents isn't uploading.... I'll continue to work on that