One of the greatest parenting experiences thus far as a Mother has been teaching Brooklyn to Ski! She was amazing! I didn't even think she would keep the boots on, but by the third run, she said she wanted to go down on her own! (I used one of my baby wraps as a kind of leash at first - wrapping it around her belly and easing her down the mountain). After three times down the slope, she was on her own, getting on and off the conveyor belt and going down on her own by the end! It was amazing - a complete thrill! Can't wait to get her back on the slopes (: The other huge development is Jude is walking! He walked (more than 2 or 3 steps) on Valentines - 10 steps! He then took a couple more days to get the hang of it, but he's walkin ' all over now and it is SOOO cute! I took this a few days ago, now he's really getting around.

Uncle Logan/Did came to visit us (Trey's little brother) and it was so fun! I got to go to Powder Mountain with Logan for a whole day of skiing! It was so fun - he's an awesome skiier (: He skiied on his own on Wolf Mtn for the first two days - and he helped teach Brooklyn to Ski! He was a great helper with Valentines Preschool, and even wearing my friend's newborn that I got to babysit one evening! We miss you Didi!

We have tons of news to share the first of which is I'm going to become a Hypnobabies Instructer! I go to training in July in Cyprus California and am SO excited! See HERE to read about what Hypnobabies is(:

A really neat lady just moved into my ward who founded The Power of Moms - an INCREDIBLE TOOL for Moms - please check it out! But on through her blog, I found another things she is involved in - a podcast - another thing I LOVE as a Mom as I can listen and learn and do my mundane tasks(: The Round Table. One lady talked about her difficulty adjusting to Motherhood - and I just thought I'd copy and paste a comment I made - would love any comments or thoughts you have! I totally relate to the comment about not loving Motherhood at first! And the message we get as women in the church. Yes, I felt amazed at how much I loved my child, but going from being a full time student, athlete, job, social life and always being told I could do and become anything, then having a baby and feeling like I should be happy and content changing diapers and nursing all day just didn't seem right. I think this is a different time in history where we as women are told we can become anything and to str...

Jude had his 1st Birthday Yesterday! We went all out with a big party and Football Theme (: Jude and Brooklyn's favorite babysitter (Who moved here from Valparaiso soon after us!) and her parents who we LOVE, as well as my Mission companion who was in town from Taiwan and some students and our new friends (The woman who baptized my companion 16 years ago!) came to celebrate with us. 4 other of our friends came - but weren't in the photo. I asked Trey what kind of cake I should make and he said "Definitely a football!" So I went with it (: Jude's favorite toys are balls - footballs, tennis balls, racquetballs, oranges.... He was just born with this fascination with them. So this was a good summery of his first year I guess. I made oreo balls, then coated them with brown and white chocolate to make mini footballs to go along with the cake. Trey got him his first football for his birthday (: Here's a bit of a summary of our Jude-bug so far: A little mis...

I am having a hard time catching up on my blogging, so this will be another quick one: We spent Christmas in Southern California this year. My entire family - my parents, all 6 siblings, husbands and cousins were there for the big Harris harrah. Luckily my sister has a 7 bedroom house and large kitchen (: We had a blast playing tennis, picking pomegranits, oranges and other citrus, olives and avocados and even made it over the the LA temple for a few days! I depended on my sisters to take photos and then didnt' get all the photos - so till then, here are the only photos I have. We got our yearly 30 pound package of penuts as well as a half dozen other generous packages from DDaddy this Christmas (: Ddaddy even sent 2 packages to California for my family - a major highlight of the season - especially the fresh pecans! On the home front, they had a Christmas village and free tours with Mrs Claus that we cashed in on. Brooklyn sat on 3 different Santa's knees, met Santa's ...

Finally - for our adventures with the Xu Family! (There is SO much to tell about - but I am just so behind in my blogging, again I will use short hand and hopefully the pictures will speak for themselves!) Carved Pumpkins, though a couple weeks later than most people We went hiking up the canyon near our house. They had never seen snow before coming here! They loved the fall leaves! -and raking my backyard (: Trey got tickets for everyone to watch the Jazz! They loved chanting "DE-FENSE!" We went to a local craft fair and car show We went to the Children's Museum Made Sugar Cookies and decorated them (they don't use ovens or bake in Taiwan) Candy, Kevin, Trey and another missionary that taught them went to the SLC Temple for a session. I watched the 5 kids. Thank goodness for the Sister missionaries that helped me for about 1/2 hour of the 3 hours! They gave us a little tour. Not an experience I'd want to repeat, but worth it. They Loved DI! Candy got a ton...