A bit late but Eden is ELEVEN months

I say this every time. Nearly every parent says this every time. But children grow up so fast. Sure, the time between naps, the sick weeks, and the late night feedings and comfort sessions seem endless but they grow up so incredibly fast. As they grow, your heart and love for them, at least in our experience, grows with them. Of course you love deeply at first sight and you think how could you love someone so deeply you just met? But as your bond and days become more intertwined, that love just keeps getting deeper and wider. I honestly believe God gives us the gift children in part to taste more fully  His love for us. My meager understanding of self-giving love has been nourished in the sweetest and most challenging way through Eden. He also gifts us spouses to walk through life together. I don't cherish these two like I should but I am learning to do so with gratitude. Thanks be to God.

And here we are, about to pass Go! Eden has finished up her tenth month with sicknesses, travel, and a deep love for grass and dirt. Our little smiley girl still hasn't produced any teeth but she eats well regardless. But she does loves to throw her food on the floor. She plays hard and is extremely pleasant. We love that she makes a quick crawling bee line for the garden. Soon she will be putting those little fingers to work pulling weeds :) She babbles almost non-stop and loves to point and wave at all the things without discrimination.

Enjoying the sunshine while fighting off a nasty cold

playing around at her first SLC Bees baseball game with
Zoe.

Our first Bees baseball game.
We don't understand anything about baseball but it was fun!

Singing a love song to cheese. Girl after my own heart.

Acquired a little bed head from napping

Ten Months!

It seems these monthly milestones may be the only times I manage to write on here. I'm working on becoming increasingly more physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually present in my actual life. It seems so often I live partially with my mind elsewhere, distracted mostly by the internet. It's so easy for me to get caught up in seeing other people's more polished lives. Or maybe more funny lives. Or maybe even more adventurous lives that I  forget to enjoy and live in my own life. So, I am working on in general being more present and grateful. It's my big personal improvement project.

I will try to have pictures of Eden on here still. I know there are at least a few folks who don't live nearby that would like to see her as she grows up. Everyday she becomes more enjoyable and more independent. We love her to the moon times infinity and beyond. And this precious and challenging gift just turned ten months on Tuesday. Holy Moly.

ten months and cottage cheese is my jam!

little snack time on the floor

first time in the tunnel and all the joys of static electricity!

family adventure to Antelope Island... should be called Bison Island or
torture by horrible biting flies island, depending on when you go.
BUT it's GORGEOUS there.

sort-of-happy hiker babe

Little Beanie girl (eden) loves her poopop (dad)

These two and this landscape. good golly miss molly.
(eden's cheeks are also epic)

thank you other hiking family for this photo. i love these creatures.

We also managed to paint our bedroom. We went dark and we love it!
Davis' macbook, which I am using right now, is almost 10 years old.

The sun has been out a lot lately. It's warm and so lovely. Many days include one or two walks, park dates, trips to the local farm, and garden planning! I know winter isn't fully gone. It usually does a few surprise attacks until nearly June, but we are enjoying each day. Eden is up from her nap and it's time to get outside!

Nine months

On February 8, Eden officially hit nine months. She has now been out of the womb as long as she was in the womb. That seem like a pretty big deal! The time waiting for her seemed to move a lot more slowly than the time watching her grow up.

Lately, she had her first sickness or just a phantom fever with no other symptoms that went away after a few days.  We have had a wonderful visit from Grammie. Eden can now pull up easily on objects and stand. She officially has tasted Ingrid's food and liked it. And she does funny little things like what appears to be lapping her tongue like a dog. We suppose she learned this from watching Ingrid lick us. We love this little girl so much it hurts.

Grammie and Eden

Playing in my toy basket

Excited Grammie took us out to one of our favorite places,
Eva's Bakery

These two both prefer to play with the trash over anything

Morning tongue tricks

I found her in a pile of books and my heart exploded

So excited to be a big girl!

Overalls, because they are cute and she will be helping
in the garden :)

 The past couple of days have been really nice compared to really cold and horrible air quality. We managed to get some park time in with our friends. Eden hasn't sat in the grass since she was very little and then she was lying on a blanket. Today she got to explore around in the grass but kept grabbing fistfuls to put in her mouth. I moved to the side walk and she ate mulch and pine needles instead. We will work on exploring nature in other ways another day.

tasting nature

EIGHT

How can it be our little girl turned EIGHT months on the eighth! Time is truly flying with her. We are loving her more and more. These EIGHT months have been a delight and a challenge.

Eden Genevieve Ware at 8 months
(and with Ingrid's antler)

Eden is crawling all over the land. She seems to be waving when we wave at her. It takes very little to get a smile out of our happy girl. Her night sleeps have gotten much better, down to usually one feeding. She is working on standing up with the help of whatever furniture is available. She babbles the sweetest little sounds. This girl is busy. And she eats like she is busy. Baby food is secondary to adult food. She loves big people food. I think we shall keep her!

The Holidays 2015 and Happy New Year!

Christmas and New Years has come and gone. Over the course of the season, I had many thoughts come to mind and I considered the desire to write them in this blog. They are in my journal and because I attempting a life less revolved around technology, I just may leave them there.

We had a most wonderful Holiday season. Although we missed being with family, the much needed quiet and snowy time at home did the trick. Christmas seemed to have regained this joyful anticipation of traditions, giving, and celebrating I remember from my childhood. Eden, although much too young to remember any of the happenings, put a new light on this time of year. I never realized how much fun it could be to be a parent. I also have never wanted to give as much as I do now.

Someone loves lights, ornaments, and trees.
Especially loves their tastes.

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated the coming of our Savior at church and after Eden went to bed, Davis and I sat up around the tree talking and taking in the moment. Christmas day was pajamas until early afternoon and our usual fair of fancy finger foods we do not allow ourselves often. Davis's personal favorite is the smoked salmon pinwheel. But there are plenty of rich foods to nibble on all day. Eden enjoyed her new toys but still favored Ingrid's new toy, an antler they both want to chew. That evening we had dear friends from church cook a delicious dinner of heritage chicken, cranberry sauce with figs and port wine, and scalloped potatoes  come to our house to feast and fellowship. We shared our Christmas goodies, read from Dicken's A Christmas Carol and finished up the night watching Christmas Vacation. Overall, a very enjoyable and delicious Christmas.

Christmas overload.

trying to open presents ...
JK she tried to eat them.

Enjoying Christmas goodies

Present from grandma great

The following day we attempted snowshoeing with babies and friends with babies. We walked a fair distance in the wintery wonderland before the littles protested enough. The rest of the weekend, we went did usual activities. We dove into some house projects and cleaning. Both us of us discovering there is joy in work. Something about productivity and keeping your house and building things with your hands is really truly more enjoyable to hours spent being entertained. Don't get me wrong, I do like a good lazy pants day every now and then but it doesn't seem to fulfill the way going to be tired and satisfied. Maybe we are getting even more old fashioned, who knows?

Snowshoeing!

some of our snowshoeing friends and baby friends

After Christmas, we did the much needed adult task of buying a car. Both of our cars not great but Davis's has grown increasingly questionable to tote around a family. We ended up with a 2015 Subaru Forester, which we both really like. Thus, we have joined the stereotypical western sort-of-outdoorsy folks who have recently embraced this make of vehicle. It is way nicer than both our cars. But unfortunately, we are now adults with a car payment. Boo. However, it is nice to consider how we can experience even more of Utah and the west now because we aren't able or afraid to take the road to certain locations. And getting Eden in and our of this car is so much easier.

my mom sent us a box of clothes my grandma made for me
this is one of them!

For New Years, we went to bed by 1030. It was amazing. We were given some home improvement gift cards for Christmas so we went out and bought some saws. Recently we have been inspired to learn some basic carpentry skills so we can build simple wooden furniture like book shelves. Our first project, well Davis is mostly working on it since it's been so cold, is our work table. I am hoping we both can improve on this skill. We many dreams of items to build for our house. I suppose desiring to build it ourselves to save money and gain skills will really put a bridle on the speed of which we can do these home improvements. I am glad for that though, I want to have to put in the time and appreciate whatever gets accomplished. I also don't want to live in comparison and envy.

As much as we loved the Holidays, it is nice to get back into the swing of things. We are starting this week of with putting new brakes on my car. What a way to ring in the new year! Some adult things are just not my favorite. Car repairs definitely are not. But I am grateful for brakes that work and jobs that enable us to have them.

December Happenings- in pictures

Cutest little mousey

Park time

Ingrid practicing for sitting on Santa's lap

Hipster Barista

Eden's first big snow

Temple Square Christmas lights with our lovely friends

Eden woke up so, I will leave this post at pictures. Perhaps more thoughts on Advent and Christmas later.

Thanksgiving Adventures with Susu

I realize I am finally getting around to Thanksgiving and Christmas is four days away. How did it get here so fast? 


Davis's mom (Susu) came for a long Thanksgiving visit. She recently retired from her job and we wanted to take a little trip to celebrate.  So we went to Zion National Park and stayed at a nice hotel. We relaxed and saw some of the natural beautiful sites. We are never disappointed with Southern Utah. What a great state to end up living in!

Eden is thrilled to be at Zion
and out of the car

Little hiker babe

Zion Canyon from the start of the Narrows

On the way home, we stopped at Bryce Canyon National Park. Eden has officially been to four of the Mighty Five, the five National Parks in Utah. She is quite the six month old adventurer. We just need to take her to Capitol Reef now. Although traveling is trickier with a little one, we have enjoyed these adventures more. The world is new, fresh and exciting for her. She also doesn't have misplaced expectations of experiences being ultimately fulfilling.

These two.

Family time at Bryce

She makes these travels more fun and more complicated
but I wouldn't change a thing!

Top left: Bryce Canyon, Top Right: Zion
Bottom Left: Arches, Bottom Right: Canyonlands

Our little pre-Thanksgiving adventure was successful. Susu enjoyed seeing a different part of the country and we enjoyed getting out of the city for a bit.

Our Thanksgiving was celebrated with friends and family. Davis made the turkey and southern chicken dressing. I made a sweet potato casserole that spared no butter. Davis did a great job cooking the bird. I am glad he enjoys that challenge! We had a lovely afternoon of eating and visiting. The day after we went out to do a little shopping. It was insanity and not my favorite activity. However, it is great for people watching.


Finally, we got our Christmas tree and decorated it. The toilet paper roll and aluminum foil star still adorns the top. Ingrid and Eden opened up a couple early presents from Susu to hang on the tree. Eden loved the tree and lights.

Oh Christmas tree! Oh Christmass tree!

Ingrid sniffing her present

We had a wonderful time with Susu. We are very thankful for her!