Anya Talking

Anya is talking more and more everyday. Some of her words are so cute that I wanted to get some on video before she grows out of this cute stage. These two videos are very similar. I did two because I didn't know if you'd be able to hear her over Talmage's antics in the background. The kids love seeing themselves on video so sometimes it is hard to get them to complete a video before they come running around to see themselves on the digital camera.

The Bucket

One of Talmage and Anya's favorite outside toys is a bucket. They pretend to wash dishes in it, they wash themselves in it, pretend it's a hot tub, catch water from the sprinkler in it...

... and even use it for a shelter!

I'm All Made of Hinges

After dealing with all the fun of Rheumatoid Arthritis this past year it seems ironic to think that one of my favorite songs when I was little was "Hinges". For those of you not familiar with this primary classic it goes, "I'm all made of hinges, 'cause everything bends From the top of my neck way down to my ends. I'm hinges in front, and I'm hinges in back; But I have to be hinges or else I would crack!" I haven't had many working hinges for awhile, so I am pleased to announce that with the aide of a relatively new medicine I am made of hinges again! I have been on a weekly injectable medicine for a few weeks now and I am starting to move with ease again. How wonderful life seems... I skipped with Talmage at the park yesterday, crocheted Talmage and Anya play mittens (which the love to wear around the house even in our 90 degree weather), and ran up the stairs to get something (instead of slowly dragging myself up and taking rest stops in the middle). I am so happy to be a mother in motion!

With the freeing up of my swollen joints I have had a lot of cracking. Talmage refers to the cracking sound as breaking. Sometimes he'll ask me "Why are your knees (or fingers, or arms) breaking?"

Our little Russian

I just found out that the Russian name Anya means Graceful. I laughed out loud when I read this. Our sweet Anya not only lacks grace but also balance. She is so cute and funny that we can't tell if some of it is on purpose or not. She often crashes into doors, walls, and the floor. I don't think she has vision problems. It seems more like paying attention problems because often she is looking the other way when she crashes. Perhaps she will grow graceful with time!

She has started using short sentences now! How exciting. Yesterday while we were driving her favorite sentence was "I see bus!" There are a lot of buses now that school has started. She still struggles to complete all of here words though. Yesterday we had the missionaries over for dinner and I took Anya in the bathroom to change here diaper. I was in a hurry because we were just sitting down for dinner so I didn't shut the door all the way. Anya in her always loud Anya voice kept saying " Mama Pee! Mama Pee!" She was really saying "Mama Pink!" because I was wearing a pink shirt. But I'm sure the missionaries didn't here Pink. Then at dinner she refused to eat her salad and kept saying "No, Poopoo". Now I think the missionaries figured we just have a potty talking little girl. She was actually refusing her salad because she wanted it to be Purple-- Poopoo is Anyaniese for Purple and pee is Pink.

Tag!?

Usually when these type of e-mails come around I just read, delete, and pretend I never saw it. But because this came from Jackie, one of my most faithful blog readers I felt obligated to acknowledge the tag. So here it goes.

1. Where did you meet your Husband?
In the cafeteria the first day of High School. He knew a guy that was sitting with me and my friends. No one wants to sit alone so he joined us-- and never left!

2. What was the first thing you said to your husband?
I have no clue-- that was over ten years ago. I'm lucky to remember what I said ten minutes ago! To take a wild guess I probably told him my name or asked him his.

3. Where was your first date?
Homecoming our Junior year. The theme was "Tale as old as time". We spent the day up at Mt. Rainer playing in the snow. We doubled with my older sister Diamond and her now Husband (they were just dating then). For dinner we had a big roast dinner Aaron packed (his mom probably made most of it) on the ferry to Vashon Island. We enjoyed the dance (we always enjoyed dancing together) and laugh at the pictures from it-- we look so young!

4. Where was your first kiss?
"Aunt Vickies" house in West Jordan Utah during Thanksgiving break. We were 18 and I held out a long time but finally relented. We are each others first and only kiss.

5. Did you have a short or long engagement?
Short. About 6 weeks maybe less.

6. Where did you get engaged?
"The grove" on the grounds of the Seattle Temple. This is were we said an emotional goodbye, two and a half years earlier, before he dropped me off at the airport to go back to college after Christmas break and he stayed in Washington to prepare to go on a two year mission to Japan.

7. Where were you married?
We were married in the Seattle, Washington Temple.

8. How did the reception go?
It went well thanks to Aaron's Mom. We had it in there beautiful backyard and she put a ton of work into it. I wasn't concerned much about a reception-- I had never thought much about that part of getting married.

9. How was the Honeymoon?
I'll let you know when it happens! Unless you call driving our stuff out to Rexburg to start school a honeymoon. I don't. So Aaron's not off the hook yet.

Now I'll tag
Lexy
Christin Ricks
Katie Johnson (maybe this will help you get a move on blogging!)