Celebrations everywhere!

Today, Friday, February 13th is...

**Alana's 7th Birthday
**Grandma Annie's 1/2 birthday
**Grandma Annie and Pagah's 1/2 Anniversary
**Bella's 3 month birthday

What a great time we had!

Alana's big party!


Bella and Pagah just hangin' out...


Birda telling Bella happy 3 months today!


Hello! I'm 3 months old today!

As smart as I consider myself...

I sure am dumb.

I've been agonizing over this dumb universal charger I purchased for use in the car during my travels and for the past 24 hours I've been trying to get my battery charged...but I couldn't figure out the way it was supposed to go.

I was just about to take it back to Target and give them a talking to and rail on the company and the broken charger when I realized...duh, Anna...TURN THE BATTERY OVER to match the positive/negative icons on the charger...

I know this doesn't make sense to most readers out there, but I was just supremely humbled by the nitwit fairies.

Doh!

In Utah...days four, five and six!

We've had so much fun so far in Utah. Mom and Marlowe have been rockstar hosts and gave us lots of room, warm blankets, our own bathroom, a playpen for the baby and basically the run of the house. :)

Its snowed almost every day and is really cold outside, but its still been nice to just get away.



That first night Eliza and Alana came to visit us. Ammon was home with daddy and Marrick...poor little Marrick is sick so he can't come play with Baby Bella.



Alana fell in love with her new little cousin. Eliza said it was the first time she'd seen her "play" with a baby...





Ammon came over the next day in his very cool superman outfit. He had to show us how he could fly. Grandma Annie looks like she is getting the fright of her life. Ha ha ha...





And, as for him and Bella...while he was shy with her he told his mom, "Hey mom, I think *Abella* is cute." He eventually warmed up to her from just touching her toe, to a hug on day two and an actual KISS today. Its adorable to watch him...and now he just doesn't want to leave her side.





Auntie Eliza brought over her crafty stuff and we made about 15 new headbands for Bella. They are sooooo cute and are big enough to grow with her little head.



So far...even though we really miss Daddy...as if you can't tell...we're having a GREAT time.

Day Three - Las Vegas to Orem!

Today was an incredible day of driving. We headed out at around 11AM - as soon as Bellina was asleep. I had a feeling it wouldn't last very long since she hadn't nursed for awhile so I knew we'd have to stop for a snackity snack pack.

Look how beautiful the road out of Las Vegas is...


We hit the winding roads when Bella woke up and got REALLY MAD REALLY QUICK.



Luckily we were only about 15 miles from Mesquite and stopped at Quiznos for a little soup in a bread bowl and a bum change and snack time.

Shortly after leaving Bella fell asleep and soon we found ourselves in Utah! Hoorah for driving really fast. We hit snow fairly quickly, but the roads were clear...



...then about an hour out I got the phone call from mom..."There is a whiteout here in Orem...you'll be hitting terrible weather really soon." I didn't really believe her as what I saw was some dark clouds on a sunny day...



Sure enough...by 30 minutes to Orem and still no snow I knew I was in the clear. I also knew I was going to give mom a really hard time about that "whiteout." I looked down and noticed the car's gas light was on...only 15 miles? I can make it! Bella was starting to snuffle around in the back...she'd slept for a full 4 hours. What a blessing. I figured I'd run out of gas and she'd wake up just as we pulled into mom's.

2.5 miles before the exit the car started sputtering and lurching. OH CRAP...I'm running out of gas. At the EXACT same moment Bella let out a wail. Gaaaaaaaaaah!

I put on my hazards and sputtered my way .5 miles to the University exit and coasted into the gas station right off the exit. Bella settled down and I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn't stalled on the side of the road. What a nightmare.

We pulled into Grandma Annie and Pagahs right on time. Hoorah! We're here!

Day Two - Phoenix to Las Vegas

Day two took us from Phoenix to Las Vegas. Before heading out we stopped and had breakfast with our friend Alicia. She got to meet Bella for the first time!



It was fun to head out on the road, but I wasn't sure how Bella would do in a car for so long...besides it was raining! Since when does it rain in Phoenix? Did this have to happen on the day we headed out? It was nice to have some moisture, but I was wishing it would have happened on a different day.

Blue-ish Skies of Arizona


Dark Clouds Forming


Rain Rain Go Away!


Suddenly I started looking around and I realized that MapQuest had taken me on what I would call a roundabout way to get to Nevada...we ended up on some back highway where we passed Nothing...Thats right...the town called Nothing. I think that symbolizes exactly where we were in all senses of the word.



We had to stop on the side of the road when Bella woke up. It was pretty interesting nursing in the front seat of the car with her...we had a good time though and played there for over an hour before getting started again. The wind was blowing SOOOO hard. It was crazy.



We loved driving past Hoover Dam again. Stopped here for another few minutes and some loving since Bella needed a rest from her car seat.



We managed to make it to Las Vegas...



...and spent the evening with our dear friend Amber. She put us up in her spare bedroom and we had so much fun just hanging out. Bella was awful barfy that day. Amber cracked me up when she made the comment (in a most serious voice...) "You know...you've got to get this barfing under control by age 2...Baby bulemia is very serious." HA HA HA...I love her sense of humor.

Day One - Sierra Vista to Phoenix

Well, we started off this morning very early saying goodbye to Daddy. We are going to miss him so much over the next two weeks. We really wish we could stay with him at his hotel, but alas...the Army says no...so instead we are headed off to Utah to visit Grandma Annie and Pagah...


Our first day only took us as far as Phoenix. We stopped at my brother's house...Ray and Stephanie and family were in the midst of spring cleaning. We had a wonderful afternoon there just relaxing while Bella played with her cousins...and at the end of it all, Uncle Ray just had to have a little naptime with Bella on the floor. I think Uncle Ray was the only one actually sleeping.

Bathtub Baby

Bella has been in the funniest of moods lately......this morning in the bathtub she was cracking me up...


I think she's getting near to the giggling phase and she is constantly making different faces...I call this her one-eyed stare...


She had the biggest smile when I had her wrapped up in her towel


She has also started to mess up her hair with her hands...yes...she did this...I flipped her on her belly for some tummy time, but the hairdo is all her.


So I took photos until out came the booboo lip...

Shower with Dad

He may kill me, but these were just too sweet not to share...

Superbowl Sunday

We cheered for the Cardinals, but it just wasn't enough...The Steelers won, but I'll always wonder WHAT IF...that last very bad call they said was a fumble could have been replayed as a touchdown pass and a final victory???

Hike to Millville

Last Saturday we decided to ditch the house and get out for a little fresh air and Arizona sunshine. We took a drive to a trailhead and decided on a little walk up to a ghosttown called Millville. Not only was there ruins of this ghosttown, but it also had petroglyphs from the days of old (petroglyphs being that drawing on rocks that Indians did...)

The ruins ended up being mostly handcrafted rock walls. I'd never have the patience for this!

And here is one of three or four petroglyphs that we saw from the trail...

We took the "shorter walk" of about 1.5 to 2 miles because we were testing Bella in her new backpack. We weren't sure if she was still too small for this one. She is, but we managed to prop her up with blankies. Even still she fell asleep and look at that poor nose that got squashed.


Overall it was really nice to get outside for a few hours and explore more of SE Arizona.

Bonus...The older boy nephews and Eric will be getting an Uncle John/Dad original ghost story with an old railroad spike prop in the mail soon.

Pouty

Did you ever see anything so sad?

Family dynamics...

Strangely enough I caught myself the other day playing with Bella and saying, "Anna thinks you're so cute...Anna loves you...Anna this...and Anna that..."

I realized that because I'm "Anna" to my stepkids it just came naturally to refer to myself as "Anna" with my own daughter instead of mom or mommy or madre or mama or any other term of endearment one might use for themselves with their own child...

It made me stop and think about how I identify myself when it comes to children. For my adult life I've only ever been Auntie Anna or most recently with John's kids just plain old Anna.

I realized that I still don't think of myself as a "mother" first. I think that with time it will get easier to feel like a natural in that role, but because I've spent the last 5 years referring to the children in my life as "John's kids" or "my stepkids," its been a real change for me to say "my daughter" or "my child."

On my stepmom forum there was a question about how you refer to "your family..." Do you have one family? (husband, you, stepkids and biokids) or two families? (husband, you and biokids = 1 and husband, you, stepkids and biokids = 2) or maybe even three families depending on what situation you are in... (husband, you and biokids = 1 and husband, you, stepkids and biokids = 2 and Husband and his kids = 3)

I suppose that it really depends on what I'm talking about. If people ask me if Bella is my first child I say yes. But I also feel like I should mention that I have stepkids...I wonder why I feel that way...I feel like if I don't mention them I'm giving them less credit as "my" children as in "my husband's" children...

Before Bella when people asked me if I had children I always said no, but that my husband had children from a previous marriage and they visit occasionally.

And what about the kids? I wonder if Lexi, Eric and Maddie really consider Bella their sister or if they refer to her as their father's "other" child...

While its all very interesting for me to contemplate at the same time I have to wonder if it really makes a difference how you refer to each other. I don't like or love my stepkids any less just because Bella is here...I do, however, think my connection with Bella will be different because I get to raise her...I get to teach her...I get to watch her learn things like how to smile and grasp toys and roll over... Does that mean I actually LOVE her more? I just don't know....and I don't know if it really matters.

Sheesh....if its this confusing for me, I wonder what it must feel like for Mr. Chucklehead....

I feel like I should end this post with the comment, "Deep Thoughts by Anna Larson."