Alexa's New Discoveries

Alexa is starting to recognize more things and learn more words.  It is so fun to teach her!  She now knows where her belly, eyes, and ears are and will point to them.  She also says "daw" for dog and "ruffs" every time she hears one.  One of our neighbors has a dog that we hear every day so she "ruffs" pretty often.  We think it's cute. :)
She did a funny recently too.  Every time she wants a bite of something she says "Aw".  The other day, I was feeding her some fruit loops for a snack.  After a while she started feeding me and thought this was pretty cool.  After about 15 fruit loops, I didn't want anymore and kept my mouth shut when she tried to feed me another one.  So she pried my mouth open for me and told me, "aw".  It was so cute that I had to eat it for her!
Oh and our recent discovery... Barney!  She loves it!  She just stares at the TV the whole time (like that one little Dalmatian on 101 Dalmatians) and dances.  She's got some good moves too!  She must get it from her Mom.  I was ADDICTED to Barney when I was little!  Just ask my family.  They finally hid all my Barney movies because they were so sick of hearing them every day.  I'm pretty sure they actually just threw them away lol.
Just a quick update on Harrison's new Leadership Program.  He started reading the assigned book and loves it!  His favorite part is that everything in the book, and class, can be applied to every aspect of life... work, school, family, church, etc.  He also had his first class for it and really enjoyed it.

Alexa's First Big Boo-Boo

     Harrison and I (sadly) feel like we have turned a new chapter in this life called "Parenthood".
     Last night (Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012) Alexa had her first visit to the Emergency Room.  We were at Harrison's family's house visiting and she was giving her cousin Mac loves.  While doing so she lost her balance and fell, hitting her head on the corner of the island.  We didn't know how serious it was until we saw the gash in her forehead directly above her right eye.  It is about 1 inch long and 1 cm deep.
     Sidenote: Why have I always heard that even if you are queasy around blood, you will be able to handle it well with your own kids because they are yours?... Because this was the exact opposite with me. As soon as I held her and saw how big the gash was, I started feeling sick and Harrison (thankfully he has a strong stomach) had to take over.
     We took her to the ER and, long story short, they sedated her and had to give her 6 stitches.  After about an hour, once the sedation lifted, we were able to take her home.  I felt so bad trying to wake her up to help the sedative lift when all she wanted to do was sleep (this was around 10:00 PM).  We told her, "I'm sorry sweetie, the Doctor said we had to stimulate you." ... Poor thing.
     On Monday, the 24th, we will be able to go in and get the stitches removed.  Until then, we have to clean the stitches, moisten it with neosporin, and bandage it 6-10 times/ day.  She hates this part.  I am slowly getting quicker at doing this.  Maybe by Monday Harrison and I will be pros. :) She is one tough little cookie!
     On a lighter note, Harrison was asked, by his boss, to participate in a leadership program.  He has accepted and will begin in October.  It is a year-long program and pretty demanding, but he is excited about it and will do a great job!  I am so proud of all his hard work!

PS- Since we felt like we should document this monumental part of her life, we took pictures.  They will be up shortly.

Harrison's Big News

Just thought I would share (I don't mean to brag) that Harrison got promotion at work.  He was promoted to lead agent at Expeditors in Salt Lake.  We are really excited and he definitely deserves it!  He works so hard.  Alexa and I are very proud of him. :)
Alexa turned 13 months today.  At her 1 year appointment, she weighed in at 20 pounds and 27.5 inches.  She was in the 50th percentile in weight, 70th percentile in height, and 60th percentile in her head size.  She is still healthy and doing well.  She makes us laugh everyday.  She is starting to get more spunk and personality.
Other than that, all is normal for us.  Life is good. :)

Happy Anniversay

Two years ago today, I was sealed to my best friend and love of my life for Time and All Eternity!!!  It has been a wonderful learning and growing experiences these past two years!  I am so glad I met Harrison and the wonderful man, husband and father he is!
He had a great time celebrating too! :)  Since Harrison had to work today, we celebrated on Saturday.  Scott and Traci were kind enough to watch Alexa for us so we could have some "Mommy-Daddy" time.  She had a wonderful time with them swimming. :)  Harrison and I went to one of our favorite home-town restaurants in Payson called Daltons.  I recommend it to anyone looking for some good eats. :)  Then we saw The Avengers at the theater.  (It's hard to get to the movies right when they come out now.... Alexa gets bored so we don't take her with us).  Harrison loved it and so did I surprisingly, considering I don't usually like superhero movies.  After the movie, we went to Jamba Juice then got Alexa and went back home.  It was a great little date night!
Today, Alexa and I went up to SLC and met him at Harrison's work so we could go out to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant up there.  Then after work was the normal routine of dinner, gym, and putting Alexa to bed.  It has been a great weekend and day.  I love you Babe!!!

Funny of the Day

So I found out today that Alexa has a pretty big "space bubble" like her Mom.  Every time I would put my hand on the high chair, she would move it off...haha.
She also now knows how to blow and give kisses.  And now, she likes to initiate the kiss.  She is pretty good at it and she looks so darn cute doing it too! :)
**I was going to post the video showing it, but my computer it loading it so I'll have to try it later.  And sorry, you can't really see her giving me kisses... it is really hard to figure out where the camera is supposed to be held when you can't see what is on the screen.

A Tender Moment

We experienced a very tender reminder from Alexa this morning.
I borrowed a picture from the Church library.  It is the portrait style one of Jesus Christ.  I have it propped up facing her crib until I need it this week.
Anyway, as soon as I took her out of her crib this morning she pointed straight at the picture, got really excited and started saying over and over, "Jey- Jey".  She just kept staring at His face.  Then she reached for the portrait so I let her hold it.  As soon as I did, she kissed Jesus's face then hugged the picture so as to hug Jesus Christ.  It was a very sweet moment.
Then, after her nap today when I picked her up out of her crib she pointed to the picture all over again and started talking away, while looking at Jesus the whole time.  It reminded me of the scripture in 3 Nephi 26:16- "Behold, it came to pass on the morrow that the multitude gathered themselves together, and they both saw and heard these children; yea, even babes did open their mouths and utter marvelous things; and the things which they did utter were forbidden that there should not any man write them."
Little children really do know their Savior and Heavenly Father!  They are so much closer to the Spirit than I am!

Alexa's 1st Birthday and Family Reunion

First off, Alexa is now 1 year old!! How crazy is that?!  Time has gone by SO fast!  Last weekend Harrison, Alexa, and I went to Parma to visit my family.  The Thueson family had a reunion in Crouch, ID.  Harrison had to work on Friday and the reunion ended Saturday morning.  So, we just went straight to Parma and met everyone there later that day.  Almost the entire Weber extended family was there as well.  So, Saturday morning we visited with them.  It was so fun to see everyone!
Saturday afternoon we held a birthday party for Alexa at my parents home for all of the family that wanted to come.  We opened presents, ate ice cream, and visited.  She got WAY too spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa with a giant bear, a toy, and clothes! :)
That night, we went out for sushi to celebrate Harrison's birthday.  He had "All-You-Can-Eat" sushi and I had a teriyaki bowl.  Who, of us, do you think is the sushi lover??! ;)  The whole weekend was lots of fun and we had a great time!
Then, yesterday we held another birthday party at our house for Alexa on her actual birthday.  We invited the Black family up.  We had cake and ice cream, opened presents, and chatted while Alexa and Mac played with her toys.  I made her a monkey cake for her birthday.  It surprisingly turned out really cute!  Much better than I was expecting anyway! ;)
Harrison and Alexa went on their Daddy-Daughter date after work and picked out a birthday present for her.  They were so cute together!  Harrison said he took her to Walmart and they sat in the toy section while he let her play with every toy there until she picked the one she wanted.  She picked out a little toy that shoots out a ball.  He is so good and cute with her! She absolutely adores him!!
Grandma and Grandpa Black and the kids got her the cutest little piano toy that she can walk around with.  She played with it all morning today.  Uncle Morgan gave her a cute monkey bath towel that she used last night for bath time.
It was a very fun weekend and day!  We are so blessed to have this sweet little girl in our lives.  She brightens our days so much!  I thank my Heavenly Father every day for letting me have His sweet, precious daughter for this short life!!

Our little smarty pants

I came in to see her reading to herself... Talking out loud, turning the pages, and everything.

She likes it dark when she sleeps, so she gabbed her Froggy and put him on her head like this.

We got to have her picture taken for Pleasant Grove's "Strawberry Days".  She's out little "4th of July" girl.

Our big girl sitting in her big girl chair.  She is so proud of herself!

Okay... First off, I know I brag about her ALL the time and probably have a little too much pride in her but she is just so cute I can't help myself!  So, sorry to all those who may get a little sick of all my stories of her... I am amazed every day at how smart Alexa is and how quickly she catches onto things!!  Just thought I was share a few of her recent "cute moments"...
She's learned to crawl up the stairs by herself now.  We don't have stairs at our place so I haven't been able to teach her much, but the other day I held her hand as she walked up them.  Then, she just started crawling up them by herself without me really even teaching her. :)  I think about all the things this little girl has to learn and how she can just pick it up.  It completely amazes me!  One funny part of this little story... I had my hands about an inch from her waist as she was crawling up the stairs.  As soon as she noticed this she stopped crawling, turned her head, and sort of glared at me as if to say, "Mom, I can do it myself.  I don't need your help!"  She didn't start crawling up the stairs again until I took my hands away.  (I put them back around her once she started crawling again).  Do you think she's going to be independent?!!?
She also is NOT a huge fan of Church.  What 1 yr. old is, right?  She does okay during the first hour, then the other 2 hours she just gets so bored.  She is just a little busy body.  Yesterday during Sunday School, she crawled off a bit to the side of me.  Then, she found the emergency escape door and started banging on it.  Harrison and I could not help but laugh.  We could just imagine her saying, "Get me out of here!"  We are still trying to figure out how to get her to enjoy church, but not just go into the foyer so she can have "play-time" there.
Just one more story.... The other day I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and Alexa was sharing it with me.  When I finished the cereal, I told her "All gone" and showed her the empty bowl.  She looked down inside it, then looked at me and said, "Uh-oh!"  It was pretty cute and, I thought, clever of her.
This little girl makes us laugh every day, we just love her!

Harrison's Birthday

Harrison's birthday was last Tuesday, June 26th.  The Saturday before we went out on a date to celebrate.  We went to one of his favorite restaurants, Ruby River, and then watched the new movie "Brave".  What a cute movie that is!  The date was so much fun too!  On Tuesday, his actual birthday, I made him breakfast in bed (this is a tradition of ours). Then, after he got home from work, we had his choice of dinner and invited my brother and sis-in-law, Scott and Traci, and his brother Morgan over for cake and ice cream.  The rest of his family was out of town and couldn't make it.  I made him a 2-layer cake for the very first time with homemade frosting.  It failed pretty miserably, but with much help from Traci, we made it doable! lol At least we can laugh about it now.  The back side of the cake was completely lopsided, but oh well... :)  It ended up being a fun night as we just ate cake and visited for a while.  Happy Birthday Sweetie!!

My Birthday

Harrison did a great job of spoiling me a ton on my birthday! He cooked and brought me breakfast in bed, and then we celebrated it again on Saturday by going out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Texas Road House.  After, we went shopping and out for ice cream.  (He really was a sport to go shopping with me!)  His family was nice enough to watch Alexa for us so we could go out on our fun little date!  On Friday, while Harrison was at work, a few of my friends from my ward threw me a birthday lunch and made me a cake.  It was so sweet and thoughtful of them and was fun to have something to do on my birthday! I thank everyone for the sweet birthday wishes and for making me feel loved!  Even Alexa gave me lots of loves! ;)

Scott and Traci's Wedding

My brother Scott and his wife, Traci got married in the San Diego Temple on April 28th.  Alexa and I went down to California for the wedding.  Unfortunately, Harrison couldn't go because of work and his sister was blessing her cute baby that Sunday as well, so we decided to divide and conquer to support both families.  It was such a neat experience to see them sealed together for time and eternity!  It was a beautiful sealing and the receptions, both in Utah and Idaho were wonderful and fun!  Congratulations you two love birds!
The Newlyweds with little Lexa.

Uh-Oh!

If "Uh-oh" counts as a word, then Alexa said her first word!  She first started saying it in April when she was 9 months old.  Anytime she drops something she says "uh-oh" over and over.  It is the cutest thing ever!  She now also says "Dad" or "Dada" ALL the time! This makes her Daddy very proud! (Whenever she sees her Dad or any Dad with his little boy or girl she points to them and says excitedly, "Dada! Dada!")  As well as Momma sometimes, Hi, and No on rare occasions.
The other day, Harrison got home before Alexa and I and, as we walked in the door, she heard a bowl and spoon clank as Harrison was in the kitchen.  As soon as she heard it, knowing it could't be me making the noise, she looked at me and asked, "Dada?"  Then Harrison walked into the living where we were.  When she saw him her face lit up immediately and she said, "Dada!!"  It was such a cute Daddy- Daughter moment!  We have so much fun watching her grow every day!

Easter

Easter was a lot of fun, we did a few things the weekend leading up to it to celebrate.  We invited my brother and his wife over to dye Easter eggs, and had three Easter egg hunts/ parties: one with the Black family, one with the Weber family during General Conference weekend, and (because Harrison says I am still 5 years old at heart, which is probably true ;) ) another one Sunday morning with just us.  Alexa also found her Easter basket.  She absolutely LOVED playing with the all the eggs.  She was surprisingly good at finding them too. :)  We then spent Easter Sunday in Nephi with Harrison's family after Church.  I am so grateful for my Savior and His atoning sacrifice.  Through his mercy, I know I can have the opportunity to repent and someday return to His and my Heavenly Father's presence!

Our Easter Eggs

Alexa and her cousin Mac swinging with Uncle Johnny.  You can see her two Easter eggs in her hand.  She would not let them go for anything! lol

Easter Sunday- Daddy and Alexa

They are so cute! :)

Our little family.

Mom and Alexa

General Conference Weekend

We had a great time for General Conference weekend.  We were able to go to Parma, Idaho, where I am originally from.  I have a lot of family that live there, so it was great to see everyone again.  The whole family ended up coming, and the grandparents had tons of fun with their two little grandbabies, Alexa and Ryker!  The conference talks were very good and, as usual, inspired and seemed to be exactly what I needed to hear.  I couldn't pick a favorite.  I love this gospel and the light and knowledge it brings to me! I don't know how I could ever raise a family on my own without the constant guide of the Holy Ghost and the love and mercy of my Heavenly Father and Savior!

Valentine's Day

I forgot to share about our little Valentine's Day, so here you are.  Since we knew it would be really hard to get a babysitter (who wants to babysit on Valentine's Day) and we didn't want to deal with all the crowds, we decided to do things a little nontraditional and make our own Valentine's Day dinner.  It was actually really fun! We put Alexa to bed early, made some yummy stakes, garlic potatoes, and other vegetables, and had a nice little candlelit dinner to ourselves.  We actually found this more romantic too, since we didn't have all the crowds and noise. :)  I think we will make this a tradition!

Yes... That is my husband and I will claim him! ;)

Our cute dinner! We even set out the china :)

Alexa- 8 Months old.

Our little Alexa is growing so fast!  She will be 8 months old tomorrow (March 9th).  She now has all 4 of her front teeth.  They came in a little unconventionally though.  First, she got one of her bottom ones.  It came in on January 30th.  After that, she got one of her top ones, then the other top one, and lastly the second bottom one.  She got the fourth tooth last Monday (March 5th).
She is also trying to crawl.  She has been "army crawling" for a few weeks now and gets up on all fours, she just hasn't figured out how to take the actual steps yet.  That can wait though, I haven't baby proofed my house yet :).
Her eating schedule is also, finally, starting to get in control.  I think due to her colic when she was born, her stomach is really sensitive.  Any food we gave her made her sick.  We had to start fresh, go back to nothing but milk, and take it really slow.  We have been doing that for a couple months now and she is finally being able to handle it better.  Hopefully, this will continue!
Every day, she seems to learn more, interact better, and grow bigger!  She is the happiest, most content little girl we have ever known.  She brightens our days so much!  Because we love her and think she is so cute, here are a few recent pictures:

She woke up from her nap and this is what her hair looked like... haha.
She is 7 1/2 months in this picture.

Hawaii

In January of this year (2012) Harrison and I were able to go to Hawaii with my family.  My parents, Trent and Whittney, Scott and his fiance (who he proposed to in Hawaii), my aunt Michele and uncle Robert, and Harrison and I all went.  We left Alexa at home with Harrison's family.  Although we missed her like crazy, we were able to talk to her through a lot of Skype :).
We stayed in Laie on the North Shore.  We had a lot of fun visiting the attractions, playing on the beach, and doing everything else we tourists do.  Some of the things we did were go to the PCC, the Laie Temple, Pearl Harbor, hiking, rode mopeds, and went kayaking and snorkeling.
 We saw lots of really cool and unique fish while snorkeling.  The last time we went, Harrison saw a reef shark, on accident, and that was pretty scary.  One of my favorite things we did was play in the water with the dolphins.  This has always been a dream of mine and it was so fun to see how they interact!  The PCC was also amazing!  I loved learning about the different cultures of the various islands you get to learn about while you are there.  I think Harrison's favorite part of the trip was riding the mopeds around the island.  I think he liked it so much because it was the closest thing to a motorcycle and he misses driving those around. :)
It was so nice creating these memories with my family and my sweet husband. Here are a few pictures of the trip:

At the PCC.  Harrison is trying to make fire to cook the dinner.
 It doesn't show it on the video below here, but he actually did make smoke! :)

A pretty waterfall at the PCC.
Sorry, my non-tech savvy- self couldn't figure out how to turn the picture the right way...

Doing a cultural dance during the Luau at the PCC.

Harrison and I at the PCC.

 Harrison making fire.

Doing a cultural dance at the PCC.

   The boys learing how to do a typical Tahitian dance.  Watch my Dad (in the back- tan shorts, blue shirt).  He is pretty good ;). PS- I am not sure if I'm going to get in trouble for posting this one... :) ).

Family Pictures

In October of 2011 we took our first family pictures together.  We took them in Utah about 20 minutes outside our home.  My friend Sarah took them for us, she did a great job.  It took a lot of convincing on my part to get Harrison to agree to take them, but he did in the end. :)  Here are a few of them:

Alexa was about 3 months old when we took these pictures.

Alexa Moments

I swear Alexa just keeps getting cuter and cuter every day!  Because I can't resist, I have to share a few cute moments of her's:
We have been starting her slowing on real baby food.  We tried pears first and mixed with cereal.  She loves them!  Every bite, she would give me the cutest big grin before she swallowed the food.  She is such a little sweetheart!

 Earlier this month, I set Alexa in her bouncer while I was cooking lunch.  She was having fun playing, then started to get a little fussy.  So I gave her her binky.  Within about 30 seconds of having her binky, she laid her little head down and fell asleep.  I couldn't help but laugh.

    The other day I was doing my coupons so I had my 5 newspapers out and Alexa was playing beside me.  As I am cutting she is just having fun tearing up the scrap newspaper I didn't need.  All of the sudden, I look at her and her hands are completely black from the ink on the paper.  She also had tons of little black smudges all over her face.  She looks at me and just gives me this huge grin as if she is saying, "Look how good I can tear this paper Mom!" :)  It made my day.  She is just adorable!

Welcome 2012!

We had a great New Year's Eve holiday! We hung out at home during the day and went shopping for a bit that afternoon.  Then, New Year's night we went to Nephi and spent it with Harrison's family.  We had fun playing games and hanging out, as well as doing the infamous countdown.  New Year's day we went to hung out at home and just enjoyed the rest of the weekend.  Harrison was able to have that following Monday off of work so it was really nice to have a long weekend together to spend as a family! We look forward to all that the new year brings!  

Our Life Recently

Well, we finished a great year from 2011.  I thought I would give a little update of our lives:

Thanksgiving
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!  Harrison only got Thanksgiving day off from work and, therefore, there was not enough time to go to Parma so we decided to stay here instead.  We went down to Nephi and spent the day with Harrison's family there.  Then we just relaxed and played games.  It was a lot of fun visiting with them.  That night, we went to my Aunt Karla and Uncle Dave's house in Orem and visited them them and their family, Renae, Grandma and Grandpa Weber (my grandparents), and Grandma Bill.  It was great visiting with them.  It was fun for the grandparents to see Alexa as they had not seen her since she was born.  We felt so blessed to be able to have family around the area that we could visit with.  We have truly been blessed this year and feel so lucky to have the gospel and wonderful family and loved ones in our life!

 Christmas
We decided to stay here in Utah for Christmas, so my family decided to come down here so we could see them and have Christmas with them early.  They came here beginning of December and we exchanged gifts with them.  It was so fun seeing them and visiting!
On Christmas Eve, we went to Nephi and spent the day there with Harrison's family.  We also exchanged gifts with his family, then just hung out, played games, and enjoyed each other's company.
We woke up in our own home Christmas Day, which was really nice to be able to relax at home and start our new family traditions. :) We made a nice Christmas breakfast here and opened our gifts.  Our main gifts were an XBOX 360 with Kinect from my parents and a tent from Harrison's parents.  Harrison is having fun playing his new Modern Warfare game and I started working out to my new Biggest Loser workout DVD.  We are also looking forward to going camping and using our new tent this summer!  It was so fun to see Alexa open her presents!  I think it was the highlight of my holiday!  She got so excited about the wrapping paper and opened every one of her presents by herself.  Between both grandparents and her parents who all love her deeply, it is needless to say that she was very spoiled this holiday, as were we all! :) 
After opening presents at our house, we went to Nephi and opened presents there.  Harrison's brother called from his mission in Wisconsin at 11:00 Christmas Day so we were able to talk to him.  It was fun watching Harrison talk to him.  They are very close and I look forward to meeting him for the first time in May when he comes home.  It will be fun to see him and Harrison interact together. :)  After his brother called, we went to church in Fred and Connie's ward.  It was a really good service with lots of musical numbers and a few people bore their testimony.  
The rest of the day was filled with lots of yummy food, games, and relaxing.  It was a very good Christmas holiday.  The best part was visiting with family and creating new memories together.  I am so thankful for my Savior and his birth.  I know he loves us all and will forever be indebted to Him for His atoning sacrifice.  He truly is the life and light of the World and I know He lives!  
Here our some picture of our Christmas this year:

Grandpa Weber and Alexa at the Ugly Sweater Party Beginning of December

Daddy and Alexa Christmas morning. He adores her.

Just cute!

Family picture. Christmas morning 2011. :)