Spanish Fork Peak

Mike and my brother, Adam have been enjoying this record breaking winter by dedicated their spare Saturday's to getting out and into it. Their latest adventure was snowshoeing up Spanish Fork Peak. As you can see there was plenty of snow. They were the first ones up that way since the last few storms and were breaking trail the whole way up. After loosing the trail and wearing themselves out they decided to call it a day. Mike said that the area reminded him of Colorado because of all the pine trees.

On their way out, about a half a mile from road they ran into a guy hiking in waders who asked if there was any open water up ahead. They explained how to get to the small pool where they had crossed. The guy thanked them and said "I just need to let my bugs out". Whatever that means.

The Goose-Egg

Just for the record: No one was ever "kicked over" as Annabelle 'remembered'. We were enjoying a pillow fight while Annabelle jumped on the bed . . . let's just say she got a little disoriented and jumped into a wall. Her forehead swelled to the size it is in these pictures in about 15 second. I told Mike we needed to go to the Emergency Room. I almost started crying. He continued to assure me that this is what a "goose-egg" looked like. With my limited medical knowledge I ran brain swelling scenarios through my mind - trying to decide if she would need a CAT scan before they took a piece of her skull off to relieve the brain swelling and therefore limit the brain damage. I thought the hospital would accuse us of abuse, we'd have to try to explain to the police what had happened while our sweet girl was in surgery. Luckily Mike sounded very confident that this deformed swelling on her forehead was a safe reaction to a bonk on the melon. Within a few minutes she was back to normal and gave us her version of the story!

"A Child is a Curly, Dimpled Lunatic."

I don't think Ralph Waldo Emerson would revise this statement at all if he came to spend an afternoon in our house. Annabelle is speaking so fluently and learning so quickly almost every single day she says something we are cracking up over. Here are a few of my favorites from the past month or so:

Our Little Lunatic

She was making hilarious face as we waited at the hospital to get her tubes in.

Mike and I realized we didn't have any plans for our Saturday and neither one of us had any real preferences of what to do with our free day together so we asked Anna, "What do you want to do today?" her response was "hmmm, Christmas Eve."

After returning from the grocery store Mike and I were unwinding on the coach watching Annabelle run from us to her room as she talked to herself. She ran out and announced "I'm buying onions and mac n' cheese and cereal and milk and eggs and . . . " When she had completed her shopping list Mike said "Can you get me some brownies?" I chimed in "And some candy for me?" She pursed her lips together and gazed up at the ceiling thoughtfully for a moment before replying "I don't know about that".

Annabelle asked me a few months ago if I had a baby in my tummy, as she pulled up my shirt and poked my gut. I had told her no and that it was just fat. More recently we were taking bath and Annabelle leaned with one hand on my belly to support herself and of course her hand sunk in a little bit. She turned to me "Mom, you're fat" I laughed "Yeah, are you fat Annabelle?" after a long pause "No, I'm squishy!"

Tonight on the phone with my Dad she sang the alphabet song and at the end my dad sang "Now I know my" and then paused to let Annabelle continue, she sang "Let-ters". They must have done this over and over, my Dad occasionally suggesting "ABC's" and Annabelle insisting the lyric was "Let-ters". I think I heard my dad snort a few times over the phone he was laughing so hard.

Wednesday was a free day at the zoo in SLC so despite the cold temperatures and snow we went with a group of friends. Later that evening Annabelle announced "The kids had fun at my zoo" I questioned "Your zoo?" "Yeah, it has my animals" with a strong emphasis on MY. For the rest of the evening she could not be convinced that the zoo was not hers.

Several times a day Annabelle will yell at me from her room "MOM - BE QUIET, my babies are sleeping". One time while I was minding my own business, washing the dishes she ran into the kitchen furiously and yelled her famous line. "I'm not being loud Annabelle" is responded. She then proceeded to throw the baby doll on he ground and yell again "Mom, be quiet! My baby is SLEEEEEPING". She isn't actually mad, she just gets going in her pretend play mode. Very dramatic.

Annabelle loves wearing her frog galoshes and I love them b/c she can put them on herself. She'll often check with us whether or not they are on the wrong feet. The other night she and Mike were walking home from Adam and Trudy's house and her jeans started to slide down her bum. "Dad, my pants are on the wrong bum!"

About a month ago Mike was helping me get Annabelle ready to go to playgroup. She didn't want to get dressed. He tried to reason with her that it was cold outside, and that the other kids would be dressed. She argued back "I'd rather be naked!" For the proper use of 'rather' in a sentence she was allowed 5 more minutes before she had to get dressed.

When Annabelle was waking up from getting tubes in her ears she was pretty out of it but wouldn't stop crying. The nurse said that she wasn't in any pain but that they drug they had used to wake her up would make her feel startled. She had been crying for about 20 minutes and had said a few slurred phrases when she suddenly sat up and without opening her eyes, she cried and said "I'm . . . HAPPY!"

Hopefully at least some of these read as funny as they were when Annabelle said them. I can't believe her grammar and vocabulary sometimes. She's a nut and we love her.

Asleep in her high chair with a box of nerds.

Adam mentioned to Annabelle that she had some spaghetti sauce on her forehead. She immidiately dipped her finger in her food and added another dot to her forehead.