Alice's Blessing

On Sunday we blessed Alice at home. It was such a beautiful day and we loved being surrounded by family and friends. Alice was an angel the entire evening. She honestly didn't cry once from 5 to 8:30. She just smiled at each of her cousins that fought over who got to hold her next. We were so glad Grandpa Evans could make it and that Grandma Kaelin made it there just in time. My sister took much better pictures than this with her camera, but until I get them from her these will have to do.

A few tips on how to be a great big brother

Whenever Alice is crying, Henry says, "Sweetie." I wish I could add inflection to the written word because it's really cute.

Henry loves to stick things into Alice's mouth. When she wouldn't take her binky one day he said, "Baby Alice not working." Today I caught him trying to brush her teeth.

And just a side note- Henry goes down into Zach's work space, gets the little paper holes from the hole puncher, eats them, and says "mmmm, delicious!"

Baby Alice

Alice Georgene Derr

7 lb 10 oz

19 inches

when you can't go into labor...eat!

Today's the due date, and I'm still just hanging out. My energy levels are all over the charts- I go from nesting maniac to a slug on the couch. Zach and I thought we'd get in one more date before the big day. We enjoyed a fantastic dinner at Benihana last night. I went into labor with Henry after eating way too much veggie tempura, so I was hoping Japanese food would do the trick again. No luck.

I was just thinking back on the past 40 weeks, and how this pregnancy was different the second time around. Here are a few of my weird cravings this time:

First Trimester: jalapenos & pepper jack cheese
(I couldn't get enough of this spaghetti squash with jalapeno cream)

Second Trimester: Tillamook Ice Cream

Still my favorite flavor to date is their Mudslide

Third Trimester: Marshmellow Matey's

I'd eat it when I'd get hungry in the middle of the night, and then for breakfast in the morning too! Zach couldn't believe how fast we got through the really BIG bag

May Fun

Here are a bunch of random pictures from May. As I've posted before, the way we could get Henry to eat anything was to add a little dip. Now he's resorted to bagging the healthy things we want him to eat (like carrots), and only licking the dip as demonstrated below.

Doesn't this look like the most fabulous place to have a recital? We went to my brother's student recital to see Ty and Joseph. Daynes Music brought in a 7' Steinway just for the event.

Visiting Grandpa in his new place. Mary and Henry love to ride around in his wheelchair.

My sister Jen

Once Henry discovers he likes to do something, he wants to do it over, and over, and over, and over again. Zach got a little arm workout one Sunday afternoon.

Henry's cousins stayed over one night. In the morning they made the most amazing fairy objects out of items found in the yard. These girls are oozing with creativity.

New York! New York!

Lucky for me my friends planned a girls trip while I could still fly pregnant. Our friend CK is getting married soon so we wanted to have one last hoorah before she ties the knot. It was well worth every penny. There's something really great about traveling with friends you know this well. You can completely be yourself, and not worry about being pressured into anything. We never ran out of anything to talk about. It was fabulous. I just wish the trip lasted a little longer, and we all lived a little closer. Zach was a good sport watching Henry by himself while I was gone. CK & Carl were super sports lugging enough air mattresses and bedding to their newly purchased condo for us to sleep on.

One of the highlights for me was walking along the Highline. Loved it.

ps- No one should be forced to stand next to ladies this thin while pregnant.

I wasn't sure I wanted to see a show, but Mary Poppins was amazing. Good thing Beans got us there. We left Times Square less than an hour before the whole car bomb scare.

Cupcakes at Magnolia's. Definitely not as good as I remembered them, but it was a great place to visit, visit, and visit.

Yummy- the Shake Shack. It was packed so we ate on the steps of the Natural History Musuem.

I went on this trip with no expectations, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of things I'd never seen before. Like the bull by Wall Street.

Fabulous brunch. I'm in love with the lemon ricotta pancakes

Go Bees

Henry loved his first ball game of the season, but the bee mascot...not so much.



He honestly sat in his seat for over three innings yelling, "Go Bees!" Then each time the music came on, he stood on his seat and danced.

Turning Terrific Two

These days, Henry's favorite subject is his Papi (grandpa) & grandpa's horse named "Shadow." So we decided to host a Ken"henry" Derby party for Henry's 2nd birthday. Papi was nice enough to take the kids on little horse rides around the yard. Shadow was still a little rambunctious for little ones, so faithful old Blue let the kids ride on his back.

Henry's cake...carrot, just like the horses love it.

The kids made special Kentucky Derby party hats. Henry has very creative cousins and friends.

On top of all the excitement, the kids also had a blast playing in the sandbox, climbing the tree house, jumping on the tramp, and gliding down the zip line. Unfortunately Grandma Gigi got clobbered on the shoulder by an overeager zip liner.

It was a fun group. Thanks to everyone for coming and to Papi & Babja for hosting!

Old Man Zach

Zach turned one year older in April. We enjoyed dinner at the Red Iguana with Zach's parents, then we came back to our house for Zach's favorite frozen key lime pie. More please!

Is it a crime to look this good?

Each year our ward has a youth activity at the Gateway. Members of the ward volunteer to dress up and wander around. The youth break into groups then race to find them. Zach and I tried to be inconspicuous as an old French couple, but we ended up being a little too obvious. It's hard finding a way to hide that huge belly!

One year, during this activity, my mom posed as a homeless woman under a blanket on a bench in the Cottonwood Mall. Security approached her, asking if everything was okay. She was humiliated.

Easter 2010

The Easter bunny comes early to our house- he showed up Saturday morning. Zach helped Henry find his basket in the basement and it didn't take long for Henry to enjoy a lot of candy (mom and dad snuck pieces of candy too- probably too much).



That afternoon the cousins came over to our yard for Omah's annual Easter egg hunt. It's usually in the orchard, but since my parents' house is still under construction we had to break with tradition.

After finding a few eggs, Henry was more interested in playing in the dirt and the gutter water. He tried running down the street too.

On Sunday we enjoyed General Conference and Easter brunch with Zach's family. I attempted my homemade blueberry muffins in the morning, ate way too much ham for lunch. Delicious. That evening we had Easter dinner with my family.

I'm addicted

I've always been a huge ice cream fan, but I honestly can't get enough of Tillamook ice cream. I can't stop eating it. I keep sending Zach to Winco to get more of it. That's the only place we've seen it and the amazing part is it's cheap cheap cheap! So far our favorites are caramel toffee crunch and mint chocolate chip. Their mint chocolate chip reminds me of another one of my favorite ice creams from Columbus, OH- Graeters. Good thing I have the excuse of a baby growing inside my belly to make me feel better about how many inches I've gained from the ice cream alone.

It's a Girl!

I'm a little late in posting this, but we're excited to be introducing a new little sister to Henry this July.

spring...I love you

This warm weather has made me so happy to be outside. Since living in a real house with a big yard, I've discovered that I love gardening. Zach thinks I'm weird, but there is something so satisfying about cleaning out leaves, and cutting back dead plants. While I was outside cleaning up, Henry found great joy in taking handfuls of dirt from the flower pots and spreading it all over the deck. When I looked up and saw mud oozing out of his mouth, I did what any good parent would do. I first got the camera for a picture, then eventually tried to clean it off. By the time I got him some water, he was chewing on a few little rocks. yummy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I come from a family that loves to celebrate holidays in creative and festive ways. Now that I have my own family, it's a lot to live up to actually. Since I'm the least creative child from my family, I was very proud of myself for actually doing something special this St. Patrick's Day. It's one of my favorite holidays, and I'm happy to report I do have Irish blood.

Green banana and pecan pancakes. No- not green bananas as Zach thought, the bananas were very ripe, but the pancakes mysteriously turned green.

Green lunch: guacamole chips, ants on a log, green apples, and green toast shaped like a shamrock. Hat: courtesy of the leprechaun.

That sneaky leprechaun! He got away before we could catch him, but he set up an exciting treasure hunt for us ending with a pot of chocolate gold. Our friends Max & Tess joined us for the treasure hunt and lunch. Max was especially good at finding all the clues for us while Henry wandered off to the neighbors house.

Henry couldn't resist eating the chocolate with the gold wrapper still on.

Finally...a decent haircut

After having that hideous picture of Lloyd Christmas at the top of this blog for way too long, I am happy to report Henry finally got a decent haircut. Thanks Jen!

What could be better than a zoo and a farm?

I just had to post a few pictures from recent visits to Wheeler Farm and the Hogle Zoo. We feel so lucky to have great friends like the Richards and the Woodburys to go with.