Joyous Return

After an unanticipated delay of two days Rick returned this morning from his business trip to LA . He made the most of it his trip by staying in swanky digs (including my parent's house), doing some shopping, eating well, and visiting with friends and family. Rick came home bearing many gifts for his "two favoritest sweeties." Piper got a big grin on her face when she saw Rick but the smile quickly turned to tears for some reason. She had to be calmed down a bit by Mom and then she warmed right back up to Daddy. We're all very happy to have Rick home.

Reunited and it feels so good...sing along with me.

Daddy and daughter together again

At the Park and Building Forts

Piper loves the swings and cried when we left.

Swing, swing, swing


We had a fun time in the fort although Piper was constantly attempting to tear it down.

Easter Sunday

I think Piper likes what the Easter Bunny brought her.

Yea!

That's a contented little one.

Baa, baa. She giggles whenever she sees this little lamb. Should we start calling Piper Mary?

Look at my funny sock puppets.

Look at me!

Piper went to sleep last night at 11:00. When got home around 8:30 from a baptism and she went right to bed. However Piper had other plans. I spent the next two and a half hours trying to get her to sleep. Thankfully she slept in this morning until 9:45; I got a good rest too.

Today we went to the mall. Piper was getting a little fussy because she was hungry. She wouldn't drink her bottle so I gave her a bit of a wholewheat apple muffin I made. She's had them before and loves them. Then to my surprise after eating a bite, she made the sign for "more." I've been using a few Sign Language signs with her, mostly at mealtimes. I say "more," "eat," "drink," and "all done." It took me a little to realize that she was signing "more." It looks just like when she claps but instead of having her hands open, she keeps her fists closed.

Piper is giving me a look like she thinks that her mom is a li'l crazy.


Watch out! Piper's flashing gang signs. I think she's part of the Pampers Posse.



Piper doesn't have many things to crawl on furniture-wise so she used the stroller as a prop to help her stand up.



I think that Piper looks like me here when I was a baby.


"I wanna eat the wheel. Please..."

Today's update

Piper can scamper around but she's almost fully crawling on her hands and knees. She can pull up pretty well and will take steps holding your hands.

That's not a frisbee Piper!

Playing in the kitchen with mom

That's an awfully big balloon.

She's milk drunk.

All smiles

Piper was very smiley this evening. Too much in fact, she felt like playing until 10:00 even though I had woken her up at 6:15 from her nap. I'll have to work on breaking that habit since this is the second night she's done this.

She wanted to climb over all of her toys.

What a crazy girl!

Piper loves her bears!

At the park

Piper had a ball at the park yesterday.

What a proper lady with her ankles crossed.

Grass doesn't taste too good, Piper discovered.

Piper thought that some guy at the park was particularly funny for some reason.

Easter time update

Here's a little update what we're up to these days.

Piper is getting into all kinds of mischief as she's crawling everywhere and has learned to stand up in her crib. The only way she knows how to get down is by falling over and of course, bonking her head. Piper sleeps through the night but has taken to waking up two and three times because she can't find her binky. Waking up is pretty common at this age apparently. She can clap, wave bye-bye and has initiated many a game of peek-a-boo. She makes us laugh every day.

I'm keeping busy these days with my calling in Relief Society as the Enrichment counselor. Sometimes it's tough since the members in our ward aren't always fully active. It's coming together though. I gave my notice two weeks ago to my boss that I'm not going to be coming back to work. They understood and weren't very surprised. I'll work freelance for them though when they need it. We feel good about the decision.

Rick has had a pretty easy time of it at work lately. We love that because then we can spend more time together as a family. We hosted an Elders Quorum BBQ on Saturday and it was a success. There were around nine guys here but they ate like there were twice as many.

Since we have General Conference here next weekend rather than this weekend (because of the time difference) Piper wore her Easter dress to church today. It was a bit big but super cute on her. She even had little bloomers on underneath. She seemed to think that the hat was a joke as she giggled everytime we put it on her.

Piper discovers her spoon. She's wanting to feed herself more and more these days.

Piper is tasting a kiwi and isn't so sure she likes the sweet-sour taste.