I needed a laugh today.

Gordon B Hinckley - funny

Jungle Fever

Gotta love zebra stripes.

Tub time!

Natalie is just too big for the baby tub. She had her first big girl bath this week. True love.

I think she looks like her Mama in this picture. Just sayin'.

Mothers' Day

Mothers'? Mother's? I think both are right.

Anyway, it was great. Sam fed the baby in the morning, and I slept in til NINE O' CLOCK. Just wonderful.

After my Relief Society presidency meeting, Sam broke out the goodies.

It's a Willow Tree figurine!! I love these babies. When I'm fabulously wealthy I'm going to have all of them. This one is called "Our Gift."

 We ate lasagna and corn and applesauce for supper, and went to bed early. It was a perfect, perfect day.

And here's to this little lady for making it all possible.

BEST.DAY.EVER.

These are all so wonderful that I'm not sure if I can rank them in order of awesomeness.

NATALIE CUT HER FIRST LITTLE TOOTHY!!! I discovered it as I was babysitting. Both children were screaming, Natalie because it was 30 minutes past naptime and I forgot the sucker, and the other kid because Natalie was causing such a ruckus. I put the other kid back in his bed and attempted to use my pinkie finger as a sucker for Natalie, and she bit me!! It hurt so good! You can't see it very well, so you'll all just have to come visit to take a look-see.

I SAW A WOOD CHUCK! ON MY RUN! Or a groundhog or a gopher or something. I can't prove it, you'll just have to believe me. But I did! It ran right up next to the road and sniffed around and then disappeared into a hole. I'll have to go back and get photographic evidence of his escape route.

And in conclusion, I get to pass these when I run. Doesn't get better than that.

*This just in. After extensive research involving Google images, it can be confirmed that what I spotted was indeed a wood chuck.

Carpe diem, dog.

A couple of great things have happened today. Number one. I was boiling macaroni and only had to taste one noodle because I boiled it for the exact perfect amount without even trying. I think I'll be an Iron Chef one day. Number two. Natalie is wearing magenta rompers. Wear them while you can. Number three. I had a carpe diem success. Here's the story.

First of all, I don't really think that carpe diem is a good motto for life, or for raising children. But I do think that every once in a while, it's smart to not worry about everything that you could be worrying about and just love what's happening (aka carpe diem...), but just once in a while.

I was boiling previously mentioned macaroni when little Natalie decided it was nap time, in a big way. I scooped her up with the intention of keeping her happy for the next eight minutes while I finished the noodles, then it's nap time. She would have none of it. So, I turned the burner down to what I hoped was low enough to not have my noodles boil over, and we went to go rock.

I was rushing the rocking to get back to my pot, and so when I put Natalie down she cried and cried and cried. And I thought, what the heck. I'm going to rock my baby to sleep.

And so we rocked and swayed and hummed and rocked, and she was out within four minutes.

Did I have to change the foil under the burners? Yes. Did my pot run out of water? Almost. But I soaked in a moment that I would have squandered otherwise. She'll only be seven months and one day once, and she is already almost too big for her romper.

I don't know how to wrap up the story, so here's some pictures.