Baby Bullet

Ok, so for Christmas my parents bought us a Baby Bullet baby food maker. I have to say that after using it for the last few weeks I have found that it is one of the most awesome things! I will post pictures (when I find my camera cord...don't know where it ran off to) of the system and the results, including a happy smiling face of Josiah enjoying fresh food. The system makes it so easy to make that it is not even time consuming at all. The most time is spent steaming the veggies which is fine because I can get a load of laundry done while waiting on the steamer :) It's so neat to be able to just make my own baby food instead of not only spending tons of money on baby food, but to know exactly what my baby is eating. I am able to make a weeks worth of food ahead of time on Saturdays after outreach and then I just put it in the freezer for the week ahead. I'm in love :)

Footwashing and Communion

Oh what a week has passed! I always love the week of prayer and fasting at our church because it makes us stop and pause to focus completely on God and all of His goodness! Sunday we had a footwashing and communion service to break the fast and it was beautiful. The way that footwashing has been the last few years is by families. First the family members wash the head of the house's feet, showing their submission to the authority God has placed in their lives, and then the head of the house washes his family's feet, recognizing his responsibility to provide for, take care of, and lead them.
Rachel thought that the communion cups held medicine and so she kept saying that she was "sick". Then Rachel was so excited to be able to get her feet washed! It was hilarious! It was so cute when Robert decided to wash Josiah's feet too and Josiah was laughing the whole time he was prayed for (I think the water tickled him). When we went and sat back down Rachel looked at the couple sitting next to us and exclaimed "I got my feet washed!"
I will be so beside myself with joy when both Rachel and Josiah have the Holy Ghost and are taking communion with us!

Just a small pause...

I know you all (especially family) are probably wondering what happened to my blogging about our vacation. This week is our week of prayer and fasting leading up to a communion service and so I am pausing my blogging schedule. This year is different from last in the sense that I cannot fast straight through the entire week due to breastfeeding. I am having to adjust to 1 day fasting, 1 day eating, etc. since that is what medical professionals advise. I hope that you are all having a great week and I will be back to blogging when the time is right =)

December Vacation Day 2

We left Anaheim the day after Christmas and headed for Santa Maria. Unfortunately we landed right in the middle of traffic on the freeway and it ended up taking a lot longer than expected. On our way, we stopped at the Ronald Reagan Library/Museum and had a blast looking at everything and touring the retired Air Force One! I absolutely love history and so this place was definately a wonderful place in my opinion.
Don't even try to answer the question in the picture below...you might just get overwhelmed with "irritating" thoughts, lol: This was a helicoptor that was used to provide protection for President's flying on Air Force One:

The Air Force One:

I have no idea why Robert made this pose for the picture below...kinda reminds me of some penguin strutting...lol:

Rachel was trying to hold President Reagan's hand:

A full scale replica of the oval office:

My sister was giving a speech...poor thing managed to enjoy herself even though she had just had surgery on her shoulder the previous week:

In traffic...

The Library sits on top of a hill above Simi Valley. The coastal views were amazing and the sunset over Reagans memorial site was beautiful...of course I caught none of it on camera because of running out of time. We were at the Library for over a hour and a half and were unable to finish the whole tour. There was just so much to see, including a piece of the Berlin Wall! I'd have to say that the most interesting quote that I read while there was when Reagan said "I have not left the Democratic Party, they have left me". I find it so interesting that when someone wants to stick to their conservative standard, others try to say that they are "leaving them" or "isolating themselves" when in reality that is usually not the case. Thank God for those who actually stand for what they believe.

We reached our destination late that night after leaving the library and checked into a quite hotel. More about our adventure later!

December Vacation Day 1

Ok, first of all I found out the hard way that it is very tiresome to be a nursing mother at Disneyland on Christmas day! Almost all of the lines are at least an hour long and when your little one nurses every two hours...well, let's just say that multi-tasking comes in handy. Standing in line and nursing is not the greatest thing in the world, but it is better than a screaming baby on every ride, or sitting the entire day=)

When we arrived Rachel was in a sort of "awe" moment. We went to Toon Town first and of course stopped at the Castle to take a pic with Papa and Nana!

Rachel loved Toon Town! She especially liked Goofy and he gave special attention to her since she ran to him before he even reached his destination. After visiting all of the Characters in their homes, I and Robert rode the little roller coaster with Rachel and she wanted to go again but, alas, the line was just too long to stand in again.

As the day got later, it became soooo busy that it was hard to move around the park! We finally stopped and were able to take a picture of the four of us:

We went to ride the Pirates of the Carribean while most of the crowd was enjoying one of the parades on main street. Our wait was only 20 minutes! This is what Josiah did while in line for the ride:

This is what Rachel did while in line for the ride:

This was Rachel after the first drop...she loved this ride! She was so upset when we left and didn't go on it again. Josiah slept through the entire ride! I thought for sure he would wake up screaming as soon as there was gunfire, but nope, he just stirred a little and went back to sleep.

End of the day, Rachel was exhausted, Josiah was hungry...we all were hungry and tired! Getting out of the park was fun, or NOT =)

Did I mention that Main Street was beautiful? :

All in all, it was a very fun Christmas Day and I look forward to going to Disneyland again. Thankfully this time "It's a Small World" had a 3 hour line so we didn't go...not too thrilled with that ride =) Rachel would love it though, so next time!

After leaving the park we ate at a restaurant near our hotel and checked in for the night...the next day had another adventure waiting to happen!

Josiah's accomplishment...

Okay, so I know that I owe pictures from our vacation last week BUT I have some news first! While we were in Fresno, CA visiting family last Wednesday, Josiah FINALLY rolled over!!! I must tell you that we were so excited to be the first ones to share in this milestone. Here's how it happened: Our hotel room had a little vanity area around the corner from the bedroom area. I was in that vanity area taking my hair down while Robert, Rachel, and Josiah were sitting on one of the beds just talking (well, Josiah was babbling at least). Suddenly Robert was yelling "honey! hurry! I think he's going to turn over........quick!" So, I dropped what I was doing and came around the corner just in time to see him turn over onto his stomach, then he giggled as he rolled back onto his back. Now almost a week later, he is quite the pro and is scooting everywhere once on his stomach. Goodness, they grow so fast but it's so much fun to watch them grow!