This weekend...

Friday night... Yummy Cottage Inn Pizza with Abernethys (thanks for the idea guys), then home for Ice Cream. Dave and I are alike in many ways, but this is where we differ...

Dave's bowl...

Heidi's Bowl...

Saturday was finally warm enough to get out on a walk! These photos are after our walk, I put Anna inside while I took her stroller to the car and brought Mia in. This is what Anna did, I had to snap some photos.

Mia waited so patiently! I love how her coat catches the light.

And they told us that there were never blue sky days in A2! This was beautiful.

Wanting to travel somewhere warm and a box of kleenex

Some of my family members are on a cruise in the Caribbean. I am SOOO jealous. I watched the news this morning while eating breakfast and it said it was 5 degrees and the windchill was below zero.... COLD!!! So today while wiping 3 different noses all day (mine, Anna Belle's, and Anna- I think I used a whole box just today), I decided that I would take a "mind vacation" to some favorite spots. Who would like to come along... minus Kleenex's? Where should we go?

The Oregon Coast...

Maui at Sunset

A Cruise in the Caribbean...

Waterfalls in the Mountains...
OR Waterfalls in Kauai...Or Waterfalls in a Puerto Rico rain forest...

Disneyland...

NYC in the fall...

Private Beach in Kauai close to sunset...

Coast of Kauai swimming with dolphins...

Eating Jo Jo's ...mmmmmmm....

The beautiful mountains outside Dave's cabin ...

Sunset in Florence, Italy...

Zions...

Tetons....

Jenny Lake outside Jackson Hole...

Anna's World

I didn't get much time to blog on Anna's birthday and I wanted to take a moment and update what she is into these days...or what she isn't.

ALL ABOUT ANNA...

* Weighs 18 lbs 13 oz

* Is 29 and 1/4 inches

* Has the SWEETEST disposition

* Light brown wispy hair

* TINY, but such cute feet

* Has two little bottom teeth

* Signs "milk," "more,"and "all done"

* Says "Da Da," "Ma Ma" and today she said "hi,"
* Loves to Babble "gathba" babababa" "lalalala" "aaaaa"

* Pulls herself to standing on everything, and is getting stronger everyday

* Loves to dance and I swear does it to the beat,

* Claps and likes "patty cake"

* ABSOLUTELY LOVES photos, will stop and point at any photo she sees. She also has two baby photo books that she will look at forever. She loves to look at pictures on the computer.

* Loves to skype especially with her cousins

* Uses her right hand pointer finger to show what she wants or where she wants to go.

* Will not keep headbands or bows in her hair, much to her mom's dismay! She also pulls her beanies off as well, which is not good in the cold MI weather

* She loves music: every time she hears a little bit, no matter where it is, she reacts

* Is very good at throwing food on the floor

* Eats okay- her favorites are Corn, Vienna sausages (gross I know, but it was recommended and she loves it), Chicken, Beans, crackers, and juice

* Loves her "sippy"

* Hates getting changed into her PJ's - mostly because she is exhausted by then

* Is a "cheese" and will smile at anyone she sees and will ham it up to get attention

* Is content to play by herself

* Wants to get into every cupboard and is learning new things to open all the time

* Loves books: she will sit and turn pages for quite a while and likes the touch and feel books

* LOVES her "baby," which is a tiny $1 deal at Walmart... I should have bought more for back-ups.

* Won't take naps at work, but loves to sleep on mom. However, she typically will sleep 12 hours a night with one break for food at about 6 am.

* Waves "night- night"

* Thinks the slider or any glass doors are so fun

* Loves Mia, will feed her (by dropping food on the floor), reach out to her, and play with her crate, whether she is in it or not

* Is very into her "birthday balloons" and new puzzle - she will crawl around with the puzzle piece knob in her mouth

* Gets really warm (aka sweats) when she sleeps

* Gives great open mouth cheek slobbers (her version of kisses)

* Thinks bubbles are hilarious

* Loves any little toy she can suck on

* Likes to tear paper, tissue paper is the best

* Will instantly fall asleep in the car

* Snores a little bit when she is sleeping and has a little stuffy nose most of the time. She may have allergies - the doctor said her adenoids are a little swollen, but nothing to worry about now

* Gags on food so we asked the doctor to check it out, she also has inflamed tonsils, but not enough to worry about.

*She is such a quick learner: last night Dave was teaching her how to pull a string on an animal toy and she did it herself today

This little angel is growing up so fast. I absolutely LOVE watching her all day long. She is incredible. I feel so blessed to be her mom!

We had some friends over for dinner on her birthday. Thanks to all for coming, it was fun. Anna wasn't too into her cake, but loved playing with her friends. It was a fun evening. Here are some pictures of the day.

At work...this was right after I scared the two of them while they were playing under the table


Anna loves to look out the windows at work, she feels so big standing there.

Anna's new music from Russ and Carrie - Thanks guys!

Anna and Isaac, as you can probably see, we propped him up to compare heights and he is holding on for dear life at 3 months old!

Here is your cake little one, it is delicious! Mommy knows, she spent the night before eating batter and frosting! mmmm....


....yep, she loves cake. Hopefully she doesn't get my sweet tooth!

Friends who came to the party. We missed you Tophams! Sorry you were in the ER! ):


Hunter was "loving" Anna, they are buds!

ONE YEAR OLDER ...

Oh Yes, Today is a big day at the Miner household. We celebrate one year of having our Miracle Baby enter our lives. I have been thinking all week about the events that lead up to this day a year ago and I feel truly blessed for the blessing of her healthy birth and this wonderful year.

As I write this and relate to a year ago at this time I am reminded that I was sitting in a hospital bed getting induced and dumbfounded by the fact that I was to have a baby THAT day, 3.5 weeks early. There were lots of crazy things that happened with her birth. If you want you can look back to this week a year ago and read our posts. Something I plan to do tonight when I am home and have time to relax and probably cry.

I cannot imagine my life any different. She is truly the most precious thing in the world. I thank our Heavenly Father every day for the constant JOY that she is. I love you my princess, Anna Karen. Happy Birthday!

P.S. The picture above was taken today, though it looks very similar to the photo on the header of our blog! The other is just moments after birth, those eyes were so observant from the moment she was born. They still make me melt every day!

Vroom Vroom!

Ahh, the Detroit Auto Show! Thanks to Al for extending the invitation. It was incredible. Naturally, I had to start with my personal favorite: the Lamborghini.

Here's Chris (all 6'10" of him) trying to fit into a BMW ... not working!

Though I can't say I dig the orange, I couldn't turn down the chance to get into a Viper!

I won't go into detail for each pic, but we were treated to all kinds of Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Maserati, Bentley, Aston Martin, the new Corvette and Camaro, along with a ton of other ridiculously beautiful cars. I had no choice but to buy one of each! Enjoy the rest of the pics!

Colder Than A ____________ (you fill in the blank)!

As I write this, it is -5 degrees outside and will drop to -8 within a couple of hours! All I know is I'm going to be laying out tomorrow and getting a tan!! It's the kind of cold that literally takes your breath away. When it hits your skin, a strange pain hits you and then numbness. As I walked around campus today (in shorts nonetheless ... I went to the gym), you could tell who had been outside for longer than five minutes because they all looked like they were severely sunburned. Definitely an experience to remember!

For anyone wondering, I am in fact alive (though Heidi has been kind enough to take over most of the blogging). School is going very well and it's hard to believe that I'm more than 1/4 of the way done. This semester's courses seem like they'll be challenging and work-heavy, but I'm optomistic that I'll enjoy them.

Also, I have officially been accepted for an internship position at McKay-Dee Hospital this summer, so I'm extremely excited for the opportunity. It doesn't hurt to be close to family and friends, either! I'll be working with Tim Pehrson, who is the CEO of McKay-Dee, as well as Vice President for the Urban North Region of Intermountain. I'll be able to sit in on most of the administrative meetings and should have some great projects to head as well.

That's the latest!

December break (part 1)

Hello, here is Part I of our 3 week vacation in Utah. There were so many wonderful things that I have had a hard time summarizing. I figured since this is partly my journal right now that I don't just want to do a collage of pictures, but rather a brief description of what we did each day. Then I tried to only pick one picture for each day, and found myself liking too many photos. This has taken me a long time, but it is worth it. (The previous picture was taken by Melanie Walton on the 26th. I think this picture is rather perfect, I love how it captures the sweetness of Anna, she truly is happy and loving like this every day! Mel, is an amazing photographer! Check out her photography blog- I have a link! )

Anyway on to the reason for this post....

Dec. 17th- Anna's first flight and dinner with the K fam, it was SO great to reconnect with family again. The cousins seemed HUGE and Anna loved seeing them.

18th- Jackson's school performance. Dave did not feel well today and spent most of the day on the couch. He had been fighting a cold and we think he got the stomach flu. At this point we didn't realize how many people would also endure this gross bug throughout the holiday season! We soon foung out. In the evening we went to Sydney and Caitlynn's dance performance and dinner at Wingers. The girls were SO beautiful and danced well. Thanks Chris and Holly!

19th- Christmas "service" get- together @ Miners with cookies and pizza (the pizza was interesting, we went to Nick and Willey's and they were out of power, we had them make a take n' bake" pizza in the dark with light of cell phones and charged us cash. hilarious!) We got together to go caroling, but it was too cold and snowy so we just hung out which was nice to reconnect with everyone. This also started what became known as Dave and Heidi's pig out season. Anna loved playing with her cousins, these photos were actually taken on the 23rd (I know this is not useful information to most of you, but it will help me in the future.)






20th- Girlfriend's lunch @ Tori's Parent's home (we missed all who weren't able to be there!), Utah verses Weber State (Just Heidi and Dave went while Anna had tow blowouts with Auntie KJ... sorry sister! Thanks again for your care!), Hung out with parents in the evening.

21st- Church at our Bountiful Ward and Dinner and "Dark Knight" movie @ Thomas's home. Anna slept almost the whole time we were there. Thanks Melissa and Wy, we miss living so close to you. This picture below is actually from Christmas day, but I wanted to post a picture of one of Anna's biggest fans, meet Hannah... she acutally didn't feel well the night we were there and spent most of the time in bed. Poor girl.

22nd- "little little Christmas eve" with the K fam- gingerbread trees, caramel apples, and lots of sick family members, the cutest pelican toy from the best "aunties,"a new Christmas book, and Pjs.

23rd-"Little Christmas Eve" with Miners and Storheims. Yummy Ham, treats, bells, nativity, and visits from JoAnn's siblings, which we always enjoy, especially this year because we acutally lived with them and had more time to talk. I love the next pictures, it shows how BIG this family is getting and this is missing one of the siblings who has 5 kids!

24th- Shelby's (My Cousin's daughter) Birthday party, Errands, Christmas Eve Turkey dinner with just us and part of the K fam (only Mom, Dad, and KJ), little "playschool" nativity, Grandpa reading from the bible, wrapping presents, Sleeping over at K home, Anna discovering she can crawl with things in her mouth.

25- CHRISTMAS!!! Anna slept in longer than expected! We watched girl cousins open "Santa's gifts" then downstairs for Grandma and Grandpa and sibling gifts, breakfast with K fam, Grandma W, cousins- Matt, Mandi, and Shelby and Aunt Sue. Pack up and headed to Miners for lunch and presents from Papa and JoJo (which Anna slept through!) Hung out the rest of the evening and watched "Traitor." Went on a midnight walk in the snow! It was so peaceful and beautiful! We unfortunelty didn't get a good family photo on Christmas, but these were some of the fun snapshots taken. Some of our gifts this year included, Utah clothes- Anna got her first Ute sweatshirt, tickets to "Wicked," framed family portrait, new clothes, coat, shoes, books, money, and lots of toys for Anna. We felt very blessed.

26th- Snowed in! Hung out all day, Anna took great naps. Friend's party at Waltons. (This picture is not too flattering, but is shows our beautiful outfits for the "ugly sweater party-which not everyone got the memo about so we only wore them until we could take a picture). Anna loved playing with all her friends.

This picture shows how exhausted Anna was throughout the trip, she played hard and was content and happy then within 2 minutes after driving in the car she would be out cold. Also, I have to note that this trip was her first time riding in a "big girl carseat!" She loved it.

27th- Surprise Party for Brooke. Hung out at K family's and watched Jackson 5 movie and a snipet of the worst show on cable called "Big Ed's Polka Show"- highly recommended for a good laugh!) Then Heidi got the stomach flu until Sunday night. Anna loves her new toys and her Daddy these pictures where when he walked in the room and she noticed him! It is the cutest relationship, I love to see them interact.

28th- Heidi spent most of the day in bed with the stomach bug, but felt well "enough" to go to Grandma W. for "her Christmas party." Anna got her first doll! Thanks G ma, it was fun to be there with everyone.

29th- Holly chopped Heidi's hair, Heidi loved spending time with Mandi and Shelby (cousins), Annual Temple Square visit with Bjorklunds and lets not forget the delicious dinner @ Cafe Rio! I miss that place!

Well that is it for now... more fun on the way hopefully in the next day or two!