Flower Arrangements

I've really enjoyed being able to make flower arrangements using flowers and greenery from my own yard.  I took pictures of some of my creations and wanted to share them with you all in a blog post.  

Tulips with Variegated Dogwood

Lilacs (my favorite smelling flower)

Iris with Variegated Dogwood

Bleeding Heart

Red Coral Bells with Creeping Euonymus

Columbine

Peony

Roses

Columbine

Columbine and Roses with
Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass

Jupiter's Beard

Red Coral Bells with
Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass

Mrs. Bradshaw and Purple Geranium

Roses with Variegated Dogwood

Roses with Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass

Trumpet Vine with Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass

Roses with Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass

Lilies and Trumpet Vine

Lilies and Red Coral Bells with
Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass

Chrysanthemum

Roses

I made this last vase just yesterday.  I'm not sure if all of the buds will bloom, but it's going to freeze this week and I wanted to save these last few flowers if I could.
I ended up filling more vases than I took pictures of, but many were repeats.  I often had a vase of Red Coral Bells with Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass in Cosette's room - this was my favorite combination, and they were both available throughout summer and fall.  I often filled a vase with roses for the living room, because they looked pretty and filled the room with their wonderful scents.
I also learned a few things: irises are smelly (I won't do a vase of those next year), and Shasta Daisies are smelly and attract bugs (I didn't take a picture of that vase because I brought the clippings indoors to arrange, only to discover I brought dozens of tiny bugs in with me as well, so I ended up throwing them all out).  My favorite greenery to add to a vase was the Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass.  The Jupiter's Beard shed like crazy, so I probably won't put that in a vase again. And I was pleasantly surprised at how long the chrysanthemums lasted.

Sisters

I wanted to share some cute pictures that capture the special bond that exists between these two sisters.
Cosette was a little unsure what to think of Heidi for the first few days. She didn't want to touch her or even talk to her at first. But it didn't take long before she wanted to play with Heidi. She loved showing things to Heidi and shouting for her to "Watch me!" while jumping off the stairs or doing some other silly stunt. She often gets upset when it's time for Heidi to go down for a nap, because she doesn't want to stop playing with her. Cosette also enjoys posing for pictures with Heidi, as you can see below. And I love hearing Cosette talk to Heidi in a high pitched voice, imitating the way that adults baby talk.
And the love definitely goes both ways. Heidi adores her sister. She's happier when Cosette is around, so I often ask Cosette to help keep Heidi happy if I have to do something she doesn't like (such as using the snot sucker). Heidi perks up when she hears Cosette's voice, craning her neck around to try to see her. This has started to become problematic when she's nursing, and I sometimes have to ask Cosette to play in another room so that Heidi can focus on eating.

I sure love my two girls, and I'm grateful they love each other so much.

Halloween

Happy Halloween, everyone!

These past few weeks we went to several Halloween activities.  The funny thing is, Cosette didn't want to dress up for most of them.  We explained that many of the other kids would be wearing costumes, but Cosette just wanted to wear her regular clothes.  I did insist on a costume if she wanted to go trick-or-treating, however.

On the 18th Jeff took Cosette to an activity at the West Jordan Museum.  Cosette's favorite part was riding around in a little "train" (see picture).  She also got a handmade wooden car.

On the 25th we all went to the Pumpkinpalooza at the Veridian Center.  They had booths set up where you could play games and get candy and prizes.  Cosette's favorite thing was making a pumpkin balloon.

On Monday night we carved pumpkins from our garden for our Family night activity.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the results until after they had been sitting outside for several days and got rained on, so the carvings drooped a bit.  Cosette's stayed inside as her night light, so it looks a lot better.  I carved a green pumpkin to look like Mike Wyzowski, and I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.  Jeff designed a random face for his, and one of the trick-or-treaters thought it looked like Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.  Cosette asked us to carve a face like the one on her pumpkin balloon.

Christine's pumpkin, Mike Wyzowski

Jeff's pumpkin

Some of the pumpkins from our garden this year

Cosette's pumpkin

Then on the 30th we had a ward Halloween activity.  We had a dinner and Cosette got to play a few games, get some candy, and take home a small pumpkin that she decorated.  Both of our girls dressed up for the event.  Heidi was a cute pumpkin and Cosette was a princess.  A few weeks ago I thought she was going to dress up in her favorite Bear outfit, but she changed her mind.  I didn't want to go out and buy anything, so she wore one of her fanciest dresses with a dress up crown she got from the conference store earlier this month.  They were both super cute.

On Halloween Jeff took Cosette trick-or-treating on our street while I stayed home with Heidi.  All in all it was a fun Halloween season this year.

One Month Photo Shoot

We did a one month photo shoot with Cosette, so I decided to do one with Heidi, too.  Cosette's pictures were taken by my second cousin who has a photography business on the side, while I took the pictures of Heidi.  But I think I got some cute pictures that showcase her personality.

Heidi's Here!

We are now a family of four!

I went in for an appointment earlier in the day on Tuesday, and I was feeling stronger contractions than normal for several hours after that. They were still fairly mild pain wise, though, so I went about my normal activities for the day like running errands, making dinner and playing with Cosette. But by early evening I felt that they were regular enough to go to the birth center (we decided not to do a hospital birth this time). We called my mom around 8:00 so she could make the drive from Springville, then had my visiting teacher Connie Baldwin come over to be in the house with Cosette (who was in bed and had no idea that she was about to become a big sister) until my mom got there.

Well, when we went in to the birth center they examined me and told me that my contractions weren't hard enough for me to stay. I was really devastated, because the contractions finally felt different this time and I was sure that Heidi was going to be born soon. But the midwife wanted me to wait and come back when I could no longer walk and talk during the contractions.

So we got in the car to drive back home, feeling pretty disappointed since this was our second false alarm. I waited a few minutes before calling my mom, not wanting to cry on the phone. But while I was talking to her, telling her that we were coming home, Jeff braked at a stop light and my water broke! So I ended the call with my mom and called the birth center to explain that we were coming right back.

After my water broke the contractions were hard and painful. I focused on my breathing and relaxing techniques while Jeff tried to drive as smoothly as possible on the terribly bumpy roads. When we got back to the birth center I managed to make it inside and up the stairs. They asked if I wanted to go into the birth room, but all I wanted to do was change out of my wet clothes. Jeff came into the bathroom to help me, and while we were in there I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom. I knew that this was what the last stage of labor felt like, but I assumed it was too early for me to push. But I was wrong!

When I started screaming the midwife and assistants rushed right in, helping me stand right next to the potty because there wasn't time to move to the birth room. Three minutes and two or three pushes later, Heidi was born!

From the time my water broke to the time she was born was about 35 minutes. Crazy! I am SO glad that she wasn't born in the car (or toilet)!

We spent a few hours at the birth center, and then made it home around 3:30 a.m. this morning. Here are a few pictures of us at the birth center:

Meeting Daddy

At the birth center

It was fun to watch Cosette's reaction when she met Heidi for the first time this morning. Cosette went to bed last night just like any other day, and then she wakes up to find her new sister is home (along with Grandma visiting). She's been very shy around Heidi and hasn't wanted to touch her or get very close to her, so we haven't taken any pictures of the two sisters yet.

Here are a few cute pictures of Heidi on her first day at home:

1 day old

A shy smile at one day old

Sorry, Heidi - you're cute even when you try to be scary

We're so grateful that Heidi has joined our family!
Oh, and in keeping the Anderson tradition of something having to go wrong when we bring a baby home (the day after we brought Cosette home, Jeff got a terrible stomach bug and I had to take care of both him and a newborn), our dishwasher decided to leak today. We're not sure what is wrong, but water leaked into the downstairs bedroom, getting into the light fixture and dripping onto the carpet. So we'll have to wash our dishes by hand until we can either get it fixed or replaced.

Anniversary

With Heidi's due date on July 24th, I was confident that we wouldn't be doing anything special for our anniversary on August 2nd. But as we got closer to the date with no baby, I decided that we might as well take advantage of her late arrival and celebrate our 6 years of marriage.

In the morning we visited the Bountiful temple as a family. We brought our book of wedding photos and walked around the temple grounds like we were on a scavenger hunt, finding where each picture was taken.

It was a lot of fun to do this with Cosette. And as we were getting ready to leave Cosette talked about how she was getting married in the temple that day. I complimented her on her beautiful wedding dress (she was wearing the rainbow dress from her birthday) and asked her who she was marrying. Her reply? "I'm gonna marry Bear."

Then in the afternoon Jeff and I went on a date. We ate lunch at La Jolla Groves (which I highly recommend) and then visited the planetarium, where we went on our second date. We looked at some exhibits and played around with some of the fun merchandise in the gift shop.

All in all it was a fun and memorable anniversary.