Elder Jasmer!

Dan's younger brother, Jordan, left on his LDS mission to Brasilia, Brazil a week ago today. We were able to spend time with Jordan the last two evenings before his departure. He took advantage of every opportunity he had to hold Daphne before he left. Both Jordan and his younger brother, Gabe, LOVE babies, especially their nieces and nephews. Other than his immediate family, I think he will miss Daphne and cousin Boston the most. We promised him that we would make sure to teach them both how to say Elder Jasmer for when we pick him up from the airport in two years:) Although it was hard for him to say "see ya later" for two years we are so proud of his decision to serve an LDS mission and know that he will be blessed for it. He has such a kind heart and we know that the people of Brazil will fall in love with him.

 

I love how Daphne is holding her hands in this picture:)

 

 

THE END

Haha...I just had to take a picture of how Dan dressed Daphne. I guess girl outfits can be a little confusing for a new daddy!

Runnin' and Rollin'

On the Saturday before Mother's Day (May 12th) we had quite the exciting day! Dan participated in a relay run that morning with a friend from his Reserves Unit and two other guys his friend knew. The relay race started at Gardner Village along the Jordan River and eventually connected to the bike Trail along Legacy Highway that connects all they way by our house. Each of them ran two legs. Dan's legs were the longest and he ran about a half marathon between them both. Their team did AMAZING! They technically came in 4th but in our books they came in first! They were in first place for quite awhile but due to poor trail markings one of them took a wrong turn and it cost them 20 minutes. If it weren't for that they would have easily been in first place. I was very proud of all of them! The best part was being able to put Daphne in the stroller and just walk up the road a little bit to see them at the finish line.

Just a few minutes before we left to walk up to the race finish line I decided to force Daphne to do a little tummy time...to say she hates it would be an understatement. She seemed to be in a fairly good mood and wasn't too spitty (man, having a kid with really bad Acid Reflux makes tummy time impossible some days!) so I decided to give it a try. I was shocked to see her happy and making cute faces so I decided to quickly capture a few pictures! She usually either a) spits up... b) cries until she stops breathing.... or b) puts her head on her arms and sucks her fist and refuses to lift her head. Little did I know she had a surprise in store for me....

Showing off her skills!



I love that you can see her fuzzy hair in this picture. Her hair cracks us up....it sticks STRAIGHT
up and there are lots of random long pieces. Someone told us the other day that it
looks like we gave her a bad buzz cut. PERFECT explanation. We love it!

 I looked away for a split second and next thing I knew she was rolling over!!! I was lucky to actually capture a picture of her rolling for the first time! I figure that Daphne was only tolerating tummy time because she had a secret up her sleeve...she knew as soon as I turned my back she would just get right off her tummy:) Such a cute stubborn girl! It made my day to say the least. Perfect early Mother's Day gift. Tummy time is even harder now because she either does one of the options I listed above or just rolls instantly over so she doesn't have to do it. As I see it, if she is strong enough to roll over than I guess we are doing something right!

Right after Daphne rolled over we quickly celebrated and then headed out to see the boys finish their race. They did such a good job! Dan is hoping to do another relay race in the future.

On a side note...I was very grateful for such a fun day prior to Mother's Day but in the end the gift I was given on Mother's Day was even better. Long story short....Daphne ended up catching the stomach flu and spent the day throwing up on Sunday and gave us quite the scare. We ended up at the After Hours Clinic and then were sent to the ER for additional testing to make sure everything was alright. At first I was a little sad that my first Mother's Day was such a rough one and I felt so bad for my sweet baby girl...but in the end I love how I came to the realization that nothing could make me happier and more grateful than the gift of getting to be a mom to such a healthy little girl. It didn't matter that we missed out on all the fun family celebrations, all that mattered was that Daphne was well and we are happy to report that she is back to her normal self!

Daphne's Newborns

As mentioned previously, my Sister-in-Law took Daphne's newborns and did a great job! We were so pleased with how they turned out and really enjoyed getting to have family take them for us. It was fun to hang out all day long and just take pictures when Daphne was cooperating...which wasn't too often! She was having too much fun sleeping with her eyes partially open or wiggling constantly when she was awake, but thanks to Kristen we were finally able to capture quite a few keepers! Kristen finished editing all of them a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

Mom I am done taking pictures already!!!



Haha, this outfit was mine when I was a baby.
My Great Grandma made it for me.
We tried to put it on Daphne but it just wasn't working!



Grandma Crandall's 90th Birthday



At the end of April we went down to St. George to celebrate Dan's grandma's 90th birthday! We had been looking forward to the trip for months and were so excited for Daphne to meet her Great Grandma Crandall for the first time. Dan's dad also lives in St. George so we were looking forward to spending some quality time with him. Daphne did AMAZING on the trip to St. George. Traveling that day seemed to take FOREVER with a two month old baby but we made it! 

Daphne with Grandpa Crandall at Chuck O' Rama the night we arrived.
This was the first time we had taken her to a restaurant since she was born.
She experienced lots of firsts while out of town!



Our trip to St. George was a short one (less than 48 hours) so we did the best we could to cram as much fun as we could in with the time we had! Saturday morning most of the family went repelling. From what I heard, everyone had a blast:) Dan enjoyed freaking out his brother as they went down "ozzie" style (see below).

We decided while although this trip was full of firsts for Daphne, it was best if we didn't make it her first time to repel as well...and well, let's be honest, walking backwards off a cliff to bounce your way down just isn't my thing:) Instead, Daphne and I hung out at Grandpa Crandall's apartment and worked on taking her 2 month pictures. Let's just say that we still hadn't captured the "one" by the time everyone got back so both Dan and Natalie came to my rescue! Natalie worked on helping Daphne not wiggle too much while Dan and I snapped pictures like crazy. We got a few funny ones along the way but FINALLY got one I was in love with. I know, I am a little picky sometimes!



Outtake #1: Binky!

Outtake #2: Although Dan is trying to prove to
the world that she will be a Saints fan...the pic was a no go:)



Outtake #3: Her cute little hands were
CONSTANTLY over her mouth!

Outtake #4: When her hands weren't in her mouth she was grabbing the owl....

Outtake #5: HAHA, this one is my favorite! She was so wiggly that she kept on falling over...Natalie did her best to try and prevent Daphne from toppling but it was inevitable!

And FINALLY the keeper!

That afternoon the girls all went to the movies while the boys were on baby duty and recovering from repelling.



Dan watching sports while Daphne proves she is
more like me...no interest in the TV whatsoever

Enjoying her Aunt Nattie!

That night we attended Grandma Crandall's 90th birthday celebration. It was such a memorable experience. We loved the time we got to spend with her and enjoyed getting to learn more about her. Uncle Grant read a document she had written about her life and we were each given a copy. I learned so many things about her that I never knew. One of my favorite parts was hearing how when she was a kid they only had an outhouse and her mom baked bread EVERY SINGLE DAY. It's amazing at how busy our lives have become, I couldn't imagine having the time to bake bread every day. I love how much simpler life was back then. Another part I loved was hearing about how when she met her husband, Max, for the first time she knew that he was the one she would marry from the time she set her eyes on him. The funny part though was that she was already engaged at the time so so as she put it, she quickly got "disengaged":) At the end of the party we sang "Happy Birthday" to her. It cracked us all up that she didn't want to blow out candles, instead she chose to eat her cake while we all sang. I guess at that age you deserve to not have to wait for the singing to end eat your cake.

Daphne and I at the birthday celebration

We FINALLY got a picture of both Boston and Daphne
 being held by their awesome Aunt Nat together!
We have wanted one for awhile but every time we
try one is crying, eating, or sleeping!

Daphne being held by her Great Grandma Crandall at the birthday party. She is the 35th great grandchild and currently the youngest in the family. It was fun to get pictures of the oldest and youngest Crandall together!

 

The Crandall Clan

Sunday morning we went to sacrament with Grandma Crandall at the Assisted Living Center. We enjoyed getting to spend a little more time together before we had to hit the road. I really enjoyed the talk that was given. The lady gave an example of how when she was baptized she was totally overwhelmed by the thought that she was going to be held accountable for all her decisions the rest of her life. She loved the feeling of having a clean slate and was overwhelmed by the desire to try and be perfect the rest of her life! Obviously, that is impossible, but despite that, she was still overwhelmed. She talked about how over the years, the temptations to sin are just as strong as before, but she is less overwhelmed by trying to live righteously each day of her life as she has learned and grown. It reminded me a lot of how I have felt about motherhood. It has been the most rewarding yet overwhelming thing I have EVER done but each day it seems to get a little less overwhelming despite the fact that the challenges are still there. I love the opportunities I have been given to grow so much these past few months and hope I can continue to learn the things I need to in order to be a great mother.

Shortly after church we were back on the road! Daphne did great for having to be in a car all day for 2 out of the 3 days...but she definitely let us know that she was sick of it about the last half hour on the way home, and to be honest we were sick of riding in the car too so we couldn't blame her! What a short but memorable trip:)

After church in front of Grandma Crandall's home.

Cool as a Cucumber

I was looking through all our photos from our trip to St. George this past weekend (more on that later) and I couldn't help but laugh at all the photos we tried to take of Daphne with her cousin, Boston. They have such unique personalities which make it so fun. Can you tell which one is "As Cool as a Cucumber" while the other practically topples over on them constantly due to excessive wiggles? Ha ha. Boston is very patient with Daphne already. He is such a serious boy, it's quite cute. The last photo is the best I got of the two of them together...Boston finally lost his patience with Daphne I guess and dropped his chin right as she chose to look at the camera:)