REJECTED...AGAIN!

Oh St. George!

I've given you my heart, TWICE, to have you toss it aside and have it trampled by 14,400 other feet. What's that saying: "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me"? Well never again! You can't lure me back with your "guaranteed" spots...they're nothing but empty promises (just ask my father-in-law, Greg). You can't entice me with your warm weather, red rocks, outlet malls, and close proximity to the City of Sin. Instead, I will give my blood, sweat, and tears to another who will appreciate my sacrifice for them, who won't put me on the back burner. Thank you for being my first, but it's over.

Moving on...26.2 miles at a time,

Paige

MOTHERS' DAY

I Love Mother's Day

- I love how Mattie's face scrunches up when she cries

- I love that CJ sings the clean up song when he puts his toys away

- I love to watch Bryce hold, hug, and kiss our little ones

- I love how CJ says "Mmmm" when he's excited about something he's eating

- I love how much joy my parents and in-laws get out of CJ and Mattie

- I love how Mattie clutches to my shirt when I hold her

- I secretly love how CJ clings to me when he gets shy
- I love how Mattie coos when I talk to her

- I love looking into Mattie's big, blue eyes

- I love when CJ claps and says "yeaaa" when he's proud of himself

- I love that CJ is so curious...I don't like the outcome sometimes (like broken sunglasses and toys down the vent), but I really do love his curiosity

- I love that Mattie can be fidgety and fussy, but will fall asleep in minutes when we hold her

- I love that CJ will surprise me with a kiss every once in awhile

- I love how CJ clasps his hands together to say prayers

- I love that Bryce thinks I'm a better wife and mother than I really am...it inspires me

- I love when Mattie looks at CJ

- I love when CJ notices his sister and touches her feet, tries to hold her hand, and tries to help her with her binkie

- I love that CJ is finally trying to say "Mommy" (it sounds like "Bobby," likes he's congested or something :)

- I love to see Mattie and CJ learning. CJ is such a sponge right now and is learning words right and left and getting so independent

- I love all of CJ's little idioms and idiosyncrasies

- I love that I have such a supportive and caring husband who is an amazing father

- I love that I have a mother and mother-in-law who have sacrificed so much and set such great examples for me and who I know I can turn to for anything at anytime

- I love having the cutest kids, greatest husband, and sweetest mom and mom-in-law in the world!!

SOME FINALS FUN

It's that time of year again, filled with unhealthy meals, unhealthy study habits, unhealthy hours spent at the library, late nights, early mornings, and lonely days. Yes, that's right, finals have come again. We weren't sure how it was going to be this time around now that we have two kids, but it actually hasn't been too bad. We've tried to make time for each other with quick visits during breaks and dinner dates. It's especially been easier since we've got great friends who are all in the same boat. Two finals left and Bryce is officially finished with his second year of law school. Two years down, one to go. Way to go, Baby! Thank you for working so hard for our family! We love you so much!!

The kiddies having fun during a dinner break at the law school. Top to bottom: Abby Adams, Audrey Adams, Brody Dobbs, and CJ

MATTIE - 2 MONTHS OLD

On May 9 Mattie turned 2 months old. Crazy how time flies! She is getting so big...and we're not just saying that because we're her parents. Check out her stats:

Weight: 12 lbs 1 oz (92nd percentile)

Height: 24 in (96th percentile)

Head: 13 3/4 in (80th percentile)

She hasn't lost it all yet, but a lot of her darker newborn hair is gone and been replaced with blond fuzz. And she's definitely going to have blue eyes, so we're two for two. Unfortunately, we're also two for two with acid reflux. CJ would reflux into his nasal cavity causing him to be perpetually congested. Well Mattie has a little bit of the same thing, but a lot more pain and spit up than CJ ever had. So like her brother, she's been on Zantac for a little more than a month and it seems to help a little. On a side not, a funny thing about Mattie's little legs and feet...before she was born we bought lots of cute little tights and baby shoes and couldn't wait to put them all on her. Well her legs and feet are long enough to fit into them all now, but they're still so skinny that the tights look silly and the shoes just fall off! So I guess she's carrying her weight in those cute little cheeks (on her face :) and adorable belly!

Her personality is also really starting to come through:

- She is smiling more and more and even starting to laugh

- She loves attention, to engage and coo/talk to us! She's happiest when her mommy and daddy are holding her and talking to her

- She loves to focus on and gaze at her parents

- She loves to be with her family and wants to be a part of the action. That means that if we're in the kitchen, she wants to be in the kitchen (and on the counter too...her bouncer on the floor won't do), not in her swing in the living room :)

- She's recently found her hands and likes to suck on them every once in awhile

- She cries less and less - probably because she's getting used to things like getting dressed :) - but she still has her newborn cry, which is less of a cry and more of an airy kind of yell...it gets softer and sounds hoarse the harder she cries. We think it's pretty endearing :)

- She's on a great night-time schedule, going to bed around 11 PM and waking up once sometime between 4:45 AM and 6 AM. And the great thing is that she doesn't cry (in fact, she never has). She just starts to fidget and grunt and whine a little. It's definitely a better awakening than a cry

- She's very tolerant of her big brother, CJ, who is usually oblivious to her whereabouts and her sleeping schedule, and who is often trying to "fix" her, either removing her binkie and blanket if she has them, or stuffing her binkie in her mouth if she doesn't.

- She loves to sleep on her back...unfortunately, due to her reflux she has to sleep in an upright position most of the time, poor thing.
- And nothing gets her worked up like tummy time. She still absolutely HATES it!!

We love you, Mattie, and just think you're cute as a button! We couldn't imagine our lives without you!!

JUNIOR BAKER

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It was Sunday and we had some downtime, so we thought it would be fun if CJ got his hands (and face :) a little dirty in the kitchen. Unfortunately, our camera malfunctioned so we only got CJ "before" and "after", and the fun "during" pics got lost. Oh well, you can still see how much CJ enjoyed his first dessert making experience. Who knows, maybe we have a future pastry chef on our hands (not if Bryce has anything to do with it :).

SMILEY GIRL

Mattie's not even two months old yet and she's already smiling like crazy! Sometimes her smiles are so big that we think she's yawning at first...until the sides of her mouth turn up (we haven't caught that smile on camera yet, but we will :) - we love it! Now we just need to try to get a pic of both CJ and Mattie smiling, together, at the same time...might be a while :)

Gettin' ready to give us...

...this! Love it!!

TUB TIME

This isn't Mattie's first bath - she has been taking them with her brother, CJ - but since it wears Mom out to bathe both kiddos at the same time, we thought it was time for Mattie to get her own bath time. She seems to enjoy it :)

BEFORE

AFTER

SLEEPING BEAUTY

Couldn't resist taking a pic...Mattie just looks so peaceful and sweet!

MATTIE's NEWBORN PICS

We had these pictures taken of Mattie when she was just 10 days old. There were so many great ones, it was difficult to choose which to put in her announcement...so we posted a few of them as well. Hope you like them too! :)

click on the announcement to enlarge

MATTIE's BLESSING

While we were in Utah for Bryce's brother's wedding, we decided to take advantage of being around so many family members and bless Mattie. It was so wonderful to have Bryce's dad conduct our small meeting, to have our moms give the opening and closing prayers, to have grandfathers, fathers, brothers, cousins, and friends in the Priesthood circle, and to have our dads bear their testimonies. We love our little Mattie Gayle and are so grateful that she has such wonderful family members to help her reach her potential!

Mattie on her special day

Proud dad

Beaming mom

CJ and his little sis

Our parents, grandparents, and siblings who were there (minus Paige's sister Courtney and niece Kenya who were there as well but had to leave right after the blessing).

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TYLER & GABY's WEDDING

Bryce's younger brother, Tyler, got married this weekend to Gaby (the sweetest girl from Ecuador), and we had the privilege of being there for their wonderful day. Their sealing ceremony in the Salt Lake temple was really special because it was done in both English and Spanish. And Gaby's family was sure to incorporate some of their Latin traditions at the reception so it was tons of fun. It was a whirlwind weekend, but it was so great to be there for Tyler and Gaby and we are so happy for them. We love you guys!!

Mattie in her little wedding outfit (it took many hours of shopping to find this perfect dress :)

CJ looked so handsome in his wedding clothes...even if he is eating M&Ms in this pic :)

lots of pics of family, dancing, and fun! click on the grid to enlarge the pics

Our little family with the happy couple

QUICK TRIP TO UTAH

We all headed to Utah this week to participate in some special events: Bryce's brother's wedding and Mattie's blessing. It was a short trip - we flew out Thursday afternoon and flew back Sunday afternoon - but we were able to be a part of some wonderful things, including Paige's sister-in-law's baby shower and seeing our good friends, Bret and Jan Allen, before they move to MI for law school. Here are just a few pics:

Mattie's first plane ride. That's pretty much what she did the whole time :)

This was the first time CJ used our portable DVD player...it was great!

Mattie and CJ with their cousin, Kenya. They LOVE her...especially CJ, if you can't tell

Kenya giving CJ some piano lessons...just one example of her being so great with him. She spoiled him rotten with attention; she even carried him everywhere, which again, he LOVED!

This trip was so jammed packed with events that we were all exhausted

We were excited that Mattie finally got to meet her Grandpa Forsgren

MATTIE - 6 WEEKS OLD

Weight - 11 lbs 3 oz (90th percentile)
Height - 22 in (75th percentile)

80th percentile for proportion of height and weight

- only waking up once a night
- smiling bigger and more frequently
- loves to make and keep eye contact
- losing her darker hair (it's being replaced by blond fuzz :)
- still HATES tummy-time
- starting to coo

- loves to hold her head up

CUTE PICS

CJ, sippin' on some hot cocoa at Donut Parade, our favorite donut shop

Just some cute pics of our little Mattie Gayle (click on the grid to elarge the pics)

Even though these aren't their Easter outfits, I thought they looked so adorable all ready for church that I had to get a snapshot

PARK MANIA

Come rain or shine, CJ wants to be outside, so we've been trying to take advantage of the nice weather Spokane has been having the last few weeks. As you can see, CJ is our parks-and-recreation boy.

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