Chef Anna

Anna is a STRONG willed little girl. It is simply amazing to us how much personality, spunk, and determination can come out of a 15 month old. Yesterday, Josh was holding her during dinner and she started with one of her tantrums, so he stood up to take her off his lap. When he did, she immediately tried crawling back on the chair so we popped her on it by herself. She started squealing!! All she wanted to do was to sit there by herself, hold her spoon and be a big girl.

When I take her places during the day, she promptly lets me know that we are not on my agenda but on hers. She leads the way all over the store. She loves pushing the buggy too. She'll push the bottom bar while I steer from above. You've just never seen someone so happy to push a buggy until you've seen this girl.

She also won't let us cook without her. And I mean not even for a second. If something is on the stove, she has to stir it. When we use a hand mixer to mix mashed potatoes, guess who's holding it? When we're pouring things in a bowl, she's directing us.

She LOVES cleaning too. I thought she would die this morning if I didn't pull out the vacuum. She kept pulling me over to it and pointing and making it very clear that she was ready to clean. There was no getting out of it for me. As soon as I turned it on, she laughed and squealed like you wouldn't believe. This girl has got a personality and a strong one at that....and we wouldn't want it any other way.

Anna the Cook from Josh Lee on Vimeo.

Lately

We haven't been up to too much lately, just enjoying one another's company. Anna and I have really been enjoying the beautiful weather. We take long walks every day, and she loves it. I think that she could live outside if we would let her. We had a doctor's appointment for her this past week and it went really well. Her weight really shot up and now she's in the 80th percentile. Last time we went to the doctor, three months ago, she was around the 40th percentile. I guess that's what you get for eating real food instead of baby mush. I just love her little chunky legs. I can't help but squeeze them all day. She's just so loveable.

Anna decided that she's a hard core BYU fan. She loved wearing Daddy's hat.

Anna loves eating Raviolis but she has to be in nothing but a diaper, as you can see. It's amazing how messy one little girl can get. Isn't she darling though?

Josh's 26th Birthday

Josh's 26th birthday was on Tuesday and it was wonderful! I love celebrating Josh's birthday. We had a great day together. I woke up early to make him our traditional breakfast in bed. We had pull apart bread and ambrosia. It was delicious! After Josh went off to school, Anna and I prepared some chocolate covered strawberries to surprise him for lunch. We met him for lunch with birthday balloons and his strawberries in hand. It was so nice to see him during the day and sing him happy birthday. For dinner, I picked him up from school and we went to this great little mexican restaurant. It was delicious. We are both huge fans of mexican food and we will definitely go back to this place. We had cake and ice-cream that night and played Josh's new Wii game that my parents bought him. It was a great day. I'm so lucky to have him as my husband. I love his birthday because the whole day is just all about him. What more could I ask for? Happy Birthday Josh!

I think Anna had the best time at the restaurant out of all of us.

The birthday boy!

Big News!!

We have some exciting news to share! We're expecting baby number two! I'm pregnant!! We went to the doctor today and had our first ultrasound. I am 12 weeks along and the baby is doing great. I haven't felt too sick, just very excited. My due date is October 17th. We can't wait to meet this new little baby and for Anna to be a big sister. We feel so blessed.

Happy Easter

I have the best husband for many reasons, but this is just one of them. While I was gone in Georgia visiting my family, Josh told me that he had a surprise for me. He wouldn't give me any hints the whole time I was gone. As we drove up to our apartment from the airport, he said, "OK, look. There is your surprise!" I looked out the window and saw beautiful tulips planted in front of our house. I had really wanted to plant bulbs earlier but missed the mark by a few weeks. I have talked about planting tulips since last summer. So, while I was gone, Josh found some tulips that were potted, waiting to be planted in the ground...OUR ground. I was SO surprised. It was great to come home to that and feel so loved. When I first saw them, they weren't in bloom yet, and yesterday they finally came out. Josh wouldn't tell me what color they were, so when those purple flowers burst through, I was so happy. They are just gorgeous. That's right, I have the best husband in the world. Every time I look at them, I am reminded of the wonderful man that I am married to. Thanks sweetheart!

Aren't they just gorgeous?

Happy Easter! This morning Anna woke up to find a pink spindle of string outside her door. She didn't know quite what to do with it, so we helped her out. It's so fun to have kids to celebrate holidays with. We just think it's wonderful.

Umm...what??

We made it really simple for her. Good thing because she didn't really get it at all. It was fun for us though. Maybe next year!

She loved that her basket was filled with cheerios and nilla wafers. She immediately grabbed the "cookies" and ran to us to open it up. She was ready to enjoy her treat. She thought the grass was funny. We just adore her.

Josh filled my basket with goodies and surprised me and bought the DVD "Stepmom". I was so excited and can't wait to watch it. It is still on it's way in the mail, so now I have something to look forward to everyday. I just love Easter.

I bought Josh Mancala. I don't know if I've ever actually played it but I'm excited to try it out. We've been trying to expand our game selection. It's just so nice to have games to play together.

It's been a great Easter Sunday. We've had our church's worldwide conference this weekend. It's been so inspiring. We feel so grateful to be taught by the prophet of the Lord and His servants. They are wonderful people who truly are doing what is right. I love conference weekend because it makes me feel so uplifted. In a world that has so much sadness, it's nice to remember that there is also a lot of good. This is a picture of President Monson, the prophet. He's a great man and we've learned a lot from him.

Josh and Jon's Birthday Bash

On Friday night, my friend Laura and I threw a birthday party for our husbands. They were born only a few weeks apart. Jon turned 26 on March 26th, and Josh will turn 26 on April 13th. We invited our friends over to enjoy fondue and celebrate their births. It was a great night. The birthday boys blowing out their candles. Laura made a DELICIOUS cake. These are some pictures of our friends who came to celebrate with us.

We had a chocolate fountain, which was a hit. The kids especially loved it....OK, the adults did too. Laura made a fabulous spinach and cheese dip and a marinara sauce dip. No one left unsatisfied.

Laura, Jon and baby Hannah. We just love them!

I'm so excited that I get to celebrate Josh's birthday twice. His real birthday isn't for a few weeks, so we get to do this again. I can't wait. Josh is the love of my life. I love celebrating anything about him. Happy Birthday baby.