What Matters Most..

In the routine of life, we often take our families—our parents and children and siblings—for granted. But in times of danger and need and change, there is no question that what we care about most is our families! 

Indeed, nothing is more critically connected to happiness—both our own and that of our children—than how well we love and support one another within the family.

As your leaders, we call upon members of the Church everywhere to put family first and to identify specific ways to strengthen their individual families.

We should not need a hurricane or other crisis to remind us of what matters most. The gospel and the Lord’s plan of happiness and salvation should remind us. What matters most is what lasts longest, and our families are for eternity.

("What Matters Most is What Lasts Longest" - M. Russell Ballard 2005)

Bye Bye...

Bottles!

One week ago today, Abbi had a sip of her last bottle, then threw it across the room. (telling us, she didn't want it.) We have officially been bottle/formula free for a whole week! The process of weaning has always been a very intimidating thought for me. I've heard how hard it can be for babies to be done nursing or bottle feeding. Surprisingly, it was the opposite. 

Abbi pretty much weaned herself. Since about 9 or 10 months old, she really lost interest in her bottle. I would make her a full 6oz and she would eat 3oz maybe 4oz and refuse to drink anymore.  I was pretty concerned. I worried she wasn't getting enough food! {which I have worried about since she was born, nursing was SUPER stressful for me!} I talked to her doctor and he said just to keep offering her the bottle. So I did. 

About 2 weeks before her first birthday, we went from giving her 4 bottles a day to 2. One bottle right when she woke up in the morning and one bottle right before bed. She did awesome! My worry was she would start waking up in the night because she was hungry. But she didn't! (Seriously, we have an awesome baby!) At her 12 month check up, our pediatrician told us she didn't need the formula, but if we had some left we could use it up or give it away. We decided to use it up. We didn't give her consistent bottles. Usually one in the morning and maybe one at night, but we didn't stress about it. She was doing so good! 

On our long trip to Oregon, she was having a hard time falling asleep in her pack n play. She cried and cried and we finally decided to try giving her a bottle. She tasted it and then wanted nothing to do with it! So we gave her some water and she guzzled it down. After a full day of not having a bottle, she still didn't care for it! That was her last bottle. At the coast, our cute 6 month old niece had bottles around the house... Abbi wasn't even tempted! 

So that's that. Our sweet girl no longer needs bottles. She's grown up! She eats the same food we do! It still blows my mind. I don't have a baby anymore, I have a toddler. 

Next up... the pacifier!  

Oregon Coast: Part 1.

The drive to Oregon was L-O-N-G! Google Maps said it would take us 12 hours, but with our crazy one year old it, of course took longer than that! We left Friday morning after Drew taught his class and it happened to be the same time Abbigail normally goes down for her morning nap. It worked out perfect! She fell right asleep and slept for a couple hours! It was glorious! 

She woke up and needed some entertainment. Lucky for her, she has crazy parents who are pretty entertaining just by being themselves. So for the next little while we read story after story and snacked on goldfish crackers and grapes. Yum right? After a while, she was ready for another nap, but she fought it hard!

(As if I actually need to say this, her crying lasted A LOT longer than 18 seconds.)

She finally fell asleep, we drove some more. Abbi decided she was ready for dinner when we were kind of in the middle of no where, so at the next gas station we stopped. Our sweet daughter had a gas station hot dog and banana for dinner. Sounds good huh? Oh the joys of long road trips. We finally stopped for dinner in the Dalles (subway) and got Abbi some Cheetos and and a chocolate chip cookie to keep her busy. BIG MISTAKE! 20 minutes after our dinner stop, she was screaming. When we got off the freeway to see what was wrong this is what we saw..

I should have seen that coming! It was EVERYWHERE! She got in on her face, hands, hair, up her nose, ALL OVER her new carseat, EVERYWHERE! We stripped her down, cleaned her off and put an oversized shirt on her.

We finally got to Portland, it had been a long 12 hour trip already and we still had 2 hours to go. We took a wrong turn and when we finally got back on track, we were both pooped. We got a hotel for the night, settled in and started reading some books to Abbigail. Cuddling on the bed with Drew and Abbi reading story after story made my heart melt. We forgot all the craziness of the day and just enjoyed our time together. Our night was perfect!

We got some sleep because the next day we would start our beach adventure! 

The Oregon Coast - A Video.

On Friday morning we packed the car and started our {762} mile journey to the Oregon Coast where we spent Labor Day Weekend. It was such a LONG drive and we only spent two days there... but being surrounded by family at the beach made it all worth it! I absolutely LOVE the Oregon Coast! I love the smell of the ocean, the sound of the waves, the sand in my toes! I just love everything about it! Here is a preview of our incredible trip...

*Pictures are coming soon, but to get a sneak peek you can follow me on instagram!