One of our favorite Kate videos

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Here is a video of Kate laughing with her Daddy!

(Make sure you mute the music at the bottom)

I am 4 months old!

Friday, December 19, 2008

My parents are terrible at this whole blogging thing, so I thought I would take a turn and give all of you an update about me. Today is my four month birthday. Mom and Dad took me to my check-up and the mean nurse gave me three shots in the leg. I was NOT happy with her at all. Mom and Dad reassured me that these shots are good, and I need them. I weighed . . . Drum roll please . . . 16 pounds and 6 ounces. My weight is in the 94 percentile. I am 27 inches long, I know! I'm a tall girl. There is no percentage for my length! I can't remember the measurements for my head but it is in the 36 percentile. I guess there are a lot more babies out there that have bigger heads than me. Dr. Escham told Mom and Dad that she normally likes her patients to wait until they are at least 5 months old before they are introduced to rice cereal but she said I can try it now if I want. They are hoping that by doing that they will be able to trick me into sleeping all night long for Mom. Little do they know that I am the one in charge :)

I am the happiest baby when I first wake up. I'm all about smiles and laughing! Mom and I have a good time. She tries to take lots of pictures of me, but when she gets that weird black thing that flashes in front of me, I focus on that and try to figure out what the heck it is. So mom can rarely get a good picture of me smiling. I am figuring out how to roll onto my stomach from my back, but for the life of me I can't figure out yet how to get back onto my back. I HATE being on my stomach. . . most of the time.

I recently discovered my hands, apparently I've had them the whole time but I think they were hiding. Sometimes I wish this little body of mind came with a owners manual because just when I think I have things figured out I usually end up scratching my nose.

By evening time I am exhausted from playing all day, that I get pretty grumpy before bed time. But I do try to throw in a few smiles and laughs for Dad since I only see him in the evening throughout the week. Saturdays and Sundays are my favorite because I get Mom and Dad all day long! They love to play with me and give me all of the attention.

I got in my first accident on Wednesday. It was the scariest thing that has happened to me. Mom and I were on our way to meet Grandma so they could get some Christmas shopping done. I was sleeping in the back. Mom was driving and the light turned yellow, so she did what all good drivers do and stopped so she wouldn't run a red light. Well we had a brilliant 16 year old driver behind us who was distracted, whether it was her two friends, the music, or her cell phone, who didn't notice the light turn red, so she rear ended us going probably 30 mph. It scared the living day lights out of both of us. I screamed for a good fifteen minutes. Mom lost her hat, and got some pretty good whip lash. When the ambulance arrived they spent a good five minutes just playing with me to make sure I was ok. We are both ok. The accident could have been a lot worse.

I am so excited for my first Christmas. I love staring at our Christmas tree, well any Christmas tree for that matter. I'm still not sure what I think of all that white stuff outside. It looks so cold! I can't wait for Santa to come to my house. I hope he brings me lots of presents. I sat on his lap at Babies R Us and he seems like a pretty nice guy!

Well, I am off to my cousin's birthday party. Here are some pictures of me though!

My Cousin Morgan and I

GO UTES!!!!! Sugar bowl here we come
(not really though)

I'm sick of Mom taking all these pictures of me

Here I am passed out on the couch

Santa and I

Thank you for the memories Grandpa

Thursday, December 4, 2008

The last 24 hours have been very difficult for my family. Wednesday night about 10:45 my cell phone went off while Christy and I were just settling into bed. Anytime your cell phone goes off around 11:00 at night its not a good thing. It was my little brother Jon letting me know that something had happened to my 85 year old Grandpa. He didn't know many details but he said my Dad was already there and that he and my other siblings were getting ready to go over as well. I asked him to call me when he knew something because we had just put Kate to bed and it would take us a little while to pack our little family into the car. While Christy and I were talking I decided to call my Mom and Dad and see if I could learn more. My Mom seemed frustrated when I spoke to her and she asked me if she could call me back in a minute. We interpreted my Mom's frustration to mean that although we didn't know what was going on, things were likely OK. Since Jon seemed to have taken the role of point person I was not surprised that he was the one to call me. His first breath was used to tell me that my dear Grandfather had passed away. I physically felt my lungs contract and my heart take a double beat in that moment. Why wasn't I prepared for this information? It seems like I should have known the very second Jon said my Dad had rushed to my Grandparents house that my Grandfather's passing was imminent. I do not want to go into many details of what occurred over the next few hours except to say that my family spared no time in rallying around my Grandmother to provide comfort and to say our goodbyes. I can't help but think that my Grandfather's passing happened exactly as he had wished. He simply laid down and peacefully passed away. When the paramedics arrived there was really nothing to be done. In my opinion this was the best thing that could have happened. His body was so very tired and I know it was frustrating to him to lose the ability to do so many things that he truly loved. He had lived a full life until it expired.

I have always been so very proud of my Grandfather and I have always been so proud to bear his name as my middle name. I know that he loved me so very much just like he loves all of his Grandkids. I feel so lucky to have been born the oldest Grandchild in the Moffitt family. I have so many amazing memories of my Grandfather that I feel I need to put down before time can rob them from my memory.

My Grandpa has always had a green thumb as long as I can remember. He always had the most beautiful yard and he grew the tastiest Raspberries I think I have ever had. I remember Andy and I weaving through the raspberry bushes finding the perfect ones to eat right off the bush. As I look back now I realize that my Grandmother was growing those Raspberries for her Jam, but Grandpa would still point out some of the riper ones to me without hesitation when Grandma wasn't looking. He treated us so well. I will really miss working in the yard with my Grandpa. When I was young we would go over to his house and work in his yard. He expected perfection and there was never the option of trying to cut corners. I swear even as he grew older he could still out work us kids sometimes simply because he was willing to do what it took to do it right.

My Grandfather has an amazing ability to conceptualize things and then to build them. It was rare that we would come home from my Grandparents house without something my Grandfather had built. I remember him taking wooden dowels and big 2x4's and turning them into little wooden boats for us. I remember sitting in the tub surrounded by tug boats, big shipping boats, and a speed boat all that my Grandpa had made for us.

I remember in the 5th grade my Grandfather helped me with a Science Fair project. My idea was to add turn signals to the back of my bike. It was supposed to just be a silly idea that maybe I would make a poster board about, but I didn't really think I could do it. My Grandpa proved me wrong. By the time we were done we had fit my old mountain bike with a fully functioning set of blinkers. He built a battery pack onto the frame just about where the water bottle would go and a thumb toggle switch up on the handle bars which sent the signal on to a harness that came off the seat post and went out with a blinking red light on each side. As I sat back and looked at how cool my bike had become I began to realize just how incredible by Grandpa really was. That one experience is likely the root cause of my fascination of taking things apart to understand how they work for the next 10 years.

While Christy and I lived in my Grandparents basement I had so many wonderful opportunities to work side by side with him. I cannot count how many times I would get home from Work and Grandpa would be in the yard working on the sprinklers or planting flowers. I was only to happy to put on my work clothes and run around the house while he flipped sprinklers on and off. I remember when he helped me convert and old food storage closet into our clothes closet. He would do all the calculations in his head and write them down for me. Half the time I didn't understand what he intended for me to do, but it worked out better than I could have imagined every time. There were some scary moments as well. When my Grandpa had me pull out his table saw so he could work I got a little nervous. He would move his walker next to the saw and push the boards through. Looking back I was likely more in danger of injuring myself than he was. He was just a natural when it came to working with his hands.

I remember the talks my Grandpa and I would have, especially when I needed some guidance. My Grandpa was a man of quiet dignity. He was the kind of man that did what was right even when he knew no one else was looking. He didn't need the recognition of the world, his self satisfaction was more than enough. He always seemed to have a story or a simply analogy that simplified things and made the chaos of life a little more bearable. He had such a great sense of humor and he was great at seeing the eternal perspective of things.

I really regret that I didn't get him talking about his life until I was an adult myself. My Grandfather did some pretty incredible stuff during his life. It was so interesting to hear about the places he had traveled while he either worked for the Government as an engineer or when he was a young man in WWII. My Grandfather came from very humble beginnings and to hear all that he accomplished was amazing. It always would astound me when he would recall a stories of old friends or people with whom he had worked from 30 years ago with complete clarity. He truly had a very sharp mind. I was so very proud that coming from his rural community in central Utah he was able to graduate from the University of Utah as a Mining engineer. Because of his example most of his sons, and now his Grandson's are going on to graduate from the University of Utah as well.

I truly don't think I could have asked for a getter Grandpa, mentor, and friends in Grandpa Jack.
Here is the link to his Obituary.

http://www.legacy.com/saltlaketribune/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=120990195

P.S. I'm probably not done with this post but I'm just so very tired after the events of these last few days that I need to go to bed.

Count your many blessings

Monday, December 1, 2008

I don't mean to get preachy or anything but it all started on Sunday. I was preparing my lesson for my primary class and it was about Ether and the Jaredites. One of the attention activities they suggested was the "Cycle of History" how you start out being righteous so then you receive blessings, then your dealing with prosperity which leads to pride which leads to wickedness. Then your suffering and you realize why your suffering so you humble yourself and repent. It brought to my attention that I need to be better about appreciating all my blessings I have in my life and not take it for granted.

I was in the kitchen today cooking (surprise surprise!) and I was thinking about everything I have in my life that I absolutely love. I love that I have more time in the day to cook yummy meals for my family. I'm trying lots of new recipes and experimenting. I never realized how much I love to cook.

I feel so blessed that I can work from home now and can spend so much more time with Kate. I love that since I am working from home I can control the hours I work 100%. I'm not paying booth rent, so I don't feel like I have to fill up a whole day to make it worth working. I can therefore spend a lot more time with Ryan in the evenings.

I feel blessed to have a roof over my head. I feel blessed I have a great neighborhood. We have the best ward. Everyone is so friendly and it's great.

I feel blessed to have such a great family. Every time Ryan and I are coming home from being with family, whether it's the Moffitt's or Smith's, I always say how much I love our family and how lucky we are that we have such great families and that we all get along so well.

It's pretty obvious but I love Kate so so much. I love her more and more every day. She also is getting happier every day. She cries less and less. I love it! She is now laughing and smiling so much.

Last but definitely not least, I love Ryan. He is the best husband ever. I need to be careful not to take advantage of him because anything I ask him to do he will do it. Anything. He is extremely hard working and is always striving to be better. He treats me so well. I wouldn't change a thing about him.

I could go on and on, but I have a busy evening ahead of me. Thanks for listening to me go on and on. Remember to count your many blessings!