Does This Look Familiar?

 I saw this picture of Ryan smiling at Rachel and I thought: "hmm ... that looks familiar.  Where have I seen this before?"

Turns out Rachel is good at making her siblings smile.  Here she is with Annie when Annie was a baby.  She is a good big sister.

baby talk

Here's a short video this morning of Ryan smiling at and talking to Rachel. Enjoy.

Updike funeral and reunion

A couple of weeks ago Jacob's Grandma Updike passed away at age 92. This past Saturday they had the funeral up in Mesa, so we drove up on Friday and stayed over night. With all the extended family coming in to town, it turned into a nice big reunion with all of Grandma Updike's kids, 40 of the 43 living grandkids there, and I don't know how many of the 80ish great-grandkids.There was a big get together Friday night, then Saturday was the funeral, luncheon, interment, and another get together/party that evening.

The girls on the ride up:

Rachel was happy with getting to watch movies the whole time, but it wasn't quite entertaining enough for Annie, and since she wouldn't nap in the car she was a little cranky. I like how she's chillin' in this picture, though. The last hour or so of the 2 1/2 or 3 hour drive involved plenty of crying, between Annie and Ryan. We were happy to get there. 

Grandma and Grandpa Campbell flew down from their mission in Alaska for the funeral. Thankfully, we got a few hours in when we got up there Friday before the excitement/craziness started to hang out with them and for them to meet Ryan.

 

He was happy to meet his grandparents.

Jesse, Cari, and Sharon drove down together and joined in the fun, as well. Jacob's Aunt Nancy has the coolest playroom ever with a slide built in. Rachel and Annie both had a blast on that thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aunt Nancy also has a pretty fun (and large) backyard. More cousins started showing up as the afternoon progressed, and the girls were off to have fun with kids their own age.

They have a couple tortoises and a pig, much to the delight of the kids.

 

 

 

The kids weren't the only ones having fun:

 

 

Mark and Ashley got there after we had already headed to bed on Friday, so Saturday we got to hang out with them and meet the new baby Sophie, and see how much Lena had grown.

All the cousins that were at the funeral: (I think after 5 1/2 years of marriage I can finally identify about half of them, if not by name, at least by which family they belong to.)

 

Rachel spent most of the luncheon under the table, which turned out to be a great babysitting device. If only Annie had been as interested in staying under there, we could have had a nice peaceful lunch.

 

During lunch Annie got tired, so I put her down for a nap in a pack 'n play in one of the rooms at the church. Consequently, I stayed behind at the church, out of the 100+ degree heat with Annie and Ryan while everyone else went to the cemetery. Jake was one of the pallbearers.

After we'd cleaned up and changed clothes, we headed over to another church building for the festivities of that night. There was lots of visiting amongst the adults, and lots of playing by the children (and some adults). 

 

They brought plenty of toys to keep everyone occupied.

 

 

Sophie: (what a cutie!!)

They even brought dress up clothes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No, we did not eat Sophie for dinner. Luckily there was enough pizza to go around. ;)

Annie and Brigham had a tolerate/hate relationship. They played next to each other well for a while, then one of them would want one of (or all of) the toys the other was playing with and get mad. Usually it was Annie that was getting mad because she couldn't have every single toy. Just in time for nursery (hallelujah, she gets to go to nursery on Sunday!!!!). 

 

The kids all put on a play on the stage. The younger kids mostly just stood around soaking up the attention, but the older kids actually acted out some kind of a plot. When the curtain opened and everyone clapped, Annie got so excited that everyone was apparently clapping for her, and had to join in on the clapping. 

We're grateful for the plan of salvation and that we know we can be an eternal family and we'll see Grandma Updike again. The whole weekend was a ton of fun, which isn't something you might think of when you first think about attending a funeral, but with our knowledge of the plan of salvation, we got to celebrate her life and her posterity and have a fun time with all her descendants, rather than just sitting around mourning that she was gone. Just another blessing of the gospel. :)

The kids

Ryan reached one month of age this past week. He's such a good baby. Thank goodness, because I'm not sure Annie would love (or even tolerate) him like she does if he demanded more of my time than he does. 

Ryan regularly has a 5 hour stretch of sleeping at night, and Friday night went for 7 hours!! Woohoo! He can even fall asleep on his own if I lay him on his tummy(shhh--don't tell the doctor, but that's the only way he can stay asleep for more than 10 minutes at a time without being held).

Ryan has started watching us, and follows us pretty well with his eyes. The girls LOVE entertaining him whenever he's awake.

I got Annie on video this morning playing peek-a-boo with Ryan. She's really cute with him, but we now leave that bar on his bouncy seat to keep her from leaning on his stomach when she's wanting to see him closer, or to bounce him ("a rock a rock a rock" she says). Her blanket is her most favorite thing ever that she has to have whenever we're in the car, or when she gets hurt or needs comfort. And especially when she goes to sleep. And she loves Ryan (or as she calls him Ry-ee) so much that she tries to share her blanket with him all the time. Such love. :)



Last week Ryan started smiling. We caught one of the first ones on camera, back when it was the "I think he just smiled" kind of smiles. But Thursday he started smiling huge and for like 20 or 30 seconds at a time, so there's no question that he is smiling at you. I love little baby smiles!!

Annie continues her little antics, and her latest favorite thing to play with is the bin that holds the mega blocks. She likes to use it as a bed, and puts her blankie in it before climbing in to lay down. 

Rachel is getting more and more creative every day. She loves coloring and drawing, as well as building special castles or towns with the blocks. She doesn't always appreciate Annie's help, but they do generally play together pretty well. Rachel's favorite thing to do lately that she thinks is just the funniest thing in the world is to change into her pajamas at random times in the day. Particularly her Hello Kitty pajamas that are nice and fuzzy and warm--perfect for the 90 degree weather we've been having lately. ;/

Here are a couple pictures of the little guy on his one month birthday:

His face has changed a bit since he was born, getting a little longer, maybe. He's certainly expressive when he is happy or angry. And I love his little cowlick that won't lay flat for anything right in the middle of his head. It's crying out for a mohawk, I guess. Either that, or it's time for the little guy's first haircut.

Rachel and Annie had a tea party tonight. It lasted until Annie started one of her other favorite pasttimes: pouring water all over the place.

Every meal (and tea party) involves tons of "clinking" of cups. Annie will hold up her cup and yell "tink!" whenever she wants to clink, and if Rachel is close enough she'll hurry to comply.

They're fun little gals. I'm glad they like each other most of the time.