Happy Valentines Day!

Well, it's a great day! And it has been a good month so far as well. Sarah is just as bright and beautiful as ever. She's learning so much. Jordan and I have been really good lately about having family night every Monday night. Now that he's home during the nights, it's so much easier. I'm so happy to see her learning about the gospel and enjoy learning about it! Sarah has such a precious, tender soul and we love her very much.

We went sledding a couple weeks ago and enjoyed all of 2 runs down the hill before the tube popped. All well, the time in the car was enjoyable and the time we spent together is memorable.

Daniel is Daniel and is learning as much as any 17 month old can. He's very focused on fitting things together. He enjoys destroying, and now, putting back. I can't complain now...at least he's putting things back together. He's been a very good little boy and now he knows how to fold his arms for prayer. He also knows where his head, belly button, and nose is. Pretty impressive, no? He also can say, "Please," and "more." Of course he knows plenty of other words. He wants to speak to us so badly. He has the most baby garble of words I've ever heard from a baby before. I'm not the only one to say that either. Daniel is a vocal child. Perhaps a future motivational speaker? Maybe.

In the video, Daniel is mimicking something I do a lot of...cleaning. He loves the vacuum for some odd reason

Update

Well, it is been FOREVER since I've posted anything. We've done a lot since I've last written in August. I guess time got the better of me and I slacked off as well. Sorry.

Christmas was a blast. Sarah was totally into Santa Clause this year. She's also in preschool and loves her teachers at Melody Lane. She's the tallest and youngest in her class. She's very bright and is looking forward to starting kindergarten in August this coming year. Sarah is writing and loves to draw, cut, tape, and glue things. Santa was so smart this year and gave Sarah a roll of her very own tape to use since she was using all of Mom's. She liked this idea a lot and mentioned to me Santa should bring her some tape every year.

Daniel got tubes put into his ears Feb. 1st last week. He's sleeping much better now :o). It's about time, too. Poor little boy had ear infection after ear infection. After a really sick bout on our cruise, I said that was enough and took him to an ENT and the following week surgery was scheduled. Daniel did very well and is on the up and up. Thank goodness for tubes!!

Daniel is also learning how to do many things. His favorite thing as of late is throwing. He's very good at throwing balls, socks, shoes, sippy cups, sister's toys, and anything he can get his little hands on, down the stairs. He has pretty good aim too. Future quarterback? Perhaps. He has also learned where his nose is and how to make plenty of animal noises. His favorite noises to make are a bear (grr!) and an elephant (presses his lips together and blows really hard, usually just making his hair fly up). His very curious and very smart.

On the cruise Daniel managed to change the combo on the safe in our hotel room. We had to call security to come and unlock the safe. Then he managed to change the combo on Nana and Bumpa's suitcase while on the boat, which resulted in Bumpa breaking the lock off the suitcase in order to get back into it. Well, things couldn't been worse.

The cruise was a blast!! We went to Disney World for 2 days before we left Tampa for Belize, Grand Cayman, Roatan, and Cozumel. It was wonderful seeing so many places and getting out of the cold Utah weather for warmer climates. It was a blast having all my siblings, their spouses and kids, and my parents there as well. It was a big family reunion. We look forward to the next one...perhaps a few more years away so we can save enough to afford another fantastic trip.

I auditioned for the Stake Musical (The Music Man) here in Hyde Park. I am casted in the role of Mrs. Squires. A pick-chick again! Yeah!! I think this will be a lot of fun. I'm excited to meet new people and become more intergrated into the stake/ward since I'm new to Hyde Park.

Now Valentines Day is approaching. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. I wish it didn't, yet it does. Now, onto other news. I'm starting a new diet. It's called the Dukan Diet. The science behind it is pretty solid and makes complete sense to be as well. So, I've started a new blog about it. I'll weigh in tomorrow and off I'll go on living a new way of life (diet wise). I'm pretty pumped up about this and think this will be a good change not only for me, but my family as well. No more preservatives, no more refined sugar, no more carbs (ok, carbs are a yes, but are limited). Wish me luck! (www.nataliedunkandiet.blogspot.com). My goal is to update the blog once a week to inform everyone of my progress. And since I'll be updating that blog, chances are I'll be twice as better at updating this blog as well.