WONDERFUL WEEKEND IN SLC!

This past weekend was spent with my family down in Salt Lake. My family usually always goes there for every conference. We drove down Friday and again had the wonderful experience to attend my Dad's Argentine Mission Reunion with Elder Scott. He led us in a wonderful discussion of temple preparedness and attendance and then mingled with everyone. He is so kind and wonderful!





While we mingled, everyone also go to enjoy the hundreds of yummy empanadas my sister-in-law, Wonder Woman, I mean Romina made! If you haven't had the privileged of meeting her, you are completely missing out! She is amazing! There was a long line to visit with Elder Scott, so we enjoyed playing with Addy while we waited and also visited with a lot of my Dad's good friends.

Addy got to meet Elder Scott for the first time, along with our niece, Cassidy. He is so wonderful! I can't say it enough!

For those of you who know my family...there is not just a few of us! 2 awesome parents, 8 siblings and a countless numbers of spouses :), and 20 nieces and nephews. Not all of us where there, but it was still an event to house this many folks! So between Bryan and Ro and Todd and Suzy's hospitality, we were all safely attended for! When I say safely, I mean between all the kids and adults rough-housing, wrestling, and playing there where no injuries. That itself always makes for a good weekend!
Saturday was opened bright and early with an adventure to Todd's house for a birthday breakfast for Uncle Ricky's birthday!

Talk about amazing buffet style with everything you could think of to eat for breakfast! Awesome job everyone! Thank you to all those who didn't stay out late and then awoke early to cook (yeah...we made it just in time to eat, so we can't take any credit!)


HAPPY B-DAY RICKY!





During the break between conference, Dan, Addy, Brit, Suzy, and I went over to the church to watch the boys play ball (again, always greatful for another safe event with the competitive Holman boys!) Suzy and I had our own game of PIGGY. Who won? Amazing-ME, PIGGY-Sue! We had to add a few extra letters to pig to give Suzy a chance :) Suzy, if it makes you feel any better, it was luck because I don't think I have shot a basketball since high school! But good game!




My wonderful Uncle Dan gets the boys tickets for Priesthood session, so off our handsome older boys went Saturday evening. They all had a nice time. Todd was there too, but he was the designated photographer









While they were gone, the little kids entertained us with lots of dress up time and clean up time (multiple times!)

The boys were Superheros!

And the girls were beautiful ballerinas.
We also played Missionary Bingo (which Karin and I improvised to make it work for us! They will play anything for a treat! So I showed them the treat and then told them in order to play they each had to do a job first(sweep, clean table, pick up toys in kitchen...worked well!) All the kids Bingo papers were the same, so we went around the table and I picked the picture and Karin asked a question about the subject. If they got it right, then they could put a skittle on it. It kept the kids well entertained for at least an hour!
When the boys got home, we had an awesome BBQ for Rick's birthday. Thanks again Ro for your amazing talents!




After the first session on Sunday, my mom wanted to do a little Easter Egg hunt for the kids. Barry and I had just as much as fun hiding the eggs as the kids had looking for them. It was a nice, sunny day!





Cassidy helped Addy find her eggs. Thanks Cass!

We love our Holman family and are grateful for the wonderful weekend. Thank you again Romina and Bryan for your awesome hospitality!

Another dr. visit to add to the book!

Addy and I went to the doctors for her 6 month check. I am always a proud mama when the nurse asks all the questions about development and I get to say yes to them. We are so blessed to have such a good and healthy baby! She is growing more like a small pine tree than a weed, but still the same, growing. As I went to put her on the scale, I kept thinking, 12 lbs, 12 lbs...so when I saw that we were still in the 10 lb range, my mouth about dropped. But the doctor was pleased and said everything is still good because she is consistently gaining. She was so sad getting her shots today (I think possibly because nursing student drilled a hole into her bone instead of the muscle...but I was there before and so I am glad poor Addy could be a practice pin cushion for her :)) So here are Baby Addy's stats as of today:





weight: 10.9 lbs. 0%
height: 25 in. 21%
head circ: 16 in. 16%

CRAZINESS AT THE STODDARD'S

TUMMY TIME GONE CRAZY!


So things are really not that crazy around here. The craziest thing is that ADDYSON IS 6 MONTHS OLD TODAY! WOW! That is seriously crazy to me! But I did want to show some of the things going on here at our home.... first off...
Well, Dan and Addyson came to see me at work last Saturday. About an hour later, Dan kept trying to call my phone and also trying to reach me at the hospital with no luck. Finally he sends this picture text entitled, "Can you guess where this is?"


Well I couldn't really tell, but I got a little nervous... Come to find out a man that lives just down the road and around the corner hit and took out our mailbox, along with our neighbors, and somehow flipped up-side-down. Not only that, Life Flight landed at our church and this man was flown to EIRMC. We really hope that he is going to be okay. But I have had to pick up my mail in Rexburg because our mailbox is out of commission...I really hope we get that fixed soon.


My friend, Melissa, and her husband, Nate came over and we made homemade pizza...It was pretty good and we had a good time. We will have to do it again!

Check out Mel work that dough!

Nate a little bummed that we made him pause the big game to work on the sauce :)

Dan and Addy playing in the flour

And the finishing product...A fabulous Hawaiian Pizza!


Now for little Addy...HAPPY 6 MONTHS B-DAY! Whoot woo! She is such a treat! She is so fun and adorable! On that note, may I just do a little adoring...
Adoring Addy
I adore Addy mastering rolling both from front to back and back to front.
I adore that Addy tolerate tummy time so much better.
I adore Addy eating solids, even though she hates it and makes a huge mess!
I adore Addy playing cheerleader with daddy.
I adore Addy almost sitting up by herself.
I adore Addy's spit ups...I have to tell myself that all the time!
I adore Addy's fake cough!
I adore that Addy will watch Dancing with the Stars with me and be entertained!
I adore Addy's pettiness! Yep, still a shrimp!
I adore Addy's contagious smile and giggle!
I adore Addy utilizing her clothing and getting great use out of 0-3 months!
I adore Addy going to bed between 8-9:30.
I adore Addy's good long 3 hour naps during the day!
I adore Addy how funny she is in the bath tub!
I adore Addy how content she is most of the time.
I adore Addy's new thing as the starting of a tantrum when she is tired she throws her head back and lets out a cry...(I had to add that new thing in..I just laugh at her...I can do that right now because it is new and short lasting! Give it some time and I don't think it will be too cute!)

But here are some pictures I like of my little half a year old princess!

Taking her birthday nap


Mamma's happy girl!


Addy loves all kind of friends, especially her bear friends.


Cute smile while helping with the laundry!

Well, things have been going fabulous for us. Not a whole lot going, but still fun and memorable. Addyson makes us laugh every day. She is growing and changing each day and letting her personality shine through. She is such a blessing to us.
We went down to Boise for Boy's state basketball to watch Sugar and Madison play. Dan wasn't too thrilled at my idea because I had mentioned Wed that maybe we should go. He told me to decided and perhaps we could leave Thurs after he got off work...Well he came home and I told him I didn't really need to go. So he put it out of his mind...So Friday around 11am I was looking up the stats online and noticed that neither of their games that day were until after 6pm (plenty of time to make it down there!) Dan was not thrilled at my idea when I asked him to come home. He told me that if I could find a hotel, he would think about it (all the doubt in his mind that there would not be one...) So I asked my brother, Todd where they were staying...Looked online, and booked our hotel. Needless to say we booked it down there on my little whim! But we had a good time. I don't know if I mentioned that I lost my new Christmas camera in Nashville, so I have been trying to magnify my cell phone camera to suffice my needs :) So the only pictures in Boise we got were of Addy and I smooching on The KFC colonel.


We also started feeding Addyson rice cereal. We get quite the laugh out of watching her explore the new taste and texture. The first couple of times were so classic. SHE HATED IT! She is so funny! She tried everything to squirm out of our arms as she sat on the counter.



My friend, Lynzi, has this awesome baby chair thing that goes right on one of the table chairs. We went and got one, and I am not going to exaggerate, Addy loves her new big chair! Big girl!

She really does a lot better in her chair. She is so cute and big!




Addyson loves hanging out with her dad! I don't know who is more smitten by the other...okay I do, Daniel is completely smitten by this little girl, but she adores him so much! She totally lights up when she sees him! When we were at Toys R Us in Boise, Dan and I were having as much fun as all the kids around us, playing with all the cool toys. Dan found this dozer that he really wanted. So the little boy got his birthday gift early this year!



They are both also very proud of their new trick! Dan mastered it with our little nieces, so we knew it couldn't be too long until he was at it our little Addy!




Just accept it, Dan, Addy is the next cheerleader!!!

Venturing Argentina

When my brother, Greg, returned home from Afghanistan, he did not have to go right back to work. So as it usually goes, Greg decided to go adventure out in the world. This time to go to Argentina and he invited my Dad to go along. Which is wonderful because that is where my Dad served his mission 40 years ago. They have ventured all over the Argentine country , seeing the old places my dad used to live, teach, and learn. They have seen people that were part of my Dad's life back then.
I just want to share one of the sweet experiences they have had. On Sunday they found a church to go to and during the meeting they announced a fireside with Elder Richard G. Scott. Which is totally ironic, because he was my Dad's mission president all those years ago. My Dad figured it was just a broadcast, but got up and bore his testimony and shared the with people his feelings for Elder Scott. He was told afterward that Elder Scott was actually going to be there. My Dad said the look on Elder Scott's face when he walked in was priceless.
Greg and my Dad also found Elder Kade Hollingsworth, whom some may know as our wonderful friend, Morgan's little brother. He was shocked to see my family.

I LOVE THIS CHICK!

So I am not doing too well at that great idea I stole of writing my adoring thoughts of Addyson on her monthly birthdays. My excuse this time is that I worked all weekend and didn't have time...LAME EXCUSE, I know! I can not believe she is already 5 months old! I realized the other day that next month she will be a half a year old! WOW! She is so precious! We love her so much! She is growing and developing so well...yes she is growing for those people who don't think so...She has doubled her birth weight:) She is so happy and beautiful! Okay maybe we are a little biased, but we think she is the most wonderful baby in the world!
Here are some of the things that make her wonderful in my eye!

Adoring Addy
I adore Addy's squeals and giggles!
I adore when Addy doesn't puke on me after a feeding.
I adore Addy how she has started burping on her own.
I adore Addy only making me wait 1 day to see her roll over after I missed it the 1st time.
I adore Addy watching her happily play with her toys.
I adore Addy cuddling with me for a bit after awaking in the mornings.
I adore her big, bright, blue eyes!
I adore Addy's eyes lighting up when she sees me when she & her daddy come to see me at work.
I continue to adore Addy sleeping about 9 hours/night.
I adore watching Addy blow bubbles with her saliva.
I adore shopping for Addy!
I adore that Addy LOVES her binky!

Yes...those are her feet. In her mouth is usually where you can find them!

And yes...that is her thumb in her mouth... I like to think she is not sucking it, rather just chewing on it!

Addy and her beary best friends.

Tennessee Trip

Daniel, Addy, and I took a week off and flew to Nashville. With the economy going the way it is, we have been worried about the construction life; so we thought maybe we could become country singers in Nashville instead. Okay, not really. We went to visit my brother, Blake's family. Addyson did very well on the plane. I think she was she was going through a growth spurt, because she slept most of the whole trip that week. Here she is on her first plane ride. We all look especially well at 5:30 AM!



Addyson was delighted to meet Blake...


Loved being held by Aunt Chantelle...


And absolutely loved playing with cousins Maya and Desire'e.

We had a wonderful week of hanging out and seeing the Nashville sites. Here are some photos from the trip.

Venturing around the Grand Ole Opry Hotel


The Jack Daniels Distillery




Addyson even picked out her future first car!


We also went to a Joseph Smith Commemoration concert put on by the Nashville Tribute Band (of Dan Truman from Diamond Rio, a song writer, Jason Deere; Due West comprised of Matt Lopez, Brad Hull, and Tim Gates) Dan and Brad are both in Blake's ward. So after the concert we all went to cold stones for a treat...but Due West actually gave the cold stone workers a treat by singing some songs for them and then sticking it the event on their website. (duewestmusic.blogspot.com)


We were sad to say goodbye. We love you guys and appreciate everything! Until next time...