Mommy's little helper

Lately Darci is always trying to copy the things we do. So when I am cleaning or doing laundry she is right there with me "helping". Last night after I did the dishes and ran the dishwasher, I opened the dishwasher to get a cup. And inside was one of Darci's toys. Too cute!

She kept wrapping the towels around her.

She climbs on the dishwasher and pulls the dishes out, sometimes she hands them to me.

Every time I get out the swiffer, she has to have it, so I shortened it and she is now the designated swiffer sweeper.

Other videos:



She keeps wanting to drink from my cup, but she hasn't figured out how to drink from a straw yet. But the other day she learned how to blow in the straw to make bubbles. Now every time she sees my cup she wants it so that she can blow bubbles.


She has mastered climbing on to the couch. I have no idea how she learned to do it this way. She pushes with her feet against one couch and pulls her self up from the other couch onto the table. Crazy girl.

another post below

Anniversary weekend!

On the 17th was our 3 year Anniversary! We were able to celebrate by driving down to Oregon, my mom watched Darci for a couple days (Thanks Mom) and Merrill and I went to the Oregon Coast. We drove threw Tillamook, and stopped at the cheese factory (of course). We got some squeaky cheese (which Merrill ate all of it, I got one), and some Marionberry Cheesecake fudge. And we also got some ice cream, YUMMY! Then we went to Lincoln City were we stayed in a beach house owned by friends of my parents, Thank You Petersons!!
First thing we did when we got there was go to Mo's, for a late lunch. Usually a great place to eat at the beach.... Not this time, I got sick. The food was good, but as soon as we left I got a stomach ache, so we went to get me some meds, and went to the house, and there I stayed on the couch the rest of the day. Then the next day the beach was foggy and cold. we still had fun, it was just good to get away and relax. I only got a couple pictures of the water and such.

really big bear kite thing

You can see the fog over the water. It was like that everywhere, you couldn't see anything.

-------------------------

Before we went to the beach we hung out with my family for a day. Merrill went golfing with my dad. And My mom, Capri and I took the kids to Enchanted Forest (a place we liked to go to as kids). Wyatt and Darci had a lot of fun.

Isn't that just the cutest picture. Looking in the little cottage. I can't remember what was in it, I think just some dressed up animals.

Grandma took them through the rabbit hole (its supposed to be from Alice and wonderland)

Darci coming through the last part of the Rabbit hole, it was a little down hill and she came running down and fell just before she got to me. Don't worry, she was fine.

The end of the rabbit hole.

Humpty Dumpty's wall!

Going in the witches mouth, Wyatt did not like that.

This is the crooked house (There was a crooked man...... And they all lived together in a little crooked house)

I think we got some more pictures that are on Capri's camera.
There was the big slide in the shoe (There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children, she didn't know what to do......)

And Lots of other little things revolving around nursery rhymes.

Swimming at Grandma's to cool off after.

Family Reunion

Last weekend we had a Family Reunion, on my Dad's side, all his brothers and sisters and their families, and my Grandma Bird. It was at this place called Ensign Ranch in Washington off I-90, it's another one of those LDS owned camps. I didn't take a lot of pictures, just got some from one day, which we did a lot that day. It started out with a 7:00 tee time. There were supposed to be quite a few of us golfing, but it ended up being just me, and my parents, my uncle Blake, and My cousins Shelby and Travis. It was a hard course, but very pretty. Lots of hills and trees.

My dad (can't remember which hole this was). We all had great hits of the tee, Mom got par, I got a double bogey, which was good compared to the rest of the holes.

There was this slip n' slide/water slide thing that they had made for the camp, its just a big hill with plastic over it and water spraying on it. We headed over there after golf, its right next to the lodge basically, but Darci was so tired, she fell asleep while we were walking to it. So we set her up a little shaded spot to sleep...

I woke her up to go down the slide, but she never really fully woke up.

All the guys getting ready to go down in a line to "sling shot" someone.

This is the sling shot. They all hook together and then let go of the last guy and he shoots down the slide.

Darci finally woke up enough that she had fun going down the slide. We took her down a few times before and she just sat the with her "half asleep look". But before lunch we got her to smile when we took her down. YAY!!

Darci on Wyatt's run bike

-----------------------

A bunch of us decided to float the river. Merrill parked his truck a couple miles down the river. There were 13 of us that went, plus Darci and Wyatt. Randy and Wyatt were in a little raft and the rest of us in tubes. Darci liked it for the first couple minutes, she sat on my lap looking around. But she was super tired, so she started to get a little fussy, and then after a few minutes more she fell asleep. She was asleep pretty much the whole time, but woke up and got super fussy after a while, so we switched with Randy and Wyatt and got in the raft and Merrill got in also to help paddle. Even with Darci, it was a great time!

My nephew Wyatt fell asleep standing with his head on the chair while we all ate dinner after the super long fun day!

Darci's first camping trip

We went on our first camping trip of the year this past weekend. And it was Darci's first camping trip ever. I was a little worried how she was going to be cause she has been teething and real fussy, and has NOT been sleeping well. And to my surprise she did GREAT! And she loved it! She didn't want to go to sleep but she never cried the whole time, even when she fell on her face in the bark.
We went to this place called Cascade Park. Its owned by the LDS church and is very family friendly. We camped in the grass, so it was a great place for Darci to run around. And there was a couple little playgrounds and a zip-line and a little river. We went with 4 other couples that also had little kids. It was a lot of fun. Here are some pics and videos.

Sittin' in her little chair by the campfire eating her gold fish crackers.

Merrill finishing off the cobbler (which was sooo yummy, it was our first time using our dutch oven, we made a blackberry/raspberry/boysenberry cobbler, YUM)

Running around, eating snacks, and helping set up the tent.

OK, here is a video that is hilarious. Although if you are Grandma Calder you will not think it is so funny. Watch what happens at the end. Everyone there could not stop laughing. And just so you know before you watch it, she did not get hurt, she didn't cry or anything, she is one tough little girl.....

She loves the slide, Merrill had let her go down by herself before and she just dropped down the end on her bum, but this time her foot caught before she could get to her bum.

There was this little sand area block off right next to the water. I set Darci down in it with the other kids and she had a blast. They dug a hole and got to some water and Darci splashed around and got sand everywhere. It was so fun to watch her. Then Merrill just dunked her in the water to clean her off.

Here is a video of her splashing in the little hole. she got soaked on her front from splashing. And her bum was soaked and cover in sand.



When we were all done in the sand it was around 3 and she had not taken a nap, so we got her all cleaned up and put her in the tent, and she was out..

We had such a fun weekend, and we are going camping again this next weekend (in lodges and campers) for a family reunion and we are excited. Especially now that we know how much Darci likes it all. YAY!!!

This is the best purchase I have made in the last year. I debated whether or not to get it a few months ago. I was tired of scrubbing the carpet when Darci would spit up. I got it around 5 months ago, and I use it often...

especially for things like this:

Look at that innocent face. "Mommy it wasn't me, the cup is leak proof, I don't know how it happened...!"

-------------
Darci is started to get picky with her food. Although its a little different than what I would've expected. Here is what I gave her the other night. Sweet potatoes, green beans and carrots...

All done.....

After 3 servings of green beans, she barely touched the rest. She is so funny. Her favorite foods right now seems to be peas, green beans, gerber meat sticks, mac and cheese and bread. Any of those, she will eat any time, but other stuff she barely gives it a chance. But I love that she loves the green veggies. She is her Daddy's girl.

----------

Gotta include another video of Darci dancing. she loves to dance! Anytime she sees me go to turn on the radio, even before the music starts, she starts swinging those hips.

Video

I posted this video on facebook a couple months ago, but apparently I never got around to getting it on the blog. So, here it is... Darci trying to "catch" the DVD screen saver.





Here are some more pictures from our birthday trip to Oregon...

This picture cracks me up... After church, I was making cookies and Darci kept climbing on this chair, and I would tell her no and get her down, and after a few times of this, when she would climb onto the chair and stand up, and as soon as I looked at her she would start to cry, cause she knew she was in trouble and I was going to get her down.

Gotta love the sleeping baby on her knees with her butt in the air.

She loves the slide

Darci and her 2nd cousin Ruby (my cousin Chelsea's little girl). What little cuties. Darci is 12 months, and Ruby is 9 months. Don't they look a lot alike.

Getting ready to go swimming. Next time I will get some pictures. She loves the water.

Darci had her 1 year check up today. Here are her stats:
length: 29 1/2 inches 75th percentile
weight: 21 lbs 15 ounces 63rd percentile

She grew almost 2 inches and gained 1 pound in the last 2 1/2 months. She has been walking for almost 3 months. She is a very active little 1 year old.

Happy Birthday Darci!

Today is Darci's 1st Birthday. We came to Oregon and celebrated on Saturday. It was a fun day. We had some family over for a BBQ. Darci opened her presents (with the help of Mommy and Wyatt). And we had some cake and ice cream. She wasn't too sure about the cake, she hesitated at first. And she actually didn't make much of a mess. We kind of helped her by putting her whole cake to her face, for her to take a bite and get it on her face.
Thanks to everyone that came, we had a fun day!

She had her own little cake all to herself and a big one for everyone else.

Playing with the bunny, but not liking sitting in the grass.

Wyatt gave her a ride in the power wheels arctic cat


Wyatt kept going and stopping and then asking Darci if she was having fun.

Shake that booty!

Darci loves to dance!

And here are some pictures from Memorial weekend. My parents came to visit and we went to the Seattle Aquarium, and to the Air Museum, and rode on a ferry. It was a fun, long weekend!

Stuffed bear outside one of the shops in Seattle

Touching a starfish

Watching the diver feed the fish. He gave Darci a "high five" through the glass!

On the ferry. She loves to look out the window.

So tired after a long fun weekend!

Her reaction when the balls fall is too cute.