Quick Successions: New Mexico Edition

We used to alternate Christmases between here and California, but we haven't been to Cali since 2008. I really like going to Monterey because it is warmer, but I also like being able to be at our house for Christmas.  This year was especially dear to me because it is the last Christmas we will likely ever spend in Utah since we are moving to Kansas.  We still might get to California, but I doubt it will be next year. I made some little candies and a Christmas cake and we had roast beef  and mashed potatoes and homemade bread on Christmas Day.  On Christmas Eve, we went to our friends' house and ate turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls, and Dixie (fruit) salad. Brian always opened his presents on Christmas Eve and my family did so on Christmas Day and so we spent the first few years trading off on that too. Then a stroke of brilliance came.  We would open some on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas Day.  This system really works for us.  Hannah s...

When I had Hannah I was still teaching school so I couldn't exclusively feed her.  So I pumped milk for her.  Actually I am still am. She also drinks formula though and water and whole milk.  I am just trying to decrease production gradually. I am not the only one hanging on to bygone times. Hannah still likes her bottle.  She doesn't like cups.  I have tried every kind of sippy cup on earth. She never took a pacifier, but she wants the bottle, especially at mealtimes, nap times, and before bed.  

On Thursday evening the counselor in the bishopric at church came over and asked if I would give on talk on Sunday.  I said that I would and so today I address my ward. Hannah was a good girl while I talked and after church we went home and took this picture. 

We are under contact for our house and close at the end of the month.  It was on the market for a little more than a week.  When this kind of thing happens, you feel much better about the path you have chosen. 

Our house is on the market right now so we have been trying to keep it clean.  Our decorations for Christmas include a tree and some foam ornaments that we don't care if Hannah eats.  So far we have had a lot of people want to come through and either rent or buy our place.  I decided to post these pictures so I can remember what our house looked like years from now.  On Thanksgiving I made tropical ginger turkey, rolls, mashed potatoes and apple and pumpkin pies.  There were just three of us and Brian doesn't like stuffing or vegetables so we kept it pretty simple. Over the weekend I finished my finished my Christmas shopping, prepared the Christmas cards, watched Christmasy movies and kept the place clean. 

Hannah has taken to hiding places. She has a favorite cupboard that she always puts her stuff in.  Last week, she decided to crawl in.   Once she did though, she didn't like it and wanted to get out.  We are going through our old junk and I found my wedding dress from 2002.  I decided to put it on.  Hannah loved it.  We played for a little while. 

Hannah likes to dress up.  She likes dresses and bracelets and necklaces.  I indulge her by getting her pretty little coats when they are good prices and finding her accessories that are appropriate for her age. When I was a child, I would fight against all of this.  My grandmother would try to get me to wear pearls to no avail. Now I always wear some jewelry. Here we are just after church. Hannah is still in her coat and her nose is red from the cold, but she looks like a proper little lady. I am interested to see if she continues to enjoy classic fashion as she grows. 

We had our first snow storm of the year two days ago.  It has snowed again since, but the roads have been melting off during the day.  I usually don't like snow but this year it has made me feel Christmasy.  

Hannah's cousin William came from Greenfield, California to visit her for her birthday.  He was born the same year she was, but several months earlier.  They had such a good time playing.  Hannah has met three of her cousins now. 

Hannah is a year old already.  It has been a big year for her.  She went to Europe twice and Canada once.  She also went to several states: Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming. At nine months she got a green fracture in her arm and had to have a splint for four weeks.  She learned to sleep in her crib and how to say many important words like duck, dog, cookie, cracker, book, hi, uh oh, and my favorite of all: mama.

We went to Kansas over fall break and stayed with my friend and academic advisor Mary Lynn.  We had a great time talking and playing with the baby.

Hannah likes books.  I started reading to her when she was about two weeks old.  She has a little bookshelf full of books and we read a few every day.  She also likes stacking and sorting them.  Maybe we have a future librarian or researcher on our hands. Now that she is talking more, she "reads" by herself making adorable gibberish sounds.

We went to Europe for an academic conference and while we figured out that while we were there, we could get to Belgium for not much money, so in the name of seeing a new place, we went. While we were there, we saw a lot of very unique stuff, but Hannah's favorite part was the park. 

Every year for the past seven years or so Brian and I have taught summer school in our district. Specifically we work with diverse children who for various reasons are determined to have gaps in their education.  We are not huge fans of the deficit model for looking at kids.  When we meet the children, we always marvel at how smart and capable they are and how many talents they have and it causes us to wonder whether school really values the right learning and cultivates the kind of disposition that will make citizens who will protect and preserve democracy.  Here is a picture of some of us as we all cooked food on the last day. This is kind of a good celebratory tradition. The students say what they want to make and I look for recipes or they bring them from home and we make the food and then sit at a table together and eat it and talk.  Then we give awards to the children. It is not an exciting picture because I didn't want to have the children's faces highly vis...

This baby likes to make faces.  She was very expressive, even as a newborn.  Here are my three favorites from last night.  When I exercise I do it in the evenings and she stays with her dad.  She is very excited when I come home.  Last night we took these just after I got back. 

Brian and I are considering moving and so we thought we would do ourselves a favor and get rid of excess items that we don't want to pack and haul off. We made about $300 selling unwanted textbooks from Brian's recently completed master's program.  We also sold some of our excess furniture and made another $600.  A couple of Saturdays ago we had a yard sale and raised just over $200.  We still have some things to take to Kid-to-Kid of Hannah's that we will get a little money for and we have all of our change jars.  When we finish, we will have gotten rid of a lot of stuff just cluttering our house and we are on track to make close to $1500. Amazing.  This picture is of Hannah in her walker helping at the yard sale by staying in the shade close to momma. 

I was asked to give one of the transition speeches to the new teacher education cohort at BYU.  They have a reception every year to welcome the new people into the program and allow the outgoing people to present their research. A person from two cohorts ago gets invited to speak with a faculty member. This is Hannah and I after I finished speaking. 

As a scholar, a lot of my research questions lead me to collecting and studying narratives. There is a large community of narrative researchers and a lot of kinds of narrative research.  A while ago a group of scholars started a conference called Narrative Matters. They hold the conference every other year in various locations.  Last time it was in Quebec, Canada.  This time is was in Paris.  I wrote a proposal to be in this conference at the urging of my BYU supervisor.  About 600 people applied this year for no where near that many spots.  Strangely enough, they picked my proposal and I got to go to France for a week.  I spent time at the conference, because that is what academic people do, but I also got to go and see a lot of fun stuff.  I was in Paris about two years ago in August and I am going back again this August. Brian and I (and now Hannah) really love France. 

Brian finished his master's degree and graduated over the weekend.  The first picture is of him walking and the second is of him turned around afterward so I can see him. This June will be our 10th anniversary and it will also be the first year since we have been married where neither of us has been in school. We actually applied to PhD programs and got accepted but we are so tired of school we are having a hard time bringing ourselves to commit to another 4-5 years starting in September.  We also have reservations about pursuing education at the doctoral level while Hannah is so young. But then, if we don't go soon, we fear we never will. For now, we are just celebrating Brian's victory and waiting to know the best thing to do.

Hannah went to her first academic conference this week.  She did really well at the meetings, except for the very last one.  She cried and cried until we took her home.  I am sure she is looking forward to the next conference in Paris.

Brian's parents came to stay with us after Hannah was born because I had a hard time finding a babysitter for such a little baby.  They ended staying here most of the time from October until March, with intermittent short breaks to check on their house and so forth.  Hannah is playing with her grandmommy here. 

   When I was growing up, there were a lot of baptisms in my family for cousins.  This is Hannah just before attending her first cousin baptism. 

When we went looking for baby furniture, we knew we needed to car seats. As it turns out, it was cheaper to buy to "sets" of car seat and stroller than to get another car seat and base separately. We thought we would use the other stroller maybe for walks in the sunshine and leave the other in truck for perambulating through stores and such farther from home. We got the first chance to take Hannah for a stroll around the neighborhood together on Sunday. Hannah doesn't like the sun in her face (who would?) but other than that, we had a nice time.

My friend Celina had a baby about two weeks after I did. This is her little baby boy. We saw each other on Thanksgiving, but not since then. They both have such cute faces.

This baby is starting to smile all of the time now. She is especially happy when she wakes up from a nap, is being talked to, or gets a drink of milk. She also laughs now. Her giggle is very cute. She will sit and look at pictures while I read books now. Our favorites are Pat the Bunny and Toes, Ears, & Nose.

Hannah likes to be talked to. She seems to alternate between watching my eyes and my mouth. I think these are both good harbingers of verbal development. Anyway, the first picture is her at the beginning of our latest talk. And here she is by the end of it.