Lydia's Baby Blessing

The first Sunday in December Rich blessed Lydia in church.  I always love baby blessing days. Lydia seemed to know it was a special day because she was particularly pleasant and smiley for the entire day. 

Our friends also blessed their baby that afternoon so right after sacrament meeting we ran outside so that we could have them take a picture of our family (and we took a picture of their family).

I also wanted to record a little bit about her dress.  Since she is my only girl I wanted to do something special for her blessing dress.  I had a few different ideas but then I remembered my old temple dress.  I recently bought a new dress because after 11+ years my dress was starting to show wear.  I couldn't bear to throw it away and it wasn't in wearable condition.  So it sat for months in a basket in my room.  I had seen ideas of women cutting up their wedding dress to make a blessing or baptism dress for their daughter but hated the idea of cutting up my own wedding dress.  Then it hit me--maybe it would be possible to use my temple dress to create a beautiful blessing dress for Lydia.  I talked to a talented friend in the ward (Katrina Hughes) and she helped my vision become reality.  She was even able to use my favorite part of the dress (the cuff of the sleeve) along the bodice of the dress.  I just love it!

Merry Christmas!

Rich hates Christmas letters but I love them... so every year he humors me and writes one up for our family.  Here are all the beginnings that he originally wrote for this year's letter knowing I wouldn't use them.  I think they are funny though so I wanted to preserve them here on the blog.

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Merry Christmas! One of the worst traditions of the year is the annual Christmas letter. You don't want to read it, and I don't want to write it. And don't send me yours. I'm not reading it. 

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Merry Christmas! One of the best traditions of the year is our annual Christmas letter, or what is commonly known as the reason for the season, when you snuggle up with those you love and read all about the Cranes, and bask in our holiday warmth. It's not that we think we're better than you, we know we're better than you. I strongly suggest you read this with a highlighter or your favorite scripture markers, and then post it somewhere you'll see it everyday. Read it, study it, cherish it. I know you'll be a better person for having read it. And remember, if you shoot for the stars and only make it to the moon, that's pretty good too.

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Merry Christmas everyone! We love and miss all of you. Especially those of you we never talk to. Ever. Seriously, why are you getting a letter? I deleted your number from my phone like two years ago. I know we're all busy, but last time I saw you at Target, I hid behind an end cap to avoid talking to you. It's not that I don't like you. I just don't want to talk to you anymore. Or see you. 

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Merry Christmas friends and neighbors! There's a lot going on this year in the Crane household, but wouldn't you rather talk about the Thunder's chances of making the playoffs in a stacked West? 

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Merry Christmas! A lot happened with us last year. We'll work backwards:

We had a baby girl this year! Lydia Marie Crane was born on October 23, and she is awesome. She sleeps pretty good and all our boys love her. To us, having a girl after four boys was amazing. We didn't think we'd ever have a girl. We hear that we're in for a lot of work with a little girl, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

We went to Alaska this summer to see Jeanine's family, which was awesome. Alaska is a great summer vacation. I'd love to visit in the Winter, but you can't beat the contrast between Vegas and Alaskan summers. While we were there, William, who turned 10 this year, broke his arm, which took some time to heal. He was sad about missing sports, but spent time doing student council and playing piano to fill his time.

James is 7 and is playing basketball this year. He really likes it and is also playing piano. He'll get baptized this year and is doing really well.

Alex is 5 and started Kindergarten this year. The rest of our boys have a love-hate relationship with school, but Alex just loves it. He is a really hard worker and is doing great.

Henry is really funny and nice. He turned 3 this year and loves music. He's always singing and doing little dances, but he doesn't like to perform on command sadly. 

Jeanine and I are getting more acquainted with Las Vegas. There is certainly a ton to do here outside of the strip. This year we went to the Old Mormon Fort, the Stratosphere, and played in the snow up in the mountains (yeah, snow in Vegas). We've also explored some of Southern California. We went to Legoland with the boys and played on the beach in San Diego. We still miss Oklahoma and North Carolina, but love where we are too. 

Hope you are all doing well. We love and miss you.

Thanksgiving

I always love Thanksgiving!  This year we had no family around and didn't want to travel with a tiny baby so we invited some friends from our ward to join us. The boys spent the morning playing sports outside while I relaxed and prepped a few things for our feast later that afternoon.

For the boys' table I wrapped it with Kraft paper and let them draw what they were thankful for.

We enjoyed a delicious feast and wonderful company.

A few days later we even had William and James break the wishbone.

Grandma and Lisa come to visit

About a week after my mom left we got some more visitors.  Grandma Crane and Aunt Lisa came for a few days!  We had a great time playing, talking, getting a massage, and eating out.  It was fun to see Lisa because we hadn't seen her since right before she left on her mission!  I'm sad I didn't take more pictures but we are so glad that they came to visit!

Rub-a-dub-dub

It has become a tradition that my mom gives each of my babies their first bath.  William's umbilical cord didn't come off until we were visiting my parents for Christmas.  My mom was still at our home when James and Alex were ready for their first bath.  Henry's cord came off right after my mom had left for the airport--but then her flight was changed and she came back and stayed for another night!  Lydia's cord came off the last night my mom was here... so the tradition continued!

Fun with Grandma

 You give me a kiss.
You give me a hug.
You smile when you see me too.
I wish ev'ry child in the whole wide world
Had a grandmother just like you.

You read me a book.
You sing me a song.
You whisper you love me too.

I wish ev'ry child in the whole wide world
Had a grandmother just like you.

 

I'll try to be good;
I'll do as I should.
I'll whisper, "I love you too."

I wish ev'ry child in the whole wide world
Had a grandmother just like you.

(Nonie Nelson Sorensen, Children's Songbook pg 200)

We had a lot of fun with Grandma while she was here.  The hospital changed their policy about visitors during the flu season so the boys weren't able to come visit us and see Lydia.  To make up for the disappointment Grandma took the boys to browse the toy aisles of Target (always a fun activity!), eat dinner in their cafe and then ice cream at Burger King. 

 
When we went to the Orchard the week before Lydia was born we didn't get the chance to take a hayride.  While Rich and I were still in the hospital Grandma took the boys back to the Orchard.

My mom also brought along with her Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle which she read to them whenever they had a few minutes to kill (before school, eating dessert, etc).

We were really lucky that we had a ton of days off of school while she was here. The boys got to show Grandma all the fun things we like to do around town.

They went to the dinosaur park

 
and the Springs Preserve (and met Dad there for lunch.)

One day I was feeling up for an outing so we went to Old Mormon Fort.  The boys love to play in the water that runs through it.

Grandma always brings fun toys and crafts to do.

And they had fun playing games as well.

I'm so glad that they boys were able to have so much fun with Grandma!

William's Birthday Celebration

William's birthday was really low key this year.  We opened presents--all of which he loved.

 For his birthday dessert William requested chocolate chocolate chip cookies this year.  It was perfect because they are easy and I was still adjusting to my mom being gone!

 

William chose pizza for his birthday dinner so we stopped by Costco to get a pizza.  We then headed out to see Big Hero 6 at the drive-in movies. 

We had a great time celebrating our big 10-year-old!