We went to Bear Lake last weekend. We swam once, and then just stayed in the condo the whole time. We watched movies, read a lot of books, and you and Jonah colored a lot. That was almost the only thing you were interested in. It was fun to do things with you, and just spend the whole day with you. It was the first trip where we weren't worried about Jonah's pants so much, and we didn't take the Pea Pod for you. You and Jonah slept in a bed. It was a little difficult getting you to sleep the first night, but you both did really well after that. I'm getting more and more excited to go places with the two of you. It's so much easier without all the extra equipment. Hopefully you'll potty train this summer, and then we'll be in good shape. We have some fun trips planned.

The past two days you've gotten up very early, before I left for work. You are so cute in your jammies with your bed head hairdo, trying to block out the light. You're also very snuggly when you're tired. I think it's amusing how independent you are. I bet if I wasn't there, you'd come down the hall, open the fridge, get out a bran muffin, and have your own breakfast all by yourself. I love when I sit down next to you at the table and you lean over to snuggle against me while you're eating.

You are a super-cute little girl. I love to tickle you and hear you laugh. I love to snuggle you, and hold hands while we're walking somewhere. I love to watch you learn all the things Jonah does by himself, because you want to be independent too. It's hard for me as a parent, because I love to see you grow up, but I want you to stay my little girl forever. I love you.

Love,

Daddy

The other item of note is that you can read quite a bit now. It's surprising sometimes to hear what you can read. You like finding the Exit signs in whatever store we might be in. Aunt Holly gave us a binder with Family Home Evening lessons in it for Christmas, and Mama asked you what it said on the front. You read the whole thing. "Family Home Evening Lessons for a Year." We were all pretty surprised at that. You love having us read books to you, and your attention span is getting better and better. Grandma Joan says you're ready for something like "Charlotte's Web" soon. It will be fun to start reading chapter books with you. I am so excited to see you fall into books. I'm excited for you to go to kindergarten later this year, and bring things home to read. I wish I had more time to read now. I remember one day in Junior High my teacher gave us Ender's Game as reading for the next several weeks, and I took it home and couldn't put it down until I'd finished it that evening. I think I read it 3 or 4 times in those several weeks. I also remember the compilation books we had for reading in Elementary school. I loved those stories, and I was always several stories ahead of the class. Your Mama loves books just as much if not more than I do. I think you're doomed, really, but if we've doomed you to a life of loving books, I think there are worse things we could do as parents.

You are still coming up with funny little sayings. Just tonight when you brushed your teeth, I let you rinse three times. You wanted four times, and got mad at me when I stopped at three. You said, "Well, if I don't get four times then I'll be grumpy when I come back from Jesus!" We have no idea what you meant there. But you had such the look of consternation.

I'm glad you're learning about spiritual things. I hope we can feed you enough information and spiritual experiences to guide you as we should. I also hope we're not too overbearing. I think we'll lean more toward the overbearing side, and that will be our challenge. Remember that we love you, always. I've said that before, and I'm sure I'll say it many more times. I love you lots and lots, kiddo.

I'm still excited about all the fun things we get to do this year. I hope you remember the good experiences for a long time.

Love,

Daddy

A few weeks ago you learned how to say, "All done!" I put you in the tub one night for a bath, and left you to play in the water while I cleaned up a little. Pretty soon you were yelling, "All done! All done!" I went back in to check on you, and you had let all the water out and were ready to get out. I love that you know what you're saying. I just hope it catches on soon that you can say things that mean something to everyone else in the house. Communication is a good thing.

I've said this before, but I love when you play games with me. One of your recent games is repeating "Daddy" with different inflections. Sometimes you'll copy me, and sometimes you want me to copy you. My favorite is when you say "DaddeeEEeeEEeeEEeeEEeeEEee". I'm especially excited that you can change the tone of your voice, because I have this desire for my kids to learn Chinese, and that's an important part of the language. I need to do more about teaching that to you and Jonah.

It has been quite a year for you. You've gone from simple walking straight to climbing on everything, running, jumping, and generally being much more adventurous than when Jonah was your age. You've learned a lot of signs, and lots of words too. I'm excited for you to really start talking this next year.

I think we're going to have a fun year. We have lots of ideas for places to go on vacation, and lots of fun things to do at home and near home. Jonah's still in school, so you get some alone time with Mama, and when he starts Kindergarten you'll get even more.

You've turned into a super cute little girl. I'm excited for all the new things you'll learn, but I'm also sad you're not our little baby anymore. We'd like another little baby, of course, but if that doesn't happen I'm very happy to have my two cute kids. You make me smile all the time.

I hope you know I love you. Your Mama and I are going to do everything we can to make this next year a good one for you and Jonah. Keep learning and growing. And don't forget to keep charming your silly Daddy.

Love,

Daddy

And my favorite this month? You were in the tub scooping up water in a cup and holding it way up and pouring it out. You said it was falling down and dying. I asked you if you thought water was alive, and you said yes. Then I asked what made you think the water was alive, and you said, "Because it has a brain that it can go down."

We've finished another year. And again, you've grown a lot, in spite of your parents. There are a lot of times I want to apologize to you for making you the guinea pig for our parenting. Your Mama and I are doing our best, but most of the time we feel like that's not very good. We learn from you as much as you learn from us. And we're just hoping you don't come out with too many scars from the process, physical or otherwise. Your Mama and I have spent a lot of time getting our home straightened out this year, and we hope things will improve a lot this next year. There is always a lot of work to do, and new things to figure out. But we both feel like we've not been very good parents this year, and we want to do better in the future.

You really are such a good kid. I'm glad for all the vacations we took this year, and all the fun things we've done. We plan on having just as much fun next year.

I hope you know I love you. I also hope you can see that family is very important to me. I want to be a better Daddy for you. I'm too strict. It's what I grew up with, and I have to learn to be different than that. I'm glad you still love me, and want to eat Grape Nuts with me all the time. I'm glad you like going places with me. I especially love putting you in bed and talking to you about what's going to happen tomorrow. After the Christmas concerts this year, I've really enjoyed being home in the evenings with you, and spending a little more time with you. I'm excited to spend time with you this next year.

Love,

Daddy

You're also showing a strong leaning towards gymnastics lately. You jump off any small step you can find. When we're going outside and walking down the porch steps, you stop and jump off the last one. Then you walk a couple feet and jump off the sidewalk into the grass. You like to jump, and you jump a lot higher than Jonah did at your age. The other funny thing I've noticed is that you'll scoot our green chairs together in the living room and do gymnastics on the arm rests, like parallel bars. It's very cute.

Speaking of cute, your Mama asked you the other day, "How did you get so stinkin' cute?" Your answer? You pointed at your diapered bum.

You are still learning lots of new words. Your pronunciation needs some work, of course, but I'm amazed at how much you know. We looked through your ABC quiet book at church, and you knew "temple" ("bup bo") and "Jesus" ("dzz szz"). When we ask you to say "vegetable" it sounds the same as when you say "buffalo." You say "bup ba bo." You have that B sound down pat. It's time to branch out though, you know. I get more and more excited to hear you talk now that you say, "Hi!" when you see me, and "Yeah!" when I ask you questions.

We were driving in the car one evening and Jonah was trying to explain something to you that you didn't like (or maybe you were just generally grumpy), and you were doing your "Hnnnn." sound that pretty much means "No". But Jonah kept trying again and again to explain it and get you to agree. He was quite verbose about it, and I thought it so funny that by your one non-word sound, you were totally defeating his well-thought-out, well-spoken explanation.

Your other latest quirk is wearing your snow boots everywhere you can. You're wearing Jonah's old snow boots, that are black, with some blue trim and grey camouflage. Mama calls them your combat boots. The best part about them is you can put them on by yourself. Last night you unzipped your pajamas and fell asleep, and this morning (after we zipped you up and tucked you in again last night) you came into our room with just your onesie and combat boots on. So sexy. You were pretty cold though, so it makes me wonder just when you got your jammies off.

I love you, little girl. I love to snuggle with you, I love to tickle you and hear your laugh, and I love walking around with you holding my hand. We've been playing music in the house more lately, and you like to dance to it. I like to dance with you. Sometimes I pick you up and we spin around, and sometimes you stand on my feet while I walk around. You definitely have me wrapped around your little finger. And I don't feel bad about that one bit.

Love,

Daddy

Apparently you like having me around. You're always asking if I'll be home in the morning, and whenever I go somewhere you tell me, "Don't take too long." And the once when I went down to a rehearsal in the evening you told me to tell the guy that waves his arms around that I can't take too long tonight. Sometimes you call me at work to tell me that too. I love when you call me at work. You called recently when I wasn't able to answer the phone. When I went to retrieve the message you left, it said, "Daddy? Daddy? Don't take too long at work, OK? You need to come home."

Again, you have some instances where you say the funniest things. Mama took you and Sophie to Costco, and Sophie wanted to stand up in the cart. Mama told her to sit down, because she didn't want her to fall and break her "punkin head." You looked at Mama funny, and said, "Sophie doesn't have a pumpkin head!" And a little while ago you had the salad tongs out and were trying to use them to pick up one of your plastic forks. It wasn't going so well, but you continued to narrate, talking about the builders that were moving the fork with their "crane" and what a hard time they were having getting it moved. Finally you got the spoon to stay in the tongs, and moved it over to your bowl. While you were moving it, you narrated, "And impossumly, they did it." I really had to laugh at that one.

We went to the Ward Trunk or Treat a week ago, and I think you're starting to understand what trick-or-treating is. But only just. Mama walked you and Sophie around the loop of cars while I stayed at our car to hand out goodies. She said you made it about to the end of the one line of cars, and then you and Sophie were done. We left the church and went back to Grandma Joan's, where you got to eat a bunch of your candy. Later that night you complained about your tummy not feeling good, and you ended up throwing up in your room. I felt so bad for you. You haven't thrown up for a while, and it's hard to watch you be so miserable.

But on a happier note, you pooped in the potty a few times this month! We're all very excited about that. You still have times when you pee your pants, and you poop in your pants much more often than not, but it's progress. I still think that when you're 16 and giving us grief for all sorts of things, I'm going to be so tempted to tell you, "Hey, we potty trained you. Nothing you do now can hold a candle to that." It's been such a hard experience on both sides. We're learning how to encourage you without being overbearing (with not nearly as much success as we'd like), and I keep hoping you're learning what it feels like to need to use the potty. There are times you'll decide you need to pee, but we still have to shepherd you into the bathroom a lot, when you're not willing to go but badly need it. Someday this will all click, and I can stop writing about it in these letters. OK?

I love you, kiddo. Lots.

Love,

Daddy

After your flu shot we all went up to J & J Gardens in Layton and rode a wagon with hay bales out to their pumpkin patch. They had three wagons pulled by tractors taking people out and bringing them back. You were tired by that point, but I think you liked the ride. We had to stand in line a little, and you definitely didn't like that. We picked a small pumpkin for you, and one for Jonah too. We tried to do that last year, but it was rainy and they weren't giving rides that day. Afterwards, we went to the duck park and ate lunch. You always like to see the ducks and geese.

You've been learning some new words lately, which makes me very excited. Today you brought me one of Mama's books and said "book" as you held it out to me. I've been teaching you colors a little, and you're learning signs for some and words for others. At J & J Gardens they have a couple small fish ponds, and I was pointing out to you the red, orange, yellow, and white fish. You learned how to sign red, and last night as you went to bed snuggled up to your yellow-clothed Cabbage-Patch doll, you pointed to it and signed red. I told you it was yellow, and you said "yellow." You've also been saying "apple" and pointing at our jack-o-lantern lights over the fireplace. Sometimes you'll copy what I'm saying, or what Jonah's saying. You're especially good at copying tone of voice. You make it into a game.

For the cuteness moment in this letter, I love how you look up at me when you don't know a word or sign. I'll ask you what something is, and say, "Can you say it?" You'll wait a minute, and I'll say, "Can you sign it?" You'll look up at me with an expression that says, "I don't know this one, Daddy. Teach me." And you do learn. I think that's one thing that has started to connect in your head. You can learn words for things, and you can look to us to teach you the ones you don't know. Just today you wanted me to follow you upstairs, and I asked you what you wanted. You stopped to think for a bit, and then I could just see you saying, "I don't know this one," as you reached out and just waved for me to follow you. It turned out you wanted a bran muffin. I don't blame you for not knowing that one. But I love that you try.

I love you, and I'm still excited to hear you talk to me. You're making me wait for it, but I'm patient.

Love,

Daddy

I forgot a bunch of your funny sayings in my last letter, so you get a whole bunch this time. I love how your brain connects things that aren't quite right, but make so much sense in your little kid world.

I took you and Sophie to stay at my parents house one weekend towards the end of August. That was a really neat experience. I liked being with you all the time, and it was good for Mama to have some time off too. At night you and I shared a bed, and Sophie slept in the portable playpen/crib at the foot of the bed. I had my cell phone with me, of course, and I would talk to Mama at least each night. The first night we were there, Thursday, we had all climbed in bed and I was talking to Mama on the phone. I remember asking you if you wanted to talk to her, and you said no. Then you rolled away from me and stuck your thumb in your mouth. I kept talking to Mama, and after a while you rolled back towards me and said in a grumpy voice, "Go to sleep, Daddy." I thought it was very funny, because you're usually the one awake late, and we're trying to get you to go to bed.

On Friday Mama and I went on a date in the evening. I took her back home, and stayed there a little while before coming back to climb in bed with you. When I did get back just after 11:00 PM, everyone in the house was asleep except my little Jonah who had lights on all over the house and was downstairs playing with toys. Silly kid.

The next day was Saturday, and I took you and Sophie down to Provo for a Moon Family Reunion. You had a blast there with the bikes and toys. We had lunch there, and of course all you really wanted to eat were chips. So of course you finished your meal before everyone else, and ran off to play in the field with a bat and ball. Well, before I finished eating, you let out a scream and came running to me holding your ear. You got a bee sting! I was pretty nervous at first, because who knows if you'd be allergic to that or something, but you were fine. You're such a healthy kid, and I'm very grateful for that.

Earlier this month I was getting dressed up for something, and I put on my new yellow tie with Chinese characters on it. I was standing in front of the mirror adjusting it when you came out of your room and told me that tie was gorgeous. How do you know a word like that? And do you really understand what it means? I suspect you don't really know, but it sounds so funny coming from you.

I got to drop you off at preschool about that same time, and when we opened your locker to put your jacket in, you told me there was a hooker in there, to hang your jacket on. Yeah. I'll let you figure that one out when you're ready.

You also like to play make-believe games now. You like to eat pretend Grape-Nuts with me in the pretend morning, which could be any time of day. And you like to pretend to be knocking on my door. I ask, "Who is it?" And you tell me to open the door and see. I say I don't open the door until I know who's there, and I don't have a peephole to look through, so you have to tell me. The first time I said that, you told me, "But the peoples are home, so you have them now." Another time you said, "But Sophie is here. She's a people for you."

So, because I'm a little late in writing this letter, I get to write about going to preschool with you on Monday of this week. I had the day off from work, so I volunteered in your class. It was a blast. I thought it was great to watch you and all your classmates learning how to follow the teacher and be in school. At first all the kids looked at me funny, I'm sure because I'm so tall. But when they saw that I was pretty friendly, they latched onto me like crazy. When we first got to class, the teacher had paper and pencils out for you to practice writing "1"s. One of your classmates wrote a few ones, and then turned his paper over and drew a big oval shape. He told me it was my head, and it was big. Then he drew two lines out from my "head", like legs, and said something that sounded very much like, "biddy dumpings." I tried and tried to figure out what he was saying, but I couldn't get it. Another kid wanted me to make a paper airplane, like his daddy does. So I made one, the way I always have, and he was so excited because it was just like his daddy makes them. One girl carried around a magnifying glass for a long time, fascinated by how it made things bigger. She kept coming up to me and telling me all the things that were bigger. We sang songs, talked about the Fall season, and went to the library and had a book read to us. It was a lot of fun. I was glad I could go. Most of all, I loved seeing you behave so well. You paid attention to the teacher, didn't pester anyone, kept your hands to yourself, and followed along really well. I think it's amazing you're already going to school. I don't feel that old. It's a nostalgic thing for me to remember my first days of school and all the things I learned about how to interact with other kids and my teachers. I'm excited for you to learn all those things, and it's fascinating to watch. You're REALLY not our little Jonah anymore.

I love you, Kiddo. I still find it amazing that every night you ask if I'll be there in the morning, and you get so excited when you can eat Grape-Nuts with me. You like knowing where I am and you love when I come home. I hope I can live up to the hero you see in me. And I hope I can help you learn to reach your full potential.

Love,

Daddy

We moved you from your crib to the toddler bed this month. It took you all of one day to figure out that was where you were supposed to sleep. Staying on the bed all through the night is a different matter, but you definitely know where your bed is and what it's for. Since the change, it seems like we have to get out the camera almost every night and take a picture of the odd position you've gotten yourself into to go to sleep. Just last night I went into your room to check on you, and you were lying on the floor with your head almost entirely under the bed. I don't know how you got there, or how you thought that was comfortable, but it sure made me laugh. And I was nervous picking you up to put you back in bed. I was afraid that when I touched you you'd jerk and bonk your head. But all went well. I love that I can say to you, "It's time for bed," and you'll toddle down the hall and climb in bed by yourself. And even if you do wake up a bit too early for your parents' tastes, I still love waking up to your little squeal.

Another heart-stealing moment came yesterday when I got up a bit later than usual because of a morning dentist appointment. I had just finished using the bathroom, brushing my hair and shaving, and turned off the light to come out. It was about 6:30, and still quite dark. I always turn off the light before opening the door, because your bedroom door is right there and I don't want to wake you up. So I opened the bathroom door after turning off the light, and heard the cutest little "Daddy!" come out of the darkness. I love you beyond what I'm capable of writing, and when I hear you say, "Daddy!" with such a light in your eyes and your voice, I just want to pick you up and hug you and snuggle you like crazy.

You really have grown, even when compared to just a month ago. You are such a big girl now. You have very little baby fat left, and the clothes you wear give you a more mature look too. And my favorite, you're starting to talk more. It's still coming slowly, but you'll try to imitate us sometimes, and you've learned several words that you use regularly.

Mama said a little while ago that she thinks two is the perfect age. I have to agree with her so far. You like to play games with me, snuggle me, climb on me, run everywhere you go, and you're just so cheerful. I love this stage. I know it won't last, especially if you've inherited any of your parents' stubborn and opinionated natures, but I really do love seeing your personality emerge.

You will always be my precious little girl. Remember that I love you.

Love,

Daddy

You've started to be a lot more responsible for things lately. You will do everything to use the potty by yourself, although you still want your Mama or I to stand in the bathroom with you. When we ask you to, you will clean up your toys readily, which is a big help to us. You remember all the steps of your normal routines, and you will remind us when we forget one or two.

Along with the responsibility, you are still a pretty stubborn boy. If we give you enough warning about the way things will be, you're generally ok with it. But if you come up with your own idea, like having a treat before you go to sleep, or having a treat before you use the potty, or having a treat pretty much any time you want one, we usually tell you no, and you don't like that one bit. You still like to yell, and you whine a lot. But a lot of the time when we point it out, you stop. Even if you're stubborn, you're still pretty well behaved. That's amazing to me.

Just this past week, your Primary teacher, Brother Spencer, passed away. That's been a difficult thing for us and the rest of the ward to handle. You seem to take it pretty well when we tell you he's gone to be with Heavenly Father, and at times like this I'm kind of glad you're so young. Now you've had two people fairly close to you pass away. When "Grandpa" Del Bigler died, there were lots of flashing lights, a fire truck, and an ambulance. You remember those the most. I don't know what you'll remember of this, other than having a new teacher. But when you read this letter later, I want you to know that your Mama and I worried about how this would affect you, and we worried a lot about Sister Spencer. It's going to be very hard for her to heal from this.

Next week is your first Primary program in church. You've been given one line to speak, and I'm pretty sure you know it well. When your turn comes around, you're supposed to say, "My Daddy helps me." Today when we asked you about how the practice went, you told us your line, and then added, "and Mama doesn't." We cracked up over that. If you say that in church next week, we'll never let you live it down.

Your Mama and I love you very much. I'm excited for what you'll learn in preschool, and I love that you get to take part in the Primary program for the next several years. When these big milestones come around, I wonder how the past 4 years could have gone so fast. I'm not sad about how much you've grown and how fast you're still growing. But I do wish you could be little a while longer. I love you.

Love,

Daddy

Last weekend Mama took you and Jonah down to spend a few days in southern Utah with all the Betts, while I stayed home by myself to work and get lots of things done. I missed you a lot. But it was really nice to have a bunch of time to myself to just do things. So this weekend I took you and Jonah to your Grandma Moon's house so Mama could have some of the same free time. We love our kids, but it really is nice to be able to get a lot done in a short amount of time without distractions. And I've loved having a weekend to just spend time with you and do the things you want to do. We went to the Aquarium to see the fish, and we've played with all of Grandma Moon's toys, including the go-kart, which both you and Jonah loved.

We also went down to the Willis Moon reunion in Provo yesterday, and you got to play with a bunch of your second cousins. Someone brought one of those PVC ladder games where you have two balls tied together with a rope, and you toss it and try to get it wrapped around one rung of the ladder. This one had golf balls, where before I've always seen it be tennis balls. Jonah knew what the game was, so he picked up some of the balls and started throwing them at the ladder. You picked up one set of balls and swung it but didn't let go, so you got a golf ball to the forehead. I know it didn't feel good, but to me it just looked really funny. You held onto the ball for a second, in shock, and then dropped it and let out a wail. Poor girl.

This morning you decided to wake me up in a pretty unusual manner. While we were at Grandma Moon's, you, Jonah and I all slept in the same room. You slept in a portable crib at the foot of the bed, and Jonah and I slept in the bed. Grandma Moon doesn't have air conditioning, so it was pretty hot at night. I slept with no blankets or sheets on top of me at all. Well, this morning you and Jonah woke up around 7:00, and I tried to get you both to lay back down and just rest a little while longer. I rolled over onto my tummy and tried to get just a little more sleep in. But after about a minute I felt these two little hands tickling my bare feet. I jumped, and you started giggling. Silly girl. You're not supposed to know your Daddy's ticklish! I laughed at that for a long time.

You are so very cute. The clothes you're wearing lately make you look like such the little girl, instead of our little baby. You've lost a lot of your baby fat, and you've developed so many grown-up mannerisms. I love how much you've grown. I harp on you not speaking yet a lot, but I'm really happy with how well you're doing. I love that you snuggle with me. As I say to Jonah, I hope that lasts a really long time.

Love,

Daddy

You've changed quite a bit over the past year as well, and I'm not sure where to start. I notice you will sit still for books now, and you are really interested in what's in the book, instead of seeing it as a toy. I think the influence of preschool and your Primary class at church is showing, in that you'll sit and listen to the lessons in Family Home Evening, and have a much better attention span. Next year we'll be sending you off to Kindergarten, and that's a pretty scary thought. I think you'll do wonderfully but it does make me feel sort of old, and as always I wonder if I'll be able to keep up with you, especially as you soak up so many different things from school. We get a taste of that this year as you will be attending public preschool. I think it'll be really good for you. You're the oldest child, and as yet your only real competition is Sophie, and you're bigger than she is. At preschool it will be a different story. It'll be good for you to really learn to share, and interact with other kids your age.

You've learned to interact with the computer already. You already know your alphabet and numbers up to 10, and Starfall.com is teaching you to read short words. I love how you just absorb that kind of stuff. And when you call me on the phone at work, you have intelligible things to say, and you sound so grown up. You can find your Grandma Joan's number in the phone's memory and call her, and you like talking on the phone to people. Mama says you can do basic math already too. The other day you said you wanted six of something, and you counted, "One, two, three, four." Then Mama asked you how many more you needed and you immediately said, "Two."

I love that you have a mind and will of your own, and can reason and learn, but I can still pick you up and snuggle you. And you like snuggling. You have so much potential packed into such a small space. Every time I tell you no for something, or make you do something "my way", I worry about squashing your ambition. I know I may not be very good at it, but I try to make sure I'm teaching you the why behind what we're doing, and encouraging you to choose the better way on your own. I'm not a good teacher, but I still want you to learn independence and build good reasoning skills. Your Mama has an incredible quality she calls common sense, which I'm hoping you get large doses of. I call it common sense too, but I think it's simply thinking things through all the way to the end result. It really is a rare quality in today's world. I'm not that good at it, but your Mama is superb. Pay attention to that as you grow up, and internalize it. It will take you far.

I'm thrilled for all the new experiences you'll have this next year. I love you so much.

Love,

Daddy

We went to a family reunion earlier this month in New Mexico, and we made a week of it. We went to Santa Fe first for a couple days, and then down to Albuquerque where the reunion was held. We did a lot of fun things, but unfortunately that meant spending a lot of time in the car. You don't like sitting in your car seat very long, and the first day of the trip was the worst. Then I think you got used to it. For a couple days when we got in the car in the morning you pretty much just fell asleep and had a nice morning nap. And then when we hit the road again after a lunch break, you'd fall asleep again for your afternoon nap. I was nervous knowing you'd be strapped into your seat so much, but you surprised me and did really well. At the family reunion you found a friend in an eight-year-old girl that loved to play with you. At meals you'd sit with us for a bit, and then when we weren't looking you'd sneak off to sit by your friend. You really charmed everyone there, but it was especially cute to see you run around with a friend you made all by yourself.

Two weeks before the reunion, we went camping with Mama's family up Big Cottonwood Canyon. That was a lot of fun, but it got really cold at night. Just as the sun was going down we had a downpour. We all crawled into our tents for the night, and it stopped raining a while later. That was a good thing, because our poor little tents do well in some rain, but were leaking a bit in such a heavy rain. After the rain it was hard to keep warm. I had you with me in one tent while Mama and Jonah were in the other. I tried to keep you in your pea pod with your blanket on, but you didn't want to stay put, and your pajamas weren't quite warm enough without a blanket or two. I ended up pulling you into my sleeping bag with me (a tight fit in a mummy bag), and we slept through the night that way. It was hard to sleep with a squirmy little girl, but I was glad I could keep you warm, and I like snuggling with you anyway.

You are still such a super cute little girl. Yeah, you have your feisty moments, and your pouty moments, and there's some screaming in there too, but every time I lay down on the floor you still come over and sit on me, play with me, and snuggle me. I love how you light up when I come home from work, or when Grandma Joan comes over, or when we're looking for Mama and finally find her. I love your little point-and-squeal routine. I'd love for you to really start talking, but you put so much expression into that squeal, it's hilarious.

I love you, little girl. I hope you can always feel that.

Love,

Daddy

We took a vacation to New Mexico this month for the Easter Family Reunion (Papa's mother's family), and you loved it. We drove 1500 miles over 7 days, which made me very worried that you and Sophie were going to go crazy in the car. But you both handled it VERY well. I was very impressed, and very relieved. It was such a fun vacation. We did a lot of things that your Mama and I might have done on our own, but they were made that much more meaningful because we knew you'd like them so much. We stopped in Durango on the way down and saw the train station there, which you loved. Mama took a ride on that train when she was really little, and we want to go back and ride it with you too.

We walked you all over Santa Fe for five hours, and I'm surprised you took that so well. That was probably the most boring part of the trip for you. But your Mama and I thought it was amazing to see all those old buildings down there. Then we took you to the Santa Fe Children's Museum, and you had a blast. I found it really funny that your favorite part was the "my-size door" at the entrance. You kept wanting to run away from us, to go back and walk through that door again and again.

We rode the Sandia Peak tram on the way down to Albuquerque, and you loved that too. As we watched the tram come down the mountain, you said, "Oh, it's flying! It's going to land here! That's a good tram." I had to laugh. You loved the ride, and you were glued to the railing watching the trams come and go. We also stopped at the Balloon Museum just outside of Albuquerque, and you played a lot with the balloon models that went up and down on a little rail of sorts. We also had fun in the balloon simulator.

At the Easter Reunion you met Gracie, Mama's cousin's little girl. She was thrilled to have someone her age to play with, and ran around giving you hugs for the first while. You ate together, played together, and generally had a good time. She had her bike in the campground, and you liked riding that around too, although you got mad when Gracie wanted to ride it. Sharing is still a struggle.

We made a couple stops on the way home, but generally drove as fast as we could straight through. On the last day you and Sophie amazed me again, as we drove a straight 5 hours home without anyone going ballistic. It was such a good vacation.

I loved spending so much time with you and building our relationship up so much. You love having your Daddy around, even if I think you're crazy for it. You always ask me at night if I'm going to be there in the morning. And when you wake up you ask Mama where I am. If I'm home, you immediately go get out the Grape Nuts and want to eat breakfast out of my bowl. I love this snuggly stage. I also love watching you learn new words and ideas. Your imagination has taken off and you're always making up stories about your cars and trains. I also love teaching you scripture stories and gospel principles. You learn so quickly. I love you, kiddo. Next up, your birthday letter.

Love,

Daddy

You got some road rash on your face the other day from our front porch steps. Right before a grandkid photo shoot, of course. I remember Jonah falling and doing damage to his lips and face quite a bit when he was your age. This is your first real incident, and you really pulled out all the stops. I'm curious to see if it's a trend that continues, or if you'll generally be less accident prone than your brother.

You still have quite the precocious personality. You spend a lot of your time taking your shoes off and sometimes putting them back on.  Your Aunt Greta gave you some cute purple Crocs, and you love to take them off. I think they're your favorite shoes, because you run straight for them when we mentioned getting your shoes on. I think your favorite part is that you can put them on yourself. Another quirk of yours is that you want to feed yourself with a fork, but you don't want to be bothered with stabbing your own food. I'll generally cut up some food for you and stab a piece for you before I set your plate down in front of you. You pick up the fork, eat the bite, and then hold out the fork to me, waiting for me to stab your next bite for you. I think you just need a little confidence in your own strength.

Now that you're wanting to walk everywhere, like your brother, we've been letting you walk around more when we go places. But you are so absorbed by the scenery you don't pay attention to where we're walking. Often you'll wander off down some side path, not noticing that the rest of your family has gone somewhere else. And then when I come after you, you run away. Silly girl. I'm glad you enjoy walking places by yourself, and I'm glad you're paying attention to what's going on around you. I love interacting with my kids when they're on their own. I don't mind carrying you a lot, but it does get tiring, and I like to watch where you go when you have your own choice.

You are still so darn cute! I've said this already, but I absolutely LOVE when you point and say "Mama!" I love to watch you walk and run around. I love to watch you try to brush your own hair, or talk on the phone, or imitate any of the other things we do. Keep going on the language. I love you.

Love,

Daddy