All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!

Jasper's first two teeth came in on August 1st. We had no warning, no indication...not even a fever or increase in drooling, nor an irritable personality or ER visit. I just happened to decide to check for teeth last Monday, and, lo and behold, two brand new teeth! Aren't the beautiful!?

Butterfly, Fly Away

Last night we released a butterfly at Kerrigan's camp site. This was not just any ordinary butterfly. This butterfly was very, very special! It just so happens that last summer, Kerrigan and Opa found a caterpillar that was getting ready to make a chrysalis. They caught it and put it in a jar with a few sticks, and there it waited. When Kerrigan passed, the jar got moved to Aunt Jill's bedroom until Oma found it a couple days ago. Thinking that it was dead, she prepared to throw it away. But lo and behold, she saw movement and before long something began to emerge. For all any of us knew, it could have been an ugly moth or tiny little butterfly, but, no. It was a yellow and black beauty. Oma & Opa took the butterfly to her campsite where we released it. It had a bit of a difficult time sticking to anywhere as it had been stuck in the jar for so long. We finally moved it to the safety of her wreath so that it could have a little shelter from the storm that was blowing in. The last we saw, it was still perched on the wreath with its wings gently flapping in the breeze.

New Decor Inspiration

For the past 6 years, I've had a red gingham couch. While I love it and think it's really cute, it tends to limit my decor options. Since we moved to Powell 4 years ago, I've decorated with red, green and yellow. However, I've been debating a change for quite a while now and have been shopping around for some great inspiration. A few days ago, I found some! I've decided to start redecorating using aqua/turquoise. I love the way it looks with red and how cheerful it makes things look! Heaven knows my house is in desperate need of some cheering up! Here's a few examples that I'm planning on working off...hopefully it'll come together the way I'm picturing it in my head (here's hopin'!)

Happy (Belated) 5th Birthday, Kerrigan!

Nothing can prepare us for the kind of love we feel when our babies are put into our arms. And there is nothing in all of this life that can prepare a mom when she is seperated from that love. But that love always and forever remains in our heart.

Love you forever, Monkey! Happy 5th birthday!

Splish, Splash, Jasper's Takin' a Bath!

Jasper got to have his very first bubble bath a few days ago!!

I honestly don't know who had a better time with it: Jasper with the bubbles, or Daddy with his camera!

In My Own Little Corner, In My Own Little Chair...

I finally have a crafting room!!! Well...not so much a room as a space in the laundry/food storage part of the basement...but it's mine, nonetheless! We finally got all Brandon's tools moved out to the shed, the new shelving for food storage put up, the food arranged, and my little crafting area set up! It's not much, but it's already been used, and I find it so incredibly relaxing to be able to sit down and paint. Jasper's been taking 2-3 hour naps twice a day, which means that I've been able to get some great quality Mommy time!

I know that I've posted these on Facebook, but I just thought I'd show pictures of my new area and a few of the things I've created over the past little while!

My "June" monthly cutouts from The Wood Connection.

My "May" monthly cutouts from The Wood Connection!

Baby stackers for our YW Second Counselor's new baby

Splish Splash!!

My little table and most of my supplies

Future/current projects

My desk

Coming soon: The Richardson Family Road Trip!

Easter 2011

I'm a little bit late for posting about Easter festivities, but better late than never, right? This year we spent Easter in Worland; we went up early and spent the night at my parents' house on Saturday, then went to church in our old ward. Afterwards, we came home and had our traditional Easter dinner of ham, funeral potatoes, rolls, rainbow Jell-o and frog-eye salad.

It's depressing that this is all I have to write about how we spent our holiday. There were no eggs to dye, no egg hunt on the front lawn, no frilly Easter dress, only one Easter basket, and no finger prints in the Jell-o. It's amazing how differently the holidays pass us now. We still feel an overwhelming sense of guilt for celebrating and having a good time when Kerrigan isn't there to enjoy it with us. We know that we have to move on in life and live like she would have wanted us to. In order to do this, I try to incorporate a little of her into holidays and family gatherings. For example, I was cleaning out kitchen cupboards during the week before Easter and came across a bag of the pastel colored, fruit flavored marshmallows that Kerrigan had begged me to buy way back in September. I couldn't bring myself to throw them away, so I incorporated them into our frog-eye salad. One of the hardest things for me was making the rainbow Jell-o salad. She l-o-v-e-d picking out the Jell-o colors and then telling me which order they went in. She loved it when I got our her stool and she got to put 5 handfuls of marshmallows into the Jell-o mix. Always 5 handfuls because her hands were so tiny! It was also one of the last activities that she and I had done together: making Jell-o salad for Thanksgiving. But we also have to look at Easter as the reason why we are a forever family. Because the Savior atoned for us and paved the way for the resurrection, our little girl will live again, and we will be together forever.

On a happier note, here's a few pictures of Jasper's first Easter:

We also got to carry on the Foulger family tradition of the first pickle. In tribute to my grandma Foulger, when the grandkids are about 4-5 months old, Grandpa gets the privilege of giving them their first taste of food (other than milk or cereal) by way of a pickle. I couldn't help but compare Jasper's face to Kerrigan's. Jasper wasn't too fond of the pickle...Kerrigan, on the other hand, went to town on the darn thing once she got over the initial shock of it.