13 Months

Baby D (amidst all of the noisy happenings of the last few weeks) quietly turned 13 months!

And what an eventful month it was! Baby D is now confidently walking and is loving his new-found mobility and independence. He is still in that adorable stage where his hands stay high above his head and his little legs waddle around. Instead of making him more content, however, he's even more insistent on not being left behind! He has this funny little fake cry that follows us wherever we go and can still squawk with the best of them.

Derek also has a few more words he is working on! He now has "no" (what else), "more", "dada", and "book" (pronounced "boh", with a giant inflection that gets higher and higher the longer you keep him waiting).

Derek loves to take tubs, put things into containers, throw balls, snuggle his stuffed animals, put things in his mouth he's not supposed to (and then run away from mama), read books, be outside, and spit.

And someday we will cut his hair. Maybe.

Dissolution of the Tanner-Young Conglomeration

Seven years ago at Brick Oven Pizza in Provo, UT, two couples sat across from one another at a terrible Georgetown Law recruiting lunch and were wholeheartedly persuaded not to attend Georgetown Law.

Later that summer, the two husbands met for the second time at the University of Chicago Law School admitted students week and bonded over their similar nerdy interests and large brains. The two couples moved into the same apartment complex and a mutual understanding was established.

After two years of law school, both husbands found internships in Houston; their wives went looking for apartment complexes together. A year later, both couples decided (mostly independently) to move to Houston and, ultimately, live in the same apartment complex (credit goes to the Tanners--the Youngs were too lazy to find their own).

Four years have passed and the Tanners have finally gone where the Youngs cannot follow. (believe me, we thought about it) The boys have travelled to see a BYU game live and collaborated on Mothers' Day dinner every year, and have played hundreds of hours of games that no one has ever heard of. The girls have thrown four of each others' five baby showers (my bad for missing Tanner baby #2), seen the Houston Ballet Nutcracker every year, and suffered through countless Kenny-New-Game-Speeches and Boys'-End-of-Game-Rehashes. You just don't get much closer than that.

Good-bye forever, Tanners.

Just kidding--see you in the fall for the next BYU game!

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

a young Jedi was born! As he turned four years old he entered Jedi Academy Training with his fellow Jedi friends.

They learned some lightsaber stances...

battled stormtroopers...

(ate some snacks...)

and finally defeated Darth Vader!

The force is strong with these two..

Macarons Are Needy Little Jerks

Seriously, what right do they have to be so temperamental? And who invented such ridiculous little cookies? It's a good thing the boys seem to find the failures delicious.

And what cookie deserves its own verb? Ridiculous.

Bonjour Bebe

I had the honor of throwing one of my dearest friends her first, very long anticipated shower just in time for Mothers' Day.

And while I was busy setting up, my co-hosts and I were talking about how men just don't do this (by this I mean throw elaborate, labor-intensive parties for one another), and are often sad that they miss out a little bit on all of the fun. After this weekend, I've decided it's because that women, unlike most men (and there are exceptions), believe that the effort is usually worth it. Which is, I think, the epitome of being a mother.

Deciding that the effort is worth it.

Moms Are Awesome

A day late because I was enjoying my Mothers' Day.

I'm so grateful for my mother, mother-in-law, wonderful grandmothers, and all of the other women who have impacted my life with their selfless examples.

Best parts of my day: breakfast in bed, beautiful flowers, Luke's Duplo "decorations" he built to surround my flowers, seeing Luke sing in Sacrament meeting for the first time, and our long-standing tradition of dinner with the Tanners.

A day so good that at one point Luke turned to me and said, "So when is Lukey day?"

 

Star Struck

Yes, that's Kenny being man-hugged by Ty Detmer.

Childhood fantasy realized.

Mud Water

We were hanging out in our backyard, Luke watering the trees, enjoying the unseasonably cool Houston spring weather (as in a balmy 85) when I ran in *briefly* to get my camera. I came back out to find this: 

and a "Look! I made dirt-water! And Baby D is sitting in it!"

Soon after, this happened:

and I gagged (after taking a few pictures, of course). 

So besides learning that I've failed as a mother because Luke doesn't know the word 'mud', we also now know that Derek takes after his mother. After clean-loving Luke, it's good to know the Shaner genes have made their impression somewhere.