Run, Daddy, Run!

So as most of you know, our Daddy has taken up running. He finds that he is more inclined to exercise if he has a race to train for. Well today he raced in the Layton Classic 10k. (The shwag from this event was pretty awesome including a long sleeve running shirt made out of bamboo!) YEAH DADDY! He beat his last time by at least 2 minutes if not 3. (His last 10k we never got an official time and for this one the results haven't been posted yet, but according to his gun time we're looking at almost 3 minutes better.) We all went and cheered Daddy on. The Finish line was at this great little park and they were having a little fair so we had plenty to do.





We did confirm that Siena is not a morning person...this was after we got back!

The Spoofer

Great Grandpa Quaife calls binkis "spoofers" because us babies think we're going to get milk, but in fact we don't. Kind of cruel, eh? Well I don't want anything to do with these "spoofers". In fact, I have actually made myself gag so hard I puked all over Mommy when she tried to give me one of those...things. In truth, I have sucked on one probably 5 times and for no more than 5 minutes. Mommy caught me on camera. Amazing since it is so rare. I have to be mostly asleep and sometimes I can be tricked.

And of course Mommy just had to throw in a picture of Siena's hair. Mommy once said out loud that she was glad she had girls because she wouldn't have to deal with cutting their hair when they were small. Later she realized the foolishness of this statement. At most, baby boys need their hair cut once a month...little girls need their hair DONE EVERY DAY! Mommy loves Siena's hair though. Here is a picture of a braid Mommy managed to get into Siena's hair. She did it once before and it gets very loose and messy throughout the day, but for one brief moment...it's beautiful!

End of Summer

Or so they say. Mommy doesn't like to think about Labor Day ushering in the fall season. Her favorite time of year went by too quickly! She wished it away because she wanted Cara to be born! And now the nights are getting a little bit longer and cooler. The days don't get quite as hot. Sigh.

However, we had a very nice Labor Day. We went over to Oma and Apa's new digs. You see, our Oma and Apa get to stay! They had to come home from Europe early and they've decided to stay in Salt Lake. Well see that presents a difficulty in that, we're living in their house. And we're using all the rooms. They're letting us stay a little bit longer and so they're staying in a friend's family home that is currently empty and waiting to be sold. This home is awesome. It's a big house on a huge property. The house itself is straight out of the 1950s. Every inch is carpeted and in seven different colors. There's even a room with red felt walls. It's a billiard room. And it has a huge yard that we ran around in. Ooh and there's a pool, but it's empty. But it is nice and big and deep. Anyway, we all sat out on blankets out on the lawn and ate tomato sandwiches and chips and fruit and corn on the cob. Then Apa told us a few stories from when he was young. Good stuff. Or as I say, "Mmmm. It's good."



I also can't help but throw in this picture of Daddy and his girls. We have the best Daddy in the whole WORLD.

Down Time

Well not much to report. Us girls are just running Mommy ragged. At least I'm letting Mommy get some sleep at night. Not the whole night, but large parts of it. Really it's Siena that's running Mommy ragged. See Mommy got this brilliant idea that now that it has been a whole month since I arrived, Siena really should get potty trained. So Sister has been diaper free all week (except for naps and night time.) She has peed in the potty maybe 5 times (and on the carpet, in the car, Aunt Margaret's floor probably 20 times) and pooed in the potty exactly zero times. Yeah, it's going great. I sit and listen to Mommy say the phrase "You need to pee in the potty" or a variation on that probably 30 times a day. Good luck to you Mommy.

We have been enjoying time with Oma and Apa though! Now that they're back we see them just about everyday. Yeah!

1 month old!

So now that I'm a month old, it's my turn to blog. That's right. Today is my one month birthday! Yeah! Mommy keeps telling me that I'm not allowed to get bigger, but since I nurse ALL the time (as any healthy baby should) that's not looking like it's gonna happen. Mom guesses I weigh about 9 lbs. She says that because two days ago using the Mommy gets on scale by herself and then again with me in her arms method, the scale said I was 9.5 lbs, but this morning using this same method once with Mommy and once with Daddy I was only 8.5 lbs. So she's taking the difference. Either way, I'm getting a double chin. So cute.

Other big developmental milestones, let's see I do pretty well with my head. I don't have real control yet, but sometimes I can hang in there for a good minute or two. But the best one is that I started smiling. Not often. But not just gas. A couple ladies at church yesterday told me at different times that I was pretty so I smiled for them and they were so surprised. Just like my sister, I know when you're saying good things about me and when you're saying bad ones. Plus Mommy can always manage to get a big grin at least once a day.

Here Mommy tried to recreate one of her favorite photos of Siena when she was the same age as me. Sadly, Mommy doesn't know where her two big teddy bears are. Fingers crossed they're in storage. So we made do with what we had. She tried two separate photo shoots today...it exhausted me.

Zoo Addicts

Seriously. We might need some help. How many other 4 week olds do you know who have been there 5 or 6 times...Mommy lost count. We love it though. I like the reptile house and the elephants the best. Cara likes being outside. And Mommy likes that it is a good place to walk around in the sun with two kids. This morning we went to the members only early entrance time and Daddy came with us!! I got to pet a desert tortoise. I made Daddy touch it first and then I chased it all over the grass and Daddy had to pry me away. Oh and we also got to see the tiger cubs running around their exhibit. It rocks to go in the morning!



So some of you might have noticed that for having a new baby, I seem to not post many pictures of Cara. Well our next post I promise to let Cara do the whole thing and maybe not even mention me! In the meantime, cute photos!

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission

That's right! Our Uncle Marty is going on a mission for our church and he just got his call! Uncle Marty will be laboring in the Missouri St. Louis mission. Yeah! One of his best friends is serving there right now. Plus, he knows to some degree what foods he'll be eating. I'm sure he'll get a few surprises though. He leaves November 18th. That's just a little less than 3 months from now. That's also our Daddy's birthday. We are so excited for him, but can't believe that he'll be gone for two years. Congratulations, Marty. We love you.

Funny story regarding Uncle Marty's mission call. Our families were all set thinking that his call would come last Wednesday (okay more like hoping because Uncle Marty leaves today for an 8 day trip to Costa Rica), but alas it came and went without that big white envelope. Bummer. We were all holding our breath too. Well on Monday, our Mommy goes skipping out to get the mail here at our house. Remember, we're in Salt Lake City, Uncle Marty is in St. George. As Mommy comes back towards the house, she starts flipping through the mail. She notices a big white envelope. Her thoughts run as such: What's this? Funny, the return address says " The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". Eh, it's probably for Oma and Apa since they are on assignment for the church and happen to be back in the States for the next two weeks. Hey, there's one of those funny yellow stickers on the front that the post office uses for forwarding mail. Wouldn't it be weird if this was Marty's ca----HOLY CRAP! IT SAYS ELDER MARTIN GORDON LARSEN ON IT. At this point, Mommy runs yelling into the house at Daddy. "I HAVE MARTY'S MISSION CALL!" Yes, in a weird quirk of fate, Uncle Marty's call came to our house. For some reason, the forwarding sticker had Mommy's name on it. Her maiden name. Why Elder Martin Larsen looked like Sheri Larsen, we'll never know. Several rounds of phone calls later to Grandma, Uncle Marty, Aunt Angie (you get the picture) and it was decided. Lucky for us, Uncle Marty was impatient and didn't want to have to wait the possible two days it would take by snail mail to hear where he was going. So on Monday at 4:15pm the whole St. George family skyped (video phone call via the internet) us and we opened the envelope and Mommy got to tell Uncle Marty where he would be spending the next two years. It was exciting, but we felt bad that we had all the maps and information on his mission president and that he couldn't read it. So we jumped in the car and took it straight to the post office. Uncle Marty got his mission call (a second time!) today in the mail.

Other than that, we've been busy! Our cousin Mary had a birthday party at the park on Monday night. Yummy tostadas and delicious cake plus lots of swings for Siena! And then today Mommy took us to the zoo to see the new tiger cubs. Yes, that's right. The Hogle Zoo is baby making central. Since we've moved to Salt Lake in April, the zoo has had: Golden Lion Tamarin twins (the cute tiny gold monkeys), a black footed kitten, a snow leopard cub, 6 baby meerkats, a baby giraffe, a baby elephant, and 3 siberian tiger cubs. The tiger cubs were actually born back in June and are finally on display. Holy crow, that's a lot of babies. Mommy likes it though. It's fun to think she was pregnant with all these animals and that we got a baby too.

Here's a fun picture from our outing on Sunday. Since there were no regular church meetings, Mommy and Daddy took us on Trax up to Temple Square. It was so much fun. But I absolutely refused to take a nice picture with Cara. I would not sit and hold her. So here are some other pictures that Mommy got!