He will be missed...

The president of our church (LDS) passed away last night. I'm so grateful to have spent so much of my youth and early adulthood being led by this man. He's made such progress in and for our church as well as the world. He's led us through times of great turmoil and despair, always a strength and committing all who heard him to remain righteous and hopeful. President Hinckley was a prophet who constantly preached happiness and joy when it seemed so hard to see in this world. He's helped me become the person I am today and I will never forget his encouraging counsel. I know he is so happy right now in the company of his wife.

Thank you for your testimony, your inspiring energy and most of all your amazing example of righteousness.

Ahh, Sundays...

Well, we had a pretty good Sunday. It's soo nice to have Christopher home on Sundays! This is the first time in our married lives that he's been able to actually have a "day of rest"! Now that we meet during the 1:00-4:00 block, we have quite a bit of time to kill in the morning. Here's some pics I took after sneaking up on Christopher and Kira making lunch. Kira likes to be around the stove when we're cooking and Christopher is really great about appeasing her and putting her in the perfect place to see all that's going on without getting burned. Church went pretty well. Kira's actually sleeping a little bit when we try to put her down for an early nap, so she hasn't been too unbearable. However, we did have an eventful Sabbath. Here's a short list of our happenings:

• Kira made it through Sacrament all right, yet she was successful in spraying us and the gentleman in front of us with chocolate milk!! He was really great about it but we felt awful!




• After making it through church, I was helping Christopher with something for one minute at home and when we went to find Kira, she was in the bathroom, pitchblack, door shut and all, playing in my lipstick!!! This isn't the first time this week that she has done this! It's my fault for not closing the bathroom door all the way and leaving my makeup bag on the counter, but who would have guessed that a little girl less than 2 years old would shut herself in a dark room alone, be able to rummage around and reach up on the counter to grab my most "messiest" make-up. Not powder, blush, unpenetrable bottles...no, the cream foundation and lipstick!! Oh, well.




• On a more positive note, Christopher and I agreed on a name for our second little girl. ***drumroll***-----Alexis Mylene. We both love it and are so excited that we had it figured out long before she came along (unlike Kira...it took us a while to decided between two names). Anyway, we hope everyone likes it as much as we do.
  

Hoping that you all had a great Sunday, too!

The infamous Chicken Dance

And so it begins...

I'm hoping that this a really great way for family and friends to keep up with us Woods. Not that our lives are super exciting and full of note-worthy happenings, but it's nice to let our loved ones know how life is going and hear from them as well. So feel free to comment and I'll try my best to keep as up-to-date as possible! Though, I can see this as the beginning of yet another thing that I procrastinate.

As you know, we're expecting this summer. This Monday we had our ultrasound and though it may be a little boring, at least grandparents and aunts/uncles can see their new granddaughter/niece. I'm almost 20 weeks along and though I may not look it, here is proof that she's actually in there! We're still running through possible names and I have a feeling it might be a little while 'til the perfect one is chosen. We'll let you know as soon as we do! Now that we'll have two girls, I'm finishing up some long overdue projects in Kira's room so that way we'll be ready! I'll post a pic as soon as it's done (but don't hold your breath).

Speaking of our little angel (well, she is most of the time), she's growing up so fast...almost too fast it seems some days. Her vocabulary is growing daily and she loves to repeat everything we say. It's like she's taking a mental note of these phrases/words to use later and take us by surprise with her random conversations that are dotted with things we never remember teaching her! The other day, as we were preparing to go to church and going through the ever-popular hair routine with Kira, she spotted a handheld mirror on the bathroom counter and pointed saying, "Kira picture!" I have no idea where that came from, but it makes sense. Each time she looks in it, it is a picture of Kira. She knows that it's a "mirror" and typically calls it that but Sunday, she just invented a new name for it. She loves making faces and checking out her reflection as she walks by the oven, the TV and any mirrors on her level. She's now fascinated by the camera and the fact that she can see the picture of herself right after we take it. Needless to say, it makes it difficult for us to get really good candid shots of her. Anyway, she surprises and most of the time delights us daily with her personality and spirit. We're so grateful to have such a beautiful sweetheart in our home.

As for Christopher and I, it's the same old, same old. Christopher's life is school and he's dreading this next month. February is full of tests and quizzes (almost daily some weeks) finishing off the quarter with a week chock full of finals the first week in March. Luckily, he'll have week break afterwards which we are ALL looking forward to. He's starting to pick up basketball again since being asked to sub for an intramural team at school. They would really like to have him full-time and I think he's seriously considering it. Hopefully, Kira and I can make it to a game or two and watch in awe as Daddy makes "bas-kets" into a REALLY big basket! Quite different from the mini-basketball hoop set Kira's used to playing one-on-one with Daddy at home. I hope he pursues it; I know it's something that he misses. And me, well, I'm here at home running after a very independent toddler, trying to socialize occasionally through the medwives' club, SAA, and keeping up with church and household responsibilities. We're ready for spring and I'm anxious to start a flower and vegetable garden, though it will be small. So hopefully, I'll be good and actually start accomplishing all these goals I have set for myself.

Kira ready for church

"Kira" face

Baby #2's Big Debut

Here we are!