Church #54

Someone got her toenails painted for the first time! She actually held very still while I was painting them, but it was hard to keep her little fingers off of them while they dried.

On a side note, we finally made it back to Australia!  After postponing our travel due to some illness, we arrived home on Friday afternoon (a week and a half later than originally planned).  We are trying to get back into a routine and catch up on some sleep.  Alexis did amazing on the flights home.  She gets tired of being on the plane of course, mostly because she can't walk around like she wants to, but she absolutely loves airports (good thing because we had three layovers).  I think she likes being able to explore such a large space and she loves to people watch.  Our travel insurance upgraded us to premium economy on the long portion of our flight and it was heavenly.  We definitely enjoyed the extra space.  We arrived home to two large cyclones looming on the horizon.  If we had known that, we might have stayed away just a little bit longer!  Hopefully, the destruction won't be too bad.  We're so glad to have had so much time with our families, but we're glad to be home.  Next on the agenda is getting John finished with his thesis!

Church #53

John took Alexis to church today by himself for all three hours! (Well, technically his parents were there too.) We were a little worried, because we couldn't get Alexis to go down for her morning nap, but it was a great success. Both Grandpa and Grandma reported that Alexis was "a very good girl" and Daddy said she was "very well behaved." And I got to stay home and take a nap in the quiet house so that I can get healthy enough to travel back to Australia.

Church #52

Sledding & Kissing Cousins

We took Alexis up to the cabin in Big Cottonwood Canyon to go sledding for the first time. She loved it. We have some great video, but don't have the ability to upload it at the moment, so it will have to be posted later. But here's a cute picture.

We just took her down the small hill in front of the cabin's garage.  She mostly sat on Daddy's lap, but on the last run, John sent her down by herself.  She was having fun until she crashed (face-planted).  She crashed on a little icy patch, so she ended up with a few little scraps on her face, but overall the sledding was a success.

After sledding, we headed over to John's sister Briony's house for dinner. We had a feast (homemade calzone and Boston Cream Pie)! And Alexis had a lot of fun playing with her cousins. She especially likes baby Keana, as evidenced by the photo below:

Alexis has always loved to give kisses, and Keana does too. Alexis is sure going to miss her cousins when we go back to Australia next week.

Church #51

Art a la Snow

Today, Susan, Alexis and I drove down to Provo to visit a special exhibit (religious paintings by Carl Bloch) at the BYU Museum of Art. Alan joined us there. The exhibit was beautiful and Alexis was a very good girl, especially after being in the car and then going straight to her stroller. Afterward, we had lunch at the Museum Cafe and then headed outside to let Alexis walk around for a bit before we put her back in the car.

The first thing she did?  Made a beeline for the snow and started eating it.  Someone (Daddy) has been giving her big blobs of snow to eat when she's in her highchair and she now knows just what to do.  Except this snow was pretty dirty.  We just couldn't keep her away from it!  (At least it wasn't yellow!)

Walking through BYU campus with Uncle Alan.

It was a fun morning, and it gave John a quiet house to get lots of work done.

More Cousins

Alexis got to visit with more of her cousins this week.  While Teisa and Hannah were at school, we went to play with Alisi, Keana, and Lilly.  Alexis has reached the age where she really likes other kids, so it was a lot of fun.  She also got to spend some time with her Aunt Briony and Aunt Dayna too.

Alexis and Keana . . .

a.k.a. the future Dr. Horne and Dr. Fakatou.

Rocking out with Alisi and Keana.

Spinning in circles with Lilly.

Snow Fun!

Today, Alexis finally got to go out and play in the snow.  After finally getting over her major sinus infection, Alexis got a stomach bug the same day we got to Utah, so we have kept her inside the nice, warm house.  Since her fever finally broke today and it was relatively warm outside (29 F -- a lot warmer than it has been), we ventured out into the background.

Alexis' coat is so puffy, it kind of reminded me of the kid from A Christmas Story.  She looked like a little marshmallow and couldn't really move her arms.  But she sure looked cute!

As soon as she could touch the snow, she tried to eat it.  She wasn't too successful though, since it was hard to move her arms.  She seemed to like the snow, but she would not walk in it.  Even when we smoothed out an area that wasn't deep, she still would not walk.  Oh well.  It was nice to be outside.  Hopefully she will be feeling 100% soon so that we can take her sledding at the cabin.

Making snow angels with Grandma.

She did not like lying down in the snow and was much happier sitting on Grandma.

Church #50