Catching Up

At this point I don't even think the usual blurb about "oh it has been so long since we blogged..." will do any good. We know it has been that long. Learning how to parent two wonderful and energetic children has been that time-consuming. Please know we love you all and wish you could be our neighbors and see our kids all the time!

To get you caught up to speed, here is what we now all look like, and yes we added another member to the family (more on that later):

Bernie

Grant

Lucy

Dianna

Dave

The Crest Family

Bernie is the newest member of our family. He is a mini schnoodle (poodle and schnauzer mix). He was born on June 6, 2011 and officially became part of the Crest family on September 10, 2011. He has been a blessing to our family and quickly become a best friend to the children. After about three weeks of potty training and other general discipline, he is now a friend to Dianna too! He loves cuddling, tummy scratches, romping around with the kids and playing catch with the tennis ball.

Grant now has most of his teeth and is growing like crazy. He loves to play hide and seek in our master closet. He eats tons of banana, graham crackers, and yogurt. Grant sings and "dances" with us in the car or at home and generally loves music. He has quite a few words in his vocabulary like shoes, outside, mommy, daddy, and Jesus. We can also get him to fold his arms now at the beginning of a prayer.

Lucy is also growing like crazy. She now loves dress up with her Cinderella, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, and Repunzel dresses. She just got a set of princess mini dolls from her GG, Grandma Garlock and carries them around in her backpack that Kristy gave her. She is learning all the movies in the Disney catalog and it is hard to say what her favorite is right now. She goes to the library with Mommy and Grant every week and will bring home 21 books (3 per night) and 7 DVDs of any kind of kid show (bless Dianna's heart for lugging kids + huge loads of materials to and from the library).

Dianna is now a coordinator for Bountiful Baskets, a produce co-op. Her early Saturday mornings are spent as a volunteer unloading trucks and distributing the load to up to 100 people. She is also still the Relief Society liaison for anything food storage and spends quite a bit of time weekly buying large orders and distributing to members of the ward. She also has a lot of fun getting together with her book club girls every month.

And for Dave, I am working hard at Deloitte and am now a fifth year, significantly only because it is typically the last step before manager. I work on clients in the real estate and hedge fund/private equity spaces. At home the name of the game is bedtime routines or taking the kids out to give Dianna a breather. When not busy with work or family I typically work on my calling as ward clerk or play basketball with friends and coworkers.