Lois 7- & 8-month-old pictures

Ok, so I'm way behind. But here are some great ones. :) Can you believe she's 8 months old? AAAH!

The Many Hair-do's of Lois

In which she mimics a piggie

In which she mimics Elvis

In which she mimics Pebbles

  

 The Many Explorations of Lois

In which she scales Mount Coffee Table

In which she rafts in a box top boat

 The Many Faces of Lois

In which she's excited

In which she's curious

In which she's flirty

In which she's adorable

 The Many Hats of Lois

In which she's trendy

In which she's fishy

In which she's sporty

In which she's artsy

The Many Friends of Lois

In which she captures ducks with triplet cousins

In which she captures hearts with her betrothed

And finally....

The Many Meals of Lois

In which she communicates her initial dislike of peas

In which she shows Mom who's boss

In which she steals an entire piece of bread from Mom

In which she expresses her love for spaghetti and green beans

In which she...well, I'm not sure

Lois is 6 months!

Can you believe it? My little baby is six months old. I was looking at some of her first pictures and thinking, "Wow, she was that little?"
We love our little girl so much. She's our constant entertainment. Right now, we're working on getting her to sit up on her own. She does pretty well, but if she moves too much, she'll teeter right over. The other day I had her sitting up and moved out of arms reach for just a sec and WHAM, she fell backwards and bonked her head. (She was no worse for wear. The WHAM was an exaggeration. :)
Her favorite toy is actually a book! I know, music to my ears. :) She devours her Crayola First Book of Colors...literally. Though yesterday I may have given the book a run for its money. I gave her a pot and spoon and taught her how to bang on it. She loved it--though she got frustrated when her aim wasn't so good. :)
She's also a little singer--definitely a soprano. She'll sing in high pitched squeals to herself. It's so fun to listen to...even when she competes with the TV for volume.
Oh, and she loves playing with Mommy's hair and will touch anybody's face if they get it within her reach. The hair thing is cute, I just have to be ready for a good yank at any moment.
And she's all over the place now. She's a roller. The scooting forwards thing still eludes her (and frustrates her to no end), but she can put some rug behind her when she's rolling. The funniest thing to watch is when she wants the toy that's just out of her reach right in front of her. Something tells me she'll be scooting like a pro in no time.

Lois loves her green beans

We were outside and the wind blew the blankets like this. SO cute!

Mommy was being silly and put some pants on her head. 

I didn't expect it to be so adorable. :)

I went in to check on Lois and this is how she was sleeping--
butt WAY up, arms tucked under, and she was pushed up into the corner of her crib. :)

Hi!!!!

My sweet grandma

At the age of 96, my dear grandma Reva Nelson passed away today. I love her very much and she will be dearly missed. She's been a glue for our extended family, always providing a welcome place for us to gather and have a good time. My immediate family even got to live with her for a couple years when we first moved back to Utah in 1995. She was always happy and would often repeat some of her favorite quotes, like "My family is my riches" and "You sure are doing good things with your life, aren't you?" and "I always say busy people are the happiest people."

This little post won't do her life justice, but I feel the need to express myself and write about my love for this great woman. While I shed a few tears when I heard she had passed, I find great solace in knowing our Heavenly Father has a plan for us, and that plan includes us having the chance to be reunited with our families and loved ones when we leave this mortal life. Right now, my sweet grandma is reunited with her husband, who has been gone for 24 and 1/2 years. What a reunion that must be.

The funeral will be this Saturday morning. How I love my dear grandma. I'll miss you. But we haven't said good bye forever. I'll see you and Grandpa again, someday.

My journal article is now published!

My journal article got published online last week. Per the journal's instructions, there's some copyright stuff that I need to include in order to post the link. Take a look-see.

Copyright 2010 Acoustical Society of America. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the Acoustical Society of America.

The following article appeared in J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 128 1 , July 2010 and may be found athttp://link.aip.org/link/?JAS/128/EL8.

If that link doesn't work, I'll just email it to you.

Bells concert in November

So I've got great news! I get to play in the Bells on Temple Square concert in November! For some reason, someone can't make it, so I get to play in his stead! Yes, I'm very excited. We start rehearsing for the concert tomorrow. So the concert is on November 19th in the tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. I'm not sure the time it starts, but it's probably 7:30 or so. The Bells website www.mormontabernaclechoir.org will have more info, especially as the concert gets nearer. That's also the place to go for tickets if I don't have any left. So save the date! Please come! It'll be a great show.

5 months!

Playing deer in the headlights

Playing sleepy

Playing with Poppa Skaines

Really playing with Poppa Skaines & Karo
(What kid doesn't want to play with that beard? :)

Playing with her cousin Kippling

Playing up the camera

And playing coy

4-month pictures

In my defense, it's been a crazy month. Still is, in fact. But my guilt for not posting pictures was wearing on me. :) So here are Lois's 4-month pics.

 Her token sleeping picture :)

An attempt at rolling over.

Success! Her first time to roll over!

Sneaky thing did it when I wasn't watching. I came back to this.

And her first time to eat solids. (The doc gave us the go ahead.)
She wasn't all that interested in the rice cereal, so we didn't give her anything else for a while.

  She did, however, love Daddy's finger.

And she loved the Bumbo and hanging out with her cousins. :)

(Don't mind Ellis's scary face.)