P.S. You're Cute

Mini Mission Reunion

2011-10-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

In October, we had the pleasure of seeing one of my mission companions (actually my trainer) from my first area of Charleroi, Belgium. She and her husband flew over from Salzburg to visit family in Springville. I was with Martina, formerly Soeur Kuhn, when 9/11 happened, so I have some very unforgettable memories of that time. Paul also happened to be in our district at the time, so it was a nice mini reunion for all of us, including Carrie and her husband, who were nice enough to host dinner.

Poppy will Carrie's little boy, Calan, and Martina's little girl, who doesn't speak English, but still seemed to love playing with 2 crazy American kids.

It's pretty crazy that it's been 10 years since we served together. I have to say, Carrie and Martina look awesome and don't look any different to how they did on the mission!

Lazy Sunday

2011-10-25T07:52:00.001-07:00

Just some fun Sunday pictures. We thought we'd enjoy some relaxing park time before the weather turns for good...

Ready for the runway?

Georgie liked the slide! She did land funny one of the times, so that was the end of that, and we didn't let her go again.

Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-25T07:49:00.001-07:00

This year marked many "firsts" for Ms. Poppy, maybe because now she's old enough to appreciate and participate in a lot more things. It's lots of fun. Here, she takes part in her first pumpkin carving experience. No, I didn't let her near the carving knife. :)

VanDenBerghe Halloween Party

2011-10-25T07:39:00.001-07:00

Poppy loves Halloween almost as much as she loves her cousins. Here, she enjoys both at a little party we had for the kids.

Our little garden gnome. With the addition of fairy wings. Her idea, of course.

We're Amazing Race contestants. The idea was that Poppy was our little Travelocity roaming gnome. Get it?

Running with Cousin Gaby

Eating dinner in the company of a lion, a skeleton, Woody, and The Wicked Witch of the West.

Poppy was really excited about the donut-eating game. Or maybe she was just excited about the donut.

Pinata time!

A visit from Nannie Sue

2011-10-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

Paul's mum came for a visit in late September-early October, and Poppy was thrilled. She loves her Nannie (or as she calls her, "Annie").

Just before heading to the airport...

This picture is pretty cute, despite Poppy's unfortunate pose.

Gardner Village

Farmer's Market at Wheeler Farm

At Wheeler Farm again - a few days later, and the weather had gone from hot to snowy! That's why we're sporting coats here. Poppy went into the pumpkin patch, then a hay ride, and a corn maze.

Having fun with the camera!

2011-10-25T07:09:00.001-07:00

I didn't realize Paul had included these pictures...as you can see, by this post in October, I am definitely showing. And it's safe to say my appetite is not lacking these days. Expect little boy Leggett to come out nice and healthy, like his big sister did!

State Fair

2011-10-24T14:38:00.001-07:00

Poppy loves animals so much, how could we not take a trip to the fair?!

I feel kind of bad for these ponies. Poppy loved the ride.

Poppy's most favorite animal ever? Probably the rabbit!

We weren't planning on going on any rides, because frankly, I didn't think Poppy would want to. She saw the balloons and immediately begged to go. Success!

A fun trip to Bear Lake!

2011-10-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

We went to Bear Lake in August for a mini-vacay. It was just for a couple of nights, but it was nice and relaxing, and Poppy loved the lake. All in all, a fun summer trip, even if it was really the only place we made it this summer!

I forgot what these big 4-person bikes are called, but Poppy LOVED sitting up in the front while we pedaled.

Looking out at the lake with Grandpa, whom she has dubbed "Pakka". This trip was the first time we noticed that she calls him that, and she still does! Pretty cute.

A few months pregnant here...although you really can't tell...yet.

Lil' Lizzy

2011-07-23T21:25:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Tracy and Eduardo on the birth of their new little cutie. Elizabeth Nieves Flores was born on Monday July 18th and is really rather cute. Check out the picture below (clearly stolen from Alison's blog). It was quite the ordeal, but mother and baby are both doing well. After about 14 hours of labor, and Tracy's water was broken, Elizabeth stuck her left hand out. Tracy was rushed off to have an emergency C-section. So, it has been a long and painful week for Tracy, but everyone is healthy and well now!

The Children's Parade

2011-07-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was an early start for the Leggett's - we got up early and headed downtown to be in the Days of '47 Youth Parade. Our stake had a float in the parade and wanted the Primary kids to walk with the float and with Anna being the Primary President for our ward - off we went. Unlike the 4th of July parade it was boiling hot and we had to wait outside for about 1.5 hours before it began. Poppy (and Daddy) soon tired of this, as evidenced by the group shot above!. Finally the parade set off and we had a nice time walking from Trolley Square down to Library Square (which if you know SL isn't really that far). Poppy was once again terrified of the clowns, one decided to get really close to her and made her jump (which i have to confess was a tad amusing). Anyway here are some pictures from our little adventure.

There was a group shot of all the kids taking part, as you can see from the above pictures Poppy was in it - although, as you can see from the below pictures, the handle of the wagon covered her up (she is on the very far left)

I don't know what she is saying - but I would guess it would be something like "let's go already" or "crikey it's toasty" or "keep the clowns away from me".

I took this picture right after she was scared by the clown, as you can see she is holding on for dear life (you can also see Poppy's clown nemesis in the background scooting off to terrorize/entertain more children).

4th of July Weekend

2011-07-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

So a couple of weeks ago we celebrated July 4th and had a lovely time doing so, my personal favourite part was singing "God Save The King" at church, in place of the Star Spangled Banner - quite odd - but it made me happy. Other than that we just had a lovely relaxing time, not really dong much other than relaxing, eating and hanging out with family. I thought i'd share some pictures from our weekend - sorry there are so many I just have such a hard time choosing as Poppy is just too cute. A couple of evening prior to the actual 4th we headed over to Jon and Joanne's (friends of Anna's parents) to attend there annual barbecue/concert party. Anna's Dad and some of his friends are in a bluegrass band and once a year they do a mini concert in Jon's back garden and we just all get to hang out, eat some great food and listen to some music. We had a really fun evening, the weather was perfect and Poppy seemed to really enjoy herself. Anna, Tracy and Alison sang a little song together, which was lovely, I would have a video of it if my phone hadn't crashed last weekend causing me to lose all of my pictures etc. Anyway here are some pictures from the festivities.

Jon and Joanne have a huge yard which backs onto a field of sorts, behind this fence were goats and horses - Poppy spent most of the evening trying to get them to come over to her.

Poppy also spent a large portion of the evening carrying around this piece of watermelon. I realize that there are quite a few pictures of her with it - but seriously she held onto it forever.

I don't know what is going on in the picture above - but it was just too cute not to include.

Towards the end of the evening we laid a blanket out and Poppy and I were having fun taking pictures - here are some of them (isn't she adorable?)

On the 4th itself we got up early and headed over to State street for the Murray parade. Even though we got there super early it was really crowded but we got a good spot. Poppy both loved and was scared of the parade. She spent the whole time on my lap and loved waving at the Princesses (the various Miss this, that and the other) and the horses and dogs, she did not enjoy the loud sirens and any of the clowns. I personally enjoyed the huge bag of candy we collected, although most of it was just taffy, come on people - diversify a little. The weather was a little overcast - which was all the better for being outside so long. Anyway enjoy the pics.

This is her scared face - she also has this face when she watches the roller coaster scene in the movie Care Bears - Journey to Joke-A-Lot (her current movie of choice).

Poppy and her cute cousins - just a note - she LOVES her cousins. We were just at Ikea tonight with Maia and Cullen and they had such a blast together. Poppy and Maia spent most of the time holding hands and giggling together.

A relaxing Saturday....

2011-06-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

It's finally summer weather! The great thing about that? Aunt Tracy and Uncle Eduardo have a swimming pool right across from their condo! As predicted, Miss Poppy still loved the water as much as last year, but all she wanted to do was sit on the top step leading into the pool, and refused to let us swim around the pool with her. Hopefully, this doesn't last too long. But, it was still fun.
Other things Poppy is up to? Let's see....right now, she is obsessed with a Care Bears movie we own, and we end up watching it everyday, which is awesome. She still loves to play with her dolls and teddy bears, and calls them "sweetie pie", a term she learned from Grandma. She talks in complete sentences, but is still slightly hard to understand, so most people ask her questions, and then just smile and nod at her responses. But, she is definitely getting better! Paul wanted to see if she could say her last name the other day, so he said, "Poppy, can you say Leggett?", to which she responded, "Poppy Leggett!". We were surprised that she knows her full name!
No big plans for the summer yet, but for the 4th of July weekend, we have a parade, fireworks, a barbecue, swimming, and a trip up the canyon planned. We're ready for the weekend to start!!

Poppy and her Poppy

2011-06-26T18:42:00.001-07:00

So, this year, after 2 Springs' worth of attempts at planting poppies, we finally had some grow in our garden and blossom. Thus the impromptu photo shoot of Poppy with one of the bright red poppies from our garden. I should probably add here that she adores flowers...it's actually surprising that we have any flowers left in our beds, because Poppy has to pick one every single time she is outside. We managed to keep her away from the poppies for the most part, but some of the rest of the flowers have not fared so well...

Poppy loved putting water in her play bathtub that she got from Nannie Sue at Christmas. Only thing is, she thinks the shower head is a phone, and didn't want me to shower the baby, because she wanted to talk into it.

Poppy pointing at the sky after I said to her numerous times, "Poppy, look up!"

Sunday Afternoon at Wheeler Farm

2011-06-26T18:39:00.001-07:00

A few Sundays ago, we had a picnic at one of Poppy's favorite places, Wheeler Farm. What's better than eating outdoors, running around, playing with the cousins, and seeing the animals?? Maia and Cullen weren't there, and you may also notice that Edison is missing...he was sleeping through most of dinner. But Luke, Poppy and Gaby had a blast! Poppy can say the names of all of her VanDenBerghe cousins (I guess we better get her working on learning her English cousins' names!) Here is how she pronounces them: My (Maia), Ed-son (Edison), Cu-wen (Cullen), Wuke-y (Lukey), and Gobby (Gaby).

Poppy's pretty pink polka dot rocking chair

2011-05-04T19:36:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post - so today when we got home from work there was a HUGE box on the doorstep addressed to Miss Poppy Leggett. Poppy has recently learned how exciting presents can be and was super eager to open it up. Once I opened it for her we quickly figured out it was a rocking chair. To say Poppy was excited to use it is quite the understatement, luckily it only took about 10 mins to put together (even with Poppy 'helping') - the whole time Poppy was running around holding various pieces of it saying 'rocking chair, rocking chair'. After it was put together Poppy then spent the rest of the evening firmly seated or standing in it. To say she loved it, I don't think truly conveys just how she felt about it. This lovely gift was courtesy of Nannie Sue and it was a lovely surprise for Poppy - so thank you lots Nannie Sue! Poppy can't wait for you to come visit so she can show you how good she is at rocking it.

I asked Poppy to give Nannie a kiss - this is what she did!

April

2011-04-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

So, it has been a few months since we posted anything....there's no excuse really, just busy with life, I guess. Paul's job has made him extremely busy since January, and my excuse is pure laziness. We've added some pictures showing how big Poppy is getting, and how much fun she is as a 2-year-old. She is excited about everything, and the only downside to that is that it's difficult to pull her away from anything: toys in the store, the park, and believe it or not, patio furniture at Target. We have to avoid the patio furniture altogether, otherwise she will lay on a chaise lounge and refuse to move. We've tried that thing that parents do where they walk away, and the child, becoming anxious, gives in and follows. This doesn't work with Poppy. She prefers the patio furniture to her parents. The same goes for the beds at Ikea. So, with a certain amount of distraction, we can [sometimes] avoid temper tantrums. These distractions are usually in the form of suckers.
Poppy has begun to talk pretty much nonstop, and can say pretty much anything. She knows the names of most things now, and can string together sentences quite well, we just don't always understand what she's saying. An example of some such sentence might be: "Hey Georgie, blah blah blah no, go away! Blah blah blah doggie blah blah hey you guys! Blah blah yay, I did it!"
It's pretty cute. I think when she is 100% understandable, I might be slightly sad to see the gibberish go. She's no longer a baby!
Well, the weather in Utah has stayed disappointingly cold through April, so once warm weather hits, we are looking forward to some fun times swimming, using our new zoo pass, and riding the bikes. No big trips planned for the summer yet, unless there is a place you can take your 2-year-old for a week, and they come back completely potty trained. I would totally sign up for Potty Training Camp. Unfortunately, I don't think that exists, so we'll have to plan some Bear Lake or Moab trips instead.
For my 31st birthday coming up this Friday, I will commit to blogging more often. Maybe. Here's to a warmer and fun summer ahead!

Hanging out at Gaby's 1st birthday party!

Ooh, a package from Uncle Adam and Auntie Louise - thank you!!!

Bath time is so much fun!

Easter! Poppy enjoying some fun Easter egg hunts.

And the Easter egg hunt at Grandma's and Grandpa's!

Aren't they cute?

Always terrorizing Georgie...

Ready, set, go! One of her favorite things to say.

March

2011-04-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

March pictures!

It's been a cold spring, but we've still been able to enjoy some outings...like Wheeler Farm!

February

2011-04-24T17:39:00.000-07:00

February pictures & the rest of Poppy's birthday

The birthday girl in her Valentine's Day skirt from grandma

Poppy's birthday theme was Max & Ruby, because she loves it! Thus the Max cake...

Love this picture! Poppy got a doll house for her birthday, and LOVES it.

Pin the tail on Max with the cousins

Our beautiful little 2-year-old

Happy 2nd Birthday...

2011-02-10T20:06:00.000-08:00

Happy 2nd Birthday to our little sweet P.

Amazing...

2011-02-09T12:14:00.000-08:00

I (Paul) haven't written on the blog for a while I guess I am preempting Valentines day a little but I wanted to dedicate a post to my lovely, adorable Anna. I titled this post amazing because that's what she is - the past little while hasn't been too easy for us, especially for Anna. I know that miscarriage is common and something that a lot of people, sadly, experience - Anna has been through it 4 times. Each time it is devastating and, unfortunately it doesn't get any easier to deal with. I know that we are so lucky to have our cute little Poppy (FYI the above picture is old - Poppy is now binky free- I wanted to post it because I love this picture of my girls) and are so blessed in many aspects of our life. I also know that I am so lucky to have Anna, she is my best friend and the sweetest person you could ever meet. I've been thinking a lot recently about how she does it, how she keeps on going when I know she is hurting so much, and I figure that is why she's so amazing because I have no idea how she does. You'll forgive me for not being especially eloquent and for the random nature of this post. I love my Anna so much and wanted everyone to know just how how much. She is the most beautiful person I have ever met. I literally love everything about her.

I was listening to a song on the way to work - I don't know who sings it originally , it was on Glee - cheesy I know - but the words are so cute and really sum up what I am struggling to say in this post. So here you go:

Oooh Her eyes, her eyes make the stars look like they’re not shining.
Her hair, her hair falls perfectly without her trying
She’s so beautiful and I tell her everyday.

Yeah I know, I know when I compliment her she won’t believe me
And it’s so, it’s so sad to think that she don’t see what I see
But every time she asks me “Do I look okay?” I say.

When I see your face
There’s not a thing that I would change
Cause you’re amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile
The whole world stops and stares for a while
Cause girl you’re amazing
Just the way you are

Her lips, her lips I could kiss them all day if she let me
Her laugh, her laugh she hates but I think it’s so sexy
She’s so beautiful and I tell her everyday

Oh you know, you know, you know I’d never ask you to change
If perfects what you’re searching for then just stay the same
So don’t even bother asking if you look okay you know I’ll say

When I see your face
There’s not a thing that I would change
‘Cause you’re amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile
The whole world stops and stares for a while
‘Cause girl you’re amazing
Just the way you are

here's the video, if you fancy hearing/seeing it:

Congratulations to Paul

2011-01-12T12:25:00.000-08:00

Since I never publicly announced it: Congratulations to my sweet husband, Paul, for getting a promotion at work! He is the new Executive Director of Community Action Partnership of Utah. He's awesome and he totally deserves this. And, it kind of evens out some of the bad stuff I posted earlier (see last post)...

New Year, New Beginnings (and Challenges)

2011-01-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

Time for some rambling. It's not like I write a lot on this blog anyway, so I suppose it's acceptable once in awhile. It's amazing how things in your life can change so much from one year to the next, isn't it? Sometimes, it's because of decisions you & your family make. Other times, it's because of things that happen through no choice of your own, but because of events and circumstances that are out of your control, whether good or bad. After all, life is a mixed bag of blessings and happiness, heartache and sadness.
We started out the new year thinking that 2011 would be a significant year for us because we were expecting another child to join our family at the end of July. That is, up until a couple of days ago. This week marks the 4th miscarriage I've had in 4 years, and the 1st one I've had since we had Poppy. I suppose it is a little easier this time, probably because we have Poppy. So, we know that it's at least possible to have a healthy child, and at the end of the day, we still have her! It's always tough at first to try and figure out what went wrong, or if we could have done anything differently. We had a blood test and scan at 6 weeks, and everything looked good, including hormone levels, so we thought we were in the clear. I'd be lying if I didn't say that it just feels really unfair. This week, they did a blood test and scan to confirm what we'd feared, met with the doctor today, and I will go in for a D&C tomorrow. At least they knock me out for that part. After talking to the doctor today we're still not sure what causes the miscarriages. Paul and I have had every test they offer to try and determine the cause. The good news (and bad news), is that they've never found anything problematic. All we can do is keep trying, and hope that at some point we will get lucky again. How do women deal with having 8, 9, even 10 miscarriages?! I don't know. I guess they figure the end result is worth it. Who knows? Maybe I will have just as many before we have another actual full-term baby. It's pretty sad when you get a positive pregnancy test and you can't even be excited. I'd like to add that I am completely aware that there are some couples that have never even gotten 1 positive pregnancy test, and some couples who have mourned the death of a child. Life can really throw some curve balls. Sometimes I think, well, if this is our trial in life, I suppose I can handle it if we knew that we wouldn't have to face any other kind of illness, tragedy or heartache. But, that's not the way life works, right?
Well, I suppose the best thing to do when faced with something difficult is to count your blessings. So, here we go: I am so grateful for Poppy. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father entrusted us with this beautiful, happy, sweet child - even if she ends up being our one and only. I'm grateful for a wonderful husband and a supportive family - both mine and Paul's. I'm grateful for health, stability, happiness and love. And most importantly, I am thankful for the plan of salvation, and knowing that I can be with my family in this life and in the next, and that no matter what happens in this life, I know that one day there will be no more heartache or sadness.
May all of my wonderful friends and family who read this be blessed with the same health and happiness this year and for many to come!

Happy New Year

2011-01-09T09:55:00.000-08:00

We got home from England at about 1 in the morning on the 30th, and spent New Year's Eve with my family. Unfortunately, we were so exhausted from the time change, that we went home and were in bed by 9!

Poppy and Edison celebrating the New Year

Playing KerPlunk with Gaby and the other cousins.

Getting ready for bed in her new robe & slippers from Nannie Sue.

Happy to see Georgie again.

England - Part 6

2011-01-09T09:24:00.001-08:00

One last dinner with Nannie Mary and David & Julie.

Getting an eclair all over her face. She certainly has developed a sweet tooth!

England - Part 5

2011-01-09T08:58:00.000-08:00

Boxing Day at Dave & Sue's with Adam, Louise, Remi & Rafe, & us.

Watching Curious George and being silly

Grandpa standing by his work van

Poppy got a little bit jealous when I'd hold one of the twins and would insist on getting up on my lap, too.

Dave and Sue holding the twins

Unwrapping more presents. She got a teddy bear, an Igglepiggle doll, clothes, and some books.

Standing by the Elvis Santa

England - Part 4

2011-01-09T08:55:00.001-08:00

Christmas Day!! Poppy sure was spoiled!

Nannie and David got Poppy the cute little playhouse on the right, with a little kitchen as well. She got plenty of doll accessories to go with her new dolls, as well.

Playing with her presents!

Playing peek-a-boo in the curtains: one of Poppy's favorite things to do.

Christmas dinner with Nannie Mary, Nannie Sue, David, Sue's brother David and his wife Julie, Adam and Louise, and us of course. Turkey, roasted potatoes, sausages, parsnips, peas - and don't forget the Christmas crackers! It took me 4 tries to win the prize.

Adam and Louise, looking very jolly.

holding the twins, Remi and Rafe.

England - Part 3

2011-01-09T08:52:00.001-08:00

Meeting Nannie Mary for the first time!

On the 23rd, we celebrated Paul's dad's birthday at the hotel in Roade. It was fun to see all of Paul's dad's family again. Happy Birthday, Grandpa Dave!

Poppy loved playing with the disposable cameras on the tables.

The Leggett men, 3 generations: Adam (Paul's brother), great-grandpa, Grandpa Dave, Daddy

Dave & Sue with their kids and grandkids (except Poppy and Cleo, who are absent from the picture): Elsa, Rob (Eve's husband), Eve, Sue, Adam, Dave, John, me, Paul, Nicola (John's girlfriend)

England Trip - Part 2

2011-01-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

Visiting Gramps before Christmas - the first time Poppy met her great-grandpa. He loved meeting her.

At Beckworth with Nannie Sue.

I made the mistake of opening a Magnum bar in front of Poppy. She stole it!

...but she was nice enough to give me a bite here and there!

On Christmas Eve, we were able to go to the Milton Keynes shopping center with Grandpa, which had a carousel and winter village for children. Poppy loved it!

This was some kind of computerized star mat, and the stars would scatter wherever you walked on it.

The carousel! Poppy said "weeee!" the whole time, and each time we saw Daddy, she would wave and say, "hi!"

On Christmas Eve night, we spent some time with Vicky and Neil, and their son, Elliot. We were excited to meet Elliot for the first time - he and Poppy have the same birthday, but Elliot is a year older.

Elliot and Poppy

The Drewerys and the Leggetts

England Trip - Part 1

2011-01-09T08:44:00.000-08:00

Well, here's our first pictures from our England trip, as of the Friday we arrived (the 17th - since the 16th was mostly traveling). There are about 7 posts on the trip, so that we could attach all the pictures. Enjoy!

Poppy & Anna's first pantomime on Friday afternoon: Jack and the Beanstalk. In the picture are: Anna, Poppy, Grandpa Dave, Sue, Elsa and Eve (Eve is Sue's daughter, & Elsa is her cute granddaughter).

Poppy enjoyed the singing and dancing, and playing on the chairs in the theatre even more.

Our first English dinner of the trip: roast & yorkshire pudding with potatoes and peas. Yum!

Paul and I were able to go to London for a day trip on Monday the 20th. We loved walking around with all the Christmas shoppers, even if it was cold & snowy!

Covent Garden

We got to see Les Mis again! The last time we saw it was in London 2003, when Paul and I were first dating.

The Wellingborough golf club. My favorite part of England: the huge, gorgeous old homes.

Doesn't it look like it belongs in Pride & Prejudice??

Grandpa VanDenBerghe

2010-12-15T20:19:00.000-08:00

In Loving Memory

My wonderful grandfather passed away on December 15, 2010, from the effects of cancer. He will be sorely missed.
We were set to leave for England that day, so I knew that we would miss his funeral that weekend. Fortunately, because we knew that missing his funeral would be a possibility, we were able to visit him one last time the Sunday before he passed away. I was worried that he would either be asleep the whole time, or that he wouldn't recognize us even if he was awake, but he was completely lucid and talked to us about out trip, and about Poppy. The sweetest part was watching Poppy lean over and grab his hand to say goodbye to him before we left. I am so glad that I have some fond memories of my grandpa, and that he was able to meet Poppy and know her for a time, even if her memories of him will be very limited.
My grandpa was always one of my greatest supports, and one of the best examples for my siblings and myself. He instilled in me a desire to serve a mission, which I knew I would do long before the time grew near. I am also grateful that he was able to be our temple sealer when we got married in the temple, and that he was able to be at Poppy's blessing and get to know her some. And my best memory so far, and one of the things I am still most thankful for, was a blessing he gave me about 3 years ago. Paul and I had been left devastated after failed IVF, a doctor telling us we would never be able to conceive children naturally, a couple of invasive surgeries, and 3 miscarriages. It got to a point where I felt like I wasn't sure if we should give up, but didn't feel ready to consider adoption yet. We decided to get blessings from my grandpa because he was someone that I always looked up to most, spiritually. I had faith in him, and I wanted a priesthood blessing from him. I remember him telling me in the blessing that we would be blessed with children, and that it would be sooner rather than later. He told me that I would be healthy enough to do this, if I obeyed the Word of Wisdom, treated my body right, and listened to what my doctor told me to do. It was only a few months after that that I found out I was pregnant with Poppy, and was amazed when my doctor told me that everything looked great and that my hormone levels were normal. And now we have a beautiful, healthy, happy little 23-month-old! That experience restored my faith, and I will always remember what my grandpa has done for my family. I really miss him, but look forward to the day that we will meet again.

Thanksgiving and Family Pictures

2010-12-02T20:44:00.000-08:00

It seems we've been lazy again, and haven't been keeping up on our blog like we should - which is hard, because then it's difficult to try and remember everything that's been going on in the past month or so. But then again, I suppose the blog is more of a journal for us anyway than it is for other peoples' reading pleasure.
So what have we been up to? Mainly, we've been trying to keep up with work and church stuff. Right now, Paul is filling in as Interim Director at CAP Utah because his boss is relocating to Denver, so he has been ridiculously busy and has even fit in a trip to Kansas City. As for myself, work is still the same, but I have been serving as the primary president at church, which is actually kind of a lot of work. Who knew? I guess anyone who has been a primary president.
Poppy has started doing really well in nursery and really likes it now, except for when certain boys start pulling her pigtails. She talks more and more, and can say all of her cousins' names, and repeats a lot of what Paul and I say now. It still melts our hearts when we ask for a kiss, and she plants one right on our lips. Which is one of those rare occasions where she actually does what we tell her to do. She can definitely be stubborn when she wants to be! The stubbornness is apparent in the photos -- she can pose and be a ham if she chooses to be, but if she is forced into taking a picture in the freezing cold at Daybreak (see above), she will definitely rebel!
We are preparing to visit England from December 15th to the 29th, and are very excited to be spending Christmas with Paul's family, which will be a first for Poppy and me. Poppy will be meeting some of Paul's family members for the first time, including her brand-new twin cousins, which will be so fun. We're still extremely nervous for the long plane rides, but if we can survive that, we can survive anything, right? We have our movies, toys, snacks and benadryl ready!
Thanksgiving was fun and we were able to spend it at my parents' house with all of my siblings and their kids, and my first-ever pumpkin pie turned out deliciously! All in all, the holidays so far have been very relaxing. Everyone in the family is doing well, except my Grandpa VanDenBerghe who has been in the hospital again and is very ill. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. I can't help but think about him right now, since tomorrow is Dutch Christmas. I have so many great memories with him and my Grandma, and Dutch Christmas was always one of the best times of the year for me. So, I really hope he gets better soon!
We wish all of our friends and family a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!

Family pictures at Daybreak = really cold!

Getting started early!

Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma and Grandpa VanDenBerghe's house.

Our little baker.

Putting the star on the Christmas tree with Daddy.

Trunk or Treat! (and our last Halloween themed post)

2010-10-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

So here are just a couple of pictures from the Trunk or Treat that we went to last Saturday (for those Brits reading this that do not know what a Trunk or Treat is, it's kind of like a car boot sale but instead of selling random junk you park up and give out candy as the kids go from car to car - it's basically an easy way to trick or treat that is perfect for little kids -like Pops- as it is earlier in the day and much less walking). Anyhoo we went along, handed out candy and Poppy filled up her bucket, the only downside was that it was pouring with rain, so we only stayed for about 15 minutes (just enough time to get lots of sweets) and headed home. Once the rain stopped Anna and Poppy went out and trick or treated our street, while I stayed home and answered the door approximately 650 times! Poppy got lots and lots of sweets, which is now sitting on the conference table at my work as Anna banished it from the house. We had such a fun Halloween, Poppy really seemed to enjoy it.

I know that all we talk about on this blog is Poppy, but seriously, she is such a funny, sweet, entertaining little girl. The latest developments are that she can say Edison (her cousins name, I guess Grandma was telling Edison to stop doing something yesterday and kept repeating his name). Poppy also can do head, shoulders, knees and toes. Although she pretty much just does head and skips right to the toes, where in fact she says shoes (but close enough). Also she is doing so much better in nursery, she stayed the whole time last week and seemed to have fun. Oh and one last thing the other night I had gone out and when I came back in she said "hi dada" it was the cutest thing. She is just so fun - we love her lots!

More Pictures of Our Favorite 20-month-old

2010-10-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some cute pictures we took of Popsicle yesterday...

Trick-or-treating at my office - she loved it! She even walked down the halls saying, "Chick-O-Chee!"

Rémi Jet & Rafe Beau

2010-10-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Adam and Louise on the arrival of their twins last Saturday, Rémi and Rafe! They were each just over 4 pounds, which is actually a good size considering they were about 7 weeks early. Poppy's excited to meet her new cousins!

The Very VanDenBerghe Halloween Party

2010-10-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

We held the first of our Halloween festivities on Saturday night, which was lots and lots of fun! We had pizza, played games, ate way too much, and laughed. So, it was a success. All of the kids looked adorable. Poppy isn't a huge fan of her hat (well, she likes it if she sees it and decides to put it on herself, but she HATES it when you try to force it on her head). Here are some pics of our adorable little cowgirl and her equally cute cousins. Next up: Ward Halloween Party and the Trunk-or-Treat.

Yee-Haw

Getting ready to party

Can you tell what everyone is??

Yummy goodies. I don't know how great my pumpkin cake looks, but hey, I'm not on "Cake Boss"

Decorating pumpkins with toddler-friendly stickers. We opted for this version, since Poppy + paint and/or knives = disaster

We are playing a mummy game where I wrap Poppy up with toilet paper. She didn't really get it.

Have I mentioned that she likes to stick weird things on her head?

This is where she says, "BOO!"

Paul was pretty proud of this decoration.

Lovely October

2010-10-09T17:42:00.000-07:00

This year has just flown by!! I can't believe it's October, as I'm typing this. And, finally, some lovely, cool fall weather to accompany it! Still, it seems weird that in another 2 months will be Christmas and the start of a whole new year - and a soon-to-be 2-year-old!!!!! I am actually reeling as I realize that Poppy is 20 months old now. There is no way that she can be that old, right?? Her favorite words of late: "Show", "No, no, no, no, no", "Night-night".
As you can see from the pictures below, I had the fabulous opportunity to participate in a 10K today with my sister, Alison. To give you a brief history of my abilities as a jogger, well, there isn't really one. I've never loved running very much, or felt I was very good at it. For example, as a missionary, I found that you could either get stuck with a companion who loved running and insisted on waking up at 5:30 to go (and since you can't leave your companion, you get dragged along, willingly or not), or you'd get a companion that was vehemently against running. I wasn't really either, but I had both types of companions. At one point in the mission, I was part of a music touring group called "The Musical Witnesses of Christ", and was able to visit several cities in the mission with a choir of about 14 missionaries doing concerts. It was awesome. We all lived at the mission president's home for about a month during this time, and there were a few days where I begrudgingly went jogging, because all 3 of the other sisters were going, so really I had no choice. I wish I could say I was awesome, but I'd be lying. I was the one at the back of the pack that the mission president felt obligated to run alongside, speaking words of encouragement. "We just have to make it to that lamp post up there", he would say. I was wise to this trick.
Needless to say, being able to do a 10K is something I'm pretty proud of, because in all honesty I have never been able to train this much to even go 3 miles at a time, let alone over 6! I'm pretty happy. Thankfully, Alison kept me motivated at the end, reminding me of the free bagels at the finish line, and telling me to keep my head down on the hills. I was pretty excited about the part of the race that weaves through the beautiful gardens at Thanksgiving Point. Turns out that was the worst part, for a couple of reasons. First of all, because the paths are not very wide. The race organizers decided that the 10K-ers and the 6K-ers would meet up halfway through and run together. Doesn't work well on narrow paths with a couple thousand women. Secondly, if you've ever been to the gardens there, you may remember that the beginning of the path spirals downhill for a good while until you get into the small valley of flower beds and gardens. Fun going down, not so fun going up. The best part of a race? The part where the volunteers (in this case, cub scouts) hand out water cups, and you get to drink up and toss them because no one cares that you're just throwing trash on the ground. Be gone with you, Cup! Alison and I did the race in approximately 1:08 (though I can't be sure, since we were toward the back when the pack started going). I wasn't too excited about that, since I thought for sure that we could run it in less than an hour - and hey, we didn't stop once! - but according to some other ladies who had pedometers and iPhone apps tracking the distance, turns out we did around 7.15 miles!! No wonder I was dying at the end! Good thing I had Captain Alison to push me along. My mom pointed out to Alison and me that her best 10K time was 48 minutes. Thanks for that, Mom. Looks like we have more work to do!

While I may look like I'm doing jazz hands, I assure you that I am not.

Finally, the end is in sight!

The Victors

Waiting patiently for Mummy

Still waiting patiently...

Our pretty girl - almost 20 months old!

Usually, when you ask for a kiss, she'll plant one right on you. But the other half of the time, she will push your face away and say "No!" Can't blame her, I guess.

Stake/State Fair

2010-10-09T17:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some cute pictures of our stake fair and the State fair - all in one day! Poppy loved them.

Playing at the children's farm. Poppy loved collecting the plastic produce in her bucket!

Going down the huge slide with Mummy. Mummy wasn't a big fan.

Paul with his first ever snow cone.

Train ride!!

Can Summer Stick Around for a Bit Longer? Please??

2010-09-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, Summer is coming to a close. I never thought I would care that much, since I don't really like the really hot weather, but since we've had Poppy, I've had a change of heart...summer is awesome! I don't know what we'll do when we can't play outside, take trips to the lake or swimming pool, or enjoy the likes of the zoo, wheeler farm, or some long walks with Georgie. Even in the dead of winter, we always took walks with Poppy. I know our neighbors probably thought we were crazy, but walks are always a sure-fire way to calm down an upset little Poppy. And it was a valuable tool during the colicky months! The pics below are some of our favorites. We were at a barbecue on Labor Day at my parents' friends' house, the Watts. My dad has always played bass, banjo and guitar with John and his band, so we listened to some music after dinner, and Poppy and the cousins had a blast! It also helped that they had a colossal back yard to run around in, and horses, goats and chickens in the yard adjacent, because we all know how much toddlers like their farm animals! Poppy has been very spoiled this summer with the number of trips to the zoo, Gardner Village, the aquarium, and even the State Fair, to see all of her favorite animals! My personal favorite were the sea lions at the State Fair -- so cute. Would've been even better had we not had to stand in the blistering sun for 45 minutes.

Other updates (since we seem to update not-so-occasionally now): hmmmm, Poppy has been talking more lately. She says "bye bye" a lot, but curiously, she usually only says it to the bathwater as it's going down the drain. She also loves to put blankets or towels over her stuffed animals and say, "Night night!" Which is pretty darned adorable. And of course, she can certainly say "No!" with force. Paul and I love that she is almost always willing to give us a kiss whenever we ask for one - right on the lips with a big smack of her lips! She is so much fun (well, about 85% of the time). She has definitely reached the toddler age of throwing tantrums pretty much anytime she doesn't get what she doesn't want. We're working on it, but if you have suggestions, by all means! Also, we'll take suggestions on how to get Poppy to attend nursery at church successfully. I know that most kids don't like it at first, and crying is normal, but we're talking about crying the whole two hours. I kind of feel bad for the nursery leaders at this point. So, once again, if you have suggestions, suggest away!

Anyway, enjoy the pics, and maybe I will try and do some more frequent updates, so I don't have to think of everything we've been doing in the past month or so. Hope everyone's doing well, we love and miss all of you that we don't see very often!

We bought the cowboy boots mainly for Poppy's halloween outfit, can you guess what she'll be?? Love 'em.

Dancing and clapping along with Edison and Maia. And some other unknown child.

Brrrr - it got chilly towards the end of the evening.

Poppy enjoys hiding under blankets. She finds this hilarious.

Dancing with grandma

Having a great old time. Gaby, Aunt Alison, Uncle Darren, and Luke in the pic.

So much fun. Grandpa playing his banjo in the background. He regularly plays for the grandkids; they love it.

Bear Lake - fun, fun fun.

2010-08-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got back from a much anticipated and needed family vacation to Bear Lake. We left on Friday and came back yesterday (Sunday) and are currently enjoying a nice lazy day off work to recover. We really had such a fun time, even though we were only there two nights. In total there were eight adults and four kids, which sounds like a recipe for disaster, but apart from a couple of kid meltdowns, it all went swimmingly.
When we arrived on Friday we headed straight to the Bear Lake Pizza to indulge in the famous Ephraim Pizza (28 inches). It was super tasty and really quite huge. Not only did we enjoy the pizza but also ran into some of Anna's extended family; Jed and Betsy, and Mark and Nancy (and all of there kids) were also at Bear Lake Pizza, and were also enjoying the Ephraim. They did finish their one though - however they had significantly more help!. After dinner we headed up to the condo and a fun evening, eating, taking and playing games (who wants to play Toilet Bowl).
Saturday was our main day to have fun, so we got up early(ish) and headed down to the beach. We rented a jet ski and had a whole bunch of other toys to play with too. Poppy just loves the water, she would spend all day in it if she could. The water wasn't too cold and the beach was pretty empty, so really a perfect morning. After the beach it was off to La Beau's for some tasty lunch and back to the condo for naps.
While we were at the beach, Jon and Joanne (friends of Greg and Valorie) were heading up to Bear Lake with their boat. They have such a nice boat and were kind enough to drive up for the day and take us out on it. We had to go in two shifts, so we originally stayed back with Tracy and all of the kids while the first group went out. Then when they got back we headed out for turn. I have so confess I was originally not too fussed about going out on the boat, but let me tell you - it was such fun. There was bearly (see what I did there!) anyone else out of the water and it was so picturesque and tranquil, it was glorious! We had all sorts of fun on the boat (see below for pics) - thanks Jon!
Sunday was our day to go home - so we packed up, checked out, and headed out to a really nice quiet part of the lake for one last morning at the beach. The place we found was the nicest yet, the water was crystal clear and a little warmer. Again Poppy had a lot of fun and it was the perfect end to our trip. 10 Minutes after we got in the car to come home she was fast asleep - and I don't think she was the only one!

About to tuck into the 28inch pizza - mmm tasty.

I look somewhat demonic here - but I am about to eat a huge slice of pizza, so who can blame me.

This is all that was left - some of you may be surprised that there was any left at all (this pizza was huge).

Poppy fell asleep in Tracy and Eduardo's little boat - it was quite relaxing. You'll note that I am also relaxing, thus meaning Anna was rowing (rowing is way harder than it looks and I just couldn't figure it out)

We also rented a Jet Ski and had lots of fun - I am not the biggest fan of the jet ski, but Anna had a blast.

Poppy snuggling with Mummy whilst she dries off.

After a morning at the beach we headed to La Beau's for hamburgers and shakes - delicious. Poppy is taking a sneaky peak to see if there is any shake left.

Hanging out of the boat - it was lovely.

We were quite brave - not only did we jump in (the water was - erm - bracing) we also had a turn on the ''Donut of death", also known as a tube. It was, perhaps, the most fun thing I have done in a very long time.

It seriously was so much fun - I was really nervous beforehand but had an absolute blast AND we didn't fall off (although my wrists now hurt from holding on so tightly).

After the tubing it was time for some wake-boarding - Eduardo went first and, as you can see, was a natural.

Then came Anna's turn, not such a natural. I would post some pics of her go, but they are just splashes of water. I didn't have a turn but it did look pretty tricky.

Darren also had a turn, and after a few attempts, seemed like a natural too.

Hanging out on the lovely boat.

Eduardo also had a turn driving, you'll see Jon in the back water-sking.

My cute wife.

Just before we left we decided to try and take a nice family picture, Poppy wasn't having any of that...

...and neither was Edison!

She did calm down in the end though - thank heavens!

Somebody loves dolls....

2010-07-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

I just had to post this picture - Poppy just loves her dolls. Isn't she just so cute.

Happy Birthday "Grandma T"!

2010-07-29T15:32:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we headed to Poppy's favorite park (they have a really big slide) to celebrate Anna's Grandmas 80th birthday. It was a fun evening and we were having a nice time, until Poppy -ever the daredevil - fell off of the picnic bench and whacked her head on the cement floor. Not good. I don't know if we've mentioned this before but Poppy is quite the sensitive little girl. She takes a really long time to get over things and will often still be gently sobbing a couple of hours later (I kid you not, she can even do it whilst asleep). So I'm sure you can imagine how well the banged head went down. She was beside herself and only calmed down when Aunt Tracy let her hold Gaby's little blue dog that Poppy loves (she ended up bringing it home too). I am amazed that she is looking somewhat normal in the picture - Eduardo must've taken this between heart wrenching sobs. Luckily Poppy did no major damage, other than a big goose egg and bruise. I am hoping she has learned her lesson about climbing on and off of things all the time - but I am thinking she hasn't.
It seems that this is the week of illness/injury for the Leggetts. The very next morning I am all ready to go to work, just brushing my teeth and I bend down to rinse my tooth brush and put my back out. Not fun at all. I have never hurt my back before, but goodness me it really hurt. I am just recovering thanks to some icy/hot pads and Anna being a great nurse. Hopefully it will be all better for Friday when I, finally, get all 4 of my wisdom teeth out. Wish me luck! Actually you'd better wish Anna luck - I am not a good patient.

A day at the lake

2010-07-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago we all headed up to a lake in East Canyon and had quite the fun morning. Poppy has become quite the little water baby and really seems to have no fear of water (not such a good thing) - what with all her water parties and trips the pool - I guess it's no surprise. Poppy was the first one in the, slightly cold, water - quickly followed by Daddy. She strolled merrily in and spent a whole bunch of time splashing around and hanging out in her little ring/boat (which she also uses as a kind of baby recliner when watching 'In The Night Garden' - and other equally entertaining shows). We really are lucky to live so close to so many great outdoorsy places, who'd thought you kind a beach in Utah (not me!). The beach was fun and great preparation for our Bear Lake trip - only two weeks to go!

Midweek trip to the zoo

2010-07-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

I can't seem to remember how this happened (that Anna and I were both off of work in the middle of the week), but we took a little trip to the zoo. Poppy really does enjoy the zoo (as do I) and always seems to have lots of fun. She especially enjoys the giraffes (so if Hogle Zoo would stop letting them die - that would be great), as can be evidenced by her clapping in the bottom picture! We also took her to see the bird show for the first time, which I have to say, was great - even if I did think that an owl was going to fly into me at one point. Poppy wasn't so keen on the show as it meant she couldn't snack (I feel her pain) just in case one of the birds tried to steal her food. We really had a great day, just relaxing and spending time together as our little family.

4th of July part 2

2010-07-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

I thought it was about time to finish up posting the rest of our July pictures - seeing as the month is almost over. We'll start with the rest of our holiday weekend pictures. On the actual 4th of July we all headed over to Alison and Darren's new house for a lovely, tasty dinner. We (maybe just I) did eat quite a substantial amount of food, but that's what a holiday is all about - right? Anyway we had a relaxing time just spending time hanging out, that is until we decided to try and take a picture of all of the cousins.
Anna's Mom had made cute matching skirts for all of the girls (Poppy is modeling hers above) and bought matching shirts for the boys. They all looked so cute and sweet, so it was decided that would should try for the holy grail of family pictures and get a cousins picture. It all started out well, the 3 girls did really well and we got some really cute pictures. However, when it came time to getting all 6 of them in one picture, things didn't really pan out so well. In the kids defense this was before they ate, so I completely understand their lack of patience. After many attempts and some quite hilarious pictures, we got one with all 6 of them kind of looking (if you ignore the fact that Maia is looking down, and Poppy is about to cry). This seriously was the best one, in the very next frame Cullen has bolted and Poppy is breaking down. Oh well, it's cute enough and far better than the time we all went to Kiddie Kandids (all i'm going to say is that I am not surprised they went out of business).
After dinner we all went to the park and had fun on the zip-line and swings (that is until the sprinklers came on unexpectedly). All in all it was a lovely end to the holiday weekend.

Could Poppy be any more cute?- I submit that she could not

New post

2010-07-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

FYI - there is a new post below the 4th of July post (it posted in an odd order). Enjoy!

This haughty foe is not in dread silence but is reposing!

2010-07-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

Happy July 4th! Today is July 4th and currently everyone is taking a nap - so I decided to post a couple of pictures from the Murray Parade this morning (this is Paul by the way). Thus far we have had a lovely relaxing day, we got up and headed over to watch the parade, which Poppy loved. She was quite enthralled with all of the floats and enjoyed watching all the people walking by. Luckily Grandma went over early and got us a good spot in the shade (although we did have to sit next to some really cranky people who really did not seem to be into the holiday spirit). Poppy got lots of candy (which she kindly shared with us) and seemed to have lots of fun. After the parade we went over to Tracy and Eduardo's and hung out at the pool for a while, then it was time for some delicious lunch (you can't go wrong with Artic Circle), and that brings us to right now. I am just waiting for everyone to wake up and then we are heading over to the park to partake in more of the festivities. I have to say although I am not American, and technically this holiday is all about the US beating England, I still love this holiday. It is so relaxing and fun, we basically just get to spend the weekend relaxing and hanging out - GLORIOUS!

Luke's birthday party & fun in the sun!

2010-07-02T08:15:00.000-07:00

Discovering Chef Boyardee - officially the messiest food around

Enjoying the birthday cake & ice cream at Luke's party

Poppy with the other grandkids at Luke's party at a park in Daybreak

Waiting for the pool party to start!

Poppy's new favorite way to watch TV, along with climbing up into the recliner, which she is also very fond of!

The classic engrossed VanDenBerghe face

new splash pool

Enjoying a popsicle, sporting the Einstein look

Summer temperatures are here to stay!! Which is great if you're planning a pool party with your cousins, but not so much fun otherwise. We got Poppy a little splash pool at the salvation army store for $12, so we decided to have a little party with her cousins. We've also been over to Tracy & Eduardo's condo's pool twice, which was great because both times we had the pool to ourselves!! Poppy loves swimming, and we're excited for our Bear Lake trip next month.
Other than that, we have been enjoying the 4th of July festivities (pictures to come), including a parade and extra time off with Mummy & Daddy.
Poppy recently received a little summer outfit in the mail from Great Nannie Mary, and some little shoes and a duck from Great Gramps that he got on holiday in Spain! Thanks, family! We're hoping to visit England soon, because Poppy has plenty of relatives that she hasn't met yet, including Paul's grandparents & Uncle Adam and Aunt Louise and their new additions which will make their appearance late November sometime. Poppy is so excited!
Last week, we applied for a passport for Poppy (thought we'd better hurry since we read in the newspaper that fees were going up!), and had an interesting experience. There was a couple in the marriage & passports office that asked us to be their witnesses, since I guess it must have been a spur-of-the-moment idea. We agreed, even though that meant waiting an extra ten minutes for the clerk to come out into the hall in her black gospel choir-esque robe and sneakers to perform the ceremony. It was weird that they didn't even have a room to do this in; we just stood out in the hall while they exchanged vows and kissed for 5 minutes - awkward! Anyway, best of luck to them, I guess.
Next up: I (Anna) have a work trip coming up in two weeks to Denver for work, which won't be very fun away from my family!

World Cup Excitement Chez Nous!

2010-06-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

Poppy the expert walker

Us outside our house on the day of the England vs. USA opening match - complete with our England flag and gear!

Poppy is a veritable toddler now - complete with pigtails, superfluous binki that she doesn't really need, and head bruises from falling over!

Poppy's ready to cheer on England with her own jersey!

Miss Gaby

2010-05-31T19:57:00.000-07:00

Because we've been so lazy with the blogging lately, we have completely neglected to post some pictures of the newest addition to our extended family: Miss Gabriela Tracy Flores! She is already getting bigger and more alert everyday. She is getting the same big eyelashes Poppy has, and Tracy has just had her ears pierced. She's a cutie! Congrats again, Tracy and Eduardo!

Poppy Videos

2010-05-31T19:53:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if anybody but Paul's family will care for these videos, but here is Poppy, in all of her sweet, happy and toddling glory!

Walking, Ponytails, and Growing Up Way Too Fast!!

2010-05-31T19:49:00.000-07:00

Chilling with the shades on. Surprisingly, she actually left them on for a solid 20 minutes.

Being mischievous, getting into the groceries. And no, we haven't given her a taste yet!

Starting to smile just like Daddy - all squinty, with one eye closed slightly more than the other.

Being cheeky at IHOP with Nannie Sue, David, Daddy & Mummy.

She still knows how to play it up for the camera!

Her favorite part of eating out? Fishing the ice out of the glass of water to suck on.

After running the Community Action 5K, with Daddy's work colleagues. Paul and Poppy walked the course; Anna ran the course in about 28 minutes (even with a side pain for the first 2/3, I might add. Take that, 5K!!)

Bedhead & slightly grumpy after nap time. Miss Poppy usually only takes 1 nap a day now, and it sometimes lasts between 2-3 hours, much to our delight!

Mummy's very excited that Sweetie P's hair is now long enough for ponytails and pigtails. No longer a baby. :(

Pushing her baby doll in the stroller Nannie Sue and David bought during their visit in April.

Poppy is almost an expert walker now! For awhile, she has been pretty good at balancing, and has been able to take steps, but only with coaxing from us. She simply didn't care. But as of the last few days, she actually walks of her own accord. Yay!

Enjoying the nice weather, which seems to finally be ready to stay!

Poppy with the poppies!

She does the sad face pretty well. She has definitely figured out how to use it to her advantage!

Tasting Mummy's birthday cake. Mmmm!

Wearing pigtails at great-grandma's 80th birthday party.

Ready for a bike ride!

We've taken a little bit of a hiatus from the blogging, which was completely unintentional, but happens occasionally! It's amazing how, even in a month's time, Poppy is so different. She really is growing up - she talks more, has more teeth, has enough hair for an occasional pigtail, and finally decided to let go and start walking.
We've had a few more visitors recently, including some friends Paul taught on the mission from Luxembourg, and Paul's mum and her partner, David. Sue and David were here for my 30th birthday, and were nice enough to watch Poppy while Paul and I went to Midway for a couple of days. It was really fun. Their flight was delayed by a few days due to the Icelandic ash cloud, but they made it here safe and sound in the end. Poppy was spoiled and got lots of fun clothes and toys brought over from England, and really enjoyed having Nannie here!
In other recent news, Darren and Alison finally closed on their house at Daybreak, and we spent most of Memorial Day helping them move. We'll try to post a few pictures; the house turned out great! Cousin Cullen had his second birthday; we missed out on his great party because Poppy had a persistent little fever that lingered for about 3 days. We're also going to post a few pictures of our newest niece, Gaby, who is gorgeous as ever!

Easter

2010-04-04T21:01:00.000-07:00

Wearing the cute skirt Grandma VanDenBerghe made, and the cardigan from Nannie Mary. Surprisingly, she left the headband on for almost 10 minutes!

Poppy didn't really understand the Easter egg hunt, but enjoyed holding the same egg the whole time and watching her cousins running around.

Enjoying the knick-knacks in her Easter basket Sunday morning.

Easter was fun and relaxing this year, since we didn't do much except stay home and enjoy General Conference. On Saturday, Grandma VanDenBerghe hosted an Easter egg hunt for Poppy and cousins, which was lots of fun. Poppy didn't really understand, but liked the eggs she got, and especially liked playing with the cousins. And thankfully, she's not old enough to notice that Paul and I ate all of the candy grandma put in her basket. But hey, may as well enjoy it while it lasts, because once she tastes chocolate, it's all downhill from there!

Right now we have a family from Luxembourg that Paul taught on the mission staying with us for the week. It's fun reminiscing about the mission, all the while brushing up on our rusty French. Paul is especially happy to have them here and show them around Salt Lake and Church headquarters. Pictures to come!

Mischief

2010-04-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

Poppy watches cousin Gabi drinking a bottle. The little cousins weren't allowed in the hospital room.

Playing footsies with stylish Miss Pops. Wouldn't we all look great wearing a onesie tucked into tights, with elasticated shoes?

Good thing there wasn't much left on the roll!

Always trying to stick things on her head.

She usually plays with the little door, but finally discovered that she could crawl inside. Georgie wasn't too impressed.

Climbing, pulling, standing, grabbing, rolling, pushing, slapping, banging, pinching......this little monkey is hard to keep up with!!!

Gabriela Tracy Flores

2010-04-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

We are proud to announce (if not slightly late) the arrival of our new niece, Gabi, born on March 24th. Tracy was induced the night before, and seeing as she was a few weeks early, Gabi is teeny tiny at 5 lbs 6 oz -- definitely not the little chunk Poppy was! Mom and baby are healthy & happy.

Spring is in the Air...

2010-03-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

Playing around at Gardner Village

One of Paul's birthday presents: the gift of sight

Dress-up at the Discovery Gateway children's museum

Another month and another birthday has come and gone -- this time it was Paul's! For his birthday, we got some bikes so that we can take family rides together (pictures to come). Poppy definitely likes the bike rides, but hates the helmet even more. Hopefully she'll get used to it soon, now that the weather is warming up and the snow's all melted! As you can see from the pictures above, Paul also got some glasses, finally. He's been saying things like, "what does that sign say?", and "I can't read the hymn number" for months, so I finally convinced him to get his eyes examined, which was not easy to do! We went to the eye doctor on his birthday, where they ended up dilating his eyes. So Paul spent the better part of his birthday squinting, holding on to my arm, and wearing my sunglasses. But, he got some really cool glasses, and is enjoying his sharper vision! We were also able to go on a birthday date and see the new Alice in Wonderland movie in 3D, which in all honesty is a pretty mediocre film, but all in all was a really fun date night.
Eduardo was kind enough to snap some photos of Poppy at Gardner Village a couple of weeks ago, so that we could have some 1-year-old pics of her. They turned out great, and he got a few really good shots of her smiling, so we're happy!
Other than that, we've been pretty busy with work, church and life in general. Paul went to D.C. a couple of weeks ago, and will be heading to Baltimore next week, so we'll all be happy come April and the traveling is over! Next week we will have a couple of friends in town from Luxembourg who Paul taught on his mission. It'll be their first trip to Utah, and they will be staying with us for a few days, so we're looking forward to showing them around. We found out yesterday that Tracy will be having her baby on the 9th of April, so in a couple more weeks, Poppy will have a new little cousin to play with! Poppy loves her cousins so much - last week she had lots of fun at the children's museum with Maia and Cullen, and at the playground with Edison and Luke. We're hoping in another month or so, she'll be ready to move on from cruising to walking so that she can keep up!
Our little girl is prettier, happier and busier every day. She now has (almost) 8 teeth, and shows them constantly with her cute little grins. She can say a few limited words; the other day, while watching a video of a child saying "Mama", Paul asked her if she could say "Mama", and right on cue, she said "Ma-ma"! It was pretty funny. She now can give a high-five, thanks to grandpa. Her favorite toys right now are her Little People; she drags them around the house and once in awhile we will find them in random places, like on top of the DVD player or her sippy cup. Right now she's got a little cold and a fever, so we're hoping she feels better soon so she can play outside again!

Birthday cake, new teeth, the zoo, and some visitors from England!

2010-02-21T18:18:00.000-08:00

BFF's Georgie and Poppy playing as usual

Poppy made a friend at the zoo

Awwwww

A cold day at the zoo, with a little rain & snow = not very crowded :)

Loving this new toothy grin

I am proud to say I actually made this cake! The theme was Baby Einstein. I used a Wilton sports ball pan, 3 different flavors of cake mixes, Wilton food coloring to create the brightly colored frosting, and licorice and suckers to create the face & antennae, with cupcakes for feet. Tasted great, too! (word to the wise: lemon cake does not set up very well in cake molds!!)

giving loves to one of the baby dolls she got for her birthday

Starting to get tired of all the present unwrapping...

Enjoying her birthday pizza

Just talkin' on the phone!

This purple frosting took forever to clean up!!

Playing with the toy giraffe from the zoo

Chasing the boys

Here are a few pics from the fun little party we had for Poppy on the Saturday after her birthday, as well as some pics from the zoo trip we took on her actual birthday. Paul's dad and stepmom were here in town to celebrate, so she had lots of fun getting reacquainted (she was only 2 months old last time they came over!). They helped us out babysitting, and a huge thank you for the handy repairs Dave made around our house as well as the lovely meals they cooked (yorkshire pudding with roast beef & roasted potatoes, Sue's chili con carne and Dave's famous spaghetti, mmmmmm...) and the toys & clothes they brought over for Poppy!
Poppy's stats at her one-year doctor's appointment were right in line with what they've always been: average height and weight, and above-average head size, hee hee! She is healthy as ever, and cuter by the day, although she seems to be losing her baby cheeks & baby fat already. We were comparing her teeth now to her teeth in the previous post, and boy what a difference a month makes! She has 6 full teeth now, and yesterday we noticed another one has popped through on the bottom (explains a lot...)! She chatters incessantly, claps and points at everything, and can even say certain things, like "Jaja" (Georgie), "Mama", "Dada", and can bark like a dog if you point to one in a book (doesn't sound much like a dog, but it's really cute)!
She loves the the baby dolls and books she got for her birthday, as well as some new shoes, sunglasses, toothbrush and ladybug suitcase she got from grandma & grandpa, aunts & uncles and cousins. Cousin Maia helped her open most of her gifts (let's be honest, does Poppy really care at this point?), and Edison and Cullen just enjoyed playing with each other! She also got a little car/bike thing that Paul's dad & stepmom gave her on her birthday that she LOVES, which is both good and bad. Good because it is our new anti-crying tool, bad because if we leave it in the living room she is constantly trying to climb onto the thing. So far her favorite thing to do is chase Georgie in it. Surprisingly, even Georgie seems to enjoy this game.
All in all, a fun birthday month!!

Happy 1st Birthday Poppy!

2010-02-10T20:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to our special little girl!

Paul, the responsible citizen

2010-02-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

Watch Paul on the news helping do free taxes at the Financial Fitness Fair last week!

A New Year, and Our Baby is Growing Up!

2010-02-06T19:07:00.000-08:00

Miss Poppy pulls herself up to everything now! Her favorite spot? The entertainment center, where she can get the best view, of course!

Like father, like daughter!

Giving kisses to her baby doll

Just chillin' on Christmas Day

Brrrr!! Snow and wind doesn't stop us from taking our walks!

6 choppers!

Meal time is our favorite time (after all, she is Paul's daughter)!

The end of the year flew by, and it's hard to believe, but our little Popsicle will be turning 1 next week! The last few weeks we've started to slowly realize that Poppy is looking less like a baby and more like a little girl. Which is exciting and sad at the same time. She's learning new things constantly and amazes us daily. The separation anxiety seems to have worsened recently, with Mummy and Daddy both frustrated because Daddy wants to hold Poppy and she won't let him, and Mummy wants to rest her arms at the grocery store but Poppy doesn't want to be put in the cart or stroller. The irony to all this dependence on Mummy is that she is also beginning to be quite the stubborn, defiant and independent little girl in other ways: she doesn't want anyone else putting the spoon in her mouth, brushing her teeth, putting the binki in her mouth, etc...
Poppy's favorite things of late: letting Daddy tickle her, pulling herself up on the recently installed baby gate and shaking it as loudly as she possibly can, playing and laughing with her cousins, throwing her food down to Georgie, playing the bedtime game with Mummy where Mummy throws the blanket down to Poppy and Poppy grabs it and laughs uncontrollably, kissing her dollies, and grapes. Yes, grapes. That one is added to the list because even if she sees the grapes (i.e. the fridge is opened; walking by the grapes in the produce section at the store), she will start to cry if she is not immediately offered one. Her favorite toys are her baby dolls, a set of drum sticks in her play music band set, and a play plastic banana that she carries around with her nonstop. I guess that's appropriate because of her love of bananas.
As for Mummy and Daddy, nothing much is happening out of the ordinary. In October, Paul was made the Associate Director at work. We are really proud of him, and happy that he travels less during tax season. He's probably excited to not be driving to all of the po-dunk areas of Utah as well. Mummy turns 30 this year and is feeling really old (but not too old)! We are looking forward to celebrating Poppy's 1st birthday, and upcoming visits from Paul's parents.

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

We wish all of our wonderful friends and family a happy and peaceful Christmas, and best wishes for a successful and blessed new year 2010!
As 2009 comes to a close, we can honestly say that this year has been our most "successful" and happiest yet - because we were finally blessed with our beautiful, sweet little girl. And while there are many measures of success, having Poppy trumps any material achievement we've ever accomplished! The Lord has truly blessed us.
Here we are, on Christmas Eve, enjoying the warm fire and reading stories about Jesus. We just finished a particularly lovely book called "God Bless Your Way" about an old man named Micah who traveled to Bethlehem the same time as Mary and Joseph - also weary with no place to stay. After some kind strangers bestow bread and a blanket upon him, Micah finds Mary and Joseph in the stable, after Mary has given birth, and he decides to give his bread and blanket to the new family, and wishes them "Good luck on your journey and God bless your way".
May each of us do all we can to follow Christ's example - and no matter the obstacles we may face, with sacrifice comes blessings. Merry Christmas 2009 and may 2010 bring even greater blessings for you and your families. Good luck on your journey and God bless your way.

Poppy wearing her Christmas dress last Sunday

Our little present

Poppy the expert crawler

It's the Most Wonderful (and Poopy) Time of the Year!

2009-12-15T20:41:00.000-08:00

I thought we'd try to break our habit of waiting a whole month to update the blog again! So here we are, getting excited for Poppy to experience her first Christmas. Admittedly, Poppy has no idea what's happening, and we're way more excited about it than she is, but no matter! Paul hung my old childhood stocking up in Poppy's bedroom, and it's her favorite thing to look at. She waves at it every morning when she gets out of bed!
We'll be posting lots of pictures of Poppy opening presents, visiting the lights at temple square, and maybe even opening a cracker at new year's so that Paul can start teaching her to keep to her British traditions. I can already picture her in my head, in elementary school, trying to explain to the other children about boxing day, and Christmas pudding & mince pies, pantomimes, etc...
Here's a brief explanation of what Poppy's been doing: her favorite toys these days are her toothbrush and hair brush. A few times we've made the mistake of taking them away, which we immediately regretted!
She got some fun toys recently from Nannie Sue, which she loves. And the most exciting news of all - drumroll - she crawls! She still doesn't seem to care much for it; she kind of just does it randomly. I thought once she figured it out, she wouldn't be able to get enough of it. Now I'm thinking that she kind of knew how to do it before, but couldn't be bothered. Paul says that sounds like me. See what I have to put up with! (He's right, though.) Also, she pulls herself up to stuff now, mostly her leapfrog activity table, which she also loves. One day Paul and I looked over and she was just standing there, staring down at the table. It was pretty funny.
And last but not least - another poo story! The last couple of pictures features one of Poppy's worst blowouts ever. Paul and I were heading out the door to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert, and were delayed 15 minutes because Poopy Poppy had to go in the bath. Warning: these pictures are not for the faint of heart!
Anyway, have a great Christmas, boxing day, and new year!!

Paul's favorite photo - she loves her Mummy! (and still cries when I leave the room. It gets old, but I have to say, I love that she loves me so much!)

Note the annoying RC Willey ad on the TV behind us!

How in the world does this even happen!?!?!

Cheeky Monkey!

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T19:11:00.000-08:00

Just another little update, since we have been awful at posting anything for the last month! Poppy just celebrated her first Thanksgiving - we had a huge extended-family get-together for Grandpa VanDenBerghe's 80th birthday, so it was great to see all the cousins, aunts and uncles. Poppy seemed to enjoy the mashed potatoes and stuffing, and I know Paul did, so all in all it was a successful day of eating and giving thanks!
As you can see, Poppy is quite the smiler (well, for the cameras, at least!), but believe me, she can really turn on you fast if you are either a) getting her out of the bath, b) changing her clothes, or c) putting her in the car seat. Those are definitely her least favorite things.
Poppy had her 9-month appointment on the 13th of this month, and not much has changed: 35th percentile for weight, 50th percentile for height, and 95th percentile for head circumference (wow!), and she is a very healthy little girl. Still just has the two teeth, but she seems to be getting better at chewing, so she has been eating lots more big person food as of late. She has also learned how to wave, points at things, can say "mama" and "dada" (but we don't know if she actually knows what she's saying...), and has not quite figured out crawling yet, but she is so close that we've already purchased a baby gate and some other baby-proofing items.
The Christmas decorations are all up, and we are excited to partake in Poppy's first ever Christmas, although to be honest, she doesn't seem that concerned with the Christmas tree. I suppose that will change when she learns how to crawl-- maybe if we're lucky that will start after Christmas and the decorations are all put away!
The only semi-horrific story to share happened last week. Poppy was sitting in the bathroom while I finished bathing Georgie, and I proceeded to clean out the tub after Georgie was done after she'd gotten out. I'd finished cleaning the tub out and turned around only to realize Georgie had pooed all over our bath mat. Which she never does, so I don't know what her problem was, and how I failed to realize this is a mystery since it was literally right behind me. Well, Poppy noticed the poo before I did, and as you can imagine, she had already picked some of it up and smeared it around by the time I noticed it. Therefore Poppy also went into the bath straightaway. We're not sure how much of it got into her mouth, but I don't really want to think about that. Ick!
In more exciting news, Tracy and Eduardo found out they are going to be having a little girl in April. Congrats, guys!

Happy Halloweeen and other fun stories!

2009-11-01T06:07:00.001-08:00

Here we are, it's November 1st and, even though we tried to explain it to her, Poppy has failed to see the purpose behind 'fall back' (i.e. sleeping in), so I decided to use this time productively and get some blogging in. It's been a while since I posted anything (this is Paul by the way) but I think Anna has done a jolly good job of sharing what's been going on here at the Leggett's.

Things seem to have been super busy for use the past few weeks, it feels as though since my Mum went home - about 3 weeks ago - things just haven't stopped. It was so much fun having my Mum here with us. Poppy just loves her (I thing that may have had something to do with the two suitcases full of toys, clothes and books that Nannie Sue brought over for her...) and seemed to remember her from last time she was here. Even with all the busyness going on we've still had some holiday themed fun.

We went to two Halloween parties this weekend, we had the ward party on Friday and then a family party on Saturday, both were really fun - although I have to say that I was a little disappointed that at the family party only Darren, Anna's Mom and us dressed up - the rest of the family will have to do better next year! With that being said it was stilll a great deal of fun and Poppy looked cuter than cute as a little Gypsy (we were Quasimodo and Esmerelda(s) - see below for photo!). I also won a $1 McDonalds gift certificate - so double cheeseburger here I come!

Poppy at the Trunk or Treat - we scored quite the candy bounty - it was all for her you know.

Anna and Poppy both had fun with my Quasimodo wig (of which Georgie was deathly afraid)

In other news Poppy is cute (again see below for photo) and is just such a delightful little baby. She is still not crawling, although we think she is close, and we are just LOVING people telling us all the time that it is SO important she crawl (we get it, just tell us how to make here crawl please). She is also progressing to regular food and spent a good 3 minutes yesterday trying to figure out what she should do with the grape in her mouth - in the end, as Anna says, she gummed it. Poppy also had her first experience not sharing last night, at Vicki and Joey's party (thanks for hosting!), she was hanging out with Serena (her cousin's cousin) and they were both really wanting to hold the Rainbow Brite plate (I mean who wouldn't) and proceeded to spend the next five minutes taking it out of each others hand. Neither cried so I just sat beside them and took some pictures - it was quite cute.

Poppy was one happy little camper when she finally got to hold the plates!

Poppy + Georgie = Best Friends (although you can't tell that from Georgie's expression in these pics)

A Halloween Movie ALL Loan Officers/Servicers Should Avoid!

2009-10-27T10:49:00.000-07:00

Last week, in the spirit of Halloween, Paul and I rented the movie "Drag Me to Hell". In case you don't know what this movie is about, let me enlighten you: a loan officer has to foreclose on an old lady who hasn't been paying her mortgage. The old lady in question is a gypsy with false teeth. The false teeth play a large role in the movie, maybe larger than Justin Long's. But I digress. Basically, the old hag puts a gypsy curse on the loan officer, which causes her to be tormented for 3 days by a demon called the "llamia" (no relation to the llama) before said demon does what the title of the film suggests. Sound cheesy? You have no idea.
Anyway, this movie kind of scared me, because I'm already worried that someday one of the people that we foreclose on is going to show up at my office with a shotgun. Hasn't happened yet, but the day after we watched this movie, I received some nasty emails from a particular borrower who told me that her "grandfather always warned her not to trust the white man" and that we are liars and "speak in the tongue of evil spirits". So...if in 3 days you don't hear from me, it might be because I have some type of damnable curse on my head...

Why are purses so big? 'Cause we have lots of stuff!

2009-10-27T10:34:00.001-07:00

Paul harasses me to clean out my purse all the time. He says it's way too heavy. "How can a purse possibly be that heavy?", he says. Oh, men. Sometimes it's laughable how ignorant they really are. Sure, there are a few receipts and wrappers that may collect in there from time to time, but I defend every item that I have in that bag -- they are all completely necessary! For example, when I take the train to work, I have to have a book and my iPod. Also, there's usually a good chance it is carrying my breakfast/snacks and/or lunch to work. For the amusement of Paul, I have listed here all the items that are presently in my purse, and you tell me whether or not they are needed!!

1. Book (The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown)
2. CD's (2- Michael Buble and Alexandra Burke. So that I can put them on realplayer at work)
3. Wallet
4. Security ID badge
5. Cell phone
6. iPod
7. Small handbag containing women's unmentionables
8. Bobby pins
9. Miniature Poppy photo album
10. Umbrella (REALLY necessary today: it's snowing, people!)
11. Murray City election ballot
12. Sunglasses
13. 2 granola bars, 3 fruit snack packlets
14. 4 pens
15. 2 packs of gum
16. Pay stub
17. Re-wetting drops for contacts
18. Flash drive
19. Lotion - velvet tuberose from Bath & Body Works
20. Ibuprofen (or as Paul's mum calls it: "ibrufren")
21. Keys
22. 3 Lipsticks
23. Burt's Bees lip balm
24. Band-Aid's

See, that's hardly anything!