One Plus

Well, our little baby is one. Actually Maggie is one year, one week, and one day as of right now. Since her big day (last Monday, May 18th), we have been busy, busy, busy and I have been unable to sit down to write a post about the event. Above is a picture of our sweet one-year-old on the morning of her birthday with some presents from her mom and dad. At first she didn't know what to think about the walking toy, but by the end of the day she was cruisin' across the room (though she still has yet to figure out how to turn). We're hoping it will help her get brave, because she still is too nervous to try to stand alone. When she realizes I've let go, she waves her arms and quickly drops to a sit. That's our cautious baby for you. She prefers scooting around on her bottom or cruising around on furniture to crawling (which she finally did learn to do and did about three times before fully resorting to scooting and cruising). Despite this, she still manages to get into everything. Go figure!

Anyway, back to the birthday. Maggie's cousins Rachel and Abigail came around mid-day with Aunt Jenn, followed by Aunt Lisa with cousins Sarah, Amy, and Neil. At 5:30 we met Grandma and Grandpa Gotfredson, Uncle Robert, Uncle Shawn, Aunt Nadine, and cousins Emma and Ava in the park and the party began! Maggie enjoyed her party and is still enjoying her gifts. Thanks to everyone who helped make her day special!! Here are some pictures highlighting the fun:

The party guests enjoying dinner

The guest cake--I was feeling ambitious with my venture into cake decorating, so I made a little cake for Maggie and a decorative one with cupcakes for the guests.

Maggie and her cake
(she is taking her wish very seriously)

Maggie loves her cake

Opening presents

We may have been there for a long time

if not for some helpful cousins!



Yay!! A doll from Grandma and Grandpa--now Maggie can practice being a big sister!

Saying goodbye to cousins

Me and my precious one-year-old at bedtime

I am so grateful to be mother to this sweet baby girl, my little Margaret. Her sweet smile brightens my days; her antics make me laugh. I love watching her learn to do new things. I love the way she grins and waves her arms in excitement when I come to get her from her crib in the morning. I love the way she waves her hand in the air and bops to the beat when she hears a funky tune. I love how she pours over a book for ten and twenty-minute stretches (which is like hours in baby time). I love her latest trick of crawling under the bar stools and grinning out at me from her "cage." I love how she loves to eat meals with us and enjoys eating what we're eating and trying to use her fork and spoon. I love how cute she looks when she is drinking from her straw. I love going on walks and outings with her and how she grins and gasps in the wind and holds on to the sides of her stroller like she's riding a roller coaster. I love how when we play phone, she picks it up after a ring or two and puts the phone to my ear. I love her growl, her "mooo," her "yum-yum-yum," her machine-gun laugh (which she does when she notices everyone else is laughing and figures she should be too), and all the other cute and funny noises she makes. I love how she grins when her dad comes in the room, even if she has been fussing and whining for an entire hour previously while I'm trying to make dinner. I love spending all day, every day with my sweet, gentle "baby Maggie" as her cousins call her. She is my baby and my friend and I'm so grateful for her presence in our home. Mike and I are very lucky. No, blessed.

Some Quick Maggie Shots

Here are some photos from recent activities:

Royals game April 25: Maggie is happy despite the pitching of Kyle Davies and missing out on a free Royals' jersey.

Maggie making her "o" face.

Maggie drinking her juice.
Maggie taking her bath with her "modesty bubbles."

Vampire baby.

May Showers Bring Fun

May 15 we attended a Royals game. Prior to the game, we experienced a severe storm warning (with hail) on our drive to Kansas City, which caused a 2 1/2 hour rain delay (9:45 start time instead of 7:10). However, we along with probably at least 25,000 of the 38,000 who bought tickets for the game, stuck it out to see the Zack Grienke experience. Also, it was Fireworks Friday.

Zack's performance, while not as dominant as most of his other starts this season, was worth the wait (7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 6 K, 2 BB). Surpisingly, the Royals produced more offense in this game than they had all of last week. Most importantly though, Willie Bloomquist, who will now be forever warmly remembered in our family, stole a base allowing us to take advantage of the Royals-Sonic Steal-a-Base, Steal a Slushie promotion today (you don't actually get to steal a slushie, you just get one for free). The fireworks were also fun, although it took Maggie a few minutes of "can't look away, but feel uncomfortable looking"ness before she could enjoy them.

Also, as nice gesture the Royals started giving away hot dogs at the end of the game. They must have thrown out fifty in our area alone. Amidst this onslaught, we saw one flying by us, but we only had enough time to get a hand on it. Unfortunately, it wasn't wrapped tight enough and the hotdog went flying out and onto the wet cement. The lone dark spot on a fun night.

Maggie enjoys staying up past midnight. This verifies her many accusations of how much fun we have after her bedtime.

Once Juan Cruz replaced Greinke on the mound, Maggie wanted to rest up for the fireworks.

As the terms of our tickets prohibited us from distributing photos from the game, here's the newspaper's photo from the game of the best pitcher in baseball.

It was difficult to get the camera to get the right focus for the fireworks. The firey looking stuff at the bottom of the picture are the water fountains at the stadium that were lit. The black square is the Jumbotron (world's larget HD tv and we recommend seeing at least once in your life) and obviously the firework is in the corner of the picture.

View of the screen in action.

Chez Gotfredson

We have had a wonderful week! My family...that is parents, Cat, Matt, Rachel and both my grandmothers came to visit us for an extended weekend. As they drew near on Friday night, Mike and I finished last minute preparations for their arrival. I must admit, I was pretty impressed with us. We had two queen airbeds and a futon set up in the basement, a twin double-high airbed in Maggie's room, and a twin airbed in the family room upstairs for Matt. Our hotel was ready for visitors.

My family enjoyed seeing Maggie and Paola as well as a few of the surrounding sights and we enjoyed spending time with them.

Here are a few highlights:

Saturday, Rachel participated in the town Easter egg hunt at Wallace Park. Then we all spent some time at the park and Mike took interested visitors on a walking tour of Paola.

Easter Sunday, we had a stake conference broadcast. We heard from Elder Snow, Sister Lifferth, Elder Oaks, and President Monson for the second week in a row. Again, much was learned. Here is a picture of Rachel, Maggie, and Mike in their springy Easter attire.

After church, we enjoyed a terrific Easter dinner, complete with Costco ham (which pleased my dad, the Costco fanatic/employee), garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and my mom's yummy curried carrots. We relaxed after dinner: some napped while my brother enjoyed wheeling and dealing my grandmothers and Rachel in a rather questionable game of Monopoly. Then we had an Easter cake, dyed some eggs, and read the Easter story before bed.

Easter Monday, we woke up to treats from the Easter bunny. Maggie got a couple sweets for her parents to eat, a board book about cookies, her first toothbrush and tooth cleanser, and some coloring materials. Her Easter bunny is kind of lame, however, I did catch her popping a few M&M's anyway. And Grandmommy gave her a darling stuffed bunny for Easter as well! Here is a picture of her and Uncle Matt with the kids' Easter goodies.


Later, we went to Liberty Jail, where the Prophet Joseph Smith was unjustly imprisoned with some fellow church leaders for several months. As Liberty is Mike's home town, we visited with his mom while we were there and she treated us to a lovely lunch.

Tuesday was our last day together. We visited Independence and saw some church history sites there and then went into Kansas City for a visit to Hallmark headquarters and their kid-friendly creation station, Kaleidoscope. The rest of us checked out the visitor's center while Rachel created.

Afterwards, we had lunch in a nearby park. Here is a shot of Maggie and her grandpa. Maggie really loved being held by Grandpa. One evening in particular she would go to no one else! Until Grandmommy came on the scene. Maggie did go to her without complaint.

Too soon Wednesday morning came and it was time to say good-bye. Here are a few more shots:

Maggie and her "Great"-Grandmothers Wanlass and Mayse

Aunt Cat and Maggie making Maggie's new signature "ooh" face (which Maggie covered with her fist at last second)

Saying good-bye to Uncle Matt and his hat

Now as we find ourselves the proud owners of four empty airbeds we find ourselves wondering: Who will be our next visitors? Maybe you! Give us a call, we'd love to have you!!

Conference Weekend

We spent a lovely conference weekend with Mike's parents in Liberty. His brother Robert was there with his family, as well as our sister-in-law Jenn and her girls. It was fun to spend time together and enjoy the words of our leaders. And as always, Mom and Dad spoiled us with fabulous meals! Here are some pictures of the cousins:



I love conference weekend. It's so relaxing and seems to have a renewing effect. It's a good time to think and evaluate where you are and where you want to be. There were many wonderful talks that seemed to touch on topics that have been on my mind a lot.


Elder Hales gave a wonderful and timely talk about being "provident providers" for ourselves and our families, "controling our wants," and "joyfully living within our means." But I loved his tone. Rather than rebuking or chastizing those of us with problems of debt or addictions, many caused by poor decision-making on our own part, his was a message of hope. He talked of how no problem is beyond the reach of our Savior's power to save. Even when our problems are caused by our own poor choices, we can seek help to overcome through the atonement of Christ and through him our trials can serve to bless and strengthen us. He spoke of two important lessons for all of us: (1) "We can't afford it, even though we want it." (2) "We can afford it, but we don't need it."

His message is similar to that of this SNL skit that I found on my cousin's blog last week: http://www.hulu.com/watch/1389/saturday-night-live-dont-buy-stuff.

But seriously, what struck me is how important the message of this talk is for all of us. Many of us have struggled with the challenge of monetary debt. Others of us have seen others go through it. It a trial that enslaves and degrades those who suffer from it. The same can be said for addiction. However, even if we have not experienced some of these worldly challenges firsthand, we still can take action: We can more diligently apply the lessons of Elder Hale's talk so that we do not fall victim in the future and we can strive to help and strengthen our fellow brothers and sisters who are struggling with these problems and refrain from criticism or judgement. After all, we all are "unprofitable servants" (see Mosiah 2:21 and Luke 17:10) and eternally endebted to our Savior for all he has done in our behalf. We do not want to be the servant who was forgiven his debts, yet dealt harshly with his fellowservant (see Matthew 18:23-35).

Another talk I really loved was by Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the Seventy. He spoke of faith and fear. His words really touched me because although I feel that I have a lot of faith in my Savior, I am also at times a fearful person. I fear for safety, health, and financial stability for myself and my family and . This always has concerned me, for I know that faith and fear are opposites and cannot coexist. I appreciated his distinction that although at times we may have fears, we can have enough faith to overcome our fears. Thus it is like a net effect: faith-fear=net faith. We want to make certain that our net faith is not 'in the red.' Faith is a gift that we can pray for with diligence, qualify for with obedience, and be given as a gift from our Lord. When we do this we can overcome our fears and live with peace despite trials.

Elder Steven E. Snow, also of the Seventy, spoke of "get[ting] on with our lives" and embracing change rather than putting it off. Change is difficult, but it is necessary in our lives and will help us to grow and develop. As we (1)follow the prophet and our leaders, (2)keep an eternal perspective, (3)have faith (for without it we cannot have hope), and (4)be of good cheer (even in the face of challenges), we will be prepared for change in our lives.

Well, I could probably go on all day, but I'll let you review conference yourself. Click here for a quick link: CONFERENCE. And for my wonderful friends who aren't Mormon. Click on it anyway. There's some good stuff on there and then you can see what I do on my weekends twice a year. :) Or if you want to get to different talks quickly and listen to them as MP3 or watch them as a video or read them as text (though I think some of these options are not yet uploaded, but will be soon) you can click here.

Suffice it to say, I am grateful for a prophet and apostles in these days and the inspired words of guidance and direction they provide. I know President Monson is a prophet of God; he loves and cares for all of God's children in the church and out of it. I know my Savior lives and because of him all mankind can have hope in the future and can reach their utmost potential.

P.S. And good news: our most recent round of online purchases went very well, excepting the suit Mike bought which fit, but they ran out of the pants, so it's just a jacket. We'll have to take that back. But we love our bench! It worked out perfectly. We know you were all wondering. Now hopefully we can take a break from shopping for a while, since our NEEDS are taken care of. :)

From the Comfort of Our Own Home

We enjoy getting packages in the mail. Recently we have made sure to have packages coming by buying things online. Mike likes this website called freeshipping.org that tells you when sites are doing free shipping (because even though we like getting packages, we don't like paying for them to come). We also like lds.org because they always have free shipping. We just got Maggie "her scriptures" there (aka the scripture readers).

Recently, we have become increasingly daring in our online buys. Mike bought a computer from costco.com. Then he got shoes from hushpuppies.com and I bought two swimsuits from landsend.com. You might think it unwise to buy such things online, where you can't try them (or even see them). You'd probably be right. But in our case, we lucked out. We LOVE our new items.


However, our triumph has made us cocky enough to buy a leather bench, lamps, and shorts online (and very nearly an armchair and ottoman set). It is yet to be determined if these buys will be as successful. We will let you know. At any rate, we figure we are safe because they are all easy to return to nearby retailers and we got our free shipping! Besides, we already struck out on these items in stores and they were cheaper online.

(Another plug for Lands' End. I very much recommend Lands' End swimsuits for all you ladies out there that have trouble finding swimsuits you like. I always have trouble finding a swimsuit I feel comfortable in...probably because I usually wait until July to look for one and then there isn't much selection. But this year I decided to look early and found two great suits at Lands' End. They are well worth sixty dollars or whatever they charge, but I got one for forty and one for twelve. I found deals by shopping during the twenty-percent-off window and looking in their overstocks from last year. The suits are nice and sturdy and fully lined. If you have a Sears-Lands' End location nearby where you can return them, you may want to get a couple in case you are between sizes or something, that way you can try them on and return the one or ones you don't like. However, they also will pay for shipping to exchange your suit if it doesn't fit right. The end.)

What type of things, if any, do you like to buy online?

Our Literate Little Girl

Maggie loves to read her books since she was only weeks old. Her attention span for looking at books has grown remarkably in recent past. This is candid:What I didn't realize is that she also likes to write. She picked up a pen the other day and made a few scribbles, I thought by accident. But then later that same day she found this pen and pad out on the floor and put pen to paper again. We may have a writer on our hands.

After she made a couple marks on her hand I got smart and gave her the magna doodle her Aunt Rachel gave her for Christmas. Maggie drew with it a tiny bit, but she was more interested in the string. I guess I need to get out some crayons.

Maggie's gross motor skills are not quite so advanced. She still resists crawling. But this does not prevent her from getting into forbidden items. Instead she rolls or turns into Stretch Armstrong to get what she wants, though this morning she did a reach, scoot almost-crawl thing to get a book she wanted. However, she LOVES to cruise around on foot holding onto Mommy's or Daddy's hands.

Yesterday, I took her to Toddler Time at the library, as we were both due for an outing. Maggie enjoyed checking out new books and watching all the other children and we even saw our friends, Noah and Levi, from church there unexpectedly! When we got home, she was reading one of the board books we checked out for a really long time. I was very impressed...until I looked behind the book and realized she was trying to eat the flap off. :) Luckily, she hadn't gotten much and I had looked through the book before and it was already ripped before we had it! She seems to enjoy eating books just as much as reading them!

Then today we went to a playgroup with some of our new friends from the library. There were two three-year-old girls that were really sweet to Maggie. They introduced themselves to her and told me how cute she was. One of them even asked if they could pet her. When I nodded, she gently stroked Maggie's head and enthusiastically encouraged the other little girl to do the same, telling her how fun it was. I had to laugh. They showed Maggie how to play with a toy hammer and when story time came they sat on either side of her. I sat behind Maggie and at one point I had her in my lap. One of the little girls turned to me and said, "She can sit up by herself. Let her do it." When they stood up to do a dance, they fought over who got to hold Maggie's hands. So rest assured, Maggie is making friends...or at least playgroup guards, I'm not sure which.