Jaclyn's and Mariska's Party

Last week (11/30), a few days before Jaclyn's real birthday, we threw a joint party with some friends. They, too, have a little girl. Her name is Mariska and her birthday was Nov. 28th. Since Jaclyn's was Dec. 6th, we figured, hey! Why not celebrate together. The neatest part of the night was seeing how differently the two girls approached their cakes. First, this is our dainty little lady. She stared at the cake for a minute, then cautiously tasted it with her fingers. I don't even know if she actually ingested any cake. I think all she tried was the frosting. After a few more minutes, she lost interest and wanted down. Ho hum.




Now take Mariska. This little girl didn't waste any time. The second her mom placed the cake in front of her she went to town! It was so funny!! With mounds of cake in both fists, she gobbled up her cake in no time. She meant business, folks!! Yummy yummy!!! Isn't she cute with cake all over her face?!?!

Happy First Birthday Jaclyn!!!

Jaclyn on a 4-wheeler

Jaclyn, one day old

All smiles on Easter Sunday


Look at that hair!!

Jaclyn feeling the breeze from a fan with her tongue

Tuckered out after lots of bouncing!

Today is Jaclyn's 1st Birthday!!! What an exciting day at our house. Jaclyn, of course, is oblivious, but Josh and I took a few minutes to reflect on the past year and share some of our favorite memories made with her this year. I think all of you with children would agree that these kids grow up way too fast. Jaclyn is the greatest blessing to our family. She is so smiley and happy, easy-going and "low maintenance"--all perfect qualities in a second child!! (Especially when she came just 15 months after her older sister, Joanna.) Here are some of our favorite memories of Jaclyn:

1. Jaclyn was born on Dec. 6, 2006, at 11:33 a.m. That whirlwind morning is forever etched in my memory; not because I was the one experiencing the labor pains, but because of our crazy trip to the hospital. My labors progress rapidly. Contractions quickly became extremely intense and so I said to Josh in a slightly psychotic voice, "We need to go NOW!!!!" Josh seized the opportunity to speed a bit recklessly through town. (We had a legitimate reason, right?!) He whipped out of our apartment complex, blew through two stop signs, and drove 40 in a 25; all before being pulled over by a policeman. The cop gladly let us go but gave Josh a warning to watch his speed. I couldn't believe he didn't give us a police escort to the hospital, though.
2. Jaclyn was the easiest newborn!! All she did during the first two months of her life was eat, sleep, and poop. She loved to snuggle and be held. In fact, in the hospital she insisted upon sleeping next to me in my bed. Every time I swaddled her and put her in her bassinet, she'd wake up and fuss.
3. From about 4-8 months of age, she'd feel the breeze from a fan or the wind outside by sticking out her tongue!! It was so funny to watch.
4. Jaclyn's hair stuck straight up for the first 6 months of her life!! No matter what I did to comb it down, it always had a mind of its own and stood straight up again.
5. She loves her bouncy chair. She catches air in that thing. She also loves to bounce on people's laps.
6. At 3 months, she came with me to see the high school theatre department perform "Beauty and the Beast". She slept and ate through the whole show!
7. When she was 6 months, we took a 15-hour trip to North Dakota for my 10-year high school reunion. I couldn't believe how great she and her sister did driving there and back. She also didn't mind it when she got passed around the room where ever we went. What a trooper!!
8. Jaclyn began to army crawl at 7 months. I think because she wanted to keep up with big sister, she'd scoot herself with her arms and drag her body across the floor. She decided to crawl on her hands and knees at 9 months.
9. She loved it when I sang "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly". I don't know why she loved that song, I guess I have a pretty voice?! ;-)
10. We all went to the Woodland Park Zoo this summer and Jaclyn had a great time. I couldn't believe how alert she was and how much she loved to look at all the animals.
11. Jaclyn still isn't walking on her own, but she's getting there. She loves it when we hold her hands and walk with her. She even steers us by pulling our hands in the direction she wants to go!!
12. Jaclyn is a thumb sucker. Heck, even an ultrasound picture shows her sucking her thumb en utero! To this day she'll pop that thumb in her mouth when she soothes herself to sleep or when she gets upset.
13. This summer when we went to Utah to visit Josh's family, we got to ride 4-wheelers. Even Jaclyn got a turn! Josh slowly drove around with her on his lap.
14. Jaclyn dressed up as Yoda for her first Halloween! She looked so cute.
15. Last Friday we celebrated her birthday with some friends who also have a little girl the same age. John and Chantalle's daughter is named Mariska, and she turned one last week. Chantalle made each girl their own mini cake to eat and destroy. Mariska voraciously ate her cake, grabbing double-fisted hand fulls of chocolate cake and gobbling it down. She loved it!! But Jaclyn, on the other hand, barely touched her cake! I couldn't believe it. She poked it and stared at it for a few minutes before daintily eating a few small bites. (She definitely did not get that trait from me!) We took lots of cute pictures of the birthday party, but I'll have to post them another day. The pics are still on our digital camera and our usb cable decided to bite the dust.

We love you Jaclyn!!

In Remembrance of Kay

Kay Pladson

Me with Michele

My best friend growing up in Dickinson, ND is Michele Pladson. We attended first grade together, and have been best friends ever since. During the summer months I think I spent more of my time over at her house than at mine! Well, last Friday afternoon I got a call that Michele's mother, Kay, had died in her sleep early that morning. Her death came as a complete shock to all. She seemed perfectly fine the day before she passed, and she was only 51. A few hours before she died she awoke one of her sons to request a back/shoulder rub. She told him that her neck, shoulders, and lower back were incredibly sore and that her arms were tingly. The family is still awaiting the official report from the coroner, but it seems that she might have died from a heart attack or a brain aneurysm.



I wanted to be there for Michele, so I literally packed a few things and ran out the door in a matter of a few hours and caught an early morning flight to Dickinson. Josh stayed home with the girls and received some much needed help from his sister, Lauren, who flew up from Utah until I returned home. In addition, my brother, Derek, stayed and helped out for a day or so. It was relieving to know that the kids were in good hands while I was gone. (On a side note, the 4 days I was gone was by far the longest I'd ever been away from my girls! It was hard.)



Michele's family came together to mourn and make sense of Kay's death. Kay was the glue that held that family together. Michele and I discussed that perhaps this was the Lord's way of relieving her from so many stresses placed upon her over the last year, as well as an opportunity for the rest of the family to grow on a number of levels. This trial will certainly make all involved stronger and more faithful.



To be honest, prior to this weekend, I'd been less diligent at reading the scriptures daily and doing my part to stay close to the Lord. As is the case with all serious trials in our lives, we tend to draw closer to our Savior in these times of great distress and sadness. I have been reading scriptures and praying like crazy this week, and my faith has grown tremendously. I had prayed to have opportunities to share my testimony regarding the plan of salvation and the Savior's atonement with Michele's family. My prayers were answered! I had countless opportunities to witness to them and share my firm testimony that they can be with their beloved mother again. This experience has reassured me that we WILL live beyond the grave. This mortal life, when our eternal spirits are coupled with a physical body, is but a temporary, probational state. We are here to prove ourselves to Heavenly Father. We are here to make daily choices--some big, some small--all of which will show Him just how willing we are to make sacrifices, obey His commandments, serve our neighbor, and become more like Jesus Christ.



If it wasn't for Jesus' supreme sacrifice, none of us would live beyond the grave. And death would be the end of our existence. But how grievious and pointless would that be!! The Holy Spirit has testified to me that our spirits DO go on existing, and that we WILL be with our most cherished associates made in this earthly life. I am so grateful for the Savior! He alone provided this blessing to us all--whether we accept Him as our Savior or not--it's a gift to every child of God. So this Christmas season, as we celebrate his humble birth, let's take time to thank God for sending Him to us. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16.



Here is a link to Kay's obituary: http://www.stevensonfuneralhome.com/obits/Pladson%20Kay.pdf

Giving Thanks at Thanksgiving

Joanna, Dylan, Jaclyn, and Derek

Derek, the lady's man

I think all that turkey did uncle Wes in!

Josh and I do the holiday swap with our families. I'm sure most of you do the same thing. We spend Thanksgiving with one family and Christmas at the other. Each year it swaps, so this year is Turkey Day with the Teeters clan and Christmas with the Ramsey's! This Thanksgiving feast was especially heartwarming because both of my brothers have recently returned home safely from the Marines. We also had my uncle Roy and aunt Barb and her husband Wes over at my parent's house to help celebrate. I think you'd all agree, we have been blessed in countless ways this year, and we give thanks to Heavenly Father for all of them. Funny story about "giving thanks..."

My good friend Lore shared with me one of her family Thanksgiving traditions. As everyone is seated around her mother's table and before everyone starts eating, they take turns sharing three things that they're thankful for. Oh, and they can't be any of the obvious answers, either. (family, friends, the gospel, etc.) I thought to myself, what an excellent idea!! So as my family was getting ready to dig in, I made the announcement that we were going to share one thing we were thankful for this year. (I figured I'd make it easy on them and just share ONE.) Forgetting that my family (minus my mom) is not religious at all, the reaction I got was a bunch of deer-in-headlights-looks!!! Uh oh. Talk about AWKWARD. Luckily my mom jumped right in and started us off, expressing her gratitude that my brothers came home safely to her, while this year so many parents will have to sit down to their first Thanksgiving dinner without their son or daughter killed in action. She added how hard it would have been if she had to set one less place setting for dinner that night. As we went around the table one of my uncles asked to be skipped over, both of my brothers chimed in with cynical comments, and I think I got a few cave-man-like grunts out of my dad. Sheesh. After that awkward social experiment, I decided that what I was most thankful for (in that moment, anyway) was my mother's innate ability to always have something to say!!!!! I love you mom!!!!!

I'm bummed that I didn't take any pictures of my mom's spread. She is super creative and festive when it comes to decorating and arranging her table for holiday meals, and this year's was no exception. All of the food she prepared was wonderful and tasty, and the table was beautifully done. I have to admire the work of women in making the holidays feel merry and special. Although it requires a ton of work and planning getting it all together, in the end, we're building memories and passing on good traditions that warm the heart and hearth.

We stayed a few days at my parent's house in Olympia and had a great time. It was the first time since last Christmas that all of us were together under one roof. Joanna and Jaclyn, and all of their girly cuteness, made even the toughest of Marine hearts melt. My brothers have an on-going contest to be the better uncle to these little ladies, so they were constantly playing with them and cuddling with them. Too comical!!

May the Force Be With You...and Hooah!!

The Ramsey's with Darth Vader. A little piece of trivia: Darth is actually a Japanese foreign exchange student volunteering at Boo Central. I know, weird. We didn't know that either.

Me and my girls

Joanna the Ewok!

Jaclyn is Yoda

Somebody stop that soldier! He has captured Yoda!!

How was everybody's Halloween? We hope that you all had lots of fun with your families. How did your kiddos fare? (If you have them?) Joanna and Jaclyn did better than we both expected. When you consider all that we adults subject them to on this holiday, they adapted and went with the flow pretty well! Joanna hated her Ewok costume in the beginning. She screamed and squirmed to take it off before we left the house. I think she was uncomfortable from the itchy material. And the hood was creeping her out. Jaclyn didn't like her long sleeves, I think because it made it hard for her to crawl. Then we added insult to injury and took them to chaotic and loud places like Trunk-or-Treat and Boo Central. Joanna was scared of half the costumes she saw and clung to me like a leach. Jaclyn gave everyone dirty looks! But once we arrived and showed Joanna that the prize for enduring such public humiliation was CANDY!!! Needless to say, she came around and enjoyed herself! Both Joanna and Jaclyn got lots of compliments on how cute they looked in their costumes.



Okay, now for a little explanation about Josh's costume. Our intention was for all four of us to be Star Wars themed. Josh was to be Han Solo. He didn't try on anything that he'd bought from the Goodwill until, say, five minutes before we were supposed to go, and when he looked at his ensemble in the mirror, he screamed, "I look like a gay Han Solo!!!" And sure enough, the pants were way too tight, the shirt showed off his chest beard, and the vest looked like something from the BeeGee's wardrobe. ;-)So we panicked for a split second, then decided that he could go as a member of a different alliance...the Army federation!! Hooah!!!!!! (If you didn't know, Josh used to be in the Army Reserves, so he still has his uniform.) We just told everyone that he was a Jedi soldier serving in the U.S. military. You know, top secret covert ops. ;-P

Chapter One of the Ramsey Clan Chronicles

Okay, okay, okay. You bloggers out there (you know who you are!) have convinced me that this is a great way for our family to stay connected with friends and family as everybody's lives grow increasingly busier in a world that's going completely virtual. As I have read all your blogs over the past year or so, I always feel somehow more connected to you, so my hope is that by keeping a blog, you can all feel closer and more connected to us! Because, after all, we're cool people and you want to stay in touch with us. ;-)
We want this to be fun and include plenty of updates and pictures to prove to you just how dull Josh and I really are. I know, I know, we've had you fooled all this time.
I am also super excited about keeping this blog to one day make a book out of it!! That's right. My good friend Anjuli told me about a website that takes your blog and creates a hard copy of it!! And since I am an inconsistent journal-keeper, I thought this would be the perfect solution. We can keep this virtual journal of our family and one day have its contents to reflect upon.