Sugar

Rachel has always been very stingy with her kisses. Until this week, when we discovered the magic word: sugar. If I ask, "Can Mommy have a kiss?" I get nothing. But, if I say, "Give Mommy some sugar!" Bam! I get a nice big wet one. Mike was the first one to find this out, and am I sure glad he did. I love getting kisses from my little girl.

Another discovery this last week was the fork. Rachel is a very picky eater, but we learned that if she has food on a fork, she'll be much more inclined to eat it, and eat much more of it too. It's the little things in life...

We decided on a whim to go to the zoo on Wednesday after finding out from a friend on Facebook that the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake was free that day! I was unsure how it would play out with the weather not being terrific (highs in the low 30s and overcast), but we bundled up good and headed out anyway. I'm glad we did, we had a great time! Rachel loves the animals and loves being outside, even in the cold. The monkeys were by far her favorite, but she also loved the tiger. Some of the animals were gone for the winter, but hey, it was free! And can someone tell me why, of all the animals, the penguins were not there?! I cannot figure it out.

And we got a new dishwasher! When we moved in, the dishwasher worked okay, but over the last couple months it's gotten progressively worse at cleaning dishes, until eventually we pretty much had to wash the dishes before we put them in the dishwasher. Silly. Fortunately, when we bought our house, a home warranty was included. So after a few phone calls and a visit from a serviceman, we basically got a free new dishwasher! (We paid a little bit more to get stainless steel though).

Rachel's favorite part: the big box

Rachel's other favorite part: helping Daddy install.

See the towels lying on the floor there? Yeah, there were a lot more of those down there an hour before this picture was taken. Mike thought he got the water turned off, but it really wasn't. Oops. Heh heh. The installation went mostly smoothly though, with a couple of key learning experiences tucked in along the way. :)

This last picture shows another of Rachel's new favorite things - sliding down the stairs on her dad's knee. Mike just scoots down the stairs and Rachel sits on his knee and enjoys the ride.

I want to take a minute and say how amazing of a father Mike is. I always knew he would be, but he even exceeded my high expectations. I had a rough afternoon today and the house was a complete mess when Mike got home and Rachel was kind of whiny. Even though he's been having a stressful week at work, as soon as he got home he gave Rachel a kiss and got to work helping me clean up. Then, like he does every day, he played with Rachel in the living room, chasing her around, tickling and just laughing with her. After she had her dinner, he took her up and gave her her bath, and as I finished up downstairs, I could hear them upstairs laughing and playing some more. The sound just melts my heart. No one can make Rachel laugh like her daddy. He works hard all day to provide for us and allow me to stay home with her, and then gives his all when he gets home too. Rachel and I sure are lucky girls.