Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to Daddy Hartford, Daddy Douma, and David, the best father Paisley could ever have. I love my husband, but I think I love him the most when I see him with our little girl. Little girls are complex - I know, because I was one. They need lots of love and attention. They need to know that they're special and beautiful, and worth more than any treasure. And there's no one who can show them those things better than a dad can. Dads have such an important job, and I know that David will be among the best. After all, he learned from the best!

Father's Day makes me miss my dad. It feels like forever since I've seen him, and it has literally been forever for David and Paisley. We hope to make it to Canada some day soon.

Paisley went for her 4 month doctor's visit and immunizations. She was an angel! I can't believe she's already four months old. She laughed and smiled her way through the doctor's appointment, and showed the doctor some of her new tricks. She weighs 12 pounds and she's 26.5 inches long, which is in the hundredth percentile for height for her age!

By the time we got from the doctor's to the health department for her shots, she had fallen asleep. I was sure she would be fussy if I woke her up, especially if it involved drinking a yucky syrup and being jabbed in the thighs. But when I woke her up, she just smiled and cooed at the nurse - until the nurse stabbed her, then she let out a few cries. She was kind of fussy for the next couple of days, but now she's back to being her happy little self.

Sports moment for the month: Well, the Canucks did not win the Stanley Cup. Not this year. And worse than that, some Vancouverites tried to destroy Vancouver as a result, burning cars, rioting, and robbing. That was a sad, sad day. However, the Heat did lose the NBA playoffs - I mean, the Mavericks won. And that was happy.

I love summertime. Last Friday we got together with John and Christine and went to the Summerfest parade in Orem. Paisley's first parade! She hated the beginning where the cops came out on their bikes with loud sirens and honking their horns, but other than that she mostly slept through the whole thing! It was a good parade, but mostly it was good to get together with John and Christine.

This week was the Strawberry Days rodeo in Pleasant Grove. We decided to go at the last minute, did our best to dress up like cowboys, and left Paisley at Grandma's house. By the time we got there it was a full-force windstorm outside, and about 30 degrees colder than it should be in the middle of June. I was not prepared for that in my flip-flops and short-sleeved shirt, but we braved the weather and had a lot of fun. The strawberries and cream they served makes it all worth it anyway. We decided that when Paisley gets older, we're signing her up for the 'Mutton Busting' event, when little kids ride out on sheep and see how long they can hold on. The average must be like 4 seconds. The other favorite is the 'Cash Cow' event, where they stick bills on calves and let a mob chase the cows around, grabbing the money off of them as they go. I have never seen kids so excited, or cows so terrified!

Michael, David's brother, went through the temple last night for the first time. We attended the temple session with him, and it was a great experience. It's easy to forget how incredibly peaceful it is inside the temple. We don't go as often anymore now that we have the baby, but whenever I go I just feel like I could be there forever. The spirit is so strong, and I'm reminded of all the good things I want to do, that I haven't had the motivation to do. And what's more, I all of a sudden have the motivation to do them!

Writing this blog makes me realize how great life really is. God has been so good to us, and it is an adventure watching his plan for us unfold day by day.

Go Canucks!

Since the bathroom is still demolished, we're still basically living at the Doumas. In the morning, I drop David off at work and then go back to our apartment for the day. It finally stopped raining for a couple of days, so I took that as an opportunity to get outside and do some yard work. The problem with yard work is that once I start, I have a hard time stopping! In the last couple of days, I've weeded 3 flowerbeds, planted flowers in one of them, trimmed hedges, rototilled the giant vegetable gardens, and started a vegetable garden of my own! I convinced David that we should just plant one little watermelon plant for fun, but by the time I finished we had peas, carrots, pumpkin, parsley, basil, tomatoes, cucumber and zucchini. Woops!

We went for lunch with a recruiter from Deloitte today. He was here from Dallas for a wedding, and he and his wife took us out to the Olive Garden (on Deloitte's bill, of course). We're still in the process of deciding which offer to take. We've both been leaning towards Ernst & Young in Austin, and in spite of how delicious the Olive Garden food was today, I think we're still leaning that way. In fact, if I weren't such an indecisive person, I would say we were sure of it. Why do decisions have to be so hard?

One thing that we're definitely decided on, though, is that the Canucks are going to win the Stanley Cup this year! They're playing their first game against the Boston Bruins at this very

moment! Third period, no goals. It might be a tough fight, but we'll do it. Paisley will be so honored to one day be able to say that she was born the year the Canucks won the Stanley Cup. Oh, right. She'll be living in Texas. Well...

Speaking of Paisley, she is growing up more every day. Some exciting developments are:

• She used to hate tummy time. She would only last a couple of minutes before she started fussing. Now she's strong enough that she just lies there on her tummy with her head up, looking around the room, and never gets tired of it!
• She found her voice!! Her new favorite thing is to listen to herself talk, making the cutest little squeaks and squeals. Her face is so expressive that it's almost like she's speaking, just in a different, much cuter, language. When you laugh at her, she bursts out in high pitched little giggles right back at you.
• She's starting to be able to put herself to sleep, rather than having to be rocked to sleep.
• She's been going to sleep between 8 and 9 every night, and waking up consistently at 7 am. Usually she'll wake up once in the middle of the night, but last night she slept all the way till 5am, then went right back to sleep till 7:00. That's 9 hours!!
• As you can imagine, these last two are especially exciting for me.