8 months and a new missionary in the fam.

all of a sudden my daughter can do a bunch of stuff. like today i said "yay!" to her and she started clapping. then later i said "clap" and she clapped some more! so cute! and she has started waving, but not consistently yet. what's funny is watching her try to be mobile. she gets up on her knees and then doesn't know what to do, so she rocks a little and eventually lunges backwards. she's getting there though! oh, and she can pull herself up to a sitting position from being nearly flat on her back. it's so cute watching her figure things out!

on another note, my brother went into the MTC today! i'm excited to hear about his initial reaction and his experiences there. this is such an important thing for eric and i'm really glad he gets the opportunity to do it -- to go out on his own without family nearby and really learn how to work hard and be outspoken. this 2 years is going to affect the rest of his life so much and i am so grateful that he not only gets the chance to do it, but that there is nothing else he would rather be doing than serving as a missionary! yay! and so, i'm going to try not to miss him, but instead to be a good pen pal with words of encouragement and sincere interest. that's what he needs from his family, not "wish you were here"s.

back to the first note, my goal for the week is to get a picture of adelle, since she turned EIGHT MONTHS OLD on this past sunday, and also a video clip of her clapping and babbling. she is just so stinking cute.