Halloween and birthdays

Lots have been going on the past few months and our computer has been broken so I finally found a few minutes to be able to upload everything and share it! First thing was Derick's brother, Devin got married in October up in Manti. It was fun to go up there and support him and Shanda for their big day! Kaylie had so much fun playing with her cousins and eating cheesecake and getting lots of attention from others! In October, Kaylie turned 11 months old! I couldn't believe how big she is getting. Definitely turned from looking like a little baby to a big girl!

 Kaylie also took her first plane ride and did pretty good. Probably better than mommy did! Her and I were able to go to California to visit my family. Most of them hadn't seen Kaylie since she was 5 months old. It was also fun to see her "boy" cousins play with her! Hayden absolutely loved her. He always wanted to bring her toys and watch her! She got to have a "pre" birthday celebration with everyone there. She got tons of presents and her cousins especially spoiled her!She also got to have her first ice cream cone courtesy of Grandma Tawni!- Which she absolutely loved!

 Kaylie also got to celebrate Halloween twice. Once in California with her cousins and then at home with mom and dad. She was the cutest strawberry ever and even kept the hat on the whole time! She loved the pumpkins and just wanted to sink her teeth in it or lick it the whole time! Oh and she loved her candy! We went to Derick's parents neighborhood and hit a couple of houses. She got everything from a bouncy ball, bracelet, and of course candy.

 

 November 8th Kaylie turned one! Yes one! I can't believe a whole year has already passed since I had her. She loved looking at all the decorations and I wonder if she knew it was her birthday or just that she was getting lots of attention that day but she had a blast. The day started off bad with me having work and had to take her to the sitters and then getting in a car accident. But it all got better when Kaylie had her party. I decided to do a cute Olivia the Pig party (yes it is a book for all those out there who have never heard of her) Complete with cardboard cut outs and all.

 She looked cute in her little Olivia outfit and later in her red party dress from my mom. Lots of family came and once again she got totally spoiled. She loved each gift and then moved on to the next one. Yes my child is a little crazy for attention and loved everyone laughing and having a good time.

 She was hilarious when it came time for cake and ice cream and would absolutely not put her hands in the cake. She would stick her finger in and wave it at me to get it off. But then I gave her an ice cream cone and needless to say she was a mess!

 The only person from my family who was able to come was my brother Donny. It meant a lot to have someone there from my side and Kaylie definitely adores him. It's also his birthday a few days later so it was good to see him!

 Derick's cousin Aubrey took the best pictures of Kaylie for her 1 year birthday. I just adore this little girl! She has the cutest and happiest personality. We definitely have been so blessed this past year. Not only with Kaylie but with good friends and loving family! Now I can't wait to get ready for the holidays and another year with our little family!

September rewind!

Well it's been a while since I last blogged so I figured I better get on here and update everyone although when I go to other people's blog it seems like they too have been on a leave of absence. There isn't too much to update. Things have pretty much been following the same old routine with work but Kaylie sure does make things interesting. Kaylie turned 10 months in September and I'm pretty proud of  myself for taking a picture  and blogging about her fun antics every month. It sure does help when I print pictures and update her baby book. Which I can't believe she is almost one already! It doesn't seem that long ago that I had her and went on maternity leave. And now she is one tall, crazy little girl!

Let's see she is still around 30 inches long and weighs about 21 pounds. She still only army crawls but loves to cruise around the furniture and walls. She also loves to use her little walker and walks all around the living room. She won't stand by herself cause all she wants to do is bounce! She's our little Tigger! Some other nicknames she has acquired are: monkey and stinky. She loves food and will eat anything you put in front of her! She is doing better with chunkier baby food and loves the ones that have chicken and noodles in them! She just got her second tooth (yes they are sure slow coming in!) so we have been trying things like noodles, fruit, and she loves those baby cheese puffs! 

She loves to put things in her mouth, stick her tongue out, look at herself in the mirror, take baths, play with her dog and doll, watch morning cartoons, help mom with laundry and go for car rides! There isn't much that she hates and she rarely cries except when she gets sleepy. She still sleeps through the night, takes 2 great naps everyday, and has the funniest personality! She had so much fun on the bow hunt and was just dying to be put down and crawl in the dirt. Sadly she fell asleep right before the stuffed animal and candy hunts but had fun none the less. She even slept really good and didn't have any problems with allergies this time! Thank goodness! September has been full of Derick's softball games, work, and completing projects. I finally got a little play mat quilt for Kaylie, a wooden countdown project (only 39 more days until Kaylie is 1) and this cute rocking chair for Kaylie. I saw it out by the dumpster one morning and quickly picked it up. I think it turned out so cute and Kaylie loves to sit in it and rock! On Monday Derick's cousin Aubrey is taking pictures of Kaylie and I am hoping to get some cute pictures of her in the chair along with tons others (thanks to pinterest I have tons of ideas)

 Here is the rocking chair before and after. We had to re-make the seat and then I upholstered it with this cute fabric! I love how it turned out! It reminds me of the rocking chair I had when I was little. Well, I can't believe it is already October on Monday. This week we have Derick's brother Devin's wedding. Then I go off track in 2 1/2 weeks (thank goodness!) and then Kaylie and I are flying home to California the 22nd-29th! I am so excited! I haven't been home in almost 2 years and some of my siblings have only seen Kaylie once and that was when she was 5 months. So I thought it would be fun to go and then we can celebrate Halloween and her birthday with everyone there. So be on the look out because it sounds like October is going to be crazy and there will be tons more pictures to follow!

Bear Lake

 We just got back from our annual trip to Bear Lake with Derick's family. This year was Kaylie's first year and we all had so much fun. She loved having everyone around and being outside. I was amazed that she still took naps and slept through the night.

 She is definitely spoiled by daddy...mostly cause he fed her Otter Pops!

 Kaylie loved the beach and even the cold lake water. She also loved baby Emma and her toys!

 Just jumping with cousin Kendall and cousin Ava! She loved playing with the big girls.

 We always love mini golfing while we were there and Kaylie loved sitting in her big girl stroller and her cute pink ball!

 This year we decided to head up to Minnetonka Cave and do some exploring. We heard the cave was pretty cold inside so we all bundled up and headed out.

 Kaylie loved watching all the chipmunks that were around. She never knew where to look.

 The cave was so neat inside. There was lots to see and tons of stairs to climb. They said there was about 888 stairs throughout the whole cave. And yes we had to carry Kaylie through the whole thing! So I was sweating to death through the whole thing! But it wasn't too bad until she fell asleep for the whole walk back and was like carrying dead weight. But overall the kids did great and it was so much fun to see! Just another fun year at Bear Lake!

Playing Catch Up!

Big Girl- With all the craziness going on this month I didn't have a lot of time to blog about all that has happened! First of all Kaylie turned 8 months old! She is growing up so fast and doing so many new things. She is growing like a weed and is about 29 inches long and 19 lbs. She has the longest arms and legs and we have no idea where she is getting all this height from but we love it!

Favorite things-She loves to take baths in her new tub but hates them without it! She loves to lay back and just lounge in the water playing with her toys! She gets that from her mom! She loves to pull out all of her toys and goes around playing with each one (or should I say she puts each one in her mouth then moves on to the next one) Most recently she loves to sleep with her "softie" blankets. You give it to her and she just buries her face in it and takes a nap! She is also the happiest girl ever. I took her with me to the dentist today and she sat right in her chair and played with her toys. Everyone says what a great baby she is and that's totally true. (Although she definitely has her sassy, whiny moments but she saves those for mommy and daddy) Miss Independent- She also surprised me and started to hold her own bottle! :( this makes me happy- yeah I don't have to sit and do it for her but it also makes me sad- I don't get to sit and do it for her anymore! She is getting all the more independent!

She also can grab her own little treats and put them in her mouth all by herself! She also started crawling- well...more like army crawling but put the remote out and she zooms right to it! I wonder if she will ever get on her knees or if she will army crawl the whole time. Although I don't expect her to crawl for very long cause she is already pulling herself up on things and loves standing up. Oh and don't forget the tooth that popped up this week! See I told you she is getting way too big! I had no clue that when she hit 8 months so much would happen. But one this is for sure, I am so glad to have had this time off work so that I could be around for it all. I truly love my job and that I can still be around for all of Kaylie's big moments!

5K-I ran my first 5k this month. And I didn't do too bad-well at least for my first one. I did it with my sister in law Andrea and our future sister in law Shanda (yep Devin proposed while we were at Bear Lake!) Afterwards I really wanted to do another one but now I'm like- what was I thinking? I hate running! LOL but this one will be fun and yes probably my last one for a while! I'm just excited to say I did one before I turned 30! Now I can say I accomplished something!

 4th of July- We didn't really have any plans for the 4th but decided to head over to Derick's parents house and have a little BBQ (ok so we just got KFC but same thing right!) It's just also fun to hang out with family for holidays especially since mine isn't here. That's why holidays are hard for me. I miss my family especially when I know they are all at home together! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day!

 She wouldn't sit still cause all she wanted was the grass! She loves it!

 Kaylie is daddy's buddy!

 Kaylie and her cousins Kendall and Hailey

 She loves being outside but slept through the fireworks!

MMM...she loved the cantalope and just wanted to bite into it!

 Isn't she cute? Told you she is daddy's buddy.

Yes we are starting her out early to be a Utes fan! She loves her friend Swoop!