Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Kate Isabella {1 Year Pictures & Update}


Here are Kate's stats from her 1 year well check:

{Weight} : 23 lbs 7 oz (88th percentile)
{Height} : 32 1/2 inches (Off the charts! She was above 100th percentile!)

She is SO tall! Everyone comments on how tall she is and the fact that she's off the charts in height just proves that.


Here is what Kate has been up to lately:

- She started walking! She takes a few steps here and there when she gets brave enough. And she L.O.V.E.S holding our hand and walking. Really just a finger will do. Anything to make her feel safe and secure while she walks. She doesn't need us to balance, just to feel safe. She'll be walking all the time on her own so soon. I can't believe how fast she's growing up!

- She's learning new words every day! Here is a list of the words she can say:
*Uh-oh
*Mama
*Dada
*Papa
*Bye Bye
*Yeah!
*Hi
*Cah Cah

- She knows a couple animal sounds - "Quack Quack" and "Woof Woof"

- She can point to her head, ears, nose, tongue and when you ask her if she wants to wash her hands, she starts rubbing them together, like she's washing her hands!

- She LOVES getting into EVERYTHING! She especially loves the garbage can (I'm always finding her with half-eaten tissues and used dental floss in her mouth {SO gross, I know!} so garbage cans have had to go up high so she can't get to them), toilet paper roll, Emmy's play food in her fridge and the books on Emmy's bookshelf. Pretty much anything that will make a big mess.

- She has {11} teeth. Almost 12! Her last molar is about to break through. Those molars are no fun.

- She loves to eat strawberries {her favorite!}, blueberries, applesauce and yogurt. She's a pretty good eater, she'll try anything, but getting her to keep eating is a challenge. She'll eat a few bites of anything, but then she starts chucking it all on the floor. What can I say, she likes to make lots of messes!

- I am in the Primary Presidency and Jake is in the Elder's Quorum Presidency, so we juggle her around between the two of us at church, which is hard right now since she always wants to hold our hand and walk. A Nursery worker volunteered to take her to Nursery and she loved it! Maybe they'll take her more often :)



We did a {photo shoot} for Kate for her One Year Pictures.

My dad and I both like photography, and between the two of us I think we got some pretty good shots. Of course, when you've got a subject as cute as Kate, it's not hard to get some good pictures. I'm still figuring out Photoshop (Photoshop Elements is so much easier for me to use! Anyone have any Photoshop advice?) so the editing on the pics isn't great, but like I said, Kate is cute so the pictures are great!






Monday, July 19, 2010

Binga Bows Giveaway!

I am doing a fun giveaway over on my Binga Bows blog!

You can see my blog for the details, but here is what I am giving away:

and



Hurry over and enter! This one is for ALL women!

P.S. See below for my post on Jackson Hole!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Jackson Hole, WY!

YEE-HAW!

We had a WONDERFUL family reunion with my family in Jackson Hole, WY last month.

It was a serious blast! How could it not be? We were in one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is one of my favorite places ever.

WARNING: This post has a lot of pictures. I was watching a movie while I was downloading them, so I didn't realize how many I was downloading. I would normally split it up into two or three posts, but I wasn't going to download all of the pictures again, so hang in there!

The first night there, we got to our condo (a three-story, five-bedroom condo. We all got to stay together! It was so much fun), cleaned up a little and headed off to town. Grammy bought all the grand kids cowboy boots and we each bought our kids cowboy hats. Can't be in Jackson Hole without your boots and hat!

Then it was off to the Bar J Chuckwagon for dinner. We ate an authentic cowboy meal and got to watch the Bar J Wranglers sing and perform. The kids absolutely loved it.

The girls (don't judge - we had traveled all day so my hair looks less than fabulous, even though I was hiding it under a hat).

Emmy and Grammy

The fam

The boys

Grey and Emmy were totally dancing and enjoying the music!

Can I tell you how much I LOVE this picture? Emmy was getting down and I happened to take this pic at just the right moment!

My dad took this pic. Isn't it beautiful?


The next day, Friday, we went to the Alpine Slide, something we do every time we go to Jackson. Emmy wanted to go down the slide with me! She usually picks Jake for this kind of thing, so I felt special and it was fun to go down with her.

The ride up to the slide. I have such a handsome husband and such beautiful daughters! (I can't leave Kate out of that statement!)

On the way down, Jake caught up with Sony and Maddy. Sony said that Maddy kept pulling on the brake, so they had a slow ride down!

Emmy had so much fun going down the slide! She was laughing and singing the whole way down!

The kids in front of the condo (minus Grey and Kate) with the Tetons in the background

My brother brought his VW Vanagon and the kids all loved riding in it! The back seats face each other (see Grey's feet in above pic) and there is a table that pops up in between the seats. The kids had so much fun riding together in Uncle Matt's Vanagon!

Friday afternoon we went to downtown Jackson. It is full of lots of shops - it looks like an old western town. And there is this park in the center with the famous Antler Arches! So we had to get a family picture in front of one of the arches.

We all went on a carriage ride. The kids and uncle Matt sat on top and the rest of us sat inside the coach.

On Saturday we went to Yellowstone. We started at the Hot Pots (is that what they are officially called? That's what I always call them). It was SO cold! We didn't spend too much time there, but it is always a cool place to stop.

Then it was off to Old Faithful! How can you go to Yellowstone without going to Old Faithful?

We got there right after Old Faithful went off so we had an hour and a half to wait before it would go off again. So we went into the lodge and ate ice cream and hot chocolate!

The kids had fun watching the mist from the geyser and watching all the chipmunks run around. that night we sent our parents to see "Annie Get Your Gun" in town as a thank you for such a wonderful trip. The rest of us played games and relaxed at the condo.

Sunday was our last day in Jackson. Our condo was in Teton Village and they have a corral there where we usually take the kids horseback riding. This was Emmy and Kate's first time horseback riding!

Kate loved the horses!



Linds, me and Sony


Matt and his family, Jake, Derek and Dylan all left after horseback riding. These were the girls that were left! Plus Dawson, but I think he was taking a nap during this picture. We relaxed and went back into town for one last walk around town. We were going to go to church but we couldn't ever find out what time it started. When we did find out, it was too late and we had missed it!

The ride home was definitely an adventure! It was me, my sister, the two babies, Emmy and Ella. Our 9 hour ride took at least 11 hours. But we did take a detour to the Cheesecake Factory (why not???) and the mall :)

We had such a GREAT trip and can't wait to do it again! Thanks, mom and dad!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Let Freedom Ring!

We had a great Independence Day this year! We actually celebrated it on July 5th, which is the day our town had all of it's festivities.

What is it about the 4th of July? I love everything about it. The parade. The family. The friends. The food - gotta have a bbq!

We started off the day going to the parade, which Emmy, of course, loved. Then it was off to the park because I was performing with my friend, Jessica. We had a 45 minute show and had a great time singing together! The girls played while we sang.Jessie and I singing away!

I have such beautiful girls!

Look at those sweet cheeks! Don't you just want to squeeze them?

I made the girls' shirts - I bought plain tanks and red, white and blue fabric which I sewed on as a ruffle at the top. Simple, patriotic and fun!

Then it was time for the bbq, baby! My sister and her family came up from St. George and we had a great time visiting and eating delicious food.

Cedar City just opened up a fishing pond that has a beach for swimming. So we threw on our suits and headed to the beach. It was a blast and the kids absolutely loved it. Kate especially loved sitting in the water and eating rocks because, as we all know, rocks taste great :)

See Kate looking for rocks?



We ended the day lighting our own fireworks at home. Emmy and Jake set them off and they had a fabulous time! And I got some great pictures of them having a blast!

Throwing the "snaps" and listening to them pop. Emmy didn't dare throw them herself :)

Enjoying the fireworks with daddy



Emmy adores her daddy!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Time flies

One question . . .

How did my baby go from this . .


. . . to this?



Don't ask me,

because it all happened in the blink of an eye.