Kate turns One!

Can you believe this beautiful baby girl is already ONE?!
Seriously - I gave birth to her one year ago.
I still can't believe how fast time has flown.

Poor Katers was sick on her birthday

{Emmy was sick on her first birthday,
too - what's the deal???} but we still had a
great day!

The plan was to go to the lake on the morning of her birthday. Plans changed and I took Emmy to the lake while Jake took her to the doctor. I will post pics from the lake in a later post. I did feel a little guilty being at the lake while my birthday girl wasn't feeling well, but we had told Emmy we were going and you know how that goes . . . and Jake wanted to stay with Kate.

The good news was that she didn't have an ear infection {which I thought she probably had} but the bad news was that it was a viral infection, which meant there wasn't any medicine we could give her besides Motrin and Tylenol. Luckily her fever broke and by the time we got back from the lake, she was feeling much better.



So we had a little BBQ and then Kate got to dig into her first cake! She was a little hesitant at first {to be expected} but as soon as she realized she could dig in and enjoy, that's exactly what she did!

{As you can see I have mad cake decorating skills . . . just don't look too closely . . .}

{Dawson was ready to show Kate how it's done}

{She's starting to get her fingers a little dirty . . .}

{Love this pic! She is squishing that cake}

{She finally digs in!}

Kate had a bath and then it was time to open presents. All the kids loved helping her open them! It was a great day and we were excited to celebrate her first year of life!

{She had lots of help opening her presents :) }


Happy Birthday, baby girl!

Busy having fun!

Wow, I can't believe it's almost been a whole month since I last did a post! I've been slacking in the blogging department, but that is because we have been having a fun summer! The girls and I spend as much time outside and playing with friends as we can - that's what summer is for, right?

Jake and I were supposed to go to the U2 concert at the beginning of June, but the concert was postponed until next year (don't worry, we still have our tickets and we will still be going! Jake LOVES U2). Since we already had our hotel booked, we decided to go to Salt Lake anyways and have a little getaway with just the two of us.

It was fun to spend some time alone - with no kids! My parent's and sister watched the girls while we were gone. I love having family close by!

We decided to go to the Salt Lake Temple while we were there. One of the reasons it's hard to make it to the temple is figuring out what to do with kids. We live 45 minutes away from the St. George temple so it's hard to get a babysitter for that long.

I love Temple Square. It is so beautiful! And since it's so beautiful, I had to get some pictures. They always have the most beautiful flowers!






We also got to go to Ogden to visit with my grandparents. My grandpa is 93 (I think . . . or is about to turn 93 . . .) and my grandma is turning 90 this year, I think. They are troopers! Each time I see them, I feel like it will be the last time I see them. I couldn't stop giving my grandma hugs before we left. And as we drove from their house, I started crying - my grandparents used to come outside and wave to us until our car drove around the corner. They are too old to do that now. They are pretty much confined to their house for the most part. I go see them as much as I can, which is really only about twice a year. We just don't make it up to Ogden very often. But it was great to see them!



Next up - a post about our family vacation to Jackson Hole, one of my favorite places in the world!

Kate {11 months}

It's time for another Kate update!  

Another month has gone by and she is 11 months old.  

She will be one next month - cRaZy!

This little one is growing like a weed.

She is a whopping 23 lbs, 1 oz 

Here is what she's been up to:

-  She is pulling herself up on everything now!

-  She likes to stand all by herself!  She is getting better at balancing and will be walking before we know it. 

-  She can make her first animal sound!  If you ask her what a duck says, she answers with this cute little "quack" - it really is cute.

-  She has six teeth!  The newest additions are the ones just to the right and left of her two upper front teeth.  And I can feel where her molars are coming in.  My kids get their molars early, but if they're teething, might as well get as many in as we can, right?

She is such a fun and sweet girl.  I still can't believe she is almost one!  We love our Katers!

What we've been up to

It seems like I never have time to blog anymore!  

Or maybe it's just that I haven't made it my priority . . .

We've been busy playing outside {when it's not snowing, like yesterday, and when we're not all sick so we have a movie day, like today.  Seriously.  Movie after movie.  All. Day. Long.  Emmy was in heaven.  Last night was another story.}, going on walks, playing with friends.

But now the guilt has gotten to me, so I thought I would post some pictures of what we've been up to.

We've been enjoying daddy being home!  He's always studying when he's in school, so to have him home with us has been great!  Too bad he has to work, or we'd have even more fun.

The girls love their daddy!

Aw, precious!

{Above and below - swimming at Aunt Lindsey's house}

{Above and below - having bike races with daddy}

Enjoying the lilacs while they are in bloom:

Playing on the grass {Kate does not like the feel of grass on her skin!}:

And, of course, playing with bubbles!

{The Easter Bunny was so smart to bring the girls this automatic bubble machine}

Now, if we can all get to feeling better around here, we will have more to post about than cleaning up puke at 12:30 am . . .

Lucky

"Mother's are endowed with a love that is unlike any other love on the face of the earth."

- Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Because of these two:

and this little one:

I get to celebrate Mother's Day!  

Thank you to my two little angels.   

You keep me on my toes.

You test my patience . . . everyday.

You bring me a joy and fill me with a love that I never knew possible.

Thank you for letting me be a mother.  Your mother.

I always knew I wanted to be a mother.  

It is hard.  It is really hard.  But I wouldn't have it any other way.  I get to raise these beautiful daughters of our Heavenly Father.  It makes me feel special.

And to my own mother, Happy Mother's Day!  

She is such a pillar to me.  I depend on her so much.  She is such a strong, beautiful woman who I look up to!  Thank you for being such a wonderful example of what a woman and mother should be.

Zippity-Doo-Dah!

Emmy's end of the year recital for her singing and dancing class was last weekend and it was so. cute.

She's not the best at following directions, so when they practiced their song in class, she was watching herself do a booty-shake in the mirror, or running around, not paying attention.  

So imagine my surprise when she was actually doing the dance!  (Not all the moves, mind you, but enough the it made me a proud mamma!)  She did such a great job!

The song was to "Zippity-Doo-Dah" and was simply adorable.

Emmy's friend, Max, was singing right into the microphone the whole time.  After the show, my dad asked me, "So did Max have a solo?"  No, no planned solo.  He just liked hearing his voice in the mic, like any kid.  Emmy and one of the other girls in the group even tried to sneak to the microphone to get a turn but Max saw and quickly ran over to claim his mic!  Seriously, so funny.  I love watching little kids perform because there is always going to be something that will make everyone laugh.

Emmy didn't even have to look at the teacher to remember the "step - touch - step - touch" part in the middle of the song.  She just stared at her little feet and step - touch-ed away!

{Shelby, Shady, Emmy and Max}

I tried to get a group photo after the show . . . not the easiest thing to do with three and four-year-olds.  Emmy had a cookie in her mouth in three out of the five pics I took - and this was the best one of all the kids.  What can you do?  Take the cookie away for the picture, that's what you can do!  Too late for that now . . .

And Kate enjoyed the performance, too!

*Emmy takes dance/singing from Jessica at Platinum Performing Arts Center*

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Our ward had a Talent Show last week.  A couple of friends and I thought it would be cute to get our girls together to sing some songs.  The girls sang "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" and "If You're Happy and You Know it".  They were so cute!

The MC was holding the mic out for the girls and Emmy just reached out and grabbed it.  Classic.

The funny thing about Emmy is that she won't give a talk, scripture or anything in Primary.  But put her on stage in front of the entire ward and apparently she'll grab the microphone and sing away!  She's my little performer.

{Megan, Emmy and Skye - 

I know the pics are blurry.  My dad took them w/ my camera and thought the flash would automatically go up when he was taking a pic}

BTW - there is an awesome giveaway going on over at Natalie's Sentiments!  Check it out HERE.

Kate {10 months}

Wowza!  This little one is already 10 months old!

She weighs 22 lbs 2 oz! 

{No wonder my back is hurting all the time!}

I didn't record how much Emmy weighed at 10 months, but at 9 months Emmy was 18.5 lbs - so Kate is definitely bigger than Emmy was.  I already knew this since Kate is wearing clothes that Emmy wore when she was around 15 months old!

Here is what she's been up to:

- She's crawling!  She has been so close for two months and she finally got brave enough to do it.  She's not a little tornado or anything (so opposite from her sister!) but if she wants to get somewhere, she just crawls this cute, little crawl.
 

- She is starting to pull herself up.  At least she tries a lot.  She has only been successful once :)  I went into her room to get her up from a nap and there she was, standing there.

- She has been teething for the past two weeks and the dang teeth won't break through!  Her poor mouth.  And her poor nose - it has been running non-stop for the past two weeks.  We have to watch out for snot-rockets!

- I've been letting her watch the My First Signs DVD from Baby Einstein and she is learning some signs!  The other day I was saying "daddy" to her and she brought her hand up to her face and totally did the sign!  I was so proud :)  She tries to do the "ball" sign, too, but she doesn't quite have it yet.  Does she do the "mommy" sign?  Of course not!

- She LOVES her bottle and she LOVES to eat!  She is eating a lot of finger foods now and her favorites are strawberries, bananas, those little dried yogurt bites and Cheerios.
 

{Emmy and Kate have twin Dora chairs, thanks to Ella!  She gave us her old one}

Like I always say, she is SO MUCH FUN to have around!  We LOVE our little, laid-back Kate!

Easter 2010

We had a great Easter this year!  

We taught Emmy about the Resurrection and now she tells me all the time that Jesus died on the cross but He came alive again!

The Easter festivities started on Saturday when we went to my sister's house for a BBQ and Easter egg hunt.  The kids had a blast looking for the eggs we hid all around the yard.  Thanks to Lindsey and Ella who stuffed all the eggs!

{The girls wanted to dress-up for the Easter egg hunt}

{Hunting for eggs}

{Look at all those eggs!}

As if the candy wasn't enough sugar for the kids, after the Easter egg hunt they decorated cookies and cupcakes.  Yum yum!

{Ellie and Emmy, still dressed up, of course}

On Saturday night, we left a plate of carrots and a note for the Easter Bunny telling him thank you. Emmy wanted to draw on the note so she drew a funny little "smiley" face.  I say "smiley" in quotes because the mouth isn't really smiling.

{The artist hard at work}

{See the "smiley" face?  It's right under (or above) "Love, Emmy" - two big eyes and a squiggly mouth}

On Easter morning, we woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had visited our house!  He left treats, toys and a book for the girls and he left eggs filled with candy all over the house.  Emmy had fun collecting the eggs for her basket.  I forgot to take pictures of that Easter egg hunt - I think I had the video camera.

{Emmy loves all things princess, so she, of course, got a princess Easter basket}

The kids decorated Easter eggs after conference.  Gotta decorate Easter eggs!  Emmy loves that she can do a lot of these things with just a little help these days.  Last year I basically decorated the eggs for her.  She's getting so big!

 {Emmy's fake smile :) }

{Working hard to decorate those eggs}

{So colorful!}

It was wonderful having Easter fall on General Conference Sunday.  I thought it was such a special way to spend the day, listening to our Prophet and Apostles.  We didn't get pics of the girls in their Easter dresses because it was SO windy outside, but we will be having a photo shoot soon.  

Hope you all had wonderful Easters, too!