getting in the spirit

Blessed...

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family! I am grateful for Thanksgiving and that a whole day is set aside so that we can enjoy what is most important! We had a great time at my parent's house for the feast. It wasn't quite the traditional Thanksgiving that you see in the movies, the kind where they all sit around the table and reminisce... the kids, mostly Maylee, lasted for about 5 minutes and then wondered around looking for trouble. We pretty much took shifts eating. Jeff ate. Then I ate. It was a delicious dinner however, and when I had the chance to eat I throughly enjoyed it! :) I was in charge of taking the salad and homemade rolls.

After we ate, we hung out a bit while the kiddos played and then we walked down Candy Cane Lane! :) Maylee is fascinated with the lights this year! So cute!

18 month check up

Weight: 20 lbs. 5 oz. -3%
Height: 30 in. -10-25%

Well, at least she can finally face forward in the car seat! It has taken awhile to get here, but it finally has happened. And perfect timing too- for our road trip to Utah! Maybe it will make the 7 hour drive not so bad (we will cross our fingers!) :)

Favs:
- doing the actions for The Eensy Weensey Spider
- helping mom sweep
- digging in the sand at the park
- playing pretend with grandma's kitchen play set
- trying to get on other kids' bikes... she will get one soon enough ;)
- going to nursery (or at least she loved it the one time she got to go!)
- seeing her cousins
seeing the all the lights on grandma and grandpa's awesome Christmas street (aka Candy Cane Lane)

Last few weeks...

Maylee has turned into one little helper these days. She loves to do whatever mommy is doing, or anything that a "big" person does for that matter!

Lately, she has loved helping me bring in the groceries. I have to give her the bags with the light stuff... bread, salad, chips, otherwise, she gets a bag, grunts a few times, takes a few steps, ditches it halfway in the garage, and then wants a new one! :)




Here are a few pictures from the Children's Museum. April and I went with just the girls now that Robert has school. The girls are at the perfect age! They especially loved the trikes and Cailin was a trooper to parade the girls around. Lunch was also exciting as we watched the pigeons try to get every crumb that was dropped on the ground, to Maylee and Halle finding the perfect place to take a rest- the window sill! They are too cute together!

Fall Fun

Now that the weather is finally cooling down, we go outside every chance we get. For one of our play dates, we headed to the zoo. The girls loved petting those goats!

Here is the little lady in her cute ladybug costume! I love the pose!

As you can see, she didn't like wearing the antennas. We tried to bribe her with Smarties, but she still wasn't too happy. Oh well- I think it makes a funny picture! :)

15 month appointment

Weight: 19lbs. 2 oz (3- 10%)
Height: 29 1/4 inches (10- 25 %)

She is one petite little girl!

Maylee has become quite the helper- helping me unload the dishwasher by putting dishes away or handing me the silverware, bringing the grocery bags in from the car

Favs:
- Wheat Thins, raisins, and pumpkin cookies
- making a "seat" out of anything, from a stack of tablecloths on the floor, to pillows, to sitting on cans in the pantry
- going to the park (well- she never outgrew the park stage, but we can finally go again now that it is cooling down!)
- walking to get the mail (and of course, she has to hold the keys!)

Take me out to the ballgame...

and put me on the big screen!

My family bought tickets to go to 5 D-Back games this season. It was always my goal to get my cute little girl on the jumboscreen. I finally figured out that during the 7th inning stretch, the camera man gets the guy playing the organ (which is right next to the kid play place!) So we just happen to meander over to the play place around the 6th inning and just happen to be standing there to get on camera! Pretty cool, huh? Too bad the couple with the little baby was hogging the camera. ;)

Anyways, we always had a good time going to the games. Maylee especially enjoyed the play place and the Kettle corn!

Panguitch Lake

Well, we went up to Panguitch Lake last Friday night! It wasn't the original plan- we were going to go on Thursday but Maylee got the flu on Tuesday. After some meds however, she was good to go. The high fever went away and she was back to normal. Jeff was a different story on the other hand. He started feeling sick on Wednesday and got pretty bad on Thursday. We were bummed we wouldn't be able to go up to the cabin. Then Friday came along and he was feeling "better". Sweet! We took our chances thinking he would continue to get better. So we took off for the 7 hour drive around 2:30 in the afternoon. By the time we got to the cabin, unloaded some things, turned on the electricity and water... it was pretty late. I think that took a toll on Jeff. For the rest of the trip he was pretty much in bed. Poor guy. He came outside a few times to enjoy the weather as you can see in the pics, but for the most part he rested inside. Although it was quite the bummer of a trip for Jeff, Maylee and I sure had fun time visiting, playing, and exploring with Grammie and Poppa!

Maylee loved picking up sticks and walking around in the dirt. She also had a great time getting a bath in the metal tub (taking pics of the kiddos in the tub is a tradition in the family). Hopefully next trip everyone will be able to enjoy the "great outdoors"!

Good thing we have tile! :)

This is what happened when I turned my head for one minute... (my make-up all over the floor. I didn't think she knew how to untwist lids, but apparently she does!)

The moment I've been waiting for...

Maylee has enough hair for a ponytail! Well, not really, but I did manage to do one for church on Sunday. Her hair is long in some places and short in others. It hasn't really "filled in" yet. Poor girl. Oh well- I still had fun making one tiny ponytail!

My little sister is married!

Kelsie got married on August 8th. Her and Kyle make a great couple. She was a beautiful bride and the wedding was amazing. Maylee was a fan of the dance floor at the reception. Her new thing is putting her hands up in the air while dancing. How cute is that! Pretty good dance move if you ask me!

no more ice cream...

For a few weeks Maylee was getting hives off and on. We took her into the doctor and decided to get her tested for allergies. After a week of waiting for her blood test results, we found out she is allergic to dairy and eggs. Thankfully, she is not severely allergic, but we want to stay away from these things for a bit in hopes that it will eventually go away with age(also- so she won't get hives). Poor thing! I was having a hard time knowing what to cook her until I found this website in the Family Fun magazine. I LOVE IT! This woman is amazing. I've realized that Maylee really can have a lot of things... I just have to make them myself. I've tried the blueberry muffins (which Maylee didn't really care for, but I like them!) and the pancakes! They have both been great! It is a wonderful resource if you have kids with allergies or will have to cook for someone who does. I feel like quite the little domestic mom doing all this cooking from scratch (well, making muffins and pancakes!). I am so accustomed to making things with a mix- sad, huh? It feels good to make it all on my own.

baby steps

On July 29th, Maylee began taking a few steps on her own. I came home from Young Womens that night and asked Jeff how Maylee was while I was gone. He told me a few details and then nonchalantly added, "Oh yeah... she took a few steps." Hellooooo! She walked! I was so excited- that is a big accomplishment! I couldn't wait to see her in action the next day. Here are a few videos of her first attempts. Now she is cruising all over the house. She hardly ever crawls. It is amazing to see her progress from taking wobbly steps to being able to stop and change the direction she was going (with a little more speed too!) We are so proud of her!!!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Our Getaway!

Here we are on our way to San Diego! We went on July 18th-25th. We took a little rest stop to get some lunch and let Maylee stretch her legs for a minute.
On Sunday, we went to church and then went down to Imperial Beach for the Sand Castle Contest. It was amazing to see what people did with a lot of sand and some creativity, but since it was free it was VERY crowded.

On Monday, we headed to the famous San Diego Zoo. It ended up being a super hot day, but still interesting. We actually had the chance to see a lion up close- we were looking at them through the glass and the female came up and sat there for a minute and then went up on her back legs, putting her front paws on the glass. It was pretty cool, and I am sure grateful the glass was there between her and us!

Tuesday was spent at the beach. There is nothing better than kickin' it and relaxing while playing with the kids. Maylee LOVED the beach! She loved to sit in the little chairs, play with the bucket and shovel, wiggle her hands around in the sand, walk into the water, and crawl around with flip flops on both of her hands... This picture was taken on Monday after the trip to the zoo. The evenings were the best time to chill on the beach!

We went up to La Jolla on Tuesday night to one of our favorite restaurants, El Torrito. Afterwards, we went to the temple to walk around and take pics. Maylee wasn't such a fan of taking pictures that night!

Wednesday we were off for another attraction... LegoLand! We decided to go there with the Foster fam instead of Sea World (where the rest of the family went) because we thought it would be more entertaining for Maylee. She had a fun time. There were a few little rides she could go on and if she couldn't ride she always had fun watching her cousins go on the rides!

(Maylee got sand EVERYWHERE!)

Thursday and Friday were more fun filled days at the beach! I made Jeff take some pictures of our family on Friday morning and then we went and met Emily (Bate) and Mike for lunch in La Jolla. The last time I had a chance to see her was 2 years ago at her wedding!

Friday night we grabbed some food and went to Seal Beach in La Jolla. We got to watch the sunset... gorgeous! It was the perfect way to end the vacation. Saturday we had to clean up, pack up, and check out of the condo. On our way home we met up with Eric for some lunch. It was a quick visit, but at least we got to see him for a little bit.

We had such a fun time! I was getting used to the morning walks along the beach, watching the sun set on the ocean, seeing dolphins swimming out in the water, and most importantly, relaxing and having Jeff around all day! Maylee loved every part of it as well! It was a trip we will remember forever. :)

Such a girl!

Don't ya love the poses! I had nothing to do with it- that was all Maylee! She truly is our little lady!

5 YEARS!

Girls Night OUT!

On July 17th my mom took us girls to the musical Wicked! I think it might be my new fav! It was hilarious. I liked this version of the Wizard of Oz way better... they should change the movie. Anyways, it was a great night- great musical, great company :) . We have wonderful husbands that stayed home and watched the kiddos while us girls went out and played. Thanks mom and Jeff!

(It would have been a better picture if we would have thought to take the picture before the play!)

Thank goodness for good samaritans...

Today was grocery shopping day. It is a big day. I check the ads, scan through couponmom.com to find the best deals, and cut out coupons. I am trying so hard to save a little money here and there now that I am not working. Couponing is pretty darn exciting once you get going! Oh the thrill of seeing that you saved almost 1/2 of the total bill! I think it is kind-of a science (that I am still getting the hang of). So anyways, to save some dinero I store hop. I normally buy most things at Fry's and then go to Safeway for a few things that are a killer deal. I need to come up with a better plan now that it is getting hotter, but I just hate driving back and forth from the house to the grocery stores when they are right next to each other.

Well, I bought everything I needed at Fry's and headed to Safeway... all I needed were some chicken breasts (on sale for 1.58/lb-great buy!) I grabbed Maylee, a shopping cart, and ran into the store. Go figure -they were out of chicken! I did stop by the produce section and grabbed a few peaches and some grapes- so it wasn't a total loss.

By this point, Maylee was done. It was close to her nap time; it was hot; it was so time to go home! Since we do live in lovely AZ and it is summer time I always turn the car on first and then put Maylee in her car seat. Well, I went to go start the car and nothing. Not a click, no turnover, nothing! Here I was with a car full of food (that had already been sitting in the car for a few minutes) and a crying baby. It just makes sense that your car battery would die in the summer in Phoenix if it is going to die at all!

I immediately called my sweet husband. As I was talking to him in the front seat with the door held open, a truck pulled up next to me. It didn't take long for him to realize I needed help. He asked if my car need a jump and I said YES! He pulled right in front of my car, lifted the hood (which was probably about 2000 degrees!), and took care of everything... my car started! Yea! He just made my day! I am totally guilty as one of those people that is 'always in a hurry' or has somewhere to go. I am so grateful that he didn't just run into the store without paying attention to anyone around him. I am so grateful he took the time out of his day to burn his hands and sweat in the hot sun so that I could get back home! I will always remember this experience and his example. Now I it is my turn to slow down and look for opportunites to pass the favor on...

MY BROTHER IS HOME!

My brother came home from his mission yesterday! He went to the New Jersey Cherry Hill Mission. We are so proud of him. It is so amazing that these 19 year old guys dedicate 2 years of their lives to go and serve the Lord. It is such a sacrifice, but I know that his life and our lives have been greatly blessed because of his service.

Two years is a strange amount of time... it seems like forever in some ways, but not so long in others. It seems like forever in the sense that Adam had never met the two babies, Halle and Maylee; Robert was just a little guy when he left and now he is a boy through and through; Cailin has changed a ton; updates have been made to the house that he wasn't around for... But it doesn't seem so long in the sense that Adam is still Adam! :) April and I hung around the house yesterday to spend time with him (and mom and dad) and everything was just like he never left. It is so stinkin' fun to have him around again! He hasn't changed a bit (although he is wiser and more mature ;). He is still easy going and way fun to be around. I AM SO HAPPY HE IS HOME!

The Reunion:

Adam's flight was supposed to get in at 9:07 in the morning, but my mom called the morning of to say it was coming in a few minutes early- 8:57am. That meant I had to leave the house at 8 AM. I didn't think that was such a big deal, hey I go to kickboxing at 8 am. But then I realized I am always late to kickboxing... So getting to the airport was no different. I got up early to shower and get ready, but obviously not early enough. I got Maylee ready and then packed the "bag" (I should have done this the night before). After getting everything together I looked at the clock- 8:10am. Not too bad, really. I went to put Maylee in the car seat and noticed a funky smell. Yup, it was coming from Maylee. So I quickly changed her diaper (well as fast as I can when she is trying to squirm all over the changing table) and then put her in the car seat. On my way out I saw the clock said 8:15. Yikes! I put my car in gear and began to head to the airport driving just under the speed where I could get a ticket. As I was making my way out of the neighborhood I looked over at my bag and noticed it didn't look as thick as it should... NO WALLET! NOOOO! So back I went to the house, grabbed the wallet, and got in the car like a mad woman. The clock in the car read 8:22. Thank heavens we are not too far from the airport. I drove like crazy to the airport in the carpool lane making sure to slow down for all those photo radars. I parked, took the elevator (that just had to stop on every level!), and ran to the gate. I MADE IT! I had my doubts as I was driving, and it sounds like my family did as well, but I made it with plenty of time to spare ;)! It did help that Adam was one of the last ones to get off the plane. It was a killer waiting as we saw tons of other people walk out of the gate, but thrilling when we saw 2 guys in suits and ties walking towards us! I am so happy I was there to see him arrive home. Such a surreal moment.

(we went out to eat after Adam arrived!)

Happy 4th!

(us trying to be festive and patriotic in our red, white, and blue!)

For the 4th, our family got together... well, just us and my mom and dad. Everyone else was out-of-town! Although we missed everyone, we still had a great time. We first went and did a little bowling. It was funny- none of us had played in forever and we were really struggling at the beginning. I thought bowling on the Wii was supposed to be similar to bowling for real...let's just say our scores weren't as good as they are when we play it on the Wii! My dad ended up winning but I was happy since I ended up with a score over 100! :)

Later in the afternoon we headed over to April and Rob's empty house (it seemed weird at first to be the only ones there). It sure was nice of them to let us use their pool since that is pretty much all you can do when it is 108 degrees. We swam, barbecued, and then watched fireworks at the park by their house. It was a nice holiday weekend.