Cute Randomness

I realized I should keep track of all the really funny things Kaelyn has done lately, I'm sure I'll forget a few, but here's what I could think of right now:

She was asleep and I was going to leave her (Pat & Virla were home) while I picked Matt up from school, but when I went in to get my shoes she sat up & I told her to go back to sleep. She said "Daddy go." Seems like she knew where I was headed and was not about to be left behind.

When Kaelyn is sad/hurt Matt says, let's get the screwdriver and fix it, he takes his index finger and "fixes" her elbow, knee, etc. We've been talking about weening her...one day she wanted to nurse and Matt told her "it's broken, you can't nurse." She pulled out her screwdriver and "fixed" my boob. (Yeah, she's still nursing).

Recently when she's come across disabled signs she says "Grandma".

We were visiting Daddy at school and our friend, (and Matt's study-buddy) Nicole, let Kaelyn have an apple. When we got in the car Kaelyn said, "Nicole, apple." The next day I told her we were going to see Daddy and she asked, "Nicole, apple?"

Whenever she sees a nativity she says, "baby Jesus" (which sounds a lot like baby cheeses).

Kaelyn has been learning animal sounds, she knows: cow, duck, horse, sheep, cat, dog and Matt taught her the professor says, "blah, blah, blah."

When the nursery kids sang "Popcorn" on Sunday she covered her eyes (in the "look out the window" motion, but left them there the whole time).

The nursery leader Sister Wert got up to bear her testimony and Kaelyn said, :Wert! Wert!"

Halloween!

We reused Kaelyn's parrot costume from lat year (it fit way better this time see?)....and Matt & I were zoo keepers!

 It was tons of fun; especilally since we actually went trick-or-treating this year and Kaelyn totally got in to it. She can't say "trick-or-treat" but she did say "thank you" (sounds more like kak ooo, but we know what it means). I think the cutest part of the night (I wish I had a picture of it) was when she walked a step ahead of us and was dragging her bag on the ground, she carried it the whole time we were out (not very long, but in toddler time I'm sure it was super long). She just seemed like a such a kid, rather than a baby!

Condos & Crowns

Our condo in Orem, UT is no longer our condo! It's closed and funded and we no longer have to worry about it :) Thank you Chad & Mandy for buying it; good luck Justin with your roommates.

In other news, we've discovered that 12 year-old crowns may pop off when introduced to taffy. Fortunately, my in-laws have gone to the same dentist for a very long time and are friends with him....So, a phone call to his home later, I have my crown firmly back in place! Happily, the original workmanship (thank you Drs. Bowles and Griner) was fabulous and very little was required to get things back to where they belong.

Cute-ified My Site

I'm excited about the make-over I gave my custom digital creations site (http://printablepdfs.weebly.com/) It's still a work in progress; but I have been taking and filling orders for a few months now and it is really fun!

Not Sure What to Write

It's been a while and I feel like I should blog, but I also am not sure what to write about. My friend Brandie had a really cute post on her blog about all the things she'd talk to you on the phone about (given the time). I posted a comment saying I'd like to do that....So, here it goes:

I've just finished reading a book called The Purity Myth; it has some really interesting points and good insights, I don't agree with the whole thing and I think some the writing is a bit whiny/immature, but it certainly provides some food for thought.

I love the blog (http://newdressaday.wordpress.com/) I stumbled across recently and want to do something similar (but on a much smaller scale) when I don't have a toddler running around. This lady takes yard-sale clothes (usually dresses) and alters them to much cuter-modern items.

I still love cooking, weekly menu planing not so much, and even day-to-day cooking can be boring at times. But, it's awesome when a new recipe turns out just right or I finally alter one to perfection that I've used before. Desserts are still my favorite, but ourbestbites.com has lots of great savory recipes too.

Kaelyn is at a fun stage of life (seems like she always is). Right now she is learning new words like crazy--although it's often tricky to distinguish which words she's trying to use. She is also super busy running around and playing, but still enjoys sitting with Mommy and Daddy to color a picture or read a book (sometimes). It's really cute to see how excited she gets when people come home; she's still working on pronouncing names, but she's getting pretty close.

I wish the sale of the condo would just finish up already, there have been so many fun road-blocks along the way....but I think there's light at the end of the tunnel! (Hopefully.)

I think Medi-cal (called Medicaid in the rest of the US) is painfully slow and poorly administrated, yet I'm grateful it exists since we can't afford medical insurance right now (but I really wish we'd get approved already, I mean we've got 0 income, how hard is it to determine that a family of three during school qualifies?)

I'm happy to be back in California, but actually miss a few things about Utah (mostly people--you know who you are :)

Well, I guess I'll leave it at that for now; I should really start on dinner for tonight. If you actually want to talk about any of my "What I'd talk to you about" topics, send me an email, or shoot me a call, or leave a comment, or use smoke signals, or okay, I guess I really should go. Hope things are going well for you and yours.

Wow, it's been a Long Time!

We're now in Anaheim, back from our last trip before law school. Kaelyn seems to be adjusting well, she sure loves having so many people who love to pay attention to her around.
 Matt starts school tomorrow and I've been called as the Laurel's Advisor. Looks like we'll be busy, but hopefully I'll be better about keeping up on the blog! Kaelyn's scrapbook is up to date at least :)

California, Here We Come (back)!

Today I taught the last lesson I will teach in Lake View 1st Ward. It was bitter sweet; I was more emotional than I bargained for & I will really miss this ward. We are excited to be starting a new chapter, but change is never easy. We will miss the friends and family we have here. Kaelyn will miss the "neigh neigh"s (horses & cows), the Johnson family & her other friends, aunts, uncles and cousins. Though we are happy to be able to make new friends and reconnect with old ones. I now understand how parting truly is "sweet-sorrow".

Memorial Day Weekend

We took the opportunity to use our free Disney tickets (from give-a-day-get-a-day) on Thursday and prepped our new room Friday & Saturday (thanks to those who helped and to Pat & Virla for letting us move in in a few weeks). It was a great weekend but very tiring.

Spring has Sprung

The weather is finally nicer more often than not! Matt has been soaking up the sun on his bike and we bought a trailer so Kaelyn can join him (we're still deciding if I will get a bike too or if I will just enjoy alone time when Matt takes the baby).

Kaelyn and Daddy giving it a test run (she'll get a helmet before they go for a real ride :)

I was moving some pictures around and found some from a month or so ago & just had to post them. Kaelyn has started wanting to copy EVERYTHING we do, super cute & fun! (It can be a pain too, but for the most part I love it). Here she's helping me make scones. 

More about our copy-cat...the past few days I've had a little cold & Kaelyn has been cutting teeth, not a fun combination. I've had toilet paper around for nose blowing purposes and we've caught Kaelyn ripping off small pieces & "blowing her nose" (she holds it up to her upper lip and blows with her mouth)....it's pretty cute. Since she's been teething, we've given her Tylenol to help with the pain. I'm not sure if she associates it with relief, likes the taste, or just thinks liquid from a dropper is fun, but last night we gave her some and she kept asking for more which we did not give to her. We did, however, get out another dropper and a glass of water which she was very happy to have. Can you say placebo-affect? What a silly girl. 

Happy Birthday To Me :)

So, I LOVE getting free stuff and birthdays are an awesome time to get freebies, so I thought I'd post links to some of my favorite freebies I got this year!

http://www.deltaco.com/ravingfansignup.html
http://www.redrobin.com/eclub/
http://www.rubios.com/beachclub/
http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/birthday/birthday_club.aspx
http://fuddruckers.fbmta.com/members/UpdateProfile.aspx?Action=Subscribe&inputsource=w
http://www.orangejulius.com/sec_quenchclub.html
http://noodle.fbmta.com/members/UpdateProfile.aspx?Action=Subscribe&InputSource=W
http://www.sonicdrivein.com/home.jsp#/members

Easter Pictures

Our Little Bunny

Easter Dress

Edible grass, how cool is that?

Chalk!

Look at our cool silk-dyed-eggs!

Feeding the Ducks

Kaelyn Update

Well, it's official; we have a toddler. Kaelyn is walking everywhere. She almost never crawls anymore! Although we've had snow recently (we are so done with snow now that it's fallen on & off for 6 months), today is beautiful and there have been a few nice days recently. We've found that Kaelyn LOVES the outdoors. We've been to the park, the playground (here in our complex), colored with sidewalk-chalk, and gone on walks. She gets a huge kick out of slides, swings and dogs. We also enjoy feeding the ducks, but Kaelyn doesn't like it when they get too close.

Grandma Miriam came up for a few days this Easter and got to enjoy a few hours of nice weather with Kaelyn. All the pictures are on her camera, so we'll post some when we get them.

Pictures!

As promised here are Kaelyn's First Birthday Pictures

She refused to stand on her own, so here she is standing while holding on to a chair.

This one just says, "I'm gonna get you!" to me anyway.

Grandma came up so we had to get a 3 generations shot.

Our little family

My favorite from the photo shoot :)

Kaelyn is One!

Kaelyn is getting to be more and more of a handful and also more and more fun. She crawls super fast & can stand on her own for brief periods now. She loves playing with the animal magnets on the fridge & all her toys.

On the 13th we had a Lego-themed birthday party for her (I was so excited that they made "girly-colored" legos that I couldn't resist!)

We had a Lego cake (brownies and super yummy frosting a'la bestbites) made by Mommy & Grandma

We made Lego invitations &amp: party favors too; fortune cookies that had the message "Thanks for Coming" written in legos.

We also had a puppet show! (Thanks to Cindy, the Bishop's wife.) It was so fun and everyone enjoyed it. Kaelyn wasn't scared of any of the puppets she even clapped and danced with them.

We're so glad to have our little girl. It's amazing and strange to see how someone so helpless just a year ago now has a distinct personality and opinions. Happy Birthday Kaelyn!

Kaelyn vs The Shower

This was just too funny not to post....
Many of you probably know that I was a VERY needy baby. So needy/clingy that while we were down in California for Christmas, when Kaelyn got really squirmy in my mom's arms I had to tell her that Kaelyn wanted down, because it didn't even occur to Grandma that a baby would prefer the floor to being held!

Well...Kaelyn may enjoy the floor but not if she has to be alone. I was taking a quick shower and Kaelyn was playing on the floor, she started fussing so I was talking to her letting her know that she really was okay and that I'd be done really soon. Suddenly, the crying got a little louder and I felt a tiny hand on my leg. She had pulled herself up on the side of the tub and reached through the curtain. This caused two things: she was able to reach me and water was able to reach her. She was soaked and not happy about any of it.

I pulled back the other side of the curtain and got her to come to that side (where water wouldn't be pouring out of the shower) and dried her face with a towel. This didn't satisfy her. I had to pick her up (I am in the shower, dripping wet, and still need to finish showering) and hold her while I soaped up and conditioned my hair.

She was wet, but happy. I now know to what lengths parents (or at this parent) will go to keep their children happy. To my mother: sorry if  you ever had to shower one-handed; if so, pay-back has been had.

Review of 2009/Dec. Trip Report

January--we spent the month getting ready for Kaelyn (taking childbirth classes, assembling the crib, etc.)

February--Kaleyn surprised us all by coming early & on Valentines! Grandma (Miriam) & Jennifer were a   great help with this transition.

March--I think this is the month Jen actually came (Feb-April are kind of a blur) I think this is also the month Matt really started putting in lots of hours studying for the LSAT, I think this is also when I started Kaelyn's scrapbook.

April--I turned 23; Kaelyn had her first round of immunizations & was uncharacteristically cranky all day

May--Mother's Day! I got a Kitchen Aid (and have been putting it to good use) We went to Vegas because Stephanie had surgery, our (well, Kaelyn's) job was to be cute & cheer up Steph & Becca. Kaelyn & I also went to California (since we were half way there already).

June--We started going to play group at the pool, Matt had his first Father's Day as a father. I attempted to do a work from home thing, it wasn't worth it in the end.

July--Kaelyn's first trip to England! We had a blast, you can see our UK scrapbook here.

August--Grandma (Miriam) came to visit. We celebrated our 4th anniversary. I decided to start an online baby boutique.

September--Matt turned 26, took the LSAT (and did very well), I got Beaded Baby Boutique up and running.

October--Kind of a sad month...I had my wisdom teeth pulled (luckily I only had 2), and we had to find Charlie a new home (he was too protective of Kaelyn & me). But Kaelyn & I did get to go to California! Plus we were all super cute in our pirate-themed Halloween costumes  :)

November--We decided for the first time in 4 years to go down to California for Thanksgiving it's a long drive for a few days, but it was great! Kaelyn even did pretty well in the car.

December--California again! Kaleyn and I flew down on the 16th; Matt started driving on the 16th, stopped in Vegas and saw the Cir de Soleil Love show, which he said is amazing, he then drove on to Arizona to attend ASU's Law Day on the 17th, he arrived in California that evening. 

      We (Grandma, Matt, Kaelyn & I) went to Disneyland the 18th, thank you Grandma for getting us signed in by a friend. The 19th we threw a surprise 25th wedding anniversary for my parents (who's anniversary is actually in January)-thank you everyone who came & many thanks to my in-laws who help out a lot. 

     We celebrated Christmas/Christmas Eve with our families & the 26th many of us (14 adults, 1 child, 3 infants) went the Aquarium of the Pacific (it was packed, but still fun). 

    We heard from a few law schools and Chapman University Law School offered Matt a full scholarship! (We're still waiting to hear back from ASU before we decide which one to attend for sure, but Chapman is certainly in the running.) 

    New Year's Eve was spent going to bed early so we could get up and go to Arizona on the 1st. We saw married student housing (which is very nice) and visited with Kendal & his family. We drove on to Vegas and stayed with Becca & Stephanie for the night and the next day we walked around City Center & went out for sushi. We arrived home safe & sound Sat night/ Sun morning.

We had a great year & expect wonderful things (although I'm sure there will be trials too, as always) in 2010. I'll be sure to post: once we know which school we're going to, when the condo sells, when Kaelyn does things too cute not to post about.

Holidays

I still need to blog a bunch about Thanksgiving & Christmas, but I finally caught up on Kaelyn's scrapbook :)