Monday, February 28, 2011

"Snow!"

We got snow in Southern AZ!  I know, those of you who live somewhere cold can probably barely see the snow in these pictures, but Dustin and I were super excited for Mikayla to have her first (and possibly only) pictures of her in the snow.
 Snow and jammies!
When I packed for us to go visit Dustin's parents it was hot outside so we didn't have ANYTHING warm to wear.  I brought shoes for Mikayla, but forgot socks.  At least I packed a jacket for her while Dustin and I froze in our short sleeves.  Mother of the Year award coming my way soon, I'm sure.



She was too busy playing with a little cap and didn't even notice the "snow" until she tried to crawl off.  Notice the booger in her nose?  Like I said, Mother of the Year. :)

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Cheese!

Her new favorite face.  It gets her attention and she likes that.  She squints her eyes and wrinkles her nose while grinning from ear to ear.  It's a keeper.

And, finally, some "real" smile shots.

Some of her other newer tricks that I'm loving right now are:
 -Snapping
-Pointing at anything and everything she wants and fully expecting to get what she wants when she points for it (we're just waiting for the above mentioned snapping to occur when she wants something)
-Saying "hi" (pronounced "aye")
-Waving her arm across her face whenever we say "peeuuu" as if something really smells terrible.
-Barking back at the dogs when they bark ("bah-bah" while blowing out her lips)
-You know that sound that the donkey on Shrek makes with his lips?  Ya, well, she does that and it is so funny because she totally sucks in her lips as far as she can and blows them out really hard to try and make the sound.  Sorry, kind of hard to explain that one.
-Signing "all done" when she's finished eating
-She's still fascinated with sniffing and since she's been sick she's gotten really good at sniffing boogers in and out of her nose the past few days.  She's also rediscovered her fake cough again and does it any time someone else coughs.
-I love when she is stressed, scared, tired or trying really hard not to be cranky because she starts running through all her "tricks" and uses them as her coping mechanism to help put on a brave face.
-Sticking food halfway out of her mouth while she laughs and laughs until someone acknowledges her.
-After 12 months of living on this Earth she has finally discovered that her legs do in fact go together and do not have to be spread eagle all the time.  She crosses them at her ankles and it is adorable.
This is not the cutest picture, but it shows her doing her little snapping trick that she is really proud of and her chunky legs finally getting to meet each other and be lady-like for the first time.


*More random picture posts below...

Be Mine

Mikayla's Valentine's Day dress.  Doesn't this dress just make you feel happy?
My Valentine.  I love him. :)

Do I really talk on the phone that much?

Seriously, how do they catch on so fast?!

The blind leading the blind.

My sister had eye surgery done and had to wear these goggles.  She requested a picture with Mikayla and her sunglasses so they could be matchers.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Just add boots.

 Dustin got Mikayla dressed for church on Sunday. 'Nuff said.
 I'd mentioned putting her fluffy socks on.  The boots were added at no additional charge.
We settled for boots, but no fluffy socks.  It was pretty stinkin' cute.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Brand Spankin' New!!

We have exciting news!  We are building a house!  Yes, that's right.  A BRAND NEW house!!  Can you tell we are excited?! 
The floor plan.  My favorite parts are the den (which will be our play room) and the pantry!  I think you can read what it says if you click on the picture and make it bigger.
The outside view
And, our lot.  Our lot is a 1/4 acre!  It is so big compared to all the other subdivisions' backyards that we have looked at.  I love the mountain views from the lot, too.  If you click on the picture you can see there is an area of raised dirt extending beyond the utility hookups on the right side of the screen.  That elevated portion is one side of the property line, then it goes to the back wall and all the way up the left side of the picture.  I hope that makes sense.  Dustin probably should've written this part.

This morning we got to go pick out all the interior stuff.  We are getting granite counters and oak cupboards! I can't wait for our kitchen!  Now on to the dreaming about paint, furniture and everything else girly while Dustin dreams about how to lay out his work bench and what to do with the backyard!  

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Saturday Fun

Dustin got a kite for Christmas and we finally got around to trying it out on Saturday.  The weather was absolutely perfect!
  




 Mikayla was a natural pro at flying kites, just like her Dad!

Monday, February 7, 2011

"The" Face

This is "the" pooping face.  I finally captured it in it's completeness...the bulging vein and all.  Sick and wrong?  Yes.  Enlarge for full detail.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Suggestions...

O.K. all you moms out there-I need ideas.  I feel like Mikayla and I do the same thing day in and day out.  What kinds of things do you do with your kiddos during the day that they like?  Mikayla is only 1, but I'll take any ideas I can get.  I made Play Doh yesterday thinking it would be so fun, but she just ate all of it.  The dogs wouldn't even eat it so I'm not sure why she liked it so much (I think I'll try peanut butter Play Doh next time).

Also, what are some good meals and snacks your kids like?  We have a menu that lasts us about 2.5 days before we start repeating.  We need some fresh ideas!  

Don't be afraid to leave a novel for a comment with all your grand ideas.  I would LOVE it. :)

Monday, January 31, 2011

Rednecks?

Does going on a tractor ride through the neighborhood (with paved streets and almost no dirt to be seen anywhere) with a dog running behind you count as redneck?  Does it still count as redneck even if it's really cute and fun? Just checking.
First ride in a big girl car seat!  She was pretty nervous and didn't move at all, except for moving her eyes back and forth between my Dad and I to see if everything was o.k. and she sang to herself the whole time for comfort.

 You might have noticed these shoes in the car seat picture.  If not, here's a closer look.  They are my old shoes that one of my Mom's co-workers gave me on my 1st birthday.  That makes them almost 24 years old!  Yay for Keds!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Wedding

You can probably tell by the number of posts that I've done in the past few days that I have a lot quicker internet these days that will allow me to upload more than one picture in 3 hours (not to mention a few post worthy events have happened).  I wanted to post some pictures from Maren and Jake's wedding for everyone who's been asking.  There's a bunch of posts in the past few days so if you haven't seen them, be sure to check them out. :)

The happy couple!
 The whole crew at the Temple.
 Mikayla and Jessica looking sexy
 Four generations
Sorry, Dustin-this is the only picture I could find of you. :)

 Loving the poofy dress!
 Surprise call from Seth!  His mission president gave him permission to call for 10 minutes on the day of the wedding and he and I kept it a secret from everyone!
 
 The girls.
And, some fancier pictures of the famous couple.



 
 My personal favorite (above).  Doesn't it look like they are a scene from a fairy tale?

Sunday, January 23, 2011

365 Days

365 days ago I worked my last shift as a nurse.
365 days ago my life was wonderful, but not quite complete.
365 days ago I sat with Dustin and wondered what kind of parents we might be, wondering if we were really ready for all that lie in store for us.
365 days ago I don't think I truly understood unconditional love.
365 days ago I had no idea that my life would be forever changed when I would awake in the morning.

366 days ago I held this little girl in my arms for the first time and fell completely in love with her.

I never knew what a roller coaster the next 365 days would bring and how tough the journey might be at times, but had I known, I wouldn't have changed a thing.  Mikayla has brought me more joy than I knew possible and that joy continues to grow more each day.

Happy birthday, Missy Mae!  We love you!

We celebrated her birthday a day early so Mammy and Pappy could come party with us.  I've said it before, but I am so grateful to be living close to family.  Mikayla loves her grandparents and it makes my heart happy that she gets to be around them so much.

For dinner we had some of Mikayla's favorite foods...homemade mac 'n cheese and bread (and of course, Mikayla had hers on the traditional "You are special today" plate).

She was spoiled with WAY too many presents!
And then there was the CAKE!  I made her a giant cupcake and after I spent WAY too long trying (keyword-trying) to make it look decent Dustin said, "Watch-she'll have the whole cake and she'll spend the whole time going after one little crumb."  He called it pretty good.  She sat there picking off all the sprinkles one by one, putting them in her mouth, sucking the frosting off, then spitting them out.  That's Mikayla for you.  After a while she got brave and licked the cake, but she didn't dive in until I cut her a chunk out of it.  So much fun!