Christmas

At our church Santa came to visit. So I decided that I would just have Kelsey sit on that Santa's lap instead of going to a crazy mall or something. Let's just say Kelsey did not have it! Of course. What little kid loves Santa? None that I really can tell of. Haha! But at least I got a photo with Santa.

We went down Peacock Lane this year of course like we do every year. I was really excited for Kelsey to see all the lights. She really likes lights and I thought for sure she would love it. Unfortunately we set out a little late and Kelsey fell asleep before we got there. We put her in the stroller and walked around while she slept. I was sad she was sleeping! Then right when we finished she woke up! I almost wanted to walk down it again! Oh well. At least I have next year to look for!

This year a week before Christmas we found out Trent's Dad had to go into the hospital. He was having some pain in his chest. Turns out he was very close to having a heart attack and that he needed to have a triple bypass surgery 3 days before Christmas. It was a very stressful and emotional time for us all and we are so glad that Dave went in when he did so that nothing serious happened. The surgery went well and we were all able to visit him in the hospital and know that he was doing well. I hope that he will recover quickly. So grateful that is doing better now. It made me too emotional having him in the hospital! But it really made me feel the Christmas spirit even more. Family is so important to me and it really reminded me of that. We had a little Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and then went to the hospital and did a little Christmas program with the kids.It was so sweet and it made me teary eyed. I hate crying in front of people! But the nurses were crying and it was just hard not to.

This year it was my family's turn for Christmas. James and Mallorie were able to come for Christmas this year too! It was good to have everyone together for Christmas. They were able to be here for a week which was awesome. It is always sad to see them go.

Christmas morning was so much fun! Kelsey woke up and we opened presents with her and she was so cute. Next year it will be even better! We went to church and then went to my parents to eat and open presents together. We then went to my Grandmas for more food and more presents. I always enjoy being with family. It is my favorite. It was a long long day tho. We were tuckered out. The next day we went to my other Grandmas house for more food and more presents. We lucked on the food and the presents. Or at least Kelsey really did =D It was a really fun Christmas and having Kelsey makes it that much more fun. I love having her part of my family. I love her so much. Two days ago we did the Caudle gift exchange. We wanted to wait for Dave to be home and feel better before we did it. It was just a small group it felt like. It seems like there are usually more of us there. But it is always fun to get together to do the exchange.

Family Pictures

I wanted to go out and take some family pictures since Kelsey was almost one. So we took my camera and had my Mom take some pics for us at a park nearby. They turned out pretty cute! I love my family =D

 

Fall

Wow. It has been a while since I have posted. Ever since Trent has started working grave yard I haven't had a chance to blog since he takes the lap top to work with him. I like to blog at night while Kelsey sleeps. I finally convinced Trent to take our old one to work with him so I could have this one with all the pictures =) So here is to a good blogging session. I hope....

Halloween was fun this year. I can't wait til next year because Kelsey will almost be 2! I am sure she will have fun next year since she will be able to walk and actually walk herself to get her own candy. We were able to go to the pumpkin patch and look at the pumpkins and animals. Kelsey really enjoyed touching the pumpkins and just being outside. She loves being outside. It was kinda cold and we went kinda late. We wanted to go on the hay ride but we didn't get the chance to =/ Maybe next year tho =D

Halloween I made Kelsey's costume and we went trunk or treating at the church. I found a blue swimsuit bottom and a green t-shirt and dressed her as Pebbles from the Flinstones. It is weird how kids don't really know who they are now. It makes me feel old! But she looked adorable and made the perfect Pebbles! I was pretty proud of her costume. Trent and I helped her walk around the halls and get candy. She had fun while we held her hands. What a cutie pie!

November wasn't too crazy. But it has been so long since I blogged that I can't even remember November at all! I did turn 24 though. Crazy! I am getting old! And Thanksgiving was good this year too. We celebrated with the Caudles and we had a nice enjoyable evening and ate yummy food! I love Thanksgiving not only because I was born on that day but because it is one of the most honest holidays. It truly is about being thankful. It isn't about candy or bunnies or santa. Purely about being thankful and having gratitude for what we have and the people in our lives. Believe me. I like to count my blessings! What a wonderful Holiday!

BYU game!

Trent and I got lucky and scored some sweet tickets to the BYU/OSU game last Saturday. We weren't going to go but someone who was very generous offered to pay for our tickets! How awesome is that?! And guess where our seats were?? Second row on the 20 yard line!! Someone we got some season ticket seats. Talk about awesome. We were right behind the BYU team which was super cool. BYU is by far our favorite college team. Ducks next =) My mom was awesome enough to watch Kelsey for a whole 12 hours. WOW! I have never been away from my baby for so long. It was kinda hard. It was a good thing the game was good so I didn't get too distracted thinking about Kelsey. But we didn't have any reception where we were so I was kinda freaking out that I couldn't text or call my Mom and ask how Kelsey was. That is normal, right? =D I just love my little girl. She did amazing by the way! Didn't even miss me! =( Anyway, back to the game.
We got there pretty early and parked at the stake center in Corvallis. We were meeting some people from our ward and some other members from the stake so we could tailgate some. So fun! They had people selling BYU stuff, food, BYU cheerleaders and Cosmo (the mascot) and just lots of fun times. It is so awesome to be a member of the church and be around such great, friendly people. It is the best kind of atmosphere there is. Made me miss Rexburg a little =) We had some awesome chili dogs, potato salad, cheesecake, and rolls. Life was good! We got to mingle for a bit and enjoy the atmosphere before we had to walk to the stadium.
The stake center was about 2 miles. Maybe less. So it wasn't like it was close or anything. But it was free parking and not so much traffic by the school. It wasn't that big of a deal to walk. We could use it actually. So we walked there and sat in our seats and watched the game! It really was fun to be that close to the team. I got some pretty awesome pictures. And we won! So that is even more awesome because we were sitting all around Beaver fans. It could have gotten ugly if we lost. lol. I really didn't want to be mocked or yelled at. Instead I got to yell at all them Beaver fans. Haha! I can get pretty feisty when it comes to sports. Not gonna lie. My kids are gonna hate me when they are older. Let's just say that......
When the game was all over we walked back to the stake center and left. I would say we walked 3-4 miles all together. And we stood almost the entire game since we were in the front and pretty much head level with the players. We had to stand most the time so we could see around the players on the sidelines. When we got back to the car our legs were tired and we were ready to rest and go home to our baby. Traffic was terrible!!!!! Oh so terrible!! But I didn't think it was going to be easy to get out of there either. It took us 2 1/2 hours to get home? I think. So an extra hour I guess. Maybe it took longer. I can't remember. All I know is that it took a long time. But it was worth it!! Had so much fun!!! We were pretty lucky to be able to go do that. And by ourselves too. Even though I missed Kelsey like crazy =)

4 year anniversary!

Somehow our 4 year anniversary snuck up on us. Let me tell ya. I love my husband!!! What a great man, husband, and father! I don't know who I would be without him. He is my pick-me-up every single day of my life and I couldn't ask for more. He is such a hard worker and I love him oh so much!!!! It has been the best 4 years for my life. I cannot wait for more adventures with him. Good and bad. Whatever they are I know I can lean on my other half. Alright, I could go on and on about how much I love my hubby but you may not like that so much =)
For our special day my Mom was awesome enough to watch Kelsey for a whole 6 hours! I have never been away from Kelsey for more than like 3. It feels so nice now that she isn't nursing during the whole day. I can actually go out and enjoy some time with Trent which is pretty nice. This was our first anniversary as parents! So weird! We will never have another anniversary as not being parents. lol. =)
We went to the Olive Garden for lunch which is our favorite place to eat at. Mostly because Trent loves salad =) Then we went to the temple which was very overdue. We hadn't gone through a session since before Kelsey was born! We have been there a couple times after. Just not any sessions. Trent has so been so busy and Kelsey was always nursing so we weren't able to go. I loved that we had the opportunity! It is such a beautiful and peaceful place. It was the perfect date to celebrate where we sealed the deal! =) We then went to pick up some cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory. YuM! The restaurant is inside Washington Square Mall which, surprisingly, have never been in before. We walked around a few places inside but not for long. so we just picked up the cheesecake and went and picked up Kelsey. After Kelsey ate and went to bed, Trent and I ate our cheesecake with some sparkling cider and watched a movie =)
It was such a fun day with such a fun person to spend it with. I am the luckiest wife around! Love you husband! Can't wait for more anniversaries to come! =D

9 months

Kelsey is 9 months old! Wow. 9 months of pregnancy went by a whole lot slower than the 9 months of her being out of my belly. Every day she grows up in some different kind of way. As her Mother, I feel so special to be apart of her life. I am so lucky that so far I have been able to stay home with my baby and watch her achieve new milestones. It is so weird and amazing to watch Kelsey's every move. I watch her learn, problem solve, play, be happy, sad, and sometimes mad. What a lucky mommy I am! I am so grateful for Trent. He has been such a trooper and works very hard. Even though it is very stressful to be away, I know he loves us and that he does what he does for our family.
In just the past couple months Kelsey has grown so much. She learned how to clap, dance, sign more, pull her self up, walk around toys and furniture, and CRAWL! I never thought it would happen! Haha! Never has she liked being on her tummy so I thought she was just going to be one of those babies that went straight to walking since she starting walking around her toys before she started to crawl. But she had been lunging a lot and in a matter of a week she got the whole crawling thing down pat. She does it from sitting on her bum. I think what made her start crawling was not wanting to be away from me. Whenever I take like five steps away from her she would always get upset. Especially going into the kitchen. That is what really got that girl movin. She just started crawling after me so she could be with me. It was pretty funny actually because she would cry the entire time crawling to come find me. haha. She still does it actually. Silly girl. The other day Trent was leaving for work and he walked around the corner to the door and she started crawling after him and he shut the door and she sat there and cried. Broke my heart! She sure loves her Daddy. I love it! He is so good to her! =D
She sure is the busy little girl. Now that she has learned all these new skills she is all over the place. I haven't really had to baby proof much which is good for me I guess. I didn't really have anything crazy out although she still manages to gets bumps and bruises. I don't think there is any chance at preventing those. She pulls herself up on the TV stand a lot. It's one of her favorite places to go. Looks like we need to get one that closes in the front so that she can't push all the buttons =) Her favorite thing to do though is climb all over her Mom. I always have to sit on the floor with her and then she just climbs me all the time. All she ever wants to do is stand up. I think when she learns to walk she is just going to be insane! haha! She sure is a cutie even though she is a momma's girl and having a little separation anxiety issue. Hopefully that won't last long. Probably hard since I am the one she is around all day every day. She is starting to get bored of her toys I think and now that the weather has decided to pretty much skip Fall, I can't take her out for walks like I used to. Not in this rainy mess anyway. So if anyone has fun ideas to do with a 9 month old inside let me know! I need some good ideas =)
I have been experimenting with new foods for Kelsey. Trying to do homemade stuff but the last one I tried she did not like! She is having a hard time with different textures mixed in with her soft baby foods. I tried putting some hamburger meat in with some baby food and she did not like. Did not like the little pieces of egg yolk either. I think she likes them ok separate but not with liquidy things. I dunno. It is hard because if she does not like it she will not open her mouth for anything. She is stubborn like her Dad. She tried some mushed up veggie lasagna last night and she did ok with that but after a few bites she did not want it anymore. How are you supposed to eat child if you won't try new things? Aren't you getting a little tired of the same ol baby food? Well I will keep trying I guess. She really likes cheese and bread and grapes and bananas. We will see. Process of elimination I suppose.
She doesn't have any teeth yet although I think one is making its way in. It is her upper tooth but it's not the middle ones like usual. It is a side one. I guess I didn't get my front teeth in for a bit so we will see when she will get those. She is just gonna look like Dill from Rugrats with the side tooth. haha! Just waiting for it to appear! She is finally taking long naps in the afternoon. She takes like a half hour-45 min nap in the morning and then a hour and half to 2 hour nap in the afternoon. Still sleeps like 12 hours at night straight and lately hasn't been waking til like 8 in the morning. Nice for me! I don't have to wake up super early! Only on the days when Trent works early. She is so funny in the mornings. She just sits in her crib and talks to herself and her dolls and sometimes spits raspberry's. It is pretty funny. Then when you go in there she just likes to sit in her crib and play with her blankey. She is a blankey girl for sure. Cute =)
She likes to fake laugh all the time which cracks me up. She is always squealing and making noises. When she is around a lot of people or even just like two other people she is pretty quiet. She loves to observe what is going on around her. Maybe she is gonna be shy. I dunno. I can say she is not shy at home! Always bouncing and happy for the most part. Anywho this is pretty long. I have not updated on Kelsey for a bit so here it is! She is getting so big so fast and growing up into such a cute little girl. Excited for her to keep learning and growing! =D

Visitors/ Grandma

James and Mal came and visited us again here in P-town. We were very excited to see them although it was not for many good reason. Needless to say the summer was pretty stressful. My Grandma that I am very close to found out randomly that she has Ovarian cancer. And they found a very large mass in her chest that is in-operable. She had surgery to remove her ovaries and decided that she wanted to do chemo. So James and Mal decided to come visit before she got too sick. We had a nice visit although it is never long enough. They were just here for the weekend and it seems like it went so fast. We went to Seaside for one day and we spent a lot of the time with my Grandma which was really nice. My mom has been so busy and I feel bad I can't help more with things. I tried to help the best I could watching Jaylen so that my Mom could be with my Grandma. Just so hard too when I don't have a car and Trent is gone most of the time. He is busy, busy, busy. Any time he is home I take advantage of having family time. Most of the last part of the summer was a blur. My Grandma has had a lot of issues and it is hard to see her struggle. She is a very strong lady and I love her very much. She has had such an impact on my life and I am so grateful for her influence. She is amazing! She does Chemotherapy once a week which I can only imagine would be hard and it takes like 7 hours. It has been crazy and I cannot even begin to explain feelings and emotions so I will just leave it at that. I am glad that James and Mal were able to visit with her while she was still feeling semi-good and in good spirits. I am sure she really enjoyed it. Can't wait to see them at Christmas =)