Valentine's Love 2015

I love Valentine's Day!  It's so fun to spoil those we love as well as get extra love from others.  We can't ever give or get too much love, can we??

I got lucky and got to go on TWO Valentine dates with my handsome man!  We scheduled a sitter so we could go out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory the Wednesday before 02-14 (just trying to avoid crowds).  That was so nice.  We ALWAYS miss our girls when they are not with us, but it was definitely nice to enjoy dinner without anyone crawling on the table, crawling under the table, dropping food all of the floor, and so-forth.  :)

Then, some of our good friends told us that they had extra tickets to a concert that weren't going to get used and invited us to go.  The concert was on Saturday, Feb. 13.  We couldn't pass that up.  So, we hired another sitter and went out on the town.  This particular night marked the 12th year since we first met.  Awe!!  The concert was so fun, so was dinner beforehand, and it was fun to double with our good friends!

Throughout the weekend the girls and I delivered Valentines to all of the grandparents and a few other lucky people.  We showed up unannounced to the homes so it would be a surprise.

Here is Grandma Ellie being so surprised and excited!  It was so fun.

Then, when Valentine's Day actually came . . . we were spoiled and adored.  All of the grandparents made their way over to our home to bear love, Valentines, and gifts.  We had aunts and uncles who sent their love and gifts too.

And, of course our mysterious Valentine Man dropped some surprises for us all on our doorstep.

The girls were thrilled.  Evie got an 8-horse portable horse stable that has 8 different horses in it.  Addie got a fun ABC toy that sticks on the fridge (it talks and sings and helps with letter identification and sounds).  Both girls got kitty slippers too.

They played with everything right away.  They even switched and played with one another's toys too.  They were both having loads of fun.

At the end of the day, Evie said, "We still haven't hid dad's Valentine!"  So, we hid Dad's Valentine and he had to search for it.  Daddy eventually found it, kissed both girls, and told them how much he loves them.

We hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day and that you felt loved too!

Adeline at 13 Months

Well, Our baby Adel is 13 months old.  That stinker!  I don't know why, but I feel like she's really progressed this past month.  Maybe it's because she's one-year-old, or maybe because she's walking, or maybe because she's trying to talk more???  I don't know.  But, her little personality has really started to shine even more and, I hate to brag, but she's SO DARN ADORABLE!  She is seriously so stinkin' fun right now.  She's so smiley and happy and full of giggles and hugs.  My-oh-my, I love her so!

Here's what she's doing now:

• She's walking!  She is still slow and won't walk very far on her own, but she is definitely walking.  She loves to start walking and then look around to see who's watching.  As soon as we recognize her efforts she sports the HUGEST grin.  She's pretty proud of her grand accomplishment.  
• She loves to play hide-n-seek. We'll hide and as soon as she finds us, she just bursts out in giggles.  
• She started this new thing while eating.  She'll be eating something and then if I present something new that she wants in her mouth right away, she'll spit out whatever she currently has in her mouth to try the new thing.  Stinker!
• Her hair is growing like a weed!  And, as it has gotten fuller and longer it has developed some slight natural curl.  Oh, it's so cute/pretty!
• She loves to wave and say "hi" or bye."
• She is the best little dancer.  She does it more and more these days.
• She'll actually give me kisses.  If I ask her for a kiss, she'll lean in towards me and kiss me.  
• She has started to try clapping.  She loves to hear the song, "If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands."
• Her favorite kid song is the actual alphabet song.  She gets excited to hear it and tries to sing along to it.  Her favorite church song is, "I Am a Child of God" and she also "sings" along to it as well.
• She just got over Roseola.  She did okay, but was pretty miserable/sad for about 4 days. 
• She's a little climber.  She's started to get brave and is trying to climb up on things.  Along with that, she's pretty well mastered the stairs (yay!).
• She loves to play with and explore toys.  She often begs to go down to our playroom to play.
• She loves the animals even more now.  She loves to hear the animal sounds.  She gets way excited about horses and dogs.  She'll go to the back window just to look out at the barn and see the horses.  And, quite honestly, she'll also pretend to ride a horse.  It's amazing.  She's going to be a natural on those ponies we have out back.
• She is getting more "tolerable" of books now and actually enjoys us reading to her.  YAY, YAY, YAY! Her favorite book right now is her birth story book I wrote for her, "Once Upon a Baby Adeline."  I think she loves all the pictures.  We probably read that book to her 3 times a day.

Now,  I'm off to go play with, snuggle, and laugh with my sweet pea . . . . because I can't help it! 

1 Year Old - Sweet Addie Baby

Well, we celebrated baby Adeline's first birthday!  None of us can believe that it's been a year since this sweet girl made her grand appearance on Earth.  She's DEFINITELY a girl worth celebrating and we had fun doing it!  We had a big family birthday party.

We didn't have a major theme, but we decorated with light pink and gold.  I made this banner that highlighted the first year of her life.  It included pictures from when she was born, and then monthly pictures all the way up to her first birthday.

We started with a big family dinner.  During dinner everyone wrote Addie a birthday wish/love note that I'll save for her forever.  The notes were so sweet and a pure testament that Addie is dearly loved by all.

Everyone mingled, ate, and took turns holding and playing with the birthday girl.  We felt so loved by everyone who attended!  Including Adeline's Birth Mommy.  We were delighted that she could make it and that she could help us celebrate this special day.  She holds such a dear place in all of our hearts.  We love her to pieces.

Adeline & her Birth Mommy

After dinner we opened gifts.  Evie was such a good helper during this part.  Addie was spoiled, and spoiled, and spoiled some more!

Then it was time for dessert.  I made Addie her very own cake (which was really a healthy version of banana bread) while the rest of us got homemade cupcakes.

Addie had fun tasting and digging in her cake.

We seriously love this sweet pea more than words can say.  She is such a sweet, sweet baby and her personality is a delight.  She blesses our lives every. single. day!

Here's what she's doing now:

• She makes a clicking sound with her tongue.
• She's almost walking.  She can balance and stand on her own.  She can walk while holding our hands (or even just one hand).  She hasn't yet taken any steps by herself.  If she wasn't such a cautious child, I'm sure she would be all over this.  However, she likes to be careful.  I cannot complain!
• About one week before her birthday she started cutting her molars.  Staying true to her patterns, she's not just breaking one at a time.  She's getting FOUR . . . one on each gum!  Our nights/naps have been rough as her mouth has been hurting her.  She's still working on getting them all up through the gums, so we've probably got another week or so to go before those molars are all the way here. 
• She said her first word . . . at least the first word we can clearly understand.  It's "duck."  Beau was reading an animal book with her and she repeated "duck" as they were reading.  So cute!  She can also say "num num" while eating.  
• She wants to be where everyone is.  She wants to play with Evie all of the time.  If there are other kids around, she wants to be right in the action with them all.
• She is actually waving now . . . you know, to say "hello" or "goodbye."  So cute!  
• She love to "play ball" by rolling a ball back and forth.  
• She definitely uses immature margining (gibberish that sounds like a foreign language).
• Her favorite play place is the bathroom.  She's constantly checking to see if we've left that door open.  If so, she makes a run for it and unrolls the toilet paper as quickly as possible.  And, she'll even splash in the toilet if we've accidentally left the lid up.  Stinker!
• She's a pretty good eater.  She'll try anything, but if she tries something and doesn't really want to eat it, she won't.  She loves anything with GOOD flavor.  She doesn't want bland of anything.  She loves just about anything Mexican, veggies, fruits, snack foods (like crackers, Goldfish, etc.), and Thai/Curry (thank goodness . . . since that is a family staple around here!).
• We switched her over from Formula to Whole Milk.  She LOVES it.  She's seriously drinking us out of house & home.  I think a lot of it comes from the fact that she's teething so intensely right now and drinking from the bottle is much easier and more soothing on her than actually eating.  But, that said . . . I think we're spending more on whole milk than we did on formula.  She seriously loves it!
• She loves to play chase.  We say, "I'm gonna get you," and she crawls as fast as she can away from us.  When we reach her, she busts out into infectious giggles.  
• She started playing peek-a-boo on her own.  She'll cover her face with her blanket and then quickly remove it.  That's when I'll say, "Peek-a-Boo."  She giggles and giggles and then repeats the sequence.  It's so dang cute!

Adeline's Stats at 12 Months:

Weight:  81%tile

Length:  60%tile

Head:  85%tile

Happy first birthday, my sweet, sweet baby girl!

Christmas Fun in 2015

This past December has been FULL of Christmas fun.  It's been a blast to have little Evie be SO excited about everything Christmas.  She's been excited about everything from baby Jesus, to Santa, to singing Christmas songs (and having multiple dance parties to them), and much more.

So, here's our holiday wrap-up.

We kicked the holidays off by attending the extended Parker family Christmas party.  We had tons of fun with Grandpa George, Grandma Ellie & other family members.  Evie & Addie even got to sit on Santa's lap.  Evie asked for Christmas trees, while Addie actually sat still and didn't even cry.  I was shocked by that.

The girls with their Grandpa George & Grandma Ellie.

The very next day we were on our way to find and cut our Christmas tree in the woods.  This is a family-favorite tradition and we were all so excited to go.  It started so well.  The girls were thrilled with the snow and being outside in it.  By the time we found our "perfect" tree, the girls were cold and by the time we got them to the truck they were both in tears.  I jumped in the truck with the girls and turned on the heater while Beau went back to haul our tree off the mountain and into our truck.  Beau and I just had a good chuckle when it was all said and done.  This obviously documents our current stage of life very well.  :)

And, we had a lot of fun decorating the tree too.  The girls loved every part of it.  Oh, they are so darn adorable!

I go to the Festival of Trees every year with my mom.  This year my dad joined us since his office is so close to the Festival.  We love seeing all of the creative trees, quilts, gingerbread houses, and more.

There is a little kid area where the kids can do activities.  Evie is old enough to do them so she had fun. Santa is also there.  And, this encounter went down just as I had suspected.  Evie LOVED Santa.  She just sat and chatted with him as if they were best friends.  She told him all about her cute shirt and how it has a snowman and snowflakes on it.  She told him she wants Christmas trees and candy canes for Christmas.  Adeline broke out into tears the second she was placed on Santa's lap.  She was so terrified and upset to be given to such a strange looking man.  I only tortured her long enough to get a picture.

Beau and I attended an ugly sweater party.   Beau's sweater was to-die-for!  We borrowed it from a friend who had taken from her mother-in-law's closet when she passed away.  The sweater was totally legit . . . price tag was still on it and was priced at $118.  We were all amazed!

We attended our church Christmas party where they had a fun dress-up activity for the kids.  Evie LOVED this and dressed up as just about every character in the nativity story.  Adel got dressed up by default.  They are pretty darn cute if you ask me!

We go to the Voice Male concert every year.  They are totally family friendly and super entertaining.  It's become tradition and we didn't quit this year.  We took both girls and they both loved it.  They loved the lighting, the music, and the treats.  Evie danced in the isle, while Addie bounced in our arms.  It was fun.

We have an Elf on the Shelf.  Evie's birth grandma gave it to Evie for Christmas this year.  She gifted it early enough for us to enjoy it throughout the entire holiday season.  Evie LOVED it.  She named her Snowflake and loved looking for her every morning (Snowflake would watch her all day, go to the North Pole at night to report to Santa on Evie's good/bad behavior, and then come back to our house . . . usually finding a new place to sit).  One really fun event that happened with Snowflake had to do with new snow boots.  We had gotten a LOT of snow mid-December and Evie really needed new snow boots.  So, Evie told Snowflake and, amazingly, she told Santa and Santa sent Snowflake back to our house with new snow boots for Evie.  Evie was THRILLED!  It was a sad day when Snowflake went back to the North Pole with Santa for good.  She went back with him when Santa stopped at our house on Christmas Eve.

As usual, we enjoyed so much Christmas fun with family.  We went to our annual Christmas party with Beau's mom and step dad.  Everyone was able to attend and we had a ball.  We ate good food, opened lots of gifts, played games, played the chimes and Evie decorated a gingerbread house with her cousin HaLee and aunt Amber.  We all couldn't get enough of our newest member of the family, McKinlee.  However, Evie takes the cake on us all.  She is smitten with baby Kinlee and wants to hold, kiss, and admire her every second.

Christmas Eve was spent with our little family of four.  I made a BBQ ribs dinner, the girls opened their Christmas PJ's, we read the Christmas story of how baby Jesus came to Earth, decorated sugar cookies, and went to bed.  It was fun to have this special time together.

Christmas morning was a riot.  Evie was so dang excited.  She was beyond thrilled when she saw that Santa came and wanted to tear everything open immediately.  We calmed her down enough to open one present at a time and to take turns with Adel, mom & dad.  Highlights:  Evie's favorite gift was her scooter (with the monster slippers taking a close 2nd).  Adel's favorite gift was the yogurt bites (found in her stocking).  Mom also was gifted a scooter (so now Evie and I can ride scooters together).  Evie gave daddy a pair of pop guns so they can play guns together.

We took off to visit my family for our traditional Christmas morning breakfast.  We were spoiled again with gifts and good food.  We had fun visiting with family, playing games, and eating yummy treats. I was so happy my sister made it home for Christmas (in spite of the snowy weather).

And, Christmas night we headed off to visit Beau's dad and step mom.  We were again spoiled with gifts, good food, and fun.  Grandma Ellie had a fun puppet nativity for us to do.  Uncle Bronco read the Christmas story out of the scriptures, while the kids held up the puppets in front of a flashlight . . . where the images then showed up on the wall.  We read the story about four times, holding up the puppets when it was their turn in the story, because Evie and HaLee loved it so much.  They took turns with different puppets and then holding the flashlight.

Christmas was busy and fun.  We enjoyed spending so much time with family and soaking in the Christmas spirit.  The past couple of days we have just been trying to spend a little down-time together.

Because of all the snow we've received lately, Evie even got some sledding in.  Our piles of snow that have been created from the aftermath of shoveling our driveway are perfect toddler-size hills for sledding.  Evie was ALL smiles.

We hope you all had a very merry Christmas and we wish you the best that 2016 has to offer you!

Adeline at 11 Months

Baby Adeline is growing so darn fast!  Oh, but she's SO much fun.  Her personality continues to emerge and it's so delightful.  She's easily excited about things and teaches us all to find joy in the little things.  She's such a happy baby.

Here's what she's doing now.

• She's singing.  You know . . . that cute baby way of singing.  When music comes on or when we sing, she "tries" to sing along with us.  
• She's "bouncing" much more regularly and more consistently to music.  She's going to be such a good singer and dancer.  :)
• She's getting more proficient at walking while holding onto things.  She's even starting to walk while holding onto our hands.  We've also caught her balancing without holding onto something . . . but this doesn't last more than a second at a time.  Needless to say, she's well on her way towards walking independently.
• She's even more vocal now than she has been.  She will rarely sit in silence now days.  She's almost always babbling something fancy.
• This past month little Addie caught a sinus infection.  She only had a few really rough days before the antibiotics started working and then she returned to her happy and pleasant self.
• She can point or gesture to something to get what she needs.
• She is able to say "dada" and "mama" discriminately.
• She responds to one-step commands without gestures (I'll say "no touchies" and she'll take her hand off of whatever I've warned her about).
• She LOVES playing in the dishwasher.
• She wants whatever Evie has.  It's humorous to watch sometimes.  There can be 15 other toys around, but she usually wants what Evie has at that moment.  
• She still loves to play with Evie.  Evie can make her laugh hysterically . . . especially when playing peek-a-boo type games.  
• She's a pretty good eater.  She's eating more and more solids and tends to want to try EVERYTHING we are eating.  She still loves her bottles too. 
• She's a cautious child.  She's so careful when working with stairs/steps.  She's careful when she has to get herself out of sticky situations (like when she crawls into places that aren't as easy to crawl out of).  She just seems to be "aware" of dangerous situations and handles them with ease.
• She looks to me for approval as if saying, "Is it okay that I play with this toy?" or "Is this person really okay to smile at?" or "Is it okay if I eat this crumb off of the floor?"  And . . . a myriad of other situations.

She's seriously the cutest and we're all so blessed to have her sweet soul in our family.  We can never seem to get enough of her.   

Evie is 3 1/2

Our Evie doll is a whopping 3 1/2 years old.  She's amazing in all sorts of ways!  She's at such a fun age where we probably should be writing things down at least once a day of things she says or does.  She is full of personality and loaded with confidence.  She keeps us entertained, on our toes, and young-at-heart.

Here are a few highlights of Evie at 3 1/2.

• She loves to sing and dance.  She constantly asks to have dance parties.  We oblige, of course.  She'll tell us that the music is "making her bones move."  It's also VERY common to see her lip-sinking, while she pretends to hold a microphone, as she dances.  She loves her kid music, but she's starting to really like pop music too.  Some of her favorite songs include Geronimo (Shepperd), Fight Song (Rachel Platten), Shake It Off (Taylor Swift), What Makes You Beautiful (One Direction), Heartbeat Song (Kelly Clarkson), Call Me Maybe (Carly Rae Jepsen), Celebration (Kool & The Gang), All about the Bass (Meghan Trainor), Happy (Pharrell Williams), and Sugar (Moroon 5).  
• She loves to pull funny faces.  Her favorite one right now is with crossed eyes (see picture below).
• She LOVES anything Halloween.  And . . . it's not just because we just had the holiday.  We're constantly talking about "spooky" things.  They really aren't that spooky, but she loves to talk about Halloween figures (mummies, zombies, witches, ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, etc.).
• While Halloween is over and we're still talking about it, she is already starting to transition to Christmas.  It probably helped that her Grandma Yvette gave her an Elf on the shelf (Thanks!  She loves it!) who has taken on the name Snowflake thanks to Evie.  We've already started the Christmas music in our house (her request, but I certainly didn't object) and she's soaking in all the songs.  It's amazing how fast this girl learns and can retain information.  
• We didn't enroll her in Preschool this year.  She is so bright and already knows all the things she would learn . . . . at least scholastically.  I think I've written this previously (because she's known most of this for a while now), but she knows all her ABC's by sight and sound, she knows her numbers by sight and sound, she can count to 20, she's even starting to ask me how to read words (so I'll sound it out for her).  We know there are more aspects to learn at preschool such as sharing, playing with kids, listening to a teacher and following instructions, etc.  However, we waited so long for our sweet Evie, that we just couldn't give her up for the time she would spend in preschool when she already knows so much.  Instead, we decided to spend our money doing something different that would still help to teach her the other skills she would possibly acquire and . . . 
• She started gymnastics and LOVES it.  This kid is a machine and is built so athletically.  She constantly amazes her teachers with what she can physically do at her age.  Besides learning how to do front rolls, swing on the bars, balance on a beam, do backbends, etc., she's also learning how to take turns, listen to a teacher, follow instructions, etc.  It's been fabulous!
• She loves playing with "friends."  I'll set play dates up for her and she is in heaven.
• It probably goes without saying, but she still loves the animals and the farm.  She loves to feed with her dad.  She loves to ride the horses even more than she has before.  She loves the kitty cats.  Most of all . . . she loves her baby chicks.  Even when they aren't babies anymore, she still calls them her baby chicks, chases them, catches them, and loves them to death. 
• She really does love her baby sister.  She is really good to her (with very few exceptions).  I love to watch her be sweet and loving to her sister.  She helps her out, loves to do things to make her laugh, and constantly wants to hold her.
• Speaking of her baby sister . . . Evie also just loves babies.  She recently got a new baby cousin and Evie talks about her constantly.  We're getting another baby cousin in January and Evie cannot wait for her to come!  Evie talks to this baby cousin through her aunt's belly.  She even gives her kisses (on her aunt's belly).  
• We play "Barbies" a lot.  It's probably one of her favorite things to play while we're in our play room.  She always instructs me on how we play.  I'm always the mommy Barbie, while she is the kid Barbies.  
• She is a natural-born leader.  She is usually the one telling everyone what to do (or what NOT to do).  She's like that with me and Beau, but she's also like that with other kids and adults.  Some may say she's bossy, but I like to say she's got killer leadership abilities.  :)
• She's way into anything Hello Kitty. . . . from underwear to toys.  
• She loves to wear princess shoes everywhere!  And, I usually let her.  It's pretty funny.
• She likes to tell boys/men that they are her "good buddy."  So, she will put her arm around Beau and say, "Dad, you're my good buddy."  She'll tell me, "Mom, you're my good big girl."  Sometimes she'll say, "Mom, you're my good mom."  It's pretty darn cute!
• She still loves to be held and wants to "snuggle/cuddle" every night with me or Beau at bedtime.  She's really hard to resist in such moments.
• She loves to do anything active.  She wants to exercise or run with me, she loves riding her bike or tricycle, she loves to run and play at the park, or really do anything active.  She's like the Energizer Bunny . . . her energy just keeps going and going and going.  
• She loves to play games.  Her brain is amazing at figuring out stuff so games are a fun challenge for her.
• She's way into emotions.  She'll say things like, "I'm mad now." or "I'm angry." or "I'm happy."  or "I'm so excited."  We talk through them all.  Depending on the emotion I will usually follow up one of her statements with, "Why are you mad/angry/happy/excited."  It's insightful and pretty darn cute.
• She still loves to do anything that allows her to be creative.  She's getting better at coloring and actually realizing that you're supposed to color within the lines.  She loves painting, using stamps,  play-dough, etc.
• She loves to talk with her dad about big bucks.  She was elated when Beau brought home his big buck from the latest rifle hunt.  She wanted to get a picture with it.  Nevermind that she was just in a t-shirt and underwear when he got home.  She wasn't about to take the time to put pants on before snapping that picture with the big buck.  She's so funny!
• She loves Band-Aids.  Evie will find any excuse to put one on.  She looks for the most minute scratches, and if she can't find one, she'll just make one up.  She currently has princess, Frozen, and Hello Kitty band-aids.  She loves them!
• She loves the snow.  She loves to run in it, make snow angels, make snowmen, and eat it.  
• She got her first haircut finally (in August).  And, it wasn't much.  She just had a couple locks of hair that where considerably longer than the rest of her hair, so I just trimmed those up to match the rest of her hair.  Speaking of her hair though, it's got the perfect amount of natural curl.  I think her hair is so pretty.
• As you can probably gather from all the other notes, Evie is both a tough, farm girl as well as a pretty princess.  She loves to put her boots on and work on the farm, but she also loves to wear her princess clothes and shoes and play Barbies.  She's a good mix of both worlds. 

Beau and I are so honored to be Evie's parents.  We feel blessed in every way.  

Snow Canyon Half Marathon and Half Mile

My brother and I trained for another half marathon.  We thought it would be fun to take a weekend trip to St. George and run the Snow Canyon Half.  

I personally was jazzed about this run because I feel like I didn't really get to train well for my half marathon in June.  Now that sweet Baby Addie is sleeping through the night I was able to get better training milage and much more consistently.  

I also asked Evie if she wanted to run a race too.  She totally did so I signed her up for the Half Mile kids run.  A half mile is kind of a ways to run when you're only three-years-old, but Evie is a go-getter and she's super athletic so I knew she could do it.  

We both practiced.  I did a lot of my miles on the treadmill.  I took Evie to the high school track to practice her half mile.  

We both ran our races and conquered them!

We both got our medals and were thrilled!  

We had a HUGE cheering section too!  

Beau and Adeline were there.  I ran the entire race with my brother, Tyler.  So, obviously he was there.  His family (wife and three kiddos) was there too.  My mom and dad made the trip down to cheer us all on.  Evie's birth grandma and birth aunt were there.  Amber, Beau's sister, also ran the half marathon so she was there.  And, Beau's mom and dad made the trip down to support us all.  My uncle Kelly was there too . . . helping with the race.  It was such a fun family affair.

We are blessed to have such healthy bodies to complete something so physical.  We're even more blessed to be loved by so many!