Kaylie has been wrapping her babies up in blankies and putting them to bed in the corner for a long time, but now she has taken it to a whole new level. She dumps all the toys out of their bins, wraps the babies in blankets, and them uses the bins as beds.
I thought it looked like a hospital nursery with alll the babies lined up in thier isolettes.
maybe not.....now it seems she is playing mortician.
Scroll down for more kaylie posts.
To me, a pumpkin patch is an essential halloween memory, so I was so excited when I found a "pumpkin patch" here in Phoenix. So the pumpkins aren't actually growing in this field. ( I am pretty sure that pumpkins won't grow in the desert), but someone did take them time to unload them off a truck and scatter them in the tall grass like they had grown there.
The rumor is that today was the last 100' day of the year here in the valley of the sun. Which means, that I guess what we have here now is fall. I don't know if I will ever get used to "fall" here, or summer for that matter. Here is our K though- she apparently has no problem with our AZ weather....it just means she has more time to play in the water.
It is official. K has been saying a word that sounds just like Dracula. She only has approximately 10 words that she uses on a regular basis, and so I thought that this word that she says was probably her meaning something else, but no. Sadly it is Dracula. She just walked over to me with a flashcard with "the count" on it and said it...Dracula. Not "doogie", not "kitty", not "sippy"... "Dracula".
On a side note. Dracula, in which she is referring to "the count" is her second sesame street derived word after "Elmo". Two words of ten....way to go Jim Henson. We rarely watch the program, but are not lacking in sesame street paraphernalia...obviously.
It was a year ago this week that I worked last.
And, over the course of the last year, several times I have either saw something I wanted to purchase and decided I missed the money; or saw an episode of Grey's and decided I missed the excitement....or atleast the adult conversation. I would go on Monster and apply for positions, then change my mind and decide someone needed to be here to make the maccaroni and impersonate Elmo.
This time I didn't talk myself out of it along the way, and now that I have a parking pass and badge there is no retreat. I am rationalizing it saying that it is good for Kay,.... that a day or two away from me will be good for her....although I am not sure how I am fairing. Mostly I am not sure how to deal with the guilt. I feel so bad when I pick her up, the rest of the day I let her do whatever she pleases.
Tonight she had two packages of tinkerbell fruit snacks for dinner. Pretty sure she is going to bed at when-ever-she -wants 'o clock too.
Tired yet sleepy K?
So Monday tops the list for most ridiculous days ever. You know a day is ridiculous rather than horrible when you can look back and laugh at its ridiculousness the next day.
Kaylie and I had been in Utah visiting while Jeff was doing some business. We don't like to be alone while he is away, so we tagged along. We did have to come home a few days before him however, and after Monday I am pretty certain I will not be traveling alone with Kaylie any time soon. Not becuase Kaylie was acting...well... like a toddler; but mostly because it seemed everyone that works at the ariport was acting like one.
It starts when we are in the line for security. There is an older couple behind me, and the older man keeps asking the airport staff is someone will please help his wife get to her gate. He is apparently not flying with her today. At least three employees tell him no. He appeals to them saying that his wife has a heart condition, and just looking at her you can see that she is frail. They tell him he should have asked for an escort pass, and no they cannot give one to him now.
I ask the man if he would like me help his wife. Not out of compassion, unfourtunatly. Mostly becuase after twenty minutes of witnessing how ridculously helpless the security staff seem to be, I am furious. ( Those of you who know me well, know how passionate I am about hating poor customer service.)
It was like talking to a machine with those people. It was like they had an algorithm of what to do, and could not come up with any solution using thier own brains. I am wondering if these employees are just very real looking robots....the type one might encounter over the telephone, with only programmed answers...sans heart and brain. I had a good chance to study these "people" as it seemed the aiport is almost entirely staffed with their kind.
Back to our story... now I have a toddler, a frail women, and now three bags that I have to get to two different gates on opposites sides of the airport. We continue through security. Kaylie and I are through...shoes off, shoes on agian. There is a hold up with the elderly women, and I go back to see if I can help.
Apparently this women has not been in an airplane in the past decade, and it seems she has numerous items that appear on the NOT FOR CARRY-ON list in her bag, which she intends to carry on ...not excluding a quart of homeade strawberry jam.
The lady at the security desk tells her she has to go back, and check the jam. This jam making centurian has a flight to catch in twenty minutes. There is no time to check it. I suggest that they throw it away. If you are the grand-daughter who was anticipating this jam in Austin, I am sorry.
Now we are through security, and I can quickly see that we need assistance, so I ask another idiot employee if he can call for a cart or a wheel chair at least. That will be about twenty minutes. WE DON'T HAVE TWENTY MINUTES. There is a couple of wheelchairs over behind secuirty and I ask after them. They look at each other like I have said something in a foriegn languge. Apparently the only answer for getting a wheelchair on thier algoriothm is to call for one. Looking around and seeing if one is available would be to much work.
Before they can answer me I have the old lady in a wheel chair, Kaylie on me hip, and all three of our bags and am headed towards jammy Grandma's gate. I am certain we are a spectacle, although apparently not spectecale enough to warrant assistance from anyone who is employeed for the reason of assistance. We are half way when we are stopped by a fellow passenger who volunteers his assistance.
THANK YOU fair man in the pastel polo. His gate wound up being next to our elderly women's and he said he would help her the rest of the way.
Now Kaylie and I are racing to our gate. I am out of breath.
THANK YOU tall skinny man headed out of E-70 who offers to carry our carry-on. We make it just in time for Kaylie to lie down in the middle of walking traffic and put her head on the airport carpet trying to rest, before we are boarding.
Seated next to us is a extra large man. I was already dreading a flight with a wiggly toddler in my lap, and now we have even less room than normal. THANK YOU large man whose eldest is headed for UofA in the fall. After the seat belt light went off, he moved to the only empty seat in the whole plane leavng Kaylie with a seat of her own. He said he was going to move so she could have it. Maybe he was just tired of all the climbing, noises, and kicking that accompanies a toddler on an airplane. Either way it made the next two hours bareable.
The ride was un-eventful, except for another encounter with a ridiculous stewardess. I asked the women for a bottle of water, and cup of ice. Not becuase I am picky, but becuase I know that water without a lid is likely to wind up in my lap in the prescence of K. She hands me a cup of water. I hesitate, and try to give it back.
"What is this?" she asks.
The water you just gave me.
"You don't want it anymore?"
No, she will spill this.
"So is it garbage?"
Sure...yeah...it can be garbage. I am completely baffled at this womens density.
"I cannot accept garbage at this time."
Solutions people. If you are in the businees of customer service, answers are not answers unless they are solutions.....that sounds like a good business motto.
She walks by with her cart and I pour the cup of water into the carpet.
Then I sit back and start thinking about what it will take to get us the rest of the way home........CAR KEYS.
They are with Jeff in Utah.
I get to the ridiculously difficult to navigate Phoenix airport, and know that I am locked out of my car...and my house.
I rent a car and a car seat. It is broken. They have a dozen or so to chose from and not a single seat seems road worthy. I point out to the Enterprise assitant that it is the law to replace car seats every five years, and these all seem at least that old. His lack of apathy is not suprising today. He tells me he has no kids so he doesn't know if these are good of bad child seats. Bad....I tell him, very bad.
I am driving home in our rented Impala, kaylie has fallen asleep, and I now have to figure out how to break into our home. Jeff calls me and suggests that it will be easier to break into the car. We can use the garage door opener to get in. I turn the car around.
We drive back towards where my car is parked, and I located a help call box.
THANK YOU parking garage engineer. Your descion to place this box on the outside of the elevators allows me to drive right up and call to see if someone will help me break into my locked car....keeping Kaylie in the car asleep. Someone is coming to help me. We drive to where our locked car is parked.
THANK YOU Heavenly Father. The only open parking space in the whole row is directly next to our locked car and I can park right next to it while I wait for assistance. It takes them thirty minutes to come, and Kaylie get to sleep the whole time since I didn't have to get her out to wait next to our locked car. This is huge.
Now we have a way to get into the house....and a descent seat. The car alarm that went off while we are breaking into my car has woken K up, but we are twenty minutes from home, and we have survived. I know that I can get the spare keys to my car at home, turn the Impala around and return it then take the shuttle back to the airport, then a shuttle to the parking garage and retrieve my car, but the task seems daunting after today, and with a toddler I feel like it is more than I can handle.
THANK YOU to the sweet, extremely pregnany]t woman, and her tall and slender husband...you know who you are... for helping me get my rental car back, and watching K. I was overwhelmed to the point of tears when I thought about returning to the airport. Thanks for sparing me that experience.
I know this blog is mostly a proud mommy blog and picts of Kaylie. That being said, you know it has to be big if I blog about it and it is not K. related. That and, like I said I have a passion for hating companies with poor customer serivce. After everything from the day, two things stickout in my mind...how ridiculous people employeed at the airport were and all the tender little mercies we were given along the way.
When we were leaving my parents house the morning of the preceeding story my dad asked me..."Would you ever let me fly you and Kaylie?" I said no. The risk of private planes is not something I'd like on my daughter.
Dad, I am reconsidering your offer now.
Family picts on the beach -Kaylie her usual grumpy picture taking self. She is a joy all of the time, but the we try to take a picture of her and she throws a giant tantrum. I cannot figure it out. Pictures with her making a plain face rather than and angry face were the best we could get.
My dad and little sister are in Tanzania this month. They sent this email to my mom yesterday.
"I only have a couple of minutes. I'll try and write more later
We made it!!!! Very hard!!!! Maybe 150 started and only 12 finished. We were two of them. Our trip is going absolutely perfect. No problems at all. Very safe here.
I miss you a ton!!!! Can't wait to tell you all the details.
Ali says she loves you and miss you a bunch too. "
Sounds like they made it; the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. I am so proud of them, but had no doubts they would do it. My dad thinks he is Indiana Alan and that little sister of mine is the toughest cookie I know. I am really proud of them...proud and a little jealous.
What and awesome experience.
This girl keeps me laughing....she is the silliest.
She is learning how to dress herself lately. Today she has decided that swim diapers work well as hats and sleeves.
We hope everyone had a fun fourth of july....here is a picture of K. doing what she could to stay cool at a city celebration over the holiday.
We sing the song "Survivor" by Beyonce at our house. It is Kaylie's theme song. I have no doubt that if my daughter was born hundreds of years ago and had to be a "hunter or gatherer" she would have had no problem. Survival of the fitest would not have left her behind. She has mad survivor skills.
All for the sake of hunger and a complete love for anything edible she has....
At 7 months old she found a tangerine in the back of the car, peeled it and ate it while buckled in her car seat. I was driving....completely unaware.
At 8 months she learned that if ever she was hungry there was alway food under her high chair and she could just crawl over there. I suppose that is why she threw so much of it on the floor while she was eating. Saving some for a long winter a.k.a another time when food was not so readily available to her.
As soon as she could walk she started going into the pantry and helping herself to whatever struck her fancy.
I have seen her catch flies and frogs with her bare hands.....don't worry I don't let her eat these.
She has been known to go and get washclothes, still wet from morning baths and suck them for water.
Last month she figured out how to open the frezzer and get herself popsicles.
Today she got into the diaper bag, found a granola bar, opened the wrapper and ate...no porblem. Should a 14 month old know how to do this?
And if worse comes to worse, she knows she can always turn to the dog. Not her favorite option, but hey if you are starving?
And I feed her four meals a day and multiple snacks....really I do.
I'm a survivor (what),
I'm gonna make it (what),
I will survive (what),
Keep on survivin'
* Today jeff handed her back a boxed happy meal, thinking she would look at the characters on the box and be entertained with them until we got home to eat. Oh no.... when I got her out of her carseat in the back she was slready working on her fries. It is like she barely needs us anymore.
If there ever is a Sound of Music remake, I will be suprised if it is not shot in Heber and Midway. It is so gorgeous. I couldn't get over how beautiful everything is this summer.
We were in Heber for a few days to see my little sis graduate from Wasatch. Go Sis! She is going to Utah State like me to so... Go Aggies!
Some pictures of Kaylie in my parents yard. There really was a ton of good ones, but I kept it to four for the blog.
I love the way her face is in a question the same time the flower is drooping.
A few weeks ago, Crystal and Jake came down for a little visit. While they were there we took the chance to take the girls to the children's museum. It was so great. If any of you are every in the Phoenix area with your young kids you will have to let us take you. Everything was geared towards toddlers but even as an adult I was entertained by it all.
My favorite thing was this pretend grocery store. When I was little, my parents would take Crystal and me to the children's museum in Boston and our favorite thing was the little grocery store there. We used to go the first Friday of every month in Massachutes becuase it was free. Funny enough....the Phoenix museum is free on the first Friday too. Twenty plus years later it seems they are running children's museums the same way.
It is working I guess
We are swimming about everyday, and kaylie is really starting to get the hang of it. She even tries to blow her water wings up herself.
Happy Cinco De Mayo!
Also, does anyone remember the movie Goonies......what child of the 80's doesn't right. Kaylie reminds me of Sloth in the second picture.
......a cute Sloth.
I know I am a mean mom.
I am obssesive compulsive at times.....a hypochodriac, nuerotic worrier too. I hate that I am that way. It can be a tiresome habit.
The H1N1 virus appeared in the headlines this past weekend, and I have been diligently watching CNN. I have made the CDC website one of my computers favorites, as well as many of the links Crystal put here .
I decided today to not take Kaylie to the library per the usual. Limit our public exposure.
I just got back from the Walmart where I purchased all the things the CDC is recommending to have on hand for the pending pandemic as well as filling the holes in our food storage....
I was not the only one there stocking up.
Many people I noticed had on latex gloves. All the hand sanitizer has been bought up... masks too. I went to Walgreens and it was the same story.
Many of the schools are closing here in Phoenix.
I know I am always the first to worry, just wondering if you are worried to.
Hopefully we will all look back on this in a month, and sigh....smiling at ourselves for being so worked up. Hopefully.
This is a spash pad near our house. Kids and water...it couldn't get any better in Kaylie's opinon. These picts were taken with a phone, but you get the idea.
Our little K is spending more of her time walking than she does crawling these days. It happened so fast; a week ago she was only learning to take a step or two, and now she is cruising. The beginning of this video she is actually video taping herself, and then at the very end she starts to throw a fit.....why? Because our daughter is either a narcissist or the next Hollywood starlet. K wants me to give her the camera. She is in love with herself on screen and cannot get enough of herself performing. I am finding that I get the video camera out less becuase of the tantrums over the camera.
Even if I am at the computer she will come over and stand next to the chair, arms in the air asking to be picked up. I cannot get her to watch cartoons for 10 minutes, but she will sit on my lap on the computer and watch home videos of herself for an hour. I find it hilarous....
Maybe she'll do comedies.
We had a b-day party for Kaylie last week. We celebrated with my family, that was visiting from Utah and our AZ family, the Lukes. Kaylie was really in to it all. She understood opening presents......
Kaylie is a year old today and I am so sad my little girl has grown up so fast. Everyday we have so much fun as she learns to do new things. A little about Kaylie at one.
she weighs 22 lbs.
she has 4 teeth.
she has taken 15 steps in a row.
she has slept through the night once.
she can say mama, dada, night-night, hi, nose.
she loves ballons, books, food, bubbles, babies and kids, toby, birds, airplanes, flowers, mirrors, elmo, puzzles, photos, and car keys.
her favorite things are swimming, reading, music, playing buckin' bronco, swinging, and bathing.
her best tricks include standing up, walking, clapping, waving, tickling, playing peek-a-boo, pointing to things when you name them, getting undressed, climbing the stairs, high-fives, giving toby love, giving kisses and talking on the cell phone.
her favorite foods are blueberries, tomatoes peaches, oranges, chicken noodle soup, spaghetti, beans, guacamole, turkey, ice cream, juice boxes, and ice.
she doesn't like sitting down, sleeping, brushing her teeth, riding in the car, the blender, things in her hair or baby food.
Last year on this day, in the first few hours of our little girls life, I remember my first thoughts.... that she was the most precious thing I had ever seen...that I was instantly head over heels in love with her. I remember thinking that she looked like a rock star... mostly because the nurses had but a neon orange and lime green bow in her hair. I remember we called her baby girl, because we had yet to decide on her name, and I was in complete in awe that she was ours....still am.
I don't follow basketball closely so I will not be posting about the real march madness, that is just what we have been calling it around here lately. This month has been and will continue to be crazy busy. Every day but three this month we have either had a visitor, or been visiting. I usually give Jeff a hard time when he posts things, becuase they are tooo long, but this is pretty long too...sorry!
Hey Daddy! Let me into the backyard!!! Kaylie is as mobile as ever. She hasn't exactly got the walking thing down, but she can go wherever she wants as long as there is something to hold onto.
Mommy! Let me in!!! The one thing that we know for sure is that Kaylie is in love with the water! She would spend all day splashing and playing if we let her. Even before she gets her swimsuit on, all she wants is to be in the water.
Speaking of loving the water. The funniest thing happened! We were in the pool and Toby (our beagle) was barking like crazy because we were in the pool and he wasn't. Well, next thing we know, we hear a splash and here he comes. He found a floatie and jumped right on. Also, the picture of the splash is me jumping into the pool. Since I'm in the middle of a "Biggest Loser" competition and I don't want to show how far I've come, this is the only picture I'm revealing at this time (more out of embarrassment than anything)!
He is finally here. Crystal and Jake had there baby boy Monday, and boy is he a cutie. I can hardly stand not being out in UT to see him and already have big plans to meet him soon. I think the next best thing to having a new baby around your house is having your sister have a new baby around her house. I couldn't be more happy for them. Congrats you guys.
Any resemblance between the cousins?
Samuel
Kate
Kaylie
It's never easy leaving a beautiful wife and amazing little girl at home, even if for just a short week. It makes it even harder with Kaylie being at that age where everyday brings something new and exciting. I keep thinking of that commercial where the Dad keeps taking pictures of the stuffed monkey until he gets home. Well, I haven't purchased a stuffed animal (who knows, maybe tomorrow!) but this is my attempt to check in at home and let my girls know how much I love them!!!
In order to get a visual, the picture below (The one above is of Kaylie in my chair at work in Scottsdale)is a picture of the back of the clubhouse here at Oneida Golf and Country Club in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
As you can tell, this isn't exactly the prime time of year to be visiting out here. And as you can see, I'm not out here golfing!!! I am pretty sure the high today did not get above freezing and I heard that Scottsdale was around 85 degrees!!!
Anyway, I just want my precious wife to know how much I love her and miss her. She truely is the greatest wife and mom anyone can ask for. She has done an amazing job raising our gem of a little girl and I am very excited to get back on Friday to see them both.
Love ya tons!!!
I realize that the past few weeks have been even more uber momifed than even they normally are....so for all you readers out there who would like something to read that is more intresting than playgound gossip, check out these blogs...amazing women who somehow seem to have it all, and do it all... well. Plus the images on thier pages are amazing.
www.stephmodo.com
www.designmom.com
www.jordanferney.blogspot.com
www.ohjoyblogs.com
inchmark.squarespace
katiedid.squarespace
This post is indulgent, but I could not help myself....I am in love with my little gilr today. And since her dada is away from us right now, I thought he might enjoy this post as well. It seems everyday our Kay grows up so much and I wanted to capture the last 24 hours.
1. Kaylie came with me to primary yesterday, where I attempted to play the piano and occupy her simutaneously. She showed me...she know just what to do with pianos and when I would play, she stood on her tip toes and played the keys as well. Then one of the teachers took her and held her while we had music time. They were all sitting in a circle, and I could just see it on her face how delighted she was to be with all the big kids. Every minute or so, she would look over at me to make sure I was still there and then she would giggle when she saw, that I saw, what a big girl she was.
2. We went to the grocery store today where we ran into a girl from our ward. After stopping to say hi and talk for a second, we went our different ways. " See ya later...bye...and kaylie is waving her little bye bye hand without being promted.
3. Kaylie has an stuffed elephant in her bed and when I put her down to sleep I pull his tail and he makes a song. I put her down for her morning nap and she slept for an hour and a half. I was just thinking that she had been asleep a long time when I heard her musical elephant start. I went in to find my girl rocking her stuffed puppy and of course making music from the elephant to help him fall asleep too.
Today it is fun to be mom.
Day one down...ten to go, or so I am told. We were looking forward to a long three day weekend, a celebration of Kaylie's 10 months and valentines. That is until we woke up Friday morning to find a spot covered daughter. Do kids even get chicken pox anymore? I thought since the vaccine was so popular, it wasn't so commonplace. Apparently infants carry their mothers antibodies for chicken pox for around 9 months, but are not eligible for the immunization until 12 months leaving a three months window where they are vulnerable to the virus. And poor miss K. picked it up somewhere just in time. It only furthers my feeling that Arizona is like a second world country at least in some areas and especially when it comes to the healthcare system....another post for another day. In the meantime has anyones kids had the pox, and if so what did you do to soothe them? She is actually handling it quite well, itchy, but not fussy about it...though she is not sleeping well. We did make a stop to the Walgreen's on our way home from the pediatricians to stock up on oatmeal and that pink anti-itch lotion...and of course a princess tea set since we are feeling sorry for ourselves today.
I took some picts of kay for valentines day and added some text with an editing feature...I like the block one especcially, but look at those eyes too!
Jeff and I went to the movies for the first time in 10 months. In pre-Kaylie days we would go and see the latest shows once or twice a month for fun or if for any other reason so we could be in the loop when we taught the high school kids Sunday school, but we are more likely to Redbox it these days. That is untill our recent drive in discovery. This weekend we went and saw "He is just not that into you" and "Seven pounds" at the double feature drive in movies. We put up our beach chairs, filled the back seat of my Rodeo with pillows and blankets and watched the newest releases. At first Kaylie was excited to peek out the window and watch, but when she got tired we just put her to sleep in her make shift bed in the back of the car and didn't have to worry about disturbing the other movie-goers if she woke up or cryed or whatever. It was only $6 for both shows and we could bring our own treats....fabulous!
Yesterday Jeff took Kaylie to teach her to have a love for golf. They went to the FBR open here in Scottsdale and watched the pro's. They saw all the big name players practicing for the tournament this weekend. Chris DiMarco (if you are not a golf fan, one of the top players) and his wife even came up to Jeff and Kaylie to say hello, sign her ticket and tell Jeff she was beautiful. I am sure glad they had a fun time on their first daddy - daughter date.
Here they are watching the players hit at the driving range
Here they are...that is Stuart Applebee in the background
Watching golf makes your mom sleepy too baby girl
Are you sick of this...
Could you use a little more of this...
Maybe a trip to vist us in AZ is in order....you are always welcome, the guest bedroom is ready, and the pool is getting warmer everday!
So I know I have been MIA for almost a month....it has been BUSY here....but here I am again. Just wanted to share some of my top new finds since moving here to Arizona.
#1 Shane's Rib Shack....if any of you have had smokehouse in Orem, it is like that only more messy and more delicousousness.
#2 Chick-Fil-a....most of you are probably thinking about that disgusting booth in the mall, but here they are free standing restaurants like a Burger King would be. I could write an entire post about this place. We don't eat Wendy's nuggets anymore. The chicken is so good and stands alone, but then they have a Polynesian sauce and a house sauce that are finger lickin good as well. And they are so tailored to kids here. On Tuesdays they get a free 4 piece meal, fruit cup and juice, they have little sanitizer towelettes to wipe down hands after playing in the play area, and they even give you kids place mats for them to eat off of.
#3 Smoothie King....I know they have these all over, and their smoothies are delicious, but they get a mention for also giving kids free smoothies. One day a week they have parent appreciation day, and if you go in with your kid, they make them a smoothie to, on the house.
#4 Woody's frozen yogurt...we just found this place since the second move, and it is going to be hard to keep ourselves from it... especially since it is only a 5 minute walk from the house. If any of you Wasatchers remember Carolines frozen yogurt at the Tri-Mart, this is what it reminds me of. They have 8 flavors of yogurt at a time, but there are always new flavors to try, andthey charge by the ounce so you can get more or less....more please.
#5 Marshall's Home Goods...this is like the best TJ Maxx you have every seen. The one here is so nice, and it is the size of a Walmart. They carry high quality brands ( I have seen Seven Jeans there for 29.00), but my favortie stuff is in the home section. I could honeslty spend hours, not to mention a lot of money in that store.
Hey, what can I say...I like eating out and I love a bargain.
Please scroll down to the bottom of our blog and pause the music player....you HAVE to hear this. Our little girl knows her dolphins and speaks their language too. To bad she won't be running into any porpoises out here in the desert.
Number one is up and number two is on it's way. Two front teeth for christmas are certainly in order. I don't think she will be wishing us "merry christmas" however...with or with out teeth, that is just to much for an 8 month old to say
I am having this problem when I try to post pictures. Instead of uploading the picture when I am writing the post, it uploads all the computer languge for it. It makes it so I can't arrange picts and text the way I want. Someone please help. what do I do so it shows the picts
We thought we would try out the zoo, now that Kaylie is a little older and it is finally cooler out here. The zoo is huge,and Kaylie took it all in. She was just about as intrested in all the other kids running around as she was with the animals. You can see in last picture...it was a lot to take in.
At the last minute, we decided it would be best if we just stayed home for Thanksgiving. I was sad we could not spend it with family, but happy that I got to spend it with the two favorite people...Jeff and Kaylie. We did all the traditionals...Jeff played turkey bowl football, kaylie and I watched the parade on TV, we made ourselves a turkey dinner. It even rained, and we all went out for a walk in it after dinner. It was a very low-key, but wonderful day. 
Here is Jeff carving up the turkey....he did a good job cooking that bird
Like mother, like daughter...we love turkey!
There are so many things in my life that I am grateful for, but my great husband and sweet girl are at the top of my list.
Is there someone you know, that it feels everything they touch turns to gold? Well lately I feel that everything I touch turns to garbage. From big things like the house we are renting in Arizona going into foreclosure, to little things like ruining cupcakes that I made with a box mix and everything in between. There used to be a book when I was a kid called " Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." and I feel like I have been living mine own version of this book over and over agian. Ugggh!
Then my new favorite pick me up song plays on pandora and Jeff and I run and dance around the kitchen while Kaylie laughs hysterically at us. Later, on our first cool feels like fall day, Kaylie and I get under a blanket and fall asleep cuddled together in the middle of the afternoon. This is golden...maybe things are turning around.
I just love this picture of Kaylie and her great grandma Wood. It is just captures how truely sweet my grandmother is, and how much she loves each of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Kaylie is 7 months old, and they finally got to met. It was under sad circumstances, my grandfather passed away after a battle with cancer and we went to California for his funeral. We miss him dearly, but know he is in a better place and isn't in pain anymore. I only wish he could have met Kaylie. He would have had so much fun with her. Both my grandparents have been such an example to me in my life and I love them so much.
So it is Halloween in two days, I am am just now getting my decorations out. Mostly because I was using a lot of my stuff to decorate the trunk or treat I already posted about and I didn't want to set it up twice. Also because Halloween just snuck up on me...it is like 95 degrees outside still, so my mind says it is August. I find it premature when I am at the Walmart and there are orange and black and candy everywhere, and then I remember it is October . I guess I have to look to the seasonal aisle rather than the seasons to tell me what time of year it is.
Some of 
my most favortie halloween things are things I inherited from my mom that we had around the house when I was a kid. The first is chicken mc-nugget trick or treaters. Yes, chicken mc-nuggets....I am pretty certain they were happy meal prizes. The pieces of their costumes come off and can be interchanged. The second are these plastic buckets that I like to use a luminares and line walkway on halloween night. I have 15...that is 5 of each face...one of each for every child in my family. And, if I remember right, a happy meal came inside.
I have these cravings for a simple mcdonald's cheeseburger sometimes...ketchup, mustard, pickles, processed cheese and the thinnest beef pattie . I feel like when I was pregnant, I ate pretty much only .89 c cheeseburgers from mcdonald's the entire month of Nov. Don't judge me, please. If they still came with such awesome prizes I don't think I would have any reason not to eat cheap cheesburgers all October.
So we live in Arizona now. Sometimes I forget this, I guess I am still getting used to the change. When I do remember it, I think that it is okay that we do. For those of you that I talk to regularly you may remeber a time when I wasn't okay with the fact that we were going to...live here I mean. There are things that I like about here and there are things that I miss about Utah, but here is home so that is that. 
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THE ENGINEER - Thank's to Amy's dad for spending all day in the sauna like conditions (the truck) to make sure things were packed nice and tight!
Usually rocking chairs have cushions! Wait, they're all packed! Thank's to Amy's mom for helping out and also watching Kaylie so Amy could get things done as well!
Our last walk along the canal!
DO I HAVE TO LEAVE???
Where did all the ducks go? This was a second home for Toby. He loved to chase ducks (he never caught one) and just swim down the middle since it was easier than walking.
Both Amy and I really enjoyed all the time we spent in Lehi and all the friends we made both in our neighborhood and our work. We will both miss those we are leaving behind and all the memories that were made! Thanks to all those we became friends and we hope to stay in touch!!!
I wanted some UTAH family pictures before we left. We tried last weekend with a professional photographer and even though she took decent picts, Kaylie's performance was less than stellar. Take two...Crystal as the photographer and my mom as the "smile maker :) " and here is what we got.
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