The FUN Begins as Katie turns ONE

Wow!! This past year has just flown right on by, don't you think? And here it is with November half-over, and Christmas right around the corner!! And our baby is now a ONE YEAR OLD!!!

She woke up that night before her birthday (Nov. 7th) running a fever, and didn't sleep very good. She wasn't feeling very well that Sunday morning, so I stayed home from church with her. Then everyone came over after church for her party. You could tell she wasn't feeling very well, she just wasn't herself. 

We had a Princess themed party for her (since she is our precious little princess!!)  I found some cute cupcake wrappers when ordering for her and Kayla's parties, so I decided to just make cupcakes instead of trying to make her a cake. 

But she did have her own little cake to dig into:

She didn't do very much "digging":

But, she did eventually dig in some:

 YUM-YUM

After enjoying her cake, it was time for the presents:

she got a piggy from Aunt Melody and family

a My Pal, Violet, from Nana and Papa (plus, an outfit) 

a baby doll that sings "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" from Aunt Jacki's family: 

Playing with her Busy Ball Popper that she got from us (and she got an outfit too) 

**for journaling purposes: She also got money from the Snuffy's, a dress, leggings, and money from Grandma Debby and Papa Larry**

Playing with her pal, Violet, after her bath:

Well, that pretty much sums up her first birthday.  I took her to the doctor the next morning, and it turned out that she had an ear infection.  She slept most of that afternoon and the next day too, but was back to her happy, busy little self a few days later.

I started to do an update last month, but never did get around to finishing it up and posting it. So since the last post in September, she has definitely mastered the art of walking. She started around the end of September trying to walk more, and by the middle of October she was really good at it.  Now, she is starting to "run" when she is excited about something. Like when Daddy comes home from work, she will go as fast as she can to try to get to him before Hayden or Kayla does!!  She still enjoys to eat and will eat just about anything, she is for sure my best eater!!  She has started to "talk" a little bit more, and one day last week, it even sounded like she told Kayla "Stop it!!" She still enjoys being right where the kids are and getting in the middle of whatever they are playing. But, her all time favorite game to play with the kids is wrestling, which she usually ends up winning!! She loves it!! --She is such a sweetheart, and is bursting with personality. She is a blessing in our lives and just brightens each day with her great big smile!! 

Just a few pictures since last time:

Taking it easy after finishing her breakfast:

Wanting to "play" Candyland with Hayden

She was stuck under the chair, but had managed to get out by the time I got the camera

She loves these pig jammies!! She even dug them out of her dirty clothes basket and took them to Waylen so he would put them on her instead of the jammies she had on.

There's that beautiful little smile that brightens our day:

Kayla Turns 4!!

Enjoying the Great Outdoors

We have been having really nice weather here, which it seems is unusal for this time of year.  So we have had a few opportunities to get out and take advantage of that nice weather.  We had Stake Conference on the 19th of September, but we weren't up for the two hour fight of keeping 3 kids entertained and quiet.  So, instead we went for a drive up to the mountains to see the leaves changing colors. They were just starting to change, so they were still mostly green with some yellow here and there. 

We stopped at a few places and went and let the kids check out the river. Our kids love spending time throwing rocks in the water. They could stay busy for hours!!

Then that next Saturday, we went with Melody and Tyler and their kids on a hike. The plan was to go up to Zapata Falls, but we got up there and it was closed for construction. So, we drove over to Crestone and hiked on the hiking trail that leads up to a lake. But the hike up to the lake was like 5 miles, so we just hiked up a mile (which took about an hour) because the kids had to stop several times and check out the water and cross this little bridge that leads to where someone is building a cabin. 

and on the other side they found a big rock to play on

Then during our hike, Hayden had to stop lots of times and take pictures of the water.....

and this patch of cacti....

and this airplane... and lots more too!!!

I forgot to mention that before our hike, we stopped and showed Melody, Tyler, and their kids the cave that we had found this summer when we were camping there this summer.  I stayed behind with Katie, so I THANKFULLY missed out on the encounter with bats that were in the cave.

Back to after our hike ----So, after hiking for awhile, we stopped by Uncle Terry's (Waylen's uncle) cabin before heading home, and let the kids play by the stream that runs through his property.  We had camped up there in July, but the mosquitos were so bad that we couldn't even get down by the water. Of course, like always the kids had lots of playing, and even got in the water instead of just throwing rocks in the water.

and Uncle Tyler even helped Katie join in on the fun of playing in the water....

It was a fun day, and was a great way to spend a Saturday!!!

Hayden is now a 1st Grader (Another one that is a little late!!)

Hayden started 1st grade a few weeks ago, and is doing good. I think his favorite thing about going to school is getting to play on the new playground.  But he did make the comment the other day that 1st grade is more fun than Kindergarten. Then, when asked why, he said "It just is."

Katie's 10 month update (A little late!!)

Katie now only has about a month and half before we celebrate her 1st birthday. Crazy, huh?

She still loves to eat!! And loves to eat almost anything and everything.

Here she is enjoying a blueberry muffin:

Can you guess what she had to eat this time?

Ravioli!!!

She loves playing with the kids, and they love playing with her. Although, I don't think Katie liked this game of putting each other in "a cage" as much as she does wrestling with them.  

She was really happy when mommy helped her escape from the cage:

Our little girl is starting to talk. She tends to pick a word for the day. One day it was "dada". I would tell her "No, say mama." and she would just say "dada" every time. Then, the next day it would be "mama" over and over again. Another day, very surprisingly, it was "thank you."  She was like a little parrot that day, we'd tell her to say thank you, and she would say it every time. But then the next day, nothing!!!  Yesterday, when Hayden got home from school, she kept saying "bubba".  Hayden loved it and kept saying "Mom, did you hear her say bubba!" So, yesterday afternoon, it was Bubba.  Today she has been pretty quiet, other than screaming at Kayla about the toys!! I'm sure it won't me long until her word of the day will be "MINE!!"

Busy "reading" one of Bubba's books:

She is such a sweetheart.  Although, she is so spoiled, she's rotten!!  We just love everything about her, and enjoy watching her grow and learn new things. She is still trying to learn to walk.  She cruises along from here to there really fast. But, when we try to get her to walk from one person to another, she'll take one step then reach out her arms and fall forward.  But this morning, I went to sit her down on the floor and she wanted to stand up, and then she took 5 steps before falling.  So, I'm sure she'll be running all over the place before long, and she is already trying to climb on everything!!

Just being her cute little self:

And she still only has two teeth!!!