Christmas Part 1

This Christmas break started out wonderfully as I was off school and Jade and I got to spend some quality time together, baking and finishing up Christmas presents.

One of our crafts was this fun reindeer ornament out of Jade's handprints and footprint.

It was our turn to spend Christmas with my family up in Evanston, Wyoming this year so rather than haul all of Jade's gifts up there, we just had our little family Christmas on the 23rd. Jade was so funny as we led her out to the living room I guess she saw me with the camera and turned around and just ran back down the hall and hid. Then we spent the next five minutes playing peek-a-boo as we tried to get her to come out to the living room to see her presents. This was her first Christmas where she could actually enjoy unwrapping the gifts, last year she just sat there (she was only 4 months old). So when she finally came out of her hiding spot and saw all the presents she just went right over, sat down and started opening them. At times she would get excited with the paper and just shake the present to death until the paper flew off, and then at other times she meticulously tore little pieces of paper off and handed each one to us so it would not mess up the floor. She makes us laugh so hard!

Jade's presents under the tree...

Look at that tongue...what concentration!

I love her facial expression in this picture, she makes this face alot when she is really excited. She also loved to sit on her presents, well basically any sort of box she can sit on!

I think her favorite present from us was a little Leap Frog laptop that Ben got her. She would push a button and watch the screen in anticipation and then yelp in delight. She also liked her musical maracas as she shook them, ate them (like ice cream cones) and danced around the house to their music.

Jade sitting atop all of her presents! Merry Christmas!

16 Months Old

With the holidays and all the busyness we have had this month, I am finally getting around to posting about Jade's 16 month updates.

Jade is finally starting to get more hair. I try to put things in it but that only lasts about a minute before she rips it right out!

She loves balls, throwing them, kicking them, and dunking them in her basketball hoop that daddy got her.

We tried to teach her to color and she did really good at first...

But, it didn't last because she soon started to eat them again. We will keep trying for this milestone!

She likes to be in the middle of everything and is very helpful as you can see below! She has to be in whatever room I am in. She loves being given a job to do and listens to most commands.

She loves to help me cook dinner.

This is her new smile...we don't really know where she picked it up from but when we tell her to smile, this is what we get!

Jade can stack cans now. One day we came home from the grocery store and as I was putting away the other groceries I had left this sack of cans on the floor. She quickly found them and immediately started stacking. This was the first time I had seen her do something like this. This kid amazes me, she is so smart!

Look at that fierce concentration!

Ta Da! Look what I can do! She was so excited she actually started to clap after she was done!

She is growing up way too fast and is so much fun to be around. She does not really have stranger danger yet and will go to most anyone as long as she is not tired! She has recently learned how to give hugs and kisses and we are eating it up! She is such a sweet girl and minds rather well. She still sleeps well from 8pm--8am most days with one afternoon nap anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours.

My Sister's Wedding

Last weekend was a big event, as the much anticipated and heavily prepared for wedding of my little sister took place. It was a beautiful, COLD, winter day as they were married in the Draper, Utah Temple. We were grateful that the weather held as we took pictures, but as soon as we were done, it began to rain and hail again! Below are some pics from the reception...

This is what Jade loved to do the entire time, run around and play peek-a-boo amidst all the decorations.

The bride and groom, and a curious onlooker (notice Jade in this pic and the next, she just kept staring at Aunt Kaeli in her pretty white dress)!

Of course, she loved, LOVED the chocolate fountain and Daddy fed her well!

Oh yes, and as well as eating chocolate covered strawberries, she also enjoyed the taste of the wooden doorstops! She ran around most of the night with that thing hanging out of her mouth or in her hand.

This is the best pic we got of the two grandkids together.

I just had to get a picture of the cake. It was so beautiful and I loved the intricate little snowflakes on the sides.

In this video, you can see Kaeli's new husband, Troy, has some wicked dance moves!

And in this one, you can see how much Jade enjoyed the wedding festivities! She had such a fetish with her dress. She had never worn anything like this before with all the fluffy material on the sleeves and bottom and so she made a point to show everyone! I even heard that while I was in the temple helping Kaeli get ready to come out, Jade was walking around the waiting room holding her arms out in front of her (like Frankenstein) and making everyone feel her fluff! She is such a cute and funny little girl! We sure love her!

Too funny not to post

The other day I woke up and this is what Jade looked like. Daddy had dressed her up all nice and warm!

Jade loves her bath and Daddy found her these cool goggles at D.I. She was so cute with them. For some reason she loves to wear glasses, I think it may have to do with me wearing mine at night when I take out my contacts. She just loves to grab my glasses and say "mamas."

Decorating for Christmas!

This year was a bit different for our family when we decorated for Christmas, as we have never had a toddler at our house before! Some of you may be laughing because you know what I am talking about!

We had to wait until she went to bed to set up the tree and so this is what she found the next morning. It was hilarious because she immediately ran for the tree, mouth open wide in her classic "o" shape and said...."oohhhh!"

At first she was afraid to touch it but she soon got over that!

Soon she was not only pulling and swinging the branches around, but as you can see she was exploring underneath as well...

Here is our finished tree, notice how we left the bottom 2 feet undecorated except for a few soft, "unbreakable" ornaments! She likes to pull on those ornaments and say "tree!"

Our little family

Fall Leaves and Winter Snow

In Utah we get used to one thing, it could be a warm and sunny fall one day and then the very next day it has snowed 6 inches and is bitter cold! Well that is just what happened this past week!

I had been wanting Jade to play in the crunchy fall leaves so we were waiting for most of them to fall so we could make a big pile of them. On Saturday it was the perfect day, a little chilly but we bundled her up nice and warm and went outside....

We had to take a pause to play in the dirt!

Then immediately it was off with the mittens!

And hooray! She had so much fun crunching and throwing the leaves.

It was funny to me because she crawled to the farthest corner of our front yard and sat right by the fence and played there.

And of course our adventure is not complete without a game of peek-a-boo! I am so glad I caught her at just this moment!

Now remember what I said about the weather changing daily....well this is what we woke up to Sunday morning! We wanted to see Jade's reaction to the snow so we bundled her all up, Ben cleared a spot on the sidewalk, and she set to exploring.

I love this picture because she just stood there watching and feeling the snow for about one minute before she actually moved.

Let the digging begin...

She did not venture far from the house. She kept going back to the stairs where it was "safe" I guess.

She refused to walk in the snow and chose instead to crawl. Poor girl I felt so bad because the snow just stuck to her clothes and it was not long before.....

this was the result from being so cold and wet.

We quickly picked her up and took her inside to get her nice and warm again. Overall I think she liked the snow, it was different and she had fun while she was warm. I guess we will have to invest in some snowpants and real gloves this winter!

Just Chillin'

Jade has always tried to take my glasses off whenever I wear them. However she has recently started be so sneaky about it. We will be sitting together and she will look up at me so innocently and then before I can even react, she has reached up and grabbed my glasses and taken them off. Then she says "Mama" because I have told her many many times they are "mama's glasses." At least she listens to somethings!! So I thought it would help if she had her "own glasses" to wear so she could be like me. It seems to work and she insists on putting them on whenever she sees them, wherever she is! It is really cute!

A couple days ago I came home to find this contraption in our living room! Yes, Ben had bought Jade a basketball hoop. I secretly think he bought it for himself as I catch him playing it with more than Jade does! I guess it's never too early to start training a champion, he he!

She gets so excited and says "ball" when she picks it up...

Then daddy helps her dunk it and she lets out a squeal of delight... Just look at that face!

And finally she smiles really big as we clap for her!