Tis the Season

Thanksgiving:

We started our vacation in Logan. We spent Wednesday night and Thursday with Loren's family in Smithfield. It was pretty quiet, but it was a yummy meal which is what Thanksgiving is all about ;). Early, early Friday morning we took off to Mt. Pleasant to my Grandparent's cabin. It's one of my favorite places ever, because of the people there. Alysha had a hard time being in the car that early in the morning, but she finally took a nap for the last hour of the 4 hour drive. We had a fantastic 2nd dinner and spent the rest of the day hanging with the family. Becky, Brian, and I had our annual Phase 10 championship and let the record show that Becky won 1st, and I won 2nd! (It was a big feat for us to beat him :)) We also did some crafts and made our candy countdowns for Christmas. I just love spending time with my family. We laugh so much and have so much fun! :) Alysha did awesome. She ran around with the other cousins and learned how to go up and down stairs....my youngest cousin is only 11 months older than Alysha so there's really no age difference in my family. She fits right in :). Saturday most everyone had left the cabin already and the rest of us spent the day watching football (Go Michigan :)) and Loren and I took the 4-wheelers out for a drive. We went up a little too high and hit the snow and I got stuck! So we turned around and got Aly and drove back to Logan. Sunday we headed home.

December:

This month has been pretty weird for me. I usually get way into the Holiday spirit, but I just can't drag myself out of a funk this year. We put up a tree, but it didn't really help. There's not enough snow outside and I miss the traditions I used to have. Everyone keeps telling me to get over it and start making our own traditions, which we are, but it's the first year without my family. I think I just need this year to get used to it and next year will be better. Tonight and Tomorrow we're doing our holiday baking and I'm really looking forward to the sweets! We have a lot that we have to do to get ready to leave next Thursday for Herriman. We're going to be spending Christmas with Loren's family again. But I did make plans with my aunt's family to spend Friday with them. I'm really excited for that. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like Loren's family! It's just unknown. It's hard for me to be excited without knowing what will be going on. I'm very tradition oriented. I guess this is the hard part of growing up...
But anyway, Alysha's excited. She loves Christmas trees. She doesn't touch ours, but anytime she sees a new one, her mouth drops open! She helps everyone open presents so I think she'll get opening hers in a few days. I can't believe how big she is. It's an amazing difference from last year. But just as fun. :) Merry Christmas!

Walking Walking

Aly's walking!! She can stand up in the middle of the floor all by herself now and walks when she has the right incentive :). Crawling is still faster, but if there's a panda or a dog involved she will gladly stand up and walk to get it! We just love our baby girl!

Blog Stalker...I mean Slacker.

Goodness. I'm really good at reading everyone else's blog. I'm just not very good at writing on my own.
Get ready for a bomb of pictures cuz I'm going to try to upload some!
Loren surprised me with a fantastic 21st birthday! We spent the night in Logan eating sushi, cheesecake, and dancing! It was so wonderful to see my friends and to just relax!
This is Alysha's new thing. She points at everything :)

We spent the weekend in Provo/Herriman after my birthday. We went the Brian Stokes Mitchell concert at BYU and then spent the night at Loren's brother's family. They took us to Gardner's village and we spent a great afternoon looking at all the festive witches!
On our way home from Provo we stopped back in Logan to celebrate Loren's brother's birthday and attend Aly's first hockey game. I SIMPLY LOVE HOCKEY. So fun! There were some great fights too :) Night well spent.
Aly's 1st birthday party! We had it a few weeks early so that my mom and grandparents who were visiting could celebrate with us! Aly didn't really enjoy herself cuz travelling gives her a tummyache for a few days, but luckily everyone understood. :) She's so fun!
Aly's new outfit from her Great-Grandma Smith....sorry, I don't know how to rotate! Ugh. This is what I woke up to one morning. Aly had taken her diaper off and there was poop EVERYWHERE. And she was SO proud! :( It was a lot to clean up...
The next few are from our adventures at the Corn Maze! Ignore my appearance...
Aly's 2nd 1st birthday party! This one was the day after her birthday. She loves to read and was very excited about her presents! Again...ignore my appearance.

We got her a ball pit. She loves it! But even with 120 balls we need to buy more. There's just not enough!
Aly's cupcake :)

Loren got Aly a baby stroller and she just LOVES it! It's adorable!!
More with the ball pit.
Aly LOVES peek-a-boo. :D

If this video uploads...it's a video of Alysha walking with her stroller! She needs NO help and will not take it! However she still can't turn around herself. It adorable.
Happy 1st birthday Alysha! Mommy loves you!!

Her stats:
Height 31.25 inch 98%
Weight 21.5 lbs 75%
Head circumference 17 inch 10%

Recovery

So I'm about recovered from my Tonsillectomy. I just have to say. WOW. That was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I'm so TIRED. I was only eating between 100-300 calories A DAY. I ended up losing 8 lbs and now I'm just working to maintain it. The mornings are still hard cuz going all night without a drink really dries out my throat. But by about noon I'm feeling better again.
I got called 2 weeks ago to be the Nursery Teacher in my ward. Talk about overwhelming. I now have 3 different callings and this is the one that I'm SO afraid of. I really shouldn't be afraid of 2 year olds, but I am! I'm scared of not doing it right. I'm afraid of being completely in charge. I'm afraid of them running wild through the church screaming. I am glad just because I get to take Aly with me so we won't be just walking around the halls of the church anymore. She'll now actually get some other baby time too, which I think will be really good socially for her. It's a huge act of faith for me to have even said yes. I was SO tempted to say no, but I've never been able to see how a person can say no to a calling from the Lord. Obviously he knows better what we need than we do. And so starting Sunday I'll be teaching in the Nursery. Wish me luck!

My Bad.

I'm world's worst blogger :). I think about blogging, then I never get around to doing that :).
August:
Alysha has been trying to walk. She's walking while holding our fingers, but she's still a little to scared and unsteady to venture out on her own. Alysha loves to wave, clap, and sing. She's such a ray of sunshine in our lives. Loren and I can't imagine our life without her. I just love when she wakes up laughing and wants to cuddle. Alysha is always hugging us. She loves to read books and she will tell you that a cow says mmmmmmmooooo. :).
We took Aly to Lava Hot Springs for an evening and she LOVED swimming in the warm water. It was a wonderful evening spent with Loren's parents and his sister's family.
On September 4th Loren and I got to celebrate our 1 year anniversary! It's gone by so fast. On the 2nd Loren took me out to dinner at Stockman's and then we went and saw the movie Crazy, Stupid Love. It was VERY funny. On the 3rd Loren was very secretive. At about 8 o'clock he ran out and picked up our baby-sitter. We picked up some chinese food then he blindfolded me. He drove me to his office and led me upstairs. He'd set up a romantic dinner for us on the roof of his office building! He had music playing and lights. It was just beautiful. Then we set up a projector and watched a movie on the side of the building. I was so surprised!
Tuesday I got my tonsils and adenoids out. This is not a good experience. I'm just hoping that it'll be good in the long run. I have not been able to eat anything other than popsicles, jello, and very watered down mashed potatoes. The pain pills make me very nauseous. And without any food in my stomach I feel very weak and dizzy all the time. I have not been able to lay flat for 3 days. The one thing I'm VERY grateful for is that my mom is here taking care of Alysha. And me. She's been so wonderful. And luckily Alysha's been really good too. She's very comfortable with my mom and has not had any issues without me. I just can't wait until I feel better again. Hopefully by next week. But it could be another 10 days according to the doctor. Ugh.

July

Ok truthfully nothing's happened. But everyone else is updating their blogs with these exciting things going on, so I figured I'd let you all know that we're the same as before!

Aly's crawling everywhere, getting into everything, and it's so fun. She climbs up and stuff and scares me to death. She loves getting chased by her dad. She has this high pitched squeal that she'll let out as soon as she thinks she might be close to about being chased! She has decided that nap time is not her thing, but she's SOOOO grouchy by bedtime that I'm still being "mean mom" and making her take one. Currently she's in her bed screaming. Anyone have a way to make it easier?? We do it at the same time everyday, and with the same routine. But she doesn't get it. Morning naps are definitely easier than Afternoon naps. And bedtime's not usually too hard either. Just that dang 3o'clock nap time. Other than that, she's just trying to learn out to be brave enough to walk without holding our hands or the couch. Yesterday was the first time she stood up off the floor by herself without using the couch or someone as leverage, so we're making positive steps towards actual steps! :)
Loren will have been at his job for a year on Monday so he's got a meeting to discuss a raise. :) Wish us luck. Otherwise he's still looking for a part-time job. If anyone knows of anything, or needs computer work done please let me know! He can fix almost anything, clean up virus, etc...macs or pcs, doesn't matter. Thanks for the help!
I'm just trying to become a better housewife and mom. Part of that is actually making dinner for my family every night. It's getting more necessary cuz AlyRae doesn't like baby food anymore. She only wants the good stuff that she can feed herself. That means I need to make some of that! I made myself a really cute menu board out of a mirror and have been using that to get a little more organized. So progress is happening. :)
We're just looking forward to 2 weddings this month. Loren is a groomsman in one and the best man in another so we're going to be busy with that! Stay tuned :)

The Fantastic Four(th)

The Fourth of July has always been my favorite holiday! I love the parades, the sunshine, the bbqs, the family, the fireworks, all the people!! I just love a good party. This year was especially special cuz it was Alysha's first year! Loren and I were so excited to show her everything and see her reactions! I got up early and made us breakfast and then we got ready to leave for the parade. Loren made Aly's hair all spiky and I sprayed it with glitter and stuck a hair bow in. Surprisingly she did REALLY well keeping it in this time. Sometimes she's not as good :). We found a great place to watch the parade. Alysha caught the eye of lots of people in the parade and lots of spectators. It's cuz she's so cute :). Halfway through she fells asleep. I was shocked at how she could sleep through loud music, sirens, and honking horns. We went home and made burgers and had a great bbq with some friends. We decided to go down to the Liberty Festival at the Falls. I got a beloved snocone :) and we walked around all the booths. We went to where we wanted to sit, but just as we got close we learned that the bridge we needed to take was closed cuz it was flooded! Luckily we saw a small piece of grass that hadn't been blocked off by other people and we grabbed it. Somehow we missed the signs that said fall-out zone...The fireworks started and we learned just how amazing our seats were. We felt like we were right in the fireworks. They were directly above us! It was absolutely amazing. Then we realized that sparks and cardboard and other debris was showering down on us. I swallowed part of a firework and when we got home Loren and I both discovered debris in our hair :). But it was absolutely amazing. They were so beautiful. And the cutest part was AlyRae. She started giggling like crazy. I thought she would be a little scared or something, but she LOVED it. At first she just sat there with her mouth hanging wide open, but then she started laughing so hard! It was adorable. I can't find our camera cord or else there would be videos and pictures here, so stay tuned. :) Over all it was an amazing day. I am so lucky to have Loren and Alysha in my life. I am SO happy!