Christmas morning faces

I caught these great pics of Lia Christmas morning when she saw what Santa brought her. She LOVED her new kitchen set!!!





Grammy Harrop made these cute jammies for her- aren't they adorable!!!

Hawaii.......at last!!!!!

We did so many fun things both times we went to Kauai- so I have combined all the pics from the two trips so you can see all the awesome stuff we did!!

Dippin' Crazy :)

Lia is totally obsessed with dipping all her food. She loves to dip pancakes and french toast in syrup, and just about everything else in ketchup. I need some ideas for healthy food you can dip- help me out!!!

Winter Wonder Baby

While we were in Hawaii last week Aunt Em took these fantastic pics of Lia- look for them soon on your Christmas card!!!!

Let's get dirty!!

I thought I would post a little tidbit of our trip while I am working on the rest of the pictures. This was one of our favorite things we did this time on the island!!! Check it out- we have never been more dirty in our entire lives!!!

Our mini make-over

We decided to stain our mantle and hand rail in the hallway to match all of our furniture. It turned out so good and it was so easy!! This is our mini make-over- I wanted to wait to post it until we got our new carpet but it's back ordered for three weeks!!! Check out how good it turned out!!

Who knew?? Chiropractors really work!!!!

So I just thought I should pass on the news that Chiropractors really do work!!! At least for me- my back popped like it has never popped before and those of you that really know me can say that is impossible!! I guess that doing this for 10 years can really mess up your back!!

So if you ever need the number of a good Chiropractor in Layton give me a call!!!

"Mah-Mo"

Lia LOVES her cat Milo. She can't really say his name so she calls him Mah-Mo!! It's SOOOOO cute. He is so good with her- he lets her lay on him and ride him like a horse!!! I took this pic yesterday and thought it was adorable!!

Giving Thanks :)

In the spirit of Thanksgiving- I thought I would write about a few things I am thankful for. (In no particuar order)
1. Most of all I am so very thankful to have Taz! I can't imagine going through life without my soul mate. I am thankful for a husband who is there to hold me unitl I fall asleep at night, wipe my tears, cheer me up, make me laugh, be my best friend, bring me flowers, be the best father any little girl could ever dream of, and still give me chills down my spine when we kiss. I am so thankful that he has made it possible for me to stay home with Lia in our wonderful house. Taz- I love you more than you will ever know. OK Now that the sappy part is done...
2. Of course I am thankful for Lia who has given me the most challenging and rewarding job I will ever have- Mommy. She blows me away every day with her unconditional love, energetic little body, and ability to learn so many new things!!
3. Family- what can I say I am very lucky to have such great family on both sides- they are the BEST!!!
4. My health- I had a recent scare with Thyroid cancer and it made me realize just how thankful I am so have a healthy working body- except when my back goes out :(
5. The gospel in my life- I would be completely lost without it.
Happy Thanksgiving to all- and I am thankful you are in my life!!!

Flowers make everything better

So I know that blogs are supposed to be all about the fun and cool things going on but unfortunately there are no fun and cool things going on right now. Yesterday I was carrying Lia and my gigantic diaper bag along with a large board of carpet samplings (the good news is we are getting new carpet :) into Home Depot and..... I sneezed. This sneeze buckled me knees and pulled my back out. The other bad news is that my doctor noticed that my thyroid was enlarged and sent me for an ultrasound. They found three large growths and today I had the joy of having a thyroid biopsy. This meant that I had a large needle stabbed into my neck about 20 times. Taz was so sweet and felt so bad for me that he brought me home these beautiful flowers. Flowers make everything better.

Saying Goodbye

My parents have sold my childhood home!!!! I will miss this house and all the memories that I have growing up there. Oh man... if walls could talk- these walls would have a lot to say!! I am happy that my parents now get to enjoy a beautiful new house- but this one will be missed by all of us.

Happy Halloween!!

Lia is going to be a flower this year for Halloween- Happy Trick or Treatin' to all!!!

Vegas

This weekend was so much fun!!! My best friend Jamie was able to have her 5 year old son Jonah sealed to her and her husband Kort as well as have their new baby girl Josie blessed all in one day!!! The temple was so amazing- there are few things better in this world than seeing a family be sealed together forever. I was bawling my eyes out- you know like when you cry so hard you start doing the "Ugly Cry". Thank you Chatlian's for letting us share in your incredible day. We decided that since we were going to Vegas we deserved a date night- so we ate at the Cheesecake Factory which is my all time favorite restaurant(so glad there is one coming soon in SLC) and saw Phantom of the Opera!!! The show was so amazing- if you are ever in Vegas you should really check it out. We left Lia in St. George with Grammy and Papa and were missing our baby girl and wanted to surprise her with something fun so we went to F.A.O. Schwarz and picked her up this cute cat. She just loves him- she held him the entire drive home!!!

The new "do"

So- I have been wanting to cut my hair short and go really dark for a long time.... well here it is thanks to my friend Sarah!!! Hope you all like the new "do"

Pumkin Patch Hay Ride

The Zoo

Lovin' the Park

So for those of you who have not been to our new house we have a big park right across the street. This morning Lia was fussy so I asked her what she wanted to do. She took my hand and led me right into her room, opened the drawer her shoes are in, and took them out to hand them to me. I put them on her and she took my hand again- this time she took me straight to the door. It was no big surprise when she took me across the street to the park. She loves to play there at least twice a day. I don't what we are going to do when it snows!!!

Discovery

Lia is just loving discovering that she has all these super cool body parts. She is WAY into sign language- but it's so hard to catch her in the act so we don't have very many pics yet. Here are a few of her doing her body parts.

BELLY BUTTON

EARS

EYES

NOSE

AND TOES

A Labor Day to Forget

So Labor Day this year started out great but..... ended in the Emergency Room.
We got Lia some sun glasses to wear in Hawaii...... I guess she will have to wear them in December because we had to reschedule our trip. We went to the Layton Park in the morning to feed the ducks. This duck was so funny he looked like he had a wig on!!!




Lia loved going down the slide at the park. I love that her little head of hair would stand up because of the static!!

We spent some time swinging on the swings!! We headed on home for lunch and a nap. Then we all went out to eat at Cafe Rio.


Around 8 pm Taz thought he would go and spray some weeds in the back yard, but decided that if he burned them with gas they would die faster. So.... the moral of the story is


DO NOT BURN WEEDS WITH GAS!!! He had a flash burn from the fire that covers mostly just one lower arm and a little over half of his face. They were only second degree burns- so there will be no scaring. It's just a long painful recovery so keep us in your prayers.