MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Birthday Fun!

We celebrated Eric's birthday on the 16th of this month! It was a lot of fun and I loved every moment I spent with him!  Im so happy and lucky to be married to him!  He really is the best guy I know and I couldn't imagine anyone else out in the world that could make me laugh and feel the way I do around him.  I still feel like that giddy teenage girl that met him 5 years ago and can't believe that we are now adults who continue to grow older and older together!  So for his birthday we had fun opening presents and eating dinner as a family and then Eric and I headed out to the grizzles hockey game (Thanks to Nicole offering to babysit).  

 KJ loved opening up the presents and getting to rip open the wrapping paper but surprising enough she loved to see what was inside as well!  It was extremely cute and made me super excited for Christmas!

We had so much fun at the game and we were on the front row so it was crazy how close we were to the athletes!  It definitely made me jump every time they got slammed into the wall in front of us!  I also loved the fights and we were next to the penalty box so we got to be apart of all that action as well!  

Happy Birthday My Love can't wait for all the ones we get to spend together in the future!

Babble Babble and the Holidays!

Life lately has been going pretty good!  I feel that we seem extra busy as we usually are with end of semester for school coming up and the holidays!  I love this time of year and lately its been a bit more noisy around our house.  KJ has realized lately how much she loves the sound of her own voice.  She babbles and babbles (oh and adds a couple joyful screams in there as well if she thinks your not paying attention) any moment she is awake.  I don't mind it much, I find it kinda cute, but I now know what they mean when they say girls can talk.  I do hope that in later years she might tone it down a bit, for my own sanity.  She also has found out how she can get to ANYWHERE in the house now that she can crawl.  Long gone are the days when I would leave her in the tv room to go to the bathroom in peace, now I often find her peeping around the corner looking at me like where did you go!  (TMI?)  As I sat awake in bed last night not being able to fall asleep I thought about last christmas, and the excitement of knowing that soon we would be able to meet our daughter and how exciting it will be to share the holidays with her.  Now here we are a year later, which went by in a blink, sharing it with KJ! And though I realize that KJ doesn't even realize what it is and only will remember it through the pictures we take, I am thankful that we get to share it with her this year and the many years to come!  

A Little Bit of Fun and Choas

Thanksgiving came and went by before I even knew it was here.  This year I had to work on Thanksgiving which I didn't mind much since I was still be able to eat with the family when I got off!  It was a delicious dinner as always, and fun spending time visiting and being with the family.  I am thankful that I live so close to family so I get to get together with them more often then only for the holidays!  Black Friday has been creeping its way up earlier and earlier each year and this year it  actually started on Thanksgiving night, so off to stand in long lines in the cold we went after the festivities.  Its a bit crazy (I mean its only for a a good deal) but its all worth the fun, right?!  I would have to say that this saying warmed my heart when I read it because of its truthfulness "Black Friday:  Because only in America, people trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have".  Luckily we didn't run into any of that this year!  I hope all you other crazy black friday shoppers got what you wanted and had as much fun as we did! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hurricane Sandy: Helping Hands

I just wanted to share a quick video for everyone to see!  I was very sad to hear about Sandy and how much damage and peoples lives it affected.  I would never wish that upon anyone!  My husbands family happens to be from NJ and they knew many people that were affected from this hurricane including his aunt who's house was completely underwater by the time the storm was over.  I couldn't ever imagine.  I found this video on a blog that I read (taza-and-husband.blogspot.com) and found it very inspiring and wanted to share it.  I am proud to be apart of the LDS religion and find myself blessed everyday because of it.  Being in the service of the Lord really can bring you true happiness in times of darkness and when you feel no hope!  Enjoy!

Life From Behind the Lens

It was a election time so we spent lots of time watching the presidential debates!  Surprising Kennedy didn't mind to much to watching it, I think she just enjoyed spending time with dad!  We also got out and voted!

Spending time with the cousins at our Halloween fondue party!  Definitely a favorite tradition of our families!

Kennedy has spent much time getting into everything.  Now that she can crawl it is much harder to keep her out of anything and everything!  Did I mention that she got her first tooth and almost her second!  The fussy nights and drooling aren't over yet...Poor Girl!

Before the snow hit the ground a neighbor boy came over and offered to rake our leaves for some money.  Eric of course said yes, considering we don't want to do it ourselves and we always try to help out kids trying to earn money.  We have all been there before, right?!  He gave us this note after a long day of raking, which turned out better then we would have ever done!  I felt bad as if we didn't pay him enough for how well he did it!

Halloween

I love Halloween!  I love the decorations, the dressing up, and receiving candy (who doesn't love that)!  I find that Halloween is much more fun when you have a baby of your own and I am sure that it can only get better when she can finally walk and go trick-or-treating!  We did get to go to my work on Monday night for some trick-or-treating and to show off KJ to all the residents.  This year we started out Halloween just hanging out like normal but that night when dad finally got off work we put on our Halloween costumes and headed out.  We made our first stop of Nicole's house to do a quick trick-or-treat there.  We then headed over to Grandma Stevens' house where we got some dinner and to watch a little bit of the Jazz game!  GO Jazz!  We then headed to great Grandma Johnson's for some homemade donuts!  So YUMMY!  Then off with Grandma Castro and Quin to go visit a house that was decorated like Harry Potter.... so amazing!  After that we stopped at a homemade haunted house, which surprising I found just as scary as anyone that I have ever paid to get into!  It was a fun night showing off Kennedy and her first of many Halloween costumes, can't wait for next year!

KJ the day of Halloween

This is her cute headband that I made her

Isn't she the cutest giraffe you've ever seen

KJ was a giraffe, I was Cat Woman, and Eric was an Iphone

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Date Night

I remember the days that Eric and I would be able to go out on dates with no planning, just the two of us.  Since Kennedy has joined our family we enjoy the company of her coming along with us, many times not wanting to bother finding a babysitter, and the days of dates with just the two of us are much more rare.  The other night we finally got an opportunity to get out just the two of us.  We enjoyed a nice night out to dinner and to the REAL Salt Lake game we went.  It was freezing and raining out but we didn't mind we still cheered as loud as we could, yelled at bad calls, held hands, and cuddled up together to keep warm like the old days.  I wouldn't say I miss those days because life it much better with Kennedy around but it was nice to get out again!

First Snow Fall

Every year I tell myself how much I love winter and how much I love the snow.  Then when the first snow fall comes I sit around all day and complain about it to anyone that will listen to me.  I don't know why I do this, I think Eric put it best when he said to me one day "the older I get the more I realize I really do like summer more"!  I know that when I was young and had no worries and could play all day in it, it was lots of fun and I did love it!  Anyway the first snow day of the year came but this year it was a little different because this year I got to experience it with Kennedy which she has never seen this stuff before.  She loved looking at it and I even took her out to touch it and of course put it in her mouth.  I would say she quite enjoyed it like any child should!

Hopefully this year I can remember the joy of the snow!  We got a head start by making sure that the first day there was enough snow to get out our snow clothes and sleds and head to the hill for a night of sledding!

Happy Birthday!

Grandpa Stevens turned 98 this year.  That's right 98!  

We were lucky enough to have him to come to Saint George with us so we could all celebrate it with him!  I am so grateful for my grandpa and as I think back about my childhood there are many fond memories that include him in it.  I always cherish the times that I was able to go on camping trips with him and my grandma.  I love the times we took hikes together and enjoyed just being in the outdoors.  I know he has a lot to do with my love for the outdoors.  I can never thank him enough for the bike rides around their block the times I was got to sleep at their house!  Spending many monday family home evenings visiting with him and my grandma.  I find myself proud to introduce him to people and for the fact that he has been so healthy and lived such a long life.  I loved the Christmas eve's after my grandma past away that he has stayed over at our house.  I am grateful that my husband and baby have been able to know him and been able to hear and enjoy the many stories of his life that I enjoyed listening to growing up, which still to this day he has lots that I had never even heard.  Although many times when I see him I find myself missing my grandma, I am also extremely grateful that I am lucky enough to have him still around.  I feel so blessed to have a grandpa that I have been able to get to know, love, and have as a large part of my life.  He says he will not live another which I am sure is more just a wish then truth but I know that I would love another year!

4 generations

Grandpa Stevens and Grandma Grande

Happy 98th Birthday Grandpa, I love you!

St. George VACATION!

In September my family took a family vacation down to St. George!  It could not have come at a better time for Eric and I.  I don't know what it was but the month of September seemed to be a month that we desperately needed a vacation (maybe it was due to starting school again).  We packed up and headed down for a weekend of fun and hot weather!  We stayed in a condo with the whole family just outside of St. George but hung out around Saint George most of the time.  

We did lots of fun things which included going to snow canyon and playing on the sand dunes there.  We also explored the caves and hiked up to these rocks where some pioneers had written their names in wagon grease when traveling through.  I found it crazy that they were still there!

Of course we had to go to the dinosaur museum while we were down there.  Kennedy was not very happy about being there but I know one day she will enjoy it.  This is her compared to a T-Rex foot print.  And all this time I keep telling people how big she is, guess not!  Kennedy also turned 6 months while we were down there!

We had lots of time relaxing, shopping, and even got to enjoy some night swims while we were down there.  It was nice to get away as a family and enjoy the time that we don't get to have as much now that we are grown up and busy with life!  I'm ready to go back!

 

 

Kennedy's Mini Photo Shoot

Yesterday Kennedy and I did a mini photo shoot, much better idea then the other option of finishing my chemistry quiz that I started on Monday, right?  The only problem was that I forgot that when we moved I lost my camera cord, and my camera was completely dead, so we had to make due with the iphone (not the best quality but does the job).  Kennedy was a good sport about it and beautiful as always!

 

Always thankful for a daughter who will put up with this mom!

Life behind the lens

So here is our life lately according to the iphone.  As you can obviously see our life revolves around KJ which there never is a dull moment.  She is growing up so fast.  She is loving her baby food, taking baths, she just recently learned to sit up on her own for long periods of time, and is getting into everything!  So grateful for this little girl and the life that we live!