Surprise Birthday!

Eric dad, Julio, turns 50 this year! For his big birthday we wanted to make sure to do something special for him and throw him a surprise party!  nothing better then a surprise party to celebrate....oh wait that's not it! Eric's mom had Julio's mom, brother, and sister (and her husband and son) all fly in from New Jersey (that's where he is from) to surprise him! (I must mention he hasn't seen his mom for 3 years and its been longer then that for the other 2). Eric's dad's birthday isn't until September but with everyone's schedules it worked out best for us to do it in July! So with months of planning and having to keep all of our mouths shut (which sometimes hard to do but luckily eric's dad can be kinda oblivious) it finally came. Needless to say he was surprised!  It was perfect and the excitement in the room couldn't even begin to be explained! (They got video but unfortunately I didn't). We were lucky to have them be able to stay a couple of days but it wasn't long enough.  During those days with them we made sure to pack in lots of things to do so we could spend every moment with them. Our family was so glad they came for our own selfish reasons considering me nor Kj had met any of them but now we have we can't wait for the next time we see them! We were having so much fun that I didn't remember to pull our the camera but we did get some group photos the night before they left!

My daughter never has a problem not hiding her feelings. She would rather in the pool with her uncles!

Summer Heat

This summer has been extremely hot! I feel like every day the only way to get cool enough to function is to stand in front of the fan!  Kj and I have tried going to the park a couple times but ended up leaving soon after because we are sweating from the heat.  A couple weeks ago we found ourselves searching for any kind of shade or water to keep us cool as we sat at the park waiting for my mom to get done with her Physical Therapy so we could take her and us home to air conditioning!  When we soon found this...

a puddle created from a leak in a hose! It was a miracle! As simple as this was KJ and I laughed and played and found that something as simple as this was just what we needed to get our spirits up!  The next week we were then blessed with some rain and we made sure that we took advantage of it to the fullest! 

SUMMER: Bear Lake

My family (my mom, dad, brother, and I) and I decided to make a small trip to Bear Lake this year.  With bear lake only being a couple of hours away we try to make at least one trip a year up there.  It came at the perfect time because I was in desperate need of a getaway.  It was only for a weekend but enough time to let me refresh.  My Mom, Kj, and I spent a day at the beach wandering around, enjoying the water, and soaking up the sun! I thought that Kj might be a little nervous of the water since it was a lake that looks like it never ends but she was all up for playing in it! (Although she wasn't so fond of the sand when it got wet making her hands dirty....gets that from her dad). It was a fun trip and I am looking forward to our next trip up there!

 These pictures were taken within the same week but a year apart!

5 Things I LOVE...

5 things that I LOVE this week...

1. MESSY HAIR DAYS. the days you look in the mirror or at your child and you tell yourself "oh well its summer"

2. I GOT YOU by JACK JOHNSON. i love this artist anyways but this song melts my heart.  i can't get enough of it.
                                                     
 3. BRIGHT BEDROOMS. i love that bright bedrooms are in style right now for kids.  this bedroom is just adorable and makes me want to redo KJ's bedroom so bad.

4. SNACK TIME. nothing replaces the small moments when we can let our hair down, get a little messy/sticky and eat some yummy snacks together.

 5. Candy Crush. i have become obsessed with this game.  its so incredibly addicting and the time i should be spending doing productive things i am usually caught playing this game.

Can I wear that?....

There have been many phases in KJ's life that just crack me up! The one that she is currently going through just brings constant laughter from me.  To understand you have to realize that KJ refuses to let me put any kind of hair accessory on.  I don't mean if she discovers it then she takes it out or she will pull it out if she feels me putting it on or sees herself in the mirror. I mean the moment she sees me have a hairband in my hand she will start shaking her head, throwing her hands in the air, or by the chance I do get it in her hair it immediately comes off!  I thought that I had discovered the trick and that was to put in silk ribbons around her head making it harder for her to grab but that only lasted one day when she spent it all trying to get the thing off of her head! A friend of mine suggested putting her in front of the mirror and putting it on while telling and showing her how pretty she is with it telling it works with her daughter.  This did nothing but let her realize where she was grabbing so she could get it out sooner!  The point of the background story is that KJ puts everything she can on her head.  Doing laundry with her around is pointless because she is grabbing all the clothes and stacking them on her head.  I often find her coming out of our room with clothes draping from her.  The down fall for her that I can't help but laugh at is when it falls over her eyes and she starts running into things! The entertainment of a mom!

SUMMER Swimming!

One of my favorite parts of summer/ Life in general is swimming! Lucky for me I married someone who loves swimming just as much as me! With the both of us having such a great love for swimming our poor daughter gets forced into having to love it as well! We have already tried to get as much swimming as we could!  We even purchased ourselves a small pool nothing fancy or big but enough for us to hop in and let KJ play around in. We love it! There is something about the sun, water, and some snacks that make for the perfect day! 

(P.S its not fair that she can look so cute in a swimsuit)

SUMMER Parks!

I love going to the park.  I think as a mom it is as much of a get away for me as it is for KJ! Time seems to just fly by when we head to the park. We have a park close by that lets us enjoy ducks, tons of open space, and a playground, so its the perfect fit for us. 

  We have already spent many days at the park and I am sure many more to come this summer!

SUMMER Animals

Summer is finally here and we couldn't be more thrilled about it.  I live for the summer and for me the hotter the better.  We have been so busy soaking up all the warm fresh air that I haven't got around to blogging and updating much.  To kick off summer  we went to the the zoo!  KJ loves animals.  I haven't been around a lot of babies but she seems to love them more then any other baby I have been around. So the zoo was her kind of place and I don't think she would let us leave EVER if it was up to her! 

We also were to attend baby animal days!  This is was heaven since she was actually allowed to touch the animals!  I felt a little sorry for the smaller animals since KJ hasn't exactly got a handle on how to pet nicely!  But we are working on it!

Kennedy turns 1

On the 16th of March Kennedy turned ONE!  I still can't believe it some days that she is a one year old!  I could go on and on about how much that I love Kennedy and how amazing she is but i'm just going to leave it at Eric and I love this girl more then anything in the entire world and couldn't imagine a better blessing then her joining our family!  Lucky for us her birthday landed on a Saturday and so we had family and friends over to celebrate it with us.  

 We greeted Kennedy that morning by singing happy birthday and putting balloons in her crib.  She was so excited that both mom and dad were there and ready to play!

  Kennedy was in heaven with her cake.  She at first was a little nervous why we were putting it in front of her but once she discovered it was chocolate cake there was no stopping her from eating it.  I couldn't believe how much she ate!

About an hour after the party was over she finally came off of her sugar high and crashed in her new wagon!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENNEDY! WE LOVE YOU!

2 Years

Eric and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary on March 12!  I really can't believe that it has been 2 years but am so excited for all the many more years that we have!  In just 2 short years I feel like we have changed a lot and had to learn a lot but it really has been the best 2 years!  I know that I am blessed to married to Eric and couldn't imagine life without him!  I am definitely one lucky girl!  

We started out like this

Then became this the next year

 And now are currently like this

Its been awhile....

     Since Eric had the computer (unfortunately we only own one) with him at his internship up at the capitol for the 45 days, I never had any time to use it.  When I finally got it back I seemed to be busy and still didn't have anytime to update the blog. I have been racking my brain with what I should write about because so much has happened that I just continued to put it off but something happened to me that I wanted to share with everyone immediately. It was something that maybe only I (and Eric) thought was exciting. Back in February I quit my job on a total whim. I had been thinking about it for a while, but it was never actually serious.  After a couple of events that happened to me in February I came home one day and told Eric I was going to put in my two weeks notice.  To my complete surprise he said OK, that's fine.  It wasn't a surprise that he was OK with me quitting just that he didn't even question why I had decided to quit all of a sudden.  So the next day that is just what I did, and with no job lined up to replace it. I decided that I would take a little time off before getting a new one. 
     March came and went when I realized it was time for me to get back to the job search, but I just continued to put it off due to laziness. I had told a couple of people that I needed to find a job again, just something like before where I only worked a couple days during the week and in the mornings if possible and maybe doing something other then assisted living like before. A couple weeks later I got a text from my awesome best friend, Nicole, (she really is the best for a million reasons more then just this) saying that her work is hiring (she works in rehab).  She then calls me a day later and tells me that her manager is looking for someone to work just a couple days a week. Nicole, being the amazing friend she is, tells her manager that I was looking, and that they should hire me! Perfect right.... So immediately I apply and soon enough I got a call for an interview. I went into the interview pretty confident. Only a few sentences into the interview and the lady that interviewed me said that I sounded like just the person that they were looking for.  We went through the process and it seemed smooth enough.  She ended the interview by telling me that if I got a call the next day then I would know that I had gotten the job. The next day I made sure my phone was on loud and that it was always next to me.  Slowly the time continued to pass until it was 5 o'clock. I knew at this point it had to mean that I didn't get it. She had made it sound like if I didn't hear from her the next day that I was not going to be getting the job.  I had mixed emotions on whether to be sad or not but I was really hoping I would get it.  By that night I was convinced that I didn't get the job. That following Sunday Eric told me that I didn't need to worry, and he felt that I would get the job. With no belief in him because it was past the day she said she would call I just replied no I didn't.  All while this is happening I continued to pray that I could find something as perfect as this job would have been. 
     A couple days went by and on Tuesday we decided since Eric had the day off we were in desperate need to attend the temple. We had been having bad luck the past couple of times we had planned to go with babysitting, weather, etc but lucky enough my dad said that morning he could babysit Kennedy while we went.  In the temple I felt peace as always but at the end before I left I said my usual prayer and prayed/pleaded that I would be able to find a job.  During this I felt continual peace that I need not to worry, but just have faith.  This peace is something that I had been lacking, I had only been feeling stress and worry about finding a job and finding it soon before that.  After getting out of the temple I looked at my phone which I left in the car and had a missed call and voice mail.  On the voice mail the interviewer extended me a job!  I GOT THE JOB!  I was so excited.  Eric then told me about how he had felt that I got the job from the spirit and was confused when I didn't receive the call.  He also felt it another time in the temple but still had the same thought as me of the fact I hadn't got a call yet. This was such a simple faith builder for us that when the Lord tells you something through the spirit that it is important we listen and we never forget that the Lord doesn't lead us astray.  We have to have continual faith in him.  I am grateful for these small reminders of just that. I am also grateful that I got the job! Sorry about the incredibly long story, but I just wanted to share my happiness with everyone or just the one person that reads this blog!

Girl looking back at me

Kj loves looking at herself in the mirror (which I'm sure is the same with all small children).  Every time you pass a mirror you can find her trying to catch a glimpse at herself.  And if you set her in front of mirror she will giggle and laugh and stare at herself for long periods of time.  

I bought myself a new mirror the other day with the intention of turning it into a large chalkboard (maybe if I'm ambitious I will post a picture of it when I'm done).  As I set Kennedy down on the ground in our entry room for a minute before putting her in her car seat, she immediately crawled as fast as she could to the mirror and stood up to look at herself.  The smiling, laughing, and babbling came immediately (I even caught her giving herself kisses in the mirror, cute right!).  When I saw this I began to wonder, when did I grow out of this?  When did I become a person that will avoid looking at mirrors as a I walk past them or when I do look in them I have to pick out something wrong with the person looking back?  When did I decide it wasn't fun to make faces and laugh at the crazy silly person looking back?  It almost brought tears to my eyes thinking that some day that could be KJ.  Some day that beautiful fun girl staring back at her in the mirror isn't good enough or she doesn't want to look at her.  I hope this never happens and I hope that as she grows up looking at herself in the mirror that she can always know that she is good enough.  That although she can always find imperfections in herself that it doesn't matter because she is a daughter of God and she will always be perfect in his eyes.  I hope that she can realize that if she is happy on the inside it will reflect on the outside and that is beauty that matters!

January Funk

When this year began I had every intention of beginning and fulfilling all the new year resolutions I set for myself.  Which is abnormal for me because I normally don't care and get bored of trying to improve myself but I decided to give it a try this year.  

On New Years Eve Eric began feeling sick, and a couple of days later Kennedy and I followed.  I thought it was just the miserable flu that was going around but after a week and half of not feeling any better and several days of just laying on the couch refusing to move because my body ached too much we finally went to see a doctor.  He informed me that I had the flu along with strep throat and a sinus infection and Eric probably had the same thing.  We headed off with our antibiotics and heads a little higher at the thought of maybe we would finally feel better.  A week later we finally started to feel a little better but at this time KJ was feeling worse then ever.  We went to insta-care thinking she might have an ear infection and the doctor informed as that she just had a cold.  Only 3 days later her ears bursted and started draining dramatically and would not stop so off to her pediatrician we went where he informed us that she had a terrible ear infection in both of her ears and we went once again home with some antibiotics for her.  Long Long story to be shortened we spent the whole month of January sick in the household with nothing accomplished.  I feel like this January was a funk for then just our family and it still amazes me that it could even be February!  We are all better now and luckily in time for Eric to head up to session at the capitol for his internship.

 

10 Month Breakdown

This little beauty turned 10 months old yesterday! No big deal right?  This mom apparently thinks its a big deal and may have broke down a little..... and there may have been some tears!  I realize that probably everyone would roll their eyes and laugh at this but for me it was like it suddenly hit me she is growing up (for a baby).  I laid on the floor spitting out ridiculous thoughts as Eric listened trying to say upbeat things back to me to calm me down.  It suddenly hit me how close she is to turning one.  Ok, I know one year isn't old but that means that counting the months is over and that we will be counting by the years!  And I know she still has 2 months till she even turns one!  It also hit me that she is now older than the amount of time I carried her!  Eric of course trying to console me says "that is why we have to cherish all the moments and new things she does!"  Sweet right?  I respond saying I know and I have been but they just happen so fast.... while saying this I'm panicking thinking to my self !oh my! have I really cherished every moment or have I let some of these little moments slip by unnoticed, have I taken enough pictures, and have I spent enough time really enjoying the moments or just pushing her to get on to the next step!  At one point I even spitted out the words she is so grown up I can't even handle it.  Eric of course said "I will be repeating those words to you when she turns 18 and you can realize how silly that is!"  I responded you don't understand!  

Ok im sure at this point anyone who ever read or heard this would be rolling their eyes and laughing at this point and now I realize how crazy this is and can laugh at the fact that I seriously broke down over her turning 10 months! 

Every mom goes through this at some point right?

Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013

2012 was a great year and probably one of the fastest and slowest years that I have experience so far.  Here's a quick review of our year:  

  

January: We brought in one of the most memorable years of our lives.  I was 7 months pregnant at the time and we spent the month starting to buy things for KJ's arrival, both of us tackling spring semester of school, and working hard.  We I tried to stay busy hoping that time would pass by quicker if I did.

February: We spent our last Valentines day alone as a party of 2 for our family.  Eric bought me flowers and made me feel extra special considering I was starting to feel miserable at this point.  We moved from our 1 bedroom apartment next door to a 2 bedroom apartment.  I also had my first baby shower and it got me very excited for the arrival of our baby girl.

 

March: This month was extra special and life changing month for us.  We celebrated our first anniversary together on the 12th.  We spent lots of time talking about the past year and how far we had come in just one year.  We talked about the future and laughed at the fact that we made it at least one year with no baby. We enjoyed our last big celebration with just the 2 of us.  On the 16th we had the big arrival of the girl that would make the biggest changes of our life (obviously only good).  Kennedy Jean Castro finally arrived and we couldn't be more ecstatic to finally meet her!  We feel in love instantly!  We also enjoyed watching Quin be baptized.

 April:  We celebrated Easter and spent the month adjusting to being new parents.  We spent many hours with finals for spring semester and celebrating the fact that it was over. 

May:  Kennedy was blessed by Eric and it was special.  I also celebrated my first mothers day!  It was nice day and I enjoyed the day spending it with my family.  It started to really warm up so Eric, Kennedy, and I spent a lot of time going on walks and enjoying the spring weather! 

June:  We spent enjoying the first summer that we both had off at the same time.  We soaked up all the time that we could spending it as a family.  This is the month that Kennedy finally got over her colic and so we spent more time out of the house then we had the past 2 months.  We made a quick day trip up to bear lake for Kennedy's first time and that is where is fell in love with the beach (only the sand not the water!).  Jimmy was baptized!

July:  We celebrated our favorite holiday, the 4th of July.  I had to work so I missed the parade but I got to grandma Johnson's house on time to play in the water.  I also turned 22 this month.  Eric spoiled me and gave me the perfect birthday!  At the end of this month we got the opportunity and made a quick decision to move into a house.  Kennedy also started baby food and has been in love with it ever since.

August:  We started off the month with the annual Johnson family reunion. Eric got to be part of our friends mikes wedding.  We went on our usual year vacation with Nicole down to Duck Creek.  It was tons of fun and a big success for Kennedy's first real vacation.  We spent a lot of summer as well as this month swimming.  We started our fall semester of school which was hard going back considering we had such a great summer together.

September: Eric and I started playing coed soccer together on Friday nights with some friends.  We went on vacation with my family down to Saint George.  It was so much fun and we enjoyed all the time we got to spend with my family. We celebrated grandpa Stevens' 98th birthday in Saint George. 

  October:  We spent the month focusing on midterms, soccer, and the last bit of any warm weather and the beginning of fall.  We celebrated Kennedy's first Halloween and as a family of 3 dressing up, visiting friends, and family. 

November:  Eric got some time off of work so we made a trip up to Logan to hang out with our friend Tim and go to a Kalai concert.  We also enjoyed a date night to the REAL game.  The first snow fall of the year happened.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family.  Eric and I enjoyed black friday shopping where we walked away with some good deals.   

December:  We went with our friends the Ackermans to temple square to look at the lights.  We finished Fall semester of school and Nicole and I celebrated by having a much needed girls day.  Eric turned 24 and we went to the grizzlies game. Finally took some much needed family pictures. We celebrated Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Years Eve with family and friends.  And since Eric was sick and went to bed early on New Years I received a New Years kiss from Kennedy! It was a busy but exciting month.

We are exciting to bring in 2013 and see what it has in store for us.  Goodbye 2012 and thanks for the wonderful memories some that we will never forget!