DUCK CREEK

The past couple of years Nicole, Eric, and I (now Kennedy as you could probably guess) have taken a friend vacation.  The first year we went to Duck Creek to Nicole's cabin and this year we returned back there.  This time Taylor (our other really good friend), Heather and Tyler (Nicole's sister and brother-in-law), and her grandpa came with.  We spent lots of time enjoying the mountains by four-wheeling, hiking, and exploring caves.  They have some awesome caves there which we love to go through, even though most people were complaining of them being to tight to get through but still so much fun!  We found a lot of opportunities to get ourselves plenty dirty by riding through huge puddle of mud on the four-wheelers.  And we hiked to a gorgeous waterfall!  We also had to spend a night in Saint George due to some double booking of the cabin but it was no big deal.  It actually worked out pretty nice because we then got to go swimming and the boys got to make a midnight run to get hunger games when it came out!  So here's some pictures of the vacation:

In the caves we had to crawl under these bars to get to one of them.

We got super muddy

Eric and I took this on the way home! Way gorgeous and peaceful!

The waterfall

Kennedy made lots of new best friends. She loved Taylor!

Eric, Me, Nicole, & Taylor

It was a blast as always!  Thanks to Nicole and all her planning, she seriously is the BEST, lucky to be her friend!  Hopefully this tradition lives on because I can't wait to see what we come up with next year! And a huge appreciation for Heather and Tyler for volunteering to watch Kennedy so much during the trip so we could go out and do stuff!

Best Friends!

Meet Abby, she is Kennedy's best friend (well maybe its a forced friendship for now).  She belongs to Alyssa, my best friend, which means they must be best friends right?  Abby is almost to the day 2 months younger then Kennedy.  I still remember the day when Alyssa called me to announce her pregnancy and asked if our babies could be friends!  I was so excited!  Well Abby, Alyssa, and Dusting (Alyssa's husband) came down and visited the other day and Abby and Kennedy finally got to play.  I guess "play" isn't exactly what they did, it was more Abby trying to figure out what was going on and where she was and Kennedy rolled on her tummy looking at Abby like "Hey, what are you doing" and also trying to grab Abby's arm (I'm sure to stick in her mouth since she is at the stage where she will stick anything and everything in her mouth!).  Anyways it made me so excited for when they can really be friends even if it is forced because Alyssa and I are best friends!  Kennedy and I were also able to go up to their place (they finally moved close enough to visit) and go swimming!  It was so much fun, we had a blast!  Of course Kennedy loved swimming as always and it apparently was very relaxing to both babies because they both fell asleep in the middle of swimming!  crazy babies!

They are so cute huh!  and totally opposites!

Now all I need to do is convince Dustin to move down here (Alyssa and Abby are already convinced) closer so we can hang out everyday!  (ha ha im sure our husbands would love that!)

I love having a best friend who has a baby like the same age as mine!  Next time we will have to try for opposite genders so they can get married (JK!)

Family Time

So its late and Eric isn't home from work yet and Kennedy is in bed so I decided to get on the computer to do some homework since school started this week.  Instead I ended up here which I'm sure will happen more often then it should this semester. 

This August has been full of so much, which has been so nice!  I don't mind keeping busy especially since it was right before school starts so it kept my mind off of it.  Every year Eric's extended family has a Family reunion with the whole family.  And when I say "whole" that is a big number!  I think Erics grandma told me when I was pregnant with Kennedy that she would be number 84 of her great grandchildren (and many more have come since)!  So yes there is a bunch of us and this year we went up to Tremonton.  It was cowboy themed and so we each made stick horses that we had to ride and do different activities with them for example: barrel racing, we also did rope pull or tug-a-war, etc.  We also had to do some cowboy poetry the only problem was when we were doing it only Eric, me, and Eric's sister Tara were there.  So Tara and I played the guitar and Eric made up a song to Genesis 1.  Everyone thought Eric was hilarious even though it was made up on the spot, luckily (definitely could have been a disaster).  It was fun to watch it all.  We also went to crystal hot springs and went swimming!  It was in all a good weekend and we enjoyed ourselves.

Eric's family doing the tug-a-war

After we were done at the family reunion we all headed up to see Quin play his first football scrimmage in Smithfield!  It was exciting and he did so good!  We can't wait to go see more of his and Aden's football games!

Quin is on the field but he is on the far side

 

Little Moments

Everyday is filled with little moments that remind me that I really do have an awesome life.  Often they are just simple.  I always know how great my life is but these moments just put a big smile on my face.  

Having a husband and baby is the best.  I use to not be able to imagine what it would be like even being married.  Then I met my best friend and we did get married then it turned into not being able to imagine have a baby.  But soon after we were married we found out I was pregnant and 9 months later that little addition entered into our family and she really is a little us (each day i can see more and more how much she really is our child and its not just her looks that give it away).  Now I can hardly remember what it was like when she wasn't here and it seems like forever ago that I wasn't married and didn't get to spend every day with someone that I love so much.  

Like I was saying Little moments happen everyday in our house.  The other day I finally had a chance to get in the shower and actually take a long shower (which I love to do) since Eric was home during my shower time (which is rare with his super busy schedule).  When I finally was out I could hear fin our bathroom from the kitchen: music on, water running which meant Eric was washing our way to many dishes in the sink, and Kennedy laughing hysterically at her dad.  I could only smile at the life that I live.  I couldn't be more grateful for a husband who loves me more then anything and that loves his daughter more then anything.  Kennedy adores her dad, he is definitely her hero.  And that couldn't make me anymore happy!

Kennedy hates to cuddle these days so instead her choice of sleep is just like dads

HOT Summer Days

As usual in the summer we are always looking for ways to keep cool.  And of course swimming is usually the answer.  Lucky for us Eric's family friends were in town visiting and so we got to up to their condo they were staying at in Eden and go swimming with them.  It was so much fun!  It was Kennedy's first time swimming in an actual pool and she LOVED it (much better then bear lake).  I think she just thought it was a big bath tub.  Either way she had fun and looked so cute in her swimsuit (I was a bit jealous that I could never look that cute in a swimsuit).  Here are some pictures of our adventure:

Ok super cute swimsuit huh!

The sun was in all our eyes but its a family picture

Eric was also in our friends Mikes wedding this week as well.  It was exciting to see Mike get married.  I love the spirit that you feel in the temple and the excitement of knowing that by being married in the temple its for all eternity!  They were married in the Bountiful temple, which is the same temple we were married in!  It was fun to go back and think that is where our family began!

They looked so good!

Quickly Flying By

Life at the Castro's house has been kinda busy as of late.  We have had some sudden changes but only for the good so that I am very grateful for.  I can't believe that it is already August! I kinda feel like I missed summer but there is still time I guess.  It's much different when you have a young baby.  Anyways Kennedy turned 4 months as you know and so it meant that she had her 4 month check up.  I was a little nervous because I hate that she hates the shots they have to give her.  But this time she was so awesome, she let out one little cry not even lasting 10 seconds and then was back to her normal smiling face.  I did have to laugh though when she gave the nurse a dirty look, I just told her I guess that comes with the job some times.  She laughed and said she got much worse.  I was a very proud mom that Kennedy did so well.  Also we got an update on her statistics! 

Height: 25 inches (75%)

Weight: 14 lbs 12 oz (72%)

Head Circumference: 41 cm (45%)

(Anyone who has seen Kennedy knows she is not lacking in food!)

Kennedy after her shots

The second pictures is a funny story.  Kennedy is a huge thumb sucker and gave up wanting a pacifier the moment she figured out how to suck on her thumb.  I decided one day to see if she would take a pacifier by chance so I gave her the soothie pacifier (the one you get from the hospital and you can stick you fingers in and feel the baby suck).  She immediately stuck her thumb right in the hole and sucked on both ha ha what a cleaver baby. 

As basically every one knows Batman: The Dark Knight Rises came out a couple of weeks ago and Eric and I have been waiting a very long time to go see it.  We were lucky and got some tickets for the 8:30 PM showing the night before it came out.  We got to go with our friends Chris and Felisha and Eric's family.  We saw it at the planetarium in Salt Lake which was cool because we got to play around there before the show and needless to say Eric had lots of fun. 

We had to take a picture with Batman it was only appropriate

At the end of July we got a great opportunity to move to a house.  It came kinda fast and so we jumped on it.  The only problem was we thought we would have to the last day of the month to move out but our landlord told us we needed to be out by the 28th and this was on the 25th! oh and our house was very close to being finish but not quite finished yet! So luckily the house was done enough we could move our stuff out of our apartment into a couple of rooms in the house and then we stayed a couple of nights with my family.  We are so blessed for them letting us stay there so we weren't stranded.  We are finally into our house now, even though we still haven't finished unpacking, and we love having all the space and privacy.  I think Kennedy is missing staying with my family though since she was constantly being showered with attention! And now we're hoping we can start to get back to normal life and enjoy the last couple of weeks before school starts again :(

22 and counting

Last monday I turned 22.  I cant believe that I am 22 already.  I was totally spoiled on my birthday.  Eric had to work till 5 that night and so it was a relaxing day with just Kennedy and I.  As weird as it might sound it was nice just to have a nice relaxing day and not having to do anything.  When Eric came home he surprised me with Olive Garden for dinner and a night home with him and kennedy just hanging out as a family.  Eric gave me each of my gifts throughout the whole night instead of all at once.  I had no idea what I was getting and he had been building up the anticipation for the whole week before!  Like I said I was totally spoiled because I got an ipod nano and a wristband to go with it for when I start running again after im done nursing!  And then I also got an Iphone which i had been wanting forever!  I Loved my gifts!  Im so grateful for such an amazing, loving husband!

So here is the Family on my birthday.  Kennedy's blanket was more exciting then the camera!

Kennedy was such a jokester on my birthday! She was seriously cracking us both up all night!

And today Kennedy is 4 months old!  I really can't believe it!  It has gone by so fast and I can't believe how much she has grown in the past 4 months.  Everyday I swear she learns something new, I feel like I can't even blink or I will miss something.  We made a super quick video so you can see her at 4 months!