What Happened to My Baby?

Maddison's turned into a toddler overnight. I can't believe she's almost a year old. It's crazy how fast they grow. Do all moms go through a little mourning phase when they realize their baby is long gone? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this stage and love Maddie more every day, but she's a big girl now. She's walking, trying to mimick every word, making animal noises, going up and down the stairs, handing me books to read over and over again, and begging for toys when we go shopping. I thought I had years before that would happen.

But who could resist this face? I'm probably gonna have a hard time not spoiling this little chunk. I love her to pieces!

Christmas 2009

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas this year. We were with the Whites this year and it was wonderful. Maddie loves Santa and continues to respond to everything as "ho ho ho." She's walking all over the place and looks like a little zombie. Her favorite presents were her rocking horse and stroller. Her grammys must know her well.

Sunday before Christmas:

Christmas Eve:

Christmas morning:

Christmas Evening:

Boat Parade

Last Friday we went down to Balboa to watch the boat parade. Gramps got us all tickets for a little harbor cruise, and we were very lucky to barely make it on before it set sail. We were enjoying our Mexican food a little too much :).

Maddie was mesmorized and would say "ho ho ho" anytime she saw Santa.
Typical Maddie face.

The whole gang. Thanks Whites! Can't wait for Christmas!

Party at the Montage

Wednesday night JD and I went to his work Christmas party. I know it sounds weird, but I love work Christmas parties for some reason! I think it's the combination of watching the unexpected people boogie on the dance floor or karaoke their hearts out, eating free food, potentially leaving with a cash prize (or something that can be returned for cash), and meeting fun people. This was especially fun because it was at the Montage in Laguna Beach. Everyone was put up in a room there for the night, but since JD's still in training, we were with the other AIT's at the Best Western. Ha ha. Although we had an ocean view, we were pretty envious of every one else. Next year :). Here's JD with some co-workers from his building.

The band was AMAZING! It's actually Oprah's favorite band, to show you how good they are. Not that I always agree with Oprah, but she can afford to pay for the best. We danced for hours!

Had so much fun with my date. He's worked hard the last 6 months and is finished with his hours. Now he just has to pass the national and state tests and get his own building. We're excited to see what happens!

Nanette and Maddie

Last Sunday we went to LA to visit some of our best friends, the Odions. It's crazy to think they just celebrated their 5 year anniversary because it seems like just yesterday the four of us were at conference, Chuck and Kaitlin hanging out for the first time. Whatever that was in Grandma Sara's mystery casserole, it made each of us fall in love!

Now we have cute girls 4 months apart that were so excited to play together.

Here's Maddie getting a taste of her own medicine.

They live in the coolest part of LA. It's right down the street from this really nice outdoor shopping district that was all decorated for Christmas. So after dinner, we bundled the girls up and headed down to the mall.

Maddie loves Nan! She can even say her name. (Well, it just happens to be her favorite food too).

The guys with the babes at Anthropologie. Have I mentioned I love this store?

Kaitlin and I have been friends since freshman year of college. She is the best! We had so much fun reliving our pest control days eating yogurt cake and JD getting his hair cut by his favorite barber.

Can't wait til next time!

Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my daddy's birthday. He really is the best dad in the world. Sorry to all those who think they have the best, because I KNOW mine is. He is so loved by his children. He is fun, loving, wise, humble, competitive, gentle, motivated, devoted, honest, goofy, and so many other things. Those are just a few reasons why any one he meets also loves him.

He started dating my mom when he was 16 and she was 15. How cute were they!?!? They are such a great example of how a marriage should be. I know that all of us kids aspire to have the kind of relationship they have.

Growing up, my dad gave himself the award of "Dorkiest Dad on the Block." He was so proud of it. Little did we know how cool he really was. He's the ultimate creator of fun, and has and continues to fill our lives with amazing experiences.

Doing what he loves best: Eating good food at his favorite place in the world!

Papa with his precious newborns: Kamryn

Maddison

Briggs

Dylan

I love you dad. Thanks for all you do. Especially letting us live with you right now. It's been wonderful and I don't know how Maddie's gonna handle not being able to wave bye bye to you every morning! Hope you have a lovely day.

Happy Belated Birthday Bryce!

Saturday was my brother Bryce's birthday. I think he turned 29 :). It's hard for me to remember him as the "mean" brother because we're such good friends now. Bryce has always been the best at whatever he does. And if he's not, he doesn't do it! He's so much fun to be around, and always leaves you wanting more of him. We had babies 12 days apart almost a year ago, and it's been fun relating to each other as new parents. For someone who never liked kids much growing up, he sure loves his little buddy. Briggs is lucky to have him as a dad. Almost 3 years ago he was in a snowboarding accident and I was unfortunate enough to witness it. I'm crying right now thinking about it. It was amazing to see his faith and humility when we weren't sure what was going to happen. When miracles did happen, we were changed forever. I love you Bryce and I'm so happy things are going so great in your life: wonderful wife, successful new business, new house, cutest little boy ever!

10 Months

What Maddie's up to at 10 Months:

• Climbing stairs
• Taking her first steps
• Pointing at everything
• Taking 2 great naps a day and sleeping all night
• Imitating so many words and understanding what they mean
• Saying: mama, dada, papa, byebye, uh-oh, no, apple, Jessie, thank you, hello, hi, num nums, nana, ball, meow
• Shakin it whenever she hears music
• Getting into drawers and cupboards
• Having fun playing with other kids and playing outside
• Trying to sing along, esp. at church
• Giving a cheesy, toothy grin
• Knowing that she's being funny
• Belly laughing when tickled
• Jumping on me when daddy brings her in in the mornings
• Giving kisses and loves

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving with my whole family. I learned that there's nothing better than having all 10 adults and 4 babies under the same roof for a week, chaos and all. Our family has grown so much the past few years. JD and I feel so lucky to have sister and brother in laws that really are our best friends! Anyways, I'll give the short version of what we crammed into the time we had together. Before Thanksgiving the girls saw Twilight together of course, and the boys snuck off to play tennis and golf. The kids loved having each other to play with. Maddie adores Kamryn, and followed her and Briggs around all week. Dylan is still the little guy, but was interested in everything that was going on.

Thanksgiving morning we all ran a 5k. It was a perfect ending to our "Biggest Loser/ Fitness challenge." Then we went home and stuffed our faces with deliciousness. It was sooo good! Jessie's homemade rolls were my favorite. Guess she did learn something in college :). We were too busy eating that we didn't even get a picture of the food! Bummer.

If you know my family, you know we love to play, and love to compete even more. So between the race, tennis tournament, rummikub tournament, and golf for the guys, we were satisfied.

My dad got us all tickets to Mary Poppins in LA. We left the babies with sitters and took Kami. She stayed awake the whole time and felt like such a big girl. Here's our studly men:

And the girls:

The whole gang.
More Highlights: Funny pedicure experience, Briggsie walking, Shopping at Target, Finishing our countdown blocks (thanks Whitney!), Kami's comments about certain body parts, Maddie's newest word "No," Beating mom and dad in tennis, Dylan's smiley face, Cinnamon rolls, Kids playing in the back yard...

I know that I have so much to be thankful for. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for our health, for our jobs, for the gospel, for my sweet baby, for the situation we're in, and especially for my husband and our families. Hope you had a great day. Now it's time to focus on Christmas! Where did November go?!?