Happy Birthday Katelyn!

I can't believe I'm writing this post... because I can't believe Katelyn is two. Time really flies by and you don't realize it until days like birthdays or New Years that's why it's so important to take advantage of each special moment you have. We've enjoyed Katelyn SO much and we have learned so much from her. She is just such a blessing in our lives. I haven't spent one day more then about 4-5 hrs being with out Katelyn. So when I think about going to the hospital to have this baby with out her I get really emotional. It's going to be very hard. I have enjoyed being with her each and every day and being her mom and always being there for her.

Katelyn had her birthday Dec. 30th and turned TWO! She is such a big girl now. She is talking a lot and learning so many new words every day. My favorite thing she always says is "Where did ___ go?" She'll ask for anyone and everyone. "Where did Ike go? Where did Nana go? Where did Dad go?" It's so cute. She loves family members and so when we get to visit she is one happy girl, but then of course we hear the constant "where's so and so?" after wards haha.

Here are some pictures from her birthday. We tried to make it a special day for her and you can tell she really felt special! It was so cute when we sang her happy birthday with her cake in front of her she go so shy and was smiling you could tell she felt like a special little girl.

 Good morning birthday girl!

 Dressed her for her party with mom and dad. It was a princess theme.. more Rapunzel stuff than anything. She LOVED her balloon and still loves it and asks for it every morning.

 This is what she does when we say "be cute"

With her cake.. I got lazy and just put cones to look like a castle.. maybe if I wasn't pregnant and tired it would have been a little better, but she doesn't know the difference. She liked it just like that :)

 Opening gifts.. more to add to the princess theme... a crown

 She loved it :)

 Present from daddy

 Little Rapunzel doll! She loved that too

 Thanks dad

 With mommy.. more interested in her new gift though haha

Showing dad the little chameleon

 Guess she wanted the whole tub of ice cream instead of what was in her bowl :)

Blowing out the candle. She actually was able to blow it out.. i hope she made a wish ;)

 Playing with her new toys

So adorable.

Wearing one of her new b-day dresses for church.. Happy New Year!

Happy birthday to my beautiful baby girl! We are so grateful to have her in our lives.

Merry Christmas!

For Christmas this year we weren't planning on being anywhere other than home in Oklahoma since I would be so close to my due date, but plans changed a bit as it got nearer. My brother was getting married in Colorado on the 17th of December. I really wanted to go and so we figured it'd be nice to be able to see both of our families at the same time in one trip.
We left a day after Nick got done with finals on the 14th and just got back on Monday the 26th. So we did end up being able to spend Christmas day with Nicks family which was really nice.We had an awesome time while we were there.
First we spent a few days mostly doing things with my family since they wouldn't be in town too long. The wedding was the main event. It was such a wonderful wedding and I'm so happy for my brother and new sis-in-law! They are such a cute, happy, and fun couple I couldn't have thought of a better girl for him. I'm so mad we didn't get pictures. We left early in the morning to the temple and I forgot to bring the camera and we didn't have time to go back to Nick's parents house all day. Luckily they will have some though :)

After my parents left we enjoyed spending time with Nick's family doing different activities. There was some skiing (not from me), bowling, A LOT of shopping, late night games (i'm surprised how late I actually stayed up most nights), sledding, Christmas, and visiting with my cousin and Nick's cousin... if you didn't know one of my cousins is married to Nick's cousins. It's pretty cool we both feel like we are getting a good visit out of seeing them because they are family to both of us :)

Here are some pictures from our vacation.

 One of the only pictures we got of my family while we were there (minus Matt, Nate, and Steph)

Getting ready to go outside. She insisted on wearing the goggles...

 Sledding!

 Nick loves the snow..

 So not a huge surprise that he would take a dive off a rock face first into the snow..

 And.. get buried in it. He's crazy, but I love him! I'm glad he can make it fun for himself :) snow makes me cold just looking at it...brr.

 Katelyn LOVED the sledding!

 There she goes. She would get some serious speed going down and daddy wasn't afraid to let her go by herself.. I might have stepped in and stopped her a couple of times cause she was going so fast haha.

Nick, Hayley, and Sydney enjoying the snow.

 Christmas!

 She was very happy to open gifts! Also very moody..that's what happens when she misses her nap :)

Nemo! She loves nemo.. calls him "momo"

 Me and Raquel! It was so good to see them

She's due like 3 days after me so of course we got a belly pic, it'll be fun to see her little guy come around the same time :)

 

  Bowling! 

Well that's about it. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and great new year!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wow, Thanksgiving has come and gone and now it's December! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I love reminding myself through out the month of November what I am thankful for, here are a few:

1. My family. My amazing husband. My beautiful daughter. And for all they do for me to help me be a better wife, mother, daughter, and person.

2. My "other family" ;) My mom, my dad, my siblings, my in laws, my nieces. Family is so wonderful and I love each one of them so much. They are the best family I could ask for!

3. Our baby boy. We have about one month exactly until we get to meet our baby boy. Again, I'll be induced (like with Katelyn) if he doesn't come before then. We are very excited and this last month is going to be very busy with Christmas, Katelyn's birthday, and the birth of our new baby.

4. The Gospel. Since being a mother I have relied on the power of prayer for so many things. I'm so glad I have the knowledge of the Gospel in my life and can use it to know how to raise my children and become a better wife and mother.


This year for Thanksgiving we stayed in Oklahoma again. We rented a cabin awhile ago with a group of friends and so that is how we spent our Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun and nice to be out of the house and internet free, just away from the every day world and enjoy the beautiful outdoors!
It was so beautiful up there. We enjoyed the nature and taking a lot of pictures outside. Katelyn had tons of fun, I think there were like 8 kids total. She had a blast chasing them all around.
Here are some pictures:

 Ready to go outside!

 Having fun with the kids

 Trying to hula hoop.. I tried showing her then realized it doesnt work well with a huge belly.. haha

Turkey balloon hat! One of the husbands does balloon making for a hobby and he made all the little kiddos these cute turkey hats... I was impressed with his patience and the kids attacking him, they loved it!

 Taking a nice trip outdoors

Katelyn with her friend Blake. She has so much fun with him and they play so well together.

 Trying to get them both to look.. haha not going to happen

 Almost, they're still cute anyways :)

 Going down to the river

 There they are again checking out the water.. so cute.

Trying to touch the water

 Nick pretending to toss Katelyn in

 Family photo.. Katelyn's ready to take off running

Nick, Katelyn, and I taking a walk outside right around the cabin. It was so pretty

 The trees were still beautiful and it was just nice and relaxing to be outdoors!

 Katelyn loves taking walks

 HI... don't know what to call that face :)

 Weeee

 Love her

 Love him :) (Nick grew out his beard for MOvember)

Piggy back

Happy to be carried

 Daddy's turn to carry her

 Playing on the playground just outside the cabin

 Going down!

 She had a lot of fun

 Saying goodbye..

I'm really glad we decided to go. It was fun to spend time with friends and enjoy the beautiful nature. Happy Thanksgiving!

Visitors! :)

I previously mentioned that my sister and her family were coming into town soon. Well, they came. And they left. The whole THREE weeks went by so fast. And now I can't believe it just came and went, just like that.

We had so much fun together. Mostly just hanging out every day talking about mom stuff, crafts, or random stuff girls can talk about all day. I didn't mind just sitting around the house all day, just having the company was awesome.

I got to spend a lot of time and give big squishy kisses to this little girl:

ooo, I could just squish those little cheeks all day!

Katelyn LOVED having Ellie around. Which I find a good thing considering the baby will be coming soon.

I think at times Ellie thought "Ok.. Mom.. Aunt Dana... who's gonna save me here?" Katelyn liked to get really close to her and call her name "Ellie! Ellie!" or pat her head, squish her cheeks, tickle her toes. It was cute, but I'm sure Ellie was wondering why she was being attacked haha.

 

One day we had to give Ellie a bath. I told Katelyn we were going to bathe Ellie and she got really excited. Then she realized it was JUST Ellie getting a bath and she started crying asking if she could go in. I had already given her a bath earlier that morning, but I decided it wouldn't hurt to let her go in again! They had a lot of fun and Katelyn kept trying to put water on Ellie's head to help clean her. 

They were here during Halloween and that was a lot of fun. Katelyn likes to squish cheeks.. I think she might get that from her Uncle Ike... Although I really like to squish and kiss her cheeks too. So she tried it out on Ellie...

 poor Ellie can't stop the torture

 but they love each other :)

We also both got a date night! We switched one weekend and watched each others kid so the other couple could go out. It was really nice because Nick and I don't get date night often. We had a lot of fun with Matt & Lu & Ellie!! So glad they could come!!

It was sad that they had to leave, but in a month I will see them AND all of my family again in Colorado for my brothers wedding! I'm so excited to see everyone since we won't be traveling any where else after that because the baby is coming.