Exodus Part 2: A Stay in Santaquin

The second part of our trip was a well deserved 4 day stay with Brett's parents in Santaquin. We were all sick of being in the car after 2.5 days of being stuck in our seats. We had a good sleep that night after a yummy meal. The next morning, Kennedy created a new delicacy by putting all of her grapes into her Cheerios.

She seemed to enjoy it. Kennedy had a great time playing with her cousins while she was there. Most of them are quite a bit older than her, but they love to play with her and Kennedy had a blast. The day after we got there we left the kids with Brett's parents and headed to Salt Lake with Jesse, Kaisa, Jamie and Trevor to watch the Jazz take on the Nuggets. The game was great and they pulled out a win for us. We had a great time, especially knowing that we probably won't be making it to any basketball games for a while.

We were able to shop, go to The Cocoa Bean for some awesome cupcakes, see some of my family, and see the Waddoups. Kennedy and Boston had a good reunion, although I don't think Boston was too fond of Noah. He got a little jealous when Kim picked him up.

We dropped off the trailer and loaded up the big trailer that would bring all of our stuff to Brookings. They packed masterfully! I took a picture with my camera, and not my phone, which I have yet to unload onto the computer. I will do that soon so you can all see their mad skills. We had a HUGE treat on Saturday night because Stefani offered to take Noah for the night. It was amazing. I slept for 8 hours without waking up once. It has been months since I've done that! We had a birthday party for all of us who have birthdays in April too, and Stefani found this cute cake at a garage sale!

We celebrated for me, Kasia (not to be confused with Kaisa above), Brett, Kennedy, and Brett's grandpa. We loved seeing family and, of course, eating a delicious meal and some cake! But all good things must come to an end, and on Tuesday morning we had to head out for the last leg of our trip to our new home!

The Best Birthday Present Ever

My birthday was last Monday. Happy 25th to me! Unfortunately, Brett had to leave the day before to go back to New Jersey, so he gave me my presents early. He walked in the door with two HUGE Williams-Sonoma boxes. He got me a pizza stone, a pizza peel, a calzone maker, and a pizza cookbook. It was awesome! I'm so excited to use them when we get to Oregon. And on top of all of that, he let me get tickets to go and meet Giada de Laurentiis! I have seen lots of famous people on accident (Jason Alexander, John Lithgow, Dustin Hoffman, Jodi Benson, etc) and lots because I paid to go see them or knew where they would be (Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, Bernadette Peters, Brian Stokes Mitchell, etc), but I honestly don't think I have ever been as star struck as I was to see Giada. I know, I'm dorky, my big moment is to meet a famous chef. But I just love Giada.

She was so small and cute! She really is a tiny little thing. And she is sweet as can be. She fawned over Noah and asked if he was about a month old. When I told her he was only 2 weeks old she was surprised that I was out of the house. Then she asked, "Is this your second?" "Yes." "That's why." Then she gave us big smiles and thanked us for coming. I stood around like a goof afterwards and took a bunch of pictures. Unfortunately, these were the ones that turned out the best. Needless to say, I got some awesome birthday presents this year.

Today is Brett's birthday and we got an awesome surprise for him today too. He had a second to last dentist appointment today to see if his gums have healed enough for his last appointment. They gave him the ok and then told him to schedule his last appointment which would probably be on Thursday or Friday (which means he can't come home until at least Monday and possibly not until next Friday). But when he talked to the scheduler she said, "Do you have time right now?" He said, "Are you kidding?" and sat right back down in the chair. So he's done! And he has a flight scheduled for Friday night. He'll even be home in time for Kennedy's birthday on Saturday.

So we'll officially be leaving Texas next Tuesday, a week from today, and heading to Oregon to start our life with the Coast Guard. We are so excited! We have definitely gotten some wonderful birthday presents this year.

1st Birthday Party

We had Kennedy's birthday party on Saturday, and it was a blast!  It was a Hawaiian theme, and the decorations and cupcakes turned out really cute.  I don't have any pictures of them.  In all the hubbub I forgot, but my dad got pictures, so he's going to send me some.  But we did get pictures of Kennedy enjoying her party.  Except for the hat.

She loved the hat at the store, but I guess it wasn't a hit the next day.  We opened presents, of course, and Kennedy got quite a haul.  She is one spoiled little girl and now has way too many toys.

She had fun with the cupcake we gave her too.  She didn't get the candle, but we took care of that and blew it out for her.  The first thing she went for was the frosting.  She just put her fingers in it and licked it off for the first little while.

After a few minutes, I broke the cupcake in half, and she liked that a little bit better.  She stuffed it in her mouth, but she didn't make that much of a mess.

We had a bunch of family and a few of her friends there, and it was so much fun!  Her cousins had a hula hoop contest, with a grass skirt for a prize.  The weather was decent, so we were able to have it at the park.  People played frisbee, soccer, and bocce ball.  Thanks to everyone who came, especially dad who came all the way from Texas, to celebrate Kennedy's first birthday!

It Goes By So Fast

April 17, 2008

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

April 17, 2009

I'm sorry for all the pictures, but I had to document the changes that have taken place over the past year.  That's right.  My baby girl turns 1 today.  One year ago, Kennedy was born at 11:28 pm.  She weighed 8.5 lbs and measured 19 inches.  She is so much bigger now!  She is a beautiful, sweet, active girl.  She has brought us so much joy and a lot of laughter over the past year.  I can't believe how fast it has gone and how different she is.  Happy birthday my love!  Mommy and daddy love you so much and look forward to spending this next year with you!

Happy Birthday to Me

I have had a great birthday this year!  I turned 24 years old and am very happy.  Since my last birthday I have had a baby and graduated from college, both of which I am very proud of.  On Saturday Brett and I went out and dropped my ring off to be re-sized.  My fingers are still 1 1/2 sizes bigger than before I got pregnant, and I'm sick of not being able to wear my pretty ring.  I get to pick it up later this week.  On Saturday night, Carol, Jamie, Chris and Brenda took me out for my birthday dinner while Brett was gone for the Priesthood session of General Conference.  We went to Happy Sumo and I had some awesome sushi.  Afterwards, I went to Williams-Sonoma and bought myself some awesome birthday presents including an ebelskiver pan.

I am excited to try and make these filled pancakes.  You can fill them with basically anything: fruit, chocolate, Nutella, peanut butter, etc.  I also bought a new cookbook that I had never seen there before.

It is an awesome cookbook with all kinds of recipes that will be so fun to make with kids and that I think we will all remember and love.  In fact, Brett made me one of the breakfast recipes for my birthday on Sunday morning.  We watched Conference and in between sessions we took a walk to the duck pond and had a picnic in the beautiful weather.  We went to my cousin's house for our monthly family fireside later in the evening and had dinner.  All in all I had a wonderful birthday!  Thanks to all that made it special and wished me a happy birthday.

How Did Lucy Get in There?

We did not unpack as soon as we got home from California - we hardly ever unpack as soon as we get home.  Our suitcase was standing upright by the couch and Brett had opened only the top part of the zipper.  I saw Lucy standing on top of it, and when I looked back a second later, she had disappeared.  Then the suitcase started mysteriously shaking.

She must have really had to squish to get in there!

And in the end I had to open the suitcase and help her out because she couldn't do it herself.  I don't know why cats feel like they need to squish themselves into the smallest place possible to sleep, but it is amusing.

Some of you with bigger computer monitors may have noticed the birthday background that I have given my blog.  That is because April celebrates many birthdays!  Mine, Brett's, the blog's, and Kennedy's!  We will be having many celebrations over the next few weeks, so I decked out my blog.  Our birthdays will be the next big events for the next little while, and we intend to have some fun!