Sunday, December 14, 2008

Four Birthdays!


Our little girl is 4 years old! It is so true when people tell you that they grow up so fast! If seems like just yesterday when Kaylee was Makenna's size rolling around on the floor! Kaylee has been such a light and joy in our lives and we feel so lucky to have her sweet and spunky little spirit in our home. Kaylee was so excited for her birthday this year (she actually has been talking about what she wants for her birthday since last year's birthday!). As the time for birthday got closer Kaylee had narrowed down her list to three items that she reminded us of frequently. She wanted a pink scooter, a pony, and a computer like Nessa and Nicole (aka- a nintendo DS). We had decided that since we were heading back to Utah for Thanksgiving we would make a circle and catch all the grandparents and family on the way. We decided to leave on November 15th two days before Kaylee's birthday. Before we left we decided to do our birthday shopping for Kaylee and wrap the presents to take. Dan did a very good job of going out and finding the things on Kaylee's list and my job was to wrap them. Well, not only was Kaylee super excited about her birthday and going on a big trip to visit all her Nanas and Papas, now her excitement was hightened 110% when daddy came home sneaking up the stairs with a bunch of shopping bags. Dan told Kaylee she had to stay on the stairs and not peek while we were getting her presents ready. She did so for about two seconds and then every time we looked out the bedroom door she had creeped a little bit closer towards the door. I was wrapping and Dan decided to take out the DS to check it out and plug it in so that it would be charged. Now, the sound is not lound on these things but Kaylee had creeped all the way up to the other side of the bedroom door. When Dan opened the door to bring some of the wrapped presents out Kaylee asked, "Daddy, why are you playing with my new computer in there?" Dan answered, "No, why do you think that?" Kaylee gave him the cutest look and said, "Dad, I can hear you in there playing with my new computer!" Dan looked at me and we both just started laughing. We then decided that since we had a nice 10 hour drive ahead of us anyway, we would have out own little birthday party at home before we left. We gave Kaylee her pink DS and Hannah Montana game. She was so excited and it was the best decision we made as she played with that DS for almost the entire 10 hour trip! This was birthday party number one.

On to birthday number two! The first stop on our trip was to Nana K's house in Portland. We were here on Kaylee's actual birthday, November 17th. We had such a wonderful party with Nana K and Papa Greg. Along with our presents Nana and Papa took care of the pony stuff on Kaylee's list. She got so much my little pony stuff she didn't know what to do! Also at her party were Uncle David, Aunt Kelli, cousin Tyson, Aunt Lindsey, and Grandma Davis.

Dan, David, and Tyson

Kenna was very excited to meet her cousin Tyson for the first time. Tyson was also very intrigued with this new little person in his Nana's house!

Kaylee with all her presents!

Makenna was happy just being there and having her keys to suck on!

Kaylee loved her yummy birthday cake. She had to make sure she got the one with the pink flower and the most frosting!

Next we headed to Sisters, OR for birthday number three! We had a wonderful stay with Bruce, Terri, and Grandma Tope. While at Grandma Tope's one night for dinner Kaylee was so excited to see a deer roaming around outside. We couldn't believe it when Dan took her out there and the deer came right up to them! Kaylee thought this was so cool.

Our two cute little girls playing together. Kenna just loves listening to and watching Kaylee's every move. When she is crying Kaylee will go up and start singing "Twinkle Twinkle" to her. Kenna will immediately stop crying and just look up at Kaylee in wonder. It is so cute to see them together as Kaylee loves being the big sister and Kenna already looks up to her so much.

Makenna got this adorable hat from Nanna Kemp while we were there. I just had to take a picture of her in it. Isn't she the cutest?!

We all bundled up and headed out for a short walk over to see Nana's horses. Kaylee loves to be outside and had a great time running, jumping, and being the leader of our little excursion.



Nana Kemp with her beautiful horse.

Kaylee loved the horses. Nana even let her sit on one of them for a minute. Kaylee was in heaven!




On the last night of our stay here we had the big birthday party number three! Kaylee got some fun presents including a giant coloring book, Sleeping Beauty, a beautiful new church dress, and of course princess pajamas for our little princess!

Grandma Tope came for the party. We were glad to have been able to spend some time with her while we were there.

Kaylee thanking here Nana and Papa. They made her birthday number three so special.


Showing off the PJ's!

After leaving Sisters we headed back to Salt Lake for birthday number four! Kaylee is starting to think that you get as mant birthdays as how old you are! That would be kind of fun- I could deal with 26 birthdays!

At Nana and Papa McMillan's we had a Tinker Bell party! Kaylee was so excited for her birthday here and got some really fun toys she had been wanting like littlest pet shop and Tinker Bell.


Kaylee was in heaven being back with her two favorite people- Aunt Janessa and Aunt Nicole!

Make a Wish! (like Kaylee had anything else to wish for after four birthdays! :-)

Kaylee's favorite part of here cake was the Tinker Bell rings. One for every finger!

Best Buddies! Kaylee and Daddy.

Makenna was excited to be back in Utah as well. She is growing up so fast. She just celebrated her 5 month birthday. It is amazing how much she is learning and changing every day. She can now roll over and loves to play with her little toys, especially any of them that make noise. She will coo and laugh at you with the cutest smile that just makes your heart melt. She especially loves talking to Kaylee. Her and Kaylee will sit and talk/coo at eachother for hours. They are so cute together! They are going to be best friends, they already are. Kenna is a very calm and happy baby and we just love her so much!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

I am Tiger Woods

As I am sure you all know, Dan loves to golf and has been working with Kaylee on her golf swing pretty much since she could stand up on her own! We finally have some video of her golfing and her swing. She is doing awesome and loves to practice golf with her best buddy, her dad. They started out practicing in our basement in Utah, but when we moved to California and didn't have a basement they somehow talked me into letting them practice in the living room! They don't use real golf balls at least cause as you will see, Kaylee really hits them! She is a good little golfer and when asked who she is like she will tell you, "I am Tiger Woods." or as Daddy likes to call her, "Tigress Woods"!


Halloween!

Happy Halloween!


Makenna was a cute little pumpkin for Halloween. She is getting so big! She is starting to babble more and smiles a ton. We all love her so much!

Kaylee was Ariel the Little Mermaid for Halloween. She has been so excited to wear her costume. I am proud to say that after last year's incident with her Snow White costume neither Kaylee or Dan found my hiding place this year and the costume made it in mint condition to Halloween!


Kaylee had a great time trick-or-treating. She had the process down after days of practicing at home and I was so proud she even remembered the "Thank you! Happy Halloween!" at the end of most doors!

Makenna didn't get any candy but she was the cutest pumpkin on the block rolling around in her stroller!

Here is Kaylee with her final product of Trick-or-Treating. We are not sure who ate more of the candy- Kaylee or her Dad! They both definitely share the snacking gene!

This was the first Halloween that we did not spend with my parents in Utah so to make things feel more like home we had to decorate up the table like my mom always did to make Halloween special and make some yummy chili for dinner. I have to say we did a good job on the chili! Then we made some caramel apples for dessert. They looked really yummy and Kaylee had a great time with the sprinkles. However, we must have gotten the wrong kind of caramel and it didn't ever harden so they look better than they actually were. Oh well - we tried!


Both girls were exhausted from a long night full of trick-or-treating. The next morning they were still crashed when I woke up. They looked so cute snuggling together I had to take a quick pic. The funniest thing about this is that when I took the first one I woke Kaylee up. I told her to close her eyes and pretend she was asleep so I could take another one. So as you see in the second picture she did close her eyes but couldn't resist still smiling for the camera. She is definitely our little photogenic queen!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we took a trip to the pumpkin patch! I had never been to one before and I have to say it was a much more fun time than running over to the grocery store and picking up a couple pumpkins out of the cardboard box out front! We found out that the best one in town was just down the street from us. Uesugi Farms had a ton of pumpkins and a ton of really fun stuff to do. Kaylee thought it was so awesome and has not stopped talking about it since!

Our Beautiful Girls!!!




Welcome to the pumpkin patch!

Kaylee loved to ride around in the wheel barrow- it was a ride of it's own!

There was a huge pyramid of pumpkins that was very cool. It was huge!

They had a cute little corn maze just for kids. Kaylee loved walking through the stalks! The maze had signs every few yards that when you pushed a button on the side told the story of two blue pumpkins. It was a really cute little story and Kaylee really enjoyed herself. They even had blue pumpkins for sale at the patch which Kaylee loved!



Kaylee was overjoyed that they had her favorite ride the merry-go-round. They lots of fun things for kids including the carousel,a train ride, and great corn on the cob!

Kaylee rode her first little horse at the pumpkin patch. She wasn't quite so sure about it when she first got on but when we were discussing her upcoming birthday the next day she informed her dad that she wanted a pony for her birthday so I guess she had a good time. Good luck with that Dan!!!

Can't resist those Kodak moments! Our girls are growing up so fast!


Later that night we headed home for a pumpkin carving party. We are not very talented pumpkin craftsmen but a good time was had by all! Kaylee thought it was wonderful. She was taken off guard when she first put her hand in and felt the gooey insides of the pumpkin but it did not take her long to dig right in and get her hands dirty.


The first video is of Kaylee when she is not quite so sure about the gross gooey pumpkin insides, but then by the second video she can't keep her hands out of it- to the point of making a mess of it all over the kitchen table!

Our final products. Happy Halloween!