Catch Up Through February

To start catching up I will show some pictures from January. This particular week we had great weather and piles of leaves, so we thought we would see how Kaylie liked playing in them. She loved it! I love the warm weather in California!

This picture was taken on January 15th which marked Kaylie's 10th month! I thought it would be fun to take a picture of the both of us, so I told her to say cheese and she did! It turned out pretty cute!

Hasn't she grown beautifully!?! She is becoming quite the character. At 10 months she was getting better at walking. She could walk on her own without a problem. She giggles at more things. She continues to give hugs and kisses. She is starting to recognize the names of different toys or animals. We can ask her, "Where is the Lion?" and she will point to it. Very neat!

My family went to the river a few weeks ago. The weather was great and Kaylie loved being outside and loved the ducks and birds that were around. We went down the bike trail and then right down to the water. This is one picture with Jason, who absolutely loves Kaylie!

We went to the zoo on February 4th because it was half price admission! Kaylie loved seeing all the animals. The funniest thing was when the tiger came right by the window and growled and it made Kaylie jump in my arms! Then all the kids around us started growling back. So cute!

Kaylie turned 11 months old on February 15th and she had a cute little photo shoot. She is so much more aware now and she can do so much. She understands a lot more of what I say to her. She knows when the attention is on her and she loves to please the crowd. Kaylie has started resting her head on lots of things and saying "awww". It is the cutest thing! She does it on her blanket or the couch and even in her high chair. She has also started laying on the floor in different places and just relaxing. It's really funny actually. She has no problem walking around on her own and she just follows us all around the house. We love her even though she has her own little attitude and is sometimes stubborn. I think that just gives her more personality. She is a sweetheart to the core and we love her to pieces! We can't believe she will be 1 next month!

We are enjoying life! Marcus is doing well at his job as a life insurance agent. He loves the open schedule and likes meeting all kinds of people and helping them out with their finances. I love being at home with Kaylie. She is a handful some days, but most days I just enjoy the time I get to spend with her. We are still living with my parents and that is going well. It's great to spend so much time here with my parents and two brothers.

On February 17th my Grandpa, Marc Hall, passed away. It was a shock to us all. He only lived to be 72 years old, but he lived an amazing and fulfilling life. I miss him so much already, but I know that I will see him again. He was a great example to me of what is really important in this life. I will never forget his smile and sense of humor. He was always such a tease and I remember it even when I was little. I love you Grandpa!

January 2012... how time flies!

Well, I guess I've just been so busy in the month of December that I have a lot to catch up on.

On December 3rd it was Melania's birthday so we went to Modesto to celebrate with her. We went out to dinner at Johnny Carinos with Melania, Dan, Cindy, and Tim. Kaylie loved sitting in her high chair at the restaurant. We had a great weekend with family!

Kaylie turned 9 months old on December 15th! She is getting so big and so wiggly! This was the best picture we could get because she wouldn't hold still and every time I put a headband on her, she would pull it off. She is just a bundle of joy! I wanted to write down a few things that Kaylie has been doing for the past couple months that I don't think I've written down yet. 

Whenever someone raises their eyebrows at Kaylie she tries to copy them, but blinks instead.

If you ask Kaylie to give you kisses and you stick your cheek out, she will stick her mouth wide open on your cheek and make an "awww" noise. We are pretty sure she makes that noise because we always do it when she kisses us. SO CUTE!

If you tell Kaylie to clap her hands or say "yay" she will clap her hands for you.

She has learned how to turn pages the right way in a book and she loves looking at books.

On the 17th we went to a ward primary party where Santa came to visit. We were very surprised when Kaylie sat on Santa's lap for the first time and didn't even cry. That was neat! She even sat in the circle with all the kids while they all took turns talking to Santa. What a fun morning! 

On the evening of the 20th, Grandpa and Grandma Hall came home from their mission! We all met up at their house to greet them. The Cobabes and Coulams came too and we all stayed up talking until about 11pm. We are glad that they are home!

On the 21st we opened presents with Jessica's family because we were going to leave the next day to spend Christmas with Marcus's family. It was fun watching Kaylie try to open her first present. She loved the wrapping paper! She got a little Dora tent that she could climb into, but she was very hesitant until we threw some toys inside. We all got some clothes from Grandpa and Grandma Harrison.

We went to Modesto from the 22nd - 28th of December. Everyone was there this year except for Doug so of course we took some pictures! We had a great time with everyone. We went to Oakland one night to see the lights at the temple and also to eat Pizza at the famous Porky's Pizza that Dan used to work at in his youth. We had a fun Christmas Eve as we shared talents, exchanged gifts, and danced it off to the dance game on the Wii. Christmas day we had fun opening presents, attending church and spending quality time at home together.  It was an exciting time. We love getting together with family. I'm sure Kaylie didn't know the difference but it was fun sharing her first Christmas with her. We were sad to leave because we know that it might be a while before we are all together again. We spent some time in Modesto with Grandpa and Grandma Harrison as well. Jessica's family came also and we got to spend some quality time together.

Another exciting thing that is happening... Kaylie is learning to walk! Yes, she has taken quite a few steps now. It started the week of Christmas where she has just learned to balance a little bit better and now when we get her going, she can take 8-10 steps pretty well. We are excited, but she seems to be really cautious. She is still climbing and standing on everything, so pretty soon we won't be surprised if she just walks everywhere.

Scott and Jenn Thompson came to visit a few days after Christmas! They brought their 3 boys with them and Kaylie loved playing with them. They were so friendly and sweet with her! It was so fun having them around. Now that they have moved to L.A. we hope to see them more often.

We celebrated New Year's Eve at the Cobabes home. The Coulams, Thompsons, Harrisons, Jankowskis and Halls were all there to celebrate together. We had a lot of delicious finger foods, played games, and watched movies. A group of us stayed up real late playing the card game, Runs and Bunches, which has become quite the tradition when we all get together. We really had a great time and we are excited for this new year!

November, November

November flew by and we have had lots of good times!

 While babysitting for a friend, her sister showed us her bird. We loved having it crawl along our arms! Kaylie found the bird fascinating as well.

Kaylie turned 8 months on November 15th! She has changed so much in this past month. She can crawl! Oh my goodness, she got so fast, so quick! Just two weeks ago she was taking 3-4 crawls and then falling down. A week later she just took off and now we can't stop her. She has also discovered that she can stand up holding onto a couch or the stairs - in fact she can even crawl up a couple stairs with supervision! A few days ago Kaylie started clapping for us and she also is giving everyone high fives! She is a quick learner. These are just a few of her 8 month pictures. She decided to be very photogenic this time around!

This Thanksgiving we had dinner at my parents house. Grandpa and Grandma Harrison joined my immediate family. We had a very enjoyable dinner thanks to my mom. She cooks an amazing Thanksgiving meal! There was a little bit of help from the rest of us. Here are a few pictures of the day.

My dad decided to landscape this side of the yard.  It looks great so far, but its not done yet. 

More pictures to come!

Learning to Crawl

Kaylie is learning to crawl now. We haven't been encouraging it too much until the past couple weeks. She gets into crawl position sometimes if she can get her foot out right. Then sometimes she will even put one hand forward. Mostly though she gets into somewhat of a crawl position then gets back into sitting position. But she can move herself all over the floor on her bum. Its funny because we put her in one spot and next thing we know she has maneuvered herself two feet away. Funny girl!