Christmas Day 2009

We woke Charlize up and she found a cell phone and horse pajamas that Santa brought her. She carried it around while we opened gifts and got a family picture before we headed to Nate's parents house.

We had a yummy breakfast of keish (spelling?) and sweet rolls. Then opening presents time. Charlize bounced around with everyone and of course had to put on the fuzzy vest that Gma and Gpa got her. :) Nate got his dad a Winchester 30-30 and he was really happy that this dad liked it. We were spoiled again with lots of love and presents.
We went to Nate grandparent's house for dinner. Poppa made Charlize her own cookie and boy, did she like munching it down. She even shared a little with Poppa. He made her a beautiful little doll cradle.

Back at home, I attempted another family picture, but Charlize wasn't very enthused.

She has been such a cheeser lately for pictures, I was trying to get a few more of her and she sure did ham it up.

We had a great Christmas! We are thankful we have the opportunity to celebrate the birth of our Savior and remember him on such a special day. We are grateful for the time we are able to spend with family and for all the blessings we have in our lives.

Christmas Eve

This year it was Christmas eve with my family. We had it at Eleanore and Austin's place- and guess what they surprised me with . . . my Jubilee Tree. They really liked it and my mom had put a bid in on it, and ended up getting it. :) Totally makes me happy to see that tree again (just wish I hadn't thrown the box away because I thought I'd never see it again).

My Grandma and Grandpa Reading, Dad, Soni, Kelby, Addison, Mom, James, Nate, Charlize and I had yummy Mexican soup. We exchanged and opened gifts. The girls of course were the life of the party and enjoyed it all. My mom played with the girls while the rest of us played the game "Fact or Crap". When I looked back through the pictures, I had to laugh because my mom must have been scrambling trying to keep them happy, playing and attempting to get pictures of them together.

My mom bought the girls these huge balloons that sing after playing the recorded message from her. It was so fun to watch the girls dance around to the music. It was funny when they'd bump each other and both go off. Charlize is busting a move ;) (sorry about my wiggling!)

This picture is actually from after church. Charlize was a little sweetie in that dress. So cute! Thanks mom for getting it for her!

Up at the Arena

We are so lucky to get to go to the arena with the Graff's! It is so fun to ride almost every weekend and they are so fun to be with! The kids have fun playing in the dirt and Kristi took them for a ride to grate the arena, but they all bailed by then end except for Boo. She loves Kristi!

My little girl isn't a baby anymore, but she's a cute little cowgirl! (This pciture was taken by myself and I have to laugh when I see the sunflare - love it but it wasn't intentional. Its hard enough to hold baby,hold reins, hold camera, take picture much less worry about the background - but it worked out pretty cool. )

Thanksgiving 2009 - Dallas, Texas

Tuesday:

Here we are on the flight to Dallas. We were unsure of how Charlize would do on the flight since we hadn't flown with her before, so we made sure to give her a bottle at take off and landing to help pop her ears. She did great! She even took a nap with Grandma and Grandpa on the way. Half of our crew (the Smith family) got stuck in Vegas having been given bad directions on which line to get in. :( They were just stuck waiting till the next flight like 5 hours later.


Wednesday:
We went to downtown Dallas and sat at the Grassy Knoll where President Kennedy had been shot. Nate and some of the others had already been through The 6th Floor Museum of the Texas School Book Depository, so this year we the rest of us went through. It was really cool to go and see all the documentary films, newspaper clippings and information presented about JFK's assassination. My opinion is that its a conspiracy and the man was framed. But, nonetheless sad how it all happened.

Thursday: Thanksgiving Day

My mom got Charlize these pajama's that said, "Everyone is thankful for me!" So cute! We took out time getting ready and got on the trolly to go to the statium. This was the first time we'd been to the new statium and it is gorgeous! That screen is HUGE and so fun to look at! Charlize started to fall asleep on our walk into the statium, but woke up when she heard all the noise.

Nate's parents got us awesome 9th row seats in the lower section!

I love this picture! Charlize is proud to be an American just like the rest of the family.

Charlize took a little nap durring the game and we took her to walk around a couple of times so she wasn't too restless.

Durring the game there were Raider's fans in front of us and a Cowboy's fan behind us heckling each other. They were very loud and it was quite funny to hear them bantering back and forth.

Yes, that is a large drink that she's holding very tightly to. And no, she doesn't like to share ;)

Nate & Charlize
Cowboys won the game! We had alot of fun root'n on the Cowboys and its always fun to see all the fans!

Friday: Fort Worth Stockyards and Downtown

We went shopping in the Stockyards and then went Downtown to see some of the festivities they had going on. Charlize like the music and we ate some yummy ice cream.

What a fun trip! We were lucky it was really warm weather and we had a lot of fun! I need to get some pictures from the Smiths that they snapped of us to add some more, but here's a few for now :) Thanks Craig and Denise for taking us on such a fun trip with you all!

The Jubilee Tree

My principal asked if I would be in charge of the school's Jubilee Tree which is a big fundraiser for the hospial, and this year it would be to purchase a Life Flight Helicopter. I was really excited because I love being crafty, but wasn't so sure how I was going to pull it all together.
We decided to base it on our character education book, 7 Habits of Healthy Kids by Sean Covey. The characters are woodland animals and I had seen some scrapbook paper that I loved with vintage birds, owls and trees on it so slowly I began to pull it together. I wanted to use turquoise since its one of our school colors and *luckily* the school district had material donated that matched my color scheme perfectly! (Turquoise felt is VERY hard to come by). I also went to the thrift store and found sweaters with the texture I was hoping for (to cut up and use as parts of the ornaments).
My next challange was to figure out how to let the students be involved in making the ornaments. They put paint in the glass balls, helped sew some of the animals, paint wooden ornaments, and glitter the pine cones. I found grapevine garland and other dried flowers for the accents.

Yes, it all came together and I was very pleased with how it all turned out. Charly doesn't even teach at our school (she is an amazing sub and daughter of our secretary) but she was the only one that offered to help me. I am so grateful that she helped me!
It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. I'm not the best at delegating responsibility since I had a specific look in mind, but I've already got ideas started for next year and am looking forward to being a calmer year to enjoy the process more. ;)

O my goodness!! November has come and gone and I only posted once about our goings-on! Well, yet again another month of (crazy)busy-ness and I know with Christmas on its way it wont slow down for a little while!

For a quick recap and I'll post more soon!

• Completed the Jubilee of Trees tree for my school quite a project and I think thats why mine still isn't up yet - this week!
• It was a fairly warm month and I had alot of picture sessions back-to-back
• Thanksgiving break was definitly welcomed! We went to Texas with Nate's family and the Smith family to watch the Cowboys beat the Raiders! The new stadium is awesome!
• Charlize is now RUNNING! and I swear she does 5 new things everyday!
• My house looks like a tornado hit every night - that child (and every child I'm sure) can tear the whole thing apart in a matter of minutes!
• Nate won a saddle! Yea - that was really exciting for him!
• My baby brother turned 16! Holy cow!
• Kindergarteners keep my laughing and tired at the end of everyday and I have my second "behind the glass" lesson for Reading Recovery this Wednesday. Intimidating, but a huge learning experience!
• its 12:30 and I really should go to bed!

Fun With the Graff's

With life being so crazy, we haven't gotten much of a chance to relax and catch up with friends much (sorry y'all) but thankfully it worked out to go up to Graff's arena and play in the dirt, ride some horses and visit with friends. Their kids run around on the four wheelers and go-cart all the time! How fun for them to have a place to run free! Its absolutely gorgeous to look out over town and see Snow Canyon at the same time. There's definilty more cows than people up there and my soul takes a deep breath whenever I'm in a place like that :)

Cute J is the proud owner of this horse (she lets Mom and the others ride it) and it was so cute to see her take to Charlize like she did. What a sweetie and soon Boo will be able to run around with them :)

12 month Check Up

We had Charlize's 12 month appointment today, lots of good news:

• Height: 30.91 in = 94% (taller than about 9 out of 10 girls her age)
• Weight: 24.14 lbs = 89% (heavier than about 9 out of 10 girls)
• this puts her at 103% ideal weight for length

Yea, she's back to being balanced and the Dr. wasn't so astounded by her weight. Still saying we can go straight to 2 percent milk, like now. So, we'll start mixing it in.

Looks like bye-bye bottle soon. I've been working on a sippy cup for quite a while, so its not all new.

We decided to do 2 out of the 4 recommended shots for this series (the 2 she has not received yet). We'll catch the second round for those others next time we are in. It still worries me to put so much into a little body all at the same time.

Halloween 2009

A few months ago, Nate and I found a pair of Ruby slippers (glitter and all) and I was excited to try to make her dress to be Dorothy. Unfortunately when I tried them on her at the beginning of October, she did not fit them anymore. Thankfully we found some satin substitutes at Wally-World and off I was to make the dress. Yes, I know for those of you that sew it is a simple structure, but I had never attempted gathering or a zipper before. I even ended up putting some darts in the back to help pull the top a little tighter. She was so cute (if I do say so myself!) and I'm so glad it was warm!

I took her to my school for the morning parade (left the camera at school for those pics), and then we went to see grandparents Friday and Saturday.

I really wanted to get some pictures of her in her costume, and thought it would be fun to have it be on an old farm to look like Dorothy's. I had fun editing them (more on my photo blog!).

Birthday Party!

I didn't get a picture of the whole set up, but here's one of the banner and paper flowers I

made for the cupcakes (Thanks Elle for helping me!).

Here's the cute cousins! Addi give a big one-armed hug! And yes, that is the scowl I have been talking about - she does it alot! But we usually just end up laughing at it cause it is such a shock when we see it (usually when she is not getting her way).
I tired to make sure I got a picture of Charlize with everyone and I missed Grandma Lorraine (sorry Grandma!) We were happy to have family come and missed all those who would have come if we lived closer!I just wanted a few pics of her with her cupcake, and unfortunately she was too quick to snatch at the flame. :( After a few tears it was ok, sorry bebe! I think she forgot about it when she got to dive into it all by herself. She LOVED it! I definitely got a scowl when we started to clean her up.
She was great opening presents - and even read the cards! :)
After the party was over we got a chance to just hang out and give the muncher some more food. (I swear she signs 'food' all the time! Maybe all that walking is making her hungry!) So while she was eating, I got to take some pictures of her and her cute messy face!

Sorry friends that you weren't invited, but hope you'll join us next year!

Happy Birthday Charlize!

Happy Birthday to our little sweetheart!

Yes, that is an orange hat - your Dad picked it out not because Halloween was close by, but because the deer hunt was going on. :)1 month
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Happy 1st Birthday!

This past year has gone by so fast watching you learn and grow!

We have enjoyed watching your little (or rather big) personality come through - your laughs, your smiles, your scouls, your smirks, your discoveries and abilities.

You are such an animal lover and would be on a horse all the time if you could! You can sign horse and dog, along with milk, food/eat, and more. It sounds like you say 'dada' for almost everything, but we know that you make the sounds for horse, dog, thank you and every once in a while, mama. :)