Look Mom.....I can feed myself!

Today for lunch I was going to give Mckenna some butternut squash to eat. She normally doesn't like eating jarred baby food, but I was trying to get her to eat what we had in our pantry. Well after about 2 bites from me feeding her, she decided that I wasn't doing a good enough job. So she took the spoon and the jar from me and when to town! She loved feeding herself. She actually ate most of it too. I thought she was just going to play with it. She made a fun little mess and had fun doing it!!

My baby girl is ONE!!

Yesterday was Mckenna's 1st birthday. We had a fun little party for her. She had a good time. She loved eating her cake. She was a little shy at first but dug right in after she tasted that delicious pink frosting. (her cousins helped her eat her cake too. You'll see Caleb in some of the video eating her cake right next to her. It was funny!)

Thanks to all who came to her party. She got a lot of cute clothes and toys. Chris and I gave her a baby set that had a stroller, car seat, and bassinet. She LOVES it. She loves taking her baby on walks in the stroller. It amazes me how naturally it comes to her to love and care for a baby. She will carry the car seat around and rock her baby too. It is so cute.

It's a very bittersweet thing for your baby girl to turn one. I just am having a hard time actually believing that Mckenna is already one. It just seems like yesterday I was holding her in my arms in the hospital. Time sure does fly by. Now I understand the old cliche that kids grow up too fast. It is definitely true. We love our baby girl and although she is one now, she is still her mommy and daddy's baby girl!

Enjoy the video of her birthday!!

Mckenna's Birthday Party

Mckenna is turning 1 this Thursday, September 18th! If you want to make it to her birthday party, you are welcome to come. It is at the Pine Valley Townhome Clubhouse at 6pm. It's hard to believe she is already 1! Hope to see you there!!

Yay......I passed!!!

At the end of July I took the Elementary Education PRAXIS test. I fianally received my results after a long wait yesterday. I am happy and thrilled to say that I PASSED!!!

I was really nervous to open the envelope. Probably because if I didn't pass I'd have to pay a lot more money to take it again and then all of this stress cycle would have started all over again. But now that I have passed I don't have to worry about it anymore!! YAY!! One more thing to cross off of my checklist!!

Time for school already???

Well today was my first day back at school. It is my 2nd semester into the Elementary Education program at Dixie State College. (only 2 more to go!! Yay!) I really am liking it so far. It's hard to believe that summer is already over and school is starting back up. Summer went by too fast but it was one to remember! So far this school semester seems like it's going to be pretty good. I am going to be working at Bloomington Elementary this semester. It seems like a fun school so I am excited. I'm in a 5th grade class so that should be a good experience for me.

I'm especially grateful for family while I am going to school. They are my life savors when it comes to babysitting Mckenna. I was really worried about who was going to watch her this semester. Mckenna's aunt Nicole (Chris' sister) used to watch her on Wednesdays, but she recently got married and moved up to Salt Lake so I was out a babysitter and was really worried about what we were going to do. Luckily my prayers were answered and Jenna (another one of Mckenna's aunts) was able to fix her work schedule so that she was available to watch Mckenna every Wednesday morning! (Thanks again Jenna!!) So everything has worked out! Chris watches Mckenna Monday mornings and Grandma Debbie watches her on Tuesdays. It is so nice and such a comforting feeling for a mom to know her baby is in good hands while she is gone to school. If is wasn't for family being close and able to help I don't know what we would do. The Lord has blessed our little family that is for sure!

Sunsets in Paradise!

While we were in Hawaii we saw some of the most beautiful sunsets. Here are just some of the awesome pictures we took on our trip. Enjoy!

Tattoos and the Polynesian Cultural Center

We had a great time on our family vacation in Hawaii. It was a great trip with my family. We all had such a great time. Great family memories were made that's for sure. Here are some of the pictures from our trip.

This is taken at the Polynesian Cultural Center at our Luau. That was one of the biggest highlights of our trip. We had a very great authentic Hawaiian experience there!! I loved the fresh flower leis they gave us there. Too bad they didn't last long enough for us to bring them home with us.

Sarah, Geneava, Mckenna and I all got the same ankle tattoo at the Fiji exhibit. We learned that tattoos are very popular and important in different Polynesian cultures. We thought we could use a little culture in our lives!! =)

Here is Mckenna's tattoo up close!

Chris, Stephen, and Leonard were like the 3 amigos on our trip. They had to get matching tattoos too. Very tough guys!!

The Polynesian Cultural Center was very awesome.One of the best exhibits was the Tahiti exhibit. I think Chris and Steven especially liked this one because their dad went to Tahiti on his mission. The show they put on was awesome. The girls can shake their hips like 100 times a min. They are very quick movers and it looks awesome when they dance to the drums. We liked watching them dance a lot.


Mckenna loved it when we were nice and let her out of the stroller. She loves walking and especially loves the somewhat freedom that comes from it. She managed to find a lot of huge leaves to pick up and thought that was about the coolest thing. Oh well....At least she wasn't screaming!!