Christmas in Idaho!

Karly, Bella and I got to spend a whole week in Idaho for Christmas this year--it was so fun! A day or two after we arrived it started to snow, so Karly got her first "real" encounter with snow. She just stood there mostly. :)

But I can't say I blame her...when she tried to move, this happened:

But we finally got a smile once she was on sturdier ground. I have to say though, for not really wanting much to do with the snow, she sure had a fit whenever it was time to go inside! :)

Bella and Barclay sure loved it too!

Bella and Barclay were pretty much inseperable the whole time we were there. After the first day, and learning each others boundaries, they became good friends. They would wrestle and chase each other, and even nap near one another. And usually Karly wasn't too far away either...she loves her puppies!

Christmas Lights at Temple Square

We were so excited to be able to go see the lights at Temple Square this year...well ok, maybe it was just me. :) It was reeeaaallly cold, and Karly really only cared about the water, or watie, as she likes to call it--which explains why the only pictures I got were of us by the fountains. But, all things considered, it was still a fun family activity!

Karly spent the majority of the car ride home trying to put her dad's ear warmer over her head.

Visiting Santa

Okay, so Karly was too scared to actually talk to Santa let alone sit on his lap. But, she thought the hat and candy cane afterwards were pretty darn cool!

Happy Birthday Karly!!

Karly is 2!! I can't believe how the time has flown by...my baby isn't a baby anymore! She is such an amazing kid. She is as fiercely independent as ever--she knows what she wants and how to get it--and it doesn't usually involve mom's help (something I greatly admire about her, even on the days it has me throwing my hands in the air with frustration). She is also the friendliest toddler you'll ever meet. It is a regular occurance for her to walk out of a store or restaurant saying "bye...see-ya!" to every person she passes. She makes me laugh almost all day, everyday--whether it's trying out the new dance moves over lunch, or the way she rams her shopping cart into the wall and just laughs and says "oh, sawie" (sorry). I love that most of our daily conversations consist of:

Karly: "Mama!?!"

Me: "What Sweetie?"

Karly: "Where's Bella?"

Me: (answer is wherever Bella is at the moment)

Karly: (no response, just a very thoughtful look)

Wait 1 minute and then repeat conversation with an added sense of urgency, even if Bella is in the room at the time.

I still can't believe she's ours, and I thank my Heavenly Father every day for this sweet, little girl He blessed us with. I love you, Karly Jo!!

Karly and the cousins. :) We had a great party with my Mom and Dad, Sisters and their families, and uncle Brian. Thanks for coming everyone!

Helping Dad put together the new shopping cart!

Karly loved hearing everyone sing to her. :)

Getting Caught Up!

Where, oh where, do I begin? Well, first I guess I better post pictures of Karly's accident. That's right, Karly had her first major accident (well pretty minor really, but it was the first time seeing my baby's blood...and it was gushing). And not only was it her first accident, but it was half way through our drive from Phoenix to Utah. We had stopped at the McDonald's in Page, Arizona for lunch, and were eating outside on some concrete picnic tables. Karly was kneeling on one of the benches and reached for something. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her start to go over the edge, but I was too late to catch her, and she fell. I thought it had just scared her, but she looked up at me with blood streaming down her face. So there we are in the middle of po-dunksville, on a Sunday, with a dog, Kelly's still in Phoenix, and Karly has a split above her eye and is bleeding everywhere. Luckily, Crissy had come down to make the drive with me, so I wasn't alone, and she ran back into the restaurant to get directions to somewhere...anywhere. We ended up at the emergency room, but they were so great. They just put steri-strips on her cut and gave her a little stuffed dog. She was sooo brave!! She didn't cry much, especially after the bleeding was under control, and she sat so still while they taped her up. And to top it all off, the hospital didn't even charge us! I really felt blessed that day. It was one of the longest, hardest days ever...but we made it. Bella was a good girl, Karly was so tough, and the weather wasn't too bad. None of us wanted to get back in the car anytime soon, though! (It was late when we got to Utah, so I didn't get very good pictures...but you get the idea.)

On to Thanksgiving....quite uneventful. With the weather, and just getting to Utah and trying to get settled, we decided it was better to just stay home. Which also worked out well since we all started to get sick--we would've felt so bad to carry our sick germs to Kelly's family in Colorado. But, it worked out okay. Kelly's work gave him a turkey, so I made a nice sized dinner for the three of us, and we spent the day getting unpacked and settling in. I forgot to take pictures all day, until Karly started helping me clean up dinner. She loves to play in the bubbles and decided to put them in her hair. She is such a poser she makes me laugh!

Hello Utah!!

Well, we made it! Things are crazy, more posts to come...

Change

Kelly says the blog is too orange now, but I love fall colors so we will leave it "too orange" for awhile. :)

So, we are moving!! We decided Phoenix is not the place we want to raise our family-- and about the time we decided on that, Kelly got an email from his friend telling him he should apply for a job at their office in Utah. He fixed up his resume that night and emailed it back to his friend, and a couple other places. We figured maybe things would start happening and we'd be back to Utah by the end of the year. Well, within a week, Kelly had two interviews and a third company had given an offer. And about a week after that, he received offers from the other two, as well. It was a tough decision, but he finally settled on Horrocks Engineers, (not the job with his good friend, but maybe in the future). So here it is not even a month later, and we are frantically packing to be in Utah by next week. It's amazing how the Lord works...everything has just fallen into place. We are so excited! Lots of people think we are crazy for moving this time of year because it's finally getting nice here and cold in Utah--but we are actually excited about that part, too. Okay well--we realize we are in trouble because 70 feels cold to us now, but snow!! yay!! and maybe even a "white Christmas"!! We are "seasons" kind of people. We are looking forward to four distinct seasons. We are also anxious for "real" grass, basements, NO SILVERFISH or SCORPIONS, Magelby's Fresh, mountains, Kelly's excited to fish the Provo, I'm excited for Roberts and other real scrapbook stores, and of course we'll be by our FAMILIES!! So what's being a little cold in comparison to all that?!? Our only problem is leaving Darin and Shelly...we will sure miss you!! Move to Utah!! ;) Well, there you have it. That's the somewhat short explanation of our sudden change--so, we're hoping to see some of you soon!

Oh, and I can't post without adding a picture of Karly, so here are some of her after her first birthday party a couple weeks ago. She had a great time! They played with animal balloons and had little hats, which obviously Karly didn't want to take off. They also had a pinata full of toys, candy and play-dough. It was fun, (but a little exhausting for the moms).

Umm...oh yeah

By the way, we're moving!! It has all happened very fast, but we are excited to say we are moving back to Utah next week (hence the moving boxes). Yay!! More info later...

Happy Halloween...BLEH!

...that "bleh" would be the sound of Karly puking. (She hadn't even had one piece of candy yet!) She had been poking at her tummy all afternoon and saying "ouch". It was very sad, but then she would go play and act fine. So, we decided to go ahead and go to the ward "trunk-or-treat", but as I pulled into the church parking lot..."BLEH!" Poor thing--we feel so bad for her, she was sick on Halloween last year, too! Meanwhile, I'm left to wonder why there are so many crevices in car seats...yuck!

We carved pumpkins last night...ok, well I carved a pumpkin and Karly colored on a pumpkin. (Kelly chose to pack.)

She helped me clean out my pumpkin, and even had a little taste.

These were taken this morning, before the tummy-ache.

And these were my amazing Mummy Pizza's that I made for dinner. Karly didn't get to eat any, but Kelly sure seemed to enjoy them. I also made Franken-jello, but they weren't picture worthy (maybe next year).

Chicken Little

Old Navy has the best Halloween costumes!! Shelly and I were looking at them the other day and I was having the hardest time deciding which one to get. The lion, zebra, and monkey were all very cute. And actually, I passed over the chicken thinking it wasn't as great as the others. But that was until I put it on Karly! Shelly and I had to pull out our cell phones and take pictures--she was so cute!! And what was even better is that she knew how cute she was and just stood there with a big grin on her face.

I tried to get some good pictures to share, but Bella thought Karly was a huge stuffed toy to play with and wouldn't leave her alone.

And then...

Mom turned the tables on Bella.

She has a costume too! Our little angel...

This is her "please get this off me" face.

"Please, PLEASE get this off me!"


I'm so lucky!

Do we like "The Office" at our house?

Ummm...yeah! 'Nough said.

(Ok, but actually I do have to say that first: sorry this video is jittering--I was trying not to laugh at my baby's awesome dancing, and second: Karly does not wear the same shirt everyday. She just happens to be wearing the same pink polk-a-dot shirt everytime I film her...or am I the only one that noticed?) :)

Word of the Day

CAPEESH?

Webster's New Millenium Dictionary of English states the definition as, "do you understand?" Quite fitting for a toddler learning to express herself, right?! Our only problem is that I think Karly thinks it means cup...oh well, it's still cute.

Family Home Evening

Last night for FHE we decided to decorate our ugly, cinder-block fence with some sidewalk chalk. It started out with a purpose...Dad was telling Karly about Noah's Ark (see his fabulous picture below). But, since she has about a 30 second attention span, the lesson consisted of "see the boat?" and "see the rainbow?" At least we can say we tried, right?! Then we had fun adding some Halloween spice to our drab backyard!

Karly adding her own embelishments to her Dad's drawing of a dog...a Halloween dog?

Wooo..ooo....ooo, scary ghost!

Bella drew this amazing black cat, and even signed it.

Crazy kids

Last night, Karly and Bella were going crazy playing with each other. Bella would chase Karly and she would scream and giggle. This, of course, would drive Bella even more nuts and she would run all over the place like a mad dog. I was able to catch some of it, but Bella was distracted by the camera, so it doesn't quite show how much fun they were having together. Then, it all ended with Bella resting, yet always watching Karly--and even giving her a few kisses.

Pretty as a Princess

My mom sent Karly a new camera that she loves! When you push the button it says things like "You look pretty as a princess!" and "Oh, Beautiful!" She loves to go around taking pictures, although technically she always has it pointed at herself. :)

It tastes good, too!

Dancing Queen

Karly loves to dance! I'm probably a terrible mother for letting her listen to all the music I love, but I can't help it!! She's too cute when she dances to it...and the faces she makes are priceless. I was actually trying to record my favorite dance face, but it didn't happen--stay tuned, maybe I'll get it someday. Anyways, I thought this dancing with her baby clip was pretty cute. (The whining yell at the end is at Bella.)

Gee, thanks

So, we are at the check-out stand at Walmart today, and the checker is talking and smiling and playing with Karly...nothing unusual. But, then she says, "Oh, she's adorable--she must look like her father." Now, while I agree with this statement, I still have to say, in the words of Stephanie Judith Tanner "How RUDE"!! Gee, thanks lady. :)

Silly, Silly Karly!

Karly loves to look at the videos we've taken of her...especially the one I previously posted on here. Her reaction to seeing herself scream, is to scream and look shocked. It is so cute that I had to record it. So, here is a clip of Karly watching Karly!