A Place to Write

We were so blessed this year! Honestly there's no other way to describe it. We're usually worried and afraid money-wise each December but this month, even with some bigger bills showing up, we were blessed with several unexpected opportunities for extra income. Of course much of those opportunities came from family. We're so blessed to have such an amazing family.  Christmas Eve I could hardly sleep, I was so excited for you, Kaybree! This year you finally began to grasp who Santa Claus is. We didn't go see him this year (we saw the Suns Santa Gorilla--which you LOVED and Eisley HATED) and I think you were pretty disappointed by that. But Christmas morning as soon as I was ready your dad ran into your room to wake you up. This turned out to be more difficult than we imagined. He changed your diaper and told you Santa had come and then he ran out of the room to show you all your gifts--and you climbed back into bed and pulled a blanket over your head.  Once we g

Kaybree makes sure everyone gets something to eat at the tea party. We went to an event where Jamba was giving away free smoothies. I thought for fun I'd let Eisley try some of mine. You had never used a straw before but you figured it out real quick and refused to give my smoothie back! You two have more Suns gear than I do. Grandma buys you any Suns outfits they sell so you're always ready for game day! Sometimes you just lay on your back and lift your hips and push to get around. Anytime you reach your destination--which is usually a toy, you flip onto your back to enjoy it. Eisley, you have finally decided to crawl. But it's not a full-on crawl yet. It's a hardcore army crawl, really. You put both hands together in front of you and then pull yourself forward. You're getting very good at it. You can get across the room very quickly--but you're exhausted when you get there. The entire way you're panting with excitement. We

Both of you girls are mama's girls. You prefer me over your dad (which breaks his heart by the way!) But even I do not hold a candle to Grandma. Kaybree loves all her grandmas. You get excited to see them. But Eisley REALLY loves her grandmas. Especially Grandma Duck (my mom.) It is so fun seeing you get excited. You get REALLY excited. And when you get excited every limb goes nuts and there's often screaming involved. I wish I would have recorded one incident the other day. I brought you over to Aunt Amy's house to play and laid Eisley down in the crib for a nap. Grandma came home while Eisley was alseep. When it was time for us to leave, Grandma wanted to say hi to Eisley so we snuck into the room and Grandma picked up Eisley, who was still sleeping. You woke up slowly and very slowly you began to register who was holding you. Your excitement starts in your feet with just the tiniest twitch. As you see more of Grandma your ankles start moving. When you're pretty

You two are officially child models! It pays to have an uncle in the modelling world! Brodie has gotten you both a gig modelling for an inflatable pool toy company called Bestways. There was no audition so it's not like they chose you out of a crowd because you're so adorable--but it's still cool. It was definitely a paid gig so--thanks for buying your own Christmas gifts this year! I've taken you both twice. The shoot lasts four hours which is way too long for babies. Eisley went first and unfortunately you nap twice a day so by 10 a.m. you were already a little done. By the time they put you in a little baby pool, you were fine for just a few seconds before you started crying. I felt like after you cried once they didn't want to use you again. The only other time they even asked for you was when they tried to use another kid and he was too chunky to fit in that particular pool toy so they stuck you in it for a second, snap, and done. About a week later Kay

Kaybree, I love that you recognize churches. You get really excited about going to church. Sometimes I use that to make you go to bed (I say things like "Tomorrow, we get to go to church!") That just makes me happy. On Monday you noticed something on the side of Eisley's car seat. There's a safety warning and a drawing to show how to properly put your child in the seat--and Jesus is holding the baby! It totally does look like Jesus. I hope you never lose your love of the church. I also hope to contribute to your knowledge of the gospel. You learn so much from nursery about Jesus and Joseph Smith. I hope through our conversations you learn too about faith and prayer, tithing and baptism. I hope you know that I know this church is true. I want to raise you in this church because I know how blessed I've been to be a member of it. I know I'm my happiest self when I'm doing all I can to follow the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Da

Favorite past time--jumping on the bed Jazz hands! There's a kiss happening there Baby Ryker