Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas or should I say Feliz Navidad! We had an awesome Christmas this year. It was so special having Rilyn here and getting to see her open presents and play with all of her new toys, we are now making my old bedroom at my parent house into a huge playroom since we have no more room at home!! Rilyn helped Uncle Cody make cookies to send to his friends on missions. He decided to make her look like the kid in Super Bad (I haven't seen it so I had no idea what he was talking about). Then, we kicked off the festivities by having Christmas dinner with my grandparents the Thursday before Christmas. It was so fun. My grandma is recovering so well from everything. To me that is just the greatest present of all. Knowing that shes getting stronger and healthier every day. Then we had Christmas with the Breinholts on the 22nd. That was fun and crazy!! My goodness our family is getting big!! We need to rent out an auditorium next year!! Rilyn had lots of fun watching her crazy cousins open presents and had lot of fun with her new toys. The next morning we left for Mexico with my family. I am happy to report that Rilyn did so good on the drive down! She didn't even cry once! Cody was totally pooped from the drive so he took a nap and waited for the rest of the gang to get there. We spent the next four days on the beach and hanging out. Thats my kind of Christmas. Just relaxing and enjoying eachother. We have a Christmas tree for those of you who might think "how can you have christmas in mexico?" it looks a little something like this. It took us forever to open all of those presents and Rilyn fell asleep so I had to finish opening her gifts. She got so many things. She loved Mexico too. She liked the sand a lot. She wasn't too sure about the ocean though. It was a little too cold for her liking. She even got to play on the beach naked. She liked that (if it was up to her she would be naked 24/7) We had so much fun in Mexico and then got to come home to another Christmas and got more presents!! Can you believe it!! And heres the best part...theres one more christmas this Sunday for us!! Man are we spoiled or what?!?

New Stuff

Well we've had some new stuff going on. First off, Rilyn moved into a "big girl" car seat and so I decided she needed a shopping cart cover. Most of you know how wonderfully frugal Cody is so instead of going out and buying one (the smart thing to do) we decided to make one so my wonderfully talented Nana came over to help us sew. It took me, Nana, and my mom 8 hours to make this cover. The good news it that it works great and Rilyn loves to sit up when we shop. However, I'm never making another one ever again!!

Second, Ri has started crawling really well and is moving onto climbing and standing. Scary! Her favorite things to do now are standing up using the outside of her playpen and standing in her crib when she is supposed to be sleeping. Oh and if any mommy's have any tricks to getting babies to go to sleep at night please share with me! Rilyn will not go to sleep at night. AAHHH!!

She has also moved in eating baby food and HATES it! She is such a stinker. She refuses to eat and anytime anything does make it in her mouth she spits it back out. She won't even eat fruit! Hopefully one of these days she'll just start swallowing food instead of spitting it all over everything around her.

We made it to the Temple the other day to see the temple lights and Rilyn loved it! She liked the talking nativity scenes the best. I think we're gonna have to make it back there before Christmas. Maybe we can take her to zoo lights too. She would love that!

Oh and one more update... I caved and let Cody get an Xbox 360. What was I thinking?!? Oh well, he has fun playing with his brothers and now instead of going to his parents house to play until way too late at night he can stay home with us. The funny thing about it is that Rilyn has decided that she needs to play too. Anytime she can get close to Cody when he's playing shes reaching for his controller. Its so funny. Maybe we'll have to get a more family oriented game (right now we only own Halo 3) and another controller so they can play games together.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

So last night we ended up at Bass Pro Shop with Brady and Brooke and Shane and Shelley and Tatum and they had just the best looking Santa I have seen so I decided we would try to see if Rilyn was going to be scared of him (if she was then I wasn't gonna waste my time in dressing her up cute if she was just gonna cry). Anyways, she did great! I was so impressed. She was laughing and smiling but she wouldn't take her hands away from her mouth. Can't win them all I guess. So since she did so good last night my mom and I decided we would take her back in her I love Santa shirt and Santa hat. She looked so cute!! Well we walk up to Santa and she takes a good look at him (as you can see in the picture) and the she started screaming. Not good! Well then we gave her a candy cane to make her happy so she has that in the rest of her pictures and now its all over her shirt. But shes so cute its ok! If anyone is planning on getting Santa pictures at the mall DONT DO IT! Go to Bass Pro Shop. They did such a good job. They have an awesome back ground. Their Santa is so nice and looks so real! And they don't just take one shot. The took at least 20 of Rilyn both times and then you look on a computer screen and pick out the ones you want. On top of that they will put the one you want on a disk for $15 bucks and then you can print off as many as you want and if you liked more than one shot its just another $5 for each additional picture. I thought that was such a great deal cause its close to the same price as the mall with better everything. Santa is only there on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday though. But both times we went there was never a line!! How AWESOME!! I think that most people either don't know or just are waiting for it to get closer to Christmas but either way... SERIOUSLY GO TO BASS PRO SHOP TO SEE SANTA!!

My how time flies

I can not believe that 6 months ago Rilyn was born. Time has gone way too fast!! For her six month "birthday" we went to golden spoon for some ice cream. Rilyn's favorite was the chocolate. We went to the doctor today and found out that Rilyn is very advanced. She's been talking for close to a month (mainly she just says mama), she has created her own version of crawling, she loves to stand up and can pull herself up very easily, she loves to get her picture taken (she even smiles and poses on her own), and her new favorite thing to do is scream. She is so fun! Shes trying to figure out how to clap her hands. Daddy was trying to teach her tonight but she isnt quite there yet.

We were able to go to our friends Chrissy and Nate's wedding reception tonight. It was so fun. I am so happy for them. It is so great that they got married. They have gone through so much to get where they are. They dated in high school and we were all friends and that we're all older it is fun to see them get back together and get married like they had wanted to then. I can't wait for them to have babies. They are gonna be so cute!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Well its finally Thanksgiving. It was such a wonderful day. We got to spend part of the day with Cody's family. It was so fun to see all of his aunts and uncles and cousins that we don't normally get to see. Then we spent some time with my family who came to town from the holiday. Its always fun to see them. The day made me reflect on what I was thankful for.

I have to say that I have been so blessed. I have so many things to be thankful for. I am greatful for my church and all that it has brought to my life. I'm greatful for a knowledge of the gospel and for a testimony of Christ, the atonement, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, a living prophet to lead and guide us, and the blessings of the temple in my home. I am greatful for my husband and for everything is does for our family. He is such a hard worker and wants our family to have the best opportunities possible in the future which is why he is going to school. He is an amazing father and I am so greatful that he is my partner in raising our daughter. I am extremely greatful for my daughter. She is the most wonderful thing brought into my life. She is so amazing and has brought such an amazingly sweet spirit to our home. She makes me so happy and makes being a mom so happy. I am greatful for my family and for all of the love and support that comes from them. My parents worked and work so hard to provide for their family and to give us so many wonderful opportunities. They taught me so much and I would not be the mom, wife, or person I am without them. They are the best grandparents I could ever ask for for my daughter. They spoil her rotten! I am also greatful for Cody's parents and all that they taught him. They shaped him into the person he is today and I am very greatful for that. They are also amazing grandparents. My brother and my brothers and sisters in law are amazing and make my life so fun. I am greatful for my friends. I can always count on them to pick me up when I'm down, to lend an ear when I need to talk, and to help me have a good time anytime.

These are some pictures from the day.

These are my cousins Ellie and Delaney with Rilyn and Me. We are in the process of giving Ellie a makeover because we got bored watching football.

Rilyn was liking playing with the sunflowers. She is such a ham for the camera. Everytime I get it out she starts smiling and posing. Shes destined to be a super model!!

Rilyn and Lola's New Game

So now that Rilyn is getting bigger and can do things on her own she has figured out how to play with Lola. Lola likes to play tug of war with her toys so shes pretty happy about Rilyn's new accomplishment as well. They sit on the bed together and play for a few minutes every night. It is the cutest thing in the world to watch. Rilyn laughs the whole time. It is so cute we've even had to videotape it several times. All I can say is that its a good thing that Lola is small cause if she was any bigger I don't think they could play like this.

Rilyn's First Garage Sale

Today we had a garage sale to empty out the garage. Rilyn woke up early with me and went to go help Grandma and Grandpa with the sale. Rilyn hung out on our old mattress most of the morning. She had so much fun. Her Grandma is the queen of garage sales so it looks like shes passing on her wisdom to the princess of garage sales in this picture. As you can tell by the little girl checking her out she was pretty popular at the sale and I got lots of offers for her but I decided not to sell her. [Not that it was a tough decision to make. :)]

Rilyn loves Mommy and Daddy

Rilyn is getting so big. She is almost 6 months old. I can't belive it!! Rilyn and I had our pictures taken to give Cody for Christmas. Of course he found them so its not longer a suprise and that is why I'm posting it. I love this picture because she put her had up like that all by herself. It was so sweet. This one of Cody and Rilyn was taken while we were getting our family Christmas picture taken. They look so much alike its scary. At least we know that Cody would make a cute girl.

Rilyns New Pictures

We went and got Rilyn's pictures taken in her christmas dresses. She only could handle about half an hour so we didn't get lots of pictures but she is so cute that its ok!! She didn't want to sit down in her pictures so she is trying to crawl in one and is standing up with mommys help in the other one. The santa hat that the bear is wearing is actually hers but she looked like a boy with it on so I put the bow on. Shes sucking on her bottom lip in the pictues which is like her favorite thing to do. I love her face in the picture where shes standing cause it looks like shes thinking ha ha I got my way!!

Halloween

My little cutie was the yummiest looking tootsie roll I have ever seen!! She wasn't too sure about her costume but we all loved how cute she was. We even did some trick or treating, which I felt like a total dork doing because I was asking for candy for a kid who can't eat candy. Oh well. It was still fun.
Rilyn and Mommy
Rilyn and Daddy Rilyn and Tatum

Rilyn and her grandpa

Grandpa turned 49 today! He and Rilyn have a very special connection. She loves her grandpa so much. He is such a great grandpa. These are some of my favorite pictures of them.

This is Rilyn and Grandpa on her first day home.
Rilyn loves grandpa so much. Look at that smile.
Grandpa spoils Rilyn all the time. This is her first sucker.
Rilyn loves to cuddle with grandpa (he makes a good pillow)
(At the ASU game) Rilyn loves to watch football with grandpa.
Grandpa and Rilyn picking out pumpkins.

Grandpa taught Rilyn to drink out of a glass.

Grandpa likes to share with Rilyn. They were sharing a push up here.

Rilyn and Grandpa takin a nap.
Rilyn helping grandpa open presents (she was more interested in eating the paper than what was inside).

We love you grandpa! Happy Birthday!!