Oh Christmas Tree

We were at Lowe's the Saturday after Thanksgiving and saw that their garden section was full of Christmas trees. Loving all things Christmas, I convinced Keith to come check them out with me. I became hopelessly nostalgic remembering past Christmas's picking out trees with my family and then basking in the smell of the woody pine that would fill the house for weeks. After seeing how decently priced the trees were ($15 for a 6') I begged and pleaded with Keith for one until he succumbed (I can be annoyingly persuasive if I want to be). They wrapped it up and we packed it into the trunk of the Impala- I knew that car was good for something. And here it is in all it's glory. It's been a few years since I've been in a house with a real tree and I'm convinced I can't go back to fake for a few more years. Mackenzie's been pretty good about leaving it alone. It helps that we ran out of lights and so the bottom third of the tree is not yet decorated.
Kenz turned 13 months on Thursday. We celebrated my birthday and her thirteen month milestone by going to the pediatrician. Poor little girl still has her ear infections. It's hard to tell with her because she doesn't run a very high fever and she still has all the energy in the world . She just tends to get a little more clingy when all is not well:

She perked up a bit after her first dose of the new antibiotics and a nap and was an angel at Costco and at my friend Christina's house. That night, we met up with Keith for dinner at Red Robin where the Robin stopped by to visit our table and paralyzed Kenzie with fear for a good 10 minutes. Later, we watched
"The Santa Clause" and she climbed up on the couch and laid her head in our laps, she was so miserable. She seems to be doing a little better now and hopefully she'll be good as new when we fly out in a week!

I thought I would include this little video. It's a couple weeks old but it shows the gorilla crawl she was constantly doing between her walking. It's so fun to just watch her toddle around now. She seems so old to me. Notice the bow popping out with the balls. She stuffs everything from wooden spoons to tampons in that thing. Which reminds me, how do you style a baby's hair who rips out everything you put in it?

In 3 weeks we will be flying to Utah!!! In the meantime...

..I have been babysitting a little boy named Alex. I was referred to a sweet woman named Nikki through a woman that a girl in my ward babysits for. As you can tell, it was complete luck that I fell into the job and Kenzie and I had a fun week at their house. She practiced her walking skills on slippery wood floors (quite entertaining really) and I soaked up all the cuddling I could from this sweet boy who is dealing with some major separation anxiety. It was fun earning some extra cash and breaking the routine.
I have also been reading quite a bit. I'm almost done with The Chronicles of Narnia and I had to interrupt that reading for Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. If you haven't read The Hunger Games read it!! Then read the sequel Catching Fire, I loved them both! The books are fast paced, easy to follow, and are completely clean as far as language and sexual content.

Keith is ready for Thanksgiving break! He's really liking school but starting to feel the pressure of finals so he's started to study a bit more and I'm sure we won't see much of him after Thanksgiving which is fine because he'll have 3 weeks off for Christmas. He's been playing basketball every Saturday morning with the ward and last Saturday was their first game. They have a great team! I love that the other wives come and watch the games so we can get in our girl talk. Keith also took me out to dinner a couple weeks ago to Logan's Roadhouse. Our neighbors, Justin and Neha, watched Mackenzie for us. We REALLY appreciated the opportunity to get out of the house and go on a date. Tonight we're dropping her off again to see "The Savior of the World." Ah the benefits of having a one year old that is no longer nursing!

Speaking of our little one year old, I finally got her into the pediatrician for a one year appointment the day after her birthday. She tips the scale at a whopping 18 pounds:) and is 30 inches long; Long and lean, just like her daddy. Walking is her main mode of transportation these days. She tends to only crawl when she's trying to catch me before I go into another room. Yes, she's a momma's girl and she's gone back to wanting me in every room she's in. She's also getting over a double ear infection. I feel really lucky that she was so healthy her first year of life. This ear infection is the first health issue she's had. I'm so grateful for antibiotics!
She's got some spunk. Yesterday, she kept trying to get Alex to follow her upstairs. She would climb up the first couple and turn to him and smile and wait until he'd follow. When I caught them, I asked her to get down off the stairs (she knows they're off limits) and she'd turn to me, flash a wicked smile, shake her head and say "na na na" and continue to climb.

Sorry for such a boring update! We will be flying into Utah on the 12th and leaving for Idaho on the 14th. We'll be in Idaho until the 22nd, then back in Utah until the 29th. We would love to see anyone who will be in either place while we're there, just let us know!

$15 free at CSN

CSN.com is offering $15 to anyone who creates an account with them Really simple all you have to do is click here and enter your e-mail address. I found this deal on "Deal"ectible mommies and everything she has posted thus far has been legit. For every friend you invite after you sign up, will get $15 in their account and when they make their first purchase, you'll get $15 in your account too!

Kenzie's First Birthday

We had a little Birthday party for Mackenzie Tuesday night with some good friends in the complex and in our ward. My good friend Amber came over and helped me frost all of the cupcakes for this cute caterpillar.

Dad helped Kenz blow out her candle

She LOVED the buttercream frosting...
And then came the gifts...

Thank you everyone who shared this special night with us! And thank you grandparents for the fun gifts! Grandma and Grandpa Shaw, here's a video of Kenzie opening her puppy. Sorry Mom and Dad, I haven't recorded her playing with the train yet, but she loves it!

Kenzie's First Year

One year ago, I was more scared, selfish, less nurturing, and less understanding than I am today. One year ago, I thought I would die in labor from the excruciating pain. One year ago, Keith and I experienced the greatest miracle of our lives. I would go through a treacherous labor seventy times over again if I needed to for you Mackenzie! Thank you for the extreme happiness and sunshine you bring into our lives. How lucky we are to have you for eternity. Happy FIRST Birthday sweetie, we love you!
*If you have facebook, you can watch it full screen by going clicking here

Lots of moisture + no reason to pull up the blinds =Which has resulted in a double ear infection for about a month and a persistent wheezy, barky cough for me (still working on healing from both). I guess the silver lining is that I found out I'm allergic to mold

Sunday Stroll

Keith and I are in love with the fall weather here. 50's and 60's with a bit of breeze = perfect. The trees are incredible right now and the neighborhood next to us is decked out with pumpkins and ready for trick-or-treaters.:The perfect way to end a walk? A sleeping baby (not the easiest state to get her to as I'm working on weaning her, tips/advice is greatly encouraged!!!)

Trick-or-Treat at the Zoo

We are really lucky to have a fun zoo by us. After living here for a couple months, I convinced Keith that a zoo pass would be a worthy investment and it has proven to be so. We've already been to the zoo enough to consider it paid off and with it, we get to use our daughter to go to fun events like this for free:

On the shuttle on our way to the zoo

Kenzie and BF Rose, and yes they were that happy the whole time.
The trick-or-treat path was themed with the likes of Jaws
Shrek
Superheroes
Classic movies like The Wizard of Oz
This was really cute, it was twinkling with lights and music. The picture sadly doesn't do it justice.Dinosaurs, and many more not pictured which included Princesses, Candyland, Harry Potter, Bob the Builder (stationed by the construction zone of course) and more. Each area was decked out with characters, decorations, and themed music. It was a cold but really fun night.

A Lantern We call Jack...

Huber Farms

Because fall is not complete without a trip to the pumpkin patch

Our little fam with our perfect pumpkin

These two are too cute! Carlie had her baby just a few days after this, she was so cute pregnant and now they have a beautiful baby girl

Our sweet ride

One cold little nose on the tractor ride back

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Check out our cute little vampire, Bella has nothing on Kenzie

You Know You're From Utah If...

...you're the one teaching the guys how to roast a Starburst

Behold my Domestic Pleasures...

This past week, I decided to step up to the plate and play like a good LDS wife who does it all. On top of my usual baby duty which isn't really duty considering how much fun it really is right now, I cooked, cleaned, crafted, and dressed myself up (meaning I put on make-up) all to establish the facade that I learned something from my supermom of a mom who does it all. It was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.

First up, my cheap wreath which actually looks pretty cute in real life. After I finished making it, Keith asked "Where did you steal that idea from?" To which I replied (just a tad defensively) "I made it up! I saw the cute berries and had the metal hoop and ribbon and so I threw it together." In all sincerity Keith replied, "No really where did you get the idea?"This creepy critter was found by another craft project in the works.

These snicker surprise cookies were a hit with the missionaries a couple weeks ago so I dressed them up a bit and took them to our scout spaghetti dinner auction. Talk about high rollers in the ward, several trifles and desserts went for over $100. Along with the other students in the ward, Keith and I went home dessertless because nothing came even close to our limit. It was a fun night though.

This was an afternoon project that I really enjoyed! I made my own pumpkin puree for Kenzie to eat and to use in a pumpkin pie.

My mom always roasted the seeds from our pumpkins. I chose to cook mine the fast method in a saucepan with a little olive oil, water and plenty of Lawry's seasoning salt- yum!

I was pleasantly surprised with my pie crust. My recipe only required shortening, flour, salt and a little water. It came out flaky and golden brown. I filled it with my pumpkin puree, some seasonings and sugar and I must say, it was the best pumpkin pie I have ever had! Here's the link to the recipe I used (originally from allrecipes.com) http://browergirlrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/10/mrs-siggs-fresh-pumpkin-pie.html

All of the cute fall decor in the neighborhood and the seasonal dishes I have been making have made me nostalgic for Thanksgiving at home. This year will be my first Thanksgiving away from family and I'm sure it won't be the same. We can't wait to go home in a couple months!

Keith is doing amazing! He continually scores high grades on all of his exams. He's gone about 12 hours of the day but when he's home with us, we're able to spend time together. Oral B visited the school last week and he scored their newest electrical toothbrush and a goody bag:Kenzie is such a blast! In a few short weeks she will be one which seems bittersweet to me. She's taken little solo steps here and there but still prefers to cruise by the furniture so she can grab hold if needed. She loves to clap and point and is constantly babbling gibberish that makes her sound like a goblin. She definitely has "dada and "mama" down ("mama" she tends to scream) and she can mimic certain animal noises and repeat certain words after they're said to her which is fun. Overall, She is more energetic than ever, to quote the missionaries, "She's a hyper one!"
















For those of you who read through this whole boring post (or skimmed the pictures), here's a little sneak peek of her Halloween photo shoot courtesy of JCPenny's and the free on-line pics I obtained for waiting an extra hour or two.