Bring on the sunshine!

We have already made some wonderful memories this summer and the great weather has helped! Gregg and I were able to have a super fun bocce ball date in the middle of the court one afternoon while Kaylen took a marathon nap (monitor close by!)! Also, the student apartment bought these little houses above for the kids. We went out to BBQ one evening and there weren't any other kids in it, so Kaylen had a ball her first time inside! The little doorbell actually dings! She loved it!

The downtown farmer's market is awesome! We've always thought so, but this year, it got even better! They have spread out a bit and now there is music!! We sat down and had a little lunch listening to a little blues band. Again, it was a gorgeous day to enjoy the weather and the farmer's market!

Gregg picked out some Chinese food for us to share for lunch. It appears as though Kaylen might be taking after her drummer Daddy with the chopsticks! If she's anything like her Daddy, she's going to be great!

As mentioned before, June is a huge birthday month! Our friends Jason and Ali celebrated both their birthdays in June and had a combined get together. It's always fun to get Kaylen together with her pal Dane. Although, they always seem to manage to find the ice!

Last Friday night, Gregg had to work a graveyard, so Kaylen and I got out of the apartment on Saturday so Daddy could nap. The court/ local ward was headed up to Pineview Reservoir for a camp out the night before and invited us up for the day. We got to go for a really nice boat ride and I even went tubing with my friend, Cheryl! It was a lot of fun and Kaylen enjoyed the water!

Here is our little peanut enjoying the beach and the water. I'm hoping to get her to more water as the summer goes on! Any chance to get that cute bod in a bathing suit!

Our friends, Carissa and Casey, are getting married on July 31st!! Unfortunately, we're going to miss the weekend because it's one day after we leave for Australia :-( We are super bummed, it's going to be an amazing wedding. This last Saturday, I got to go to Carissa's bridal shower and it was so so so much fun. Her friend put on such a great shower and we had a little gals night out at a bar close by after! I guess I had my dancing shoes on! Kaylen and Daddy got to have a little time together, which was also nice.

Downtown, there is a gorgeous building called the City and County Building. It is right next to the downtown library. There are quite a few festivals there in the summer and this summer, we finally went to our first one! We went to the Utah Arts Festival! It's a great place for people who have money to spend. Unfortunately, we don't, but they had some amazing art and some really good music! They had a little toddler play area where Kaylen got to run around! She had this alligator all figured out!

Gregg usually has to work Monday nights, but this last Monday, he didn't have to, so he was able to play his first softball game of the summer! It was about 97 degrees, but Kaylen and I sat in the shade and watched Daddy play!! He did GREAT! He had some great hits and some great catches! They won 10-5! It was a lot of fun for him to get out there and for us to watch!

Here's a picture of Daddy and his little girl after the big win!! We are both always so proud of him. While we're talking of pride, I will provide a little update as to the MCAT as most of you know he took it in May. He ended up not doing as well as he would've liked. It's so hard to believe because he did so incredibly well in all his classes and all the practice tests, it just didn't make sense that the score wasn't what we were hoping for. We know how hard he worked and how much he knows. We are so very proud of him. He will be taking it again in September after we get back from Australia to improve his score. Thanks for all your ongoing thoughts and prayers as he took it this last time! Please keep them coming as he's back to the studying grind hoping to improve his score by a bit! We are super grateful for our family and friends and all of your support.

So much to celebrate!

We had lots of family in town for Kaylen's big 1st Birthday Celebration! The weather didn't want to participate in the festivities, so it's a good thing we reserved the Community Center just a minute's walk from our apartment. Gregg did such a great job decorating and was really able to spruce up the place! My Mom and Mom-in-law did a wonderful job preparing all sorts of yummy things for us to eat! It was such a great party!

We weren't sure if a fight was going to break out between Kaylen's two boyfriends! Dane (on the left) is Jason and Ali's son... her non daycare boyfriend. And Weston, who came with his Mom, Jamie, is Kaylen's daycare boyfriend. It was fun to have babies her age to play with at her party! We also had Judy's 10 week old son, Henry there and our friend, Camille, brought her daughter Maddie. It was fun to have kids running around! Or in Kaylens, case, she was trying to work on her walking!

Kaylen and Dane finding everything in the room that was NOT a toy!

The new Fresh Market had a great deal that if you buy a sheet cake, baby's 1st year birthday cake comes FREE! And I love that word, so we had matching cakes. One just for Kaylen and a large sheet cake for the rest of us! They were very cute and the bakery gals did a great job!

Kaylen loved the frosting a little more than she loved the cake, but she did a great job! She was able to get it all over her face, in her hair, in her eyes and on her clothes. But it was a cake all to herself, what did we expect!

We opened some of the presents she was brought at the party, but we saved most of the family presents for home after the party. She is one VERY loved little girl! She got lots of great clothes, fun toys, two things she can ride on! She got a little lady bug she can ride on from the Koski side and a trike that we can push her on until she's able from the Jones side. Everyone was so generous with her.

I had a little tee pee growing up as a little girl, so my Mom and Dad re-created it for Kaylen! My parents put that whole thing together!! Kaylen wasn't quite sure what to think of it just yet, but she's going to warm up to it! Daddy even got in it to try to get her inside... but what kid doesn't love forts, etc! She'll come around!

It was so fun to have most of our family in town. We were missing my brother and sister, but we did just get to see them in Minnesota for my parents Anniversary bash. It's always nice to have lots of us together. One of the nicest gifts given was not just for Kaylen. Leslie was at the hospital with us the day Kaylen was born and took video footage of the days surrounding the event. She spend the week before coming down to Salt Lake editing all her footage and made the most wonderful video for us! It was seriously such an amazing gift. It was very beautiful and brought back the day Kaylen was born like it was yesterday. Jay gave a copy to us and to each set of parents. Thank you so much, Jay. You did such a great job. You melted our hearts and brought back all those wonderful memories for us to watch for years to come.

As I mentioned before, we celebrated on the 12th, which was also my Dad's birthday. He got some really nice cards and for the first time in a few years, we got to see him open our present... not that his polo was all that exciting! :-) I picked up a pie just for him, wanting him to have his own special desert. My Mom told me that his favorite pie was banana cream. Marie Calendars had a delicious fresh strawberry banana cream that I chose and it was delicious! The only problem was, when we were all having some birthday pie, it was then that my Dad answered that his favorite pie was actually coconut cream! Ahh, of course it is.... I tried! At least the pie I picked was super yummy and he enjoyed it anyway!

Gregg's family, minus Jay who stayed with us, stayed in the U's Marriot hotel since we had so much family in town. It gave us another chance to get Kaylen in the pool! She did good. Still not quite sure what to think in there. Not exactly excited, but didn't cry, so that was good! I would like to get her in water when possible this summer! I would love to have a little water baby of my very own! :-) Here is the pretty girl with her Daddy.

The Jones side had to head back to Star Valley Sunday afternoon, but Jay and Ian decided to stay one more night as were my parents. We took advantage of the cloudy day and headed to the Aquarium. Gregg, Ian and Kaylen had already been there a few months back, but enjoyed it the second time, too! I think I may have loved the penguins more than Kaylen! My Mom was pretty enthralled with the critter guy... he was showing off all kinds of gross things, like the tarantula, scorpion, centipede, etc.

Me and my sweet pea

Kaylen loving our reflection

We went to dinner after the aquarium at a restaurant nearby that has cliff jumpers that have shows while you eat. A little overpriced but it was kind of fun!! We were totally pushing Kaylen with her afternoon nap and she still did very well!

Because Jay and Ian stayed the extra day, they ended our really wonderful weekend with a trip to the Zoo with Kaylen. Unfortunately, I had to work, but it was the nicest afternoon of the weekend, so they took advantage of it!

Even though we didn't have very nice weather, we did have an incredibly wonderful weekend! It was the best 1 year birthday party. And although they say the 1st birthday is for the parents, I think Kaylen really enjoyed herself, too! She might not remember it, but we will! Thanks to all who made it such a great weekend!

Daddy's Birthday and 12 Month Check up

Gregg turned a ripe old age of 27 on the 6th! He's catching up to me! ;-) He seems to have come to accept that his birthday might not be as eventful in the future being so close to Kaylen's... BUT we did try to give him his day! (or two!) Saturday, we went bowling with some friends. We went earlier in the evening so Kaylen could come and bought our friends pizza. They're always super generous with us on our birthdays, so this time we thought we would give a little back!

Kaylen helping Daddy with his bowling technique.

We had a little family gift opening on Sunday. Kaylen wanted to help Daddy open his presents. It was very sweet of her considering she hasn't been able to open any of hers yet! They're all waiting for her birthday celebration this Saturday! She is a very patient... eh hem... girl! They're in a big pile, but the pile seems to be getting bigger and bigger!

Gregg's birthday came with gorgeous weather! We kind of let Kaylen's mood shape our day. She didn't go down for a nap early, so going to the local baseball game was out of the question. She played outside with us a little bit and then took one of her marathon naps! We put her monitor right on the outside of our window on the window sill and went outside to play some bocce ball. It was so nice outside! Gregg and I got to have a little date while she napped! And who knew the stud was going to kill me at bocce ball! When she did finally wake up, we played some more outside and we bbq'd some chicken on the grill with some corn on the cob! It was such a beautiful day and it was nice that we were able to enjoy so much of it!

June is quite the month for celebrations for us! We have Kaylen's birthday, Gregg's birthday, my Dad's birthday, both Gregg's sisters' birthdays, my parents Anniversary and of course, Father's Day!

Our big girl had her 12 month check up today! We always like to go to those together. Gregg is such a rock star. I can't handle looking at Kaylen's poor little face when she gets her shots and lucky for me, Daddy is our rock. So, Daddy hugs Kaylen and loves on her and I hug and love on Daddy... we form a little support chain! :-) But Kaylen did really well today. She got her MMR shot. Apparently she could break out in quite the rash in 10-13 days... poor baby. So, I guess we'll be on the look out for that!

These are her stats: Height- 29.75 inches (75%); Weight- 20.13 lbs (50%); Head- 25%. Ha ha... I just can't help but think she's chunky from the neck to her ankles... then she has this tiny head and tiny little feet! I'm sure the world of balancing to walk is coming a little slower for her thanks to those tiny feet! But she sure can try and get around quite a bit on those little babies!

The Dr. said we can start with the restricted foods, eggs, wheat, peanut butter, honey, etc in moderation. So, that should be fun! We have her big birthday party on Saturday (12th... thanks again Grandpa for sharing your birthday!). My Dad just got into town, my Mom will be coming tonight and the Joneses will all get here on Saturday. It's going to be fun to have everyone here for the weekend! Happy Birthdays all around!

Happy 1st Birthday our sweet Kaylen!!

Today, our beautiful, sweet girl turned 1!! It is so crazy to imagine a whole year ago today. It definitely doesn't feel like that much time has passed! Although, she has already grown into such an amazing little girl.

While Mommy was going crazy trying to tie these cute little pink bows in her hair, smart Daddy thought that it might be better to find some other bows that would be much easier to put in her hair! And boy, was he right!! Thank goodness for Daddy and picking out some perfect bows for her little pig tails! Last night, I made cupcakes for Kaylen to take to "school" for her birthday! Only her, her litte boyfriend, Weston, and one other baby can have the cupcakes, but a few of the teachers had one, too! She had a great day at school! Her friends made her a card with all their handprints on it and two of her teachers gave her birthday presents. We absolutely love how much they love her.

We went to dinner at Iggy's downtown because Leslie and her friend, Abbie came to Salt Lake just so Abbie could meet Kaylen! And how lucky for us, it was a mini celebration for Kaylen's birthday! Her big birthday party with family and friends is next weekend, which also happens to be my Dad's birthday! So, she will get a birthday week! She even had a onesie that Grandma Ruby bought her that said Baby's First Birthday... VERY cute!

It was very sweet of Auntie JJ and Abbie to come down from Logan while Abbie was visiting on Kaylen's birthday! It was a great excuse to go out to dinner! It was such a great day! Kaylen had a wonderful day with her friends and with us! We are so very blessed to have such an amazing little girl!! It's been an incredible 1st year and we're looking forward to each and every day to come! Happy Birthday our beautiful little princess! We love you so very very very much! XOXO

Celebrating 30 years!!

My beautiful, wonderful, amazing, hard working, generous, giving, fun, loving (the list goes on... and on... and on...) parents will be celebrating their 30th Wedding Anniversary June 14th!!!

AND to help them celebrate, I did my very best to plan a surprise party for them on May 28th. Gregg was not able to join in the festivities as he took the MCAT on the 27th (MAJOR shout out to my incredible husband for working so hard!), so I booked Kaylen and I on a flight for the long Memorial Day weekend months ago. Originally, the plan was for the whole visit to be a surprise, but a week before the big weekend, I got cold feet knowing I needed things to be more prepared for Kaylen. So, the week before, I told them that I booked a last minute trip to Minnesota as I got a great deal on the flight! :-)

To make a very long story shorter, her best friend, Carol, was AMAZING. I love that my Mom had a friend that was so capable of party planning like she is! Carol had all the decorations, bought most of the food, and helped me organize the whole thing. If it weren't for her, the party would've never happened! Although my parents seemed a little suspicious, it went off really well!

It wasn't until the parking lot that their suspicions were confirmed! I did my best to slow time on our way there knowing we left a little early, but my nosy father had to tell me each and every time I was driving under the speed limit... Mr. Backseat Driver! :-) We saw a friend of theirs in the parking lot when we pulled up. The good news is, as I found out later, my Mom id suspect a little party, but nothing like I pulled off! I think we had about 75 people... AND the best surprise of all, Julie and Doug flew in from San Francisco just for their party!! Yep, that one evoked tears... exactly the reaction I was going for! We had a huge turn-out! People changed their plans just to be able to attend! My parents thoroughly enjoyed themselves and Kaylen was awesome and never fussed! The party could not have gone any better!

Congratulations to my amazing parents for 30 years of memories, love and commitment! Thank you for each and every year. You are such wonderful parents. I am so proud to be your daughter and in my later life, I am also blessed to have you as friends. I am so grateful that you gave so much of yourselves to each other and to us. Thank you for always being there... for everyone. I love you so very much.

While Kaylen and I were in Minnesota, we were able to enjoy some GORGEOUS weather and great company! We were able to spend time with Jeff, Julie and Doug, our cousins and lots of friends. It was such a wonderful trip! The only thing that could've made it better was if Gregg could've been there with us.

Tomorrow, our sweet Kaylen turns 1. (BIG SIGH). Let me say, I am very much looking forward to all the fun days ahead of us as Kaylen continues to grow and come into her personality. She has been the most amazing gift in our lives and continues to be each and every day. She has been the most wonderful baby and although she always will be our baby, I guess our daycare friend/ provider is right... today is the last day of her being an "official" baby. It has been such an amazing first year experience to watch her grow and develop. It seems like just yesterday that we were holding her tiny 7 lb body in our arms at the hospital. The times really does fly. And I intend to cherish each and every possible minute of it.

Lots to celebrate!

April and May have been a busy couple of months so far. Kaylen got her ear tube surgery on April 23rd. She did such an amazing job! She is really such an incredible girl!! Cherie came to town for a couple days to help make sure we could get everything done and had time to cuddle her. She left that Saturday and my parents came to town later that day. It was very nice to have all the company!

I turned 29 on April 28th! Thank goodness for my one year before 30 cushion!! Gregg liked to joke about how he's married to an almost-30-yr-old! Ahh... isn't he just so funny!! I was definitely spoiled!! It turned out that I had a shoe themed birthday this year! Gregg planned a nice dinner out with some of our friends. We are really lucky to have some great friends here who not only care for us, but love to be with Kaylen. They are all so good to her. It was so great to spend my first birthday as a Mom. Kaylen truly is such an incredible gift in our lives and each and every day, I am so incredibly grateful.

Leslie came down from Logan for my birthday dinner!! It was very sweet of her with just a couple days notice to come down!! It was great to have her! This was Goliath's first trip to our apartment! Jay could only stay for 1 night, so we figured by the time anyone would have a chance to complain about the puppy, she'd be gone. He actually did really well!! We loved having him here! Kaylen had a bit of a love/ dislike relationship. She struggled when he would come too fast or too close, but she always wanted to know where he was at all times! He is adorable!! It was so nice having them here!

We finally got the boys and their babies together for a picture!! Jason and Doug, who are brothers, are good friend of Gregg's. And it's super cute that our babies range from 8 months-11 months. We talked a long time about getting together and finally did just a week ago! From left, Dough and Jordan, Gregg and Kaylen, Jason and Dane. The kiddos had lots of fun together. Doug and Steph have four kids and they are adorable!! We had a good time.

Here is our sweet little girl. This was also my first Mother's Day!! Gregg let me sleep in AND me me delicious blueberry pancakes!! We went to church and then spent some wonderful time outside!! It was great!! I ended up picking out a necklace from a catalog that I ended up hating. So, today, we actually picked out something to replace it! Gregg spoiled me as this new necklace is a bit nicer than the one I picked out previously!! I have the most wonderful family. They make it so easy to be me.

Kaylen turns 1 in just two weeks (June 4th)!!!! Holy crap! I really have NO idea where the time went! She likes to stand up by herself now. I don't know how close she is to walking, but I'm just fine with her taking things at her own pace! She blows kisses when she wants to and claps when you say, "Yay Kaylen!" or clap with her. She loves to wrestle with her Daddy. And in just two short weeks, she'll be one... big sigh. Sometime after she turns one, she'll head to the first toddler room at daycare. I already have anxiety about her leaving the infant room. We (especially Kaylen) are super attached to those girls. But hopefully, she'll enjoy the big kids and adapt well. We're planning a big party June 12th (also my Dad's birthday!) for her. Gregg's family will come from Wyoming and Logan and my parents are planning to fly in from Minnesota. They say the 1st party is mostly for the parents and I'm all for it! It's a great way to celebrate with family and friends that love her. It's a big milestone!! As they same, time flies and I've never realized just how fast it does until Kaylen came along!!

Gregg takes the MCAT in two weeks (May 27th). He is doing such an amazing job studying and preparing for it. He studies many hours a day and takes practice MCATs, which are 4.5 hours a piece!! We are so proud of him. His tutor through his prep programs also sings his praises. He has worked very hard and continues to work hard. We will be hoping and praying that his test results reflect just how much he has put into it.

Easter and the Aquarium

What a great smile! I think she was trying to show off her two tiny bottom teeth! We've been super spoiled lately by all the family that has come to town! The Jones side (minus JJ who had to work) came to Salt Lake for the kids' Spring Break. It wasn't exactly Spring Break weather, quite the opposite really, but we had a great time!

Cherie brought delicious dinners for each night they were here! We got quite spoiled by them while they were here! The second night, Cherie treated us girls to the movie, Alice in Wonderland! It was a good movie and so nice to get to the theater! It had been a long time!!

The next day, everyone but me, I had to work, went to the Aquarium in Sandy. Gregg said Kaylen loved it! There is a new penguin exhibit that she loved and she really liked looking at all the fish through the tanks! I have yet to go there, so hopefully we can get there again this summer! Waz treated the boys and I to the Jazz game, which they won! It was a pretty late game, so we didn't take Kaylen. She got to stay home with Grandma and Katie. But we definitely took the opportunity to get her all dressed up in her Jazz jersey to show her support!

We could not have had a prettier princess for Easter! She was so pretty in her little dress and had a little cardigan sweater to go over it! She was quite the hit at church. Everyone in the pews around us loved her! She got to do an Easter egg hunt while G & G Jones were here and got to do another one on Easter for eggs we gave her and G & G Koski left some for her the last time they were here as well. Let's just say... Kaylen made out like a bandit! :-) We appreciate how much our family does for us. We are very lucky to be so loved. My mom will be happy to know that we did our Easter Egg coloring! The eggs turned out great, now we just have to eat them!

We had a wonderful Easter with Kaylen. Of all the years getting spoiled by our families, it was a lot of fun to continue the traditions now with Kaylen. We had an absolutely wonderful day and had such a great time with Gregg's family! We are blessed with the most amazing families!