Kaitlyn's year old pictures

Today we went and got Kaitlyn's year old pictures. She did pretty well but wasn't thrilled with the idea of sitting still. As always they did a good job with her. We got some pretty cute pictures. Take a look:

Kaitlyn's 1st Birthday Party

We had Kaitlyn's first birthday party on the 4th of July. We had a blast. My aunt Terri and uncle Lee and Grandpa flew in from Seattle and my cousins Shannon and Landon came out from San Diego. Terri and Lydia decorated the house and I frosted cakes in the morning. We had a BBQ including Mom's potato salad for a late lunch. After lunch we decided it was time to open presents. Kaitlyn was loving the paper and even tried to eat some of it but over all did very well at opening everything up. She received a ton of presents from a recorder and toy screw driver to money for her college fund and her first MP3 player. That's right my 1 year old has her own MP3 player, Jared was so proud. Thank you to all of you who contributed. After presents came the cake. Kaitlyn was thrilled with the sugary frosting that it took her a while to get to the cake part. With help from her big sister Kaitlyn broke into the cake and before long was taking huge chunks and shoving it in her mouth. By the time she slowed down she was covered and I had to strip her down before taking her off of the protective tarp. White carpet and chocolate cake with pink frosting do not work well together. She went immediately to the bath tub and pj's to follow.


Jared and Landon bought some fireworks earlier in the day so we spent the evening watching them light off fireworks. Lydia and I even played with sparklers and poppers. It was a great day!

Lydia's visits

Ok so I have been REALLY busy. Lydia has been out twice and I have not had to chance to blog about it. She came out at the beginning of June after school. Jared took that Friday off and I hadn't started my new job yet so we decided to have Kaitlyn go to daycare and just spend the days with Lydia. We took her and her friend Jenna to the Cave of Winds down in Colorado Springs. We did the lantern tour. It was really cool. The girls had a blast. I have never been through a cave like that. When Kaitlyn is older it would be fun to go through it again. That night Jenna and Lydia's other friend Lacey stayed the night for a slumber party. Saturday the girls played all day. We gave Lydia her Birthday presents since we were not going to be able to see her for her birthday this year. We also celebrated Father's day early. We were very sad not to have her with us for the special days but she was going on a vacation with her mom.

Lydia came out again after she got back from her vacation so she could be here for Kaitlyn's first B'day. She came out on Thursday. I happened to make a last minute trip to Utah for work so we flew back together. Friday she played all day with Jenna (Lacey was out of town) While we spent the day doing yard work and cleaning the house. Now that I am back to a full time job, still teaching at the University online and doing Mary Kay on the side, I haven't had a lot of freetime to do anything lately. Then we had a a BBQ with Jenna's family and the rest of the neighbors. That night my aunt Terri, uncle Lee, Grandpa, my cousins Shannon and Landon all flew in for Kaitlyn's first B'day that we were celebrating on the 4th. Saturday night we lit off fireworks. Sunday we went out to the Cherry Creek Art Festival. It was huge! We walked round a lot.I think next year we will make a point to go out there and spend the whole day. Jared took Monday off and they went out to Boondocks to play then the came out and met me for lunch before heading to the airport. We can't wait to see her again.

Happy Birthday, Kaitlyn!

Kaitlyn is officially a year old today! It has been a fun year. This is the last of the monthly updates. Don't fret, I will continue to post updates about the family and probably an update on Kaitlyn every few months since she grows so quickly. She is now 21 pounds and 30 inches in height. She is doing very well.

1. She is VERY stubborn and independent she will throw a full blown fit if you try to pick her up or hold her hand when she wants to walk by herself. This includes in the middle of the store.


2. She has added a word to her vocabulary. She says "hi". It's really cute. Sometimes you can get her to say it, but other times she's just not in the mood.


3. She is borderline running. Not quite there but close.


4. She likes to play with the phone and even dial random people sometimes is we don't get to her in time.


5. She takes all of the books off of the bookshelves that are at her level and brings them to us or tries to tear off the covers and pages.


6. She goes in the downward dog position with her head on the ground so she can look at you upside down. This cracks her up. She loves it.


7. She loves to pull all of her toys out of her toy box and put them all over the living room, same with kleenexes and wipes if she can get to them.


8. She has begun taking after Jared and doesn't like most veggies but still my girl and loves fruit.


9. I was able to put her hair in pig tails for about 5 minutes until she realized they were there and pulled them out.

Here are the Teddy Pics:

I know I have not been very good with updates these last 2 months. More will follow soon.

Mixed Emotions

Today is a day of mixed emotions. I am agreeing to take a position as a Director of Leasing and Marketing. While I am excited to start working again, I am sad that I will not be able to spend so much time with Kaitlyn. I know I have been so lucky to have been able to stay home with her for 10 months out of her first year. This was very unexpected. I went back to work as planned 2 months after having her, then was laid off 2 months later. I have been home with her ever since. I knew I would be getting a full time job again. I expected it to be sooner then now, but with the economy as it is no one was hiring. As expected, the more time I spent with her the more I enjoyed and relished in it. I love every minute I spend with her. I know I need to go back to work and it is a good opportunity, I'll just miss my baby girl. :(