Kindergarten!!!

I can't believe I have a Kindergartner!!! She has grown up way too fast, and was more ready to go to school than I was for her to go to school. There were no tears from either side, but I have to admit, it was a little hard to walk away and leave her there! She is so ready for this and has been counting down the days.

If you know my family well, you know that I am surrounded by extremely talented family members. Seriously. My dad, my mom, my 2 sisters and my brother are all so incredibly talented. I have been raised around all these people and have been able to learn so much. I'm not the most creative person, so I have had to observe and learn. My sister, Staci, started a tradition with her kids that I have been always wanted to continue when my kids got old enough. "Back To School Dinner" It consists of having your kids pick out the menu for the evening and making it really special for them. I found a bunch of really cute decorations for the table. I planned it all out and surprised Kaiya Saturday night. Her menu consisted of her favorites:

Spaghetti

Edamame

Chicken Nuggets

Pineapple

Cupcakes

Root Beer

It was super fun and definitely something I will continue to do.

 Classic "first day of school" picture!

 Table before dinner. I also had some extra surprises for her like her pencil box filled with goodies, a new water bottle, lunch box supplies, and book marks. I had her fill out a First day of school Interview so I can keep it and go back every year and see how much she has grown.

 Beckam just wanted to eat the cupcakes

Making a come back...

So I have decided to start blogging again. I really want to document the important moments for myself and my kids. So much has happened over the last few years so I will do a quick update and then start from where we are now.
We moved to Yuma, AZ in the summer of 2013. Nate graduated from Weber State University with his masters in Athletic Training. He got a job teaching at San Luis High School during the day and then would cover all athletics after school. It made for some pretty long days. We loved our summers though. He worked there for 3 years and just this past school year decided to move on to his next career goal... becoming a Physician Assistant. We are currently in the process of applying to school and hope to be accepted and start next Summer. This means yet another move for us, but we are very ready for it. For now, Nate is playing the role of stay at home dad :)
Since living in Yuma, Kaiya has grown up so much. She just started Kindergarten (TODAY! Which is definitely the next post) She is 5 is a such a big helper. We have had 2 babies since living here, Beckam, who is now 2 and a half, and Tristan, who is 4 months. It has been crazy, but so fun.
I am working full time now at Yuma Regional Medical Center as a pediatric nurse. I recently got a promotion to charge nurse, and it has been a great experience for me. I still have hopes and dreams of getting my masters so I can one day teach pediatric nursing in a nursing school.
Life is so good and we are loving living in Arizona. We want to make AZ our permanent home someday. We are hoping to stay in AZ for PA school, but are willing to go out of state if necessary. We definitely miss our Utah family, but we try to see them as much as possible.
Hoping to keep up on all the fun things happening in our life right now!

October

It has been a LONG time since I have posted! We are just too busy around here to be able to blog on a regular basis. Kaiya is 20 months now and SO much fun! I will have to do a post about her milestones soon. She has the vocabulary of a 5 year old, I swear. She has been saying over 100 words on a regular basis since 18 months. I love that I can talk to her like an adult and she knows exactly what I am saying. She loves Toy Story and Tangled and has recently gotten into Cinderella. I can't wait to take her to Disneyland! She is going to love it! I'm trying to talk Nate into going soon, but he said we have wait until he is done with school and has a job. He is done in April with his masters in Athletic Training! I can't wait!! I love my job at Mckay Dee working on the pediatric floor, but I look forward to being able to cut back my hours when Nate graduates. Working 3 graveyards a week is just not fun with a toddler who wakes up 2 hours after you fall asleep after getting home from work. I'm grateful however that one of us is always able to be with her and we don't have to put her in daycare. Tonight we were able to do some fun things with her. October is my favorite month. It is my birthday month and I also just love the weather and Halloween is my favorite holiday! Here are a few pictures of what we did tonight.

Kaiya LOVES to have her toenails painted

 She didn't quite know what to think about the jigglers

 Making cookies!

 Cheese!

 She is OBSESSED with Minnie Mouse

 Finished Product!

 Minnie

 Cinderella

 She loved them!

Happy Halloween!

Kaiya Updates

(Kaiya, say "cheese")


Kaiya will be 11 months in just a few days! She is so smart. I am amazed everyday at the things she learns. She is a little copy cat. Everything we do, so repeats. She is being stubborn with walking. She has been pulling herself up on things since the first week in October and has been walking with a little sit to stand walker for a month now, but she refuses to stand by herself. She is definitely my child in the way that she does things on her own terms. It drives Nate crazy. She loves to eat and will eat pretty much anything we do. I'm so ready for her to turn one so she doesn't have food restrictions anymore. I'm also SO ready for her to not be on formula anymore!! She loves her sippy cup. Last month we were out at a restaurant and she kept trying to get my drink. We had never given her a straw before so I didn't think she would be able to get anything out. I let her try and she instantly sucked up my Dr Pepper. It was so cute. She is now obsessed with drinking out of a straw. I bought her a new sippy that has a straw. She thinks it is fantastic. She is our little hoover. She loves to find things on the floor and put them in her mouth. We are always pulling things out of her little mouth. She has 8 teeth and she's not afraid to use them. She bites us all the time. Our toes are her favorite thing to attack. She also likes to bite my fingers. Cardboard and paper are her favorite things to eat. Christmas was like heaven to her. wrapping paper and cardboard boxes everywhere! She couldn't have cared less about her new toys. Here is a list of her favorite words to say:
Da-da
Nah-nah (mama)
Doggy
No no no (shaking her head left to right)
Ni Ni (in a high pitched voice) (night night)
baby
bye bye- she won't say it, she'll just wave when you say bye bye
Hi Hi (same as bye bye she just waves)
Uh- oh
That's all I can think of right now. She is such a fun little person to have around. I swear she gets cuter and funnier everyday. I don't remember life without her and I don't want to. She has made us so happy.We were for sure blessed with a happy and good natured baby. We have been so spoiled and eased into parenthood. I'm scared to have anymore. She is such a good baby that I just know our next one will be naughty!!

Yuba Lake

This year for Labor Day we went to Yuba Lake with Nate's family. It was fun to get out of the house and sleep under the stars. Nate's dad always makes the best food when we go camping. They spend so much time making sure our trips are perfect and they always are. Kaiya had fun too. She loves to be outside and play in the sand and water. She did really well sleeping too even without her bed and bedtime routine.


Nate on the waverunner

Sunday we took a drive to the Manti temple to relax and enjoy the day
Chillin by the campfire
She loves to sit and play with toys
of course stunting was involved in the weekend.
relaxin with daddy
happy happy girl. Don't mind that I'm not wearing make-up in any of these pictures...
I LOVE this picture. She looks like such a big girl!
We were parked waiting to get our campsite and Kaiya had had it with her carseat. So we got her out and put her in the front seat. Nate thought it would be funny to put her in the bumbo in the front seat and seatbelt her in. He then wanted to give her our trip snacks and take a picture to make it look like she "called shot gun" and was ridin in the front eatin snacks. It was cute.
Such a happy girl!!

Utah State Fair 2011

My dad is one of the directors over Utah's Own. Every year at the state fair my dad heads up the Utah's Own food court where all Utah companies come and set up their booths to sell food. There are some awesome companies there this year so if you go to the fair, make sure you check it out. I had the Ribs from Richard's BBQ booth and it was FANTASTIC. Kaiya loved the fair of course. However, mother of the year right here forgot her stroller so Nate and I had to carry her the whole time. Not fun. She likes to be free to move around and look around and being held was not allowing her to do that. It was still fun though.




I'm pretty sure this is our only family photo...
Kaiya and Bampa
She got sleepy and fell asleep on Nate's shoulder
Man I love these two!
She is such a cheeser!

What we have been up to lately!

Kaiya is now 5 months old. She is growing up so fast. She is hitting all her milestone and loving every minute of becoming a big girl. She will no longer lay on her back. The second we put her down, she rolls over to her tummy and then gets bored because she can't go anywhere, so she will then roll back over to her back and play with her toys for a minute before the cycle starts over. She's trying to master sitting up by herself, but being the Kaiya we all know and love, she just wants to be standing all the time and gets frustrated with sitting. She started eating solid food and has had squash, sweet potatoes, peas, bananas, and apples. She is not particularly fond of the peas and apples, but loves everything else. She is doing really well with it.
Nate and Kaiya have daddy daughter nights 3 nights a week while I am at work. I hate that I have to work full time, but I love that I have a job that allows me to work at night so Nate can be with her and then I can come home and be with her during the day. We have been super blessed in this department. I always told Nate that we wouldn't have kids until we knew one of us would always be able to be with her when the other person was away. Kaiya loves her daddy and I love that I don't have to worry about her for a minute while I'm at work. I love that they are able to bond and spend that quality time together.
Nate has been so amazing these last couple weeks. I have been working a lot and it has really taken a toll on my body since I come home from working a graveyard and he has to leave shortly after I get home and Kaiya wakes up almost the second I walk in the door. I feel like I am always tired and trying to catch up. Nate has totally stepped up and helped me so much with the house. He is Mr Mom lately. The laundry is always done, he makes dinner when I can't and he cleans up the house all the time. I feel like such a slacker, but he has really helped ease the stress of having to work full time. I was cracking up the other night when I realized what I have turned my husband into... He is the best daddy in the world. He was nervous before Kaiya was born that he wasn't going to know how to interact with a baby. He has been such a natural! He never stops amazing me. I have grown up around babies most of my life. I have developed a language over these years that I use when I talk to babies and it has continued with my own daughter. I have rubbed off on my husband... Words like tubbie, dipe (for diaper) bink, binkers, ba (for bottle) blankie have crept into his vocabulary. I'm sure there are more words that we use regularly that I just can't think of at this time. I think it is so cute. He is such an amazing person. I don't know how I lucked out and got him for my husband and father of my child.
Here are a few pictures and videos of what we have been up to lately!
Kaiya was so tired this night. She never cries in the tubbie and she was screaming the whole time. After her bath Nate was determined to make her smile... The video below was the result... Oh the things we do to make our kids happy!






Kaiya and daddy doing what they do best. She's so proud of herself!


Kaiya's new toy
Kaiya's first time at the drive in! She loved it!!
Eating squash


Happy baby! Going swimming!
Standing up in her pretty dress.