Kayla's Blessing

On Sunday March 24, 2013, Brett blessed Kayla with a name and blessing in church. My father and sister were able to be here for the event. It was such a special day for our little family with perfect weather. I am grateful that Brett holds and honors his Priesthood. He gave Kayla a beautiful blessing from her Father in Heaven. 

Brett blessed Kayla that she would soon develop a testimony for herself of the Restored Gospel. 

He blessed her that her sweet spirit would be a blessing to all those around her.

He blessed her that she would enter the House of God and make covenants there.

He blessed her that she would find an eternal companion and go with him to the temple to be married. 

I was so grateful for the Spirit I felt during the blessing. We have such a responsibility to raise this precious daughter of our Heavenly Father in a way so that she'll return to Him someday. I feel humbled to have been entrusted with this sweet spirit and pray every day that I can live up to this. 

Our little family

Proud Papi!

Me and my Baby!

Grandpa Kelly and us

We're grateful Haley and Grandpa could be here today.

Haley and Kayla

Grandpa Kelly and Kayla

Our Beautiful Kayla Rae
She was such an angel during the blessing and just looked up at Brett the whole time.

Her blessing shoes from Grandma Betsy

Kayla's blessing dress was a gift from Grandma RaeJean

Grandma RaeJean also made this beautiful blanket for Kayla

It's hard being so far away from all of our family and we know that so many people would have loved to be here with us today. Kayla, Brett, and I are so blessed to have such a loving family. Kayla will never want for people around her that love her.

10 Things

I'm currently participating in a get healthy group plan/challenge with several of my friends from high school. I really like the program, aside from the strict 'bad food' list. Its not just about physical health, but focuses on the many aspects of being healthy, such as physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Each week, there are challenges for each day. This week, one of the daily challenges was to record 10 things I'm grateful for in my journal. Since this is a journal of sorts, I decided to put the list here as well.

1. I'm grateful for Eternal Families! How blessed we are to have the fullness of the Gospel and the knowledge, power, and blessing of being with our loved ones forever.

2. I'm grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today. I'm also so thankful to be a member of the church and have the testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel. I'm grateful that my parents raised me in the church and set such a wonderful example.

3. I'm thankful for my husband. I was a bit older when I got married, and there were many times I feared I wouldn't find someone. I am so grateful that I waited until I found Brett. I say this a lot, but I really can't imagine anyone being a better fit for me. He makes me laugh all the time, makes me feel beautiful, is a wonderful father to my baby, holds and honors the Priesthood, works hard, and loves me exactly the way I need him to. I love our relationship and I never knew I could be as happy as I am.

4. I'm grateful for my sweet little girl. Again, the older I got before I got married, the more I wondered whether I ever would have the chance to be a mother. I know so many people who have struggled to become pregnant and I do not take for granted the blessing it is that we have our perfect, sweet, healthy baby girl. Every moment I spend with her is a perfect one. I love her more than words can describe.

5. I'm grateful for my family. I'm so grateful for my parents who love me and always provided for all my needs. They are both such wonderful people who give me something to strive for in their individual examples. I love my sister as well. Its so wonderful that we went from sisters to friends in the past years and I love confiding in her.

6. I'm grateful for my in-laws. There are so many horror stories about in-laws and, just like with my husband,  I really lucked out! I love all my sisters-in-law and Brett's mom and have fun with all of them!

7. I'm grateful for my health. I do not have the 'perfect body' as society would describe it, but I have a perfect body, in that it has never done anything, but work perfectly! I can do everything that I want and need to.

8. I'm grateful for my education. From kindergarten to college, I have been blessed with wonderful teachers and students that I was able to learn from. My mind has always been something that I've taken pride in and am grateful for. Learning is something I love to do!

9. I'm grateful for the adventure it is to live in South Texas. I was pretty sad about leaving Idaho and all of our family, but knew through the Spirit that we were meant to be here. I've meant so many great people and have learned so much more about others and myself by being here.

10. I'm grateful for my home that I live in. I am grateful that we have the financial means to live in a nice home. I'm grateful for all that we've been able to fill it with. I'm grateful that my husband is as clean as I am. :) Most of all, I'm grateful for the Spirit that I can feel in our home. I'm grateful for the life that Brett and I are building together.

I am so blessed!

February - The Month of Love!

February is a big month in our house! It brings Brett's birthday, Valentine's Day, and my birthday! This year, we also celebrated Kayla's 1 month birthday in February. We had a great month and all got spoiled! My mom was here through early February and RaeJean came at the end of the month. We had a great time all month long (and ate a lot of calories, I now realize looking back!) haha!

Brett's birthday is the day before Valentine's Day. We spent the whole day together as Brett's days off are Wednesday and Thursday (my favorite days of the week, by far)! We slept in, which is the best, had a delicious breakfast, went to a late lunch at Red Robin, where we both got our free birthday burgers, and had a Costco run. Yes, we love Costco. :)

Here's the birthday boy with his baby! Yes, that cloudy Snuggie was one of his gifts. :)

My two favorite people!

 As Brett is a weather man and studying to be a meteorologist, I did a weather themed gift collection! I wrote  little note cards with each present. 1st gift said "Whether is a dark night without air conditioning"(inside joke) and he got The Dark Knight Rises on Blu-Ray. 2nd gift said "Or a day where all you can do is just dance in the rain" and he got Just Dance 2. 3rd gift said "Or a sunny day to wear shorts" and he got some new shorts. 4th gift said "Or a partly cloudy day cold enough for a Snuggie" and he got the snuggie. The last note card inside the Birthday card said, "Any day that celebrates your birth is a beautiful day to me!" Yeah, its cheesy, but I was pretty proud of myself! The Snuggie was a bit of a joke, but Brett is always freezing when we does the weather at work. The studio is freezing! I thought a Snuggie would be the perfect solution and every weather man needs a cloudy Snuggie! :)

The birthday boy and Kayla with the mint chocolate chip ice cream cake I made him .

Kayla's looking at the cake in happy anticipation of the day she'll be able to eat real food. :)

The cake was layers of chocolate cake and ice cream covered in a ganache. It was  pretty tasty!
Check out my family cooking blog for the recipe.
http://dishnitup.blogspot.com/2013/02/chocolate-mint-ice-cream-cake.html 

For Valentine's Day, we had a nice day at home all together. Brett was off work for both his birthday and Valentine's Day which was perfect! Since we had gone out for Brett's birthday the day before, we stayed home and had pizza and more of Brett's birthday cake. We went for a nice walk and just loved being together with our sweet baby! Brett gave me some beautiful flowers and some Reese's minis (my favorite). I gave Brett some cologne. Kayla gave Brett a little teddy bear. Don't mind me in this picture - I had pink eye, appropriate for the pink holiday, and couldn't wear makeup or contacts. 

Valetine's Day! 

On the 19th, Kayla turned 1 month!

Isn't she the prettiest little thing!?

For my birthday, we didn't take many pictures but it was a great day and I was spoiled! Brett had to work, but a few of my awesome friends, Cassie, Chayla and Carrie, took me out to lunch at a delicious pizzeria. I also got some amazing cupcakes! When I got home, I received an amazing bouquet of flowers from my BFF Melissa. When Brett got home, he had another beautiful flower arrangement! We went out to dinner at Texas Road House and it was delicious, as always. When we came home, I opened my gifts from Brett. He got me a card game, a new sheet set, and a photo book he made with all the photos from our Honeymoon. It was wonderful! While my mom was here, she also bought me some new running shoes which I love! I also got so many texts, phone calls, cards, and Facebook messages. Its so wonderful to have so many loving family and friends! I really am so blessed in my life! I'm happier than I ever thought I would be!

Flowers from Melissa next to the cutest baby sporting her Mommy is best onesie in honor of my b-day. :)

Flowers from my love! Brett knows me all too well. :)

This is the Oreo cheesecake I made for my birthday cake. It turned out really good, if I do say so myself. 

February is my favorite month! Its a month of love that I love!! We are so blessed!

Kayla 8 Weeks

Wow! Time really flies! I can't believe my sweet little angel is 8 weeks old! She has brought more joy into our lives than we could have imagined! Not only is she the cutest baby I know, she is also such a good baby!

She's now sleeping 7.5 hours at night most nights. She is much better at going down for naps and goes to sleep pretty well. When she is fussy, singing her to sleep works every time.

She rarely cries unless she's hungry or very tired. She smiles all the time.

She even rolled over from her stomach to back on Monday, March 11 at 7 weeks! I don't think it will be long until she rolls from her back to her stomach - she's just so anxious to get moving!

Kayla loves bath time! She smiles every time she's lying on her changing table. She must appreciate the hard work I put into decorating her nursery.

She's starting to make lots of new sounds and has lots to say!

Some of my favorite times are when we take naps together on the couch. I love how she fits so perfectly on my chest.

She's a great car rider and will just sit perfectly content in her car seat while we're driving.

Here's a few of my favorite pictures of our favorite little lady. Looking at these pictures reminds me how much she has changed in these two months. 

Kayla Day 1

Kayla at 4 days old

Lounging with Momma on the hammock

One of her first smiles captured on camera

Baby Kayla with a baby sea turtle

Kayla's 1st time going to church. Such a pretty lady!

Kayla and her friend Clayton. He's exactly 1 month older than her. He's a few pounds heavier than her, but about the same length. 

Kayla loves her Daddy!

Morning naps with Momma

Kayla on her 1 month birthday

She was in her bouncer sleeping like this. Her eyes opened as we took the picture.
 She looks like the pope blessing the people! 

Kayla's first time at the ocean at 1 week. Love those baby toes!

This is still her favorite sleeping position!

Bonding time while Papi sings Kayla to sleep

Our little family!

She's already a fan of Action 4 News

This is not a good picture of me, but its funny how she's staring at her booboo!
I was clipping her fingernails and took a chunk off her skin. She looked at me funny,
cried for a second, and then smiled again. It did keep bleeding for awhile though,
hence the bandage. I'm sure it was worse for me than her. I felt awful!

Double baby shower for Kayla and Caleb at Action 4.

In the studio

Her smiles are my favorite!

The beach wore her right out!

Sun goddess

She knows she's cute!

This may be my favorite picture of all time! 

Sweet innocence!

I wish I looked this cute at the beach. :)

Happy St. Patty's Day! Wyatt and Kayla both rocking the green!

Grandma Betsy and Kayla!

Grandma Jean and Kayla!

Kayla is just starting to play with her play mat. She was laughing at the hanging monkey. It was so cute!

Such a happy baby! Her smiles melt my heart!

Saying goodbye to Papi who was leaving for a Pioneer Trek. He's such a handsome cowboy!

I look forward to every day with this little princess! I love her so much and would do anything for her! Watching Brett with Kayla makes me love him even more than I already did. He's such a wonderful daddy! She's a lucky little girl! My favorite part of the day is when Brett comes home from work so we can spend time together as a family. The Primary song "When Daddy Comes Home" comes to my head a lot when Brett walks through the door. I love my little family!