It's like she ate Miracle Grow!

P-cakes 2nd birthday is this Sunday and I am in disbelief at the little person she has become. It really is like she ate miracle grow because she is growing and developing so quickly. It seems like within the last month or two she has really evolved into her own (very opinionated) self. She has always been opinionated, but now she can really tell us exactly what she wants. Her vocabulary is expanding everyday, and I love to see how she grows.

Some of her newer words are: dragon, pull, broke, sticker, straw, prayer, and more but I can't think of them all.
She mastered the 'sh' sound on Dash which is super exciting! Up until now she has been calling him Da. (Not to be confused with Dada.)

Her grandma and grandpa Boyd will be here tomorrow and I know she'll be thrilled. If I tell her now that they are coming, she just walks over to the computer because she's used to Skyping with them. It's so nice when we have the opportunity to see family. I know that Jordin and I are surprised at how hard it is to be away from family and friends. Not like we don't love them, we just thought we were a little more independent than we actually seem to be. We are really growing so much as individuals and as a family, but there are definite things we miss out on. I would even take the 5 hours away from family like when we lived in Utah- not that I want to live in Utah- because seeing family once a month is a breeze compared to every 4-6 months.

Now, I'm not complaining. I really love our time and experiences here, but we sure do miss our families!! There is something about seeing your baby become a little girl that makes you think about all the family members that are growing and changing and we don't get to see. Like our cute new niece that was born recently and she'll be like 5 months old before we meet her. :(

Okay, enough ramblings! Here are some pics from Easter weekend! We took P to a egg hunt in Saturday and it was a blast!

She was a natural!

She got to try out the Fire Truck!

They're so cute together!

We went on a walk and Dash chased after another dog, and P-Cakes got whipped in the face with the leash. She's tough. And she's Harry Potter.

At the Easter Egg Hunt, they pad a petting zoo. She didn't care about the ducks or bunnies. All she had eyes for was the Pony. Go figure. :)

Christmas Pics... Better late than never!

Yesterday I finally found the cord that plugs the camera into the computer so I can finally put some pictures up on the blog!  We had a wonderful Christmas. It was just us for the first time and we had a great time. Some of the fun gifts that we got: dolls, books, some camping gear, and I got a fun Kindle!

Here's Pailey with a stroller she got from her Great-Grandma Connor!

I am so proud of this tree! I love it. Although I am still vacuuming up pine needles...

We went on walks but it was a bit cold so we bundled her up tight!

Love this pic of her swingin'.

THEN, the day after Christmas Jody, Daren, and Dusty drove to see us! They actually drove all Christmas night to get there about 3:30 the next afternoon! They love us. :)

We went to the Houston Zoo and if you can take your eyes off the the wonderful toddler, you can see these crazy cows that they have in Africa. Look how long their horns are!!!

You should hear my monkey call to go with it! Ooo-Ooo-Ooo!

She loved the Antelope!

This is what we had to do so she could see some of the exhibits. 

We went to the Challenger 7 Memorial Park. I love this shot of P cakes and her Uncle Dusty.

They climb trees together.

So we took the frisbee to play with Dash and the wind whipped it into this MASSIVE thorny bush. Here the boys are trying to fish it out.

She's a natural model. Gorgeous!

Say Cheese!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this photo! Nana and Papa walking with P cakes!

 

For New Years, we played games and had lots of food. Including this Eggnog Trifle!

Bon Apetite!

These next pics are ones I took yesterday. She was having fun sitting in the window, so I had to get pictures.

I love silhouettes.

Buds.

There really is no baby more cute than her!

Now it's back to the same-ol' life. I can't believe the holidays are over already. Pailey also went to the ER this year! Can you believe it!? The poor girl had a temp of 105 and so we had to take her. It ended up being a viral infection and she's fine now but it sure took a lot out of all of us! Hope the rest of the year goes well. :)

Merry Christmas and an update with pictures!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!

It has been a very long time since I've kept you up-to-date on our life here in Texas. Things that have been going on:

Thanksgiving- My parents, my sister Megan, and her husband Seth came to visit for a week. We had a blast. We did A LOT of shopping, ate A LOT of food, and generally just had a good ol' time. One of the reasons that I was taking so long to update about Thanksgiving was because I wanted to Photoshop pictures, but since I still haven't done that, you're getting them in all their un-photoshopped glory.  Get ready, there's a lot and they are definately not in any specific order. 

This is Pailey playing with Megan's sunglasses. She likes glasses.

She is so her dad's girl. She loves pancakes!!

If you've ever met, played games, or watched a movie with me past 8:30, this is how I look. I'm not so much a night person.

Uncle Seth and P-Cakes

This is the ferry that took us to Bolivar Island and the beach!

Meg and Seth on the ferry.

P cakes on the beach. She's not a fan of sand on her hands and feet.

Nana, Me and P-Cakes playing on the beach.

Nana and P cakes!

This cute couple just celebrated their first anniversary. Can you tell? Lovebirds. :)

I love this picture of my dad. He looks so happy. :)

On Bolivar Island.

Bolivar Peninsula (I keep calling it an Island but it is really a peninsula...)

This is on the way back to Galveston on the ferry. She was 'driving'. Look ma, no hands!

This is at the Kemah Aquarium restaurant. YUMMY food!!!

Pailey is a wee bit tired....

She loved all of the fish!

I swear Pailey does smile, just not when she is missing nap time.

Nemo is found!

I like this picture too. Good family pic.

I told you she loves glasses. And she's got style.

Cute!

This is the group playing Wii Mario Party. Good times! Seth beat everyone....

Dash is back! Ruff!

This is me in my happy place. I love decorating for Thanksgiving! Here I was pouring Mormon Cocktails. aka Sprite and fruit juice.

This is a big ol' candy shop in Galveston. They have Kahlua truffles.... Mmmm...

This is back at Bolivar. Having our picnic in the crazy wind.

She loves her aunt and uncle!

The Kemah boardwalk. I love this place.

Lunch at the Aquarium. She's a big girl!

This is Nana and Papa babysitting P while Jordin and I take Megan and Seth back to the airport.

Nothings better than pictures from the bath time.

I love this picture! Jordin thinks she looks ridiculous, but I love it.

This is Thanksgiving Day and I thought it was a good pic of Meg. She's pretty.

So that was a fun trip to have everyone here. It was almost a year since I saw Meg so it was a really great time.

So then it was Christmas time.... Here is a very cool lighted park in a town south of us. There were millions of lights! It was pretty cool. 

Oh, I forgot about this fun craft that I did with P-cakes. I made some fun paint with sweetened condensed milk and food coloring.  It is super sticky and made a mess but Pailey had a blast.

Here is the painting she made.

It ended up getting so messy that I put her in the tub and let her run wild. She looks so coy!

It cleaned up really easily and it was actually really fun to make a big ol' mess!

Well, that is really all that has been going on. Now we have Christmas coming and we are very excited! Our tree is beautiful. We bought a real one because it was way cheaper and then we made garland out of creme burlap. Which I love! Then we used red and silver ornaments. The best part is the tree topper. We bought some white starfish, glued them together and then wrapped them in thin gold ribbon. Am I explaining too much? Well, that's because I am super proud of it. :)I wanted to take a pic of it but I can't find the cord to plug into the computer.  So hopefully later.