Get This Show Back on the Road

I can't believe it's already December!  There's so much fun to be had, it's hard to keep up.

Remember when it was Thanksgiving?  I LOVE that holiday.  What a perfect concept.  Being surrounded by loved ones, focusing on what we are thankful for and eating lots.  My kind of day.  This year we stayed in Phoenix for the actual Thanksgiving day.  We had dinner with other "orphaned" families in our ward.  It was a fancy "potluck" and the food and company were wonderful.

The next day, our little family took a quick drive over to San Diego to meet up with my family.  They had just spent the week in Disneyland (lucky!) and then went south for Mel's soccer tournament.  I love that we got to meet up with them.  And seriously, could anyone ever get sick of this view?

Even though Mel's team didn't come away champions again, we loved watching her and being with family.  And, of course, Adelaide got a lot of lovin' from her aunts and uncles.

(Camille was good at telling me to take pictures.  Therefore, she's the one who is always holding my baby.  Well played, Camilley! And don't be fooled, Laila loves smooches and Auntie Camille.  She just has funny faces.)

(We even got to see Uncle Dallin and the Shields on their way home from Mexico! Score!)

We were also able to squeeze in a nice stroll along the beach.  *sigh* I love the beach...

and my mom...

and our little family...

I'm grateful for anytime we can get with our families and for the beautiful surroundings we had this Thanksgiving.  See you in 2013, Thanksgiving break!

Proper Introductions

On Halloween day, Adelaide and I took a flight to Utah.  The stars really aligned on this trip because Michael ended up having a work trip that week so we didn't have to be home alone nor feel guilty for leaving Daddy at home.  Baby Laila and I flew up to Utah so that she could properly meet her Aunt Annie.  However, Hurricane Sandy was trying to put a damper on that.  But like I said, the stars aligned and Annie was able to meet us in Utah for a short trip.
September is the hardest month for me to live in Arizona because the temperatures are still in the 100s with no sign of cooling. It's just a long month after a long, hot summer.  So it is always a wonderful relief to visit my family and see the seasons actually changing in October. My little girl is becoming quite the experienced traveler.  She was a doll on both flights.  On the way there she even gave me time to actually look at a few pages of a magazine.  That was new for me...

We got to Utah just in time to see the beautiful Fall leaves in the front yard.  Our little Arizona girl had a blast!

Laila got to visit all 4 of her great grandparents on my side.  Luckily Camille documented two of those- her Great Grandma Cook and her Great Grandpa Ostler.

We got to play with all 4 of Laila's grandparents. We had the Shields over for dinner and Laila became a human sack of potatoes handing her over from person to person all night.  (She may have become a bit clingy to mom by the end of the night) But, it was a fun night and a great way to catch up with our family.  She was pretty spoiled this trip.  Usually she has to share Uncle Dallin with all her cousins.  He is a favorite as you can tell.

We had a whirlwind couple of days.  (Consistent napping schedules were definitely out the door on this one, but she's a trooper.)  We were able to squeeze in a haircut for Mommy, lunch with Grandma and Grandpa, dinner with Kelsy and Brooke, evenings with the Shields, lunch for Uncle Will and my Mom, errands, shopping, bridal shower, meeting Baby Jay, play date with Henry, family dinners, stake conference with my family and some time at home for piano lessons. (Long list with not that much documentation. Sorry)

 
 Laila LOVED being with her Aunts and Uncles.  They kept imposing time limits for who's turn it was to hold her. (Unless she had a poopy diaper, then it was Mom's turn again.)

As you can see, there is lots of estrogen in my house, but I think that just means there's that much more love and fiestiness. I'm grateful for my family.  I'm glad they love on my baby almost as much as I do.  We are grateful Annie made it out to visit, grateful we were all together at home and gratetful for Michael who footed the bill for us to go even though he didn't get to come this time. ;)  I am truly blessed with the family I have.

This is Halloween...

(A couple of weeks late) Even though Arizona does not give me my definition of Fall temperatures,  Halloween is still one of my favorites and the cutest Ladybug of all, is mine!

Her "mummy" and Daddy (Indiana Jones) are so proud of her.

I made our costumes this year and I felt proud because they turned out pretty close to what I imagined.  I can come up with ideas, but executing is not my strong suit so it was fun to be able to put our costumes together.
We had the ward trunk-or-treat and then our neighbors invited us for a VERY creative and well planned party.  We had a blast with the Flinstones, the Tacos and the Supers.

Six Months Later and then some...

My beautiful girl turned six months old! And seven months! At the end of this month, she will be 8 months old! What?!  I feel like 8 months old sounds big.  She sure is a darling baby though.
At her 6 month appointment, her stats were:
Weight- 15.7 lbs (40 percentile)
Height- 26 in. (57 percentile)
Head- 17.7 in (97 percentile)  Awww love that head!
The past couple of months...
- she has been perfecting sitting up.  She's a pro now.
- she is working hard on crawling. Mom's not giving too much encouragement on that one. ;)
- sleeping habits have been rough the past couple of months.  We had a week before her 4 month appointment where she slept through the night and then school started and it's been a few times a night that she's awake and hungry.  She's starting to do better so we are keeping our fingers crossed.
- Her first tooth is coming through! (Which didn't help the sleeping game, but I'm proud of her. That's a lot of work.)
- She is a smiley baby with the best expressions.
- She is still a little chatterbox.  Some of her "words" are starting to sound a bit like English.  Exciting!
- She loves playing with toys.
- She loves being in the bouncy exersaucer toy.
- She loves veggies.  She warming up to fruits.  But she definitely prefers veggies.
- She is starting to eat Cheerios.  It is absolutely darling watching her daintily pinch a cheerio and carefully get it to her mouth.
- She really is my little sunshine. And I love this phase.  I know that every phase has it perks.  But right now I still have a baby but she's super alert and expressive and happy.  It's wonderful!
And now, some pictures of my joy.  (I only have a million. So there's more where that came from.)

I LOVE HER! Onto the next six months.  This life is an awfully big adventure!

It Was Labor Day Weekend

We enjoyed the long, Labor day weekend by going to Page, Arizona and playing around in Lake Powell with this whole crew...

Laila loved being with all her Shields cousins- even if she's a bit out numbered!

Michael's family camped out on the beach. What a view!

We didn't get any pictures and I wish we had, but Michael and I totally paddled a kayak out to that rock and back. (it's farther than it looks.) it was so fun to just be with Michael in the sun and in the wonderful Lake Powell water.

We enjoyed playing on the beach, eating, chatting, and of course, the beautiful red rock land.

  We went on a fun, short hike to Horseshoe Bend which was very picturesque and beautiful.

The rest of the weekend, we enjoyed relaxing and playing in the pool at our hotel.

She loves her Daddy and the pool!

We had a lot of fun and were glad we had a great "half way" point to meet up.  And this baby girl cannot wait to have more adventures and see her family again!