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!

A Long, Long Time Ago...

We went to San Francisco over our Summer Magic road trip and I would really regret not documenting it.  I LOVE San Francisco.  As we were getting close, I told Michael that I would love to live there for a short little bit because it is such a fun city.  Then as we were driving to the hotel, he gave me this look like 'you want to live here?!' To which I respond that I would like to LIVE here-  not drive or find parking! I guess those more frustrating things are part of the package deal though.

We stayed in the JW Marriott and it is SO nice.  It is right in the middle of everything and Michael (and I) LOVED having access to the concierge lounge where we were treated with hor dourves, breakfast, dessert, and drinks.

We had this beautiful view from our room:

And of course, we loved getting out and seeing the city.  We took a tourist double decker bus around so that we could get to a few more spots than we would have on foot and it was a nice convenience to have while sight seeing with a baby. I LOVE the architecture of the buildings

And of course, my heart leaps for joy at the sight of these iconic buildings...

*Oh how I love Full House*

I was super bummed we didn't get out to Alcatraz this time. But we had a clear view of it. 

Adelaide loves San Francisco too!  She is such a happy baby.

And, of course, we saw and walked across the beautiful Golden Gate.

When we were about to cross, we ran into the Andersons. We were so glad we got to see them.  Talk about incredible timing!

It was short, but our visit to San Fran was sweet.  I cannot wait to go back to the City by the Bay.

Summer Magic

Part II- Food is half the fun.

I don't know what it is, but when on vacation the places we eat are some of the most memorable moments.  This trip was no exception.  We were given the awesome tip of the Yelp App.  Which made us try small, local places that we would never have known about. I loved it!
So here are a few pictures of yummy-ness and a lot of my Mr.  and my Lil Lady.
This Mexican restaurant looked like a grease joint, but the reviews were great and looks can be deceiving.  It was yummy.

One of my favorite finds was on our drive to San Francisco.  We wanted a sandwich shop and when we saw the outside of the Brighter Side we were hesitant.  But man alive, REALLY good sandwiches and fun ambiance.

In San Fran we had some Super Duper burgers.

I somehow didn't take any pictures of our stop at my favorite, Boudin's!  So, so, so, so yummy sourdough! And we met up with Whitney and her darling Evie. It was so fun to be there with her! I'm glad they could make it.

Sadly, not all food stops had a happy ending.  When we were driving down the Pacific Coast Highway we drove past a few cute little towns, but Laila was actually asleep and we weren't too hungry yet.  So we decided to keep driving.  Well, of course, when we were hungry and Laila was waking up, there was nothing for miles.  We drove hungry for so long that we said the next anything with food was where we were stopping. No matter what.  Fortunately for us we found this little darling little Whale Watching Cafe off the side of the road.  Unfortunately for us, despite the cuteness of the actual restaurant it was EXTREMELY overpriced and the food tasted like not completely heated up frozen food.  It was a major bummer.

The next bummer was in Ventura Beach.  Laila's expression told us everything, but we thought she was just being grumpy.  Again, the restaurant's interior was darling, but the food was ucky.  I thought my safe bet penne pesto pasta and chicken with a side salad would be at least edible.  But it was a bust.

Overall, we had LOTS of yummy food even if they weren't all documented.  I highly recommend Yelp when you are wanting to eat somewhere besides the usual places. This post is now making me hungry.  Guess it's Dinner Time!

Summer Magic

As the temperatures continued to climb in AZ, we made a few more escapes! Michael planned a sweet one week road trip to California.  We had a lot of fun, food and photos. So let me break it down...
Part I- Yosemite
We drove up to Fresno so we could visit Yosemite. Laila was pretty good for most of the drive.  Despite her smiles, the car seat got old.

Yosemite was picture perfect.  Literally.  I felt like some of our pictures looked fake.

We enjoyed seeing the giant sequoia's.  Take a look at those cheeks! (The tree is pretty impressive too.)

Yosemite is GINORMOUS.  We spent the whole day there, almost emptied a whole tank of gas and still didn't see all of it.  It was pretty tricky hiking with a baby.  The morning was wonderful. I loved the sequoias.  We saw them just in time.  When we were driving to the next areas we wanted to see, we noticed they had closed off the sequoia area due to large crowds. Half Dome was beautiful.

After Half Dome, it was midday and trying to keep Laila's bald head from being burnt to a crisp became very creative.  Even then we weren't completely successful, but she was a trooper.  Another fun anecdote on how hiking is different with a baby is the fact that I always have a spare outfit in the diaper bag in case of a blow out.  Well, this particular day we took a backpack instead of the diaper bag.  Yep. No spare outfit.  SO at the beginning of the day, Laila had a onsie, pants, and a jacket.  After Half Dome, she blew out on the onsie.  So she was down to jacket and pants.  On our way out of Yosemite, she blew out again! This time on me.  In the car.  Therefore, by the end of the day, she was down to a diaper and a little sunburnt.  Parents of the year...

But a wonderful adventure!

Stay tuned for Summer Magic Part II