Merry Christmas!

Okay, so I've been a really bad blogger lately, and I really have no excuse.  I guess now is a good a time as any to try to play catch up!

We have had a great holiday season with tons of family, and tons of good food (always a must for me this time of year!)  Amanda has loved the tree and has to make sure the lights are turned on first thing every morning.  I am really looking forward to Christmas morning this year, because I think Amanda will be a little excited seeing what Santa has brought her.  More to that will come later.  I'm not sure she would be so thrilled to see Santa in person though!  We did run in to Mrs. Claus at the library a couple weeks ago, and I could barely get a picture taken with her!

Last Saturday we went up to Logan for two family parties.  We first got to party with the Mortensen clan.  We had a great time.  While we were there, we realized that every member of Billy's family was there, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity for a family picture! 

Here is the whole clan, along with Great Grandma Mortensen.

Amanda had a good time at the party, although because the day was so busy, she didn't get ANY nap.  She was a little cranky at times, but most of the time just loved getting to play with all her cousins!

After the Mortensen party, we went to Billy's sisters house, and had our Grant family party.  We had a great time, and Grandma and Grandpa Grant spoiled all of us.  I was a little crazy and decided to crocheted beanies for all the nieces and nephews (11 total) two weeks before the party.  I made funny beanies with beards connected for the boys, and cute ones with flowers for the girls.  I didn't get a picture of all the girls, but here is a picture of the boys with their beard beanies.  They got quite a kick out of them!  I was just glad they fit!

Amanda has been so good and cute through all this crazy holiday season!  She has actually liked getting dressed up for parties.  Here she is with curlers in her hair, which she is good about keeping in now.  Amanda is also perfecting her "camera smile."  She says "cheese" and  then gives the cheesiest smile!  Here is her example:

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas! 

I will try to be better about posting our Christmas fun in a timely manner!

Happy Halloween

Amanda LOVED this Halloween!  We went Trick or Treating yesterday with Elsie and they had a lot of fun... even though it was rainy and cold.  Amanda was a cute little chick and didn't fight getting into her costume this time!  I think she remembered what happened last time at the Trunk-or-Treat.  She knew the drill!  

Ready to Go!

Getting Ready

Here we go

 Later that night we went to a friend's Halloween party for a few minutes and had a good laugh at Amanda's interest in the "Wild Bird Food" that was sitting in the kitchen!  She was really getting into her character! 

Today we have just had a quiet Sunday while trying to recover from the sugar overload yesterday.  Amanda was a good little helper tonight though and rinsed the dishes for me.  She did a good job too!  She would rinse the silverware and put it in the strainer for me!  She likes to help me sweep too.  What a good little chick!

Halloween Fun

I know its not Halloween quite yet, but we have already had some Halloween fun!  Last week we crashed Billy's brother's ward Trunk-or-Treat.  The weather was great and we had a lot of fun with cousins.  The adults dressed up as King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table from Monte Python (thanks again Nate for the amazing costumes!).  We all had a good time.

This Monday we continued our Halloween fun by, of course, carving pumpkins!  We were proud to pay only $1 for our huge pumpkin and the other one crept under the fence and grew from our neighbors yard (don't worry, we told them about it and they said we could keep it).  Amanda thought the whole process was quite interesting!

Yesterday I decided to have a little fun in the kitchen.  Inspired by Charles and Lex's eyeball Oreo truffle creations, I tried to make my own.  I think they turned out fun, and they taste great too!  I think they just might become a tradition for us. 

The fun will continue today and tomorrow.  Amanda will get to play with her cousins some more, and go trick-or-treating on Saturday.  She really digs the "people giving me candy" concept.  She definitely knows what candy is now and runs at the sound of a wrapper!  

Growing Up

It is really hitting me lately how much our little Amanda Kaye is growing up!  This is a picture of her today after getting ready.  I got out the camera, and this is what she did when I said, "Say Cheese!"  She thought it was extra funny that she was holding a string cheese at the same time!  

Today is the first time I have attempted to put all of her hair up and it actually worked!  It kind of makes me sad because she looks so grown up!  Where did my baby go?

Another thing that has made her seem older is that she LOVES her cousins and has started asking for them by name.  We have been able to play with cousins a lot lately, and she has loved every minute!

 

Family Pictures

Okay, so I realize that I gave away some of the pictures already in our header, but I thought I would share some more anyway.  Our good friend Katie took these for us over at her Photo Works studio at University Mall.  They did a great job over there and we would highly recommend them to anyone with kids!  Here are some of the fun pics, enjoy!

Postings to come...

I really have been a terrible blogger lately, and as always, I have a lot to catch up on.  However, instead of doing to huge post, I'll try to do better and do a post each week about this summer to catch up.  Then maybe it won't be so long! 

Postings to come include, but are not limited to:

1.  Family Pictures 
2.  Bear Lake  
3.  Our trip to San Francisco/Monterey
4. Hiking the Subway

We really have had a fun & busy summer!  Hope you all have too! 

Summertime Fun!

Well, summertime is finally here (although it did rain on us as we tried to swim yesterday, but we're trying to be positive here)!  I have been so excited for warm weather!  We have had a lot of blogger-worthy fun lately, so I thought I would catch up.

- Memorial Day -

We kicked off the summer with the grand idea of hiking Little Emigration Canyon.  I was excited because I had never been there.  As soon as Amanda was up and fed and ready, we set off, taking our golden retriever, Sadie, with us in our Elantra (don't worry... we covered the seat with a sheet!)

When we got to the spot, we realized that it was still a little early in the season and there had been a lot of snow run-off and the trail had been flooded... a lot!  We stood there for a while trying to decide what to do, when Billy (determined to do this hike) decided that he would carry me, Amanda, and Sadie through the water!  If we had a truck, we would have let Sadie go on her own,  but we weren't too crazy about riding home with a completely soaked and muddy dog.

We got through the first flood, only to walk a few yards and come across anther!  So, Billy carried us all across that one too!  What a guy!  After fording the river for the second time, it was smooth sailing!  We had a great time and were very happy that we brought Sadie along!  It had been way too long since she had been able to do something like that.  She walked right along with us, except for when she found a flock of wild turkeys that she took off after! 

After our hike, we had time to go home, get cleaned up, and get Amanda a nap before we took off to the park to have a picnic with Billy's family.  Amanda wasn't so sure about the grass at first, but she soon got over her fear!  She had fun following all her cousins around!

- Water Fun -

Amanda has discovered how much fun water can be.  She has always loved her baths, but she is loving getting to play with water outside!  Grandma Grant got a new water table she loves!  I think I am going to start putting her in a swim suit when she plays with it though, because her favorite thing to do is dump the water on herself! 

We were able to take her swimming for the first time yesterday too!  We got rained out, so it didn't last too long, but we still had fun.  Amanda was really worried at first, but as soon as I showed her how to splash, she really got into it!  After she got out, she snuggled right down with her daddy!  She is definitely a daddy's girl!  (Notice Billy's awesome farmer's tan!) :)

Life is good!  We are having so much fun with our Little Miss Amanda!  She makes life very busy, but very fun!  Her little personality is so cute!  I just love this little girl!

Etiquette Dinner

So... a couple of months ago I agreed to help Billy with a combined youth activity etiquette dinner that they had planned.  Well, we both kind of forgot and at the end of last week Billy reminded me about it and said that it was the next Wednesday!  Well, we didn't really get to planning until Sunday night, but I think things came together very well.  Billy has been stressed at work so I wanted him to have one less thing to worry about.  Amanda and I went to the church during the day (she took a nap in the Relief Society room) while I decorated. 

Billy wasn't expecting the lights, so it was fun to surprise him with how much it was decorated.  I had a CD of classical piano concertos playing in the background too!

Billy gave a little lesson on etiquette in the other room while I was finishing up in the kitchen, then the kids came in and practiced what they learned.  At first, I think everyone was afraid to talk, but they soon got into the groove. 

The food turned out good too!  Here's what we served:

Salad

Spaghetti, Green Beans, and Rolls

(not the best picture, but it's the only one we got)

Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting

It was a lot of work, and I am tired today, but it was a lot of fun too!  I'm glad it all came together at the last minute!

Happy Birthday / Easter

Happy 1st Birthday Amanda Kaye! 

Time has really flown by and we can't imagine life without her!  She definitely keeps us busy.   We celebrated this weekend by having a combined Easter/Birthday party between conference sessions.  We went to the church and had an Easter Egg hunt, dinner, and of course, cake and ice cream!  I had a lot of fun making Amanda's cake! 

I have never done a bright and colorful cake, so I thought I would give it a go!  I am proud to say that everything in/on this cake is made from scratch... even the fondant!  I actually wasn't originally planning on covering the whole cake with fondant (I was just going to use fondant decorations) but I couldn't get it to work.  Because of this, I didn't prep the cakes for fondant like I should have, so they are a little bumpy but it was a fun learning experience!

This little girl is definitely loved!  My mom and dad, Charles and Lex, and Katie all traveled to West Valley specifically to watch Amanda eat her cake!  A lot of Billy's family was able to come too! 

Amanda was very tired during her party because she refused to take a good nap (too much excitement I guess) so she didn't get into her cake as much as we thought she would, but I think she still had fun.