At Mutual With Daddy

Dale is a Young Men's leader at church and they had an activity at a park, so Brighton and I tagged along. The bishop's wife brought her dog and Brighton was going crazy! She loves dogs, and could not get enough of Einstein.

I'm not sure what she was doing, but it kind of makes me think of "get in my belly."

Brighton tried to walk Einstein, but then remembered that she doesn't know how to walk.

Dale and Brighton watching the Young Men and Young Women play Ultimate Frisbee.

Brighton's 11 Months!

I cannot believe how big my little girl is getting! Seriously, every time I look at pictures from a few months back, I am amazed at how quickly this time goes by. I was so anxious for Brighton to start crawling and getting up onto things. Then I realized, I wanted her to stay put as long as possible! It seems like it was the next day she started crawling. Since the crawling began, she's become more confident with exploring on her own, coming back to me every now and then to play, and then taking off to check out what's around behind the couch or up the stairs. She started getting into the cabinets and playing with my tupperware and pulling out all the blankets stashed on her changing table. Now she's pulling herself up to stand in her crib and chewing on the railing. And she's the master cruiser! She's getting so brave walking around holding onto things.

She's gotten so brave, she does the one hander now, and mostly ends up face planting because she hasn't quite figured out the whole balance thing. Brighton has also become very clingy the last couple weeks, and I'm not sure if it's just one of those phases or if it's because her mouth is killing her! She's had four teeth pop out in the last month! But she started somewhat talking, if you count whining "mama" and crawling up onto me. Here's a video of her cruising on the coffee table to come and attack me:

The Locks

Brighton and I went to The Locks with my friend Krystle, who is nanny to Carly. Carly liked the fish, but Brighton was more worried about making sure Carly wanted to be friends.

We had a picnic lunch and let the girls play around a little bit. Brighton was having a great time!

On A Walk With Mommy

Brighton and I went on a walk together the other day and saw this snake on the trail behind our neighborhood. I was worried about Sawyer freaking out when he saw it, but failing to live up to the reputation of his ancestors of the terrier breed, he didn't even notice it.

Brighton was very grumpy on the walk and wouldn't even look at me trying to take a picture of her.

But she did enjoy the swings for a bit!

Brighton's Christmas Dress

Last Sunday Brighton wore her red dress that I bought her for last Christmas. I know, that was 8 months ago, but she just now finally fits into it. She was a big baby and I was thinking, Of course she'll be in 3-6 months by the time she's 3 months old, it'll be perfect. But it wasn't. She hasn't fit in it until now, and she's 11 months. So, I had to finally get some pictures. This is what she does now, get into my cabinets. This is where I kept my cake plates, blender, nice dessert plates and all my vases. Those have since been moved to those forgotten cabinets above the fridge so my little lady can play with mommy's plastic containers.

Isn't she so cute! I realized Sunday morning that she didn't have a clip to match her dress! Not good for Brighton and I! So, I quickly fashioned her a large bow clip with some perfectly matching ribbon! Yay!

Brighton and daddy playing with the ball after church. Daddy is usually very happy even though her doesn't look it in the picture...

I just loved this picture. She was actually squinting up her cheeks and closing her eyes to smile like all little kids do. Love it!

Our Trip To Winthrop

Labor Day weekend Dale and I decided to go for a drive and check out Winthrop, WA. We've never been and heard a lot of good things about it, mostly that it was a MUST GO CHECK OUT. We made a few stops along the way to break up the drive and to take in the views. Here are some pictures of our mini road trip:


This was the view of the Gorge River (I think it was called, I can't believe I don't remember!). I just love how green all the trees are!
Brighton and Mommy checking things out together.
Daddy and Brighton reading about the dam.

Too beautiful!
We stopped off for a view of Diablo Lake.

Dale really likes the mountains.
Daddy and Brighton at Diablo Lake.
Mommy and Brighton. It was so windy! My hair kept blowing into my face and lipgloss. I hate that!

Lovely Diablo Lake.
Our little family.

Finally! We reached Winthrop! It's this little western themed town a few hours east of where we live. It was pretty cute and had a lot of fun little boutiques that we checked out.

Every building in Winthrop must be built in the western style. It makes for some interesting gas stations. A lot of the buildings have been restored or moved and have been around well before 1900. Some of them used to be saloons, schools, brothels or museums.

I think my favorite part about it was the wooden sidewalks. Totally cute and fun! This is me picking a place to eat!

A Cake For Dale

I made a carrot cake the other day for Dale and decorated it with some shredded carrot and raisins! Yay! This is about as fancy as I can get, but you should check out my friend Brenna's cakes. She's FABULOUS!

More Things For Brighton's Birthday

So I was planning on making this for Brighton's birthday, as a fun center piece but decided I don't like any branches that I come across in my treks around the house. They weren't pretty enough for me. So, I still had to use all my paper punch-outs, because they were so cute, and couldn't' be wasted! I decided to make some pretty toothpicks to put in the cupcakes that I will be making for Brighton's party. I used two circles- one for each side, and some double sided tape, and made some fancy blue toothpicks! With a little bit of sprinkles, blue of course, these will be perfect!

Kassie's Gift

New addition to this post on 08 October 2008:
So, I haven't been able to get my sister to send me a picture of her in the shirt (maybe she hates it? hmmm, who knows...) so I thought I would put it up here so that anyone who wants to might be able to enjoy my masterpiece. I was copying a shirt from Anthropologie and I can't get the picture to load on here. Maybe I'll try it later when I have more patience. Anywho, here it is! This is the shirt that I made for my sister, Kassie.

Of course I'm not going to put a picture of her actual gift on here, that would be cheating. Though, I wish I could. I'll just have to get her to take a picture of it herself so I can put it up here later. It's all wrapped up and ready to be shipped off tomorrow! Yay! I know, it's late, it took me a lot longer to make than I thought it would. Give me a break, I'm new to this whole sewing thing.

Kassie's 16th Birthday!

For those of you who know my family well, you'll understand my shock that my littlest sister, Kassie, just turned 16 yesterday. She's a baby for crying out loud! No way is she old enough to drive or date boys.

I looked through some of my old photos and had to scan a few to share with you of my littlest sister. This picture was my 18th birthday party with my family. From the left is Kassie (she's so little, only 10 years old), Connor (who is a huge kid now), me- of course, it's my birthday!- and Kaylee, who will be 18 in April. Weird.

Here's my high school graduation. Kassie's the little one in the front with the pigtails. Yes, she was young enough to get away with pigtails in those days. Not anymore...

This was a school picture that she sent to me when I was off to BYU. Look at how cute she is! And I didn't even remember that there was something on the back. But as I flipped it over on the scanner, lo and behold, a cute little note to her wonderful big sister. She's going to probably hate me for sharing this, but that's what big sisters are for, embarrassing the crap out of you on their blogs so the whole world can see what a cute little kid you were.

Gotta love those cute little notes we sisters leave for each other.

Just look at her now. I know, she's freakin' hot! But besides just being beautiful, Kassie is one of the most friendly and out-going people I know. She's a good friend, and a great listener. She's always got a great smile to brighten up your day, along with a cheery and bubbly personality. She is the salsa in our family- a little bit of attitude, but it just adds to the flavor! She is a spitting image of my mom, always able to think of others and be there either to help them, or just to love them. And even though she doesn't think so, she's very creative. She's just not a very good shopper... I love her so very much and am so sad that I'm so far away and can't be there for this very special birthday. But I want her to know how much I admire her and love her. Happy Birthday Kassie, Kasanova, Kasanoral, Kassanora, Kaz- Knock, Kaz-Knockty, Knock-tavia, Knockty Noche, Knockty Nips, Knochtacious, Knockty! Speaking of digging through old photos, and 16th birthdays, this is a picture of me and two of my good friends on my 16th birthday, Shera and Jessica. And that is my birthday crown, and I loved it.