Time in Utah and other updates

I can't believe my sweet little Alyssa is done with high school! It was fun to be there when she graduated and to spend some time with her. I love hanging out with my amazing sister!

Cassidy came to visit for a few days and we had a great time! Lyla especially loved playing with her at the park.

One Sunday morning when it was time to get ready for church, we asked Lyla to go in her room and get her dress. Instead she picked out what she wanted to wear- some pjs and a pair of pants. After laughing Paul put them on her like this:

We've been spending a lot of time outside working on our yard, and Lyla loves to pitch in. She always finds gloves to wear, needs a shovel in each hand, and then uses her plastic golf clubs to dig in the ground. Such a sweet little helper!

My friend Brittany took these pictures of Lyla swinging. It was fun to have the Allreds stay with us for a few days and to get to know their cute little boy.

My favorite monkey pajamas on my angel girl! When we were in Utah a few weeks ago, we had some friends over to my parent's house to swim. It was fun to catch up with everyone!

My mischievous little girl snuck up behind me...

and tried to push me in the pool! Such a funny little girl.

Lyla is already 19 months old and is learning new words every day. She loves to do the actions to lots of nursery rhymes like ring around the rosies, wheels on the bus, popcorn popping, pat-a-cake, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, etc. A few weeks ago she started folding her arms during prayers all by herself and loves seeing pictures of Jesus. She is definitely a mommy's girl and is very clingy- especially in public. We have entered the tantrum stage and her favorite activity when she gets upset is to bang her head against the wall as hard as she can. This week she actually ate something besides fruit, toast, and pbj sandwiches. She has been loving a pasta dish I made and I'm crossing my fingers that she continues to try new things!

Trip to Marysville!

We had a very fun visit with Paul's family in Marysville over July 4th! We were able to go to the temple with Jared for his first time which we loved. The Seattle temple is so beautiful and it was fun to be there. Lyla loved getting to know her grandparents and uncles a little better.

Uncle Justin won a special place in her heart by taking her on wagon rides and blowing bubbles for her to pop.

We already miss being there and can't wait for our next visit!

Amazing trip to paradise!

We met Paul's family in Kauai for an incredible week of relaxation. It was such a perfect trip and we loved spending time with family and seeing that beautiful area of the world. We left Lyla with my parents which was really hard to be away from her for that long, but it was nice to travel without all of the baby supplies and without stressing over naps, her food, the time change, etc.

I had so much fun spending time with Paul's mom, Sue! We had lots of girl time while the guys did their guy things, and I especially loved running together in the mornings. She was nice enough to go at my slow pace! :) She worked so hard to make sure the trip was fun for everyone.

We did a snuba tour which was fun! It was cool to go a little deeper than snorkling and to see all of the pretty fish.

The grounds at our resort were so pretty! I loved just walking around and looking at the beautiful plants.

There were lots of unique trees and the guys enjoyed climbing some of them.

The quest to pick a coconut occupied much of the guys' time, and they finally succeeded!

There was a cave by tunnels beach that was fun to walk in

It was so hard to leave such a beautiful place! The only part that made us ok with leaving was seeing our little sweetheart again!

It's a boy!

We found out today that we will be welcoming a little boy into our family in October!! We're extremely excited and welcome any tips- I've gotten so used to pink that I'm not sure I'll know what to do with a boy! Everything looks really good and the due date is still set at October 6th.

Here is a picture of me at 20 weeks: This pregnancy is flying by- I can't believe it's half way over! I'm feeling pretty good other than tired and sore. I've been able to keep running up until now, but I think I'll only be able to keep it up for a few more weeks before it's just too much. We have several things to do before the baby arrives so hopefully we can finish it all!

My growing girl

My sweet little girl is growing so fast! She can be such a mischievous stinker or such a snugly sweetheart. She loves to pull the laundry basket around the house and fill it with her treasures like nailpolish, books, scrapbook paper, dvds, or anything else she can find. She empties all of the clothes out of her dresser at least 3 times a day and carries them out to me with a proud smile as if to say look how much I'm helping you mom! Sneaking in a shower can be tricky because as soon as Lyla notices I'm gone and hears the water, she comes running in and throws whatever she can find in the shower with me. So far we've had slippers, clothes, my cell phone, watch, ipod headphones, deodorant, nail polish, and Lyla's doll all join me in the shower.

We've loved the warm days we've had lately and every chance she gets Lyla loves to ride her little car around our driveway.

A few weeks ago, Lyla suddenly noticed babies. She loves to see babies at the store or at church and she'll put her finger to her lips and say "Shhhh!". She loves her dolls and is such a good mommy to them. She even insisted on holding them while she rode her bike yesterday.

It was difficult to steer but she found a way. I just hope she keeps loving babies so she doesn't get too jealous of the new baby in a few months...

She's my little princess and I love her so much!

Best Birthday Surprise ever!

The morning of my birthday started out well with a call from my family and a sweet b-day song from Paul and Lyla. I was in the middle of blow-drying my hair when Paul called and said the weed guy was knocking at the door and I needed to go answer it. I opened it and saw this:

My cute mom and sister Jeanne had driven all the way up to spend the day together and even to have a sleepover!!

I was so extremely surprised and excited to see them! My hair is a little crazy because it was up in a clip while I straightened it.

Lyla immediately grabbed Nana and kept her busy showing off her toys and looking at books. Nana brought a book that she and grandpa had recorded their voices on. Lyla was scared at first but now she loves it! It's "Guess How Much I Love You" and Lyla loves playing with the bunnies that go along with it.

My sweet Mom took us all to dinner at a Thai restaurant which was so yummy!

Paul surprised me with the complete series of Alias which I was so excited for! Now I can watch my friend Sydney whenever I want! :) He also gave me some pretty jewelry which Lyla quickly adopted as her own and she's been wearing it around the house ever since.

My amazing sister went to a huge effort to leave her two older children and to keep her baby happy for 4 hours in the car. I also really appreciated Kevin keeping things under control at home so that she could come. It was such a unique time to just relax and talk without being completely overwhelmed with children running around! :)

My mom bought me my favorite ice cream cake from Dairy Queen! (By the way- let's just pretend I turned 25 like the candles show...)

The next morning we went for a nice long walk together and then ate german pancakes before they had to take off.

Baby Madison loved hanging out on the table.

It was such a fun 24 hours and meant so much to me that they would go to such effort for me!

17 months & Grandma's funeral

These are pictures we took when Lyla was 15 months. She is such a fun, happy girl and loves to go outside and ride her little bike even when it's only 30 degrees! We're still struggling to get her to eat more than toast and crackers, but we find ways to sneak in vegetables and protein.

My sweet Grandma passed away on April 16th when she was 93 years old. Although it was very hard to see her go, we are all excited for the reunions she's been having with loved ones and for her freedom from the earthly pains she suffered. Here is my family at the funeral although lyla was missing:

All of her grandchildren were there other than my brother Tyson who is on a mission.

The day before the funeral we had some fun Easter celebrations as a family. I'll have to post more pictures later when I get them from my mom. My sweet little girl:

She wasn't extremely interested in picking up the eggs but enjoyed being there with her cousins.