Another Zoo Trip

I have to say that yesterday was one of the best days I've had in a very, very long time. Kylee & I went walking in the morning with our friends, to the park, had friends over, went to the zoo, then went on another walk with my dad. I felt GREAT all day. I had so much energy & can now say that I finally feel completely recovered from my hysterectomy. It is an INCREDIBLE feeling. I hope that I never take one day of health for granted. I am so, so blessed.  

And now for our trip to the zoo:

Kylee & I met my friend Heather & her little boy Cason (who is just a few weeks older than Kylee) there and had such a great time! Heather & I have been friends for 14 years. It took us both awhile to have children & it has been so fun to experience motherhood at the same time.

Cason & Kylee immediately held hands & hardly let go of each other the whole time we were there.

We saw the giraffes...

And the orangutans of course...

Kylee & I love the zoo!

Kylee loved the lion. The handle on our bathroom cupboard is a lion head & Kylee likes to roar at it on a regular basis. :) She was excited to see a real lion & kept roaring over & over. It was very cute!

We got to the petting zoo just as it was closing, so we spent some time letting the kids play on the toys instead. The weather was BEAUTIFUL. 

Kylee obviously doesn't mind getting really dirty & I obviously don't mind letting her...

As we were leaving, I turned around to find this peacock RIGHT in front of me...

And I soon discovered why...

Thank you for the fun day Heather & Cason! We love you guys!

Kylee 15 Months

Well, Kylee had her 15 month appointment a few days ago. She is still at an average weight, and her height & the size of her head are still above average. She threw an absolute fit when the nurse tried to measure & weigh her. She is getting multiple teeth right now & is super emotional & cranky, so hopefully she will get a break from teething soon & be back to her easy, happy self. 

I have been so impressed with Kylee though. Her speech is off-the-charts & I'm starting to realize that it probably has nothing to do with us. Her doctor said she is at a 2-year-old's level. I guess the average 15-month-old should know 3-6 words, and Kylee knows 30 or 40 words, and knows what they all mean. She can also put two words together at a time & can communicate really well with me, telling me when she wants more of something or what she wants to watch ("Pooh!). We love it. It makes our job as parents a lot easier! 

A few more examples:

When she gets up in the morning, I ask Kylee if she said "hi" to Daisy yet...so Kylee turns to her & says "HI DAISY!" in the clearest, cutest voice. 

My mom asked her the other day, "Guess what?" And Kylee said, "What?!"

When she wakes up in the morning, or after her nap, she sits in her crib & usually just talks to her stuffed animals & plays with them, until I come get her. I've peeked through the crack in the door many times to see her tickling her animals' toes. The cutest part is that she says "Tickle, tickle, tickle!" while she is doing it.

I am also LOVING the fact that Kylee can walk now. That is making my job a lot easier too! She has learned to blow her nose & to bow her head for prayer. She is obsessed with swinging at the park & says "Wee!!!" every time we drive by one. 

Here she is sporting her sunglasses...

We go walking every morning with some girls in the ward. Last week it was chilly enough outside that we got to bundle her up in her new winter gear!

She still loves to read...

Kylee, you are seriously the light of our lives! Thank you for finding us & for being a part of our family!!!

Halloween 2010

We had a fun-filled Halloween this year! It started out with carving our pumpkin...Linc's mom sent us home with a beautiful pumpkin from the pumpkin patch in Snowflake.
And for the record: Kylee LOVES pumpkins & spiders, and HATES witches this year. 

Kylee was excited to get to work on our pumpkin...

I absolutely LOVE the inside of pumpkins. I am obsessed with the feel & smell and look forward to cleaning the pumpkin out every year. Kylee hated pulling out the insides of the pumpkin. She was pretty much crying nonstop. Fine with me! That meant more pumpkin guts for me to play with!

Lincoln ended up designing & "carving" our pumpkin. We've actually been into "scraping" our pumpkin the last few years instead.

Love it!

That night we went to our ward Halloween party, then to my parents' house to go to their Trunk or Treat. Grandma gave Kylee her first two pieces of candy. Kylee was so excited. 

Ready to go get some more candy!

Kylee quickly learned that everyone we saw was willing to give her candy. She loved it. She also loved riding on Grandpa's shoulders...

We spent the next hour back at my parents' house, laughing at Kylee eating sucker after sucker. She ended up running around like crazy, shaking from all of the sugar she had eaten. It was so funny to witness her first sugar high. 

She finally calmed down & went to sleep. Then it was time for us adults to get crazy. Mom & I quickly came up with the idea to play TWISTER!!!

I have to say that my mom is awfully flexible for her age, although Linc still dominated...

My dad only agreed to play because we let him use his knees...

Then it was time to play cards. We had so much fun, it was SCARY!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Updates

Medical School: 

We are still waiting for an interview. The school (University of Guadalajara) has been waiting on letters of recommendation from two of Linc's science professors. We should hopefully find out this week or next week if & when Linc has an interview. The interview will be held in Texas. If Lincoln is accepted, it will be on a provisional basis until he finishes his classes this semester.

My Health:

I'm not proud of it, but my doctor & I think that stress is the cause for the fatigue, aches & everything else that I've been experiencing. I'm not going to lie...I am very stressed. Lincoln's current schedule, & not knowing whether we are moving out of the country in two months, is really wearing on me. I'm not sleeping much & have way too many things that need to be done very soon if we are going to be ready to move to Mexico with a month's notice. Blah.

On a more positive note: As far as pain & recovery from my hysterectomy goes, I am doing GREAT. I am going walking every morning & wholeheartedly enjoying this capable body of mine. I have truly been so blessed. 

Allen Halloween Party

Tonight we had our annual Allen Halloween Party with my dad's side of the family.

Miss Kylee was a little bumblebee...

And I had "mommy brain" & didn't notice until halfway through the party that I'd put two different shoes on her. :) 

Family picture...

Yummy homemade soup, rolls, cornbread, cobbler & ice cream plus Halloween music, good company, a campfire, costumes & nice weather made this party great! This is the stuff I'm really going to miss when we don't live near family!

Snowflake

On Friday night we went to Linc's cousin's reception, then sent Kylee to Snowflake with Lincoln's parents. Saturday morning my brother Aaron went through the temple for the first time. We ended up missing the session (long story...we weren't even running late when we left the house). I was on the verge of crying when we didn't make it in time, but realized that we could still spend time in the temple, then meet up with my family after. It ended up being a great experience. We weren't rushed at all & Lincoln was able to catch up with a couple from his mission who we saw there. It was a great start to our weekend. 

We got to Snowflake that evening, just as everyone was getting ready to go to the maze. We headed next-door for a quick dinner of chili & cornbread. Kylee ended up getting honey all over herself & me...which meant bath time.

Kylee had fun playing with bath toys that Linc played with when he was a baby. 

She looks extra-bald in the bath. :) Aren't her eyes beautiful?

Best buds...

We found out that Linc's mom had gotten a babysitter to stay at the house with Kylee while Lincoln & I "scared" in the maze. Before Lincoln & I did that though, we went through the maze ourselves. This year was my favorite. It had an alien theme & was totally different from other years. The moment I sat down in the trailer & it started MOVING REALLY FAST I knew it was going to be good! Seriously, it was crazy. They also converted the barn this year to be part of it & it was AWESOME. I was screaming my head off the entire time. The group we were with told us that I was the most entertaining part.

Yes, this is me dressed in a HazMat suit. Please don't be scared. 

Lincoln hid in the trailer & scared people out of their wits, once the truck pulling the trailer took off. We opened the trailer multiple times to find people literally piled on top of each other, laying right against the door because he scared them so badly. 

Around 10:30pm, after the maze closed, we went to McDonald's & found Lincoln's aunt & cousins there. Two more of Linc's aunts stopped by to join us & we had a blast. Those people are HILARIOUS!

The next morning, we woke up bright & early to drive to Eagar to watch our nieces & nephews' primary program. Lincoln's sister was in charge of it (she is the Primary president there) & did such a great job. I missed part of it because Kylee wasn't cooperating, but what I saw was awesome!

Alyssa holding cranky Kylee...

Gotta love the bum cheek look...

And I finally have an announcement to make...Kylee is walking!!! She started walking at Wendy's house & can take 15 or so steps at a time. YEAH!!! I was SO ready for this!

On the drive home I couldn't resist taking a picture of her chubby legs. I'm obsessed with them.

We visited Da & Rita (Linc's grandparents) then made a quick stop at the cemetery....

After going to see the house that Linc's brother Matt is planning on buying (we are so excited for them!) we headed home. It was a quick 24-hour trip but well worth it. Yay for fun times in Snowflake!!!

Phoenix Zoo

Today was a PERFECT day for the zoo! This was the best zoo trip I've had so far. The weather was unbelievable & all of the animals were out, plus I got to spend the morning with a lot of really fun people.

Mom, Meliss & Nixen came...

Plus...

Our friend Ashley & her mom, Aunt Tricia & my cousins Amy, Kristin & Lindsey, and our 9 kids!

Do these leopard pants make my bum look big?

Sydney & Kylee got to hang out...

We loved looking at the animals. Monkeys are our favorite!

I think Kylee bugged Nixen one too many times...

Me & Grumpy Pants (plus baby Webb in the background)...

Spending time with Grandma...

Seriously...how cute is he?!

The Animals

Since I got my dogs, I've realized how much I really love animals. I am like a kid when I go to the zoo. Forgive all of my pictures, but these animals were way too cute to not post about!

Mr. Squirrel eating a cracker...

Deep in thought...

Butting heads...

Well hello!

So sleepy...

I think the lions are beautiful...

Mom & her baby...

Peek-a-boo!

I was right underneath this guy. So cool!

Shopping & Snoring

LOVE HER.

And just because it is funny...

 Linc doesn't usually snore & when he does, I wake him once & he stops. Last night was a different story though. Here's our conversation at 2am, after I told him about 10 times that he was snoring & that I couldn't sleep:

Me: "Babe, you're snoring again. What do you usually do when you are snoring?"

Linc: "I just turn over so I can look at a different part of the molecule." 

The poor guy is so bombarded with school & work, he doesn't even get a break when he sleeps. I can only imagine what he will talk about when he is in medical school. :)

This & That

I figured I should include a few pictures in this post, since I've been blabbing like crazy lately & posting long posts without pictures. That's what happens when my husband is gone all day & night. There aren't as many fun things going on to take pictures of & nobody to filter my stories before I share them with the rest of the world. :)

Kylee is getting to the age where she likes to put things in places where they don't belong. We were missing one of her sippy cups for a few weeks & finally discovered it in the dogs' toy box...

 On Friday we had a visit with Kylee's birth mother, Breonna. We hadn't seen her in quite awhile, so it was good to spend some time with her. 

She brought Kylee a late birthday present...

 Then we took a trip to Tempe Marketplace & watched Kylee play in the water...

 On Saturday we went to the Moak's (our old next-door neighbors) to celebrate Branson's birthday and play games. If you are looking for a fun game, try THIS. We love it!!!

Savannah & Linc adore each other.. :)

 We met up with Kylee's birth father's family later that day and had a long visit with them. We've been developing a  friendship with them over the last few months. I've wanted to write a post for awhile now about open adoption...but I don't even know how I would explain the way we feel about it. The dynamic of these relationships can be both wonderful & stressful, on both sides. We all do our best to be aware of one another's feelings and to do what is best for Kylee. We really do appreciate all of Kylee's birth family's support and love for us. They are good people. 

And a cute story I wanted to include:

Today Kylee was pretending to call people on my cell phone & would talk to them for 3 or 4 minutes at a time. She definitely knew who she was talking to & what she was saying, even though I didn't. :) The best part was that she was laughing repeatedly throughout her conversations. Her tone & the timing of her laughs made me realize that she was copying the conversations that she has heard me have on the phone. I know other kids do this too, but it made her seem so grown up to me! It was incredibly cute.