{grateful}

I've been kind of down lately and I'm not really sure why. Stress most likely.. trying to keep up with working full time, vinyl orders, keeping the house together and wanting to spend every second with my little cupcake. I guess it's not hard to figure out why I'm overwhelmed.

But today has just been one of those when I realize how lucky I am. And I am SO thankful. I can't imagine my life any different (besides the working so much part ;). I have a wonderful husband who works his tail off to take care of us. And I have the most beautiful, loving, sweet little girl. So today I just wanted to say, be thankful of every second and every bit of you life. No matter where it takes you, because it is yours and only yours.

"Promise me you'll always remember:
You're braver than you believe,
and stronger than you seem,
and smarter than you think."
-Christopher Robin

The tiny monster & a tiny tantrum..

But isn't she adorable?

The big countdown!

I need cute ideas for Bella's birthday party! I can't believe she is almost 1! I'm thinking a cupcake theme or princess theme! I'm really leaning toward the cupcake theme. It would be so fun. Here are some things I really love on Etsy..

I have no idea what this has to do with birthdays..or cupcakes.. but I love it! I've bought from this seller before and I really love her stuff!



Love it. Bought it. I had it personalized with a '1' on the back and her name above it!



I've also bought from this seller.. (I think I have an addiction).. I can't decide if I want another tutu but wouldn't it be cute for pictures?! I can't decide between this one or about 10 others. She has the best tutus ever!



Love these and decently priced. I'm sure I could figure out how to make these but I love the fabrics and colors already on this one!

11 months!

I can't belive she is almost 1 year old! 31 more days!! This last month has gone by so fast. Bella learns something new everyday. She is starting to learn new words and she understands simple sentences. She loves new cloths lately and likes to help pick out her outfit. She gets so excited going through her clothes or looking at new ones at the store. She's getting some more teeth and she is a little monster lately. I guess I can't complain since she did so well with the first 8 teeth.


11 month milestones:
Took 1st steps. 7 steps is her record!
Says mama, dada, hi Ty, uh oh, oh wow, look, puppy (kinda), yum yum, hello, hiya.
She is really good at throwing tantrums lately. She's really got the screaming thing down. My mom got a little video of it the other day when she was trying to steal the video camera away. I'll have to see if I can figure out how to add it.
She likes to tear things up. Magazines, catalogs, books..
She is really good at climbing. If she can climb it, she will.
She likes to snuggle but only when she wants to.
She likes pretending to talk on the phone.

I can't wait until her birthday party! I've already picked some things on Etsy for the party!

Living Planet Aquarium

Yesterday Bella and I talked her daddy into spending the day with us. We all went to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy and then out to eat at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. The aquarium was a lot of fun! I thought that the octopus and jelly fish were the best. Bella really liked watching the stingrays. I ended up carrying her most of the time so that she could see better. In March they are getting penguins so we ended up buying the year membership since we are planning on going back (it's $18 per person and children under 2 are free).

On a side note, Bella took her first steps a few weeks ago. Her record is 5 steps! She does it a few times a day now. Her birthday is about a month away.

10 Months Old!

Yep, it's already been a month and Bella has hit the 10 month mark. She actually turned 10 months old on the 26th but we haven't had time to post yet! Here are her 10 month milestones..

• She can shake her head yes and no.
  
• She can say "oh wow, "nom nom" (yum yum), da da, & ma ma.
• She waves to everyone and everything.
• She LOVES dancing. She can dance standing up without holding onto anything.
  
• She can stand up really well.
  
• She is learning to play peekaboo.
• She learned how to feed the dogs. She isn't too sure about sharing :)
• She will hand something she is holding to you when asked.
• Her favorite songs are Cowboy Casanova (still), Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus (I even caught Justin playing it for her the other day), the Spongebob Theme song, and the Ellen Show Theme song.
  

I'm sure there are more things but this is all I can think of right now. She is learning new things everyday! She is so much fun and I can't believe how fast her first birthday is approaching.

Christmas 2009

This Christmas was seriously the best EVER! On Christmas Eve we went to my Aunt Carlene's for dinner. The picture above is Bella with her great great grandparents. How special is that? We cherish every moment that we have both of them here with us.

Christmas day was so much fun. Bella helped open all of her presents and played for about a hour before she ate breakfast. As we were opening presents, she said "oh wow!". I was saying it as I helped her unwrap her presents and I couldn't believe it when she copied me. We are definitely to the point where we have to watch what we say :)

Later we went to my mom's to exchange presents and to eat dinner. By then Bella was too excited and there was too much going on for her to be interested in opening gifts. She had lots of fun trying to keep up with her cousins and Uncle Ty.

This Christmas was simply amazing. It wasn't about the gifts or the food, it was about seeing Christmas through a child's eyes. It's about cherishing the special bond between family and friends. It's about the gift Heavenly Father sent to the world so long ago.. and so much more. And I am more and more grateful each day that I have Justin and Bella in my life. They are the only gift I needed (although I'm not about to give up the remote start I got for my car, getting Justin to install it will be next year's Christmas gift..ha ha ha).

Happy Birthday Mom!! Sorry about the cake..

Last Saturday was my mom's birthday. We went to Lorena's and then went home for cake & ice cream. Bella taste tested the cake to make sure it was good. I'm pretty sure it got her seal of approval. Happy Birthday Mom!! Love you!

Secret Santa

A lot of you know my friend Sierra and her wonderful family so you might have heard about this already. I wanted to share it here also because I think it is a really special story.

I'm a really huge fan of the Morning Zoo on 97.1 ZHT. I've listened since high school and every year they help out a Utah family that has had a rough year. I submitted Sierra's story on their website and prayed that they would get picked. I got a call from the radio station several weeks later saying that they were chosen! I was so excited! We had to find a way to keep Sierra home the morning that they were going to surprise her so her boss told her they had an emergency meeting at 4 pm and that she need to come into work late. I recruited my buddy Steph who also happens to have lots of ties with Sierra's family. We worked out the details with the radio station and everything was set! The morning of, the radio station had me go to the studio so that I could read the story that I submitted. I was so nervous to have to talk on the radio and I was nervous that somehow something wouldn't turn out right. I got to the radio station and DB came to waiting room to escort us back to the studio. They got me headphones and handed me a printed out copy of the story to read on the air. You can listen to the whole thing below.. just a warning.. you may need tissues! It was so awesome! They provided her family with an entire Christmas.

This Christmas has been really special for me anyway because of Bella but this really reminded me what the true meaning of Christmas is. It had nothing to do with all the gifts that they were given but it was so nice to relieve some stress and bring joy and happiness to a family who has been through such a rough year. It was unbelievable to me how many people were involved in this to make it happen. It just goes to show how wonderful Sierra and Bob are. They are so very loved! Lots of thanks to everyone who helped me, including Steph and Kim (Sierra's boss). And of course a HUGE thank you to everyone at 97.1 ZHT, especially Stacy (the promotions director) and Frankie, DB, and Jessica. Read the story and listen to what was played on the radio here..http://www.971zht.com/pages/secretsanta/ It's the one listed as Jaxon, Ashton, Alexia. Merry Christmas everyone!

{gobble gobble}

We had such a nice Thanksgiving. We spent the day at my parents with my sisters family. It was a nice day of food, family and chasing Bella around. She had so much trying all the different foods and liked everything. Including pickles. She really likes pumpkin pie and pistachio salad.

Bella also turned 9 months old yesterday! She is so much fun right now. She is crawling really well and can pull herself to standing. She is also brave and will let go when she is standing for a few seconds. Her little forehead is sprinkled with little bruises from bumping into things. I guess I better get used to it, but it's hard to see her get hurt! She loves to eat and is eating more solid foods and slowly eating less and less of her bottle. She also started "dancing" this month and loves to bee bop to Carrie Underwood's Cowboy Casanova. So cute!

Bella loves..

• Baths..still! She is mommy's little mermaid.
• Grape juice. It all started with a taste of a lime rickey. She really loves grape!
• Getting into everything and crawling around. She's a little explorer!
• Dancing to music.
  
• Food! She now says "nom nom nom" when she likes something she's eating.
  
• Boxes, paper, mommy's car keys and cell phone. We've decided for Christmas she isn't getting any real toys. We are just going to wrap empty boxes and let her play in those. Ha ha :)
  

Bella doesn't love..

• Getting her face washed.
• Being confined in her play pen, car seat or jumper.
• Getting scared. And she's super jumpy, just like Aunt Skye.