December 2013

December was wonderful and here are a bunch of pictures to prove it.  We got to babysit Daniel Richards and Kaitlyn and him have become best friends.  It's pretty funny to watch how Kaitlyn acts differently with well behaved friends.  So far, I love peer pressure.

We made many trips to the zoo.  Every time we get in the car and get on the freeway, Kaitlyn thinks we are going to the zoo.  About once a week, she isn't disappointed.

Kaitlyn is always, and I mean always, taking her shoes and socks off no matter where we are.  Here she is struggling to get her socks off before going down the slide.

Such a good helper.  I wish I was that happy to mop...

She loves hiking!

We went to see the monarch butterflies in Santa Cruz, but we got there before most of them woke up.  Apparently there are thousands of butterflies who stay the winter here every year, but it was too early and cold so we only saw about 5 of them.  Stephen was holding one for Daniel and Kaitlyn but it fell off his finger.  They weren't so sure about it.

After the butterflies, we played in the sand at the beach.  We love Santa Cruz.

We went to see the lights at the Oakland Temple and saw a live Nativity and a portion of a dance concert.  So beautiful.

We went to the zoo lights, but the highlight was still the playground.  The zoo lights were a little disappointing.

Here's our quick Christmas photo.  We were a little late for church so don't mind the mess around us.

We went to Ellensburg, WA for Christmas.  We had a blast and Kaitlyn was laughing and prancing around the entire time she was awake.  Mykelle and Hailey were so great with Kailtyn and made her feel so special.

Jeremy's family always celebrates Christmas Eve at Kaitlyn's Great Grandma and Grandpa Gibb's house.  We had a wonderful dinner together and all sat around the dancing children.  It is pretty impressive to see all the grandkids and great-grandkids singing together.  We acted out the birth of Christ and Kaitlyn got to be a shepherd but she did NOT want to wear the robe.  All the kids danced to us singing and Kaitlyn had the time of her life.  She especially loved trying to copy Mykelle's dancing.  

Christmas morning 2013!  We all had a wonderful Christmas and had so much fun watching the girls open presents.

It's more fun to be the present ;)

She loved playing with Mykelle and Hailey's dollhouse.

Kaitlyn spent a lot of time on this horse.  She could climb up all by herself by the end.

Another favorite toy at Mama and Papa's house is their swords.  Every time we Skype, Kaitlyn demands to see the swords and the wagons.

Cute Hailey

Mykelle with a rose.

Hailey and Kaitlyn were pretty excited to wear matching jammies.

Our attempts at a Christmas photo of the three cousins didn't go that well, but it was fun anyways.

Stories with Papa.

Kaitlyn with her Great Grandparents.

We love the tractors!

Throwing rocks into the ditch.

Picture dump from November and December

I'm starting with December's pictures.  This first one is a face Kaitlyn loves doing now.  She learned it over skype with her cousin Mykelle... I didn't even know she was paying attention.  Now she does it whenever I say "crazy girl." 

Kaitlyn wouldn't eat her bread with jam (she licked off the jam) until she put soy beans on it.  Mmmm.

We tried taking our own Christmas card photo by balancing my camera on a bike.  This is the best we got. 

Grandma and Grandpa Gibb came in the end of October and beginning of November.  Kaitlyn had the time of her life with so much attention.

We went to the SF Zoo.

We rode the train and watched the driver's pet squirrel jump off half way through the ride.

Kaitlyn's favorite thing was the carousel.  She had the time of her life and convinced Grandma and Grandpa to let her ride again.  

We had great fall colors at Stanford.  We had a photo shoot with Eva who was great because Kaitlyn copied everything she did.

She loved being in the tree all by herself!

 We went hiking at Uvas Canyon and decided it would be a wonderful place to live if it wasn't such a commute.

Thanksgiving was great in St. George, UT this year. We went hot tubbing, razoring, played pickle ball, watched movies, played a fierce game of Uno, went to the park, did lots of drawing with the cousins and all the usual Thanksgiving fun!  We had so much good food and got to see Beck Brower for the first time.  He is the cutest and best dressed little boy I have ever seen.  Sadly I didn't get pictures with him so I need to get the few we took from Mal's camera.  Kaitlyn got 4 new teeth, had trouble sleeping, and wouldn't leave my sight, but she had a blast with her cousins Alta and Ellie.  Here are some pictures from the playground.

I had fun making the pies this year and they all turned out great.  It just took us all night before anyone had any room in their stomachs from the amazing dinner we had at 2pm. 

Pink Flamingo for Halloween

I haven't updated for a long time, and it's too hard to get everything I missed, so I won't be trying.  Here are tons of pictures of Kaitlyn from Halloween.  I realized I haven't used my good camera in a long time because it was so easy to use my phone.  I went a little crazy because these pictures all turned out so much better than my phone takes.  

I get a crafty bug for Halloween and use it all up on Kaitlyn's costumes.  I don't really do much the rest of the year like this, but I have so much fun for Halloween.  I wanted Kaitlyn to be a pink bird, so flamingo it was.

Ron and Susan were here for Halloween and we had so much fun with them.  Thanks for coming! Kaitlyn loved every second.

Kaitlyn didn't really do much trick or treating.  At one house, I said to pick one so she took her time and concentrated as hard as she could.  She finally picked a sucker.  She demanded to eat it right then and there.  After that, she had no interest in going to other houses.  She had what she wanted and was completely content... and sticky.  

ABCs

Kaitlyn is learning so much so fast lately.  Every time we practice, she gets better.  Just ignore the random "choo choo" train noises throughout.  A few times ago, Kaitlyn would say "Beee" for every letter she couldn't say, which was most of them.  She's figured a lot out since then.