July
We started off the month with going to Clark and Lonnie's baby blessing of our new niece MaKena in Idaho Falls. It was fun seeing them again and watching Kayla interact with her.
I know Lonnie looks so sad in this picture, but it's only because MaKena was so sad; she was sympathizing. This was the only picture I found from that trip. We went out to eat on Saturday with all of the Graham family that was there. It was a lot of fun.
Later that week we went down to St. George for the Hedquist Family Reunion to celebrate the 4th of July. We started off swimming at Grandpa Ab's and Grandma Renee's pool.
Kayla loved being in the water and swimming with Daddy and Grandma. She's a fish, just like her Mama. It was nice being in the pool because I'm convinced St. George is one of the hottest places on earth.
This is the best picture we got of the Ab & Renee Hedquist family (minus uncle Jason because they hadn't gotten there yet). It was so much fun to see everyone.
This is everyone at the Golden Corral for dinner before we went to Tuacahn to see Aladdin. So awesome!
This was Kayla's first attempt at eating her own strawberry. It was very cute, but very messy. Uncle Kris and Aunt Cathy was sitting across from us and they thought she was so cute! And she just hammed it up for them. That's my child... :)
One of Kayla's favorite things to do at the condo was to climb up on the glass coffee table and sit/stand on it. It made her higher up, which in her opinion is the best place to be. The higher the better! Would have almost given us a heart attack if she hadn't done it to us so many times before.
The last full day we were there, we went to the camping ground where Uncle Jason's family was staying. We ate dutch oven dinner and dessert there, so yummy! Kayla loved playing outside. She likes getting dirty. At one point she was shoving her hands in the dirt and pebbles, grabbing a handful and throwing it in the air. When I got home and changed her diaper, she brought them with her as a souvenir. Silly girl.
This was the morning we left to go back home. Mom went with Jessica to catch her flight the next morning. So this was her saying goodbye to her grand-baby. Kayla's wearing the outfit that her grandma gave her. It's so Mom! We had so much fun! Thanks everyone who was there to make it so!
Later in July we had another family reunion to go to. Thankfully, it was in the area. It was for Brandon's side of the family. And his mom got to come down for it!
This is a 5 generation picture. So cool! The reunion was just one day, and we had this picnic for dinner. There was lots of food and music. So good!
During the day, Grandma got to have Kayla all to herself. Brandon, Amanda, and I went to SLC to watch the musical Wicked. Brandon and I had seen it back in 2007, but this was Amanda's first time. She had so much fun! I'm so happy she liked it. It's one of my favorites.
A week or so before Brandon's mom came into town, Kayla really started walking on her own. She'd been able to take a few steps here and there, but she didn't get it down really well until about mid-July. Her Grandma got quite the exercise following after her. She's so cute learning to walk on her own. She tries so hard to be Miss Independent. But she'll still want to hold your hand for support. I love her so much.
August
So far, I think August has been our busiest month, and it's not over yet! The first weekend we moved from our apartment to our new house. Unfortunately, we still don't own it, but we're getting close. I'll make a separate post with more details and pictures on that later. I hate packing everything up and moving. It's why we haven't done it in the 5 years we've been married. I'm glad we're in the house now, but getting there was so stressful! And now getting unpacked is pretty crazy, too. Despite that, I love our new home. There's so much room for Kayla to run around and play in. She's not quite running yet, but she's getting there!
For Kayla's first birthday, we decided to drive to Ft. Collins, CO to celebrate it with his family. That week was also Brandon's graduation. He decided not to Walk because we were traveling, but congratulations to him for finally being done! That Sunday at Mom and Dad's house, we had a family get together to celebrate all the graduates this year: Olivia from high school, Shannon for her Associates, Brandon for his Bachelor's, Amanda for her Bachelor's, and Kayla for her 1st Birthday. Congratulations everyone!
We ate delicious food (no surprises there), opened presents, and played Quelf. All in all, it was a very fun evening.
Grandma bought a whale pool for Kayla. On the last picture, you can see where the "head" is spouting out water. Kayla very much enjoyed it. She was in the pool more often without her swimming suit than not...so there were a lot of saggy diapers. :)
We celebrated Kayla's birthday in stages and with different people. Everyone wanted to celebrate with us, and that made us feel so happy.
This was her first cake. Grandpa picked it out (this one was the cutest, he said), and Daddy tried to teach her how to blow out the candle. Cute!
Present time! We're still teaching her to open them up, but she's getting there!
There was a stuffed lion inside! The first thing she wanted to do was to taste it...or kiss it, depending on how you see the picture. Either way, I think she liked it.
Presents from my mom. Love the hat! She also got a little purse and a tiger that wraps around her arm like it's hugging her. She also got tons and tons of clothes, and most of those were dresses. Loved them! I think dresses work the best for her because she can't really wear pants. They're so big on her! And when they finally fit around the waist, they're too short! So, it doesn't really work for her. Shorts, skirts, and dresses are the best!
I think the best part about the trip was that Kayla got to play with her grandparents. She's their only grand-baby so far, so she gets all their attention, and she loves it. Grandpa's such a tease! It took her a while to warm up to him, but by the end she was smiling her cutest smile at him, and I think he just loved it.
The trip was way too short, but we must go back to work. And there was still a house for me to clean and prepare for the next party! This time it was a joint party with Katherine and Phil's little girl, Amy. Her and Kayla's birthdays are about a week apart, so we wanted to do one together. We're hoping to make a tradition out of this while we're both still in the area. So we invited our families over to celebrate with us.
And there are the little birthday girls! Kayla's wearing one of her birthday dresses, and being as cute as ever. Amy was so quiet compared to the mayhem of the other children, it was really fun to watch her, too.
My old boss, Brad's, wife makes cakes as a small business at home. She made this one for us. I love it! It was carrot with buttercream frosting. She did an amazing job! She was excited to try making it in the shape of a butterfly, and it turned out fantastic! And yummy too!
The whole time they were eating, Amy kept trying to steal Kayla's cake! It was one of the funniest things I've seen! But Kayla's didn't fuss about it too much. She's a sharing girl.
Surprisingly, she didn't get too messy eating. The frosting wasn't smeary enough for other people's tastes, but I liked it just fine. She can still look cute and messy without being a complete disaster. I like smaller messes to clean up.
So I know this has been a REALLY long post, but I wanted to share it all. I had a hard time selecting the best-of-the-best pictures because there were so many cute ones! So that's been our life the last couple months. There's still lots to do and friends to play with. Brandon's been busy making movies and resurrecting our yard. We'll get there eventually.
Thanks everyone for your love and presents to Kayla. We love them all! We love y'all!
