The Beckstrom's

10 months

2012-01-22T16:34:00.000-08:00

Lola is now 10 months old-how time does fly! She is one cute little red head...

Lola had her 9 month appointment when she was almost 10 months old, here are her stats:

Weight: #17.2 (15th %)

Height: 27.5 inches (40th %)

Head: 17 inches (90th %)

My mother in law always says a big noggin' means there are lots of brains in there-Lola must be awfully smart :)

Lola is the sweetest babes. She has a very easy smile and will make eye contact, smile and giggle at just about anyone that will give her the time of day.

-Lola loves Alli-she gets SO excited/worked up in the morning when Alli comes to help me get Lola when she wakes up. She kicks her legs like crazy and just starts laughing at her.

-She has limited crawling abilities right now (which we don't mind at all) but Lola is a very good army crawler/backwards slider and can turn 360' like you wouldn't believe. :) She somehow knows how to get her legs under the couch and get herself stuck quite often.

-She loves to jump in her jumper

-She has 2 bottom teeth

-Lola has always been a picky eater and has refused baby food since day 1 when we started feeding her, however, she will eat anything that we are eating if I just grind it up in the blender. Her favorites so far are chicken and rice soup, spaghetti, beef stroganoff, chicken enchiladas, refried beans, rice and pizza. Pretty much anything that ISN"T baby food. She does like baby yogurt and the oatmeal with cinnamon though.

-She does have a little attitude at times- a little red head spitfire coming through as we call it. She is really a quiet little thing, but if Alli tries to take a toy away from her or if she doesn't get something she wants-she will let you know by yelling. She does have quite the grip too-Alli has a hard time getting things away from her at times.
-Got her ears pierced at 9 1/2 months-couldn't not do it since the big sister has them too :)

- Lola loves to sing and her favorite song is "If You Are Happy and You Know It..." she loves to clap her hands so that is what we sing most often

-She can wave "Hi" but gets both arms going most of the time

-Lola does have some stranger anxiety (which Alli never knew existed), but we are working on it. She will let others hold her as long as I or Brian are not in direct view. I think its because I'm home full time with her and she doesn't get much time to be with others. Over Christmas break she warmed up to our families, so hopefully when nursery time comes around it won't be too hard to leave her.

-When she is tired she loves to spit and spit A LOT.

-She refuses to hold her own bottle. She can and knows how, but doesn't care to do it.

-To get our attention she loves to fake cough and she will continue to do it until someone looks at her

-She loves to be vocal and say "Da Da Da" along with a bunch of other noises

-Lola loves taking a "tubby" with Alli, I think she is going to like the water this summer.

She sure is fun, this stage is one of my favorites and I hope it doesn't pass by too fast!

She looks a lot like Brian and the Beckstrom clan-her cousins Tanner and Austin especially (Brian's brother Britt's kiddos)

Big cheeser and out of focus :)

Riding Roaney!

2012-01-19T17:59:00.000-08:00

Alli loves riding Roaney with Papa! Basically, she thinks he's her horse. She loves to take the reins and knows how to kick the horse to make him go. I think we have a future cowgirl on our hands here.

Lola loved riding too-she got quite excited when papa took her for a ride, so excited that she didn't even want to sit to enjoy it-she wanted to jump and wave!

Hanging out at the arena

Smiley here showing off her first tooth! 9 months old and lovin' life!

Alli also loves Ace-Rowdy's min pin. She had to take control when we went for a walk- it was funny to watch because most of the time he was actually walking/running her.

St. George weather in the winter is wonderful. You can actually go outside and do things. Chilly-sometimes-Sunny-all the time. Growing up in SG makes it hard to want to live anywhere else :)

Christmas 2011

2012-01-19T17:08:00.000-08:00

We were able to go back to St. George for two weeks for Christmas. It was, as always, a whirlwind of fun! :) Spending time with family is always a wonderful way to celebrate the holidays and we are very grateful for our Nana/Papa, Grandma's and Grandpa's, Uncles/Aunts and of course all of the cousins for Alli to play with. She was in cousin heaven for 2 whole weeks! It will be nice when all is said and done with Brian's school to be able to move closer to our families so we can live in the "whirlwind" full time!

Christmas pictures from our Christmas card...

Christmas Eve

Lots of games and good times were had and of course REALLY good food!

Christmas morning was full of fun, Lola even had a pretty good time opening presents and of course eating her wrapping paper

Hi little red head!

The girls both got microphones and love singing/talking into them

Brian is either really excited or tired here... :)

Chanse and Jeannie joined in and brought their babies too- Lola quite enjoyed the kisses that they were freely giving away

These 2 love eachother!

It was such a fun and eventful year and thanks to our families for making it a memorable Christmas!

Lolas at 8 months

2012-01-18T19:51:00.000-08:00

Hi.

Lola is such a fun, energetic, mild mannered, smiley babes! At 8 months she decided she liked her tongue... a lot! :) We love her easy smile and her happy temperament-she is our "Lowly" (what Alli J. likes to call her) "Lolas" and "Lola babes" too. She got her first tooth at 8 months and decided that tummy time wasn't as awful as it seemed, meaning that she actually will stay on her tummy for a few minutes before either rolling over to her back or fussing till someone comes to save her. :) She's working on the crawling....slowly but surely. :) Happy 8 months!

Brian's Birthday-the big #30!

2012-01-18T19:11:00.000-08:00

Brian's buddy Carl made him such a lovely cake :)

Brian turned the big #30 this past year and thought it was only right to post a little something a little late :). He didn't want a big surprise birthday, so that didn't happen (not my choice). At school, his co-residents decided to surprise him... all wearing black to celebrate the "death" of his youth. He had quite the surprise. :) The kids and I visited him at school to drop off a little treat and saw where he "works." Alli loved seeing her daddy and wasn't a fan of leaving him, but likes the idea that he goes to school just like her.

It was nice to finally check out the clinic

Brian was really excited about his new shirt :)

It was a fun month to celebrate these 2 people's birthdays!

Happy Birthday Alli J.!

2011-11-11T11:37:00.000-08:00

Can't believe Alli J. is 3 years old! Alli requested that she have a "pink princess party" so that's what we did to celebrate. She is all about the princesses lately, dress up, movies, you name it she's into it. Where did it all come from? Alli is a funny, spunky little girl who is always surprising us with what she does and says next. I have learned that she picks things up and understands a lot more a lot faster now so Brian and I are realizing that we need to be more careful in our words and actions. :) Alli is our little stinker and we are so glad that she is in our family-there is never a dull moment with her around and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Pink Princess Party

We decorated princess wands with jewels and frosted cookies...

Played Kiss the Frog and Alli added her own little artwork to it :)

Had to have Pink Princess cupcakes...Alli loves Sleeping Beauty and Belle

Nana got her some Princess dresses so Alli had to try out the twirl factor

Loves her friends

One tiara wasn't enough

Alli loves cards. She took her birthday cards to show and tell at preschool and has been sleeping with them every night. If I only knew that a card is all it took to get her that excited :)

All Alli cared about was having a PINK birthday cake with candles. She LOVED blowing them out

Opening presents is so fun with little ones-everything is so exciting. Alli kept saying "what is it?!" "Oh look Mommy/Daddy!"

Lola kept eyeing the wrapping paper. I think we know what to get her for Christmas :)

Can't help but snap a few pics of this little cutie pie

Alli loves her princess jammies...we have to sneak these away to wash them

Alli loves preschool and she got her very own crown to celebrate her birthday-she still wears it and calls it "my birfday crown" I hope I never forget how she pronounces things in her cute little voice.

Alli and Hunter's birthdays are only 5 days apart so we decided to have a little celebration for both of them together-of course they loved it! :)

Pink and Purple...both girls' favorite colors!

Alli is growing up so fast! Some of her favorite things right now are:
Her "dobby" or boppy-its like her security blanket, but an annoyingly big one :)
anything princesse
anything pink
Playing kitchen/pretend cooking or as Alli calls it "chicken"
playing with kids
playing outside
wrestling with dad
drawing/coloring-especially faces
preschool
nursery
singing-she has been singing "all of us together, together, together, in our nursery, there's..." and then she will name everyone in her class/nursery. Its fun to listen to Alli just start singing songs out of the blue that she has learned either in nursery or preschool. She also loves all the Disney movie songs. Right now she loves Mulan's "let's get down to business" so she can act out karate :)
She tells us that her "best fwiend is Hunter"
Alli can write the letter A for her name. She says "one line down, one line down, and another line across." We've been teaching that to her and its fun to see that she's learning and remembering!
Alli loves to dance and when we say "shake your bon bon shake your bon bon" she loves to twist her little bum and she gets so excited about it :)

Favorite foods:
steak or red meat in general
salmon
Baby Food 3rd stages-why she still likes the stuff we don't know, but its pretty healthy so we go with it :)
vegetables- namely green beans, broccoli and "white broccoli" which is actually cauliflower, beets, and corn-she always asks for extra helpings- especially of broccoli
grapes, strawberries, apples, oranges-she requests these for snacks. She surprises us because a lot of the time when I ask if she wants to eat some candy with me she says "no I want gwapes or apples or strawbewwies" We love healthy foods, but what kid passes up candy that's offered to them by their mom? :)
Kelloggs Little Chocolate cereal or Honey Bunches of Oats which she calls "mommy's cereal" because that's what I like to eat :)
She does love chocolate i.e. "M&N's" and licorice

Sayings:
When we are leaving her room after putting her to bed we have to say "love you more" so she can say "love you most!" It's one of her routines, she LOVES Tangled!
When she wants her gummy vitamins she feels like she always has to say "my tummy so hurts, I need medicine" its funny because she says it only when she wants the vitamins. :)
When she is hungry or wants a snack she says "my belly's so hungwy I need a snack."

Happy Birthday Alli J.! You are our favorite little stinkers!

Fall Outing

2011-11-05T18:45:00.000-07:00

We had a fun weekend out at Montgomery Farm a few weekends ago. It was a nice little drive thru Indiana to get there so we got to venture out and see the scenery. There was a fire pit where we roasted marshmallows etc. and chatted with some good company. It was one of the first chilly nights so it was fun to hang out by the fire. The kids had a blast running around and checking out the animals that were there.

Lola didn't mind the cold...it must have been the hat :)

Roastin' Marshmallows

One of Alli's favorite people-Hunter. When Alli says her prayers at night she blesses that she "can play with Hunter and Hudson tomorrow" and she says it EVERY night. :) It's nice having the Wright's living so close.

A random of Lola...

Alli made a mask at the library and loved to wear it and pretend she was a WWF wrestler with Brian. When she had the mask on she would get this mean face and try to tackle Brian-pretty funny. Alli decided to put it on Lola, but Lola doesn't have a mean face so she wasn't too impressed with Lola's reaction. :) "Unfortunately" Alli broke the mask shortly after this picture. Darn it ;)

Halloween

2011-11-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

This year Alli wanted to be a skeleton for Halloween and she wanted Lola to be a "skeleton like me too!" So that's what happened. Alli loves singing the skeleton song "the hip bones connected to the..." etc. So that is where it all originated from. She loved saying "trick or treat" and just getting the candy. We went to a trunk or treat and then went around our little neighborhood and Alli never wanted to stop. At one of the houses in our neighborhood they had set up a few ghosts that would start singing when you walked up to the door and Alli wasn't such a huge fan of that. She loves scary things, but doesn't like to be scared. :) For a week straight Alli never wanted to take off her costume-she wanted to be a "scary skeleton" every second of the day. :) This Halloween was a lot of fun- I can't wait until Christmas-kids make holidays a lot more exciting!

Alli enjoys going to the library for story time and the week before Halloween all the kids got to wear their costumes there. They have story time and then have a craft after. Its a fun free thing to do that gets us out of the house. :)

Trunk or Treat with some of her favorite people-Hunter and Hudson!

Alli's Halloween crafts from school and the library. She did all the faces by herself. Alli loves to draw and faces are one of the things that she likes to do-along with pumpkins. It's fun to see her little imagination on paper.

Guess who is 6 months old?

2011-09-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

THIS GIRL!!

Can't believe my baby girls is 6 months already! Lolas is such a baby doll. Sweet and kissable.

Lola is our blue eyed, red haired doll that loves to just....be.

Weight: 14 whopping lbs.

Yes that's right-a very petite thing, although she does have very kissable rolls somehow.

Length: 24 inches

Milestones:

We have tried her on rice cereal, she just doesn't like it (neither did Alli). She does however like baby yogurt-banana and strawberry, so we try to mix in some veggies and fruits that way so she will eat those.

She rolls from stomach to back because she DOES NOT LIKE tummy time

She is getting her two front bottom teeth, the buds are coming in, so she loves to chew and drool on everything and everyone

She smiles, laughs, and giggles freely. Lola has what we call a "belly laugh" and it usually comes out when Alli is around-she loves her sister.

Lola LOVES being naked, she will get the giggles when we strip her down

Thoroughly enjoys tubby time

Will "belly laugh" when we walk outside. She loves to just go for walks and will laugh and kick at the trees or birds or just at nothing at all.

Loves her bouncy seat, she will just bounce, bounce and bounce some more until you take her out :)

Lola can sit up for short periods of time on her own so she is a "supported sitter" we guess

Loves to reach for, grab, pull and eat all of her toys or anything that is near her

She takes 3 naps

And my favorite....sleeps through the night (she has been sleeping 8-12 hours since 4 months of age) :)

This displays how she feels about rice/oatmeal cereal perfectly...

Alli likes to help out

Lola would prefer that you just give her the spoon so she can chew on it...

Lola May Beckstrom

6 months

Big Cheeser...

Our Beautiful blue eyed babe

Cowgirl in training...

Loves her fingers...

Loves to chew and drool on anything...

Just for fun-a comparison. Sisters? Hmmm.

Alli's First Day of Preschool

2011-09-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

Alli J. has been going to preschool now for 3 weeks and she LOVES it. She was so excited to go and loves it each and every day. The first day of preschool she didn't even eat her breakfast (and neither did I) because she was either too excited or too nervous (and so was I). Alli walked right in to class and didn't look back :). When I drove away I was having some feelings of remorse and was questioning if I/she was ready. Then I got home, put the Lola's down for a nap and had 3.5 hrs to myself practically (Lola is pretty chill). I never questioned it again (and after hearing that Alli loved it of course). So for 2 days out of the week, Alli gets to learn and grow, play with playdough, read books, explore new things, and I get a chance to catch up on stuff at home without feeling guilty that I'm not playing enough with her.

Alli's teacher is Miss Kathy and she is a very sweet lady. Alli loves to learn and her favorite thing is to "play with the kids" of course. When I ask her what she did at school, she always describes playing on the playground etc. What does this mean in regards to her school work? :) I can't believe how big she is getting-she is turning 3 in about 1 month! Wow! The J'ster is one spunky little girl who loves to run and play and just have a good ol' time.

Alli's first day!

The school asked to have a "regular" sized backpack for the kids. I was questioning whether that was such a good idea...its pretty big on Alli, but she loves to wear it! :)

Here is Miss Kathy with Alli. Alli wasn't too interested in smiling for the camera she just did her "hurry up cheese face" because she just wanted to take off and go explore all the activities around. That was when I knew she would be okay.

I'm excited for her to learn and grow, discover new things and meet new people. So cheers to preschool and many more fun things to come!

School?

2011-08-31T20:10:00.001-07:00

My girls... I love em'! Alli starts preschool next week. Can't believe it. I went to parent orientation and I started to get anxious. Can I leave her? I never thought I would feel like this.

Today she was able to go and see her classroom and meet her teacher Miss Kathy. She loved playing and liked her teacher. I hope she thrives and doesn't get upset when I actually 'leave'. I'm excited for her to learn and grow, but I think I'm going to struggle more than I thought I would. :)
Alli loves kids and gets bored hangin' with me everyday ( I think :)). So this will be good! I am feeling better since she loved going to school today and didn't want to leave. She always wants to "go to school like daddy"'so this will be her chance!

We have been trying to teach Alli how to dress herself- she is getting pretty good except she can't quite get her shirt on by herself. She likes to dress up and here is an example... Pj's over clothes. And don't forget "daddy's shoes." She thought it was hilarious!

Lola and I are going to get some one on one time when Sissy goes to school. Or maybe just some good naps! :) love her gummy smile!

Today

2011-08-26T15:18:00.001-07:00

Just some pics from today is all.

One thing that I've been meaning to jot down is Alli and her latest quotes that she uses. At nap time and when she is going to bed we always say "I love You." She now is saying "I love you more"'and then we follow up with "I love you most." What movie is that from? None other than Tangled. She loves that movie:)

A few others:

-If Alli doesn't understand what you said to her she says, "What's that say?"
- High five, down low, cut the pickle...tickle tickle- Chanse taught her that little lovely
-If she gets hurt you have to "kiss it bedder"

The J'ster has also learned to roll her eyes. It's hard not to laugh, but I think she does it to get to me- that's what Brian says anyways. Is she already turning into a teenager?

Another Tangled quote that she says randomly is "who are you and how did you find me?"

Lolas being her cute little self :)
Please don't grow up too fast...

Graduation, Vacation and Louisville

2011-08-07T14:07:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that our time is over in Columbus! :( It still kinda seems surreal now that it is all over. We made so many wonderful friends that it was hard to leave and more than a few tears were shed (darn you Jump's);)! It was hard to leave our home and all those who had become our "family." We know that we will never have that time again or so many wonderful friends all in one place and so its hard to move on and start over. The one positive thing that came out of moving away from Columbus is that Brian graduated Dental school and is now officially a DDS! We are proud of all of Brian's hard work and dedication and we are now in our final leg of our journey! Brian will now be an Orthodontic Resident at the University of Louisville for the next 2 years. We hope to enjoy our time there and make many more memories!

Brian's Graduation day. Both of our parents came out along with Brian's brother, Brice and his family. It was fun to celebrate Brian's accomplishment and spend some time with family (and the moving help was also nice).

This was one of our last dinner together with the friends...this will be one of the most missed activities, since we did do it quite a bit! Everyone was always so much fun!

Steph, Shannon and I took the girlies to Al's Popcorn factory-they have over 50 different flavors or something...we sampled quite a few flavors :). It was a fun little trip, and one of our last together. I wish we would've gotten one with all of us-darn it!

St. George

We were able to spend about a month in good ol' SG. It was fun hanging out and swimming-A LOT! We visited our favorite eating places-Marv's, Pasta Factory, and of course Cafe Rio. We had fun with all of the "cousins" as Alli calls them, going to Pine Valley, riding horses and going to the Gunlock Rodeo. She had such a great time, it was hard to leave them all.

Lola looks like a little leprechaun dressed in her green outfit with her red hair and blue eyes :). She is such a contrast to little Alli J.! When they have a bath together and lay side by side it is so funny. We have a salt and pepper mix.

Cousin time in Pine Valley, Alli was in HEAVEN! On this particular night, most of the kids were tired and ready to go to bed (as you can see) Alli at one point was getting a little too excited and Ady and Emma came and said something to this extent "Alli is riding me like a horse and I'm tired and want to go to sleep." Alli had SO much fun just playing and playing and never wanted to stop. :)

Alli LOVED riding horses with Papa. She went down and helped with the chores whenever she could and of course tried to get a four-wheeler ride whenever she had the chance! Lola is always just along for the ride :)

Swimming was a daily activity...These girls had a good time together-minus a few mishaps of course-they are going to be such great friends growing up!

Alli has started to conquer her fear of water! She has never really liked having her face wet etc., but she will now jump in, go down slides by herself, and let water pour over her face! This is very good progress. We have been going to Calypso Cove here in Louisville which is a water park, and she is very brave and now LOVES the water!

Nana has lots of fun toys at her house for Alli to play with and she got this stroller at Christmas time for her to play with. Alli used to put a play doll in the stroller, but who needs a fake baby doll when you have a real thing? :) Lola didn't seem to mind :)

St. George has a new Carousel at the Splash Pad and Alli loved riding it. If it is a horse, real or not, Alli is there. It made me a little sick, but Alli had a blast riding it over and over and over. It plays Disney songs while we ride and Alli would sing along to Pocahontas and Little Mermaid. That made the ride worth it. :) Good times.

Lola learned to sleep through the night while in SG-YIPEE!! It took a little longer than her sister, but every babes is different I have discovered. :) She found her fingers (mainly her thumb) and that seemed to do the trick. I will go in to get her in the morning and she will be happily sucking on her fingers. Lolas (that's what we all call her) is the best babes, so calm, so sweet, very patient and loves to be loved! She loves to smile and giggle and interact with everyone. If she is tired she will fuss a little, but will then fall asleep on her own. We love having her in our family!

We were able to go to the Gunlock rodeo this year. It always brings back memories of when I was little. It is a fun tradition and I'm glad that my girls will have a chance to experience it as well. Alli had a great time, she loved doing the chicken chase every night, eating other kids' snow cones :), and of course riding horses, and playing in the dirt with all of the kids. The Beckstrom gang even came and hung out with us one of the nights. I was able to participate in the breakaway roping as well. I actually placed 2nd one of the nights, ha ha! I think I surprised not only myself, but my family too!

Row is a fantastic Uncle. Alli adores him and he is always good for helping out and playing with her. He helped her try and get a chicken, but of course Alli wasn't too sure about that-she just wanted to "chase" them not catch em'. Alli also helped herself to some of the watermelon from the Donkey watermelon race-she would live off of "melon" if we let her.

It's nice having family around. Joe, Kailee, Hunter and Hudson live in Louisville as well and we have had a great time getting together with them. Alli asks to play with Hunter and "Huddy" everyday. It has been SO HOT and HUMID that if you want to play outside it has to involve water. The picture in the middle is my camera fogging up- that is literally the humidity in the air-it is pretty thick out here. :) Alli has definitely become the little adventurer-luckily the Wrights have this slide so that the kids can wear themselves out!

If it isn't too hot outside, Alli loves to blow bubbles. Its hard trying to think of new things everyday to do, but this is one staple. Bubbles and then popsicles :)

Alli loves her boppy which she actually calls her "dobby." She HAS to have this to sleep. It is kind of like her security blanket. It is an annoyingly big security blanket, but we try to just let her have it when she is watching a movie or of course sleeping. She loves to rub the end of it in between her fingers and suck on her tongue while she does it. It cracks us up, Alli never took a binky and so I think this is what she did/does in place of it. :) Lola doesn't appreciate tummy time, but she will last for a little while if she is propped in her boppy, so we have boppy time together. These girls are going to be good buds, they love to laugh and smile at each other. Alli has to distinguish though that Lola's "dobby" is the purple one and that Alli's is the green one. There is no mixing allowed!

And here is the little sweetheart herself. Lola is now a whopping 4 (almost 5 now) months old! Time goes by so fast. This is my favorite stage...they love to interact and are getting some coordination skills so they can hold things, but aren't crawling yet. Lola is getting a little stronger where she can hold her head for longer periods of time. She loves to play! It is nice when I can get some one on one time with her, but it is often hard when the J'ster is around wanting a lot of the attention :). That is where Lola's patience is much appreciated. At her 4 month appointment her stats rang in as follows:

Wt: 13.2 lbs- 48th percentile

Length: 24.5 in- 55th percentile

Head: 16.5 in- 75th percentile

Lola and Alli are definitely different. At this point Alli was 90th in weight and the Dr. was telling me to wean a feeding. Lola is normal range in everything (although her noggin is a good size), it is just so interesting how two sisters can be completely different (and no there is no milk man involved here). :)

Little Lolas

She won't let anything get in the way of her fingers!

Here is Lola vs. Alli J. Alli is 3 months here and Lola is 4. We called Alli a "Budda baby" and we call Lola a "Yoda baby." Alli for her chubs, and Lola for her mother's ears. :)

Alli has started to become interested in dress up and she loves to wear my shoes all through the house. She has become a little "poser" as well.

And that is about it for now! Things are going well...it is just hard adjusting to new things. I have struggled a little bit, but its getting better. I miss my work and all the friends that we had, and Alli misses her buddies too. Having the Wright's in town has helped a ton and we are starting to make new friends in the ward etc. It just takes time :). We love where we live and the location, but I forgot how it is to move to a new place and start over. It's just different. I had forgotten that I felt like this when we moved to Columbus. I got a letter in the mail from one of the sweet ladies that I worked with and it just hit hard-and it does some days-that I miss our home that we have had the past 4 years. I know it will get easier as we adjust, but new things bring new challenges. I hope to come to love Louisville as we did Columbus and have high spirits that we will! Here's to living it up in the big KY!

2 months

2011-05-11T09:22:00.001-07:00

Little Miss Lola's is 2 months (in a few days I guess) and she is one happy, sweet and very patient babes. With Alli J. as her big sis she is developing a high tolerance of consistent smothering, loves, and sometimes nuisances (like the occasional kick in the head or squishing when Alli happens to lay on her) :). She is growing, cooing, laughing(which sounds like a cough) and smiling like crazy! She started her social personality at a mere 5 weeks of age and has been socializing ever since:) Lola loves to be talked to and will cough to get your attention if you have left her eye sight. She always wakes up happy and loves to kick her little legs. Lola doesn't really appreciate tummy time, but we are working on it. At 8 weeks she is now sleeping for a longer period during the night-about 6 hours straight or so (well for the last 3 nights anyways). It is amazing what those 6 hours of solid sleep will do for a person! I feel so much better! Lets just hope it isn't a fluke and that it will keep going and keep getting longer and longer:). Lola has her 2 month appointment coming up next week so we will see where her stats are. She is definitely not as "chubby" as her sister was at this age, but she was also a whole pound smaller when she was born. So it will be interesting to compare:) Here is just a little comparison so far from pics-Alli is a few weeks older in these pictures than Lola, but they are both in the 2 month stage:

They look like sisters, but definitely have different traits. I also forgot how Alli loved to stick out her tongue...Lola will every once in awhile:)

Luckily Alli has continued to be a good sleeper for me-12-14 hours at night and a 2-4 hour nap during the day (minus a few here and there). We still have her in a crib so she is confined, but she doesn't know any different. One plus is that Alli has never tried to get out of her crib and actually loves to get in it to play or watch movies every once in awhile...I am going to hate it when we move her to a "big girl" bed and can't contain her:). I'm waiting as long as possible to do it...maybe when she is in kindergarten?

Alli Update
I thought I would mention a few things about Alli right now that are really cute and funny because it is so easy to forget how cute she can be sometimes when I'm just trying to make it through the day :). We are finding that 2 1/2 year olds have quite the personality!
*When Alli wakes up the first thing she asks is "Where's Lola?" She is always concerned where Lola is at, if she is hungry, crying or needs her "pinky" (binky).
* She always wants to "Houd" Lola and always says "Oh cute baby sisser" when she does and gives her a kiss on the head.
* Alli loves to brush her teeth and asks to do it every morning by saying "I brusha my teeth mommy"
*When its bedtime she always says " I reada you mommy/daddy/Lola." This means that she wants to read to us and it is always the book "Molly Lou Melon" Alli has it memorized and says "what's it say?" and then she will "read" what it says on the page. Her favorite phrases in the book are "So she did" and "Wow she's good!" It really is a cute book-thanks Tiff!:)
* When Alli says her prayers at night she always has to bless Mommy, Daddy, Lola, Nana, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, Chanse, Rowdy and Jeannie (my soon to be sister-in-law who is marrying Chanse). You can't forget to mention anyone, otherwise you have to start all over and repeat it a few times :)
* Alli's favorite songs are Wheels on the Bus(she loves to do the actions), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam, The ABC's, Five Little Monkeys, and she loves to say the rhyme Humpty Dumpty Sat on the Wall.
*Alli loves to go downstairs and watch Toy Story 3 or Tangled by herself with a bowl of popcorn and/or gum.
* Anything that Brian or I do or say Alli always pipes in "I (whatever it is) too" For instance when I say " I want ice cream." Alli will say "I want ice cream too." Sometimes it can be really funny-especially if she doesn't know what it means :)
*Alli has really good manners- she is always saying "Thanks Mommy" she says it even when she is getting in trouble. It really makes it hard to discipline when she says it so sweetly.
*Alli sleeps with various things in her bed and it changes nightly. She has about 8 stuffed animals that are regulars and then she will pick a few things to take with her to bed i.e. plastic kitchen food (she really likes "her chicken," limes, pumpkins, and about 3 cupcakes. Alli will also go to bed with plastic eggs, pretend cellphones and her "colors" or crayons. You may think we are weird for letting her go to bed with this stuff, but if it makes it easier on us to get her to go to sleep, we do it :)
*Alli knows all her letters and their sounds, she can count to 13 and then for some reason will add a 16 on the end of that. She knows all her colors and likes to pretend that she doesn't when we ask her (she gets this little grin on her face that's very sneaky).
*Whenever she gets an "ouchie" she asks for a Toy Story "bambaid" or bandaid

Alli is very strong willed/spirited and it is sometimes hard to remember to enjoy the small things when I'm just trying to make it to nap time :). I try to tell myself to relax and let the little things go and just enjoy being a mom of 2 beautiful little girls because they are going to grow up so fast! My house doesn't need to be clean all the time-right??

Easter

Easter was fun minus the cold, wet weather. This spring has been a bummer for sure-it's rained for approximately one month straight! Yuck! It is just getting to where it is warming up and not raining EVERY day. Here are some pics-we missed the big Easter egg hunts due to the weather, but our friends put a small one together for some of the kiddos...

Nana and Papa always come thru with fun gifts...Alli got new Minnie "panties"

and a Pinkie Pie "pack pack" which Alli takes everywhere with her. She packs it full of all her toys so that it almost weighs her down, but she knows exactly whats in it:)

She also got a little golf set which she sometimes calls soccer :)

Little Lolas

One month old

On Easter...

Alli and her pals- Davis, Tatum, and Reece

Some of the friends

And here are some randoms...

See what I mean about Alli being such a good and "gentle" sister :)

This is of Tatum/Remi and Alli/Lola. Tatum and Alli had a picture taken when they were babes and there is almost the same age difference between Lola and Remi...if you notice, they are holding hands too:)

Lola is good at wiggling out of a blanket if she isn't "burrito'd"

Daddy and his girls-I WISH Alli would sleep anywhere anytime, but nope, just in her bed by herself. She is really good at pretending

Okay so you are probably wondering why I have a picture of frozen breast milk. Well, with Alli I had even more than this at 2 months, but I was pumping a lot more too. Luckily the breastfeeding thing is going a lot better with Lola. I don't feel like my boobs are going to burst every 2 hours, and NO MASTITIS!!! Yeah (knock on wood)!! I think it is going so well because of this little handy dandy thing I found in a magazine (next pic). I rarely pump now because I just collect what "let's down" on my other side when I feed Lola-very handy dandy and I have plenty if anyone is in need of some :). It releases all the pressure that build up on the other side if Lola happens to just eat on one side and I am not over producing now because I'm not pumping as much. I recommend getting this for any breastfeeding mom even though it looks like a third humongous boob :)

Awesomeness!

Another picture where I try to tell Alli to NOT touch Lola's face...

Dental Graduation Party

It was a lot of fun, and kinda sad because there are only a few get togethers left with all of our friends that we've made :(

Yes, Shayne and Dallin are VERY comfortable with each other... I guess that's how it gets after being together for almost 4 years! :)

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day Brian was very sweet, he had Tiffany (Hatch) order some cute outfits for me-because she is a fashionista- and I didn't even know about it! He was tricky and had them sent to our friends house without me knowing. I got to sleep in and he made his yummy waffles with sausage for me and then had me go downstairs to find this perfect set up...I was very surprised. I took a picture because it was perfectly coordinated with the jewelry laid out on the clothes and he was quite proud of himself:)

Alli was excited right along with me-and yes those are Christmas jammies that she has on:)

The Saturday before Mother's Day I got to spend the day with these lovely ladies and go shopping ALL day and then go to Olive Garden for dinner...it was a very fun weekend and I'm going to miss them terribly!:( Krystal, me, Jami, and Amanda

Heather, Rachel, and Steph

Brian the morning of Mother's Day...if you can see his nose, it has a huge gash on it from playing b-ball. He came home from playing holding very bloody paper towels over his nose and it was WAY swollen and it looked like it was out of place and broken. So he went to the ER and waited for 6 hours (10 pm -4 am)-without being seen!!! Yeah pretty lame, he finally came home at 4:30 am and decided to go to the Dental school and have one of the oral surgeons look at it there the next morning. They said it was probably fractured, but there was nothing to do for it.

In Feb. he had septoplasty (his septum fixed) so he could breathe better and luckily, there was no damage done there, he can still breathe through his nose :). He now has two black eyes and will probably have a scar...its a good thing he has a strong nose with the "Gardner bump" or it could have been MUCH worse. :)

Lola Babes-we still think those eyes are gonna stay blue and her hair red!

A lot of pictures in one post, but if I don't do it now, who knows if I will later on:) That's how it has been going around here!

3 Weeks!

2011-04-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

Well we are still alive and it's been 3 weeks! Things are going well, a lot better than I thought they would. At Lola's 10 day appointment she weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz, so she is starting to chunk up pretty quick! Alli has been really good with Lola so far. She calls her "little sister" and is always wondering where she is, if she is hungry and is always worried if she "pooped," she also loves to wipe her mouth if she happens to spit up a bit:) Alli has been a good helper in that she always wants to give Lola her "pinky" which is the binky, and will throw away all the dirty diapers (yeah for me):). The sweetest thing is when she whispers to Lola as she kisses her head "I love Lola."

The story:

Well, my last day of work was the 12th and my mom flew in that night. I had a Dr. appt. on Monday the 14th and when I went in I was only dilated to a 2-big bummer!:( I had been talking to my Dr. about induction for over 2 months and was emphasizing that my mom was only able to be here for a certain period of time and also that Brian had his licensing clinical exam in Cleveland for 3 days on my original due date, so I wanted to control the date when Lola was to make her arrival:). However, because of rules and restrictions I wasn't going to be able to be induced until I was 39 weeks-uggh! Not really what I wanted, but what was I going to do about it? I had been measuring a little small for my last 2 appointments, but no worries because the baby was probably moving down getting ready to come yada yada yada. My Dr. suggested we do an ultrasound just to make sure everything was looking okay with measurements and fluid levels ( I think the Dr. was getting the hint that I really wanted to be induced), so that was done and come to find out I was a "little" low on fluid-wink wink. So the Dr. said "how bout we deliver you today?" Yeah! It was 12:00 pm. when he told me this so I called my mom and Brian and it was set! I was induced on Monday the 14th at 6 pm'ish and lets just say this labor was a lot longer than I had hoped for. As soon as I got the epidural (at like 5 am the next morning the 15th) I dilated from a 4 to 10/complete within 30 minutes. I should have just gotten it like hours and hours before. The same thing happened with Alli. As soon as I am able to relax, my body finally decides its okay to have a baby :). Lessoned learned! So total time in labor with Lola-11 hours vs. Alli 7 hours. Everything went well with the delivery-Lola came within 10 minutes after I was complete and I pushed 3 times and out she came. We are so glad to have her and she is a very mellow tempered sweet baby which I am VERY grateful for since I have a very active toddler on my/our hands:).

The day of delivery

Do you see that red hair? :)

I wasn't planning on such a petite sized baby...Alli was 1 pound bigger and filled out very fast so newborn sized outfits and diapers weren't really utilized. Lola is still in newborn clothes and in newborn diapers although the 3 mnth clothes are fitting a lot better since she is filling out a little bit:)

Right when we got home from the hospital Alli wanted to hold Lola and give her a "pinky"

Alli makes a very cute big sister

Nana was full of activities and entertainment while she was here...Alli really enjoyed coloring eggs

Big eyes...we think the hair will stay red and those eyes will stay blue

Typical Alli J. at her best ;)

A few days after being home...already starting on the dark circles ;)

The daddy and his girlies

Our Sweet Lola

2011-03-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

Lola May Beckstrom

Our sweetie Lola May arrived March 15th 2011 at 5:49 a.m. at 38.1 weeks

6 lbs 12 ounces

18.5 inches

Here are a few pictures from the hospital...she really is sweet and we LOVE her! She has RED hair if you can believe it-it looks really red in the light although there isn't a ton of it and really light eyelashes and eyebrows:) Very different from our Alli J. :)

Brian really likes this one ;) The picture lady at the hospital wanted him to pose so he was a good sport to cooperate-I think its rather sweet

This will just be a quick post-hopefully I can get the delivery story down before I forget and upload a few more pictures with Big Sister Alli J. in the next little while.

Things are going pretty well now that we are home (minus the hated engorgement that comes with breastfeeding). I feel like a milk cow since I have so darn much and it happens to just come like in 1 day-uggh! I had mastitis 3 times with Alli so hopefully it won't be so bad with Lola-I kind of know what to expect this time and I'm hoping to prevent it-wish me luck:)

So far Alli is handling things well with our new addition-she calls Lola "baby sisser" and loves to be involved and let us know when she is waking up/crying/or is "hungwy" and needs to eat from "mommy's boo boo's" (that's what she calls it)-pretty funny little gal that one. It has been nice having my mom/Nana here to play and give Alli lots of attention. They came to see us at the hospital quite a few times and Alli thought it was fun and didn't care when she left as long as Nana went with her-she would say "you and baby sisser stay here-I go with Nana -k-." I have my "help" for 1 more week and then Brian and I get to try being parents to 2 kiddos on our own-yikes! Hopefully I can get a few fun pictures posted in the next few weeks:)

Birthday 2011

2011-02-19T19:20:00.000-08:00

This year was the big #27! I for some reason don't really like this number- it could be that it means that there are only 3 years left until I turn THIRTY??!! Yikes. Oh well, what can ya do but enjoy it:) I did get some great gifts though so they made it a little sweeter:)

Brian knows I love surprises (who doesn't on their special day) and he definitely did the part this year. We are both due for upgrades on our phones-like over a year ago-and we just have been putting it off because everything requires a so called "media" plan. Well, much to my surprise I received the one and only i phone! Yep, I'm pretty much in love with it. He sacrificed his own desires for mine:) He even stayed up till 3am the night it was released from Verizon Wireless to order it to make sure I would get one on time for my b-day-how nice huh! He also got me a TON of my favorite candy since I am pretty much a candyoholic these days (I have been craving sugar with this pregnancy and with Alli it was all steak-weird). The sugar will definitely help me with my # on the scale-it just keeps going up and up and up:) I also received some presents in the mail from my family which is ALWAYS a fun surprise too. It was nice to be remembered-thanks ya'll:)

Alli told me "Happy Day Mama" when we were eating breakfast-Brian had been telling her that it was my birthday and she remembered:) She decorated herself with stickers for my present...how sweet

We went down to Louisville for my birthday weekend to visit the Wright's and also look for a place to live for when we move this summer. It was nice to get a weekend away someplace slightly warmer than OH-and the sun came out too:) Kailee is such a great cuz and made me a yummy cake and all the kiddos sang me Happy Birthday(she has those pics). The kids had a great time together-Alli can never get enough play time and Hunter and Hudson were great playmates...we are excited that we will be living right in the same city with them!

On a side note...

There are only a few weeks left until Baby Beckstrom #2 arrives. Can I just say that I am totally not ready? Yeah- I've sorted through Alli's baby stuff etc. I've got clothes, diapers and all that kinda stuff AND I'm physically ready, but emotionally, NO WAY! How am I going to handle a cute (stinker bug) Alli J. and a newborn? Do I have enough patience? I don't feel like I do.

I start getting "checked" at my next appt. Uggh! This pregnancy has been more difficult for me in that she is sitting so low(and is probably about 9 lbs now due to my sugar overload) and puts a TON of pressure on those "bones" down low:) Apparently my Relaxin horomone is kickin' in a little early and with a vengeance...walking is pretty much torture and so is my "rolling" from side to side at night. What a joy! This little girl also likes to have play time right when I'm trying to go to sleep-usually between 10-12 and she also is an early riser at around 0600-her favorite play area-my ribcage. Does it sound like I'm complaining because I really am trying hard not too-wink wink!

All in all, I am thankful that things are going well, but my body could at least try to hold itself together a bit better for the next few weeks since I still have a few 12 hr. shifts I have to make it through (after all I am ONLY #27-remember:) If you don't hear from me again, it's probably because I've either lost it (as in my mind) or I've gone into labor. Which one will come first? Who knows...

Potty Update

2011-02-04T20:01:00.000-08:00

We have some good news to report...this little hooligan has officially gone #2 on the toilet 2 days in a row for a total of 5 times-woo hoo!! I never thought I would be so excited about poop, but hey this is one big step-we'll take it (and yes I am counting) :) Who knows if it will last, but its better than nothing. She has actually come to me on her own and told me she needs to go-no forcing this one. The first day Alli did it she kept running around in a circle saying she needed to go, but refused to go into the bathroom-I offered her a pull up because I felt so bad for her that she was holding it in so long, but she refused one. I think she finally decided it had to come out so she RAN to the potty saying "mommy I gotta go poo poo" and was doing a little dance. I sat her on the toilet and the rest I'll leave to your imagination-we've all done it and know the rest of the story:) Alli has also been waking up a little more dry in her pull ups from nap time, but the night time wetness has kind of stayed the same. We have our fingers crossed that this will continue-although I keep telling myself not to be too disappointed if she regresses a little off and on. Oh the joys!

Progress...

2011-02-01T08:36:00.000-08:00

I don't know how to really describe this last week...the words that come to mind include: painful, torture, unbearable, crazy and/or frustrating (well for the first 2-3 days of the potty training). Potty training is probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do as a parent. Little Miss Alli J. pushed my buttons to the limit and let's be honest here, patience really isn't my forte at times :). Brian was gone so it was just me on my own doing this fun thing, so I would suggest having the daddy around to vent to and share in the torture :) I almost cried a few times because it was so overwhelming, but in the end it was worth it!

We (and I say we because it feels like I was potty training myself too) are now successfully potty or "pee pee" trained. After the first 2 days Alli started staying dry and telling me she needed to go to the potty. We started this whole process on Wednesday the 25th and by the 28th she was definitely staying dry-minus one accident while she was playing with some friends and got distracted(sorry Hunter's). Just yesterday we went out for most of the day-no accidents-and she told me when she needed to go to the bathroom. It is AWESOME! The other side is that she is afraid to go #2 still. She waits until nap time and bedtime to do her business-she will often say she needs to go, but then just toots on the toilet:). We put a pullup on her at those times because she has never woken up dry and she is a very deep sleeper (and I can't give up her 2-3 hr. naps right now). We just change her after 10-15 minutes of putting her down and she says "Uh oh I poopy." So, we will continue to work on that.

I am very proud of Alli-I honestly didn't know if we were going to make it there for awhile, but she is a trooper! I guess parenting is about trial and error and of course success too! Here are a few pics of our adventures...

I wasn't going to do the little potty chair thing, but it made her feel safe on the toilet. She didn't like it in the room, but preferred it in the bathroom so we just put the seat on the toilet and she has handles to hold on to. When we are out and about she has not complained about not having her potty seat, we just set her up on the toilet and hold her there and she is fine with that. At home though, she prefers her little seat and steps.

This was definitely not all smiles, but at times there was light at the end of the tunnel...

Day one...showing her the new panties that were going to take place of her beloved diaper...she obviously didn't know what they were:)

Alli is was not quite sure about the actual peeing in the toilet-it took quite a few pretend tries to get this one right

We painted our toes together while we were in between accidents and or running to the bathroom

We also had to have some dress up time

Alli loves to wear Brian's gloves all the time-even when she eats-and yes she still loves baby food-I don't know why, but she does.

This whole process was not the best, but the results are worth it. I really didn't think it was going to click with Alli and I had a fear that we would not be getting out of diapers anytime soon. After reading and researching, every potty training experience is different for every child and there is no right or wrong way to go about doing it. If they want to do it, they will, if they don't, they won't. That's what I learned. So we shall see what happens with the #2 situation and maybe one day Alli will surprise me again and just do it! Keep your fingers crossed!

Thanks Kristen for your ideas and words of encouragement:)

And finally here is our new little one at 29 weeks. In all of the pictures that we tried to get she was sucking on her fingers or had her hands by her face. It is always fun to see them from this perspective because all you feel is the strong kicks in places that don't always feel the best:) Things are going well so far although I am definitely feeling very large and pregnant now. This pregnancy is different in that I am feeling a lot more pressure in places that I didn't know I could ;) I have a feeling she is going to be bigger than Alli-my weight gain is going quite nicely(I really need to stop my sweet tooth)! We are excited to meet her in person although I am so not ready to be a mother of 2!

New Things for a New Year...

2011-01-23T18:35:00.000-08:00

These next few months I have set a few goals that hopefully will get accomplished-I'm not one to set New Year's Resolutions, but I hope now that I actually have them in print, I will be more geared up to making them happen! Here they are:

1. To attempt to potty train Alli-our first trial and error session is to begin on Wednesday-I had to set a specific day so that I would be committed. Brian will be gone all week for Ohio Project and it will just be me and Miss Alli. I was not going to try this before the baby, but she is always talking about it, wanting to wipe her bum and of course flush the toilet. While we were home over Christmas she even pee pee'd a little in the potty after watching her cousins Ady and Emma use the potty. What will it hurt to give it a go?! (that's what I tell myself) We will be staying at home for I don't know how many days in just underwear-lets clarify-Alli will just be in her underwear:) Here we go!

2. To start packing up things we don't use in our house at the moment so our move in a few months won't be as overwhelming when I have a toddler AND a newborn to worry about while trying to organize our house. I just wish my mom was here already to help me organize-she has a talent for doing that.

3. To make something for this new baby :) With Alli I spent so much time making and planning her nursery, this little one is getting a little less playing time:) Hopefully I can manage a few burp cloths or something before the big day.

That's all I can manage to set for now. I hope a few of these come to pass and get accomplished!

I do have some good news for myself that I thought I would share. I told Brian the other night that I can actually count the # of night shifts that I have left on one hand! Yeah! I love my job and don't want to be finished necessarily, but those night shifts are getting even harder now that I'm getting rather large and uncomfortable.

Here are a few pics from Christmas: Alli got a shiny new pair of red cowboy boots that she always wants to wear, a singing machine and many more other toys-she was definitely one lucky little lady...

I just posted a few, but we had a really great Christmas! We stayed in Columbus and had our own little family Christmas-had a good time with friends- and then Christmas night flew in to visit our families. We had a good visit at home and Alli absolutely loved her time with her cousins-she talks about "the Kids" all of the time and always says "jacket on and go see the kids." We love our families and are excited to see them again this summer!

I'll try to take some more updated pictures as I'm sure I'll have some from this next week as I try to humor myself about Alli and her potty training experience :)

The Verdict is In...

2010-11-10T16:51:00.000-08:00

We finally had our ultrasound! It is always exciting, yet nerve racking to go and get this done. Exciting in that we get to see the baby up close and personal and of course find out what "it" is, but so nerve racking for at least me because of what "could" show up i.e. defects, problems, anomalies. Working in the NICU is great, but there sure are a lot of situations that make you worry about your own babies well being. That being said..we finally know what we are having! Yeah!

Here is our newest little one's profile picture-Any guesses???

Here is a 3D picture-they always look like aliens in 3D at this stage because they are so skinny:) None of those fat bracelets are present just yet:) The babies face is pressing into the placenta in this picture, but you can see the nose and shape of the mouth and chin/neck/collar bone etc.

Here is a thumbs up saying that its all good! We have a healthy baby growing and we are so happy everything showed up okay!

No mistaken here-the hamburger buns are back baby! We are expecting a GiRL!!! Yeah! We are very excited for Alli J. to have a sister. It will be fun to have these two girlies be close in age so they can be best of friends and of course dress a like in matching outfits!:) Alli has been so much fun for us and we just love her to pieces so we can't wait to meet this little one and add her to our family!

Here is to more pink at our house and outnumbering Brian 3:1! Yeah for more bows and cute clothes

October happenings & Halloween

2010-11-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

Other pics of our St. George visit a few weeks ago now...

Eating lunch in Pine Valley with the little cousins

Watching "Spirit" in Grandma Beckstrom's Room in Pine Valley with Emma...

We saw a 3 pointer on our way out from the Beckstrom's cabin...my dad of course had to get this picture

Alli loved riding her bike that Nana and Papa have at their house-she loved being outside and just roaming around as she pleased

Practicing her Rodeo Princess wave...

Alli loved helping out with the chores...

Uncle Chanse and Jeanie trimming their latest kill-an Elk. Yuck!

Just playing outside with Nana

Alli loved the Gator-she never wants to get out-so round and round they went

October festivities with Columbus friends...

Alli says "punkin" for pumpkin and she is obsessed with them. She reads a pumpkin book every night before bed, but when it comes to actually touching the things, she doesn't want anything to do with them. Interesting...

The Pumpkin Festival

Pumpkin donuts and her "seat" in the Dansie's stroller...

Brian actually won this Dora throwing a baseball and guessing the right speed...

Alli liked her winnings...

Alli was Elmo for Halloween this year. She loved saying "Twick or Tweat" and of course loved getting "canny" to put into her Elmo bucket

Alli had to stop and get -jiggy wid it- on our way out in the cultural hall at the church-they had music playing thru the sound system

We went to Louisville to visit The Wright's (and my Aunt Laurie and cuz Kenz) while Brian had an Ortho interview there. We went to Trick or Trunk with the kids (Kailee has those pictures) and hung out together. It was a fun, but very quick visit! Hudson and alli are just about the same size. Huddy is 9 mnths younger, and is about to surpass Alli in the height department :)

Alli's Official #2 Happy Day!

2010-11-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

Alli had a very Happy Day for her real birthday :) We had one of Alli's favorite meals-spaghetti-and then had some friends come over to celebrate with cupcakes and- Magic Bullet-shakes. Alli loved "bowing da candle" out, opening presents, and "pwaying" with her friends.

Alli starts out using a fork and then just decides its easier with her hands

Opening Presents

The Blowing out of the Candle-we had to do it a few times because she would blow out the candle before we sang to her:)

We decided to give Alli a kitchen and she was SO excited! It was great watching her reveal it-the first thing she wanted to do was "wash my hands"! Brian was such a good daddy and stayed up till 3am putting it together:) Who would've thought that it would take 4+ hours to do it? I offered my services before going off to bed (at 10:00 pm), but Brian insisted it was fine and that he could handle it. Those blisters that he got from using the screw driver were definitely worth Alli's reaction! Thanks hun for making her day:) It was a good laugh!

The unveiling of the Kitchen...

Alli and Davis were "hiding" and had a good time. Alli loves to have Brian make tents so she can hide-she is always looking for someone to hide with her

Alli was so sad when everyone left...

And Lastly...

I am now 20 weeks...why haven't I had my ultrasound yet?!

Ask my Dr. :)

For some reason he scheduled me like a week after I could "technically" get one and then Brian's schedule and my work schedule made it so we had to wait a little longer than planned. SO, we shall find out in the next week or so what has been making me so ill-a "brada" or "sisser" as Alli says.

Don't worry, my belly did this with Alli-it will definitely get LARGE very soon because I am now able to eat food without feeling absolutely miserable-let the weight gain begin!:)

Alli's #2 "Happy Day" in St. George

2010-10-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

Alli and I took a little trip back to St. George for a visit while Brian had Ortho interviews all across the country-we wished he could have joined us, but we will celebrate the real birthday at home with him. While we were there we celebrated an early "Happy Day"( as Alli calls it) with all of her fun cousins. We did a Toy Story themed party since Alli J. LOVES Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and Bullseye! She asks to watch this movie on a daily basis. We rode the real "Bullseye," played some games, had our traditional pinata and some great food (my Grandma Snow's homemade chili, chips and dips etc)! We had a great time and Alli absolutely had the best time with all of her cousins-we may just need to start the party earlier next year so we can keep on partying all night long!:) Here are a few pictures of what went on...

Some of the food beginnings...

Alli loves her cousins she adores them and was giving hugs all around. Emma and Alli are 6 months apart and sometimes get asked if they are twins:)

Alli is wearing my old belt and belt buckle-they are a little big on her, I guess my belly was more round than hers at this age:)

A few of the cousins waitin to ride Bullseye

Alli and Papa riding "Bullseye"

More hugs to go around, this time with Landon who is 1 year older almost to the day. Alli's b-day is Nov.1st and Landon's is Nov. 2nd

Kalli Sue & Alli

Games...timed barrel racing with stick horses and bean bag toss into the bucket

The Pinata

Alli wasn't quite sure after the first hit-she doesn't really like to hit things and is a little sensitive so she ran to her older cousins for comfort and protection-I thought it was very cute and Tanner and Connor were very sweet with her...

While Alli was being comforted, the pinata hitting went on and boy did it go on and on-we should have pulled out the big big guns, but after 3 rounds we decided to use the kiddie pull strings:)

The most exciting part...the candy of course

The cake(with ghetto hand writing) and blowing of the candle-Alli had this one covered, she didn't even need any help

AND the eating of the cake...Alli requested a fork this year instead of going in head first:) I was hoping she would just dive in with her hands, but somewhere along the way she has grown up on us :(

All the kiddies got some of these yummy aliens from the movie with gumball eyes and sour gummy candies for the ears, antenna and mouth

Opening all the fun gifts

We had so much fun and are glad everyone could come and celebrate Alli's "Happy Day" with us!

We'll see what next year has in store for us!:) Thanks everybody!

New York New York!

2010-09-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

We made our way to New York earlier this month for an "adult" trip (I don't know how adult with Brian's bro's around) with the Beckstrom Clan. Brian's parents and all of Brian's siblings attended and it was a good time. Our wonderful friends Lundon/Adrienne/Benson watched Alli for us while we took off for almost a week. We have never left her before so it was a little daunting, but it was so wonderful to spend time together and not have a little toddler to tow around. We missed her, but it was fun to experience New York like "singles" again:) We owe a big thanks to the Albrechts for babysittin and for all the updates:)

Our first night we spent with Traci and Steve and Traci's mom and her sister and husband :) It was fun to catch up with them and we owe them a big one for giving us their couches and homemade waffles. Steve sacrificed a lot for us-rooming with his mother-in-law- I don't know many guys who would make that kind of sacrifice, so hats off to him:) Traci saved us big time on time and money so anyone who is going to NY-give Traci a buzz!


NY sunset at the U.S. Open

We were able to see Nadal in action-pretty cool although I prefer to cheer for Federer:)

V. Williams in all her glory! She had a pretty sweet outfit on-sparkles and all!


A few of the crew at the U.S. Open

Yankees Game

I really wish I wanted to eat this or any chocolate for that matter. The Hershey's store would have been so awesome if I had wanted to eat any sweets, so I guess I'll just settle for pretending for now.

The Cloister Museum of Medieval History and such. It was neat inside, but I'm sure the Beckstrom's got a lot more out of it than me:) History buffs, what can you do when you married into a family full of them'?

Fun times a long the way-I don't know what brought this on:)

Brian and Ben having one of their "fights" as we like to call them

Interesting-kind of illegal- ride through Central park-luckily none of us died:)

I took advantage of some comfy couches on about the 70th floor while everyone took their sweet time soaking up the view from the Rockefeller Building-I really did fall asleep and Brian caught me, luckily I wasn't drooling.

This was a memorial at Battelle Park-it was recovered from the Twin Towers site. The flame is always burning in remembrance to all who lost or gave their lives. Very moving, the whole area, it really hits home when you actually visit the place where Sept. 11th happened. I can't even comprehend how it must have felt to have been here at the time that it happened and to have lost family, friends and loved ones. There is a special spirit here.

Ben and Brian a top the Rockefeller-they bonded really well on this trip:)

We attended church in the same building as the New York Temple. It was a wonderful testimony meeting and its amazing how big it is when you go in.

A boat tour around the city-it was nice and relaxing for our first day the most sitting that we were able to do:) Brooke and Ben are also expecting a baby-just weeks after our due date so it was fun to chat about that even though I'm jealous that she doesn't have "the sickness" :)

Girls night out at a singing diner for hopeful Broadway beginners!

Barbara in all her glory-it was pretty funny and I'm glad she invested in getting her photo taken:) $5.00

Taking a breather after all the walking and near death experience of our bike ride in Central Park. The most exciting $20.00 that we ever invested :)


The Ladies at a ladies store-too bad it was closed or else we totally would have all gotten something :)

It was a blast hanging out with everyone and getting to catch up. The no kids thing will have to continue on although that includes not being pregnant. I was very happy that I was able to do most everything, but I could very well do without the nausea. Brian mentioned getting a surrogate for our next kid and I said that was a great idea-we'll see if we make it that far ;) Lots of jokes make for a good time so thanks to all who took the time to attend and to Brice for being our fearless leader!

Say Cheese

2010-08-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

We have told our families the news so we thought we would share. We are expecting baby #2 and are thrilled! It took a minute for everyone to notice what Alli was wearing on Skype, but it was a fun way to share the surprise. Just add us to the pack of people who are expecting around here-it seems to be going around:) Alli is going to be a big sis around March 25th-due date is still up for grabs-I forgot to ask for the "official" date at the dr. appt.

This is the little peanut-literally-that is about the size so far. For being so small this baby sure makes me feel ill. The nausea and "heaving" have returned, unfortunately. One of the reasons we decided to share the news now is that I can't continue to fib for another 2 months about why I'm not up for doing stuff or eating out or why I don't really get ready or why I have a green tint to my skin color:) Alli doesn't quite understand what being a big sister means, but I'm sure it will click sooner or later. Here's to hoping the next few months go by fast so I can start enjoying this pregnancy:)

Nana & Niagra Falls

2010-08-04T08:17:00.000-07:00

Nana came out to see us for her annual summer visit a few weeks ago and we were able to do and see some fun things. We went shopping(mostly for Nana's back to school wardrobe), went to Niagra Falls for the first time (we also met up with Bron & Megan for lunch since we passed right through Buffalo which was a nice bonus), watched movies every night, and just hung out. It is always fun to have visitors-especially ones that leave your house cleaner than it was before they got there:)

Niagra Falls

Alli loved getting wet from the spray of the Falls-can't you tell?!

Nana and Alli just watchin'

Maid of the Mist

Alli was gung hoe with the poncho...she soon figured out that we were going to get wet which she wasn't a fan of

I look just flat out rad in this picture

I take that back my mom looks just flat out rad :)

Who's sweet looking white sunglasses are those Brian? (sorry Dave)

Alli not enjoying the mist

Whatever it takes to entertain a toddler for a 6 hour car ride

and I mean whatever it takes...are Alli's rolls due to ice cream? Most likely no:)

We played together...

Alli is kind of obsessed with her "bootz"

She likes to wear them a lot

Alli loved riding the "neighs" She had a little bit of a "come apart" when we had to get off the carousel

We also had lots of ice cream treats

And played with Alli everyday. It was fun having Nana come to stay. If only we could have more visits like this more often.

It was fun just chillin with ya Nana!

I saw this fabric and had to make a little outfit for Alli cause she loves her boots so much-she had to have her little bucket and "neigh" with her. Its funny that she doesn't call it a horse, but by what sound it makes. She is one funny little lady.

We love this little cowgal! Alli is starting to act so big-she is now 21 months old. When we are asked how old she is by random people we now just say "almost two." That is crazy!

-She now walks down the stairs instead of sliding on her bum (mostly because her little legs have lengthened out). She is starting to put 2-3 words together -one of her favorite phrases with a high concerned voice is "Oh No!"

-We can understand what she is asking for most of the time-her words are expanding and getting clearer.

-Sleeps 12-13 hours a night and then takes a 2-3 hour nap (I hope she keeps this up for a very long time)

-Absolutely loves kids-anytime she sees them she says "boy" or "girl" and smiles and waves-she loves going to nursery!

-Is obsessed with books! She loves looking at them and having them read to her. She gets so excited to point at things that she knows-her latest favorite are books with bugs in them (she is terribly afraid of bugs and bees, but yet she loves to read about them)

-Loves to watch "toons" as she calls them-Is obsessed with Toy Story! She loves Woody, Buzz & Jesse. She asks to watch this on a daily basis-still likes Elmo too.

-Has started to dress and undress her dolls (and Elmo too)

-dances to every kind of music-she likes to bounce up and down and swing just her right arm-its her signature move

-Is a great eater-likes most everything except chicken for some reason. It doesn't matter what kind it is- grilled, fried, breaded, she won't eat chicken. Interesting.

-Has been saying pee pee and poo poo when she goes to the bathroom-I'm hoping this is a sign that she is getting closer to potty training(someday):)

Parenting Alli is a joy (most of the time) :). Brian and I get the biggest "kicks" with her little personality. She sure is the sunshine in our life! Some days its hard being a parent (as most of you know), but we wouldn't trade her for anything-even though we miss our "single" days sometimes. I was being really good about keeping a little journal about everything, but lately that hasn't happened so the "blog" will have to do for now!

Weekend with the friends...

2010-07-14T20:53:00.000-07:00

Over the 4th we were able to get together with the Albrecht's and the Hatch's in Cleveland in Lundon and Adrienne's NEW and beautiful house! We had a good time hangin' out, watchin' fireworks, going to the beach, eating out, golfing(the guys), and going to Eclipse(the ladies). Benson and Alli had a fun time playing, but I think Tiffany (who is prego with twins-a boy & girl-saw a little too much) he he! Let's just say she is going to have her hands full, but it will be so much fun!

On the ride up to Cleveland Alli had to have her Elmo or "Melmo" as she says and watch the Elmo video that my mom gave her. I also had her try on the jacket that she is wearing in this picture, but she didn't want to take it off on the ride up and it was like 80+ degrees-whatever makes her happy I guess:) She is obsessed with Elmo lately and wants to watch that darn video like 5 times a day-what to do what to do?! Oh yeah and she likes him diapered and she wipes his mouth and bum bum too!

Benson and the J'ster takin a tubby together, they still don't know the difference so don't worry:) Except Adrienne said that Benson had asked her something to the effect of "Mommy where is your wee wee?" So funny, but no questions asked during the tubby-so I think we are still okay:)

Playin at the beach

The Albrecht's-our fabulous hosts

The Hatch's+twins-isn't Tiffany's belly just too cute on her?:)

Alli's really into givin' kisses-I'll take em' where I can get em":)

If you lay down watch out! This is where Alli lands if she sees ya...and then she "giddy's up" and pounces on ya and says "that's fuddy (funny)"-she says this when anyone laughs too-she thinks she gets it:) What a sweetie!

Tiffany and her belly floatin' in the water-she liked the break from carryin' those little stinkers:)

She also showed her dedication to becoming a mom by getting a tattoo-don't worry its washable

We also had the privilege of going to the Mardi Gras (where the tattoos came into play) and where Alli found her crush-she wouldn't go to anyone but Darren and wanted to wear her sunglasses just like him

Fireworks-Alli was lovin' them-she kept saying "Oh Coo" (cool). Lundon also brought out some poppers and other little ones that the kids enjoyed:)

We had a good time with some good friends-thanks to Lundon and Adrienne for puttin' us up in their sweet house for the weekend-and it was fun seeing Tiffany prego with her babes-can't believe there are 2 in there!

the dave matthews experience

2010-06-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

Brian gave Dave Matthews Band concert tickets to us-I mean me- for Mother's Day. I think it was more for him, but I got to go along j/k ;) No, it was a great concert and he does sound pretty amazing live. We had a good time swaying to the music-as well as a few others around us-our swaying was all natural though. As far as everyone else, it was most likely drinking induced(or marijuana). Let's just say Brian and I learned a few things at that concert! :)

So, one nice evening out with the just the two of us + Dave Matthews live= one heck of a night!

Sorry Beau & Shannon for making you jealous:)

A pic before the concert started-it was outside at Huntington Park Baseball field and we got to be up pretty close

Dave Matthews startin' up

Us halfway through, it was muggy towards the middle of the concert and I forgot an elastic to pull my hair back! Uggh! Brian was nice enough though to hold my hair up off my neck for the rest. What a nice hubby I have:)

My favorite song of D. M. is "You and Me"-Check it out!

This is a pic of the crowd we were engulfed in - no wonder it was muggy:) We left just a few minutes early to get home before it was too late

Thanks to Josh, Dave & Steph for tag teaming it up and watching Alli for us! What great friends we have:)

Oh and this is Brian on Father's Day with our little J'ster who doesn't ever pose when you want her to. He got a book that he has been reading every day since...

Driven

An Autobiography

Larry H. Miller

No wonder-Larry's the man behind the Jazz!

We are 2 lucky girls!

A Quick Trip

2010-06-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

Brian had a week off of school and I had a week off of work, so we took off to SG to visit our fams. We had a great time, but as vacations always do, it went by way too fast. Alli got to play with all of her cousins and had such a fun time with all of them! Swimming, Pine Valley, BBQ's, and lots of outside time is how we spent the week...

We started the trip with flying out with two of our favorite sets of friends-Beau/Shannon/Tatum & Josh/Krystal-we didn't even know we were on the same flight until a few days before we left:) Alli & Tatum played and watched movies:)

We celebrated Uncle Chanse's B-day and he taught her where her armpit was so now she holds up her arm when we ask her where it is. Uncles are always good for things like that:)

Armpit position and Alli's new bike from "Nana" and "Papa" that she loved being pushed around on

We were able to get together with the Hunter fam-

Hunter Hudson & AlliJ.

Playing outside in the sand with Nana and Uncle Rowdy with the "Joe Joe's"-Alli's terminology for the doggies-Joe and Ace

Alli loves her Uncle Rowdy-she did learn to say his name, every morning she would go to his room to get him up to play:)

Alli's favorite doggies...

Love this candid shot of my mom and Alli together

Alli got to go swimming practically every day with her cousins-She loves them all! Alli says "pway" for play ALL of the time-I wish we could "pway" with them more often!

Ady, Alli & Emma at the splash pad

Driving around Pine Valley in Grandpa's Gator...Alli threw a fit when we took her off-she loves everything about being outside and "roughin" it:) The girls had lots of fun together!

Our beautiful retreat-we love this place

Grandpa's and the PV garden

Kalli, Brandon and Alli having a good time in PV. Alli loved giving Kalli hugs-maybe it's because they have similar names..Kalli/Alli:) Hopefully one day we can have Kalli be our babysitter:)...

Alli and Emma loved these goggles-hilarious! Alli didn't want to take them off-they left huge marks around her eyes for awhile-pretty funny-they were great family entertainment for the night. Somehow Emma is always a perfect poser too-always smiling:)

Brian and I got to celebrate our 6th Anniversary while we were in SG:) We splurged this year and went to a movie;)-Shrek Forever in 3D-it was actually pretty darn good. We even bought popcorn and drinks:) We are still having fun together so I guess that's a good sign for many more years to come:)

Day 1 of our lives together...

Day 2,190

still smilin'- or smirkin' luckily Brian wasn't eating popcorn for our wedding pictures

A few shots before the movie-we were the only ones there except for one other family with kids:)

Alli enjoyed the 3D glasses along with Nana

We had such a fun time with our families and we miss them!

Alli loved "Pwaying" everyday-she would take 4 hour naps after all the activities we would do everyday:) Thanks to both our fams for such a wonderful and memorable time-we hope to see you all again soon!

Our First Family Pics

2010-06-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

The Snow family is-shall we say-notorious for NeVeR getting family pictures done. The Beckstrom side is a little better, but we are definitely in need of updating. The first and only time the Snow side had family pictures was for Brian and I's wedding and last summer when I finally "made" my brothers take a picture with us all together. Not sure why that is, but it just doesn't happen:) It kinda has rubbed off on me too! Not good. So, we finally got our act together and found Kara who was so nice to take our pictures for us. Thanks Kara for helping us break the habit and being patient with our little stinker:)!

Alli wouldn't exactly smile for the camera, but she would fold her arms so...

Here's to many more family pictures in the future...we hope!:)

Nothin' Much

2010-05-29T06:54:00.000-07:00

When I talk to anyone from back home the question is always asked "What's going on?" Well, my answer is pretty much always "nothin' much" So that's the theme of this post:) We don't do much that's too exciting-everyday life usually gets in the way:) Brian goes to school, I go to work and of course do the mommy thing everyday-even after working all night-not much fun sometimes, but that's life I suppose. So, here are just some random pics...

We play together

Alli's friend Benson had a pirate b-day party and she loved the hat so she wore it for the rest of the day:) Don't try to take it off for her to take a nap cause...you'll see

We went to the zoo the other day and saw the baby elephant and fishies-Alli does this face for fish

Talking to the big kids at the zoo-she loves to chat

Just dancing and playing

Trying to be a happy and patient mom after working all night-pale faced, dark circles under they eyes and all-staying up for >24 hours doesn't do much for me

And every once in awhile when I get the time (or rather when I'm not sneaking in a nap with Alli-shh don't tell) I like to make fun things like this for the little stinker-I can't decide if its too matchy matchy though, Brian's opinion is always-"it looks good" so....

That's about it-nothin' much!

18 months

2010-05-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

Alli has hit her 18 month mark-it's hard to believe we've all made it this far:) She is a sweet, funny, social, loving, crazy, active little gal and we love her to pieces!

She had her first day of Nursery this past Sunday(Mother's Day) and it was great-for her and for us. It was the best gift Alli could have given me:) We were able to listen without any distractions. We dropped her off, she ran right to all the other little kids and toys and started playing-not a shy bone in her cute little short body! Brian and I checked on her in between meetings and she was talking and playing away. When Brian picked her up she said "dada" and ran over to him, but then she just kept looking back at the toys and kids-its difficult for her to leave a good time:) Church is going to be a lot better now for all of us:)

After church-all smiles-at least I was:) Alli was starting to lose her energy after all that playing and talking at Nursery...

Alli ran out of gas...

She loves to try to help with whatever we are doing

She is finally getting some more hair-it is actually getting longer and we are able to have a few options with style:) Alli doesn't appreciate having anything in her hair, however, so she takes every clip or cute accessory out of her hair within minutes...

Loves to play outside!

Is getting better at feeding herself-still really messy though:)

Is no longer afraid of the stairs and is quite the climber!

Alli is doing so many fun things its hard to keep track-her vocabulary is growing daily it seems. Brian and I were trying to remember everything that she says and thought we might want to document it somewhere so we don't forget:

mama or mommy

dada

baby/babies

"dobby" for boppy-she loves this thing! It is her substitute for a security blanket:)

"ereal" for cereal

juice

nana-for banana

"ite" for kite

bee

Bo-for boy

"mow" for more and she signs it when she says it

shoe

sock

ball

wow!

"nummy" for when she wants a treat or snack and runs to the pantry to point at what she wants

ollo-for hello-she says this when she is pretending to talk on the phone

bye bye

Oh!-whenever she gets excited about something

ouch-she loves to say this and gets a scrunched up face-even if something doesn't hurt:)

"guck" for stuck-anything she can't get to is "guck"

duck

"joe joe" for a dog-every dog is named "Joe Joe

No!

Yah!-she says this a lot more than no now thank goodness:)

cracker

hot

Ka Ka-anything that we don't want her to get into-she says if for most everything

guys-to get our attention:)

"dis" for this

that

poo poo-she hasn't necessarily correlated it for when she goes however:)

two-she has this mastered for when she turns 2

waffle

cheese

teeth

eye

"no" for nose and actually sticks her finger up her nose to point at it

"coot" for cute-she usually correlates this with "coot shoes":)

bubble-she LOVES bubbles

Keys-she is obsessed with keys and tries to open everything with them

"peas" for please

Night Night

"ook" for book

"icker" for sticker

Animal sounds:

quack quack for duck-and we have a lot around here so she is constantly "quacking"

roar-she growls whenever she sees a tiger or lion

Ew Ew-for a monkey

cow

snake

dog

cat

horse

bunny-she scrunches up her nose

bird

rooster

pig

She knows all her body parts-head, hair, nose, ears, mouth, teeth, tongue, belly, belly-button, arms, hands, legs, feet, and toes.

Alli has her 18 month appointment this upcoming week so we shall see what her stats are-pretty sure she has grown a little because some of her pants don't fit her anymore!

There is never a dull moment with Alli-she is our little stinker and we like her that way:)

The Windy City

2010-05-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

We were able to get away to Chicago this past weekend with our buds Dave and Steph. We had a good ol' time in the "Windy City" eating it up, site seeing and walking... a lot:) We stayed right down town where most everything was within walking distance.

This is where we stayed-we got a pretty good deal on Priceline for a 4* hotel...

First day we did a "Double Decker" bus tour-it was great-we got to see most of the city-get the history behind it with some stories and had quite the view...

We learned that the term "Windy City" does not coin off of wind, but about a political battle for the 1893 World Fair...I think it should be called the "Windy City" because, well, it's just windy:)

The FOOD

You hear about Chicago Style pizza, well we got to taste some and it does live up to its reputation-we tried Lou Malnati's-it was probably the best pizza I've had, their appetizers-delicious!

Waiting patiently for...

THIS!

Chicago Style Pizza, Fresh Bruschetta, Spinach/Cheese stuffed bread-Oh it makes me hungry to look at these pictures! Yummo! I do have to say it is quite the pizza! Alli wanted to clean up a bit too:)

We also had the infamous Chicago Dogs-they were actually really good and we finished those off with a chocolate cake shake which made a really delicious, unhealthy lunch:)

Navy Pier

Navy Pier was neat, really windy since it was right on Lake Michigan, but not as much to do there as we had thought, maybe if you did a lake cruise or something...

Alli always wants to "get down" and walk everywhere so this little leash came in handy-although it felt like we were walking a doggie at times:)

Alli got a lot of walking in and made a lot of friends along the way. She would stop at everyone and say her conversation starter "Hi," wave and then smile and wait for them to talk to her-she is one social bug.

Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field

We had a few of these moments, good thing Steph pulled out the Kettle Corn Popcorn

Happy again...for a minute:)

Alli was a trooper with us hauling her around everywhere. She got to stay up WAY past her nap time everyday and she handled it well-if only she would fall asleep and shut down her little body for a moment-that girl never stops moving!

Sears Tower-The tallest building in the Western Hemisphere

It was pretty cool looking out at the city. They have glass boxes that stick out of Sears Tower that you can walk out on and look down and see the city streets down below. You don't think you'll be scared, but it made us all a little nervous!

The Walk out...

Proof that Brian did it:)

Proof that we did it... we were sweatin' just a little:)

Fields Museum

You could spend all day here, it was really neat, but not really toddler kid capturing...we did get to see a neat display about Mammoths and saw a real baby that was preserved in a lake and found in Siberia-pretty cool since I thought Mammoths were fake... j/k

And Alli wanted to do a lot of this-steering instead of riding

See that little munchkin poking through the stroller? Busy busy busy body!

We had a great time seeing the sights and eating delicious food. We probably won't attempt a 6 hour car ride again for awhile with Alli though:) She did pretty well, but who wants to sit in a carseat that long? It was a fun city to see and visit and glad we could actually drive there. There are some perks to living in Ohio:)

TiM-need I say more?

2010-04-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

Who do you think of when you hear the name Tim? Well for me it's the one and only Tim McGraw, and I got to kiss him, well almost:) He is so much bigger in person:)

Ok Ok so I might be exaggerating just a little... it isn't really him(as if you didn't know that), just a big green screen that when you get your photo taken puts you right up next to him. I guess this is as close as I'll ever get, but I'll take it!

My girl bud Adrienne and I were lucky enough to go to the Tim McGraw/Lady Antebellum concert. It was AmAzInG!!! I love Lady A. and I LOVE LOVE Tim-so add them together and it=one heck of an evening! We had some pretty good seats and just enjoyed the entertainment and of course the view!

Brian asked me what I thought Tim would be wearing and I said "Oh probably some pretty tight, sweet fitting jeans and a fitted button down shirt that is open to show his chest hair along with his BLACK hat." Yeah, I was right. I don't usually have a thing for celebrities, but there is something about Tim...maybe it's cause he and Faith are such a good looking couple with kids and they love each other and sing sweet love songs to one another that they mean...maybe that could be it?

Lady Antebellum

Us during the concert... We are pretty good photographers

The night was filled with sweet melodies and I'm glad it was loud to drown out my singing abilities or rather lack of. We had a pretty interesting couple in front of us-I think they were interesting due to to the fact that they were drunk and swaying and singing and didn't know how silly they looked. I guess it was a good thing they had a limit as to how many drinks you could buy cause we may have had a whole lot more "interesting" things happen:)

It was a fun evening out and if you get the chance to see him for his "Southern Voice" tour-don't miss out ya'll-plus you get free coupons for Outback's Aussie-tizers like the Bloomin' Onion-what a bonus!:)

Easter Eggcitement

2010-04-08T17:06:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Easter with Alli this year. We took her to her first Easter Egg hunt-she was so cute running around picking up all the eggs, and she had a ball playing at the park after wards-she loves slides:)

It was such a nice weekend with sun and warmth so we decided to celebrate it going shopping for some flowers and shrubs to plant in our backyard this year-Alli wanted to sit on the cart-and fall off of it too:)

Alli liked her Easter basket-it had a chick "baby" in it that she had to hug first before moving on and then she got some much needed "coot shoes" as she calls them, luckily every shoe she sees is "coot":) bubbles, a Disney movie, and sandbox toys finished it off.

Picking up Easter eggs on Sunday morning (before breakfast) and eating everything inside... Don't know if skittles were a good idea for egg treats though:)

Skittle drool, yummy!

Grandma Snow's Easter card with $$ and Nana Snow's Easter package with a fun "horsie" purse, books, and treats-we love surprises that come in the mail:)

On Sunday we enjoyed the nice sunshine with our buddies The Albrecht's and Hunter's with some fun at the park before General Conference started. We thought maybe they could get a few jitters out before it all started, but it didn't seem to help-3 toddlers together doesn't = quiet time:)

Alli was fascinated and a little unsure of this tunnel, but she took the plunge and it sure was exciting-for her anyways:)

We had a wonderful weekend and it was so fun to share in the excitement with Alli because she thinks the simplest things are so exciting & fascinating, it makes parenthood fun!

David Gray Concert

2010-03-30T11:34:00.000-07:00

Brian and I were able to go out on a date and cash in the David Gray concert tickets that Brian got for Christmas. Brian introduced me to David Gray's music when we started dating and so it was fun to actually go see him live.

The concert was one of the best we've ever been too! David Gray is Awesome(he does a few weird moves with his feet stomping though)! He sounded SO good live-we really enjoyed his solo's on the guitar and piano-his voice is amazing! Yes, I am using lots of these !!! because really and truly he is that good-he sounded better live than on the radio which doesn't happen a whole lot.
The theater was neat-it was all ornate and old with gold/chandalier's, nice draperies with balconies-so it made the concert really intimate and it was nice to have pretty good seats for once:)

If you aren't familiar with David Gray-check his stuff out-I'm pretty sure you'll like it. He sings a few songs that are on the radio "Babylon" is one of his more known songs-check out my song list-he's on it:)

And thanks to our good buds Josh/Krystal and Dave/Steph/Biggs:) They watched Alli-while she slept:)

Fun in the sun!

2010-03-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

Alli and I were able to go to St. George for a visit while Brian/Dada had finals. Unfortunately, Brian didn't get a spring break this year because 3rd year dental students take care of the clinic while everyone else is out of town, darn it for him!

Now, I wasn't too up on going without him cause Alli is so full of fun on the airplane, but we got talked into it by Nana Snow. She didn't have to do much bribing though cause Alli and I both were desperate(okay maybe just me) for some sunshine, and no snow. So off we went!

The airplane ride wasn't as bad as I was thinking it was going to be, even with a 16 month old toddler who doesn't sleep anywhere but her bed. Alli was a trooper, but it took lots of entertaining to keep her busy. Here is what I stuffed into my backpack minus all the snacks...

Videos, puzzles, books, magnet games, coloring books, velcro matching games, stickers, silly putty, and lots of snacks. I felt like my backpack weighed over 50 lbs., but I made it fit! Here's what worked best: stickers! Alli would take a sticker and place it somewhere, pick it back off and re-stick it. We did have one small meltdown for about 1 minute when she started throwing the magnets and I took them away from her, but out came the stickers and tada, one happy toddler. Phew! We made it in one piece and I still liked her when it was all over too:)

Here is what our week of warmth and sunshine included:

Being outside playing at the park with her cousins...

Alli AbSoLuTeLy loved being down at the "corrals" getting into all sorts of "clean" red dirt with horse apples(dried up poop), cow stuff and who knows what else :) She had a great time cleaning off the horses with grandpa with her favorite toy-a curry comb of all things, feeding the cows, and riding in her boots. She was able to use all her animal sounds and put them to use: cow, horse, dog, cat, duck, rooster etc. Oh, and Alli had a come-a-part when we took her off the horse, she may just be a cowgirl after all:)

The cousins were able to come and ride too which was a lot of fun!

Alli really liked my parents dogs too-Joe Joe and Ace, along with the black cat. She had to pet and feed them everyday and anytime she didn't want to get in her car seat we would just say "do you want to go see Joe Joe?" and that would do the trick:) Now everytime she sees or hears a dog she barks and says "doe doe" and gets really excited. Its pretty cute and always brings a smile:)

We had such a good time and it was nice just to relax and let Alli play and play outside. We left Columbus with snow on the ground so the sunshine was such fun! We were sad Brian couldn't come, but he had some fun of his own I hear (there were about 9 guys at our house all week "studying," but I have heard bits and pieces that there were a few other things going on too like push-up contests and other guy things that you can just imagine). I'm glad I wasn't there to see it or smell it, ha! Luckily when we got home, the house was clean of all remnants of whatever went on. Anywho, Alli and I enjoyed some sunshine with family and we spent lots and lots of time outside playing, it was fantastic! Thanks to all the family for a such great and relaxing visit!

*Oh and we made it home just in time for March Madness(Brian says its his favorite time of the year, he likes it even more than Christmas) so you can imagine what we will be watching the next few weeks-did everyone fill out their brackets?:)

Bye Bye "Baba"

2010-02-24T18:51:00.000-08:00

Its official, the bottles are gone! Yes, I know kids are way done with those by now, but you don't understand, Alli has had a hard transition to sippy's. She has only started drinking from them really well the last couple months or so. Alli has loved her "baba's," she always gets the biggest grin when you hand it to her. When she is drinking it about half way through, she pulls it out of her mouth, looks at it, grins and then whispers "baba" to herself, so if you were wondering why the heck I was holding out so long, that's why-she loves the dang thing(and I was worried about her fluid intake), but according to the Doc, it had to go.

Now, she was only getting one right before bed so its not like I was cheating and giving her bottles through the day. I was nervous about this big step, however, because Alli has her nightly routine: bath, bottle then bed AND she doesn't like to drink milk out of a sippy cup-believe me I have been trying- so I was hanging on to that bottle because I was nervous about her calcium intake as well. After her bath, coming down the stairs she always excitedly says "baba." So of course I was stressed that if she didn't get her "routine" bottle that she was not going to fall asleep. So last night was the first night without her "baba", I gave her a sippy straw cup instead; while I held my breath I gave Alli the sippy, she just looked at it, then me without her expression changing and just started taking a few sips-not a big deal at all. She didn't drink much out of her new "sippy", but she fell asleep fine! What a relief! I was thinking we were going to have a screaming toddler on our hands, but she was a sweetie and was nice to her mama and dada! I think she is officially a "big/little" girl now:)

Tubby

Baba-Sippy now though:)

"Night Nights"

Ahhh....

One year older and...Valentine's too!

2010-02-14T19:47:00.000-08:00

I love this time of year! Not only is it Valentine's, but my birthday too:) Sugar cookies, candy, pink and red colors everywhere, fun presents and Valentine's cards and of course LOVE is in the air. Although I am no longer in my younger years (yes, I turned 25+1) it is still fun to have a birthday. I didn't get to decorate sugar cookies with all my friends like in the old days, but I was lucky to spend the day with one of my favorite little people- Alli J.-she even told me Happy B-day(in her own way of course-by taking a good nap:)). We played together, and then we kept it kinda low key with Brian and I going out to dinner together without our little munchkin runnin' around and I had my favorite dish-filet mignon! Yum! I got some fun things in the mail thanks to my lovely families and some nice stuff from Alli & Brian. Oh, yeah, and our good buds Steph and Dave surprised me with my favorite dessert-a Culver's Chocolate Snickers Concrete Mixer that I got to have all to myself AND a nice gift card to my favorite place to eat out-OUTBACK!What! I guess it wasn't so bad turning 26 after all:) Boo ya!

Yes, Alli likes to wear Brian's basketball shoes too!

Alli turned 15 months old this Feb. and is FULL of it, I mean, life!:) She is still short at a whoppin' 29.25 in.-15th%tile, and 23.5 lbs 55th%tile, but we L-O-V-E her:)

Oh and in case you didn't hear, we have LOADS and LOADS of snow right now and this is what Alli thinks of it ...

I think I agree with her! Here is our pitiful attempt at making a snow man-mind you we are from Southern "sunny" Utah:)

and we were only able to be out there for a max of 5 minutes with our little one who sunk all the way down with that short stature of hers:)

Valentines was fun-Alli got some sweet sunglasses to help her with the blinding reflection that comes off of the snow(not the sun cause their ain't none:( Don't mind her runny nose, chocolate on her face and slobber on her chest-she has come down with one yucky cold, bummer...

and she loves to draw and color(on)everything, so an etch-a-sketch thingy was her choice of toys at the store:)

Brian got me this delicious piece of heaven

Chocolate and Reese's from Cold Stone anyone? Yummy in my tummy! How did he know what I wanted? What a wonderful week of events, even though there is snow:)

Look!

2010-01-27T13:12:00.000-08:00

Yes! Look at Alli's hair! It is finally starting to grow SOME! She is still a little thin on top but the back is growing out nicely :) I had finally given up my hopes in having any curl whatsoever and was just being content that Alli is going to have Brian's thin, straight rod hair (not that that's bad :)), but look what we have here...just enough curl to bring my hopes up again, ha ha!

Our friend Shannon watched Alli for a little while and she decided to try her hair in pig tails-yep there is enough in the back but the top is still lacking(our friend Dave thinks Alli has a "skullet" which means no hair on top and lots in the back. Well Alli proved him wrong :) I guess we will just have to wait and see what Alli surprises us with next :)

Oh and Alli's new things are: pretending to do everything that we do-the Dew is from Brian, she has my scarf on that she found somewhere she rocks her little babies and everything that is stuffed is a baby, pretends to comb her hair and wash her hands, loves to say "ball" she gets this from Brian because we are ALWAYS watching sports-I can tell you way more than you need to know about them and I'm afraid that is what's going to happen to Alli sooner rather than later :), says thank you although it is often hard to decipher unless you listen to the tone she uses because it goes up and then down when she says it, says "cheese" when i take her picture, loves to say "no no no" although I don't think she means it most of the time at least I like to think so, loves to dance like a robot and has "happy feet"...oh what fun!

More please...

2010-01-20T09:06:00.001-08:00

Alli has learned a few signs and she is now putting them to good use, we had pizza the other night and out of the blue she just put her chubby little fingers together for the sign "more" so I couldn't resist and gave her "more" pizza and she was happy that I did :)

Over this past weekend we took a short little trip to Pittsburgh to visit our pals Tiffany, Darren and Niko. Alli made a new best friend, Niko, who just loved Alli because she gave him lots of treats and it was nice to have a little vacuum follow her around too:) We hung out, played games and went to Phipps Conservatory with lots of different kinds of plants. It was a fun little getaway and Alli will miss her "dobby" (doggy) friend Niko.

Christmas Adventures

2010-01-02T18:11:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful time in sunny SG for Christmas! We loved seeing family and friends and Alli had a blast with all of her cousins. Just a little run down as to how it all went...

Alli was pretty good on the plane-although she refuses to sleep anywhere but in a bed-alone and with her boppy. She didn't cry, but it was non-stop movement and trying to keep her entertained was tiring, luckily both Brian and I were there-I've had to do it by myself before and it is not what I consider a relaxing flight :) Anyways this is about 10 minutes after we get in the car-she is out like a light no fuss or anything just gone for the majority of the ride from LV to SG...

My Grandpa and Grandma Hunter always have us grandkids up to Cedar City to make sugar cookies, decorate them and eat them, YUM! We also have pizza from Pizza Hut-what a fun tradition and I'm glad Alli gets to take part in it too...

Alli got to sit on Santa's lap at my parent's wards Christmas party, once she looked up she wasn't so sure about him-she doesn't have any stranger anxiety at all, but we finally found out she does a smidge of it because she decided she didn't like Santa as much as she thought...

Christmas Eve was a busy night! Alli had a lot of fun with all the families-she was an angel while Grandpa Beckstrom and Uncle Josh read the Christmas Story, and she enjoyed herself running around while everyone played games. We also had some musical entertainment from Karli's beau Paul on the guitar and Alli was transfixed by him-he even played her favorite-Popcorn Popping :)

Alli had a lot of fun Christmas morning-Santa brought lots of fun things-Alli loves phones she got a few of those(thanks Nana & Grandpa Snow-they make lots of fun noise :)) and she loves pushing strollers around so Alli got her own baby and buggy stroller- Uncle Rowdy decided to push Alli around and I think she liked that more than doing it herself...

The Beckstroms always have a Progressive Dinner and it was very delicious we get to eat lots of food and see everyone's houses with lights and decorations-always such a fun way to celebrate the season!

Alli Ady and Emma sitting on the back of the Jeep waiting to go to the next pit stop-they thought it was a great time!

Alli in her Christmas Dress-she is very tired and of course doesn't smile when I want her to, oh well...

Brian was able to play in a golf tournament with all the "dudes" which is a tradition and unfortunately his team "the Steve's" lost and "the dudes" won, but hey he has a really neat golf shirt with his name on it now:) Brian also got to go to the BYU Las Vegas Bowl-I guess it was freezing cold with the wind blowing, but he said it was worth it, whatever, ha...
Alli also learned a few things while we were gone :) She now likes to
say "Uh Oh" when she drops something, so needless to say she drops just about everything to say "Uh oh." My mom and dad taught her to wave her hands if front of her and say "Ot" (hot) when she gets near the fireplace or space heater, pretty funny and she does it every time-she doesn't try to touch them though and that's nice cause we have them on a lot now that it is FREEZING in Columbus-it was 7 degrees when we left the house today-What?! We are now getting a lot of this...

It was a great holiday season, it always goes by way too fast, but here's to hoping spring comes fast!

Big Steps

2009-12-04T18:32:00.000-08:00

Alli has been growing up fast these past few months-she started taking steps around her #1 birthday, but is now walking more and more and crawling less and less. She is a little cutie waddling around with her short little legs. At her 12 month appointment she was 21 lbs-60th percentile, 28 in. 15th percentile-so a little short and chunky still although she is losing her "bracelets" that covered her arms :) Her hair is growing in-yeah, but its still a little thin on top just like her Aunt Brooke's was when she was little-ha ha! It is exciting to see her growing into a little toddler and try to have conversations with everyone she sees. She loves wearing this hat around, its pretty funny to watch!

We had Thanksgiving again this year with the Wright's in Louisville, KY. It was delicious and relaxing and its nice to have family so close by. Thanks for the fun weekend and hosting Joe and Kailee- Alli and Hunter had such a fun time playing, Alli wanted to mimic everything that Hunter did sippy cup drinking which she refuses to do for us-she likes to drink out of "big people" cups, and walking!

Alli and Hunter loved playing with each other-they even wanted to have a "tubby" together, girls are so much fun!

We shall see what the holidays bring, I'm sure lots of chaos, but lots of good times too! Happy Holidays!

New Moon!

2009-11-22T16:21:00.000-08:00

I got to go to the midnight showing of New Moon this past week with the gals-Adrienne, Brittany, Katie, Melanie, Trinette, Sunni & Karlie! It was way too much fun-this movie was 100% better than Twilight! We actually got to the movie theater at 9:00p.m. to get a good seat and we had the whole theater to ourselves and got the best seats in the house! We all wore our Twilight shirts that we made and while we waited we were taking pictures of ourselves in front of the screen(we are mature, really)...kinda too dark, but it was fun to just be with girls and talk about Twilight-Trinette brought the "Scene It" Twilight game and we played that until up till the movie started and Brittany brought blankets and a really yummy dessert(that we didn't sneak into the movie:)) Thanks gals it was great-can't wait till the next one! I heart Edward!

Brian's Birthday Weekend!

2009-11-22T16:05:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we were lucky enough to go to the Jazz vs. Cavaliers game in Cleveland with our good buds The Albrecht's and The Hatch's :) 2 years ago we made the same trip-with no kiddies of course, but this time we had 2 little ones:) Luckily Lundon's parents were kind enough to watch the little rascals while the adults had a night out! It was fun and we were practically the only Jazz fans, but it was still a good ol' time. The Jazz gave them a run for their money- we didn't win, BUT D. Will, K. Korver,& C.J. Miles were out of the line up unfortunately...thanks for the trip guys it was great-I think we are on our way to a tradition!

Alli sported her Jazz shirt as well-I made her's and mine with freezer paper and fabric paint-so easy and way cheap since I already had the shirt-she doesn't like to model or have me take pics of her so this was pure luck gettin her to even sit still for 3 seconds that's why they are kinda fuzzy :)

Brian's actual birthday-we went to Marcella's Italian Restaurant with friends-The Muirs, Albrecht's, Hunter's, Jump's, and The Dansie's with dessert after at our house-thanks for coming and celebrating with us! Brian had a great b-day if you ask me-Jazz tickets, NBA package on TV, Basketball shoes and lots of cards with $$$-although he didn't get them all at the same time, he started collecting these things a few months before his "real" b-day, he just kept saying "Oh this is for my birthday..." hmmm...maybe I should start doing that right now too :)