Blessings

We had the opportunity to head out West for almost two weeks in July. During our time in Utah, Kayla was able to receive her name and a blessing by Braden. I am very grateful to have a husband who worthily holds the priesthood and can perform that blessing. He is a wonderful father and husband and he did a great job.

Our little family!

I'm thankful that my parents and siblings were able to fly out from California for the blessing.

Many people in Braden's family were able to be there too to participate in the blessing. It was so nice to be able to spend time with everyone.

My amazing friends and their husbands came from all over the place to share this day with us.

A huge thanks to Pam and Reed for hosting everyone. We had quite the group at their home. It was a wonderful day and I am so grateful to everyone who came and supported us.

This gospel is amazing and I know that we have eternal families. My life is filled with so much joy and I thank my Father in Heaven every day for the many blessings He has given me.

WARNING!

Never, never leave your child unbuckled in a bouncy chair...even if she is napping.  You never know what can happen, especially if you've got a squirmer!

Sorry baby girl!

Happy 4th!!

Kayla wanted to wish everyone a happy Independence Day!

She spent the morning with us at the ward 4th of July celebration breakfast. The rest of the day was spent inside as the weather was very un-patriotic...it rained all day. Oh well. We hope everyone was able to celebrate our country's liberties with family, friends, delicious food, and fireworks!

One Month! Fireflies! Winnings! Oh my!

We have been parents for over a month! Can you believe it? Kayla hardly can, check out that furrowed brow! Changing dirty diapers has become old-hat, and on occasion (like last night) she sleeps completely through the night. We're lovin' it!

Also, the fireflies have come out here in the "Land of Lincoln". First we caught a bunch of them, then I taught them to march in single file, and finally we tried to take a picture with a slow shutter speed to capture the magic. As is evidenced by the bottom picture, the magic is hard to capture. I need to instill a little more discipline in my troops. We did get a few glimmers though, so I guess we get an "E" for effort.
And finally, we won!!!! Can you believe it, I participated in this contest and won! Coupons! Valued at over $10! Wish we could've gotten the salad dressing as well, but I can see how it's hard to fit that in a #10 envelope. Thanks Matt & Brittany!!

A few more pics

Here's some more pics of our baby girl! She's starting to fill out a little, although that's relative, as she's roughly the size of a cabbage patch kid. She's also working on getting through her first break-out of baby acne, but a sense of vanity is yet to develop, so it's not really a problem.

Wow that was fast! It didn't even take 2 hours, and A-town - you win 10 points to cherish forever, and we saved the umbilical stump for you to pick up at you leisure. Just kidding, that's disgusting.

Can YOU guess what this is?

10 points to the first non-parent to correctly identify this picture, starting NOW!