What Happened?

What happened to my little baby?!

July 2007


When did she become this walking, talking, sassafrassy girl?! May 2009

Bear Lake Memorial Weekend

For Memorial weekend we decided to break out the camping gear for the season and go up north to Bear Lake and camp out! It was actually a lot of fun (even though we got rained on the second night). Brighton was ecstatic about the situation and loved sleeping in a sleeping bag. We also had a great time with Kyle's mom. She came along for the camping fun and Brighton couldn't be happier that "Grams" was there to play with her. She started bawling when we had to leave Gram's house. Oh and another fun group of visitors that came to join us in the camping excitement was Keri, Dan, Olivia, and Violet. Kyle's sister, Keri, and her fam live in Logan so they came out to camp a night with us. Unfortunately, the wind was so bad that it blew their tent down in the middle of the night so they had to go home early, but Brighton absolutely LOVED having Livi to play for the night. It was a fun (exhausting, but fun) trip and we're excited to go on many more adventures this summer!Here's the real reason I went camping in the first place... the Famous Bear Lake Raspberry shake! And it was SO worth it! Delish!

Porter even loved camping, surprisingly enough! He just crawled everywhere and got filthy! Every little boy's dream!

Gram's enjoying some breakfast with her new best friend and Kyle.

You can see the sheer joy in Brighton's face while she got to play with Livi.

Mother's Day Weekend

I know it's a little late, but we've been busy here in Cedar. More pics and info on that to come, but for now, I'll fill you in on my Mother's Day weekend. So, against my will, Kyle splurged on me and bought me golf clubs for Mother's Day! I was kind of excited to try them out, so we went to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls. It was a lot of fun and the whole fam was actually able to get in on the action.

Here I am sporting my new clubs.

Brighton loved playing golf with Daddy. He taught her some good techniques.

Thanks to Carter and Cache (for the great Birthday present), Brighton was able to bring her own set of "golfings" and do some practicing of her own.

And Porter loved chewing on stuff and rolling around on the green.

And Kyle is showing off his golfing proness! Thanks so much Kyle, Brighton, and Porter for a great little Mother's Day! I love you guys!

Smiles McGee @ 6 months...a little late

Well Porter officially turned 6 months on April 8 but obviously that time came and went so now that life has slowed down a little more, I decided to post some things about our little guy at 6 months of age.

Weight: 13 lbs, 2 oz (1st percentile)

Height: 25 3/4 inches (23rd percentile)

Likes:

-Mom
-Giggling
-Crying
-Smiling
-Sleeping through the night (It only took us one night to train him of this! It was heavenly!)
-Eating carrots
-The bumbo
-Crying
-Watching his sister play
-Rolling around to get to places
-Trying to sit up
-Being called "Smiles McGee" (Don't ask us how he got the name, but it's very fitting with all his smiling.)
-Getting snuggled into his bed (He gets so excited when he knows he's about to go to sleep. We really are blessed with a baby who sleeps!)
-Getting up onto his hands and knees
-The Doctor

Dislikes:

-Sister trying to sit on him
-Being the slightest bit hungry (The second he's hungry there's whaling and gnashing of gums.)
-Not being held all the time
-Things right out of his reach
-Toppling over after trying to sit up (Mom dislikes that one too. She feels extra bad about that one.)
-The shots at the doctor (Who does like shots?)
-Teething (No teeth yet, but a lot of drool!


He's already 7 months and already doing a ton more things than previously mentioned, but I'll save more of his progress for further posts! And I promise to be better at updating about our smiley guy because he's getting more and more exciting by the day!

A belated Mother's Day Tribute

Last week I got a knock on my door and when I opened it, these beautiful flowers were there! I thought they could possibly be from Kyle but it was still like a week until mother's day, so my second thought which turned out to be correct was that my on-top-of-everything-weeks-in-advance mother was the culprit. Then I thought "aren't I supposed to be the one doing something for my mother? Shouldn't this be the other way around?" When I called my mom to say thanks and what's up with that, she said that I'm a mom too and I deserve it. That's the type of person my mom is. Constantly thinking of others without a second thought of herself. She is the best, most caring and loving person I know. I really was lucky enough to be raised by such a great person. She always put us kids first and her desires and wants were always on the backburner. I only hope to be as kind, thoughtful, and selfless as she has always been to everyone around her. Thanks so much mom for your constant example to be a better person. I love and miss you! Happy Mother's Day!

Graduation, Graduation, and more Graduation

Last Saturday, Kyle graduated! He graduated from SUU with a Bachelor's degree in Nursing and we couldn't be prouder of our man for accomplishing this. He really didn't want to make a big deal out of it and didn't even want to walk because this isn't the end of schooling for us, but being the loud and proud wife that I am, I made him do it and gave quite the shout out every time they called his name. Kyle's mom and sister Annie came down along with Brighton's cousin Landon which made the day even more exciting and fun. To start the day off, we all had to be seated early because a very important guest speaker was speaking at the first graduation. So with 3 little kids and 4 adults all trying to get out the door by 8:00, it was a little bit of a challenge but we made it! And it was worth it to see this:

It's not the greatest of videos, but I just wanted to show everyone who we were privileged enough to hear in person.
The happy crew after Kyle being an official graduate.

The graduate with his excited kids (I think they were more excited about being outside than anything else).

Then after that, they had a convocation where Kyle actually walked across the stage. It was kind of a zoo with everyone walking and cheering and taking pics, and by the time we were done with that, it was practically 5:00 at night, so it was a long day of graduation but a lot of fun.

Kyle after having received his degree.

Brighton's favorite thing was daddy's cool hat.

Can't you tell I'm proud?

Kyle even got to graduate with a lot of our friends, including Ben Boyle. Here's Ben and Sarah with us at graduation, before they packed up and moved. Brighton was best friends with their little boys and she is having serious withdrawals now that they're gone. She wanders aimlessly around the park asking to go see Kayson and Cade. It breaks my heart. We really miss you guys!

Well, it's been a long and challenging road we've taken in our lives but I'm grateful that Kyle has accomplished this and I can be here to support him. We've both grown from all our experiences during this time at Cedar City and SUU and it has definitely helped us become more like the people we want to be so I wanted to say one last time that I'm so proud and thankful for my great hubby! I love you babe!

Pinning Ceremony

Last Friday Kyle had his nurse pinning ceremony which is kind of a big deal for the nursing program. We even had relatives come to celebrate it with us. Annie, Joe, and Landon came, along with Kyle's mom. Brighton loved having the house so full and having so many family members close by to play with. We appreciate everyone who was willing to make the day so fun and special!Kyle receiving his pin. The SUU Nursing Class of Spring 2009.Kyle and his best buds Reagan and Dusty (along with Brighton, London, and Drae).Kyle and Annie

Kyle and CaseyMe and my amazing hubby. I'm so proud of you babe!

Brighton, Kyle and his mom.
Kyle with Aja James, his favorite teacher who is a super-star nurse.

Brighton with her best bud Drae. We're really gonna miss you guys!
After all the festivities, Brighton and Landon were itching to get out and run around so they were practically out of sight the minute we got outside!

Barbeques, Farewells, and Graduations...oh my!

This week has been a whirlwind of barbecues, goodbyes, and yes I said it...Graduation! There is much to write about, but I'll take it one thing at a time. So Kyle graduated along with so many of our friends and everyone is going their separate ways with either optometry school or med school or what-not, so the day after Brighton's birthday party, we all had a barbecue as a last hurrah. It was so fun, we wondered why we hadn't done these gatherings before everyone left!

Some of the guys and their cute little ones!Me and my girlfriends hanging out all together one last time. I'm going to miss you ladies!

April, Mandy, and Mark chatting it up.
There was so much food to go around! We had such a good time! We got really lucky with the friendships we've created and will miss everyone when they leave and in the near future when we move.