Halloween

We decided to go all out this year, so we dressed up! I even went trick-or-treating looking like this. It was hilarious to see our neighbor's reactions. Most didn't even recognize me. Others were like, "Wow, you really went all out!" But it was a ton of fun. We had some family over and partied! Kaia loved trick or treating. She just followed her cousin's leads and caught on really quickly that if you go up to the door you get candy! She was so tired by the time we circled the neighborhood, but when we came home she cried because she wanted to keep trick-or-treating!

Our cuddly dalmatian!

50's couple (Jana & Gary), Batman (Tanner) and Cowboy (Gage) - sorry, not a great photo.

The Chef (Chris), The Witch (Becca) and Bumble Bee (Caden)

Wayne's World - Wayne (Sarah) and Garth (Jeremy)

50's girl (Mom) and "Scary" - as Kaia would say (Dad)

Kitty (Peggy), Dan and Doctor (Theresa)

Partied a little too hard.

We love fall!

I think we have a future biker on our hands.

Kaia loved the princess carriage.

And she loves slides! The bigger the better.

And she loves jumping!

The girl loves pumpkins. Everywhere we go, she says, "Mommy, I see pumkins!"

"It's heavy!"

Drivin' with dad.

Our 6th Anniversary!

Wow, I can't believe it's been six years. We did our "usual" anniversary trip to Park City. We stayed at Club Lespri, which is a great place. We didn't get a ton of rest, but we did play a lot. We went biking, running, saw a movie, shopped and went to dinner. It was great. The leaves were beautiful and the weather was awesome.

Kaia's 2!

CAKE!

Rainbow cake - thanks Marissa, my college roommate, for the idea and recipe!

First trip to Build-A-Bear.

She loves cake batter, too!

Summer Fun!

Cousins!



Who sleeps like this, really?

Brian rode 100 miles in the MS Bike Race in Logan. It was so much fun to be back in USU territory. The Malouf's let us stay in their posh house. Thank you, thank you! We had so much fun!

Classic skating! Brian had a great time reliving the good old days (he was a speed skater and also worked at Classic). Kaia couldn't quite get the hang of roller skating (the skates were way too big), but she had a grand time running around the rink and getting in the way of all the skaters.

Kaia loved the inflatable slides! Most of the toys were way too big for her, but she loved the huge slides once we got her to the top. She's an adrenaline addict already!

Swimming! Kaia absolutely loves swimming! She is a child with no fear. She likes to hang out in the shallow part of the pool, but eventually makes her way deeper laughing the whole way knowing I'm going to have to save her from going under. Although, she doesn't have much fear of that either. She is getting the hang of going under by herself and jumping out of the water. But she doesn't last too long if the water is not very warm. She gets cold really easy and then says, "Towel? Towel?"

Mow Mow

A few weeks ago, our cat Gimlee (a.k.a. Mow Mow), ran away. He's an indoor cat, for the most part. But it is his goal in life to run out any door that is opened to the outside before anyone can grab him. He has done this fairly often since we moved into our new house, so when he escaped one night, Brian and I didn't think much about it. He always comes back around 5 a.m. and cries at our window to let him in. Well, he didn't come back that night, and the next morning I was a bit worried, but I figured he'd be home that afternoon. He wasn't, and he was still gone the next night, and the next. We were so worried by then, and truly suspected he a) was eaten by a fox/hawk/or dog, all of which we see outside our backyard on a regular basis; b) was stolen by a neighbor kid because he's the friendliest cat in the world; or c) ran away with a neighborhood gang of cats, and went off gallivanting in the fields killing all vermin and fowl that crossed their paths. Luckily, we believe it was 'c' because he came home on the fourth night at 5 a.m., screaming at our back door. You know when you take something for granted until it's almost gone? That's how I felt about Mow Mow's great escape. He's the most friendly cat in the world (he insists on sitting on a perfect stranger's lap if they sit on our couch, especially if they are allergic), he has claws sharp as blades, but would never use them to harm a human (even a crazy toddler who pulls his tail and hauls him around the house) or a dog (who also hauls him around the yard), he loves to be petted and held, and is just a perfect pet! But only when I thought he was gone forever did I truly appreciate was a great cat he is! But lesson learned. We do not allow him anywhere near the outside world, for fear he will leave for good. And believe me, he wants to go! He cries and cries and cries at the windows and doors all day and all night! Wherever he went, he had the time of his life!

Disneyland!

We took a trip to Disneyland in May with my family. Overall it was a success! Brian had never been there and it had been a long time for me. Unfortunately, this first photo sums up how the trip began. The day we left Kaia had a fever and was really sick. I really debated getting on a plane, but decided we should just do it. Kaia fell asleep as soon as we took off, thank goodness. I was so worried that she'd be that crying baby on the plane everyone glares at. But it was a short flight and before we knew it we were on the ground.

Kaia spent the first day at Disneyland in her stroller. She was asleep for most of the day, and when she wasn't, she wished she was. We ended up taking her to the ER that night because we just weren't sure what was wrong with her and she'd never acted that way before. The doctor told us it was an ear infection, reluctantly gave us some antibiotics because we were from out of town, (I guess they really don't give that stuff out anymore) and assured us kids like to sleep it off when their sick (he asked us if this was our first child - yes, we're clueless parents).

But everyday she started perking up more and more and we took her on a few rides. She loved It's a Small World. We even took her on Pirates of the Carribean. Her eyes were pretty wide during the couple of drops the boat took, but she seemed to think it was pretty cool. She slept through dinner at the Blue Bayou (her $12 mac and cheese went uneaten), but we thought it was great. She also liked the Jungle Cruise, Winnie the Pooh and Dumbo.

Kaia LOVED all of the characters we saw at Disneyland. I would have bet money that she would run the other way from anyone dressed up, but she was the complete opposite. She smiled and touched their hands and was so happy to see them. She loved Mickey (and her binky, as you can see in this photo. She's usually only allowed to have it at night and during naps, but she basically got anything she wanted this trip since she was so sick)!

This is after "Splash Mountain". I assured Brian we wouldn't get that wet (he didn't want to go), but we did! Were were frozen, but at least it was the last ride of the day.

The beach! By the fourth day Kaia was almost back to normal. We went to the beach and she LOVED playing in the sand. She was so happy to be free to get dirty and wet and no one cared. I'll upload some video we took. She was pretty funny about the cold ocean water tide.

Yes, that's Kaia's extremely white mother in the background. Can I please get a tan on sometime soon???

Oh, looks like her father needs some help in that department too!

This is at Universal Studios. Kaia once again adored the characters.