Maya Turns One!!

We can't believe that our baby girl has gone from this....

to this....

We celebrated on her actual birthday, the ninth. Arthur's mom came in for the big day and it was great to have her around. Perks include: someone for Amy to talk to while Arthur is at school and work, a babysitter, a chef....I would go on, but I've got a party to detail!

We started the night out with some yummy Chinese food prepared by Judy. It was so, so, so very good. Our friends, the Gates, came over to enjoy the festivities (and the food). Judy made fried rice, Mabo Tofu, Chicken and broccoli, Kung Pao Beef and a cabbage dish that had bacon in it. Everything was SO delicious.

Even though it wasn't her kitchen, she definitely knew her way around!! After dinner, we put a blanket on the floor with all kinds of trades sprawled out on it. A stethoscope, calculator, money, measuring tape, spatula...well you get the idea, all sorts of things. And after a lot of thought, she chose the calculator.


I'm gonna say that she chose it b/c it was the closest thing to her and when she touched it we all made noise, so she probably figured, 'Ok, I am allowed to have this."

We then sang to Maya and had a chocolate cake all ready for her to dive into. Apparently chocolate wasn't the best choice for this child, I missed that memo.


She freaked out once she put her hand on the cake. We tried to coerce her into digging into it, but she was having none of it!! This little face was only the half of it. She had huge crocodile tears and didn't want anything to do with the large brown thing in front of her.



We got her all cleaned up and it was time to open some presents. We partied with Transformers hats on and had fun watching her attention span go from zero to negative four. One of Amy's favorite gifts was the wicker carriage Grandma sent to her with awesome bedding to go with it, it has Maya's name ALL over it. Amy received the carriage from her Grandma, now GG, when she was one and throughout the years, she's tried to get rid of it. Why? Who knows!! Anyway, she's VERY happy that her mom kept it to send to Maya. What a fun surprise for both of them.



It is fun to have Maya's big personality fill our home with happiness. She brings so much joy to us and we don't know what we ever did without her. We love you Sweet Cheeks!!!

I know, blog overload

For some reason, over the last couple of days I've had plenty of things to blog about. I know that if I tried to stretch them out, I'd forget most of the details of my thoughts. You'd probably rather read an in depth explanation of the happenings than a 'Oh, the party was good' explanation. This afternoon was our ward's 'Trunk or Treat' and it was very windy and cold, but a great activity. Lucy and Ricky were there and Legolas from 'Lord of the Rings.' Oh and Pres. and First Lady Obama. Some pirates tried to pirate all the candy and a basketball player and his groupies came in some very, very short shorts.

There was also a little chicken trying to make her way to Foster Farms so she could be someone's dinner tomorrow night. How thoughtful, huh?!


It was a lot of fun to see all the cute little kids in their costumes.








This morning some friends, who are very talented photographers, offered their services for free to anyone who wanted to capture their cute Halloween cuties. Maya and I went over at around nine and Michelle snapped some great pictures. I'll be posting those when I get them.

It's been nice to focus on someone else besides myself while trying to find a good costume. I was already thinking about next year during the party. Perhaps I'll be creative enough to make her next one. Give me a year, I'm sure I'll figure something out.

Maid of the Mist

I know this was several weeks ago, but I just got around to watching it. For those that don't appreciate The Office, do not proceed watching. BUT, if you want a good laugh, please watch. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED this scene. I have to admit, I got a little teary watching them finally get married. Enjoy.

Are you sitting down?

So I've decided that Halloween is becoming my new favorite time/holiday. Is it a holiday?? Anyway, the reason for my new found love affair is the colors that are in every store and up until last night, on every tree. My color has always been orange. I don't choose to wear it b/c only certain people can pull it off, but I love seeing clothes, crafts and leaves laced with any shade of orange. (Refer to my wedding reception if you saw....EVERYTHING was orange!!)

We just received this beauty from Arthur's mom.

She knows I LOVE orange and it was so thoughtful to send this to us. As a matter of fact, I was thinking to myself the other day, that I'd like to start collecting things pertaining to each season/holiday during the year; this blanket has definitely gotten the ball rolling. Perhaps during the seasons and holidays, I'll find something to make so that I can make my collection larger.

Speaking of making things, a couple of posts ago, I mentioned that I was knitting again. Here's what I've done so far....


The red one (it's on the left for any that are color blind - I've found that more people than I think are unfortunate when it comes to seeing colors) took me just a couple of days and I'll chalk that up to very large needles. The small orange and white one (peaches and cream, I like to call it) took me over three years. I started it when I first picked up the needles and then finished it a couple of weeks ago. As you can see Maya enjoys wearing it.


And the white one took me, what felt like, forever. Now it's just a matter of figuring out what knitting challenge I'm up for next. A friend of mine got very ambitious and started making booties....ah, someday.

Other than that, Maya is crawling like a wild woman now and she pulls herself up on just about everything, whether it (me) is in motion or not. And I'll leave you with what she learned last week.

She does 'hi' as well, but it was bedtime so we gave you the 'bye bye' video.

More Training

I don't know how my Aunt Sandy knew the routine I was working on, but click here to see why Arthur's having me jump rope.

Uhhh...

I can't remember what day of training it is, though I must say it feels like day 458. Ha, no seriously, I'm loving the fact that I can run and feel great afterward. I got new running shoes fulling expecting to run faster and longer. Ya, no, that DID NOT HAPPEN. However, they did do wonders for my knees. I've always had bad knees and since my mission, I've tried to stay away from any rigorous activities. BUT, these shoes, oh boy, these shoes are AWESOME.

Arthur ran with me two weeks ago and noticed that I have some weird way of running; he used some fancy word(s) but I can't remember what they are. Anyhoo, he found me some great shoes on line and I got them last week and they have definitely made a difference. This morning I finished my run just before the rain started coming down. I would have been SO sad if I was using my shoes for the third time and they got all dirty b/c of rain. That would have been devastating, since I try to make my shoes last me a long while. Although, I have heard that HARDCORE runners get new shoes every three months. Good thing I'm not a HARDCORE runner; I'm only a hardcore runner. I figure I can squeeze another couple of months out of shoes. Arthur's also added a few extra exercises to the weekly regiment. Jump rope. Yes, my few readers, jump rope. I don't think I've jumped rope for....actually I can't remember the last time I hopped over a rope and I could tell when I was trying to do it today. I blame my jump rope inabilities to the rope being too long. Hopefully I can get used to it and do better in the near future. Or maybe I can develop some of those unused muscles and get better THAT way.

Welp, Arthur and Maya are recovering nicely from nasty colds and I have managed to, with my immune system of steel, oversee the sickies and not be one. Who knows what these next few winter months with bring. Hopefully just snow and ice so I can utilize the scarf I just spent time knitting. Yes, Erika, I've picked up the needles again and with a little help from Youtube and a Vietnamese woman showing me how to end or cast off as they say in the knitting world, I have been successful.

Day 11....

......of training. I had a feeling that the weather wasn't going to be very nice to me this morning. So, I got all ready and walked outside and this is what greeted me

Rexburg's official first snowfall of the season.

I knew that if I had looked out the window right as I woke up, I would have turned around and gone back to bed.

Running feels GREAT!! I'm surprised to hear myself say that, but it does. The first couple of times I ran, I didn't have an iPod or anything. I heard in a movie once, 'if you can't run without music blasting in your ears, then you aren't comfortable with your own thoughts." And since we all know how right movies can be.....just kidding. Music makes me want to keep going; I hear the right song and I'm good for another mile, sometimes two. Yes, my body is feeling this change of activity, but the excited feeling I get when I'm getting ready to go is a fun thing to uncover.

This entry is short and sweet, but stay tuned for other news regarding my training.