Happy Birthday Rachael!

My baby is ONE!! That is completely insane. Truly where has the time gone? I don't have any pictures from yesterday and today cuz I don't have pictures on this computer, but I just wanted to put down some thoughts. I just laid her down t0 bed and thought back to the first night with her. I remember lying there in the dark, Nate was asleep on his little cot thing, the nurses had left, and I was FREAKED OUT. I had held little babies before, but I had never been responsible for one. I remember wondering if the nurses were going to come in when she started to cry and help me get her to nurse or if they were going to change her diapers. No go. It was all up to me. I remember that the hospital bed was so far down from her bassinet thing, and it was ridiculous. I remember her needing the skin to skin contact and her staying so still and beautiful. I remember wondering if I was really ready. What the heck. But she was so beautiful and so perfect. I remember loving her cry. She didn't cry too often, but it was adorable. I remember being bummed than none of her carefully planned and picked outfits fit her, except the one from my friend Aubrey and another one from a girl from beauty school Ashley. I don't remember thinking forward to her first birthday and thinking what it would be like, I just remember her. This was a little piece of me, and a little piece of Nate. Amazing. I look forward to spending more time with her, my little buddy. Even though it is tough at times, I wouldn't swap my life for anything. Love you, Baby Doll!

Quickie

We are having a blast here in Canada! So far we've spent most of our time at my parent's property camping and riding the quads around but we have also already gone to Calaway Park and the Calgary Zoo. The picture is one of us on the Merry-Go-Round at Calaway (don't mind that I'm not looking...). Rachael had a great time, and I had fun showing Nate one of my favorite places to go growing up. More pictures will be coming in the future!

Lisa and Jake

This is me and my good friend/next door neighbor, Lisa. We have been neighbors about two months, but friends for like two weeks, cuz we're both dumb and didn't introduce ourselves... But these two weeks have seriously been so fun. Not like we do anything other than hang out with our adorable babies. Jake is 6 months old, and Rachael LOVES him. She is constantly trying to touch him, or poke him in the eyes. He is just so relaxed and runs with it. Well... Lisa's husband, Britton, is graduating so they're moving back to Washington. LAME!! Whoever moves in there better have a child, or else I don't know what I'll do. Lisa and I have been watching each other's kids off and on for short periods of time if we have an errand to run or whatever. It is a pretty sweet hook up and I'm so sad to see them go. This last week I think we've had dinner together all but once. :( Thanks for being such a good friend, Lisa! Rachael and I will miss you SO much!!

I made Jake a Harry Potter onesie too so we had to take advantage of this photo op. Lisa loves HP which is one more reason I'm sad to see her go!

One word... Harry.

I. Love. Harry. Potter. Last night, Nate's sister, Melissa (and my neighbor, Lisa), watched the baby while we went to the midnight movie of HP6. I loved it. I don't know if I loved it even more because of the anticipation that was building up since Thanksgiving (its original release date), or if I'm just a nerd. There were some pretty weird people waiting outside last night, but it was pretty funny. The theater in Idaho Falls (where we went) sold out I don't even know how many auditoriums, and Rexburg sold out all of theirs. Crazy! It was so much fun though. We went with our friends Chris and Tani Bree Stevenson, and afterwards Nate and I went to Denny's at 330. We're crazy we know, but it was so fun.
I made these shirts out of a stencil I made by printing this symbol off of the internet. I think they turned out pretty well, and they were one of a kind. Rachael's onesie is super duper cute! Nate was a good sport to wear glittery paint on a Harry Potter shirt.

I even painted my toes Harryesque. I'm not obsessed am I? When does the next one come out???

Fun in the High Chair

Well, if you remember, this little munchkin has had some issues eating healthy-ish foods as of late. She has gotten a little better and I have learned that even though she spits EVERYTHING out immediately after it enters her mouth, she will eventually eat it. Take cottage cheese, for example. Delicious right? Rachael happens to think so as well. I put a nice pile of warmed up curds for her, she tasted one, spit it out, then took a HUGE handful and shoved it into her mouth. This was the result. (May I just say that it is very hard to get a smiley picture with my phone, it takes like 5 seconds to snap, so I'm loving this picture!)

Later on that day (or maybe the next), Rachael decided to forego her afternoon nap. This was the result of that. Pretty stinking adorable if you ask me.

She loves her sippy cup!

A new smile

This little kid gets cuter EVERY DAY. She has recently discovered that she has eight adorable teeth and wants to show them off, so she has arranged herself a new smile. By far her cutest time of the day, though, is when Nate leaves for work and when he comes home. We'll say goodbye to him at the door, then rush to the window so see him off. She'll stand on top of the couch and squeel and scream at him while waving bye-bye. Then after work I'll see him pull up and we'll do it all again. We're working on getting a video of it, but of course she turns off the cuteness when that light starts to flash.

A frustrating refusal

So in the past, Rachael has been a VERY good eater. Not such is the case anymore. I think she is coming to the realization that I am attempting to wean her and she is not a fan. No matter what I put in front of her, it ends up on the floor or in her lap. Little pieces of ham, turkey, potatoes, peaches, broccoli, all of it goes to waste. She WILL eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, on which I smother the PB for some protein, and she'll drink whole milk out of her sippy cup, but that is it. I tried to do a turkey and cheese sandwich. No go. Agh! And she won't eat anything off of a spoon unless it is sweet so I get sneaky and mix fruits or yogurt with oatmeal. Sometimes I go so far as to tease her with pizza or whatever I'm eating and then rush a huge spoonful of healthy food into her mouth. I'm so nice...

There was one precious night that she ate some simple meatballs and tomato sauce I made for her with parmesan cheese (Nate calls this gourmet) but last night all she did was suck the cheese and sauce off and place the meat to the side (that is the little pile to the left). What a stinker!

Is it too early to start the "If you don't eat what mama makes, you don't eat at all" rule? (I'm kidding of course)

Holy Posts!

I've been kind of slacking on the posting lately, so here are a ton. My mom is also going through baby withdrawls from being in Canada and not being able to get pix messages, so hopefully I'll keep up on it. Enjoy!

Birthday Party!!

Rachael got invited to her first Friend Birthday Party. My Relief Society President has a little girl who Rachael occasionally plays with. Her name is Lexi and Rachael was so cute. We got the times a little mixed up, so Rachael ended up having a nap before. She actually fell asleep on me which rarely happens anymore so I took a picture of it. Awww....

Here is Rachael playing with Lexi's new toy. Rachael had some issues with sharing, and actually pinched the Birthday Girl! I put a stop to that right quick. Its starting already??

Here is Lexi and her mom opening the presents. We gave her some bows that I've been making lately. Lexi's mom is actually going to teach me how to make a different kind of bow soon, so I'm really excited for that!

Birthday Cupcake! I feel like Rachael is going to go to town when we give her a cake to tear into. I'm pretty excited for that!

Fourth of July Outfit

This cute outfit my mom bought Rachael for the 4th, including the cute sparkly flip flops. It was tough to get a good picture because by this point, our camera was broken (see next post). She even bought me some ribbon to make her a patriotic bow. Love it, thanks mom!

The Fourth of July

Nate's nephew, Josh, turned one yesterday so we all went down to Twin Falls for his party but went a day early to celebrate the 4th, one of Nate's favorite holidays. He loves to buy fireworks and light them for everyone to enjoy. We also went to a natural Hot Spring called Nat Soo Pah and did some swimming which was so much fun. We also enjoyed playing with our new waterproof camera. Let's not talk about how our camera is now broken and in the mail being shipped to be fixed. I'm ticked. Beyond all reason. If I don't have that camera for when we go to Canada on the 18th and for Rachael's birthday on the 31st, my fury will know no bounds (only directed at the Olympus company, of course). It was fun while it lasted!

My sweet little baby with her adorable teeth :)

Cute little Josh!

Kimball was a good sport to humor me in my underwater photography pursuits.

Elise and our niece Abigail

The Drive In

Last Saturday (I think...) Nate's little sister Elise was sweet enough to babysit for us so we could go to the Drive In Movie with some friends. We saw Night at the Museum II (SO good) and Land of the Lost (biggest waste of time and money EVER) with our friends Chris and Tani Bree Stevenson. It was so fun to go to the Drive In. We haven't been since we were dating because they closed it down but just opened it again this summer. Nate was in the middle of being sick so he didn't have a voice, which made that a better memory. I love going on dates with Nate, and we definately need to make this a weekly thing. Elise?? Just joking!

This was Rachael right before we left. She loves taking baths! And this cute flower towel was a gift from my mom, and I love it!

Mr. and Mrs. Tippits

Last weekend my good friend from hair school, Lexi, got married to her missionary, Case. Yay! It was so much fun to stand around the manikin tables talking about her future wedding and how much fun our families would have, and now it can happen! I love you Lexi and I'm so glad you're so happy! I was so sad that I couldn't go to Salt Lake for the ceremony, so my other friend from school, Jaleesa, took me and Rachael down to Star Valley with her. If you want to see beautiful country, go to Star Valley. I truly was amazed at how beautiful it was. I want to go camping there just so I can look at it.