Weekend in Utah!

Last Thursday Mercedes and I flew out to Utah for the weekend to visit family and friends. We kissed Taylor good-bye and boarded the plane. I was a bit choked up, I don't like being away from Taylor.
This was Mercedes' first airplane ride! Unfortunately it was right during her normal nap time, and although it was only an hour and 20 minute flight, she was a handful. She never screamed her head off (thank goodness) but she wasn't very happy either.
Well, except for this photo. She finally fell asleep the last ten minutes of the flight.
Mercedes got lots of time with her only cousin Alex. They were very cute together. Alex is two and a half hears older than her. These two actually remind me a lot of Addison and I. (My big brother, and Alex's dad, for anyone who doesn't know).


This is Mercedes' "Look at that doggy!" face. We were in my best friend Lacey's car and their dog was in the back.
All growing up Lacey and I would talk about our futures. Going on walks down the River Trail with our babies was one of them.
It was amazing and almost surreal knowing we were actually doing that.
Here I'm holding Lacey's 3 week old baby boy Maddix. He was so precious!
Mercedes loves being outside.
If you can click on the picture to make it bigger, I think Mercedes' face in this one is just great.
I had to get a shot of the babies in the car together! So cute!!
I stayed with my brother Addison and sister-in-law Ana. I love these guys.
Brown eyes! I decided a monkey costume would be perfect for Mercedes since we're always calling her our "little monkey."
She thought Alex's room was the best place on earth. I decided I need to get her some real toys. She finds those much more interesting than her baby toys.
Here we took Halloween pictures of Mercedes, Maddix and Lacey's sister-in-law Larissa's baby. We all played softball together in high school. Funny what the future brings! The baby girls were a bit concerned with Maddix who wasn't very happy.

The three of us and our babies! Love.


I kept trying to get a photo of Mercedes interacting with Nala Lacey's dog but every time I snapped a picture Mercedes would do something else. She loved the dog though.
This was Sunday morning after we woke up. I love her morning face.
These ones are for the grandparents in the Ukraine. :)


I loved spending time with Addison and Ana. I miss them greatly in California.
Best friends!
I love my big brother.

Mercedes and I had so much fun in Utah! Thank you so much guys for letting us come and stay with you and be with you for the weekend! And thank you Taylor for making it happen! It was a blast!

October Happenings

October has been a great month and I can't believe it's almost over. We are doing great and just loving the cool weather.
This was Mercedes two Sundays ago before church. I don't even know how many pictures of this girl I take per day...
On this night Taylor made a candy run for us.
We thought we would let Mercedes think she was enjoying what we were.
Don't worry, she wasn't really eating it.
...or so we thought! She had sucked and chewed on it enough so that the adhesive between the wrapper unglued and she got her first taste of chocolate, without us even knowing. So much for waiting. Silly mommy and daddy.
Last weekend we took Mercedes to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm! It was a really neat place and much bigger than the one I loved dearly and grew up going to in Utah. We didn't do too much however because Mercedes is so small but we're SUPER excited to bring her back next year when she'll enjoy a hay ride, picking out a pumpkin, etc.

We mainly hung out at the petting zoo. We knew Mercedes would enjoy that.
These two are just precious to me!

Family picture! I still wish we would have asked a random stranger to take a photo for us. Sorry Mercedes.

I had a hard time getting her to put her head through the hole.
We can't get over this adorable little face of hers!
Here is Mercedes playing at Grandma Tammy's and Grandpa Galen's.

See this picture above? Taylor and I die laughing every time we look at it. She doesn't like hats very much.
Sorry this picture is kind of blurry. Girlies posing for the camera! And I got bangs. :)
And last but not least, Mercedes' Halloween costume! She almost totally blended in with the carpet. Cute little monkey. :)
I was planning on making one but finally gave in and bought one last night because I'm feeling pressured with all I have to do before Thursday. Mercedes and I will be flying out to Utah for the weekend to visit friends and family! We'll be staying with Addison and Ana and I am so excited! I'll try to take lots of pictures and then do a post next week. Happy Halloween!

Not the only ones

I just had to post pictures of this sweet face. It's amazing how strong my mother to daughter love is for her.
Words can't describe!


I'm still getting used to the fact that Taylor and I aren't the only making messes anymore.

Not-so-Happy Meals

The title says it all. See my post about Happy Meals on my other blog. Crazy stuff! love.create.live

Late afternoon

Mercedes is finally down for what I'm hoping is a good solid nap. She doesn't normally fuss too much but today she hit the "point of no return" and cried an angry cry for a good 25 minutes before she gave up and went to sleep. In my arms or in her bed it didn't matter, she knew it was time for a nap and that was not what she wanted.

She is a pretty strong willed little one let me tell you. But we love her for it.

I, however, took a down day myself and I admit that I am still in my pajamas. Yes it is true. I am tired. I think I took a short nap on the couch earlier with Mercedes but I'm not really sure. I didn't feel like I slept but then again the movie I was watching had come near the end.

This picture is a total exaggeration but I thought it was funny.

I'll probably grab a snack and make myself decent before my hubby comes home from work. I love that man. Then I'll either take a really late nap (Taylor's suggestion) or go for a run. Thanks for reading my silly post. :)

Saturday, September 18th

Mercedes is napping and Taylor is out at "the gun store" with his brother and dad and so I'm taking the alone time to blog. It will only be as long as my baby's nap. Since I'm just sitting here listening to the silence plus the dishwasher (so not really silence) I'm just going to go over recent events and thoughts I have on my mind. Throughout will be pictures of my adorable little cumquat.
First of all, Mercedes will be 7 months old tomorrow! I know, I really cannot believe it. Seven months is a long time. It's almost as long as a full pregnancy. She doesn't seem like it's been that long but I guess it has.
Mercedes has two teeth and I think she may be getting another soon. She had a fever on and off the last day or two (poor thing) with no other symptoms and so I'm just waiting for another tooth to come through.
She's also pretty much crawling now. She hasn't quite gotten down the mechanics of it all but she gets up on her knees and then does a sort of push-up where she's only on her hands and then big toes with her legs straight back behind her. It's quite the sight to see. In the end, she gets where she wants to go.
On a different note, Taylor is turning 26 tomorrow! I love that man so much. He works so hard to support our little family and takes care of us so well. He is the love of my life and makes me the happiest woman.
So I just have to say how EXCITED I am that my family will be home from the Ukraine in nine and a half months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes that's right. They have been on the other side of the world for longer than a full 2 year mission and it has been a LONG time of missing someone, let me tell you. (well 5 people to be exact). AND a month after mom, dad, Morgan and Slade come home, Jordan will be home from his mission in Chile!!!!!!! I can't even tell you how much it feels like a dream come true to actually be with everyone at the same time again. My mom, dad, brothers, sister-in-law and nephew (plus another niece or nephew on the way) . And the five family members who have been gone will finally get to meet Mercedes!
Mercedes looks very pensieve in these two photos.
What else is happening around here? Oh it's starting to get cloudy here and there and I cannot wait for the daily cloud cover. I thrive off of cloudy skies and a little rain. I am also getting really really excited for the fall/Christmas seasons.
My best friend Lacey is having her baby boy in the next few weeks! I'm so sad I won't be in Utah to see her after he's born but I'm so excited for their little family and also that we will both have babies. Taylor and I are trying to figure out how we can get out to Utah sooner than next summer.
Mercedes loves her daddy.
I'm starting to run out of things to say actually. I'm very tired from waking up every hour or so during the night to take Mercedes' temperature just to make sure her fever wasn't coming back. Thank goodness it didn't.
See how Mercedes is crossing her legs in this photo above? She always crosses her legs, so dainty!
Here she is getting up on her knees.
And here she is lounging and sipping from her bottle of water.
Being a parent is so rewarding. I am in love with this little girl. Well I guess that's all for my thoughts. Taylor is home now so I'm going to go spend some time with him before Mercedes wakes up. Have a wonderful Saturday and thanks for reading. :)

Toy for baby, toy for mommy

Yep, yesterday we finally gave in an got a walker for Mercedes. Gosh it sounds like I didn't want one for her or something, which isn't true. Actually I've been wanting to buy her one for a while and just haven't but after moving some things around in the kitchen and making more space I realized how perfect the situation would be with a walker! I found a cute/good priced one and went ahead and got it. Mercedes really likes it although she can barely touch the floor on the lowest setting. She is starting to understand that she can move around when she pushes with one foot. Happy mommy!

Notice how her jammies are unzipped so she can touch the floor with her toes?