April Visitors

Okay, so I am trying to post at least monthly (thanks to some strong encouragement from my mother-in-law). It is going to be rough but I will do my best. I have no idea how you ladies find time to blog so frequently. You must lock your kids in the closet while you blog or something. Anyways, here is my attempt at giving you a quick update for April.

At the beginning of April my brother had spring break, so he and his adorable girlfriend Summer came down to visit. We had a great time going to Sea World, the Padres game, and just hanging out as a family.

Also in April there was a big national holiday, hope you got the day off 'cause we did. Kate turned 2!! We had a fun pool party for Kate and her friends. It was not the warmest of days to have a pool party but Kate didn't care. We could not get her out of the pool despite her purple and shivering body. Turns out she is hypercolor like her mother.

Happy belated Easter everyone. We had fun helping Kate learn all that Easter had to offer. Dying your fingers, receiving fun presents from the Easter Bunny and eating more candy in one day than she has in the first 2 years of her life. We had fun hunting for eggs (indoors- it was a little wet on Easter).

Here is our beautiful little girl and "Baby" with their matching Easter dresses.

To finish off our month of visitors, my wonderful sister and her girls came down for a week. Kate had so much fun playing with her cousins and I enjoyed every moment of having my sister around. I miss her tons!

We had a busy and fun filled April. We are enjoying our great California weather and looking forward to more fun in the sun this summer.

I promise there will still be a China post coming.

We're Back

I know it has been ages since I have posted anything on our blog, but I thought I would try to do a catch up (Cliff's Notes version) of what we have been up to the past several months. See ya in another 6 months (ha, ha).

November

At the beginning of November we had some family pictures taken by our very talented friend Nina Seibert of Blackbird Ink Photography. It was a little challenging to get pictures with a very busy 18 month old, but Nina miraculously managed to snag some cute ones (including the picture at our blog header).



Growing up we would occasionally have holidays spent at my Dad's fire station. This year my Dad's work schedule once again landed on Thanksgiving, so off we went to the fire station. We got to have a delicious Thanksgiving meal provided by the great firefighter chefs. Always a great time.

DECEMBER

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Anyone who knows me knows that this is my favorite month of the whole year. I just love Christmas and we had a wonderful one. We got to spend time with both of our families. And Kate and I even got to have our very first White Christmas. Here are a few shots of our Christmas fun!

Meeting Santa... Kate loved Santa from afar but not quite sure about the hairy old man up close.

Enjoying the "snow" at Disneyland

A little Christmas baking

The cast of the 2010 Darby Christmas Eve Nativity

Christmas Morning

Trying out the new baby stroller

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

JANUARY

Happy New Year! We started the year off right with some good exercise.

The second half of the month we were separated from Daddy as Kate and I went to Washington to visit my sister. Kate had a blast with her cousins.

When we got back from Washignton Ryan left for a psychology conference. At the end of the month we were very happy to finally be home and back together. We always miss our beautiful home town when we are away.

FEBRUARY

The month of love... cute faces... and beautiful weather (well at least in California)

MARCH

March started sad but ended happy. March was the month that our Disneyland passes came to an end. We had such a wonderful year full of many Magical visits to Disneyland. We will always remember this as the happiest year of our lives. Here are some pictures of our last visit.



March ended happy because Ryan and I took a wonderful trip to China, just the two of us, while Kate vacationed in Murrieta,CA with my parents. I think she had just as much fun as we did. She LOVES her Mammo and Poppo. We will do post dedicated to China a little later.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

Playing Peek-a-Boo...

Dancing...

Feeding myself (and just eating in general)...

My Bellybutton...

My monkey backpack and climbing on chairs...

Minnie Mouse (Kate is very good at making sure she gets fed)

Playing "Hide the Pig" with Daddy (said Pig pictured below)

Hanging Upside Down...

And last but definitely not least... Eliza Diehl!

A Fun Filled October

We have had a busy but fun month filled with many adventures and even more welcome visitors. Here are some of the fun things we've been up to this month...

The most important of all the events took place at the beginning of this month...
Kate started NURSERY!!!

And of course she LOVES it. As long as there are friends and toys she is happy.

Several trips to DISNEYLAND.
I could be there every day and be happy.

Can't get enough of that holiday decor. Love it!

Kate's not quite sure she likes meeting Chip

It was a bit wet the day we went with Ryan's parents, but that made for an empty Disneyland. We decided we are buying galoshes and going every time it rains.

We had a blast with Ryan's parents at Disneyland. They got so excited over all the rides. It was like watching 5 year olds at Disneyland for the first time. Thanks again for visiting!

Fall fun at the Bates Nut Farm

What a cute kid

Family photo op

Look how big our Kate has gotten. Almost a year later to the day.
6 months

18 months

Pumpkin carving fun... and watching the Charlie Brown and Garfield Halloween Specials (Classic!)

And finally... HALLOWEEN!!!!
Kate was a chick/duck this year. We weren't quite sure which one it was supposed to be so we settled with "Adorable Bird".

With my parents at our ward's Trunk-or-Treat

Our wonderful friends Chris and Lyndsey brought their adorable kids and joined in on the fun.

Side profile. That little tail wiggled as she walked
(actually Kate never walks--so ran) around. So cute!

Farmer Sarah and Scarecrow Ryan

Look at that excited face

Getting the goods

Kate with her BFF Eliza

And remember kids Colgate works best to get that leftover chocolate ring off your face.
(One family was passing out candy and toothpaste. Awesome!)

We had a great Halloween, and October for that matter. Hope yours was great too. We are now listening to Christmas music with gusto and hoping for the best holiday of them all to come quickly.