The Juarez Family

Superstition Hike

2012-01-14T20:34:00.000-08:00

One morning during the holidays, we decided to head out to the Superstition Mountains to try out our new hiking backpack that we got for Christmas. The scenery was beautiful and Rylie seemed to enjoy riding in the pack. She really loved drinking out of the Camelback and the snacks she got along the way! :)

Character Breakfast

2012-01-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

While we were in California, Mimi made a character breakfast reservation at Disneyland. We got to go in before the park opened and had a fabulous buffet breakfast for as long as we wanted. A bunch of characters stop by your table throughout the morning and you can take pictures with them. It was the Minnie and Friends breakfast so of course Minnie Mouse was there. I was really hoping that the Winnie the Pooh characters would show up since Rylie loves them right now, and much to my surprise, Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger were all there! Rylie didn't mind the characters as long as she didn't have to be super close to them by herself. :) She loved Minnie Mouse and Chip and Dale...not a fan of Eeyore (even though he kept trying to make friends with her...it was so cute!) and Pooh made it to the table next to us, but never came to ours. It was so cute and something we definitely will do again in the future!

Waving at all of the characters :)

Blowing Tigger kisses

Showing Minnie where her nose was :)

Minnie was trying really hard to help Rylie and Eeyore become friends...yeah, not so much!

Our little Minnie Mouse :)

Christmas #2

2012-01-04T21:21:00.000-08:00

We headed out to California bright and early the day after Christmas to celebrate with the Juarez clan. We arrived mid-morning and headed to Helen's house to have Christmas. Needless to say, Rylie was once again very spoiled! We all had a blast opening gifts and relaxing that afternoon before heading to, where else, but Disneyland! It was pretty crowded so we stayed in California Adventure, but it was fun to be there all together!

Christmas Day 2011

2012-01-02T19:36:00.000-08:00

This was the first Christmas morning that we started off in our own house since we got married, so it was different and so fun! Rylie slept in a little bit due to the festivities the night before, but we eventually woke up, read the Christmas story, and finally started the gifts with her stocking. I probably could have stopped shopping after her stocking was filled since she loved everything in her stocking and spent quite a lot of time playing with those items. :) My parents and Grandma came over about 9 for more gifts and breakfast. Jeff and Laura joined us later and then we all headed over to my Great Aunt Mary's house for lunch. That night, we went to my parents house for the Perkins family Christmas. Whew! It was a full, but very fun day.

Modeling her princess shoes!

She loved her kitchen!

Playing with cousins.

The chaotic and super fun Perkins family Christmas!

She loved her baby stroller. She spent most of the evening pushing it all over my parents house.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-31T20:56:00.000-08:00

We headed to church on Christmas Eve and then it was off to my Grandpa and Grandma's house for our traditional lasagna dinner. This was also the first Christmas Eve that Brandon and I had to stay up late and play Santa's elves by putting some of Rylie's toys together for the next day. :)

Fun in the Snow

2011-12-22T19:07:00.000-08:00

The past few days we have had a blast in the snow with Rylie. She isn't really a huge fan of touching the snow with her hands, but doesn't mind playing in it and even seemed to have fun sledding!

Catching snowflakes with Papa :)

On our way home from sledding in the snow.

Rylie didn't miss us!

2011-12-22T15:04:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile, while we were off snowboarding, Rylie was having the time of her life with Grandma and Gigi. They played in the snow, read books, did puzzles...I don't think she missed us one bit! :)

Shred Sleds!!

2011-12-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

Our first day up in Pinetop my mom graciously offered to babysit Rylie so that Brandon and I could go snowboarding! If you have known us for awhile, we have quite a past involving snowboards (started dating on a snowboard trip, got engaged snowboarding, honeymoon? oh yeah, snowboarding there too!) but due to a certain little addition to our family, it has been a bit tough to go the past couple of years (pregnancy and snowboarding don't exactly go hand in hand). My Dad, Jeff and Laura also came with us (Laura's first day skiing and she did amazing!). We had a great day on the mountain! It was sunny and perfect snow all morning and then it started lightly snowing in the afternoon. One of my favorite things in the world with my favorite person in the world...pretty perfect way to spend the day!

A little piece of my childhood...at the top of the mountain with my dad! Such fun memories!

Bearizona

2011-12-21T10:40:00.000-08:00

After the Polar Express, we stayed the night in a hotel in Williams (Rylie only slept until 3am, so needless to say, it was a very long night!). The next day we headed to Bearizona, a drive through safari like park, but with forest animals. There is also a walk through part and Rylie seemed to really enjoy it!

The Polar Express

2011-12-20T20:28:00.000-08:00

We were all so excited to go on the Polar Express (I have been waiting for a child old enough so I could go) and after making reservations back in August, it was finally here! We picked Mimi (Gammie's new name according to Rylie which means its ok with Gammie to now be called Mimi!) up from the airport and headed to Williams, AZ. My parents and Jeff and Laura also came on the trip.

After dinner and checking into our hotel, we headed to the train station to take some pictures, let Rylie see Mrs. Claus and Santa (yeah, not a fan this time around!) and then waited to board the train to the North Pole. I have to say that I loved Rylie's pjs, robe, and beanie that we got for this trip. :)

Once we got on the train, they handed out cookies and hot cocoa. Rylie, of course, loved both. We had brought our copy of the "Polar Express" book so that she could follow along while they read the book. She loved looking at the lights as we arrived at the North Pole and waved to Santa and his elf. It was so fun to watch her take everything in and how excited she got about the little things.

Santa then boarded the train as we headed back and handed out bells to all of the kids. Not unlike the train station, Rylie was not a fan of Santa (she spider monkeyed up Mimi's arm as soon as he got to her), but she loved (and still loves) the bell. On the way back they sang Christmas carols and this was by far Rylie's favorite part (as you can see below).

The whole experience was so fun and we hope to make it an annual Christmas tradition!

Christmas at the Railroad Park

2011-12-13T12:06:00.000-08:00

My parents offered to babysit one night so Brandon and I could go out on a date. They took Rylie to the McCormick Stillman Railroad park in Scottsdale and it happened to be their tree lighting event. Rylie loved all of the lights and the train rides she got to go on with her Papa and Grandma.

Children's Museum

2011-12-09T11:08:00.000-08:00

My Dad, Mom and I had the opportunity to take Rylie to the Children's Museum of Phoenix one afternoon. This place is amazing! Everything a kid could ever want to do is here, and they are allowed to touch everything. :) Rylie could have spent hours in the kitchen and grocery store rooms, and the room with all of the ball tracks was probably her favorite.

Decorating the Tree

2011-12-06T19:11:00.001-08:00

We let Rylie help us decorate the tree this year...which may have been a mistake since now I sort of gave her permission to touch the tree. But, it was really cute and she seemed to have a lot of fun! It didn't take long for her to get the idea of how to hang the ornaments and then go pick out another one to hang. Since then, those same ornaments have been on and off the tree about a million times, so needless to say there are not many within her reach! She also had her first taste of hot chocolate...yes, she is a fan! :)

(If you look closely, you can see the remnants of her hot chocolate :) )

Little Farm Girl

2011-12-01T07:51:00.001-08:00

Rylie loves the animals at my parents house. They still have one horse and there are always at least 3 (if not 4!) dogs. Their neighbors have chickens and make sure that my mom has feed so that they will come right up to the fence and Rylie can feed them. One of Rylie's favorite things to do is feed the horse...apparently, the Larson farm blood runs through her veins!

Christmas Cookies!

2011-11-27T15:14:00.001-08:00

While we were in California, we decided to help Helen decorate her house for Christmas, so to keep Rylie busy, Gammie and her made cookies. Rylie quickly caught on with where to place each cookie on the cookie sheet (after tasting almost every single one before she put it down) and how to put the sprinkles on the cookies (also, probably tasting more than decorating). After they were done, she very proudly brought some around for each of us to have. :)

I asked her if she had anything in her mouth and this is what I got. :)

Helping Gammie get the cookies on the tray.

A Magical Place

2011-11-27T14:15:00.001-08:00

On Black Friday, the girls all woke up and went shopping. :) Rylie stayed with Daddy and got a great nap and went to hang out with Grandpa Ruben where she got a whole new box of toys to play with. After a great day of shopping and eating, we decided to head to Disneyland for the Christmas fireworks. We got there with enough time to take Rylie on Winnie the Pooh and then headed to get a spot on Main Street for the fireworks show. If you have never seen any of Disney's fireworks displays, they are amazing...but the Christmas show is hands down the greatest fireworks show ever (at least in my opinion). :)

We have a picture in front of this tree from when I was pregnant with Rylie, and then we also took one last year...our new photo tradition!

Rylie loves Winnie the Pooh right now, so she was very excited to see him on this sign. :)

To say that Rylie loved the fireworks is probably an understatement. She was kind of loopy by the time they started (way past her bedtime!) so she was dancing, giggling, and giving Gammie kisses throughout the entire show. At the end, the music changes, all of the lights turn white and blue, and it starts to snow on Main Street! She kept looking up and reaching for the snow. Brandon and I loved the fireworks already, but now we have the most amazing memories from Rylie's first time seeing them. I will never forget the look of wonder on her face. :) Now, here's to hoping she might get to see some real snow fall this winter! :)

Rylie also got her first balloon from Gammie at Disneyland (it has an on/off switch...only at Disneyland!). It took probably about less than 2 minutes for this to happen when we got in the car. :)

Turkey Day 2011

2011-11-26T10:18:00.001-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving this year in California with Brandon's family. The big meal was held at Brian's (Brandon's oldest brother) in Temecula where the weather was fabulous (overcast and rainy) and the food was great!

Rylie loves Uncle "Ba" (her attempt at Brian) and Aunt "She She" (Sheila)'s cats. The only brave one for the day was Bailey who spent the afternoon on the stairs just out of Rylie's reach (I can't really blame him for that one). :)

One of the many races for the day. :)

Rylie got to eat at the kids table this year! Seriously, we can't believe how old she seems lately...definitely our little toddler and not our little baby anymore! She thoroughly enjoyed her Thanksgiving meal. She ate 3 helpings of the jello/pudding salad, corn and cheese. She kind of liked the mashed potatoes and didn't really want anything to do with the stuffing or turkey.

First Santa Visit of the Season

2011-11-17T07:47:00.001-08:00

Last night, we took Rylie to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop. They have the cutest Christmas event for kids and the entire thing if FREE! :) There are little shooting games, a train, crafts, a carousel and pictures with Santa. Even the Santa pictures are free! Rylie had a blast and didn't even mind sitting on Santa's lap.

Big Step in Swim Lessons

2011-11-15T07:58:00.001-08:00

Rylie took a big step in her swim lessons-she moved up to the next level! Not only did she move up, she now goes in the water without me! I get to watch from behind the glass now. She did so good at her first lesson. She listened to Coach Melanie and waited her turn on the side of the pool. She was such a big girl! The other exciting part was that Brandon had the day off of work, so he also got to see our little girl take another big step to growing up. :)

(The pics are taken with my phone through the glass)

Waiting her turn. :)

Diving for rings...she loves this part.

S'More Please!

2011-11-12T08:58:00.001-08:00

We do a family dinner every Monday night at my parents house. This week, we had a bonfire with s'mores to kick off our (finally) cooler weather! Rylie was a big fan of the s'more. :)

Sleepover!

2011-11-10T08:46:00.000-08:00

Brandon and I had the opportunity to spend a weekend away so Rylie spend the night with Papa and Grandma. My mom still has an injured foot, so Papa got to run around the park with Rylie. :)

A Day at Grammys

2011-11-09T08:26:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, my mom took Rylie to my Grandma's house (Grammy) for the afternoon. Rylie had the time of her life playing outside with Grammy's hose, reading books, and sharing her snack with Millie (the dog). :)

Contest Winner!

2011-11-08T06:59:00.000-08:00

Rylie won an online costume contest that I entered her in! Check out the site and shop of Blue Eyed Owl to see Rylie in her winning costume!

http://blueeyedowlboutique.blogspot.com/2011/11/costume-contest-winners.html

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

Our Halloween celebrations started on Sunday night. We put Rylie in her Starbucks Frappuchinno costume and headed to Grace Church with my parents for their Fall picnic. They had food and little games set up for the kids to play and get candy. The first game that Rylie played was a fishing game where they gave her a mini Twix bar. She would have been happy to be done at that point, as all she really wanted to do from then on was put the Twix bar in her pumpkin and take it out again. But, she did play a few other games before she got totally overwhelmed. :)

On Halloween, we headed over to my Aunt and Uncle's house to go trick or treating. This time, we were all in costume...the Starbucks family, complete with 2 baristas, our little carmel frappuchinno, and our bag of coffee. :)

The trick or treaters-a frappuchinno, a cupcake, and a cow.

The hunter and his deer :)

Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

We had my parents and brother come over one night for dinner and to carve our pumpkins! Last year, Rylie was pretty interested in the whole process...this year, not as much. :) She was curious as to why she got to sit on the table, but was not a fan of how the pumpkin guts felt. She liked them when they were lit up, but then she ran smack into the side of the table since it was dark, and that was the end of that!

Brandon has decided that this is really the only way to carve a pumpkin!

Little Football Fan

2011-10-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

So my brother is a huge Minnesota Vikings fan, like maybe the biggest one besides the guy that dresses up like an actual Viking with a horn at all of the games. :) Before Rylie was born, he bought her a few different Vikings outfits to help him cheer them on to victory (can't say that it has really worked these past couple of years!). She also actually learned how to say Vikings...made her Uncle Jeff so proud! :)

Pumpkin Patch Take 2

2011-10-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

My Mom, Grandma, Rylie and I headed to another pumpkin patch in the area. Besides the heat (it was pretty hot in an open field with no shade), we had a blast! DeWitt Stables in Mesa offered this pumpkin patch. I knew it was going to be fairly small, but really Rylie doesn't need much to be entertained. I think her favorite part of the day was the pony/horse rides that they got to go on. She loves horses right now. We also got to go into a petting zoo that had the normal horses and goats, but also had ducks, a turkey, chickens and a rabbit. She loved riding on the Pumpkin Express and picking out a pumpkin at the little patch. All in all, it was a great morning!

Breast Cancer Awareness Game

2011-10-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

This past Friday night was my cheerleaders Breast Cancer Awareness football game. The designed t-shirts to sell and had amazing raffle prizes to raise money. I was so proud of the effort that they and my other coach put in to the game and at the end of the night they had raised $1100! I couldn't get a shirt in Rylie's size, but my mom and I got creative and made one fit her. :)

Time to Jump Jump!

2011-10-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

We met Amy, Ashley, Cayden and Paisley at the gym one afternoon so they could get some energy out. :) I love that I work at a place that is so fun for Rylie. She is getting so good a walking on the balance beam (this time she wanted to try it by herself) and is sometimes actually getting off the ground on 2 feet when she tries to jump on the trampoline.

Even with all of the amazing, fun equipment around, Rylie's favorite is still the slide. :)

She will get into the pit all by herself, but she can't quite climb out by herself yet!

Biker Babe

2011-10-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

My brother was given this great little cart that goes behind a bike for Rylie. It has been so hot that we haven't been able to try it out...until now!

She loves it! We have been a few times now and she is so happy and chatty sitting in her cart, cruisin' away!

Hey Batter Batter! Swing!

2011-10-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

We took Rylie to this huge park while we were in California to play. She loves slides and swings right now so parks are pretty fabulous in her mind. :) We also brought a bat and some wiffle balls to introduce her to the fun that is baseball. She slowly got the point of the whole throw the ball, hit the ball, and then run.

Parade Fun

2011-10-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

The next time we went to Disneyland, we just went for the parade and dinner (another one of the benefits of having an annual pass). Rylie loves, loves, loves the parade! She started dancing as soon as the music started and didn't stop until the last float went by. It is so fun to watch how mesmerized she is by the characters and the music. This is definitely her favorite thing at Disneyland right now.

We also took a little trip to "It's a Small World" to go for a ride. It actually is a little slow for Rylie and she seems to get bored about half way through. :)

We headed over to the California Grand hotel to eat dinner...let's just say that Rylie thoroughly enjoyed her speghetti and meatballs! :)

Pumpkin Patch Take 1

2011-10-13T23:53:00.000-07:00

We headed over to Irvine Railroad Park today to see what they had to offer. Helen had read that they had a pumpkin patch and she remembered a little train, so we figured that would be great for Rylie. It was way more fun than we thought! The pumpkin patch was huge! They had the most adorable little signs that you could put your face through a hole for photos, little hay stack horses to sit on, a bounce house, pony rides, little tractor races, carnival games, a hay ride and a maze! Needless to say, we did some of this...Rylie was pretty content just walking around to the signs and sticking her face in the hole. :)

The "How Tall this Fall" sign...so cute!

We did take the train around the park and then went to the little zoo that the park has...yes, I said zoo! The OC Zoo is super little, but so perfect for Rylie. She loved the petting zoo the most and would have loved to stay there all day with the goats looking at the bunny rabbits. We will definitely head back to Irvine Railroad Park in the future! The park itself is also amazing with a lake and tons of huge trees. Besides it being pretty hot (like almost 100 degrees...um, I thought this was supposed to be cooler than Phoenix?) we had a great day.

A little of this, a little of that

2011-10-12T22:52:00.000-07:00

We headed to California for Brandon's fall break this year, and this trip, we got to fly! Rylie did so amazing on the flight and had no problems adjusting to sleeping in California (way different than when she spends 5 hours in the car to get here). The morning we got here we headed to a 50th anniversary party for some of Brandon's family. I didn't any great pics since we really had to watch where Rylie was at (wine bottles all over the place and an active toddler...potenially a very bad situation). We have taken one trip to Disneyland so far, but it was pretty busy so we stayed over in California Adventure (always feels less crowded over there). Rylie had a blast feeding the ducks at Brandon's dad's house, she thought that feeding the ducks bread and then taking a bite herself was a pretty good deal! :)

(yes, we gave her the pacifier so she would have something to suck on during take off...and it helped her fall asleep for the landing :) )

She loves the carosel! So much that after I took her, Brandon went back on it with her.

This is what happens with Daddy and Uncle Blake egging him on. :)

The Start of Autumn

2011-10-03T21:36:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a day and get out of the heat to actually feel a little bit of the autumn weather. My mom, Laura, Brandon, Rylie and I headed up to Prescott to a ranch that a good friend of my parents owns. They were having a harvest festival! It was very cute with vendors, wine tasting, hay rides and pumpkins.

Rylie and Brandon working hard on her harvest craft. :)

Rylie was very happy just sitting and playing in the dirt...we were all pretty amazed at how long she was entertained by piling the dirt in her lap.

She didn't really know what to think of the chickens...very curious, but definitely wanted to stay very close to me!

Grandma and Rylie with her pumpkin.

This was how she rode on Brandon's shoulders for a big portion of our walk. She probably would have fallen asleep if we had kept going!

Bye-Bye Cadiz!

2011-10-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

So my mom sold her horse. :( We all went out one night to say goodbye and go for one last ride. Rylie got to ride him all by herself for the first time. He was so good with her that it made us even more sad to see him go, but he is going to a great home with lots of kids around, so we know he will be well loved.

Rylie and Brandon watching Mommy ride. :)

Our little cowgirl!

Helping Grandma feed the horses after our ride.

Winnie the Pooh

2011-10-01T22:12:00.000-07:00

My mom and I decided to take Rylie to her first movie in the theaters early this week. "Winnie the Pooh" is playing at the dollar theater, so we figured it would be no big deal if she only lasted through part of the movie.

She came all prepared with her Pooh bear! :)

She was very into the movie for about 30 minutes (which was way longer than I really expected since she literally does not sit still, ever). She probably lasted that long because I came prepared with various items of her favorite snacks...oh and the popcorn that Grandma bought her. :)

A-S-U!! A-S-U!!

2011-09-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

If you don't already know this, we are pretty big sports fans. :) My personal favorite happens to be college football, so I love this time of year. We gave up our ASU season tickets this year for a number of reasons, but Brandon has been working with the ASU athletic department since May so he still gets tickets. This past Saturday, Rylie, my cousin Amy, and I headed to the game. It was fun to see Brandon working down on the field and Rylie was pretty entertained by all of the activity around her... for a little while at least. :)

It's Halloween Time!!

2011-09-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

Well, at least at Disneyland. :) On Saturday, we headed to Disneyland for most of the day. Rylie just gets more and more fun everytime we go! This time, her favorite thing was probably the corn on the cob that Gammie bought for her to eat. The fall decorations are adorable and the parade was so cute (as always).

This was her face for the entire parade...she was completely mesmerized! :)

Cupcakes, Movies, and More!

2011-09-17T08:52:00.000-07:00

We headed over to California this past weekend to spend some time with Brandon's family. Friday we spent mostly at home relaxing and watching movies. That night we went out to dinner and found a really cute cupcake bakery in downtown Orange. Rylie is such a great little traveller and loves to spend time at Gammie's house.

Rylie and Gammie watching "Tangled".

Rylie sharing her snacks with Gammie. :)

We met Brandon's dad for breakfast one morning.

Birthday Celebrations

2011-09-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

I had a great time celebrating my birthday this year. One night, my whole family headed over to Joe's Farm Grill to eat dinner. The weather was nice enough that we got to sit outside and Rylie got to run around, which made dinner more relaxing for all of us. :)

On my actual birthday I had to work. My mom and Rylie surprised me with a card that Rylie had made for me and flowers. It was a very fun surprise. :)

Build-a-Bear

2011-09-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

While my Mother-in-Law was in town over Labor Day, we were shopping and decided to take Rylie to build her first stuffed animal at Build-a-Bear. She was so cute picking out which one she wanted and helping the lady stuff the dog. We decided to save the picking out clothes until she is a little older since she really just wanted the animal this time. :)

15-16 Months

2011-09-10T20:42:00.000-07:00

Rylie is busy, busy, busy at this stage in her life. She literally never stops moving! She is so much fun and is really starting to show us her sense of humor. Here is what she has been up to lately:

*She loves music of any kind, in any form. If it is on TV, she will dance. If it is on the radio, she will dance. On the computer? Oh yeah, she'll dance to that to. She bends her knees and bobs up and down, she spins in circles, she marches in place and she shakes her head. These are Rylie's dance moves. I am working on getting them on video, but have not been successful just yet.

*The reason that I have not been successful with the video is that Rylie likes to look at any photo of her on my phone. As soon as she sees it come out, she stops what she is doing and runs over to me to check it out. Hence the reason I haven't got her cool dance moves on camera yet.

*Her toy of choice right now would be books. Not sure if I would have considered them a toy in the past, but if you give her a choice to play with any of her toys or to read a book she will pick the book. Every time, without fail. Some of her favorites right now are her animal picture book, Baby's 1,2,3, Bubbles Bubbles, Where's my Sweetie Pie, and B is for Bear.

*She loves to play with balls. She throws them and chases them all over the house. She also thinks it is hilarious when you bounce them off of her head. Probably not the best thing to teach her (throw them at people's heads! It's funny!), but we'll worry about that later. :)

*Her favorite game to play with you is chase. She will run through the house screaming and giggling if someone is chasing her. She prefers to be chased than to do the chasing, but is getting better at playing the game both ways.

*She finally seems to moving into some 18 month clothing. I feel like she has been wearing the 12 month size forever! Her feet also seem to have gone through a growth spurt and she is now wearing size 4 and will probably be in a size 5 before too long.

*Most days, she will still take 2 naps. Her morning one is almost always 2 hours and her afternoon one is about an hour. It is probably about time to go down to one a day, but we have such a hard time keeping her awake in the morning and if she only takes it in the morning, it is a very long afternoon and evening before bed. She is now a great sleeper at night, sleeping about 11 hours per night.

*She has become a pretty good eater most of the time. Some of her favorite foods are any fruit (literally any kind in any form she loves), peas (she will pick them out of any recipe and eat them first), steamed carrots, palenta (aka corn grits...I know, very odd, but she absolutely loves them for breakfast with milk, butter, and a sprinkle of salt), any dip dip (what we call salsa, guacomole or dressings. She sucks it off of the chip and dips it back in for more), black beans (thanks to Chipotle) and spaghetti. Her absolute favorite foods are anything made in the form of a smoothie. She will run for my Mom's cabinet with the blender in it when you ask her if she wants a smoothie.

*She says "Da" (thank you) everything you give her something and makes the "P" sound when she wants something (can't quite figure out the entire word for please).

*Like a true Daddy's girl, she would probably choose to live on milk alone if it were up to her. We can't give it to her at any meal because she won't eat any of her food if milk is there.

*She still loves to swim, go down slides, and jump-jump at Mommy's work (that would be play on a trampoline).

*Her first chore has become feeding Wrigley. She loves to dip the cup into the food, walk across the kitchen and pour it into the bowl (it actually makes it into the bowl about half of the time, but oh well, Wrigley doesn't really care). She chose this all by herself the day I found her carrying individual handfuls of Wrigley's food across the kitchen to put in the bowl. I decided the cup would go alot faster. :)

V-C-H-S!!

2011-08-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

My cheerleaders had their first game last night and they did amazing! Rylie was all ready for football season to start and was excited to cheer on the team! :)

Well, of course, she had a matching cheer outfit! Did you expect any less?! :) My mom did an amazing job making her a uniform to match the girls and we had a matching bow made for her too!

This is what she does whenever you say "Go Valley!"

Watching the big girls do their thing.

Rylie and the cheer squad

She did really good until half time...and then she got a little grumpy, so Daddy took her home. :)

Rylie and her Papa

2011-08-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

Rylie loves her "Papa" (this is what she calls my dad). He works from home, so she gets to see him every morning that she goes to my parents house, as well as periodically throughout the day and often eats lunch with him. I love watching them together and I know that we are very blessed to have such amazing grandparents (all of them!) in Rylie's life. :)

Every morning that Rylie is there, my dad will tell her bye-bye and then head down to his office in the basement. This is the routine of saying bye-bye for the morning-

How cute is that!! :)

Tent and Tunnel

2011-08-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

So my mom got Rylie the greatest new toys...a tunnel and a tent to play in! By the end of the day, she had put almost all of her toys in the tent and was thoroughly enjoying watching the dogs freak out and bark wheneve she made noise inside of the tent. I think this will bring hours of fun in the future.

Playing with Uncle Jeff in the tent. :)

Uncle Jeff is so funny! :)

Tumble Time!

2011-08-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

Rylie can now do gymnastics at the gym that I work at, so we took her to try out a class last week. It was on one of the days that I work, so my mom got to do the class with her. She is crazy, but she certainly loves playing in the gym! :)

"Jumping" into the pit

Pudding Paint

2011-08-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

So I had been thinking that Rylie might enjoy finger painting, but knew that everything she touches right now goes into her mouth. I looked up some different edible finger paint recipes online and settled on the easiest one to make-Pudding Paint. I literally made vanilla instant pudding and added food coloring. Once I made it, I decided to only do one color since I knew Rylie would not care and then just used the regular pudding for another color since it was already yellow. She was pretty amused at the feeling of the pudding on her hands.

It took all of 1 minute for her fingers to find her mouth...and then it got really fun! I know, I am probably creating a monster...I mean, who teaches their kid to play with their food?! :)

One of her finished products. It actually dries eventually, so now we have some of Rylie's artwork hanging on the fridge!

As messy as it was, I think this face says it all! It was completely worth it as she had a blast!

To the bath tub she went!

Lazy River

2011-08-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

My mom brought Rylie over to the resort one night and we got to play at the water park. She seemed to thoroughly enjoy the lazy river. :)

SeaLife Aquarium

2011-07-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

While I was a cheer camp, my Mom took Rylie to the SeaLife Aquarium with Jeff and Laura. They were all pleasantly surprised at how great it was! It will definitely be something that we go back to in the future, especially in the heat of the summer.

Daddy + Swim Lessons = Fun!

2011-07-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

So I had to take my cheerleaders to cheer camp (side note: When I was a cheerleader, we headed to colleges for camp and stayed in dorms...my team went to the AZ Grand Resort for camp. Super nice rooms, food, a waterpark onsite...cheer camp has certainly changed!) so Rylie was with Daddy and my mom for 3 and a half days. Brandon even took her to swim lessons while I was gone! What an amazing Daddy! He had no problem getting in the water with all of the other moms so that Ry could still get her lesson in. One more thing on my growing list that I love about him. :)

Radiant Beach

2011-07-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day this year, we gave Brandon's mom, Helen, a photo shoot at the beach with all of her boys. My cousins, Radiant Photography met us at the Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach to take the photos...on what was probably the windiest day in Southern California this year. Rylie had a hard time even standing up the wind was so strong. The pictures still turned out amazing! So here's props to the photographers for taking such great photos while dealing with such terrible weather conditions!

Our traditional feet pic...gotta love her sparkly pink TOMs at the beach!

Helen with her boys :)

One of my favorites from the day

This pretty much sums up Rylie's mood for most of the photo shoot.

Rylie's First Haircut

2011-07-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

Rylie doesn't really have that much hair...but the hair that she does have is growing in very unevenly, so it was past time for a haircut. My friend Monique at work also does hair, so she said that she would cut Ry's hair at the gym. We put her on the ground with some grapes to entertain her and Monique started clipping away. :)

The finished product :)

Splash Pad

2011-07-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

My mom took Rylie to meet Cayden and Tatum at the splash pad. These are great for little ones because they are cool and can play in the water without having to get into a pool so the kids can be a bit more independent (the story of Rylie's life right now...whatever she can do by herself is what makes her the happiest).

She actually wasn't a huge fan of the water spraying on her...she was pretty content just sitting in my mom's lap and watching all of the other kids play. She also had a rough night of sleep the night before, so we may try this again another day. :)

Playdate

2011-07-14T13:03:00.000-07:00

Some good friends of ours are missionaries overseas and are on furlough in the States for the summer. They have a little girl, Isla, that is 7 months older than Rylie, so we all went over to my parents house one night this week for a night of swimming and dinner. Rylie is starting to really learn how to play with other kids, so it was fun to watch the 2 girls interact (and fight over the same toys :) ).

Good times with friends! We will miss you guys when they head back overseas!

San Diego Zoo

2011-07-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

On our final weekend in California, Helen and I took Rylie to the San Diego Zoo. Brandon's brother, Brian and his fiance, Sheila, met us there. I love walking around this zoo! It is so green and pretty and has so many fun animals to see. Rylie loves looking at all of the animals, and at this zoo they are all pretty close, so she could find most of them. It was pretty humid, but really no complaints since it could have been way worse (hello Phoenix and 115 degrees!). :)

They had a baby hippo that was still pretty little! It was very cool to see the hippos active since most of the time they just sit there...not with a little one around! Mom literally was just following this baby around...sounds like my life! :)

The snow leppords getting a snack.

Disneyland

2011-07-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

Yes, we went to Disneyland...are you really that surprised? :) Rylie is getting more and more fun at Disneyland as she gets older. This time we went on a lot of new rides for her and even some new ones for us...and that is hard to do when you have been there as many times as we have! First of all, there were no crowds, and that was not expected seeing as we went on July 5th. I was expecting a ton of people! It was pretty warm, but we'll take that over a lot of people any day (and seriously...we are from AZ...heat doesn't scare us!). :)

Rylie's first time on Peter Pan...I know she doesn't look too thrilled, but she actually seemed to like it until the end when it got really dark.

This was a first for all of us! Ariel's Underwater Adventure just opened and Rylie loved it. It is pretty cute and they do a good job of minimizing the scarey part of the movie. The "Under the Sea" scene is adorable!

One of the other new areas we found is a big play area for kids. Rylie loved it! It has slides and tunnels and a ton of other things that she can do. It also has things for older kids so she will continue to enjoy it as she grows. Seriously, Disney thinks of everything! (Side note...don't you love the ruffles on the back of her little Minnie Mouse outfit! A great birthday present from good friends of ours!)

Independence Day!!

2011-07-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Our 4th of July started out just hanging out at Brandon's Mom's (Gammie's) house. Rylie got to relax and play, and most importantly, got 2 really good naps in before the festivities that night. Here she is modeling her festive PJs. :)

We also spent part of the day playing outside and enjoying the beautiful California weather. Gotta love her festive bikini! :)

That evening we headed to Angel Stadium for some good baseball and fireworks. I love going to baseball games on the 4th...you already have great seats for the firework show after the game and you don't have to fight major crowds to get them! You can't get much more American than a good old fashioned hot dog and baseball!

The National Anthem is the best part of the game on the 4th...a huge flag and a fly over with fireworks! I love our country!

Rylie's 4th of July outfit. :) Getting her to stand still for photos now if pretty much impossible, so I do my best.

She was super spoiled with food at the game...a hot dog and some of Gammie's pizza for dinner and ice cream for dessert. She loves holidays!

She loved the little rally monkey that Gammie got her. She played and cuddled with it the entire game (oh and she did make it through the entire game! I'll say it again...I know some adults that can't go that long!) :)

This is what she would do everytime you said "Go Angels"!

Rylie really didn't care much either way for the fireworks. She wasn't scared at all, but she would watch a few and then almost get bored and want a cracker. She did get into it for about 2 minutes, so here she is as she is trying to reach the fireworks.

Final Days at the Beach House

2011-07-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

So after an amazing week, it was time to pack up and leave our perfect little beach cottage. I really don't think that anything could have gone any better...it was the perfect mix of fun and relaxation, sunny weather and overcast, great food and drinks (can't forget our happy hour every afternoon!), and the group that was there was a blast. We can't say thanks enough to Helen for giving us all such a perfect week!

Here are some random photos of the last few days.

At this point, I would almost say that Rylie's hair might have a little bit of curl to it (yeah!). The humidity at the beach did some crazy things to it!

Out and About

2011-06-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

One of the afternoons this past week, my cousin's (and the photographers behind all of Rylie's amazing photo shoots) came over to the beach house to hang out. We had a blast! Bre and I grew up really close together (and both had brothers, so she is the sister I never had) so we always have fun when we get together. They moved out to Venice for the summer so they drove down to spend some time with us. That night, we headed into San Clemente for dinner and then it was back to the beach for a bonfire.

We also headed into Dana Point one morning just to walk around and enjoy the harbor. The weather has been so perfect! We have had just the right amount of sunny days and overcast days (hey, I'm from AZ...we like overcast!).

Rylie loves her Daddy's sunglasses! Well, the sun is currently shinning, so I'm headed out to the beach! :)

Rylie, Meet the Ocean

2011-06-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

We took Rylie down to the water to see if she would like the ocean as much as she likes the pool...the answer to that is a huge yes!

Rylie's BIG Sandbox

2011-06-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

So we made it to the beach house on Capistrano Beach. One word...Amazing! We are literally right on the sand. I love going to sleep at night with the sound of the waves in the background and waking up to breakfast overlooking the water. We have had so much fun in just 2 days!

Arriving at the house and checking out our view for the week!

Our adorable beach cottage

Rylie all ready for the beach!

How Sarah and I spent most of our day... :)

Rylie and Gammie reading in the morning. Ry has no idea how good she has it!

Rylie's beach set-up

Rylie and Uncle Blake :)

Our beach cruiser ride down to the San Clemente Pier...so fun!

13-14 Months

2011-06-26T09:56:00.000-07:00

My amazing cousins behind Radiant Photography did a great 1 year photo shoot with Rylie and Cayden, so get ready for a bit of a photo bomb!
I have been super busy at work these past few weeks so Rylie's 13 months is so late that she is actually way closer to 14 months now, so here is what she has been up to lately.

*She is very chatty! She has always liked to talk, but her little voice even sounds different now and she will come up to you and start having a conversation with you in her little Rylie language.

*She never stops moving...ever.

*She has become quite the little peanut since she started walking. I'm not sure how much she weighs, but my guess is barely 20 lbs.

*She wears 12 month clothing.

*She has finally started liking most foods. She doesn't eat a ton for breakfast and lunch, but normally makes up for it at dinner. :)

*Her favorite books are "Bubbles, Bubbles" and her ABC bear book.

*She loves swim lessons and being in the water! She giggles at me right before she goes under water and comes out with a huge smile on her face. Her swim coach, Coach Melanie, says she is not normal. :)

*She now says Mama (only when she is mad), Dada (all the time!), dog, nana (banana), What's this?, here, hi, bye-bye, baba (milk), bath (and then she will head right to the tub), uh-oh, yum, pretty, thank you, hot dog.

*She will tell you what a sheep says (Baaaa), a lion (roaaaar), a cow (moooo), and a seal (ar ar ar). We are working on dog (woof woof) and duck (quack quack).

*If you ask her to show you her tummy, she will lift up her shirt and pat her stomach.

To ses a few more of these amazing photos, click here.

Father's Day and More

2011-06-22T08:41:00.001-07:00

The rest of our time in Pinetop was great! We got to spend some time with my grandparents and enjoy some more beautiful weather. On Saturday, my Grandma, Mom, Rylie and I went to a quilt show that my Grandma had been wanting to go to. Rylie loved walking around between the quilts and seemed to really like all of the different colors.

"Helping" Papa and Da-da finish the back deck. :)

Just chillin'! She has this thing about putting her feet up on the table while she is eating, if she is sitting in your lap. Kind of gross...at least she is only 1. :)

One of the afternoons, we walked over to my grandparent's cabin and spent time just hanging out on the front porch. Rylie loved the swing and loved to tease their dog, Millie.

Rylie and her Da-da on Father's day.

Helping Papa open his Father's Day present. :)

Daddy reading his "Happy Da-da's Day" (yes, that is actually what the card said) card from Rylie. She even drew a picture in the card for him. :)

Only grandparents would do this...my dad stuck Rylie's hand in the homeade ice cream so she could taste it...

...needless to say, it was a hit! She also stuck her hand back in numerous times. :)

Me and my dad on Father's Day.

Pinetop

2011-06-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

We decided to get out of the heat and head up to my parents cabin in Pinetop for Father's Day weekend. So far, it has been great! The first day we took Rylie to Woodland Park and let her play and walk around the lake. We also got to spend a lot of time just relaxing and enjoying the amazing weather. Rylie never sleeps very good the first night in a new place, so we spent quite a bit of the day recovering from a long night. The good news is that she slept all night last night and has already had one great nap today, so she is all adjusted! :)

Best Salsa Ever!

2011-06-04T15:29:00.001-07:00

Summer and salsa just seem to go together for me, so I thought I would share the best salsa recipe ever (well, at least in the opinion of my family). This recipe is from my mother-in-law.

Ingredients-
-3 or 4 tomatos (depending on how big the tomatos are)
-1 or 2 jalepenos (depending on how hot you want the salsa. Normally, it is made with just one but my husband is crazy about super spicy food so I make it with two for him)
-1 can of stewed tomatos
-1 handful of cilantro
-1 bunch of green onions
-1 onion
-Garlic powder or salt

Put the stewed tomatos, cilantro, and jalpeno(s) in a blender or food processor (you might want to cut the jalepeno into a few slices first) and blend together.

Chop the tomatos,

green onions,

and onion (side note...if you do not have one of these amazing food choppers, I highly suggest that you look up your closest Pampered Chef rep and purchase one! It is one of my favorite kitchen "tools" and saves a ton of time. Though for this recipe, I would still chop the tomatos and green onions by hand. They just don't work great with the food chopper.).

Combine everything and season with the garlic powder or salt to taste. Enjoy!

Memorial Weekend

2011-06-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

We spent Memorial Weekend in California this year. Shopping, Disneyland, relaxing...pretty much the perfect way to spend a 3-day weekend! We did take family pictures with Radiant Photography on the beach which is always fun (this time in spite of crazy wind!) so be on the lookout for those soon! We had a blast hanging out with Brandon's brothers and my cousins (the amazing photographers behind Radiant) after the photos.

*FYI-my camera is still broken, so yeah for the Iphone! Love my phone, but the pic quality is a little lower. :)

Window shopping with Gammie :)

Our little peanut on the beach (I love her skinny jeans and TOMS!) :)

Watching the parade at Disneyland...she absolutely loved it!

Gardening with Grandma

2011-06-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

Rylie has really enjoyed gardening with my mom lately. :) She will go out there with her and "help" her pick green beans and tomatos and loves to smell the flowers. She even has her own little garden tools and watering can. Maybe the love of gardening from my mom (which obviously skipped me) and the green thumb from Brandon's side will have passed down to her!

Helping pick the green beans...notice there is actually more on the floor than in her container. :)

Showing off her loot! Gotta love that she has a jalepeno in her hand :)

Not of Rylie (obviously!) but had to show some of the amazing sunflowers that my mom has grown! :)

Rylie's New Favorite Toy

2011-06-03T16:07:00.000-07:00

My Mom bought this adorable Fisher Price Farm for Rylie and she loves it! She loves opening and closing all of the gates to hear the animal noises. She will put all of the animals into the silo so that she can open the bottom and take each of them out again. Her favorite part of the toy is sliding the little rooster on the top until it plays "Old McDonald".

Fun with Cousins

2011-05-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

I love that we live close to my cousins...and that we have kiddos close in age! We love to get them together to play and the older that Rylie gets the more fun our little play dates become! :)

My mom babysat Tatum and Rylie the other day, so they had some fun outside with the water toys.

We had this crazy amazing weather today (like highs in the 70s!) so Amy, my mom, and I decided to take the kiddos to the zoo (Amy also is watching her sister's little guy, Cayden).

Amazing! They are looking at the camera at the same time! :)

They loved the 2 baby calves that were born a few weeks ago.

Rylie loved the goats...though her and Cayden called them dogs...actually every animal that moved was a dog. :)

Water Fun!

2011-05-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

My mom bought Rylie this really fun sprinkler for her birthday party, but there was a lot of older kids at the party so Rylie was a little overwhelmed and didn't really get to play in the sprinkler. Well, she got to play with it yesterday! I got to my mom's house after work and Rylie was having the time of her life in the backyard! :) She played longer with this sprinkler than any other toy...ever! Looks like months of water fun are in her future!

(Don't you love the outfit! :)...nothing better than a heavy, soaking wet diaper!)

Rylie Walks!

2011-05-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

Rylie just decided yesterday that she was interested in walking. We have been coaxing her and bribing her for a little while and she has taken numerous steps, but yesterday it was all her. She would just stand up in the middle of the room and take a few steps here and there so last night we got to catch a little bit on video. Guess this brings a whole new world to the Juarez house!

Gotta love technology! Here is Rylie showing Gammie in California how she walks (I know the video is a little rough, but I thought it was so cute!)

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-09T20:28:00.000-07:00

We got to do a little more this year for Mother's Day (last year was a week after my C-section, so I couldn't really do that much). Brandon surprised me a little early with my gift (a new white Iphone!) because he had to activate it at the time of purchase and I tried to use my old phone and obviously it didn't work...so he had to give me the new one before I got on the phone to Verizon to see why my phone had suddenly stopped working. :) The morning of Mother's Day, him and Rylie gave me a shirt. We then headed to meet my parents at the zoo. My dad has not been to the zoo in about 20 years and my mom got a zoo pass for Mother's Day. We had a blast! It was not too hot yet and was actually not very croweded.

Showing Grandpa all of the fun stuff at the zoo :)

After the zoo, we picked up Paradise Bakery for lunch and then hung out at my parent's house swimming and relaxing before going to church that evening. It was really the perfect Mother's Day! Very relaxing and spending time with the people that I love the most! :) Not much more I could ask for!

This was before I decided if I actually wanted to get in the pool (it was pretty cold still!)...Rylie decided that I should get in because she did...and what kind of mom would I be if I put my child in water so cold that I wouldn't even get in it! :)

Rylie at 1 year

2011-05-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

So this is about one week overdue, but our little peanut turned 1 on May 2! I know it is completely cliche, but wholly cow! Where did the last year go?! Here is what she has been up to lately:

*She weighs 19 lbs. 7oz (25%) and is 29.75" long (75%). Her head is still off the charts :) She has definitely slowed down in the weight department, but how could she not with a crawl that fast?! :)

*She has started to get way more vocal and now will say bubble, dog (her favorite word), bye, Mama, Dada, And-ma (Grandma), hi (to everyone I pass in Target, the grocery store...pretty much everywhere), hot dog (and tries to say hot diggity dog-thank you Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), and she has this little phrase that she says all of the time that I swear sounds exactly like "What's this?"! The other times are spent talking in Ryliese. :)

*Her favorite things in the world right now are books, bubbles, and Micky Mouse Clubhouse. She also loves the little fake bread pieces from her grocery cart. Why the bread? I have no idea...she just always has one of the pieces in her hand and one in her mouth. :) She also loves her Hokey Pokey Elmo, her Cozy Coupe, and her grocery cart.

*She weaned herself off of baby food...just stopped eating it when she got really sick and never seemed to want it again. That being said, she is not exactly the easiest child to feed. We haven't seemed to find very many foods that she likes. She literally would live on strawberries, watermelon and crackers if I let her (don't worry...I'm not). :)

*No more formula!!!! (We are just a little excited about this fact if you can't tell). She has no signs of a milk allergy anymore, so bring on the dairy!

*She has taken a few steps here and there but doesn't really have that much interest in walking. She did take 9 steps to my cousin Amy at the gym one day, but that has yet to have been repeated. Though she can crawl at the speed of light!

*She is super easy to put to sleep (I know, knock on wood, right?) and will sleep from about 7:30-8:00pm to 6:30-7:00am. She is actually starting to nap better (I know, knock on wood again) and has recently taken a few 2 hour naps (!) though her normal seems to be about 2 one hour naps a day (not great, but way better than those 30 minute ones she was on for so long!).

*She gives kisses whenever you ask and sometimes even when you don't. :)

*She is now riding in her brand new, fancy-smancy, forward facing car seat and thinks she is pretty hot stuff. She has also discovered that car rides are way more fun with her cds playing...much to Daddy's dismay (you can only take so much of "Wheels on the Bus" and "Row, Row, Row your boat). :)

The following is how we spent Rylie's 1st Birthday day:

The morning started off at swim lessons. Normally we go on Fridays, but I had some make-ups to do so we got to go swimming on her birthday!

She got to pick a present out of the birthday chest at the gym :)

Telling Grandma all about her Cozy Coupe :)

Frozen yogurt time! She did figure out very quickly that she loved it and proceeded to eat quite a bit.

This is actually the next day at her 1 year Dr.'s appointment. She loves the fish tank in the lobby.

My little trooper after getting 3 shots :(

Gotta Love Her...

2011-05-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

I mean, how could you not? :)

Minnie Mouse Galore!

2011-04-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

Today was Rylie's 1st birthday party! I have literally been planning this party since December (I know, I know--that is a little much...but I know how I work and I wanted to make sure that I could do everything that I wanted to do!) so I was very excited that it was finally here! We decided to do a Minnie Mouse theme for her party--the classic red and white Minne Mouse, not the new pink and white Minnie Mouse. That actually made finding things for the party a lot more difficult so we decided to make most of the decorations ourself.

We held the party at my parent's house in their backyard. The weather was beautiful! We had a bunch of little water toys out for all of the kids to play with since my parents pool is a little cold still. We served burgers for the adults and grilled cheese for the kids with a bunch of simple sides. Rylie did great! She actually took the longest nap of her entire life that morning (I loved it, but I was waiting for her to wake up so I could go start setting up everything...of course she would pick that morning to sleep for over 2 hours! She normally takes about 45 minute naps...) so she was in a pretty good mood for most of the party. She looked adorable in her Minnie Mouse sundress and absolutely loved her grilled cheese and cupcake. :) It really was the perfect 1st birthday party for her and was so memorable for us.

Brandon made this amazing cupcake stand...one of the highlights of the decor in my opinion. :) I have such a creative husband! Each tier was cut in the shape of Minnie Mouse and there was even little Minnie Mouse shapes in the middle holding each tier up.

Some of the party guests in their hats.

Rylie with her friend, Parker.

Our Mouse shaped grilled cheese. :)

Sharing her grilled cheese with Daddy. :) I love love love this picture.

Time to open presents! As you can see, Rylie loved the shirt she had just opened.

Sitting on the toy box that Uncle Blake made for her...did I mention that Brandon and his whole family are very creative?!

Cozy Coupe from Grandpa and Grandma

She ate the entire cupcake! :)

All of the kids at the party...I can't believe we even got them to all stay in one spot long enough to get this picture!

Rylie with her friend, Boston

The weather was so amazing that it actually got cool by the end of the party! Rylie was being kept warm by Grandpa. :)

Rylie's 1st Easter

2011-04-29T23:17:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter in California. We headed to church in the morning (which Rylie did pretty good during the service...I almost got to hear all of the sermon!) and then went to brunch. After that, we headed home to give her her Easter basket and have an egg hunt! She loved her 2 baskets and was way more into the egg hunt than I thought she would be. She picked up on the concept pretty quick and proceded to find all 35 eggs around the yard and put them in her basket! I thought that was pretty good focus for a not even 1 year old!

This is how Rylie spend brunch :)

Checking out all of her Easter basket fun

Playing with the bubbles from her basket

Starting the egg hunt

"Look guys...there's an egg!"

We also gave her a chocolate bunny to try...

...needless to say, she loved it!

Latest trip to Disneyland!

2011-04-29T23:08:00.000-07:00

We headed to California for Easter weekend, so of course, we made a stop at Disneyland! We have always tried to do something new on every visit (which is getting harder when you have been as much as we have in the last few years!) so this trip we took Rylie to see the Disney Junior Show Live on Stage! To say she loved it is a complete understatement! She absolutely loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so she just stared and danced her way through the show and the songs. It was super cute and definitely something we will go back to again in the future.

Disneyland is a very tiring place!

"Who is this?" :)

Not a huge fan of Eeyore!

She loved Tigger from a distance, but wasn't too sure about him when we got up to him! :)

Easter Eggs

2011-04-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

So we decided to decorate Easter eggs and celebrate tonight with my parents since we will be in California for Easter this year. Rylie couldn't really do much with the actual decorating of the eggs, but she did find a hard boiled egg pretty interesting...that is, until she tasted it! I have tried scrambled eggs with her a few times and she has never been a huge fan and apparently, hard boiled eggs are the same story. :) She kept putting pieces in her mouth and then spitting them out. Eventually, she just started clearing the tray in front of her and threw the entire egg and all of the pieces on the floor.

Dakota waited patiently for Rylie to be done with the egg...she wasn't disappointed!

We eventually gave up on the egg and gave her an Oreo instead...she definitely likes those! :)

Rylie did love her Easter basket from my parents. She got a watering can and little rake and shovel set to help Grandma in her garden, a boo-boo bunny, a couple of new music cds, a book, and the most adorable pink stuffed bunny that my mom made. While she loved all of the gifts, her favorite thing was the grass in the basket and the basket itself...typical kid. :)

Giving Bunny kisses

Taking Bunny for a walk in the basket.

Oh and one more exciting note...Rylie stood up in the middle of the room today a few times! She didn't use anything to help her stand up, just popped up all by herself!

Urgent Care

2011-04-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

So this weekend we took our first trip to urgent care with Rylie. She woke up from her afternoon nap on Friday and she was just not acting like she normally does. We watched her the rest of the night, but she didn't have a fever and went to bed pretty easy. She did not sleep that great, but it wasn't like she was up all night either. She woke up on Saturday really stuffed up and had a little cough, so I called her doctor and talked to one of the nurses. She still did not have a fever so we decided not to take her in.

In order to try to get her to relax and take it easy, Brandon went and rented a movie (I so remember getting to do this whenever I was sick as a kid...and now I am doing it for my own!) for her...one side note, even though she was not feeling good, when the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse music started on the movie, she started dancing (even sickness can't stop her groove)!

She got worse as the day went on and now had a fever. At 2am she woke up with 102.5 fever and we decided to take her in. They took one look at her and decided to do a breathing treatment and prescribed a steriod. The breathing treatment was not fun. It is not easy to hold a mask on the face of an 11 month old...much less for 8-10 minutes! She screamed for over half of it and then fell asleep sitting up with her head resting in my hand for the rest of it. The treatment and the first dose of the steriod seemed to help and she was able to sleep the rest of the night.

Brandon and I were remembering that the last time we jumped in the car in the middle of the night was almost a year ago for Rylie's birth. I guess I should be incredibly greatful that this is the first urgent care visit and she is almost a year old! (Sorry again...broken camera=no pics...though I don't think I would have taken any even if I had my camera...it was 3 in the morning!)

Welcome Home Daddy!

2011-04-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

This is what Brandon gets everyday when he comes home from work. :)

More Swim Lessons

2011-04-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

I just thought these pictures that my cousin took of Rylie at swim lessons were super cute!

Spring Training...a little late!

2011-04-07T21:06:00.001-07:00

Since I have a broken camera, I have been relying on other people for photos. Lucky for me, my amazing cousin, Leann, stayed in AZ for about 3 weeks after Jeff and Laura's wedding. It was so fun to get to hang out with her and get to know her better (she lives in Montana, so I didn't get to grow up with her). She also happens to be an amazing photographer and captured some adorable pictures of Rylie while she was here.

One Sunday, we decided to enjoy the spoils of AZ and head to a spring training game. Now, as you may remember from previous posts, I am a die-hard D-Backs fan and my husband bleeds Dodger blue. Well, lucky for him that the D-Backs were not playing at home on the day we wanted to go, but the Dodgers were, so we headed out to Glendale to catch the game. Leann and my other cousin Brent came along. The Dodgers spring training facility is pretty cool! We found a great spot on the lawn and settled in to enjoy the amazing weather and some baseball (yeah!).

Rylie blowing kisses to Leann as she takes the pic. :)

I think Rylie enjoyed her first spring training game. She was happy as a clam crawling around the grass and snacking on her crackers...sounds like a future baseball fan to me (like she has a choice in this family)!

11 months

2011-04-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

So I realized that I skipped Rylie's 10 month post (the wedding made that time a little crazy!) so onto her 11 month stats!

This first video is just for fun cuz who doesn't like to hear a baby laughing! :)

*Rylie is super active and all over the place! No walking yet (I actually think it might be a little while still for that) but she is pretty quick with crawling. She also pulls up to everything so nothing is really safe in my house anymore! :)

*She loves cabinets right now. I think it is just that she loves to open and close things, so needless to say, our kitchen cabinets are now baby-proofed (and oh so frustrating for her).

*She loves music! She can be screaming crying and the minute I start to sing a song she gets silent. Her favorite song right now seems to be "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (quickly becoming not her mommy's favorite!) and she is starting to try to do the spider motions everytime we sing it.

*Her favorite book is "A is for Apple" (and yes, I have it completely memorized!) and when it gets to "Y is for You" with the mirror she bends down to give herself a kiss. :)

*She loves to pull toys out of places and then put them back. Her little fish bowl and the shape containers seem to be her toys of choice since she can take the items out and put them back.

*She has figured out how to walk with her push toys!

*She will give kisses whenever you ask for them and started to blow kisses this month.

*She will finally hold her own bottle!

*Her newest words are dog, bye-bye and hi (when she is in the mood), and Grandma (well, it comes out more like and-ma) but I don't think my mom really cares.

We can't believe that she is almost a year old! Let the party planning begin (or, in my case continue...I started in Dec. :) )!

Playing at Grandma's House

2011-04-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent photos of Rylie at my parent's house. Thanks Mom...I love that you always take pictures of her while you are babysitting. Brandon and I feel like we don't miss a thing this way. :)

Meeting Kadish

2011-04-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

Kadish is my mom's horse. We decided it was past time for Rylie to meet him. :)

Kadish was so good with her. He just stood still and let us do what we wanted. She wasn't scared of him and actually reached out to touch him many times...so now it was time to get on him... :)

...and she wasn't a huge fan of that! :)

I love this next photo! The perfect picture of a little girl with a horse.

Helping Grandma feed him afterwards.

Tempe Arts Festival

2011-03-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

We headed out to enjoy the beautiful weather and the semi-annual Tempe Arts Festival. It is always fun to walk around and see all of the booths. Rylie did great in her stroller and she loved seeing the bunnies!

Rylie loved these garden decorations. They were all made out of medal and some had bells so they sounded really pretty. She just stared and giggled at them...so of course, Grandma came home with one for her garden. :)

Loving California

2011-03-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

We had already planned to go to California for Spring Break, so we just extented our trip a little bit for Brandon's grandmothers funeral. The funeral was beautiful and Brandon did an amazing job with the eulogy (he did part of it from Rylie's perspective...I think everyone loved it). The rest of the week was spent enjoying the amazing California weather (seriously...it is trips like this when I realize why a billion people live in Southern California!) and of course, Disneyland! (One note...my camera broke during this trip. Thank goodness for the iphone and its amazing camera!)

We headed to Laguna Beach one afternoon and ate lunch at this great restaurant on the coast (I think it was called Las Brisas). We love walking around the grounds of the Montage Hotel and the weather was so perfect that we actually went down to the beach to see how Rylie would like the sand. She loved it! She is definitely a daddy's girl through and through!

The Montage Hotel area is where we took our maternity pictures, so I had to get one of Rylie with the same purple flowers that we took our photos with almost exactly one year ago. :) You can see the purple flower pic here.

Rylie loves to give kisses right now. Here she is sneaking one in for her Daddy :).

Sleepy girl!

The weather was so great and since Rylie loved Laguna Beach so much, we decided to actually go to the beach later in the week. We headed to Newport for some fun in the sun! :)

I think that Daddy had just as much fun as Rylie did!

Rylie was so funny with the water (which, even with great weather, is still amazingly cold!). She would take off walking with Brandon right for the waves and then as soon as the water hit her feet she would lift them up like she was sitting--she did this probably 50 times!

We went to Disneyland a couple of times, but it was spring break, so it was pretty crowded. We didn't really spend a ton of time there this time (the beauty of having a pass!). We also went wine tasting in Temecula...it was so much fun, but no camera=no great pics! It really was the perfect vacation week!

The Wedding

2011-03-23T16:16:00.000-07:00

The day of Jeff and Laura's wedding was beautiful! I woke up and headed over to Laura's house to get ready and Brandon left to meet all of the guys for breakfast. Brandon's mom, Helen, had come for the wedding, so she kept Rylie at home to hopefully get a couple of good naps in before the afternoon. And boy did she nap! She took the longest nap of her entire life that morning! :)

I don't really know what to say about the actual wedding except that it was perfect...Laura looked amazing and all the decorations were beautiful...and since this is a blog about our family I will add that Rylie was beyond adorable in her flower girl dress and sitting in the wagon (did I mention that my mom made the flower girl dresses...yes, she is amazing!). :)

The one sad note is that we found out that Brandon's grandma passed away during the ceremony back in California. We weren't able to be at all of the reception as we were with Brandon's mom, but I really think that the day ended up being exactly what Jeff and Laura planned and hoped for. Rylie did great during the reception and of course--she loved the music! :)

"This wedding stuff is exhausting!" :)

Rehearsal

2011-03-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

I know that I am so far behind on blogging and a whole lot has happened in our life lately, so here is my attempt to begin to catch up. I promise, I will get back to blogging regularly! :)

Jeff and Laura's rehearsal went very smooth and it was fun to get a glimpse of how Rylie and the other kids would look at the wedding. I was also very happy to see that Rylie still loved her wagon, even with it all decorated. :) After the rehearsal, we all headed back to my parents house for the dinner. It was exactly what Jeff wanted--a big BBQ with all of their family and friends. My dad did all of the food and he did an amazing job (I think he has been hiding this talent from us for all of these years... :) ). Jeff and Laura gave Rylie and the other flower girls the cutest flower girl Build-a-bears and gave the bridal party these framed letters that they had written to all of us. It was such a fun evening!

Gotta say...I loved her outfit! :)

Rylie giving Cayden kisses :)

The beautiful centerpieces at the dinner

Rylie and her Gammie :)

The bears caught a ride in the wagon. :)