Happy Halloween!

Halloween was a blast! It was so much more fun having a little one and she didn't even know what was happening! I know it will just get more and more fun each year!

Kate was our little Indian Girl.  She looked adorable, seriously it was perfect! We went up to Morgan to go trick-or-treating with my siblings, Kate simply loved that there was so much going on and people to watch.  She also loved chewing on candy (the wrapper at least) and wouldn't let me move her bucket!

Jodi made us an AWESOME dinner in a pumpkin, it was delicious and I want to eat it again...now.  I have never had pumpkin but it was great.  We went to a couple houses trick-or-treating after going to the businesses in town and poor Briele said "not again" at one of our last houses! She was exhausted but loved the whole thing!

I made some sad pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and learned I really need to work on my Pancake Art but at least Kate still loved them!  After dinner we headed to Brigham and saw Rodger & Camille.  They always have weird things that keep Kate entertained! Tonight Grandpa hung a swing for her in his bedroom so she could talk to him while swinging.  He also held a mirror down for her to look into and she just smiled and talked to herself! It was a fun busy day! Ray and I now have lots of treats to eat since little one is still sugar free! Haha!!

Play Time...

Kate LOVES her Aunt Jess and Briele. She always gets very excited when she sees them.  She had a fun time playing with them while I was at a work meeting, she is now learning that whatever Briele has she wants.  She may also be pretty close to being bigger than Briele so she can pretty much get what she wants. Jess always warned Briele that Kate would get big and pick on her just like Briele picked on Kate...little did Briele now is that it would be sooner than later!  They are nearly the same height!!

One day we all went shopping and ended up at McDonald's for lunch.  Kate wants to be so big and wanted to play on all the toys so trying to be a good mom I took her on the toys.  A random 3 year old followed me very closely and kept telling me "I don't think your going to make it" "You might get stuck" "Should I get a big kid"...it was hilarious. I did almost get stuck. It was awesome.  Kate loved it though and couldn't stop smiling and looking around.  She loves to be included in all the fun!

Happy Birthday Cody!

Cody had a birthday so we all headed North to celebrate with him.  I think the picture of him and Lexi blowing out the candles is my most favorite picture...possibly ever.  We had a delicious dinner prepared by Jess, sub-par cake by me and LOTS of fun times with ENERGETIC girls!  They were so hyper and all over the place.  Poor Kate just wants to be big enough to join in on the fun.  She would crawl after them down the hall as fast as she could only to turn around and follow them back!  Lexi has a rocking horse that Kate loves to play with and of course as always she loves to play with her Grandma & Grandpa!  It was a great night and we are so blessed to have Cody in our lives!  I have the best siblings a girl could ask for!

Painting Pumpkins...

Kate got to paint pumpkins for the first time.  She was intrigued by the pumpkin itself and just wanted to play with it.  Once I put paint on her hands she was more concerned with why everything she touched turned to blue.  Which meant I was blue, she was blue, the pumpkin was blue, her binky was blue and anything that dared come near us.  It was hilarious.  The rest of the family had fun participating as well! We threw Kate & B in the tub afterwards and it ended up with all of us in the bathroom laughing, Tanner spraying Jodi with water and lots of mayhem. It was such a fun night to be together (we very much missed Cody & Lexi) and now my porch is covered in fancy looking pumpkins!

A long weekend...

Raymond is doing some woodwork for a house my grandpa is building. The house is in Ririe so it's a bit of a trek to get there to work on it so we made it a long weekend while Ray installed the stairway. Kate and I learned we could live in the square footage of a sleeping bag with a little room to sprawl some goods around us.  The trip ended up being 6 days..instead of 4...so we had LOTS of time to kill.  I was suprised at how quickly the time passed and how good Kate was.  The house was still under construction so there was power and a portable furnace.  The john was in the front yard.  We stayed at hotels for most of the trip...except for one very uncomfortable night on the floor at the house! It was fun to be close to Ray and be able to talk/see/eat with him. I took a cooler full of food and a toaster so we had our meals right there with us! I called it our "refugee camp" which is pretty much what it was!

Ray was amazed at how well Kate and I could sleep...on a hard floor...with a saw/drill/music/etc 15 feet away...in a chilly room...but oh did we have some good naps and the noise did not even phase us!  That's my girl!! She officially loves cheetos since Aunt Jess introduced them to her, I am pretty sure I get more messy than she does though! My Grandpa Winn was there for a couple days so it was fun to hang out with him.  I remember always going to grandpa's farm in Idaho as a kid, it was my favorite place to be.  Me and my grandpa watching the cows in the field= heaven!

On Monday we went over to Jackson Hole to measure a job for the Woodbender's.  Kate was such a champ on the drive, she just read her book and took a nap!  Kate and I hung out while Ray went to the construction site and had an awesome time watching giant crows steal food out of a guys lunch box. It was crazy. Kate got excited each time they would fly or hop, she would start waving her hands and yelling "ooh ooh ooh".  She is getting so much more expressive, I love it.  

Afterwards we went to K-Mart to let her be out of the car for a bit before heading back to Idaho Falls.  There were some cute little stuffed puppies and she had to give each one a love before giving it back to Ray.  The funny thing is she knew exactly which ones she had already loved and which ones still needed one! The drive was gorgeous with lots of fall colors all around and there was snow in the mountains!

One night we stayed at a nicer hotel in Idaho Falls ($89 vs our $59 hotel in Rigby but was still cheap!).  We had a fun night swimming, we got dinner at Famous Dave's and watched a movie. It was nice to actually relax and enjoy a night together as a family.  Ray's stairway ended up beautiful as did the doors he finished! I am lucky to have such a handy man!

Play...

Kate is getting better and better at moving all about, she is attempting to go up the stairs in the sunroom so we spend lots of time laying right there and trying them out.  One of her favorite toys is a little golf ball, she will carry that thing everywhere! She is still a great sleeper and we find her in some pretty funny positions!

We are very lucky that my mom is able to watch Kate 80% of the time we need a sitter. Kate loves having Grandma over to play with all day! When I wake up she has a little internal battle on if she wants to play with mom or grandma!

10 Months!

Happy Birthday Halli!

We had a fun time at Chuck E Cheese's to celebrate Halli turning 5! She is so excited to "finally" be 5! I can't believe how quick these kids are growing up!  We had a great time playing all the games and meeting Chuck E (Kate was terrified of him!).  Halli is such a sweet girl, she always comes up to Kate and talks to her, she is very "happy go lucky" and loves to take her time in whatever she does but she is also very busy! She LOVES school and always has time to give her Aunt Cole some hugs! I love it!  She is such a fun girl with lots of spunk, we love you Halli! Thanks for a fun party!

I absolutely love the pencil drawing of our little family!!

Whipple Weekend...

We had a fun weekend filled with Whipple family events. I also had to work the whole weekend so I was a wee bit sleep deprived but it was still fun to be there.  Katelyn loves being with her cousins!  Saturday was Nikki's baptism. The pictures of Kate & Kara are at Jim & Celeste's house afterwards.  They are only 3 months apart and I am certain they will be the best of friends...although Kara kept ripping Kate's bow off her head and Kate (being the mobile one) kept stealing toys from Kara and placing them just out of her reach!  It was funny to watch them together!

On Sunday Clark was blessed and we had lunch at Bear & Sheralee's afterwards.  Kate again loves being around her family so she had a blast interacting with everyone.  It is so fun to see how social she is!  It was a fun weekend! 

Kate & Daddy

Kate loves to play with her dad, they have some pretty great times together.  She gets very excited when he gets home from work and loves to crawl all over him.  She is such a busy body and will "help" when we read the newspaper and she loves to pull the decorations off the shelf. I love that we finally got a picture of her beautiful pearly whites (this was back in September but just now found the picture!). I love the pictures of them playing on the floor with the Minnie ears.  I love that Ray is wrapped around her little finger and is such a great daddy. He definitely loves his baby girl and it is incredible to watch them together!

Funny Times...

Briele came and hung out with us while Jess was working.  First thing she said when she got there was that she wanted to make a picture again.  We got out the stickers, crayons and paper and she went to town. I am still finding foam stickers throughout my house.  Briele had a mustache, I had a 3rd eye and Kate was frantically trying to get them off of us!  I loved watching these two cuddle up in my bed and watch cartoons in the morning. It was adorable...especially when Briele put her arm around Kate and  Kate laid her head on her shoulder.  Wow.  It was so cute. Briele helped me put up all the Halloween decorations and as we were going through the totes we found a couple wigs.  Maniacal laughing pursued for the next hour.  I thought it was the funniest thing. As did Jess when she got to my house.  And my mom as we face-timed her. And Ray as I sent him pictures.  It was hilarious. Kate would leave them on for several minutes even!

After we were done laughing to the point of tears we went to Costco, enjoyed a $3 dinner, got LOTS of diapers that will be gone in no time flat and as an end result we had a cool box to play in.  It provided our pre-bath bed time entertainment.  After Kate went to bed I made some cookies and for the first time in a long time they were really good...like almost as good as my sisters cookies kind of good...I was hoping Ray would be excited and he was, thank goodness!

Fall...

It's sad to see that summer is officially over but we have been loving fall as well.  We enjoyed a day at the park with Jess & Briele..sadly but it may be our last for this year.  Kate is getting pretty brave and will now lean forward on the swings and clap and laugh as she swings.  We have enjoyed relaxing in bed as it storms outside. We love to snuggle up and watch a good movie, she loves Turtle Tales...lots of fun colors and songs! We have started "face-timing" with Ray which has been nice since he isn't home a lot. Kate thinks it is crazy to see him on the phone and tries to attack it to get to him!

The Whipple's...

One of my many days of waffles..oh how I love them! We had a great Sunday listening to conference, I slept some after a couple graveyard shifts and we were all home together which is rare and incredible and overall had a pretty relaxing day. We took our trailer up to Tremonton for the winter and were able to stop and deliver potatoes in Brigham City as well as visit Rodger & Camille.  I hate that we don't visit to often but with the current pace of life it is near impossible to get Ray home before 10 pm let alone to Brigham.  We had a great visit and watched a comedian show which was hilarious. Kate loved playing with Grandma and Grandpa. She has been having a baad reaction to her flu shot which has resulted in a week of horribly sleepless nights with lots of crying. We have spent several nights sleeping in a chair because she rests better in our arms, it breaks my heart to see my baby so uncomfortable and although I am pro-vaccine we will not be getting the second step of the flu vaccine they require for infants.  A week of high fevers, crying, restlessness and agitation  are not worth repeating. Even when she is sick and miserable though she is such a sweet girl and always gives us lots of smiles and loves. She has been extra cuddly which is nice, just sad its a result of illness!

I'm a Mom.

This happy girl is our whole world...you may have noticed from the thousands of pictures we have...she easily is the best thing I have ever done in my life. I love all the cheesy grins, the "surprised" curious faces/sounds she makes a 100 times a day, the cuddles and kisses she gives. I used to think I was "un-accomplished" because I was only a nurse that hadn't achieved most of my "nurse" goals...like saving starving children in Africa...but now just being her mom is enough.  I would still love to go and assist around the world and I know someday I will but for now I am "just" a mom. And I love it.  

Happy Girl...

Kate is such a happy playful girl, I love it.  She has a blast with anything she finds...she loves to get my cards out of my wallet and she plays with them forever. She is getting to be quite the stander, I can't believe how big she is getting...she is growing up way to fast! She had waffles for the first time and loved it...mostly because she was able to feed herself I think.  She loves anything she can pick up, play with and eat.  She is also so sweet to always offer me some!

She also got to try juice for the first time.  It was diluted but you would have thought it was laced with drugs...she was ecstatic, hyper and guzzled it.  It was hilarious to watch her especially when we would tip her sippy down so she could take a breath...she would be grabbing and scrambling to get more! Ray had another late night project to finish that me & Kate went along to help with.  She has spent multiple nights sleeping wherever he is working...mostly in my arms but occasionally on the floor when there is something I can do to help.  She is a big help in our "get out of debt movement" with her easy breezy go anywhere attitude.