How Many More Days?

Mya can't wait until Christmas this year! Every morning (and even after her naps sometimes) she runs to her stocking to see if Santa came and put candy in her stocking. She also loves to lay in front of the Christmas tree and look at all of the presents in anticipation of opening them. Only 4 more days...but to Mya, that might just seem like forever!

A Huge Thanks!!!

We feel so blessed with all the people in our lives and know that we have so many watching out for us. We received this in the mail the other day without a name. Who ever sent it, we just wanted to tell you thank you!

Willard Bay

Last Thursday we went to see the lights at Willard. It was such a fun night together! We waited in line for the sleighride through the lights. At first Mya was a little nervous when we told her we were going to ride with the horses, but she did really good and loved the lights! We were going to go see Santa but he left right as our ride was ending! Mya was excited to see him, but she was okay with it when we told her he was cold so he needed to go home and she'd get to see him in a couple of days. It was such a cold night! We got hot chocolate to warm us up and drove through again. It was way fun and I'm glad Mya got into it despite the cold!

Sleep Talker

So Mya's a sleep talker. Every once in a while I'll wake up and I'll hear her talking in the middle of the night and she's still sound asleep. A few weeks ago, there was one morning where Justin had already left for work and Mya was still asleep and I heard her say "No, Mine! No, No!" About 3 minutes later I again heard, "No, No! Mine! No Mine! No, No!" An hour or so later she woke up and I asked her about it. I told her I heard her talking in her sleep and she kept saying No Mine. I asked her if someone was taking something from her. After she thought about it for a minute, she got this really mad and disgusted look on her face and said "Ivy." I was laughing so hard! Last night she was talking again...but this time I was the target. I heard her about 4 in the morning yelling "No Mom!" over and over again. A few hours later closer to 6:30 she was laughing, so I guess she got over being mad at me...I think it's so cute that she's a sleep talker! I just love her!

How To Make Sugar Cookies

Step 1 - Flour your surface...a little may get on your face

Step 2 - Roll prepared cookie dough out

Step 3 - Stamp out shapes in cookie dough

Step 4 - Place shaped cookies on pan to bake

*NOTE: additional stamping may be done at this point...

Step 5 - After baking cookies, frost and sprinkle cookies

Step6 - Enjoy! Be sure to lick the frosting off first!

Common Phrases From Mya

Me/Justin: Mya, I love you
Mya: I know

Justin (singing): Sweet, Sweet Mya
Mya (singing back): Sweet, Sweet Mom

WHY WHY WHY WHY????

Mya: Thanks mom! (This is about anything...when I wash her clothes, get her food, buy her a treat, or do anything she's asked me to do)

Me/Justin: Mya, do you need help?
Mya: Mya do

Mya's been so excited about her Christmas tree in her room. The other night we put Mya to bed and she wanted us to leave the lights on her Christmas tree on. It was quiet really fast after we left the room and we just figured she fell asleep fast. I went in an hour later to make sure she had blankets on her and she was sitting up just staring at her tree. I guess she couldn't fall asleep-she's been so happy about this tree!

Thanksgiving Weekend

This Thanksgiving was so great! I look forward to Thanksgiving because it starts off the holiday season. I look forward to family parties, Christmas decorations, and a little more time to spend with each other. Everyone gets in the giving mood and I love the feeling the holiday season gives! We feel so blessed to be surrounded by good friends and family. This year I just feel so thankful for my family! I love being with Mya and Justin and am so excited to meet our new little guy in the spring. Both Justin's family and my family do so much for us and support us so much in what we do and we know that we can count on them if we need anything. This Thanksgiving weekend was so much fun! Here's a little of what we did:

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Justin's family's this year. After dinner and hanging out, we headed up to Sherwood Hills to spend the night (this is Justin's family's tradition every year).
She loved the Hotel! We really wanted to stay this year so Mya could swim...that's been her big thing is swimming. She loves it! We swam for a couple of hours that night!
The next morning after breakfast, we all went bowling. Mya loved it. She only bowled a little, but I think she loved hanging out with her Grandpa and checking out all of the "cool stuff" at the bowling alley. We had lunch, hit a little shopping, then headed back to the hotel for games, pizza and more swimming.


On Saturday Justin and I went and saw Blind Side then kind of hung out that night. It was such a nice weekend. We even got the Christmas tree up. Mya loves it and we even put a mini one in her room that she loves! It was all such a fun way to kick off the holiday season!

Justin's Elk Hunt

Justin got a tag this year for the Elk hunt. Last weekend Justin and his uncle Scott went hunting and 2 of his cousins went along, too. Justin had a lot of fun with them! They each got an elk! Mya and I had fun while he was gone, but she really missed her daddy! I could tell when Justin got home that this was one of his more fun hunts he had been on this year and it's always great when you shoot something.

Random Pics

Here's just some random pictures I've taken of Mya lately. She's in such a fun stage!
She's seriously been in heaven with her Halloween candy. She loved her pixie sticks!
She loves shaving with Justin! And yes, we do keep the razors up so she doesn't try it on her own.
She loves getting all dolled up and LOVES her new boots from Ivy. She's just such a cheese and I love it!

The Results Are In...

Today was my doctor's appointment to see if we are having a boy or girl. The doctor said it's definitely

A BOY!

We're so excited! It's starting to sink in right now.
I know girls....so this will be different but fun.

My Sweet Mya

So Mya will be 22 months old this week and I'm not always good about writing down things she does (I'm especially bad with her baby book!). But I thought this way I can put down some things about her for us to remember.

1 - She's very polite. She almost always says "please" and "thanks" for things. I hardly have to remind her anymore to say thanks when someone does something for her or gives her something. I've noticed the last couple of days when I tell her thanks, she now says "yep"...I guess that's her way of saying You're Welcome.

2 - She loves to eat! You wouldn't know it since she's under the 5th percentile in weight, but she really is a good little eater. She'll go through small phases where she won't eat a few meals real good, but most of the time she eats most of what I give her. Her favorites: cheese, grapes/watermelon (most fruit actually), otterpops, mac & cheese, candy, and anything that can be dipped in ranch dressing.

3 - She's a tease! I don't think there are many 1 year olds that understand the concept of sarcasm or teasing. She's always joking (like saying Joe's here and laughing at herself because she knows he's not) and going to give Justin a hug then running away. Justin loves when she runs up to him and gives big hugs, but it really doesn't happen that often. Usually she's hiding for him to come find her when he gets home. Lately she's been in a really goofy phase and it's so fun. She's always laughing at herself and making us laugh!

4 - She's so helpful! She loves to help me with anything. She loves helping me "wash" things and put her toys away. If I give her a task to do, she's almost always more than willing to do it. I think she realizes sometimes that it's easier for me to just do it so she'll be more reluctant to do it, but that's not very often. She loves helping Justin outside or in the garage, too.

5 - She's very sensitive. She cares a lot about others! If someone is sad, she gets really concerned and sometimes starts making herself cry, too. Whenever someone's hurt or upset, she'll stop whatever she is doing to pay attention to that person and it takes a lot for me to convice her that they'll be okay. Along with this, she is a girl and has feelings herself. For example, one day she was teasing my sister telling her she was "Coo Coo." My sister came back with "Mya's stinky" and at first Mya just smiled and said no. But later came to me crying because she was stinky. Oh, my sweet little girl got her feelings hurt. It won't be the last time.

6 - She's so loving and affectionate. She loves to cuddle and give hugs and kisses. She'll get in these big kissy moods and it's so cute. She loves being held and loves cuddling especially right after she wakes up, is getting tired, or gets hurt or her feelings hurt. I love this and have since she was born! I'm a cuddler so I always hoped my baby would be.

She makes things so fun and we just love her a ton!

Halloween

I love Halloween! This year's Halloween was so great! I wanted to make this year's good since this is Mya's first Halloween that she can actually really do stuff. It was Zaden's birthday party, so we went over there and had pizza and hung out with the family. After that, I decided I'd let Mya paint a pumpkin. She LOVED it! After she painted her one pumpkin, she painted a little one she had gotten from church. (The next morning she even asked Justin if she could paint another one so we have a lot of colorful pumpkins on our porch).

Then it was time to get dressed up. She ate it up. We did her make up and put sparkles on her cheeks, earlier that morning we painted her nails purple, and then we did her hair...all of the girly things she loves. She made the cutest witch! After she was all ready, we headed down to the trunk or treat in Justin's parent's ward. It didn't take long for her to catch on! We told her that if she kept her hat on, people would give her candy. She thought that was awesome! After about half-way through, one person put some candy in her bucket. She looked down at the candy then said, "Ya...WooHoo!" It was such a fun night!

After the trunk or treat, we headed to my mom's for her traditional home made doughnuts! They're so yummy! The rest of the night was relaxing at home. We missed all of the trick or treaters at our house, though. We had some chili or stew to eat, then watched a movie and played games with Justin's brother. It was such a fun day!

Why?

Our conversation early this morning:

Me: Mya, come look outside, hurry!
Mya: Why?
Me: Because the grass is white!
Mya: Why?
Me: Because it snowed a little!
Mya: Oh!

later that day...

Me: Mya, don't touch my glasses
Mya: Why?
Me: Because you'll get them dirty and they could break...(again)...

I don't know if I'm ready for this phase. I thought I had at least 6 more months to a year for this one.

Princess Hair!

When Mya was little, I usually did her hair curly. She has a natural wave to it and it's sorta straightened out as she's gotten older. Yesterday I decided to see how much curl she still has if I didn't straighten it. I put the curl gel in her hair that I used to use and blow dried it. Then I only had to curl a little on the top layer! She loved it. It was so fast to do! She thought she was so beautiful and had to go show off her new do to Justin after and kept admiring herself in the mirror. She's such a girly girl!

Florida!

A few weeks ago Mya and I were able to go visit my sister and her family in Florida for a week! There was a lot of worry before we left hoping not to get sick since she has a new baby and travelling with just Mya. Luckily, the plane rides went good! Our first flight to Chicago Mya slept part of the way and did really well! The next flight to Orlando, Mya and I sat next to this guy. After a little into the flight, he pulled out Monsters vs. Aliens for Mya to watch on the flight. He was so nice! She ended up falling asleep half way through and slept until just before we landed.

Mya loves playing games and one game she likes to play is sort of like cops and robbers, except she just shoots you with her finger. I found myself a couple of times in the airport or on the plane ride home stopping myself from saying, "Mya, we don't shoot people in the airport/plane" or "put your gun away right now". I had to just ignore it and try to distract her to do something else. "Gun" and "Shoot" are not words you can say on an airplane.
I seriously think Mya's two favorite things about Florida were swimming and baby Porter. Every day Mya wanted to wear her swim suit and even sometimes at night after we'd get ready for bed she'd cry because she wanted to go swimming again. She got really brave by the end of the trip around the water. The last time we went swimming, there were a couple of times that she jumped in the water (right by me) when I wasn't looking and I noticed from the corner of my eye. One I noticed she had just gone under the water and the other time I noticed as she was in mid-air, head first into the water and the only way I could catch her without her getting hurt with the wall right there was to make her do a summersault into and partly under the water. She definitely gets this fearless trait from her dad!

We went to the beach one day for a little bit. I thought Mya would love it! She did not like it at first! She hated the sand...she cried when I made her walk in it. The weird thing is, it's like powder down there so it didn't hurt her feet at all. Then she was scared of the water. It took a good half hour before she decided she wanted to play in the water...as long as I held her. But she did have a lot of fun after that.


Another day we went to Alice Lake to see an alligator. Mya loved seeing it and kept doing her monkeys teasing Mr. Alligator song as she watched it.
We saw turtles, too, and Mya liked those. After we left my sister was explaining to her daughter how alligators can bite your hand off so you can't pet them. Mya was listening pretty carefully I guess because after that she talked about how they'll bite your hand off. That night my sister asked her if the alligator bit her hand off, and after thinking about it, she got the saddest look on her face and said it did and showed us how the alligator bit her hand off. After that, if you ever brought up the alligator, she got the same sad look on her face and showed with her little actions how the alligator bit her hand off! Poor thing! She's going to be scarred for life and have a vague memory of an alligator biting her hand off when she was little! So funny though!

Mya loved baby Porter! Whenever he'd be crying, she'd give Rebecca binki's, burp cloths, blankets, books, toys, and anything else she could think of that would help Porter to be happy. She loved helping take care of him! I'm so excited! She never got jealous when I held Porter and always just wanted to help out. That'll be so good for when we have our baby!


It was such a fun week and very relaxing. It was fun to look outside her windows and see squirrels running around everywhere and walking down her sidewalks and watching little lizards dart across the sidewalk in front of you. Mya loved all of the animals she saw down there! We loved hanging out with Rebecca's family. Mya still talks about them and asks where they are and we have to go through everyone saying they're either at their house or school.

We really missed Justin that week! The last night before we left, Mya listened to Justin talk to her on the phone and after we hung up and I turned out the lights to go to bed, she cried for her daddy! It was nice to be able to tell her that tomorrow she would get to see him.

The plane rides home went good too. Mya never pooped on the planes (one of my biggest worries about the flights) and slept the entire flight home from Dallas to Salt Lake. I explained to Mya when we got to the Dallas airport how we had to go on only one more airplane and then we would see Daddy! She was so excited and when we got on that last plane, as soon as we sat down, she started yelling so loud: "DAD! YAY! DAD!!!!" and giving me high fives. When she saw Justin, she was so excited and he had a balloon for her. It was so nice to be home that night cuddling with him! It was such a fun trip and thanks Rebecca for doing so much for us while we were there and making sure we got to experience a part of Florida.