Maya had a birthday!

 Maya girl turned 1 on Friday. She is getting so big! She is 20 lbs 2 oz, and 30 1/2 inches long.

 We had a couple days of beautiful weather here, so we started out her day with a picnic in the park.

 With friends.

Maya is our happy girl. She is so good at playing with her toys and being independent. 

 She loves to wrestle with Amelia. She understands everything we say and she is signing Please and More.

 Her favorite song is Slippery Fish and she does all of the actions to it, well her version of the actions. It is the cutest song introduced to us through Music Group.

 She has quickly picked up on things we do with Amelia. We do these zombie-like arms whenever Amelia eats all her food and we'll say, Banana Monster. Well Maya has started doing this whenever she finishes her food, cutest thing ever.

 In some ways I feel like she is so much older than she is because she is trying so hard to be just like Amelia. But thank goodness for that little bald head, I'm always reminded she's my little baby!

 Maya doesn't say any words yet, but she definitely barks "ruff ruff" whenever we are around a dog.

 And she does the heys to the Lumineers song. Seriously, and almost gets them timed out. That is her favorite song, she absolutely loves it and claps when it comes on.

 Her favorite foods are spaghetti pie, bananas, and bread.

 She takes 2 naps a day, each about an hour long (if we're lucky).

 And she sleeps 8 to 7:30 am each night, with one wake up around 5 am where she just has to be hugged and put right back down.

 Her favorite toys are Beth her hippo, the play kitchen and taking things in and out of the cupboards, and anything she can push around. 

 She especially loves to put a book or car under one hand, and use it to "skate" around as she crawls.

 She was so excited about her cake when we set it in front of her.

 And then her hand smeared through the gooey frosting and it was over. She was miserable.

 She just cried and cried and stared at her hand in disgust! My dainty little girl.

 And this was her 1 minute later, hands all cleaned up.

 She loves her toys. She is so good at playing with toys. 

 Our attempt at getting her picture with her presents. We got half of Mike from Monsters Inc in there.

And lastly, snuggles with the Dora doll grandma sent. Such a cute doll, she loves it!

We love you Maya! Happy Birthday!

First Steps

There is nothing better in this world than watching my baby's face as she takes her first steps. So proud, so accomplished. This is the best time!

All Worth It

Vacation can be hard. A 20 hour car ride. Amelia throwing up the day we got there. Maya spending 3 full days terribly grumpy before adjusting. Naps are impossible. Schedules are thrown out the window. And still, there are those moments that make it all worth it.

1) Napping with grandpa.

2) A very serious and attentive Mary played by Amelia.

3) Christmas party with most of the family. Most memorable when we all sang Jingle Bells together to help 3 year old Benjamin who hilariously forgot how to sing it. The joy in Amelia's face as we all sang together. And again when my dad sang Chestnuts and we all joined in to sing it a 2nd time. All worth it.

4) Christmas Eve filled with caroling, new pajamas, and an exhausted Juan who must be devastated that he missed out on our annual viewing of White Christmas.

 5) Christmas morning. Amelia loved it. And so did Maya, she was delighted with each gift and would point point point until we took toys out of the packaging. They've both been playing with all their toys nonstop ever since. Juan and I were pretty spoiled as well.

One day they will appreciate my family shots and not consider it torture.

6) Temple Square. The nativity and feeling the Spirit so strongly and knowing that Amelia knew how special it was also. And the temple, it was breath-taking. A very special experience there.

7) The view from our car at any given time and Amelia yelling, Mountains mommy, mountains!

8) A visit to the temple, our first time to the beautiful Draper temple. And brunch with our dear friends Andrea and Matt and Addy (in which we were too lame and didn't take pictures).

9) Cousins in matching pajamas. We bought these while Ginger was still pregnant and finally got our photo shoot.

Both folding their little hands.

 10) Sledding. There was a moment while I was laying down with Amelia for a nap. She looked at me with such a glow of happiness and said, I went sledding mom. She just loved it. Again, all worth it.

After a tiny spill.

 11) East Canyon. Playing games. Talking. Eating. Walking to the store. Watching the girls with their cousins.  The scavenger hunt my mom does for the grandkids. It was lovely.

12) And the road trip. It goes into good and bad. Bad because it got L O N G. Good because I love my road trip memories from growing up. And quite enjoy being in that tiny space, spending time together. The girls were extremely good. A bit of whining here and there, but we really had fun with it.

I took a lot of sleeping pictures of Amelia. She is the most gorgeous sleeper.

Playing peek-a-boo. And giggling ensued. No better sounds

More silliness.

 13) And being home. Playing with their new hut and tunnel from grandma. Lots of laundry. Lots of lounging. Going on 3 days of laziness and recovery from vacation. All worth it.