Character

As Nayeli grows, I am amazed at the personality she has. She is such a character. The things she says and does... I have to wonder sometimes, where does she come up with this stuff? Sometimes she does things that I feel she didn't learn here on earth- instincts that I feel were part of her spirit before she came here. And then some things... well it's obvious she didn't learn those in heaven :)

Her new thing is to say, "Uh... go" meaning "I wanna go". She says this to me when she's bored (i.e. sacrament meeting today) and sometimes even adds an exclamation point to her statement by banging on the front door or bringing me her shoes.

She also has a great sense of humor. The other day I was so excited to finally get a bow into her slowly growing hair.  I had to get a picture. I asked her to smile and this is the first face I got (complete with a growl):

Then this:

Where in the world did she learn to sass like that? I was busting my gut. My daughter is 1 going on 13...

Look how cute! I finally have a daughter who'll let me put things on her head again.

Going back to instinct:  Like many girls, she was born with a nurturing instinct. She recently found a doll and has adopted it as her "baby". This came after no prompting from me. It's like she just knew what to do with it. Here she is pushing "the baby" around the house in the stroller, complete with two "doggies" in the basket beneath the seat.

The rest of the pictures have nothing to do with instinct but I thought I'd throw them in here since they show her personality and she's just so cute!

 She loves anything dairy: sour cream, ranch dressing, etc. Here she is licking the cream cheese from the bagel I had just given her.

A "doggie" and a balloon. I think Old Navy is her new happy place.

 Talking on the phone to Grandma Jane. She will put anything and everything up to her ear and say "hi".

Last but not least, this video was taken while we were talking to Ben's little brother Sam one night. When we lived in Provo, Sam made up a silly song with Nayeli in Spanish about snuggling with him and it stuck. In fact, she asks for it every time we talk to him. This last time I had to get her on camera while listening to it and she did not disappoint.

Sammy, this one is for you.

Peanut #2

We are so happy to announce that baby #2 will be gracing our presence sometime around the end of April. The photo above is from my first ultrasound at 11 weeks. Because of previous miscarriages, I had prepared myself not to hear a heartbeat. I went in expecting the worst so that I wouldn't be disappointed. So when the "thump thump thump" came on the screen I couldn't help but shed a tear. The baby was bouncing around and measured the right size. You can even see the baby's little hand up by his/her face in the ultrasound photo. I was so relieved!

I am now 15 weeks along. I have been morning sick, but I am starting to feel better. Today I saw the doctor and got to hear the baby's heartbeat again. It's such a miracle to know that a baby is inside of me and I'm giving it life. I am helping it grow. I already feel such a connection to this little one, as does Ben. Although my miscarriages have been hard, they've made us appreciate our babies so much. And this one is no exception.

I've also started to show a lot sooner with this  pregnancy. This picture was taken this morning.

I'm finally crossing over the "Is she pregnant or gaining weight?" phase. Thank heavens.

So there's our great news. We find out the gender of the baby in December at my 20 week ultrasound. I have my suspicions about the baby's gender, but I was completely wrong with Nayeli so I'm still not too sure of myself. Besides, be it boy or girl, we're just thrilled to be expecting again.

Halloween 2013

Halloween has come and gone but I have to share some pictures of our cute little girl. Wednesday night was our ward party and unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. I must mention however, that for the second year in a row Ben won a prize in the chili cook-off. He's such a stud.

Nayeli had a great time at the party and loved seeing the other kid's costumes. I dressed up as a tiger (the same costume I wore last year) and Nayeli was a pumpkin. However the next morning (Halloween) she found my cat ears and put them on. I was just fine with that and thought they worked great with her striped pants.

 My cute little tiger

We spent the morning at the library for story time. They had a fun "spooky" story time and then let the kids march around the library in a parade. Nayeli loved it. 

That night we were invited to a friend's house for a dinner of pumpkin pancakes. We decided to Trick-or-Treat on the way back from dinner. 

Ready to trick-or-treat

 She looks thrilled, doesn't she?

This is after I told her that we couldn't see our neighbor's "doggie" until after dinner. Keep in mind she had not had a nap all day.

A sad pumpkin who just wanted to go see the "doggie". Luckily she was able to drown her sorrows in pumpkin pancakes with whipped cream. Delicious.

After dinner we trick-or-treated a few apartments but each time they put candy in Nayeli's bag she wanted it immediately. So I let her have a piece after every door. What we ended up with was a chocolatey and content pumpkin in need of a bath.

 I think this face is evidence that our Halloween was a success.

Rule the World

My amazing brother David and sister-in-law Marilyn just recently had their ninth child. They are the greatest parents and that baby couldn't be born into a more loving home.

I was sharing this news with my my non-mormon friend & neighbor the other day and told her that my parents now have 36 grandchildren. I jokingly stated, "We're trying to take over the world". She laughed and said, "I know the Mormons are trying to take over the world!" to which I replied, "I was talking about my family". We got a good laugh out of that one. She's got such a great sense of humor and we like to joke together.

For the record, this is my family last summer when my parents had only 34 grandchildren.

Oh how I love my family!

And just for good measure, here's a picture of my parents and siblings. I might be missing them all just a little. They are all my best friends and heroes. So happy I get to be one of them.

Bring On Halloween

Sauvie Island

Another Saturday, another adventure. This weekend we drove 45 minutes to Sauvie Island. It is north of Portland in the Columbia river. We had heard it has fun pumpkin patches in October so we decided to go as a family outing.


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We stopped at the first patch/farm we saw. It was a compilation of a farm with a few animals, a produce market, some food stands, and a field with picnic tables to eat lunch. It was the perfect stop.

This was my eclectically-dressed daughter for the day. I'd love to say she dressed herself, but it was just the modge-podge of weather-appropriate clothes we happened to find Saturday morning. Except for the necklace. That was her own addition to the ensemble.

 By the chicken coop

Fun produce bins

They had these beautiful handmade baskets for sale. I may have purchased one for Santa Clause to give to me this year.

One of the pigs

 Nayeli was not about to take her eye off of it. She's still a little afraid of large animals.

 In fact, this is a picture of her running from an approaching pig in another pen.

Eating lunch at one of the picnic tables. It looks like she's about to throw up, but she was actually just chewing. Promise.

 Sauvie Island also has a beach, although by the time we arrived Nayeli had fallen asleep. No problem. It just means we have an excuse to go back.

Fall in Oregon

This fall has been so beautiful here in Oregon. The weather is just perfect; crisp weather that only requires a long sleeve shirt or, at most, a jacket. We've been trying to get out as much as possible since we know the rainy season is just around the corner. Here are some of our latest (or not so recent) adventures.

 What is it about a child that loves to push something around? 

I found this stroller at a yard sale for $2 and it is Nayeli's favorite toy.

We have a playground by our house that has a gigantic volcano slide. One evening at the end of the summer I got this great picture of Ben and Nayeli at the top. They are best buds.

I am guilty of bribing my child with Cheetos so as to enjoy a trip to Target without any interruptions or tantrums. It worked like a charm and it's become my secret weapon when my sanity requires it.

Nayeli loves books. I can often find her alone in her room "reading" to herself. It makes my book-loving heart happy.

Another day when she put on her pumpkin hat and wore it around the house.

I love my girl

On my entry table I had a beautiful white pitcher with flowers in it as well as a porcelain fall pumpkin. The flowers sang the siren song to Nayeli and before I knew it they were in a pile of glass on my floor. I just try to think of what my mom said when I broke things as a child; "I love you more than I love my... (fill in the blank)". Wise words.

Ben and Nayeli after dinner. One of her favorite things is watching videos of herself on our phones. Yes, we're raising a narcissist, but can you blame her? 

Her latest obsession is dogs. Our sweet neighbor, who adores Nayeli, gave her a stuffed Chihuahua. She carried it around for days.

General Conference this year was wonderful. With a toddler, it's its own challenge but I think we did okay. Besides trashing the house to keep her entertained. But that probably would have happened anyway. Here she is leading the music (notice her blurry hand).

There are lots of pumpkin patches in our area with free animal petting zoos. A friend and I took our kids to see the baby goats at this one. Nayeli loved to see them but refused to feed them.

She also refused to look at the camera. Oh well.

She loves swings, or "wee", as she calls them. This tire swing was no exception. She held on for dear life while giggling excitedly. She's got such a life in her that I love.

As of late I've become mildly addicted to Pinterest. I found a tutorial for a pompom garland but you had to make your own pompoms. Since I have no patience for that, I bought a package of pre-made pompoms at the dollar store, used some twine I had on hand, and voila! I love how it turned out! I think I'm going to make one for every holiday. Can't get enough of a good thing right?

Last but not least, this is video of Nayeli saying her favorite word. She will walk around the house saying it over and over. Despite excessive coaxing she only says it once in the video. Notice her tone. That's how she says it every time.