Casper's first birthday

We spent last weekend down in Delta / Oak City to celebrate Casper's first birthday!  Darren and Dani threw a great party at Kevin's cabin up Oak City canyon!  The cabin was the perfect location and it was so great to see everyone!

 Jade loved the party too!  She was in heaven with all the ice cream and opening of presents!

 She was so cute giving Casper her present!

 And all the kids wanted in on his presents!

 Cute little Kippy

She loved getting to see her Great grandparents too!  Grandma & Grandpa Probst:)  We were so happy to spend time with them.  We don't see them enough!  We need to get to Midway more often.

 Lucky for Jade, she got a Valentine present from Grandma and Larry!  Thank you Michelle!  That was so sweet of you!  And she absolutely loves her "baby Minnie"

 Oh Lashel, I just love you!! I'm grateful for any chance to hang out with you:)  And I'm obsessed with your hair!

 Stealing some time on Casper's four wheeler!

Cuddles with Grandma!

Love this one of Koleman rockin' out with his new guitar from Grandma!

Michelle captured the best shots!  Look how cute this one of Grandpa Probst and Casper is!

 Thanks again for the the cute party Darren and Dani!  Happy Birthday big guy!


The rest of the afternoon we hung out at Kevin's while the kids napped.
This little view, right out Kevin's front door is one of my favorites!  I stop and stare at it every time we are there.  I just love everything about it.

Then went to good ole' Leos for dinner!  I haven't eaten there forever!  And of course, the sour cream fries did not disappoint!














We spent the rest of the night at my parents and we had a blast!  We played lots of ROOK and Wizard

And we cheered for the OLYMPICS!  

 Then on Sunday we went with my parents to the Singles ward in Delta where my dad is 2nd Counselor in the bishopric.  It was a great meeting and Jade was the only kid there so everyone could hear everything that was on her mind!  She would cheer "YAY!" after every song and prayer.  She had us cracking up the whole time with all she was saying.  And she was very disappointed to not be going to nursery after behaving in sacrament meeting for so long:(

The rest of the afternoon we ate some of my mom's delicious cooking and all took naps!  It was lovely!

On our way home we stopped to see Kevin and Jade loved the bubbles and the tickles.

January

 January was really busy and full of ups and downs!  So I'll just go in chronological order...

Naked baby!!!!  These cute little buns love any chance to be naked and on the run!!

 She is getting so big all the sudden!  She looks giant sitting in her booster chair feeding herself:)

 Just making herself comfy on the couch!

Speaking of baby!!-------- WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER BABY!!  We couldn't be more excited!  It's kind of freaky at the same time, knowing that we will have 2 children!  What?!  We found out I was pregnant on Dec. 22nd and the baby's due date is August 31st!!  We feel so incredibly blessed and can't wait to meet our little one at the end of summer!  So weird, it seems so soon!

 Right now I'm almost 11 weeks!  And just like when I was pregnant with Jade, right at 8 weeks I started getting sooo sick:(  blah!  It's kind of a roller coaster and I have to eat so often to stay functioning... but thanks to modern medicine, I'm usually ok during the day.  The worst for me right now is in the middle of the night...I wake up sick and I can't sleep:(  So this has meant lots of naps for me when Jade is napping.  Hopefully that didn't seem too whiny...because I know things could certainly be much worse and so I'm counting my blessings that I'm able to have a healthy pregnancy! And most of all, counting my blessings to have a new member of our family!  Yeah, we are pretty excited!!


Jade just looked so cute the other day getting ready for church wearing the new dress that Grandma Michelle gave her for Christmas, that I had to snap a pic!...or like ten

 Random shot stolen from Instagram...  We had our Aveda "End of year celebration"  aka- belated Christmas party.  We went to PF Changs- YUM!  And just like every year at these parties, you leave so uplifted and inspired!  I just love the company I work for and most of all...the PEOPLE.  I have the coolest co-workers, and I love them all so much!  Sadly my time teaching at Aveda will be coming to an end soon.  We knew that when we had another baby, that that would be it.  It's definitely bittersweet but I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have had to be a part of this Institute and to now be able to stay at home with the kids and still have my salon day once a week.  And it will be SOOO NICE to not have to worry about a babysitter once a week anymore!  Although the last few months with Kimberlie coming to our house has been fabulous.  I told my bosses this week that I would be finishing out this phase that ends the end of March.  They were very understanding and definitely made me feel good and that I will be missed.  They wanted me to know that the door is always open if I ever want to come back and they asked me if I would consider teaching random classes once in a while!  I would love that!  So I have the best of both worlds and will still technically be an employee and enjoy some of those perks!

The weather has actually been surprisingly nice and sunny!  So we have been going on our usual walks trying to be outside when we can.  The other day we were just out in the front yard playing and Jade points down the sidewalk and says, "Bubbles!  Let's go see."  So three houses down, our neighbor has the most legit bubble maker and made these HUGE (like as big as a car) bubbles and Jade was loving it!  She was so cute chasing them and saying "Whoa...big bubbles!"

She is still in love with jumping!  She loves when we go to the Bunkers and gets to jump on their tramp.  And when we are home, she makes due with our couch.

She has also become quite the little master of selfies!  She loves to see herself in the camera and totally cheese it!

What she has been up to lately:  She cracks us up everyday with the things she says!  She asks lots of questions now and some are just funny.   We will be playing all day and she will randomly look at me and say, "Oh hi Mom!  What are you doing here?!"  And when Tom or I will be doing something "dangerous" (like going up the stairs or moving chairs haha) she'll say "Be careful Mamma"  She has added and accent to random words..ex:  "I want some meeeeolk (milk)"  "I want to get deyown (down)"
She is somehow growing like a weed, despite her worse than ever eating habits! (Or lack of eating habits)
She loves telling the dogs what to do and giving them hugs.
She knows the alphabet and is getting pretty good at recognizing most letters!  She is really good at colors and shapes
She still loves books but now likes to do some of the reading.  She will take the book from me are start jabbering with inflections...it is soo cute!
She loves loves loves singing!  And her favorite microphone is the little metal thing you pull up to start the shower in the bath tub.
In sacrament she will hold out the notes that are being sung...too cute.  Also in sacrament meeting, she likes to let everyone know she is bored stiff and that "I wanna go to NURSERY!"
She loves talking on the phone to us and her grandparents!  She will literally take the phone from you and start walking around holding it up to her ear and talk to whoever.

And now for the most recent and sad news.  On Saturday, Feb. 1, my Grandpa, Leon Miller passed away.  It is definitely a bittersweet thing but he was ready.  He has not been doing well over the last several months and we knew it was coming.  Even though it always hurts to lose someone you love and someone your loved one's loved, I can't help but feel so happy for him!  I just imagine what the reunion between him and his wife (my grandma Pauline, whom he has been without for almost 38 years,) must have been like!!!  It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.  I'm so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel and knowing there is so much more after this life!  He lived a long and full life and I know he is free from all his limitations and enjoying his time on the other side.  I'm so thankful to him and the example he has been to me and to his whole family!  I'm so thankful that he raised my dad to be the man that he is, and amazed that he raised all 6 of his children, basically, on his own after his wife died at 50 (when my dad was only 16).  He was an amazing man full of many talents!  He was a handyman, played the organ, did wood working, always had a garden, liked things simple, hated technology, hated driving faster than 40 mph on the freeway, always had Werther's original toffee candy and his homemade apple butter.  He put every grandkid on the "rickety bridge" and the "body stretcher" and would freak us out with popping out his dentures!.  He was always very witty and a very old fashioned, straight forward man.  I loved seeing the look on his face when he would watch Conlan play the piano.  He truly loved it and was just beaming with pride.  He would just sit and listen to him play for hours.  I remember when I was little, every time we went down to see him, he would tell me that I wasn't going back to Utah with my family.  I was going to stay and live with him, and that this was my home now haha.  With him living down in Arizona, I didn't get to see him a whole lot, about 2 times a year or so, but I cherish all the memories I have of him.  I love you Grandpa.

July 2012

July 2013