Spring Skiing

So much fun with Daddy!


Loving Spring Skiing!


Look at Kyla Go!


Woohoo!


Looking Cool at the mountain!


On the magic carpet


Kissy, Kissy!


Kyla loves Moose!


Giving Daddy a big kiss!


This guy in the bear costume did not make it too far


Great Costumes at the slush cup


Ninja Turtle


This was the guy who got first place


A skier dressed as a dog musher and his dogs


Unicorn Costume


Jon's good friend Dave was dressed as Darth Vader, he made it across and got 3rd place.


Kyla had fun playing with Dave's light saber at dinner after the slush cup


Kyla did her last ski run on daddy's shoulders and had a blast


Kyla getting a piggy back ride after all of our skiing activities



Today Jon, Kyla and I spent most of the day at Alyeska. Jon and Kyla skiied for awhile and had a great time. It was a beautiful, warm and sunny day out, great for spring skiing. Kyla had a lot of fun skiing and did very well. She loved skiing on her own to Daddy and going through the tunnels. She also had a lot of fun with all of the props that are set up on the hill, like elephants, flowers and moose. She has such great balance on her skis and was even starting to turn and stop a couple of times. After skiing we went over and watched the slush cup, which is where skiiers dress up in costume and try to get as much speed skiing down as they can to ski or jump over a pool of slushy freezing cold water. Most of the people went in the water and had to be brought out by the rescuers. There were a ton of people at Alyeska watching all of the spring events and many of the spectators were in costume too. Kyla had a lot of fun all day long and was exhausted by the end of the day. It was a great spring day for being outside all day!

Kyla the Monkey

Kyla loves to read the book and sing the song "10 little monkeys jumping on the bed". She also likes to jump on our bed and in her crib and say "monkey, monkey..." Here is a little video clip that I took of her recently pretending to be a monkey in her crib. She is very silly!

Clam Bake

My Mom, Cousin Joyce, Grandma Elsie and Me.

My Mom, Cousin Joyce and Grandma Elsie.

Kyla having lunch at the big table with Daddy.

Grandma Elsie, Stepdad Steve and Grandpa Dave enjoying their clams.

Uncle Paul, Aunt Diana and Cousin Jesse having lunch.

Steve and Joyce making clam casinos


Yesterday we had a get together at my parents house with family. My Grandparents, Uncle Paul, Aunt Diana, Cousin Jessie and two cousins from out of town all came over. Steve's cousins brought up clams from Rhode Island when they came up and so they made stuffed cohogs, had a clam boil and made clam casinos. I have never really been able to get myself to want to even try clams, but they were actually really good! We had a good time visiting although Uncle Dave was on the minds of everyone all day. And of course Kyla was running around enjoying all of the company and having a great time being the center of attention all day.

21 months

Nakey Time!

Making a mess!

Mommy and Kyla!


Kyla is 21 months today, only 3 months left until my baby is 2!
In the last month Kyla has picked up a few funny new things that she likes to do. She loves to jump around in her crib with all of her stuffed animals in there and says "monkey, monkey, monkey...." She also acts like a monkey jumping on our bed and does all kinds of crazy dances where she looks like a monkey. Kyla has also decided that she prefers to be naked. She can take off all her clothes and her diaper by herself and then runs around and plays saying "nakey,nakey". She fights you when it is time to get clothes back on. She also is very picky about what she wears, inlcuding pajamas and will sometimes change her clothes a few times before finding the right outfit. Between this and her love for shoes and purses I think we are gonna be in trouble!

Kyla's favorite toys to play with lately are still legos, and now she also loves Thomas the train. She learned really quickly how to put the train tracks together and push the trains around. These are the only two activities that she can just sit and do for a long period of time.

Kyla has also become more and more talkative this month. She really repeats everything you say. It is amazing how she remembers words that we do not even say very often. Her favorite colors are blue and green and she says that everything is blue or green when you ask her what color they are. She is also very good at saying please and thank you. Kyla likes to tell you who the boys are and who the girls are and she always gets it correct.

Another funny thing that Kyla has been doing is eating everything with a spoon or fork. She has to get a spoon or fork out of the drawer herself and then feeds herself goldfish, sandwhiches and everything else using them. It is silly, but atleast she is a good eater.

In the last month Kyla has finally become a much better sleeper, now she only wakes up once or twice during the night looking for her paci and then goes back to sleep as soon as you find it for her. It is so nice for us all to get a good night of sleep!

Kyla is very sweet and loves to be the center of attention. She is so funny to play with, talk to and watch.

Grieving Uncle Dace

Uncle Paul, Uncle Dave, Grandma Elsie, Grandpa Dave, Aunt Carol and my Stepdad Steve at Christmas


Uncle Dave, Aunt Lynn and my Stepdad Steve at Christmas

The last few days have been pretty tough on our family. My Uncle Dave who has been battling Cancer for several years checked into the hospital on Tuesday for trouble breathing and was told he only had another 2-6 weeks to live. Kyla and I went to go visit him yesterday and he was unconscious at the time. We were able to sit there with family and say our prayers and I was able to give him a kiss on the cheek and tell him I love him. Most of our family has been at the hospital with him the past two days. Later last night he passed away.

Uncle Dave is a very loving person and has a wife and three daughters who are just as loving and sweet as their dad. I am very thankful for how strong the four of them are and hope that this helps them through the loss of such a wonderful person. He is truly going to be missed by everyone and will never be forgotten.

Aunt Lynn sent an e-mail out to all his friends and family this morning and ended the letter by saying: "We will try to be strong for Dave and I know he always says
"Keep Smiling" and I am working on that even though it may take some time."
I loved that she wrote this because Uncle Dave always said to "keep smiling" and to "have a good day", and you always knew that he truly meant it. He was always positive and saw the good in everyone and everything, he was the kind of person you wish you would run into more often. We all need to have some strength and get ready for what I am sure will be a very emotional service on Tuesday.

Sunny Weekend

Enjoying a car ride on a nice sunny day


Cute pig tails


So fun!


Silly Girl!


Kyla's new picnic table that Grandma made



We had a great weekend with lots of indoor and outdoor playtime. Friday and Saturday were gorgeous sunny days so we got Kyla's toy car out and played outside for a long time. She has not played with it for many months since we have had snow and was very happy to finally get to go for a ride, now she is even pushing herself in it. I guess we are also going to need to get her trike out soon.

Saturday we also went to the zoo again, which Kyla loves!!! We got there with only 45 minutes to closing time and were still able to see the entire zoo because Kyla ran from one cage to the next the entire time. We picked another great day to go since all of the animals were awake and hanging out very close for us to see. Kyla was so cute she would run to see one animal, climb on the fence to look at it and within a minute she would say "more" and run to see the next animal. She also still must have Easter on her mind because when ever she would see a ball in any of the cages for the animals to play with she thought it was an egg.

Now today is a cold and windy day so we are enjoying spending the day inside relaxing and making a huge mess with all of Kyla's toys

Family Portraits

Here are scans of a few of the Family Portraits that we had done through Jon's work last month.

Seattle Weekend

Kyla with Rory, Griffin and Graham and an Easter Bunny


Looking at the wonderful view of the Lake


So much fun at the Seattle Aquarium!


They had a blast touching all the starfish!


Kyla and Rory


checking out all the fish!


So excited to see all her cousins!


Kids Table!


Kyla and Rory!


Dress-up Time!!!


Griffin and Kyla having a great time


Enjoying the Aquarium!




We went down to Seattle Thursday through Sunday of Easter Weekend to spend time with Jon's side of the family. We had a wonderful time and had a weekend full of playing and visiting with Family. Kyla absolutely loved playing with all of her cousins and had fun being the center of attention for four days. Kyla let her cousins carry her around, feed her, play with her, follow her and babysit her. She had a great time with each cousin and was exhausted by the time we left on Sunday night. In Seattle we went to the aquarium, which Kyla loved and was carried around by Rory almost the entire time. Other than the aquarium we just visited with all of Jon's family at their houses the entire time we were there. We had such a great time and were so happy to see so much of everyone while we were there.