Caribbean Cruise...Part 1

The end of Sept-beginning of October we were lucky enough to go on a family cruise. Brian, Kylie and I went, along with my parents. It really was SO MUCH FUN and I miss it lots. :) We left from Miami and then sailed to Cayman Islands, Isla Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. Then of course ended back up in Miami. We were gone just over a week, it was a 7-night cruise. We flew to Miami first and had to stay there a night and wait to get on our boat the next day. Kylie is great on planes, she loves flying actually. She loves the window seat especially. :) I bought her this little toy she is playing with right before we left and it turned out to be a great investment. :) She played with this for a LONG time!!! In Miami....we had a horrible hotel experience, so we were even MORE EXCITED to get on that boat the next day! :) And while we were waiting in lines to get checked-in and ready to get on board the boat, they had this FABULOUS play area for Kylie to play in. So it was a blast from the beginning!
It was my parents first cruise...so the second we got on the boat I snapped a picture of them...
After we got on the boat, we had a little bit before we could go in our cabin. So what did we do first thing?! Ate of course! We ate SO MUCH food this trip. They have delicious food 24/7 so you have to take advantage of it, right?! :) After we ate some lunch, we went to our cabins to check things out, wait for our luggage to get there, unpack, hang out on our balcony and check out the ocean, and wait for us to sail out. Before we did sail out though, we had to go to our safety "training" they make you go to. It was SO HOT and miserable while we had to wear our life jackets. We were all packed on to one of the decks. And seriously...they PACK you in there like sardines...and you are on this crevice of the deck so there is no breeze and you have this big life jacket on and it was just not fun. Worth it...but not fun. :) (I did get a picture with my cell phone camera so I'll have to update that picture later.)

When we were in our cabin....Kylie LOVED hanging out on our balcony from the moment she saw it. That was where she preferred to be.She would just sit there and stare out at the ocean. Her mommy loved it too. :)
Hanging out on the balcony made us all want to get in the water. And although I was DYING to just dive off my balcony in to the ocean, I was pretty sure that wasn't the safest thing to do. :) So we opted for the pool instead. :) But after we went to our safety training and got unpacked and had a few hours to digest our lunch, we headed to our dinner. On a cruise you can either choose early seating for dinner (at 6:00pm) or late seating (8:00pm). Since we have Kylie...we went to early dinner. And turns out...smart move. Because the first night when we went to our table (you have the same table/waiters every night) we saw this view...Our table had a FABULOUS view...and we got to see the day turn to night each day. It was FABULOUS and amazing and I loved it! These were some of the fabulous things we got to eat...

Shrimp cocktail (Brian had this every night...our waiter even learned he liked to have two of these, so he started just automatically bringing him two of these each night)

LOBSTER! (My fave night...I LOVE lobster...it's one of my fave things!)

And this AMAZING Chocolate Melting Cake. May not look like much, but WOW! It was SO GOOD! :)

This was our table number.

Ky and Daddy hanging out during dinner.

When we get back from dinner to get refreshed before going to the shows or walking around the decks of the ship or whatever we did, we were greeted in our rooms by an animal like this... Our steward would make us one of these each night, and it was a different animal each night. Sometimes there were even cookies. We loved coming in to a clean room after dinner to get ready for our night. :)

Then we would usually go to the night's show (they had a HILARIOUS juggler one night, dancers another, a magician, comedians, etc, etc.). They had great shows.

Then we would often come back, put Kylie to bed, and hang on the balcony. It was great because our cabin was right next to my parents, so we opened up the door that separated our balcony's and just wandered to each other's rooms. Kylie would disappear from our cabin quite often to head to Grandma's and Grandpa's. She LOVED being able to be so close and go see them whenever.

I LOVED hanging out on the balcony and reading a book or just stare out at the ocean and contemplate how small we are in the scheme of things. (Seriously...staring out at the vast ocean makes you really think about all sorts of things....I LOVED it!!!)

Here is just the first portion of our cruise adventure. More will be coming soon! :)

A Girl After My Own Heart...

Kylie is growing so fast! I'm sure many parents relate to this, but she seems to grow taller every day. Since she has grown out of almost everything she owns....I did some shopping the other day. I ended up going online to get most of what I wanted, because they never have sizes you need in the stores. Anyway: since I shopped online I told Kylie that a box of clothes for her should be coming in a few days. She was SO EXCITED about it and every day she asked if the box was here. She couldn't wait. As soon as it got here....she ripped the box open and couldn't WAIT to see what was inside. She was SO EXCITED!!!! I could barely make her wait so I could take a picture before she opened the box. :)

Patiently waiting for her crazy mom to snap a picture of this event that probably doesn't need to be documented. :)
Grabbing stuff and just so excited to see what is in her box and get to the bottom.

Hugging some of her favorites. :)

It was too cute watching her. She brings so much light in to my life and I am so glad I am blessed to be her mother!

PRESCHOOL IS HERE!!!

The day has arrived. My daughter is starting her MANY years of SCHOOLING! I can't believe it. Makes me SAD!!! Seriously...WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?!?! (I'm sure I'll be saying that many times in my lifetime!) This morning started out early. At about midnight last night I was laying in bed and remembered, "SHE NEEDS A BACKPACK!!!" So got up earlier than originally planned so we had time to grab her one before school. I had to wake her up this morning too, and she did NOT want to get up. So I started telling her that we were going to get ready to go to preschool. She got a bit of a smile on her face. Then I told her that we were going to go get a backpack for her first and her smile got even bigger. It was so cute. :) Here she is on the way to school... Does this look like a face that is ready to start SCHOOL YET??!?! Then here she is at her classroom door. SUCH a big kid!!!!

Right when you first get there, they have puzzles at each seat. (There are 16 kids total in her class.) Kinda helps them have something to focus on as the parents all leave. Kylie loves puzzles so she was excited. Here she is with her teacher, Miss Ali. She's darling.

Then this is as I'm leaving I snap one last picture....and she could not have CARED LESS that I was leaving. I was able to hold my tears until I got in to my car, and then I'm not going to lie....it was TOUGH. I cried a bit the whole way home and then when I pulled in to my garage, I saw a caterpillar on the driveway. I cried more. (She LOVES to find caterpillars and she wasn't there to see it with me!!! What's a mom to do?!!) Then I walked in to an empty house and it was SO SAD and just kinda lost it a bit! I know...I know...I was being a bit dramatic. But SERIOUSLY...she has been my LIFE these past three years! It's been just her and I all day, every day! Change is hard, give me a break! :) I couldn't wait to go pick her up. And when I got there, this is what I got to see...

Seriously...HOW CUTE IS SHE?!?!? :) I wanted to peek in on her a bit before she saw me so I could see how she was doing. But she saw me the second I walked to her classroom door, and she yelled, "MOMMY!" and RAN to me! How could I resist THAT?!? That was THE BEST!!! :) Then I wanted to take her picture out in the hallway. Another mom was doing the same thing and Kylie runs over to them and says, "I want to get in too!" She wanted to get in their first day pictures. :) I think she's going to do just fine. Then I decided to take her to lunch to celebrate her first day. She picked a local burger joint here so that is where we went...

She sat in the booth across from me and just chatted away and told me stories about her first day. I asked her after she told me a few things how preschool really was and she says, "Mom, I already told you!" She is getting TOO old! But she loves it and was so excited to go back. :) I couldn't ask for more than that.

And then the whole rest of the day she wouldn't take her backpack off. She would fill it up with her fave toys of the moment and carry it around with her wherever she went. She is so cute and I'm happy today went as well as it did. GOOD LUCK KYLIE! I wish you the best year!!!

Pre-Preschool!

Kylie starts Preschool on THURSDAY!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I'm so anxious about it. I keep having weird dreams about her and I think it's because I'm so anxious about her leaving. I know, I know. She will go for four hours a week total...two hours for two days a week...it isn't a big deal. BUT STILL!!! She is my only child and I'M NOT READY!!! But I know she is. So that is why I'm trying to be a big girl and let her branch out a bit. Anyway: the reason this is being brought up now is because today we went to her Open House today. She got to meet her teacher, see the other kids in her class, and kinda check things out. I'm so glad they do this. I think this will help things. :) For both of us. :) She's so excited and can't wait to go. I think it will be so good socially for her. Anyway....I didn't get any pictures taken today of her at school, but I snapped a few of her at home.

Oh my dear, Kylie! I LOVE YOU! You are growing up SO FAST!!!!

Colorado Weekend...

This past weekend we traveled to Colorado for a fun family event. My sweet niece, Lexy, was getting baptized. This is a big day for her and it was SO GREAT to be there for her. She is SO SWEET and was SO EXCITED!!! Here is a fabulous picture of this beautiful girl...

And here are just some snapshots of the weekend. Kylie and her Grandpa Brown...

All these cutie cousins together! Crae, Camden, Kaylee, Kylie, Lexy. I am SO HAPPY that we got ALL of them together and actually ALL LOOKING at the camera! WOW! :)

Some more pics...

Kaylee is one beautiful little girl. She is a sweetie...

And of course Uncle Matty needed some play time with his nieces and nephews...

We had a great weekend and were sad to see it come to an end! Hopefully we will all be together again soon!

Temple Square...

We also went to Temple Square while the Smith family was visiting us. It was a lot of fun. Temple Square is so beautiful and I love going there. We also toured the Conference Center. It was fun to show the kids all these cool things and see how excited they were to see them. Before we even stepped too far from the car, they had to stop and play...There is a big Christus statue in one of the Visitor's Center on Temple Square and it was great to take the kids up there to see it. I love the peaceful feeling that is in that room.

We actually got all the kids together in one picture...

Here is a beautiful shot of the Temple and I love the American Flag there as well...

Cutie cousins holding hands...

More cutie cousins holding hands...

It was so much fun seeing the cousins together. All of the Smith kids were SO GREAT with Kylie and they had so much fun being together.

I loved getting to see my nieces and nephews as well. Here is sweet baby Cienna, and Kylie not too sure about what is going on. :)

Sweetie Kylie gazing at the temple...

Here is the whole Smith clan...

Now...for me to get this everyone in this picture as well as the whole temple...I had to be a bit creative. I was laying down on the ground and it was quite funny the positions I had to make sure I got every one. Well...we had quite a good time laughing at me, and then when we finally got a few shots...the kids decided to come attack me. :) (In a fun way.) It was too cute and I was able to get a picture of Kenny and Kirsti coming to get me. :)

We had a great day with the Smith's and had so much fun visiting Temple Square!

Children's Museum Fun...

We were so lucky to have the Smith Family visit us just a few weeks ago. We went from a family of three to a family of 10 quite quickly. :) Our house guests: Brian's sister Amy, her husband Brent, and their 5 children: Kenny, Diggy (Douglas), Kirsti (Kirsten), Allison, and Cienna. Kylie LOVED having time with her cousin and we loved being able to play with our nieces and nephews and having some adult chats with the adults. Brent's mom was even able to stay with us a few nights and it was a blast having her as well! One of the first things we did was head to Discovery Gateway down in Salt Lake City. It's a great Children's Museum and all the kids had a blast! We even got a membership there, so we will be heading back frequently...especially during the horrible Utah winter months! :) I LOVE having fun indoor places to go to entertain Kylie when it's freezing cold outside! :) Anyway: we had a blast and here are some of the pics...

ALL the kids actually at one place at the same time! Incredible! They all loved playing with these balls. They have all sorts of different tubes and such that you can drop the balls in and send to different places.

Kylie LOVED sitting in this helicopter. Intermountain Health Care donated a retired helicopter and this was definitely a hit! Kylie just sat here for quite awhile. She even got to borrow Mommy's sunglasses so she could be extremely comfortable. :)

Kylie up on a big horse they have there. You can even "feed" it bales of hay!

Driving a truck while another kid puts gas in the car. :)

Sweet little Diggy playing some grand music!

Kylie playing with her cousin!

Brent helping his kids climb the rock wall!

Then he had to take a turn and here he is from the other side of the rock wall!

We had a lot of fun. I'm amazed at how many pictures I didn't get. They have this darling "store" to shop at, this "garden" where you can plant different things, a water area where you can mine or something like that, and my favorite....a DARLING mini house with a living room, kitchen, and all sorts of fun areas to play that I want to build in my house. :) Thanks for coming Amy, Brent, and the kids!!! We had a blast!