Ok,  so continuing with our little catch up we are now at Thanksgiving! This year for Thanksgiving we went to visit Karen and Catherine in Colorado. Nick was lucky and switching from his M-F workweek to his Tues-Sat workweek so he had a long weekend. We took advantage of this weekend and left for Colorado on Saturday then came back the next Friday so we had a whole week of vacation with Nick only taking 2 days off! (He got Thurs and Fri off for Thanksgiving.)

We were very lucky and had great weather traveling to and from Colorado. Nick used to live in Colorado and travel to Utah or Idaho for Christmas and Thanksgiving as a child so I had heard many a horror story about bad weather this time of year. Eliza was a champ again in the car. I worry every trip she makes since she is becoming more and more mobile. She was a pro and I got to sit in the front seat most of the time while she just entertained herself in the back.

For the actual day of Thanksgiving we went to my cousin's house (they live in Denver). It was a little crazy since Catherine had to work that day so we left in shifts. Eliza and I stayed and waited for Catherine mostly so Eliza could get a nap in that day (I knew she wasn't going to get one with all the people in the house). However, with traffic we might as well have left at the same time since the first group only got there about 30 minutes before we did. If anyone has driven between Colorado Springs and Denver you know traffic is always busy but especially on holidays.

Thanksgiving was great and we got to visit with family, eat good food, and make gingerbread houses. I also found out I stink at making gingerbread houses since my cousin's children's houses looked better than mine. We did have to cut out a little early because we were leaving the next morning but it was a great break.

Eliza is growing and getting so big and fast. She started walking just a little bit before her first birthday and is now running around everywhere. She is also starting to develop her own little personality. She is very persistent! If there is something she wants nothing will distract her from getting to it. Usually these are things that I am using, she's not allowed to have, or things that I have just picked up and she wants dumped out all over the floor again. She is also starting to tease and love being chased. She will sometimes grab something and run away just waiting for us to chase her or if we ask her to give us something she will more times than not run the opposite direction. I find it funny now but I have a feeling in a few years it won't be as funny.

Looking at the ducks with Daddy. She loves the ducks and will start going that way if she hears them quacking.

She also loves silverware. I think mostly because she sees us using it and wants to be like us. Most of the time she will hold it in one hand and use the other to feed herself but sometimes she tries to use it and sometimes it actually works. She's not really into mimicking but she loves to babble and her favorite word to say is "Hi." She also has an adorable squeal when she likes something or it interests her. She is learning and growing everyday and I love being her to see it!

After a tumble into the coffee table.

She likes to climb into things and sometimes she gets stuck.

One of her new things in putting things on her head.

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She also finds these shoelaces that we have for the cardboard sewing shapes and animals and puts them around her neck.

Sorry these are sideways but this was during the first snow. She loved it!

This was after we went inside and she wanted me to put her shoes back on so we could go out again.

Birthday and Halloween

Wow I have really fallen behind on this thing. So much has happened in the past few months that I might break this up to give you an easier time reading and me an easier time in writing.

I guess the next major thing that has happened since I last posted was Eliza turned 1! The year has flown by so fast and I can't believe how big she is getting! Being as her birthday is in the beginning of October she has the joy of having it fall on General Conference (a church wide meeting to hear our prophets give council and encouragement held twice a year). It's nice for the first few years because it means that family has an extra excuse to come for her birthday since we live in Salt Lake. It was a great weekend with my whole family coming and Katie and Jake from Nick's family. My parents were able to get tickets for some of the sessions so all of us got to go to one session (there are 5) throughout the weekend. It was so fun to see everyone even if it was a bit crowded. Eliza loved the cake and gifts and as always loved being the center of attention. She didn't quite understand why everyone was staring at her and singing or the whole blowing out the candle bit but she loved it all the same. We also took her swimming at the pool at the hotel my parents were staying at. She loved splashing and screamed with joy the whole time. She did get cold pretty fast since it wasn't too heated so we couldn't stay long but so much fun for her.

Eating cake

Opening Gifts

I guess next on the list of things that happened was Halloween! Eliza had two costumes a monkey(that kinda looked more like a lion) and a mouse. Since Eliza is still pretty little and most of the candy that she would have gotten would have been eaten by Nick or myself and we don't need that, we decided to opt for just going to the ward Halloween party. It was a chilli cook off dinner and mingle type of party but it was fun just the same. Eliza gets a little shy when lots of people are around so she stayed pretty close throughout the party but I think she still had fun. For the actual day of Halloween, Nick's parents came to town and so we hung out with them at home. It was a good night even if we didn't get any trick-or-treaters. Our light is a little wobbly so sometimes it doesn't shine when it is on so that might account for it. Oh well more candy for us!

As a mouse at the ward Halloween Party

As a monkey for Halloween. She did not like the hat.

Well that's the time I have for now I'll get to the next little bit soon.

Good Things are Happening!

Wow life has been busy these last few months and I'm glad to be home and ready to relax a little. It has been a while since I have posted so I'm going to try to briefly go over the last few months but we all know that brevity is not a skill I have... I like to ramble.

Zoo
On the first Monday that Nick had off (he's now on a Tues-Sat work week. Every couple of weeks he switches between a Mon-Fri and a Tues-Sat work schedule so no one has to work every weekend) we went to the zoo! Eliza didn't really know what was going on but she liked the Elephants and the bears. Most everything else was sleeping so I don't know if she really knew what she was supposed to be looking at. It was a fun trip however.

Watching the Elephants

Oregon Trip
In the middle of July Karen, Catherine, Jacob, Eliza and I drove to Oregon for my cousin's wedding. It was great to see my mom's side of the family.  I haven't seen them since 2009 and none of them have met Eliza yet which they all were very excited to do. It was a lot of driving but Eliza, once again, handled it amazingly. We stayed with my Grandma and Grandpa Redford so we got to see both sides of grandparents in the same weekend! Sadly however, Eliza was a little overwhelmed with all the new people and didn't like to be far from Mama or really be held too much by other people. Even with all that she was a pretty happy and sweet baby like she usually is. Like I said it was great to see everyone (we got to see all but one cousin who had to work) and to catch up with them.

Reading with Great Grandma Redford

With Great Grandma Snider

Cheese Face with Aunt Jane!

At the Reception

With Great Grandpa Snider at the Coast. It was super windy that day.

One of the few times she let someone else hold her.

Moving
About a week and a half after we came back from Oregon we moved to a new apartment in Salt Lake. After eight years I finally moved away from Provo. So far we love it. We have a great new ward and it's great apartment across the street from the park and about a 20 minute walk to the library. Thankfully Karen and Catherine were moving around the same time so we were able to use the same truck and save some money there. Unfortunately this also means that we loaded up our stuff Tuesday, unpacked Wednesday, and then packed Karen and Catherine Wednesday night. It was a lot of moving things around. Jacob and Tim were pros and such strong men to help :) Jacob then drove out with Karen and Catherine and helped unpack them soon after. We are still kind of in the process of unpacking but I am almost there. Oh and also throughout this process Eliza got her first two teeth! I guess that might be why she was a little cranky in Oregon.

Nauvoo
A couple of days after we moved Eliza and I went with Nick's mom and sister to Nauvoo, Illinois for a church history tour! I had never been to the church sites out East so it was a great experience to see everything. We were gone for five days and managed to hit up Winter Quarters, Nauvoo, Carthage, Independence, and Far West. Nick's brother was out at Nauvoo already being a counselor for EFY and Nick's other sister, brother in law, and their child met us out there so it was a little family reunion minus Nick and Nick's dad who both had to work. It was a lot of time in the car but so worth it! Seeing all the church history sites really strengthened my testimony of Joseph Smith and of this church.

Playing in the grass

Eliza did not like being this close to horses. So far she hasn't liked being close to any animal.

At the grave sites of Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum Smith. Doesn't Eliza look so happy to be there?

Found an ancestor on the Trail of Hope!

Tim's Wisdom Teeth
The day after we got back from Nauvoo, Eliza and I headed down to Provo to help Tim get his wisdom teeth out. We took him to the oral surgeon then he came back to our place so we could take care of him. Tim was the most normal person that I have ever seen or heard of after getting their wisdom teeth out. No funny stories, was pretty cognitive the whole way home and then after, and was off of pain pills by the next day. Most mild story ever! It was probably good for him though because he was going on a trip up to Idaho and a 12 hour car trip with a painful mouth would be terrible.

See completely normal!

Vaughn Family Fun Time
 We got back from Nauvoo on a Wednesday, took care of Tim Thurs-Sat and then Saturday evening we headed up to Preston for Vaughn Family Fun Time! For those who don't know this is the time of year where all Nick's siblings come home for a family reunion. Sometimes we go on trips and sometimes we just hang out and play in Preston. This was more of a stay at Preston trip although we did go to the lake one day. It was so fun to see everyone together and see Eliza interact with her cousin Oliver. I think funniest thing they would do was that when they saw someone holding their cousin, they would then go over and want to be held by that person too. I think Eliza is going to be a little competitive. Like I said, we did go to the lake one day. It was a little too cold for the babies to swim but Fred, Jake, Nick, and I went off the rope swing. It took me a while to decide to do it-it was windy and cold and I'm a worry wart-but it was fun when I finally decided to do it.

Lately
After our busy busy summer it's good to be home and finally really get going on the unpacking and decorating and getting Eliza back on some semblance of a schedule.  For the first couple of days she would sleep so much. She would sleep like 14 hours at night(with 1-2 feedings) and then take like a three hour nap in the morning and a two hour nap in the afternoon. She's now better with sleeping around 12 hours at night (with one feeding around 6) and then two hour/hour and a half naps during the day. She is so busy exploring and getting into everything! If there is something on the ground that I don't want her to have, that is the one thing she finds. Her new thing is climbing. She climbs on everything! She also has learned to climb up on the couches by herself so that's fun to have to watch as well. We're thinking we have to move some things around so she doesn't hurt herself while climbing. Hopefully it's a long while before she learns to climb out of bed... I don't know how we will do naptime or bedtime without her being trapped in her bed. She doesn't like to go to sleep. She is also standing on her own and can take around 1-2 steps before falling. Most of the time the second step is more of lunge toward the thing she wants. I swear she gets a new bruise or scrape daily. I'm sure she will be running soon.

Look Mom! I found the pots!

And the pantry!

And the wipes!

Watch me climb!

I think that's about it for the last few months and I have rambled enough. I'll try to keep more on top of updating this thing. I'm sure now that life has slowed down I'll have a little more time.

Tim's Graduation

On June 8th my youngest brother Tim graduated high school as salutatorian. For this very exciting time the whole family went out to celebrate. This means another long car trip that Eliza handled like a champ. She was a lot more awake this time but still pleasant and happy. Sometimes I think she handles car trips better than I do. This is great because we have another long car trip back to Oregon for my cousin's wedding in July.

The graduation was great and Tim did an amazing job on his speech. Because Tim was salutatorian we got seats front and center. However we only got 6 seats and there were seven of us but that just means I got to sit in the shade with Eliza while everyone else roasted in the sun.

During Tim's speech he was photo bombed by a guy with no shirt...

We also went hiking and Eliza loved being a passenger and just watching where we were going.

Eliza hates anything on her head but we needed a hat on her to protect her bald head. She fought it the entire time.

 On Tuesday Catherine, Nick, and Jacob went back to Provo for work while Karen, Eliza, and I stayed for another week. During this time we had fun playing with family and hanging out. We took Eliza to the swings and the beach. She loved both. I wasn't too afraid of her not liking water since she loves bath time, but I was a little worried it would be too cold for her. I shouldn't have worried she sat right down without any qualms. Her favorite part was putting rocks in her mouth or trying to. It was a fight to keep her from eating them.

Eliza also learned how to clap while we were gone.

Tired out after a long day of playing.

The rest of this blog are just some cute pictures that my mom snapped while we were there. Now that Eliza can crawl she is everywhere and into everything. She is so inquisitive! Her favorite things are cords, lights, and anything she's not supposed to be getting into.

It's a little blurry but here is the tail end of her cheese face where she scrunches up her eyes and nose with mouth right open.

He favorite toy in the tub is the wet washcloth

When she gets sleepy she does this adorable thing where she lays her head down on whatever she is standing on.

It's getting a lot harder to do the things I supposed to be doing as I have to watch her a lot more carefully.  I'm busy adjusting to being a stay at home mom. It still hasn't really hit me that I'm not a teacher anymore but I'm sure it will kick in when school starts up again and I'm not teaching. We'll see how I handle it then. So far I am loving being home and seeing Eliza grow everyday. I know I'm a little biased but she is one smart cookie! She is just so cute and amazing.

Spring Break and April

So I have a feeling that this blog thing is going to turn out a lot like my journal... always starting with so it's been a while...

Anyway, it is now nearing the end of April and I am woefully behind on the happenings. The end of March/beginning of April was amazing! We (my sisters Karen and Catherine, and Eliza) went on a road trip! We drove all the way to Eugene, OR to see my grandparents and for Eliza to meet her great-grandparents for the first time. I was a little apprehensive about the 14 hour car trip with a six month old but Eliza handled it like a champ! She was either sleeping, or playing the majority of the trip. Part of the reason was we left at 4 in the morning but still 14 hour car trip! The only times she got really fussy was when she was hungry or sleepy which we fixed with either a bottle, stopping for a little bit, or putting the cover down and she would go to sleep. I think we were more sick of the car than she was by the end.

It was so great to see my grandparents again and they loved Eliza. I loved seeing them fawn over her-especially my cowboy grandpa-too cute! As an added bonus my mom and my brother Tim came down from Idaho as well. Unfortunately for Tim, he was sick the whole time so he didn't get to play with Eliza, but it was still good to see him. We had a great Easter with them and with my aunt and uncle who live just 10 minutes away.

We also went to the coast which Eliza loved. She loved watching the ocean. I think mostly because that's the sound we put her noisemaker on when we put her to bed so she was weird-ed out that the waves were making the same sound. The highlight of the trip however was we saw whales! Well we saw whales spouting but it was still pretty cool! That was the first time I've ever seen a whale outside of the aquarium.

On Wednesday Tim and Catherine flew back to their respective homes (Catherine to get back to work and Tim to take his national Aca-deca test) and I got to see my friend Tracy! It had been years since I had seen her and it was fabulous to catch up again.

We left on Thursday. This time with my mom replacing Catherine in the car. Again, Eliza was a champ! She was a little more fussy this time but all in all I couldn't have asked for better. My mom came back with us because my dad was coming down to Provo with his Priests (16-18 year old young men in our church) to go to the priesthood session of General Conference. This was she got to spend more time with us and just went back with my dad when they went home that next Monday. Eliza loved all the company and loved being the center of attention. Also, this time when Tim saw her he was healthy and got to hold and play with her. My cousins also came all the way from Texas for conference and it was great to see them again.

So thus ended our fantastic Spring Break. Also, Eliza turned 6 months. At her check-up she was 15lbs 7oz and 24" long. She is rolling all over the place and just barely starting to pull herself forward. She still can't get very far forward or backward but her side to side rolling makes her quite mobile. She loves solid foods (except for peas so far) and is just so inquisitive about everything. She also loves to be in the limelight and can't stand it if people aren't paying attention to her. When she feels like she isn't getting enough attention she will squeal or start to fuss until someone comes and plays with her. She has also learned how to shriek while playing which is a lot of fun during church when everyone else is so quiet. Well that's everything for now and on to some pictures. Sorry I'm not so good at intermixing them with the writing but hey that's how I roll... or I'm just too lazy to figure out how to format it the way I like... you decide.

Eliza loves cups and will grab them whenever they are close.

Four generations!

This picture is about the usual... Grandma smiling nice, Grandpa making as goofy as a face as he can, and Eliza just sitting there but never quite looking the way you want her to.

Oregon Coast!

Eliza loves bath time and playing in the water. I can't wait to take her swimming this summer.

Sometimes she just looks like a model.

Our cute little family!

Eliza with her Grandpa Redford

Eliza and Grandma Redford just hanging out