'tis the season

This beautiful season would not be complete without seeing the thousands and thousands of Christmas lights up at Temple Square in Salt Lake City with family.

It was a FREEZING night, but we were all bundled up and I was especially kept warm with the baby bjorn strapped tightly to me and Cora barely fitting into it with the 3 pairs of pants I had on her, 3 shirts and then a jacket as well. What can I say??...I just wanted my baby to stay WARM. I can't handle her in this winter hat. TOO CUTE.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

hello horse

we drove up to Heber to see the Fall colors a few weeks ago. we were a little disappointed that the colors were past their prime, but we did find this beautiful horse! we stopped and visited with him, Cora fed him my apple core, which she dropped as he reached out with his big lips (see pictures of this below...try to find the apple falling). i love how the horse was a good sport and seemed to pose for the pictures like he had done this many times before for passers-by like us!

9 months

11-11-11
our baby is 9 months old!
what better way to celebrate than playing in the washing machine... ALL CLEAN!

at 9 months, Cora is:

-starting to crawl (a week ago she crawled 3 steps, but hasn't wanted to since!)
-taking 2 naps a day
-still nursing 5 times a day
-eating solids (her favorites are bananas, pears, sweet potatoes,squash, yogurt)
-picking up food with her little fingers and feeding herself
-drinking from a sippy cup
-sleeping 7 hours stretches at night
-smiling all the time
-giggling at peek-a-boo
-waving bye-bye
-a chatter box (no specific words yet, just mama and dada and a bunch of gibberish)
-getting lots more hair, especially on the sides and top, not so much the back yet!
-enjoying rough and tumble play with dad
-loving sitting and playing with toys all around her
-standing on her own while holding onto the coffee table

we love our big girl.
every day we are in awe at how much we love her and how much she blesses our lives.

1st halloween

Cora is 8+ months now, so she will not remember this Halloween, but Geoff and I will never forget this one because it was our first one as PARENTS!

i couldn't wait to have Cora wear her lady bug costume (borrowed from my sister), so naturally she wore it all day, including our trip to Costco... which totally paid off because people got a kick out of her!

we took advantage of a random person's front yard decorations while out trick-or-treating and had a little photo shoot. it is so hard to get Cora to smile for pictures though, oh well! she is still so adorable. i love that she was checking out the tombstone (above) and then decided it wouldn't be hard to knock down (below).

we did our trick-or-treating with Cameron and Brittany. they have a great neighborhood for it and it was so fun seeing their boys dressed as Bert and Ernie!by the end of the night Cora was just done, Ernie's face was rubbing off, and surprisingly Bert was in a great mood (see picture above). luckily her dad was a lumberjack for Halloween and had a huge flannel shirt on to keep her warm and happy until Bert and Ernie were done knocking doors!there was something so fulfilling about watching our daughter participate in this crazy holiday we celebrate, even though she has no choice in the matter yet of what she will be for Halloween or didn't collect a bag full of candy... and i think this is because this is a kids holiday and i am no longer a kid, so i was able to enjoy it through her! i can't wait until we can talk up Halloween to her and ask her what she wants to be and watch her run to the next door to say "TRICK OR TREAT!"... what joy that will be when she gets it.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN.
hope you enjoyed our little LADY BUG.

sweater envy

why don't they make this sweater in my size?

and we'd like to give a special birthday shout out to my mom. we love her and miss her!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY

pumpkin face

we got out Cora's warmer clothes this week for the Fall and Winter. i love this hat, especially because Geoff's sister Stacie made it! Cora loves playing with this baby pumpkin.. i'm especially excited about Halloween because this is our first one to have our very own kid dress up. and the big announcement is....
Cora will be a Ladybug for Halloween.
can't wait to post pictures of her all decked out! we are borrowing the costume from my sister's arsenal of great Halloween costumes.

cora and daddy

this girl loves her dada!

Cora's new favorite thing to say all day long is "dadadadadadada"
and she knows exactly what she is doing... melting her father's heart!

helmet head

Cora loves her new toy!

we love seeing Cora's personality develop...

these pictures show that personality well:
picture #1 - curious. she is constantly babbling ("bababa" "mamama" "dadada") as she explores!
picture #2 - funny. she seems to know when she is being funny because she will have a huge smile on her face too!
picture #3 - chill. Cora likes to just kick back and relax with us. she is very good about just hanging out with us.
(i love her crossed feet! she is always doing this.)
picture #4 - happy. she is only fussy when she is tired or hungry, otherwise she is very happy and get's excited easily!

stop growing!

dear Cora, please don't grow up too fast! i want to remember when you were little, when you needed me to help you sit up, when you weren't in 12 month clothes, and wearing shoes that you seem proud to have on... how did that happen? it has only been 7 months, but you have changed and grown so much!
love, mom

cora meets animals

we have been to a lot of fairs with petting zoos and animal farms lately, and we love getting Cora up close and personal with the animals. she was terrified at first, but she seems to really love it now. a sign that she is loving it is her reaching out to pet the animals! she is so brave.

all animal farm adventures must start on a tractor

big girl sitting on a cow with cousins Cade and Connor

this pony approaching fast scared her a bit...

...but Cora quickly realized he was friendly as he sniffed her toes

goats at the Utah state fair. if you can't tell Cora is smiling!

feeding a cow

sheep...Cora was trying to figure out why they were covered like this, and so were we!

so brave petting the sheep...much different than her first up close and personal encounter with the pony above.

I love that Cora is meeting lots of different animals and it is so fun for Geoff and I to watch her!

anniversary

can it be that 3 years have already come and gone? it seems like i have known Geoff forever. i'll never forget the first time we met... we were at Jake and Jenna Vela's house for Jake's birthday party in April of 2008. i showed up late because i had decided i wasn't going to go because of being bogged down with homework. Jenna called me asking why i hadn't showed up yet and that she had someone she wanted me to meet. after a little convincing i decided to go, mostly cause Jenna is a good friend and i also have a hard time saying "NO" to people. when i walked in the door i noticed some people playing rock band, and i happened to notice that the guy singing was really into it and very sweaty! i continued on into the kitchen where i found Jenna. she was talking with some people, so i sat down at the table and joined in. before i knew it the guy that was sweaty and singing came into the kitchen and was saying his good-byes. he introduced himself to me and we chatted a bit (i don't really remember what we talked about, but i remember it being very awkward cause he had just gotten home from his mission a month before). the one thing i do remember Geoff saying to me was, "you are going to fight my battles". i didn't know where that came from, but he caught my attention. I just said, "oh really!?" i remember thinking he was strikingly handsome, had a good personality, and a GREAT smile. i headed into the living room, feeling a little awkward from that conversation. he didn't follow me, but as he was walking out the door i decided it was getting late and i should get going too. on our way out the door he suggested we go on splits with the missionaries, because we had talked about me trying to get a job at the MTC and how he was just home from mission in Ohio, and as such he needed my number. i gave it to him and asked him to walk me to my car because i was nervous in the dark. he did and was a pure gentleman about it. thirty seconds down the road i hear my phone ring. i didn't recognize the number, but answered anyways. it was Geoff. he said, "i don't normally do this, but i think you are so beautiful"... i was definitely blushing all alone in my car and didn't know what to say. i remember feeling happy inside and very excited. he then said, "we should hang out on Friday." i agreed. so Friday was our first official date, a week later we let each other know that we were falling for one another, a month later we flew home to New York so he could meet my family (May), a month after that we were engaged (June), and two months later we were married (August). yes, it was fast, but we knew we were meant to be together. i could not be happier! i look forward to many many many more anniversaries together.

i love you Geoff,
Happy Anniversary

p.s. oh and by the way, Jenna never introduced me to the guy she wanted to set me up with and i am so happy she didn't because Geoff and i would not have talked at the party if i was chatting with that other guy. we had such a small window to meet each other because Geoff was living with his parents in Bountiful, UT (an hour from where i was living) and headed off to school in Idaho the week after we met. in my mind we were so meant to be because all of the pieces fell into place for us to meet, find out we liked each other and that we were compatible all in a short amount of time.

enjoying summer

we have been really loving the end of summer here in Utah. Geoff and i were commenting on how beautiful it really is in Utah during the summer. sometimes when we think of Utah we only think of the dreary winters that seem the suck the life out of you. it gets so gray here and it's harder to be outside because of the snow and cold temperatures. the mountains spotted with green and the wild flowers (some of which Geoff picked and put on Cora's hat) really make summer time in Utah gorgeous. we are never really here during the summer and so miss out on the fun outdoor activities that Utah has to offer like hiking. don't get me wrong.. skiing (which is also outdoors) during the winter is the best here and is a major attraction for people from all over, but there is something special about a beautiful summer day up in the mountains of Utah. here we are in Park City hiking up a mountain-biking trail that winds around to the top of the mountain, crossing over ski trails as we climbed:

Cora absolutely loved it and did great on our 2 hour hike that Nancy and Steve showed us!

this is my new favorite picture of all of ushere is Cora today out on our walk around Cameron and Brittany's neighborhood. i have tried to take her out on a walk every morning for a few weeks now. she seems to really loves it outside and it helps that she can see out better in this stroller that Britt is lending us!