here's to a great year

can you even handle this face she is making? this was taken Christmas morning after Cora got a panda blanket from Grandma Liza. many have told us that we need to submit this photo to the company that makes these blankets, with Geoff's arm possibly cropped out ;)!

every day this girl of ours makes us smile. both Geoff and I agree that this has been the best year ever...

-we had our first baby
-we bought our first car on our own
-Geoff finished school
-i'm VERY close to finishing school
-Geoff got an awesome job
-we moved out of our college town
that has been home for 7 years

we are so taken care of and are grateful for the bounteous blessings the Lord continues to pour down on us.

birthday week

this is the week leading up to Cora's FIRST birthday and Geoff's 26th..

Can't wait to celebrate with these two!!

we're back

things are finally settling down after the holidays and our move. at the end of our stay in New York for Christmas Geoff lined up an interview with Layton Construction in Arizona and got the job! we're so proud of him!! so we packed up and moved to sunny Arizona and have been here for 2 weeks now. there is so much to catch you all up on, but until then enjoy this video of Cora...

'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.