Winter Time

We had fun celebrating Christmas this year with Charley. We had our pictures done for our Christmas card and yearly ornaments.

We had planned to have Grandma and Grandpa Gardner over for Christmas Eve but Grandpa ended up in the hospital a few days before Christmas. So we had a quiet Christmas Eve at home, again this year.

Charley in her cute Christmas pj's

She loves the fireplace

Grandpa Gardner was released from the hospital on Christmas morning, so we got to spend a little time with both Grandma and Grandpa!

We spent Christmas night at Nana and Papa's. Charley was tuckered out and Papa was able to get her right to sleep (like usual).

Christmas 2016

Charley got some blocks and a drum for Christmas and LOVES them! 

I made us matching stockings this year...I love how they turned out!

We spent New Years Eve at home. Charley thought she was going to stay up until midnight. But actually, none of us made it. I guess that's what happens when you get old!

For mine and my mom's birthday, all of the girls in my family got together for a craft day and lunch. It was fun hanging out all together. And it was even more fun having my daughter join in!

Charley's hitting some BIG milestones! She's finally sitting up on her own. She's been able to do this for awhile but has refused to...she's a stinker ;)

And she's starting to stand on her own! Well...while holding onto something. But it won't be long before she gets this down as well! The difference with standing is that she LOVES doing it!

Here are some sweet moments of our little girl :)

She's a daddy's girl

She is very expressive and loves to talk with her hands. She loves to talk PERIOD! For Valentine's Day, she got a giraffe and she was telling us how big it was :)

This is how she sits in her high chair. Always lounging LOL

Fall Fun!

Fall came and went in a flash and I can't believe it's already over! Fall is my favorite time of year and this year the weather was beautiful!

October 11th was our 1 year anniversary for being sealed as an eternal family, so we decided to take a drive up the mountains to see the fall colors. It was a nice idea but Charley didn't love driving in the car for such a long time. It was a good eye opener for any road trips we might want to take in the future!

One of the reasons I love fall is that it marks the beginning of the holiday season and I especially LOVE Halloween! I'm all about costume themes, so I was excited to dress my family in a theme this year! I found Charley's costume for a really great price, so it was a no brainer what we were going to be:

Charley was such a cute Supergirl!

We started a new tradition with my family since my mom always wants to see all of the grandkids in their costumes but it gets tricky with Halloween day being so busy. So we started a family Halloween party that we had a couple weeks before Halloween. We had our family's traditional sloppy joe dinner with apple cider and played some Minute To Win It games. I also set up a backdrop so we could all take pics of our costumes. All but 2 people were able to come..it was a lot of fun!

Scott and his family

Steph, Mom & Dad

The night before Halloween we went to our Ward Halloween Party and had fun with our ward family.

My nephew was baptized on Halloween, so we went down and spent the morning and afternoon with his family. Charley showed Papa Bill how much she loves bacon! She is eating solid food FINALLY! 

Charley isn't at the age yet to go Trick or Treating, so we decided to enjoy handing out candy by setting up our outdoor fire pit and playing Halloween music. It was SO much better than jumping up and down to answer the door every 5 seconds!

We celebrated Thanksgiving twice this year. Kevin's brother came into with his family a couple weeks before Thanksgiving so we all got together up at his parents house and had an early Thanksgiving dinner. Kevin enjoyed spending time with his brothers (they went shooting while the wives stayed back and helped cooked the dinner.) We learned the hard way that Charley won't sleep unless she is home in her own bed, at least when it's ME trying to get her to take a nap! LOL

We celebrated Thanksgiving Day at my parent's house. We went over in the morning and spent the day helping prep for dinner. Papa Bill has the magic touch with getting Charley to sleep. I was in the kitchen making stuffing (after attempting multiple times to get her to lay down for a nap unsuccessfully) and Kevin tells me to come into the living room to see this:

She NEVER does this for me! And she knew immediately when he tried to lay her down in her pac n' play, so he was the official nap time holder (he didn't mind). 

Thanksgiving was really fun...we all piled into the living room so that we weren't separated and all mingled and chatted while we ate. And my brother Scott was very accommodating when I told him we needed HOT rolls for dinner ;)

Afterwards, a few of the guys ran to Wal Mart to get some hot deals for Black Friday while the rest of stayed back and then we played some games to finish the night. It was a great holiday!

Thanksgiving 2015

Charley's 1st Birthday!

I can't believe my baby girl is 1! Where did the time go??! I LOVE holidays...especially celebrating my baby girl's birthday, so I had a LOT of fun planning her birthday. We weren't doing a huge birthday party (just a few family members) but we were still going to celebrate.

Charley and Great Grandma Grow have birthdays 1 day apart, so we started the weekend celebration by visiting Grandma. We even brought her a birthday crown to wear for the occasion.

Trying to get these 2 to both look at the camera and smile at the same time was impossible LOL.

 I took a few days off from work so I could make Charley's birthday cake. I took a cake decorating class many years ago for this VERY purpose...so I was really excited to make my daughter's cake!

 I had SO much fun making this cake (even though I knew Charley wasn't going to eat any of it.) But that's okay...everyone deserves a birthday cake!

I made cupcakes for everyone else

Charley looked SO cute in her birthday outfit!

Charley and Grandpa Gardner

Charley and Grandma Gardner

 I don't know why I didn't get any pics with my family...I'm bummed about that. But they were there!

When we brought out the cake, Charley immediately reached out for it...so I had high hopes that she would at least want to play in it!

 

But she took one little finger to it and as soon as she touched the frosting...she didn't want anything to do with it. So Mom and Dad had fun getting her "dirty" and tasting the cake.

This was when she started to "gag" because I got cake in her mouth LOL

She didn't think it was so funny LOL!

 Charley got some fun toys to encourage her to sit up and play. We discovered a few days before her birthday that she CAN sit up on her own...she just doesn't WANT to, the little stinker!

Charley loves to stand and uses her feet for almost everything she does! She started waving a few days ago and now will wave back to us. She loves to sit on the couch with Mom and Dad and even has her own "spot". She is starting to understand "mama" and "dada" and instead of just babbling, will say our names when she sees us. She loves to talk and will tell us stories all day long. She gives slobbery kisses to Mama but unfortunately doesn't like Daddy's facial hair, so he hasn't gotten any from her yet. But we keep trying!

She adores her puppy and laughs at her all the time...especially when she is barking at us because she wants to play. She loves music and will stop whatever she is doing to look to see where the music is coming from.

She still struggles with eating solids. She doesn't quite know how to use her tongue to move her food side to side in her mouth, so we are working with her by doing some exercises to get her to use those muscles. She is starting to grab food from Mom and Dad when we are eating, so we hope that is a sign for good things to come! The good news for Mom and Dad is that she is OFFICIALLY off formula! YAY!

 We ADORE our Charley and are so glad she joined our family!