Snow, snow, snow, snow, SNOW!

We arrived in Utah without any problems--Megan slept the whole flight and even slept in the next morning. It was COLD--we saw some single-digit weather and lots and lots of snow. It was so nice to see it...and so nice to come back to warmth!

Megan was quite curious about that cold white stuff. She was almost always smiling while she played in it, but would be done after about 10 minutes and walk back to the garage stairs to go inside.


Dan even had some fun with the snowblower--see the smile on his face? Obviously he doesn't have to do it everyday at home or I don't think he'd do it voluntarily while on vacation.


Here are Megan's tights/long-johns. Luckily we got to borrow coats and snow clothes from our Utah cousins so she didn't freeze! *This was her favorite spot at Grandma and Papa's--sitting on the bottom stair seemed like the perfect chair for her.

Time Flies...

When you're having fun. Or when you're just plain busy! Our house is coming along beautifully. We did a big walk-through with our builder this morning and there are only a few minor things left to do before we close! Yay!
Dan took the day off and after our walk-through and some lunch at my Mom's, we came home to pack for our trip to Utah. Wish us luck as we try to get out of Houston while all that snow is hitting the northern areas of the country. My sister Carrie was supposed to fly in tonight from Boston--her flight was canceled and the soonest she can get out is Monday. Which means we won't see her at all :(. Thank goodness for Skype!
We are enjoying our December and can't believe it's practically over. Megan is now trying her hand at running and climbing (and falling harder). She had her first fat lip (see pic below). It was so sad/cute.
Anyway. I keep writing posts in my head but figured I better just get one done before I blink and it's February.
We will get back from Utah on Dec. 30 at 8 pm and go to closing on Dec. 31 at 10 am. The moving day is set for Jan. 3. We are getting so excited and a little stressed for our new place. If it weren't for the fact that we have to move to get there, it would be all excitement. I have managed to pack one box...looks like we'll have a busy Jan. 1 and 2.

Dan and I got to dress up all fancy for his work party. We had a great time--yummy food and fun dancing. This is not a great pic, but it's the best we've got on the computer. They took a "prom pic" for us and that looks a little better :)


Some house shots...
Master Bath


Backyard


Garage


Megan "helping" me make sugar cookies. She really liked watching the mixer.


I rolled out the dough and thought she might like using the cookie cutters. She loves playing with them on the floor. Well--Megan is no dummy. She saw that delicious dough and immediately began shoving it in her little mouth by the fistful. I had to take a picture...and then stop the little cookie dough monster.


She thinks wearing glasses is hilarious. This was last night before bed. She kept grabbing my Rx glasses off my face, so I traded and gave her my $5 walmart glasses to wear instead. A friend at church has some sweet green baby sunglasses (they velcro in the back to stay on) and Megan LOVED them last Sunday.


And the poor little adventurer. Those darn table legs just jump out at you sometimes. Her lip swelled up fast but also went away fast. Not to be seen without an injury of any kind, she promptly got bruises on each side of her forehead over the 2 days after hitting her face. At least we got a cute Christmas picture where she doesn't look too beat up.

First Zoo Trip, Time with Baba

My Dad's mom was in Houston for the past few weeks. We all call her Baba. Megan and I went over to my parent's house almost every day to spend time with her and it paid off because by the time she left, Megan had really warmed up to her.
We went to the zoo (Megan's first time to a big zoo) and the Galleria and spent lots of time eating yummy food and enjoying time with our extended family

Ready to go in...


A little nervous on the merry go round


She would have stayed in the kids' play area all day if I let her!


All tuckered out...

It's official...we have a house!!

Yup, it's true. We put an offer in on Saturday and we heard back this morning--it was accepted! Woo hoo!
It's not quite done, but is getting closer every day! We plan on moving in around Jan. 10 (or maybe a few days earlier).
It is in a new neighborhood on the northeast side of Houston. We'll be closer to Dan's current office (15 min. instead of 30), but further from my parents(30 min. instead of 15).
It's definitely a house we will need to grow into--it's got 4 bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms and we've only got furniture for half of that :). So come visit--we'll give you a nice empty room to stay in.

It's official...we have a toddler!

Megan started taking an occasional step or two around Nov. 4. She's been improving little by little, and on Wednesday started doing 8 to 10--or more steps! She will surprise me by coming around the corner from the hall walking--but she drops to a crawl when she sees me watching. It's so cute to watch her try to figure out walking on different textures and attempt doorways that have a little step. We can't believe how big she's getting! Enjoy the proof :)

Megan's favorite quiet time spot--her little book corner. She loves "reading" to herself and REALLY loves being read to.


Getting ready for church. We'll get pics of the whole dress this Sunday we hope--this is just the bow, tights, and bloomers.

One Whole Year

We can't believe our little girl is already 1! She is quite a character now and loves to tease us. She loves to be tickled, read books, and play outside and she tries to climb into the fridge and dishwasher whenever she notices they are open. She can say "Mama", "Dada" (sometimes), and I really thought she said "book" the other day. We found out this week that she loves dogs so we're working on "dog". She also loves to wave at any care that goes by.
She now has 7 teeth and weighs 19 pounds, 5 ounces and is 28 1/2 inches long! What a big girl we have...

Has she grown? Same outfit, same baby, one year apart!






Hospital Picture:


Bring on the cake


Get rid of this thing, I've got to concentrate!


Ooh, that looks good...


Yummmmm.

The Big 2-9

My wonderful husband turned 29 on October 27! We were spoiled because he had 2 days off he needed to use so he took his birthday and Megan's birthday off last week. As an early birthday present for Dan, we left Megan at my parents' house overnight a few Fridays ago. We loved being able to stay up late to watch Letterman and Leno and we especially loved sleeping in. Megan did great for her first sleepover--thanks Mom!

On Dan's birthday, we headed out to Brenham, TX--home of Blue Bell Ice Cream! We toured the factory and got to sample different flavors at the end. We all loved it--especially Megan since it was the first time we'd let her have ice cream. I picked white chocolate almond, Dan got caramel turtle fudge, and Megan got Snickerdoodle. All of them were delicious! We had lunch at a little diner there before heading back to Houston.

We had a family party for FHE that night at my parents' house. Dan's bday is the 27th, our nephew Zach's is the 28th, and Megan's is the 31st. We carved pumpkins, played pin the nose on the pumpkin, and had pumpkin squares (Dan's choice) and (of course) Blue Bell ice cream.

I'm pretty sure Dan enjoyed his birthday. He really is the best husband in the world and is a great dad too. I love you Dan!

Megan saying Hi! from her favorite spot in the kitchen--the fridge


The birthday boy and Megan enjoying some ice cream


Me, Megan, and Bessie the cow


Megan and Dan

Mother-Daughter Campout

Our stake has a mother-daughter campout every year and I loved going to it growing up. It was fun to go this year with my mom AND my daughter (and sister-in-law and nieces). It was Oct 24-25.
The weather was perfect--cool enough to enjoy a fire but not to freeze at night. Megan loved being outside and drove me crazy trying to keep her from ingesting every rock, leaf, and twig in her sight. She slept pretty well and was happy as long as she wasn't stuck in her "cage" (pack-in-play) for too long at a time.

The lake near our campsite. We camped at Brazos Bend State Park which is famous for the alligators that call it home--but we didn't see any :(.


Megan and Chloe in their play pens while we set up camp. Megan could hardly stand it!


Megan and I just before she fell asleep.


Megan and Hailey--do you see the leaf in Megan's hands?


Megan and Granny


The girls from our family (plus a few friends): Me, Amy, and Mom (and Margarita in the background), Megan, Chloe, Ana (a friend), and Hailey

New Toy

We're getting ready to head out for the Stake Mother-Daughter camp out in a few hours. I need to go pack but wanted to post a few pics of Megan's early birthday present from Granny. She LOVES it.

Visits and Visitors

It's been a busy week but we've enjoyed most of it (we are pretending the BYU game of last night didn't happen...sad...their first loss in Megan's lifetime).

Megan had fun last Saturday with all the space left when we moved the coffee table to watch the BYU game.


Sunday we got to Skype with Dan's parents and his sister Heather. We are so glad Dan's parents got a webcam so Megan can see them more often than every few months!

We got to visit with a family from the ward for FHE on Monday, Megan did great and slept the entire time. She had her first tastes of spaghetti for dinner Monday and she LOVED it. She ate about as much as I did.

Yay! spaghetti face


We noticed a yucky visitor last Sunday in the form of a roach...gross.

So we called the exterminator and he came on Tuesday. But his spraying led to the sighting of one more little friend. And this one was still alive. I hate (HATE!) roaches. I was tempted to go hide in my bedroom for the afternoon with Megan and leave it to Dan to kill, but I overcame my fear and grabbed Megan (I couldn't leave her on the floor where the roach could possibly get her) and squished it with one of Dan's shoes. Then we flushed it. Sweet success.

Let's see. Oh! We visited the Children's Museum on Wednesday for playgroup--they have this "tot spot" filled with toys and balls and mirrors and play areas. Megan loved it. I'm ready to buy a membership. It's only about 6 minutes away from our apt and we could definitely go more often.

Megan loved those cylinders--she would stand behind them and push them all around the room.


We went over to another ward member's house on Wednesday for dinner and games. Megan did not fall asleep there like we hoped she would, but she was happy for the most part so we had still had a good time.

We had a playdate with Kat and Kaden on Thursday. We went to Chick-Fil-A and I remembered why I loved going there in high school. Yummy. And it's very clean. I think it's my favorite fast food place.

Thursday night we witnessed the unraveling of our Cougs...hopefully they will regroup and be back to their usual winning selves by next week. We did have fun watching at my parent's house despite the outcome. Megan got to open a birthday present early. It's a scoot toy and a walk-behind toy all in one. She loves it. My mom has the picture so I'll post them later.

Today Megan and I met Dan for lunch. We got to check out the Tunnels--the underground part of downtown Houston. We had lunch down there and then got to see Dan's building and office.




He will be moving to a new office in a few weeks and will miss working downtown but is excited for a new experience.

Welp. Big gulps, huh? See you later!

A Quick Tag

I was tagged by Michelle--I'm supposed to open my 4th folder of pictures and post the 4th picture, so here it is!

This is from a family reunion with my mom's family in July 2007. One of my aunts took this picture and the date in the corner is wrong. That is a lovely picture of me at about 24 weeks along and includes Dan, my grandfather and his wife, my mom, 2 aunts, many cousins and cousin's children.


I agree with Michelle- this is a low stress tag. So I tag Kat, Jamie, and Mom...but only if you feel like it and have time :)

Fall Time

It finally is starting to feel like summer might be over down here. It's been nice in the mornings and not too hot in the afternoons. Megan and I have been going for walks on the bayou trail almost every day. I'm really enjoying getting more time out of the house.
And we still swim occasionally but it's getting a little chilly (you know, when the water is only 80). We swam between conference sessions last Saturday. Megan didn't mind the cold water at all. What she did mind was that I wouldn't let her just walk wherever she wanted in the pool. She just wants to be independent!
The past four days Megan has suddenly returned to longer napping! Yay! I don't know how long it will last but I am loving it.
Well, we are enjoying October so far and are looking forward to Dan's and Megan's birthdays in a few weeks. We can't believe our little girl is almost one. She's quite the cruiser and crawler but isn't taking steps yet. She has such a happy and silly personality and she makes us laugh every day. She's an easygoing and fun kid. What can we way--we like her!
I hope all of you are enjoying your fall time as well!

Megan likes feeling dizzy.

Cute leggings...


New PJs. I love how her legs and arms look so skinny and then her belly just sticks out.


A preview of her Halloween costume. Look familiar? Yes, it IS the same thing she wore last year. But this year it fits.


Her Halloween outfit from Granny. I love the polka dots.