Baby Pen

I love this little girl. She is my little buddy. She is so happy, and such a joy. I love how excited she gets when she sees me coming towards her to come pick her up. She flaps her littler arms and kicks her little legs. I know that she will forever be such a joy to be around, and make others happy. She also really loves her daddy. I think she just might be a daddy's girl. She can't control herself when dad comes home from work! She needs to see him right away!! She has become the best little eater, and fantastic sleeper!! The past 3 nights she has slept a straight 12 hours without waking up! Finally, we are getting some good sleep around here! It's been wonderful. We love our Baby Pen. 

Here she's wearing the cutest little dress that her Auntie Shanna made for her:

Taking selfies with my baby:

Baby Pen with Nanny:

 Eating sweet potatoes like a good girl!

 Wearing the same dress that sister Livy wore to Auntie Jen and Uncle Tim's wedding:

Fashionista

Livster has become known for her amazing outfit choices. But these days, with the current styles, really anything goes. She always wants to wear pink, and always wants to wear a skirt. Some days she really wants to wear a dress. But she never ever wants to wear pants. And the only pants she will wear are her leggings. And when she does wear leggings she always has to pull them up to her knees. She has also become very opinionated with her hairstyle. A few of the current favorites are a ponytail, pigtails, a bun, or 2 french braids. She keeps us laughing, and I'm so grateful for her strong and fun personality. 

Little Ballerina

Livy started her very first dance class this January. It's once a week for an hour each time. She absolutely LOVES it! They spend time stretching, and working on the different ballet positions, they do 'stop and go' dances to the music, they dance to princess music, and are working on their recital dances for next month. To say we're excited for the recital is an understatement. She is just going to shine. She loves to be in front of a crowd, she loves performing, and she definitely loves dancing. Not a day goes by that she doesn't spend time dancing. Livy also likes to wear skirts that have a good "twirl". The bigger and fuller the skirt the better. And whether to wear a skirt or not is not even a question. We love our little dancer. 

New Friends

We are so happy with our new neighborhood and ward. We have never seen such a faithful ward who are so willing to serve and help others. As our neighbors have been moving in there would be over 30 men who would show up to help move in. I have already have a few lunch dates with some of the girls and have loved getting to know them. Livy too has made some new friends, and we're so grateful to be in such a wonderful place. We know that we are here for a reason, and we cannot wait for the years to come and the friendships yet to make. 

 Livy and her new friend Lola. Cutest little three year olds. 

Boat Show

We were so excited to go check out the boat show this year, especially since we got to go see Grammy and Grandpa's new boat! Livy loved exploring all of the boats, especially the sparkly ones. She got to pick out a new pink life jacket for the summer. It's going to be a fun one!

 We grabbed some delicious lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, then went to the BYU Basketball. Livy loved sitting with Grammy and watching the dancers. Penny was a trooper during the game too.  We are so lucky to live so close to grandparents and get to do fun things with them! 

Penny 6 Months

Our sweet Baby Penny is at the funnest age of 6 months old. It is so nice to get out of the "infancy" phase and get to this fun, and enjoyable little baby phase. It's been a big few weeks for Penny. First off, she has finally started eating solids!! This is great news for me, because she is stubborn and won't take a bottle, so now that she'll eat some solids other people can now feed her and I can have a little bit more freedom! I had tried feeding her a few times, but she would just spit it right out. So after several attempts, my mom was at our house and gave it a go, Penny ate a nice serving of pureed sweet potatoes. She kept flapping her arms and was so excited. For now we've done sweet potatoes, carrots and butternut squash. 

 

Livy has also become a little more interested in Penny. She is so sweet with her. I heard Penny making noise in her crib, so I was finishing up some things and then I heard her quiet down. When I went back to her room Livy was in her room, standing on a stool singing "I am a child of God" to Penny. It was the sweetest thing ever. Penny was laughing and squealing and loving it. 

Last night was also a monumental night. We finally decided to get rid of Penny's swaddle blanket. She kept waking up several times a night, and every time I went in there she was still in her swaddle and on her stomach with her little head bobbing up and down. Other times she'd wake up and her arms had gotten out, or binky fallen out...and I was exhausted. I am so ready for her to sleep through the night! So we're hoping we're on the upswing now that she can just snuggle her blankie. Crossing our fingers. 

Penny also loves to grab her little piggies. Not only grab them, but sucks on her big toe. She thinks everything is funny. She always has big smiles, and just exudes happiness. 

We were excited to pull out our little bouncer, and know she'll enjoy it in the months to come. And she also is so close to sitting up by herself! She can for a few seconds, but we can't wait until she can sit up by herself so she can play with toys and with Livy a bit better. We love this sweet Baby Pen. 

Valentine's Day

We had such a fantastic Valentine's this year. Livy and I had a great time making our annual heart-shaped sugar cookies. We made dozens of them and had fun giving them away to friends. We definitely ate our fair share as well!

Then we had a great party with all of our friends from our old neighborhood and ward. All the kids exchanged Valentine's and we enjoyed a great lunch together. Of all the pictures we took, this was probably the best one. (Missing Holden and Amos). 

Love these sweet sisters. 

We had a pleasant surprise when my parents offered the watch the girls for a much needed date night! It was so much fun to just hang out with my hubby. We went to dinner at La Jolla Groves, then went to Color Me Mine and I painted a yellow polka dot vase, and Ryan did a little bowl for his wallet and ring on his nightstand. They both turned out really good and we had a great time doing it! We then went and picked up the tripe chocolate pie from Kneaders that I had ordered and been wanting ever since Thanksgiving. It topped off the night. I love my Valentine so much and am so lucky to call him mine.