Rachel's first real hair cut

I forgot to mention that I gave Rachel her first real hair cut a couple weeks ago. It was getting pretty long, which is what I want, but it was still a bit stringy on the ends from her baby hair.

Merry Christmas!

Love, Will Melissa and Rachel

Decorating the tree

Rachel had fun decorating the tree. She just loves Christmas trees. She points them out everywhere we go. She has a hard time keeping her hands off the tree, she loves to rearrange the ornaments.

Thanksgiving in PA

Hershey Park

Will and Grandma Baker

Cutie pie Rachel

Visiting Will's great uncle Bill Johnston.

Just goofing around

Looking for snacks

The monument dedicated to Will's Grandfather, Jim Johnston, in the local courthouse. He died in WWII. Thats his picture on the wall behind us.

We finally got to fly to PA to visit Will's Grandma for thanksgiving this year. Rachel and I had not met her yet and it had been 4 years since Will had seen her. She is his only close living relative and they are pretty close so it was good to finally get out to see her. We spent a week in the area and she showed us all around where she and Jim grew up. Hopefully we can visit again soon.

Turkey Triathlon

Will's First Triathlon on Nov. 8th

Last leg of the run. 5k

Just starting the bike. 10 miles

Swimming. 350meters

Go Will!

Will and Lane

He had fun. Got 79th out of over 550 people. Woo Hoo!

Trick-or-treating at "The Generations Network"

Will's work puts on a trick r treat around their office building on halloween so I brought Rachel and Cory to collect candy. Its a pretty large building and they had us wind through it a few times so it took and hour to get to all the candy stations. The kids were starting to get bored but they got a lot of candy. More for Me and Will I guess. If you can't tell, Cory is Luigi from Mario brothers. His dad was Mario and his mom was princess peach.

Halloween at church

We had a ward trunk-or-treat on tuesday before halloween and Rachel loved being tinkerbell. She had so much fun dancing around the gym. Her favorite things were the puppet show and getting her picture taken in front of the spooky backdrop they had set up. She was such a ham for that camera, but she won't take fun pictures for me. What a stinker!
Funny side note: every time she sees candy now she says "trick-or-treat?" instead of calling it candy. I guess that trick-or-treating really stuck with her this year.

ABC...XYZ about me

A = Age: 24
B = Bed size: queen mattress on a king frame
C = Chore(s) you hate: dishes and toilets
D = Dessert you love: brownies
E = Essential start your day item: work out
F = Favorite actor(s): Reese Witherspoon, Jim Carrey, Joaquin Pheonix, Mandy Moore
G = Gold or Silver: Silver
H = Height: 5'1"
I = Instruments you play: None. Started Piano as a kid but never got very far
J = Job title: Mom, Wife, Nanny, Hair stylist
K = Kitchen color(s): white and peach, wish it was Red
L = Living arrangements: 3 bed house, I love it!
M = My name is: Melissa
N = Nicknames: Mel, Melly, Smelly, Meliz
O = Overnight hospital stay(s): only time was when I had Rachel. stayed 2 nights
P = Pets: None currently
Q = Favorite quote: "If you treat a man as he is, he will stay as he is, but if you treat him as if he were what he could be and ought to be, then he will become what he ought to be."
R = Right or left handed: left
S = Siblings: 1 younger sister and brother
T = Time you woke up today: 6am when my hubby got up, couldn't go back to sleep
U = Unique about you: been skydiving.
V = Vegetable you love: broccoli
W = Worst habit: chew on my lip
X = X-Rays you've had: just at the dentist
Y = Yummy food you make: Tater tot casserole, its my mom's
Z = Zodiac Sign:Leo

Hee Haw Farms

I have been so slow lately to post stuff. This post is from about 2 weeks before Halloween when we went to a local farm that does Halloween activities for kids. We had tons of fun, and Rachel was so entertained the whole time. I think the corn box was her favorite.



Daddy is learning how to be a cowboy!

shaking out all the corn!

Rachel saw another boy burying himself in the corn she she decided to try too. She had corn everywhere. We tried to shake it all out but I still found more when we got home and I undressed her for her bath.

Getting lost in the corn maze.

Riding the pony

This miniature horse was trying to eat Rachel's coat. She had fun petting all the different animals.

We went for a ride on the tractor train!

Rachel is funny!

This is a conversation I had with Rachel this morning while she was eating breakfast:
Rachel: Happy Birthday!
Mom: Happy Birthday? Who's birthday is it?
Rachel: this (pointing to her high chair)
Mom: Its your chair's birthday? thats so silly!
-A couple minutes later-
Rachel: Happy Birthday!
Mom: who's birthday is it?
Rachel: um howbout Rachel!
Mom: Its Rachel's Birthday? ok Happy Birthday Rachel!

She's so funny sometimes. I love having conversations with her now. She's such a talker!

Pumpkin Carving

Ready to start our pumpkin!

Helping Daddy pull out the pumpkin guts

Ewww, slimy!

All done! what a silly pumpkin!

This is Rachel trying to say "yucky slimy pumpkin guts"
She was really good at saying pumpkin guts but it was harder to say the whole thing. So it came out "yucky slimy guts"

Boo's Bows

I have found a new website to sell my bows on, it is easier for me to manage and I have lowered my prices! So go check it out at www.boosbows.etsy.com
I don't have all my bows up yet but I am adding more every day so check often. If you live in the area, we can arrange delivery so you don't have to pay shipping. Thanks for looking!

Tag!

The rules: You can only put one word answers. Good luck.

1. Where is your cell phone? kitchen

2. Your significant other? Will

3. Your hair? up

4. Your mother? Amazing

5. Your father? opinionated

6. Your favorite thing? Family

7. Your dream last night? none

8 Your favorite drink? diet Pepsi

9. Your dream/goal? salon

10. The room you’re in? kitchen

11. Your hobby? gardening, crafts

12. Your fear? losing family

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? 3 kids

14. What you’re not? proactive

15. Muffins? blueberry

16. One of your wish list items? car

17. Where you grew up? California

18. The last thing you did? cleaned

19. What are you wearing? gym

20. Favorite gadget? laptop

21. Your pets? none

22. Your computer? mac

23.Your mood? lazy

24. Missing someone? mom

25.Your car? stratus

26. Something you’re not wearing? socks

27. Favorite store? Roberts

28. Like someone? mandy moore

I tag Brenda, Denise, Brandy. Now its your turn!

Flashback Friday!

Here is Rachel at 4 days old. I miss having a little baby.

Our weekend in So Cal

We drove down to Apple Valley last weekend to visit Will's family and participate in a baptism and baby blessing. Rachel did really good on the drive down but got antsy and bored pretty quick on the way back. Next time I'll remember to bring the portable dvd player! I wasn't very motivated with taking pictures so here are the few I took of Rachel. Really its more fun to see pictures of her than us anyway.

Cuddling in the car

Playing at Greg & Heather's house

Riding the boat in the mall

throwing pennies in the fountain at the mall

Rachel loved the fountain. She kept asking for more pennies, good thing I had a lot of change.

18 Months!

I just wanted to share how big Rachel is getting. Time flies! I thought she was looking especially cute this morning so I had to catch a few photos. When I look back on my photo albums, I think I haven't taken enough pictures of Rachel and our family in general so I try to take as many as I can when I do remember. ( Hence 4 pictures from this morning all at once) Rachel also blinks every time the camera flashes so I have to take a ton of the same shot to get maybe one or two decent ones. In most of her pictures she has both eyes closed or half closed. These are the good ones that I posted. Funny side note: every time I take her picture she says "cuuuuuute" right after. I guess she got it from me because I say cute when I look at the photo on the camera screen. She is such a little sponge that absorbs every thing she hears and then repeats it. That is usually good but can be bad sometimes when Daddy says "crap" in front of her and she repeats it.

Spread the Word!!!

I have been making hair clips and bows for girls and I am ready to start selling them. If you would like to see more pictures and purchase some go to www.giftpenguin.com to order. This is my friend's website and she is helping me sell them. These are so cute in little girl's hair and are perfect baby shower gifts! Please tell everyone about the site. If you live in my area you don't have to pay shipping, we can set up a time to meet. Thanks!