Strange Sleeper

 Planking?

"Let me out of here!"

???

Life with Mya

Mya is so busy these days that it's a chore just keeping up with her.  She is getting taller all the time and finds something new to get into everyday.  Her two favorites lately have been the garbage can and the dishwasher.  I probably shouldn't be admitting this, but last week I found her munching on a quesadilla that she had pulled out of the garbage can from a few hours earlier.  Not my greatest mothering moment there.  I used to be able to keep her out of the dishwasher by closing it tightly (so you have to squeeze the handle to open it) but thanks to a little lesson from her Dad she's got that down pat and now I can't put anything sharp in the dishwasher until right before I turn it on.

The majority of the time she is so happy and independent.  I think she could play by herself for hours if I would let her.

But sometimes she decides she wants a little help with something and she let's out a loud scream to let me know.

And if I don't help her with whatever she needs, things quickly escalate to a full blown tantrum.

But once we've got that under control she's right back to her sweet self.

And her "get out of my way" attitude.

With the occasional pause to smile for the camera.

She's such a sweet little girl and loves to give kisses all the time.  Sometimes I'll be feeding her lunch or reading her a story and she'll just lean over and give me a smooch.  Those are definitely some of my favorite mothering moments.

I am blown away all the time by how much she is learning and growing.  Although she can be a handful at times, I love the days like today when I get to stay home and just hang out with her.  It's nice to be able to slow down for a bit and capture a few hours with her before she gets any older.  I miss my little baby sometimes, but I wouldn't trade this age for anything.

Finishing out 2011

Turns out I actually did take a few photos of Christmas with my fam!  I didn't find any from Christmas day, but here are a few that were hiding on my camera.

 Opening a present on Christmas Eve.  Mya was the slowest un-wrapper ever so we decided to have her open one every few hours on Christmas and Christmas Eve.

Learning to drive the stroller.

Getting box rides from Papa.

Girl time on the chair.  No, we weren't just sitting like this for the picture.  All six of us were sitting on the chair chatting before this was taken.  I love having girl time with so many awesome sisters!

Not sure who took this picture.  Or why.  But I kind of love it.  Definitely shows who's the boss around here and who's just trying to keep up.

It's Time

Oh boy is it time. I have taken a lovely break from blogging but it's time to get back into gear.  As Duncan so kindly reminded me this morning, "You're missing our child's life!  We're never getting that back honey!"  And even though he was mostly teasing, I do actually feel bad that I haven't made a record of anything we've been up to for the past two plus months.  Since catch up posts are the hardest to do, I'll try to make this short and sweet.

 

 I "built" this house for Mya two months ago and it still sits in our family room in all it's duct tape and cardboard glory (and is still used on a regular basis).

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family at the most amazing cabin in Park City.  It was such a blast just hanging out and spending time with everybody in such a beautiful setting.  This was definitely a favorite family vacation for us.

Mya has picked up quite the love of dancing and can often be found booty shaking to the sound of a crackling fire, singing, phones ringing, or any form of background music.

 We survived hurricane force winds and 24 hours without power after a crazy windstorm that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to Davis County. (And no, that hair was not caused by the winds - it's au naturale bedhead.)

My car hit the big 100,000 miles.  It was a sad day, but she's still going strong.  

 Dunc's parents came to visit from Brazil so we were able to enjoy lots of fun activities with them before Christmas.

Not sure if Dunc will agree, but I decided Festival of Trees will be a yearly activity for us.

We also hit up the lights at Temple Square (which Dunc has begged me not to make a Christmas tradition in our family).

 Unfortunately, Mya decided she was old enough to walk by herself through Temple Square.  It was great fun except for the times she almost got stampeded or threw fits because we picked her up for her own safety.

Family picture at Temple Square.

We also managed to squeeze in a mid-week trip to Grand Junction to have the first of our two Christmases.

As you can see Mya was ecstatic about her Christmas present (don't worry Shawn, she really does love them!  :) ), and her parents were even more overjoyed about the large present in the background!  Thanks to Dunc's parents for the awesome TV that now graces our living room. 

 Mike sporting the hat I gave him for Christmas.  I'm thinking I should get started on a girly version for Mya.

Chilling with Grandma. 

The Glenn grandbabies.

And I hate to say this, but I have zero pictures from our actual Christmas with my family.  It was such a blast and we can't wait for the next holiday season.  Once again we were completely spoiled by both families and we loved being able to party for almost two months straight!

Adulthood

My day has been spent setting up retirement accounts, applying for life insurance policies, and searching for the best deal on prescriptions.  Can someone please tell me when I got old enough for all this adult stuff?

Recap of the last couple months coming soon . . . ish.