Top 10 events in the last month

Yes, it's a long post, but what can you expect when I only update my blog once a month. (Mom, the video of her walking is from December 6 - I'll have to put an updated one on here soon.)

10. Thanksgiving: This year we went to Casey’s grandparents house for Thanksgiving in Taylor. It was raining and cold, but it was really fun. Some of Casey’s extended family was there, so it was fun to see them.

9. Casey turned into a ‘real’ handyman: Paige broke our lamp a few weeks ago. Casey didn’t want to buy a new one so he decided to “fix it.” Needless to say...we got a new lamp.

8. Our 4 year Anniversary: Yep, four whole years. See #10 for pics. This year our anniversary happened to fall on Thanksgiving so we didn’t really do anything to celebrate except eat too much.

7. Casey’s Birthday: Casey turned the big 2-7!!! We never celebrate his birthday on the actual day because it normally falls during finals week. This year we went to the zoo lights (very exciting) and we had cake and ice cream. A good time for all.

6. Tamra’s Birthday:
Yes, our entire family (so far) has birthdays in December. When Paige was born, my dad told us we should have all our kids in December and party all month long – we already have to party all month long so I don’t think we can fit in anymore birthdays. Anyway, for my B-day, we went to see the Nutcracker at Symphony Hall. Carianne and Rusty came with us and so did Andy with a date (Casey’s brothers).
5. New nieces: Carianne and Rusty had their first baby – little Kate Annette. And Taunya (my sis) and Nick had a baby girl, Mackenna Noelle, on Christmas eve.















4. Paige started walking: Paige was taking quite a few steps by thanksgiving and by the beginning of December, she turned into a little toddler. She no longer crawls at all, she just gets right back up and keeps walking. She does really well until I put shoes on her. Shoes make her a little clumsier. She is getting into everything and loves to climb into things or put things into things. Her favorite are my corner kitchen cupboard and the refrigerator.


3. We got a new car: We bought a brand new car at the end of November. Casey’s car broke down while we were in Phoenix a few months ago and we were planning on buying a car when he graduated and were not prepared to buy one now. They have some really good deals on cars right now, so we went ahead and got it early. We ended up with a Ford Explorer. I get to drive it and I love it. It is a bigger car so I feel safer and can see more on the road and it is way easier to get Paige in and out.

2. Christmas: After we went to the nutcracker, we went back to the Crandell’s in Casa Grande and stayed there until Christmas morning. Then we went up to Jenn and Brent’s for Christmas dinner. Taunya was there with her 1 day old baby (what a brave mom). We had a good time and then packed up and came home.

1. Paige turned One: Paige turned the big One year old on the 19th. We had her birthday party at Grandma Crandells house so it would be easier for our family to travel. She of course had no clue what was going on, but was very excited for her new toys (particularly the ones that she saw before they were wrapped).

Apples, apples, apples

My sister and I got together to make applesauce and apple pie filling. The recipe for pie filling is absolutely delicious. We did this a couple years ago when Casey's Grandpa had a bunch of apples from his garden. The apples failed this year so we ordered 4 boxes from Utah and canned away. Paige was a big help and so was Matt, who probably peeled a whole box of apples by himself.


Here is our finished product...I forgot to take a picture before we started packing up our jars so most of them were already packed in boxes.

First Step

This is quite literally Paige's 1st step. It just happened to be caught on video because it was on Halloween and we had the camera out. I have yet to see another performance that is this skilled. She kept trying to walk for awhile and then she realized it is more efficient to squat down and crawl away when she is ready to make her move.

Happy Halloween!!

Paige decided to be a ladybug this halloween. I was going to make the costume, but I went to buy some wings for it and found the whole costume for $8 more so we went with that. Here she is for her big debut...

Paige sat by the door the entire evening waiting for trick-or-treaters. Everytime I would shut the door, she would cry. It was pretty funny (yes, I am a mean mom who thinks it is funny when she cries). Below she is enjoying some of her favorite treats - she just doesn't know how much better they are unwrapped.Here she is at Grandma Crandell's last week. She is going to be one spoiled girl. Really, who needs the whole bowl of candy.

Snot...

...all babies have it!!!

Home Sweet Home!!!

We are finally home for awhile after being gone for nearly a month. Casey worked in the emergency department at Maricopa County Hospital in Phoenix for four weeks. It is so good to be home. We stayed with my oldest sister and her family. They are so great. Paige got sick and had a few rough nights and then towards the end of our stay had some even crazier nights. She was ready to get home and went right back to her normal schedule. I think she was just as glad as we were to be sleeping in her own bed. Casey is now working in the ICU at the University Medical Center here in Tucson.

Unfortunately, while we were gone, Casey's beloved car broke down. What a tradgedy. So now we are trying to decide what we want to do since we were planning on buying a car in March when we find out if and where we will be moving. He has an interview in Texas next week for his residency so that should be interesting. We'll see how it goes. Other than that, we are just getting back into the swing of things. I'll have to post some pics next time. Until then....

New Pics

We went to the park the other day with some friends from out ward. Afterwards, my friend Karla took some pics of Paige and I together. They turned out pretty well. Thanks Karla.

Paige is quite active these days...as most babies are. I found a jumperoo on Craigs list for her to use for awhile. It is huge and takes up way too much space, but I figure when we are done with it, I will just sell it for the same price I bought it. She LOVES the thing. Here is a short video of her pure excitement. She gets some serious air. So cute!

We're Alive!!

I know that I haven't updated my blog in ages, but no worries, we are still alive. There is way too much to catch up on so I am just going to pretend that July and August never happened (for now anyway).

Paige and I just took a trip to Utah to visit Casey. He has been working this month at the ER at the University of Utah. My parents have a condo right next to Temple Square in Salt Lake City so we stayed there. We had a lot of fun. Casey only had to work three shifts while I was there which was nice because we were able to spend quite a bit of time together. Here are some pics from our trip.

My parents have been at the MTC for the past couple weeks so they came up on Thursday and babysat Paige while we went out and on Friday we were able to go to the Temple. They left Friday morning for thier mission in San Jose, CA. This is the view from the street where we stayed. You can see the temple from the window at the condo where we stayed...so pretty.
We went for a walk along a trail next to a creek. Paige was practically crawling out of her stroller trying to see the running water. It was a new sight for her.

We went hiking one day-apparently it was naptime. Paige fell asleep while we were still hiking.

Here is Paige and her second cousin Paje. She was born exactly a month after our Paige. Ours is definitely more chubby...no question there.
It was a great trip. We sure do miss Casey a lot and we can't wait for him to come home. This single mom gig got old weeks ago. I don't know how all those military wives in our ward deal with thier husbands being gone. Yuck!!!