Highlighting our baby girl

Not so much a baby. At all, actually. The only baby-ness about her still is that she uses her binky in the bed, but that won't last much longer. Anyway, it's been a long time since I just focused on an update about Gracie, so here it is!

-Grace is 21.5 months old and weighs about 28 lbs. She wears size 18 month - 2T clothes, depending on what piece of clothing it is, and she wears size 5 or 6 shoe. She's got a bootie on her... not gonna lie... and some nice, thick thighs, so we usually need bigger bottoms. Her t-shirts are mostly 18 month-24 month, and her dresses that are 2T are already getting a little too small in the chest and tummy. She's definitely not a petite little girl, and I love it. ;) Somebody told me recently that "those legs shouldn't be in leggings" and I was just a little offended. haha I think her slightly chunky legs are adorable in leggings! She won't think that later in life, but right now it's perfect.

-Her vocabulary is improving every single day. She knows so many words now that she can pretty much communicate anything to me and I'll understand what she needs or something exciting she's trying to tell me. She's only just recently started connecting two words together though, such as "Daddy buh-bye", or "appoh joo" (for apple juice), or "lellow pliploh" (for yellow pillow she saw in a book). By favorite words that she says right now because she says them so cute are:

* "buck" - meaning "bug"

* "lullee" - for "lovey" (her lamb)

* "geek" - for "drink"

* "plet" - "plate"

-Grace is so good at playing by herself, especially over these last few months of me not being much of a playmate. She has her days where she wants all of my attention but I would say most of the time she's perfectly content sitting by herself with books, coloring in a coloring book (which she'll do for 30 minutes straight sometimes!), or playing with her toys. She's such a good girl. She's so good to me.

-As I've mentioned before, her letter recognition is amazing! I don't know where she came from, honestly. She already knows, recognizes, and can name half the alphabet (mostly the first half, but some random ones throughout the last half). We'll be driving in the car, she'll see a sign and start naming letters off the sign. Or she'll see the shape of an "O" in anything like architecture, or a design somewhere, and she'll point it out to us. Her favorite thing is when we sit with her and draw letters for her to name and learn.

-She's also learning to count to three. She says "do, do, wee". We're still working on numbers but she likes to pretend to count stuff by saying "do, do, do, do" (for two, two, two).

-Grace's favorite movie right now, BY FAR, is Finding Nemo. She asks for "Memo" all day long. She still loves Tangled too and will sit still during the whole movie, but definitely loves Nemo a ton right now. I think it's all about how colorful those two movies are.

(this is Grace's "silly face" which we adore. I just love it!)

-Grace is such a good sleeper and she never, ever protests when it's time for bed. Especially nap time at 1 pm. I admit I'm nervous about taking the binkie away, putting another baby in there with her, and introducing a toddler bed (whenever any of those things end up happening). I'm afraid it will put a huge wrench in her willingness to sleep, and I sure love her 12 hour nights and 2 hour naps in the day right now! At my mom's house she was sleeping 3 hours in the day! So I'm excited to get lots of good quiet time out of her in September when we're staying there. :) That's always a good thing, right?

-Her hair is getting thicker, which is nice, but the length just isn't there yet. I'd LOVE length in the sides and on the top sometime soon. She has some curls on the back of her head but they don't usually stick around very long especially after being in the carseat on the way to whatever event I did her hair for. At least we can do cute bow clips though! But there still isn't even enough to do a fountain top or anything. So I'm excited for more length someday.

We love our sweet girl! She will make a wonderful big sister in several more months and is already giving the baby/my tummy lots of kisses. We would be so lost without her in our family and making us smile everyday. I feel like the most loved mommy in the world because of all the hugs and kisses she gives me all day long. We're so lucky and happy to have such a smart, affectionate, beautiful, and silly girl as our daughter.

More from Salt Lake...

Warning: super long post and tons of pictures!

Plus two other new posts below this one.

Grace got lots of good Grandma and Grandpa time!! Thank you to all of you for all the babysitting and time you spent with her. She loves the one-on-one attention. :)

My cousin Allie and her daughter Mia came over one morning to play in the backyard and the kiddie pool. Grace was being a huge party-pooper that day and wasn't playing very nice, but I at least enjoyed my girl-talk with Allie. :)

That night we went to a Turner extended family barbecue at Grandpa T's house. All the little cousins (and a few 2nd cousins) were so cute sitting and eating together. I know Grace had a blast with all of them!

Between all our visits and activities, it was SO nice to be able to take it easy, hang around my mom's house, watch movies, and play in the backyard some more.

My mom took us out for ice cream at Maggie Moos one evening (because I mentioned that their "cinnamoo" ice cream sounded SO GOOD!). Mmm, it was good. Seriously if you've ever been there and haven't tried it, DO IT next time. When we told Grace we were going out to get ice cream, she grabbed her toy ice cream cone and brought it with her. :) haha Smart kid.

Another evening, Grace and I met my friend Mary Brosnahan for dinner at Cowboy Grub. That place holds many memories for us, as we used to go there ALL THE TIME in high school. We would go in order to stalk my crush who worked there, and to meet up with friends, but most especially for the scones and the "cheesy spuds" they serve there. Yum!! We went to relive the good ol' days and fill up on carbs. Grace found the cow heads on the wall and kept pointing at them while saying "Moooo". She also found the toy horses in the kids' area and of course was immediately obsessed. She kept running in there to pet and kiss it. It was great to see Mary and enjoy our spuds together!

And... speaking of food... the next evening I met up with 6 of my good friends who live in Henderson with us. All our husbands are doing rotations, and several of their husbands are currently all over the country doing away-rotations. They're staying with family in Utah so they're not so lonely. Some of them I haven't seen for a couple of months and it was so fun to get together without the noisy kiddos and in a new place! I don't think all of us (including the few that aren't pictured) will be together in the same room again until January. :( And even then we're quickly running out of months as student-wives together. The clock is ticking!

(Erica, Robyn, Emily, Marci, Rachele, Alisha, and me)

Ryan finally got in town thursday evening to spend the weekend with us. On friday we went swimming at his Grandma's neighborhood pool with his sisters and their kids. I didn't have much energy that morning, so I'm glad Ryan was there to play with Grace and throw the kids around. I think they all really loved having their Uncle Ryan around who they hardly ever get to see. We all ate lunch at his mom's house afterwards and had a great time with everybody. :)

Grace wouldn't let those rings out of her hands or she'd freak out.

My brother and sister-in-law opened up a new dance studio that Jacey and her mom will run and teach at. We stopped by their open house to see the beautiful finished product and congratulate them. Grace definitely enjoyed dancing in front of the big mirror while we were there. Of course!

My parents ... they have been absolutely angels these couple of weeks. My mom always made sure I had whatever food I wanted or needed available to me. She made us breakfast and dinner and made whatever Grace wanted as well. Both my parents helped with Grace's baths, meals, getting dressed, playing with her, watching movies with her, and countless other things. It was exactly the recovery time I needed to feel like a functioning person again. I felt my appetite coming back and my energy level going up. The reason I went to Salt Lake in the first place was for exactly those reasons, and it was so totally what I needed. A HUGE thank you to my mom and dad for helping me out and feeding me so well! I actually gained my first couple pounds of this pregnancy with all the yummy food they fed me (took me 'til 14 weeks to achieve)! We were very well taken care of and they even took us out to get burgers at our favorite place: Smashburger! Thanks again, mom and dad!

haha I love this photo. My dad was barbecuing steaks, Ryan was

chatting with him, and Grace was just being her cute self.

Such a great trip, and so needed. We came home sunday and I immediately felt sick again and super emotional that I was taking steps backward with my morning sickness. But after a rough transition day yesterday, I think I will be ok for 2 more weeks before we head back up to Salt Lake for the month of September. haha That sounds silly. But yes, I can make it in my house that hates me right now. ;) Let's hope these 2 weeks go quickly!

Staying busy

(visiting Jamie VanOrden Black)

I realized that visiting Salt Lake this summer has been the most productive when it comes to visiting with high school friends. I've been married 5 years and out of high school for 6, and I feel like my girlfriends have been the most accessible for visits out of any previous year! Whether it's that they've just recently had babies and are home with them, they're newly-married and more "settled" in life, or they're home from missions... I'm loving it! I was able to visit with Haley and Brett, and see their sweet Madeline who was just a few weeks old. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture because I completely spaced it ... and I didn't get to hold Madeline this time because Grace had cold symptoms and I didn't want to take a chance. But it was wonderful to see them! I also visited my good friend Jamie Black, the newlywed as of a few weeks ago, and got to meet her cute husband. They had Grace and I over for dinner and I had such a good time seeing their place, catching up, and getting to know Kendal finally. I just LOVE seeing my good friends find what I found with Ryan. :) It makes me so happy. I also got to go to dinner with Mary, who recently completed her mission (more to come on that later), and finally got to snuggle the handsome little Whitaker (newborn baby of our good friends Jen and Paul). So many fun people to see!

I also attended the wedding reception of a girlfriend from high school who married a guy I've known since elementary school (Tara and Braden Parker)! There were so many people to visit with at the reception and I had a blast! I didn't even eat my plate of food I got because I was so busy chatting with everyone. A couple of them had new babies to show off and so many of them are doing so much in their lives that it was fun to visit face to face after so much time. I went home that night so wired and then of course I had dreams about high school (some stress-dreams about not remembering my schedule) for a few nights afterwards. I wonder if that kind of thing only happens to me... haha.

My mom and Grace and I went to "Zoorasic Park" (Hogle Zoo) on friday which was Grace's first time at a zoo! They had a bunch of dinosaurs all over the park and they actually made noises, moved, and in some cases spit water at us. It was actually lots of fun and I'm excited to go back again soon! Maybe when it's cooler. :)

Seeing my favorite animal: Elephants! Especially this cute baby.

Carousel ride

The T-rex that made Grace cry...

Riding the train.

This little guy was adorable! He showed us his trick of moving his scalp and eyebrows back and forth.

I ran into my good friend from Henderson (who is currently living in northern Utah for a few months)! We miss you, Karren family!

... more to come ...

Backyardigans

Grace and I escaped the heat and monotony of Henderson and flew to Salt Lake a couple weeks ago. After many weeks of suffering from morning sickness in my stinky apartment (which is only stinky to my pregnancy-nose, of course) and using up all of Ryan's patience making him do everything for us, I decided to impose on my mom and dad and make them take over for a little bit. hehe. Seriously though, they are so wonderful to let us come bum around their house and eat their food and help me through the last couple weeks of 1st trimester. Being there was such a blessing - not having to dread walking into the kitchen and worry about throwing up in the shower, etc. Sorry, but it's true. I don't know why I have such an aversion to my entire apartment, but I didn't have to think about it for a week and a half! I was on VACATION from it and loved every minute of being in Salt Lake! :)

Grace and I spent many mornings hanging out in my parents' backyard. It's a perfect place to lay around in the shade, swing (which Grace calls "wee"ing), explore, and enjoy the nice weather. We had goldfish picnics, I taught Grace to swing on her tummy (which she loves!), and we even made "noodles" on the toy stove (also known as a hand-full of grass) with the toy kitchen set.

We spent an evening with the Turners, eating ice cream and playing in their backyard as well. Grace had such a blast playing soccer with Aunt Tori and her grandparents. She's already got some skills! She also loved playing house.

We had a great time playing in such beautiful yards and weather. :)

Happy Birthday Surprise

My man turned 28 years old last week! Such an old man! Ha. Just kidding. We have awhile yet until that's really true. I'm glad he's all mine and that we were able to celebrate him as a family. In fact it was a good day! We had the entire day together since he didn't have to work. He got a few things done he needed to do, then took Grace to Target to use the giftcard I bought him. That may sound like a dumb gift, but seriously Target is his favorite store these days! We were able to chill out and watch some movies together. That evening we dropped Grace with Lisa & Hannah Casey (thanks again!) and went to dinner at BJ's. We both enjoyed dinner so much and even got a super yummy Pizookie for dessert. So good!

As far as his birthday surprise ... I have been a total slacker in every aspect of my normal life lately, so I wanted to try and do something for him that he totally wouldn't expect. Our family members and a few of our friends helped me out with a fun birthday poster for Ryan. I spent a few weeks collecting photos of loved ones wishing Ryan a HAPPY BIRTHDAY and then surprised him with all the photos on a poster (thank you Rachele for the cute idea!). Ryan's reaction was, "You really did this?! Wow. I'm impressed you got this done." (since I lay around all day everyday) It was so fun to see everybody's cute faces and families, and feel like everybody was thinking of Ryan on his special day. Thank you so much to everybody who helped! It was a success. Except for the balloons and the awkward shape they took ... don't look too closely. Let's just say they were CHEAP balloons and I only blew them up a tiny bit.

unimportant fact: I know I said Ryan didn't have to work on his bday, so the reason he is in scrubs in this picture is because I took it a couple days later.

Here's the "honorable mention" out of all the entries.

Just because she's so gosh darn cute! :)

I'm so glad we were able to spend the whole day with you, Ry. Grace and I love you so much and so do all those people in those pictures. Happy Birthday! And here's to many more...!

Photography

During high school and my short time at the U of U, I attended black and white film photography classes and completely fell in love! I loved everything about photo, especially my film camera (actually my dad's that I borrowed) and even loved working with those images in the dark room. The whole process was magical to me! During my senior year of high school, I swore off using a digital SLR ... saying that all those who did and used photoshop like a crutch were straight-up cheaters. They didn't really know how to take a raw image and make it count on the first try. I even started a photoshop class that year but only lasted a few days because I literally thought it was ridiculous and fake. haha Oh how silly and self-centered I was. I guess I envisioned myself having access to money and a dark room for the rest of my life and didn't see that the world would become obsessed with digital SLRs... including myself. I still look back on my black and white film days with joy and gratitude that I could gain all that knowledge and experience. I even came out of it with many of my own photos that I love and take pride in, and a couple of award-winning prints (just school/reflections competitions, of course).

Alas, I had to quit the college-scene to work full time after getting married, which also took away the dark room and photography classes. Ryan saw my love and desire to keep developing that skill so he saved our pennies for almost a year while we lived with his grandpa and we bought our first digital Canon SLR. I immediately saw that everything you can do with a black and white film camera you can do with a digital one... and a ton MORE! I was so naive. Ever since then I can't live without my Canon.

Over the last several months I've had the opportunity to shoot family photos and newborn sessions for some for our good friends. I've been very grateful for the chance to TRY it out and learn as I go. It's very scary to try and take on those manual settings and using my own understanding of lighting, aperture, shudder speed, etc. I always worry that they'll turn out horrible. I have SOOOO much more to learn and these few sessions really were just trial and error, but I'm grateful that these friends have given me the chance to use them as my subjects. :) Plus it's really fun! I enjoy doing it when I can, and trying to create something beautiful that someone else will cherish because of the people in the picture.

I decided to share a few from each shoot I've done over these several months. As a disclaimer, I am well aware of all the little flaws, areas or faces out of focus, colors that aren't right, that I have no idea how to pose families well, and the issues with lighting. I know there are a million more things to learn about ... not only using my manual settings on my camera correctly but also how to use photoshop to my advantage. Don't judge too harshly... these are extremely amateur and I know it. :)

Baby Paisley's newborn session. My first subject besides my own daughter.

The Bishop family shoot.

Paisley in her blessing dress a month or two later.

Baby Grace Redd

The adorable Lackey family, who unfortunately moved away this week. :( They will be greatly missed!! This was also the most recent shoot (taken last week).