Four Years Ago Today...

Dan and I were married in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.

I can't believe it. Time has flown! These have been the best 4 years of my life. So much has happened and I look forward to spending many more wonderful years with my best friend.

Happy Anniversary, Dan! I love you!

Happy Birthday to the greatest wife!

Today my wonderful wife turns 24! I am throwing her a big party. It started last night when I went a got her her favorite Ice cream from Baskin Robbins, (her favorite, I believe are all 31 flavors). Today I am playing chef, Racheal Ray better watch out. I also got her an ice cream cake to follow the fabulous meal, (I hope, it is cooking right now). Also Erica's family will be here to celebrate, so our home will be the place to be. As you can see, she has recieved many great gifts.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERICA!

Christmas Festivities

Our family had a wonderful Christmas in St. George. It was our first Christmas by ourselves so we made sure to take extra pictures so family could see the festivities.

Here we are with our Christmas loot. Of course, we were spoiled.

It is a tradition in my family to neatly lay out all your gifts and sit next to them for a picture. This is done on Christmas and birthdays.

Dan actually laid out all of his gifts by himself, with a little coaching from me, telling him that the bigger gifts have to go in the back so you can see the smaller ones. I think he is slowly getting the hang of it.

Here I am. If you look closely I got a certain gift THREE times! How many people can say that?! Apparently I was supposed to get that gift.

Merry 1st Christmas to Alayna!! Here she is with some of her unopened gifts.

And now here she is with all of her gifts after we opened them! As you can see, she likes them a lot!This gift was given to her by all of her Aunts and Uncles on my side. She loves looking at herself in the mirror.
Our Christmas feast! Since this was our first Christmas on our own, it was our first Christmas meal made by yours truly AND Dan! After I took the picture I realized I left off a couple things, like our yummy pasta salad, the delicious drink, and the superb dessert. When we were finished, it looked like we had not even touch the food since there was just the two of us. We won't have to worry about making dinner for the next few days.

Left overs!

The feast up close. YUM!

Miss Alayna in her Christmas outfit.

Here she is with her Christmas bib doing what she likes most...slobbering on her hands!

Finally, we caught a big smile on camera! Mission accomplished. Mind you, it's fuzzy due to her moving, and Dan moving as fast as he could to get her picture without her seeing the camera. Maybe one of these days she will smile for the camera on her own and not be so distracted by it.

(I was playing patty cake with her. She loves it.)

Alayna is wearing one of the headbands that Santa gave her.
Alayna talking with Daddy.

One last Christmas picture of Mommy and Alayna!

Winter Wonderland

It Snowed! (and actually stuck to the ground.)

I can't believe I'm saying this, but....

I am in heaven!

There is nothing like snow at Christmas time.

I had to document this:

Snow on a palm tree.

I'm sure this is something I won't see often.

2 Months

Alayna turned 2 months old on Saturday!

Crazy! I know.

When we went to the doctor we found out she weighs 10lbs 12oz. (Not as big as we thought she would be since she gained weight so rapidly in the beginning, but she is average for her age.)

And she is 22 3/4 inches. (75th percentile)

Then we had the dreaded shots (2 in each leg). I seriously was dreading them, but as it turned out, it wasn't too bad. She cried for a minute when she got them, but as soon as I picked her up, she stopped. I thought she would be whiny for the rest of the day, but she was a good girl.

I also thought she would sleep a lot, (The nurse said she would.) but she didn't sleep anymore than usual, and maybe even a little less.

Here are the stylin' band aids:

Dan and I have definitely been able to see a lot more personality in Alayna now. She is quite a character. She is very happy most of the time, until she wants something....

Then she will LET YOU KNOW! Then as soon as the need is met, she's good to go again.

Her mobile is her new found friend. She enjoys watching it for at least 15 minutes at a time. Most of the time she is cooing and kicking wildly when watching it. In this picture, she is staring intently at it.


I know this picture is fuzzy, but it is the only one I could find of her sucking on her fist. This is also something she enjoys.

Slobber galore!

Now imagine her fist up by her eye, rubbing it. This is a new development this week. Now when she is tired, I can pretty much tell by all of the eye rubbing.



Sleeping.

Ah, sleep. What a beautiful thing, when she does it.

AND she does! Most of the time.

If you read this post, then you know, sleep has not been the easiest thing for Alayna, but I am happy to report that she is doing SO much better. She's like a new baby. I have read a few books that were recommended to me, done a lot of experimentation and praying, and now we have found something that works for Alayna. (Knock on wood. I really hope I am not jinxing myself.)

Here she is, sound asleep in the swaddleme.

A Sleeping baby, what a good feeling!


Smiles! (and the tongue) I can barely get a picture these days without the tongue.

Alayna is getting to be SO fun with all of her smiling and cooing. We carry on very intense conversations all the time. She gets so passionate about what she is saying and makes some very interesting faces with all of her eyebrow movements.

This picture only shows half a smile, but she really has THE CUTEST gigantic, cheesy smile! (It comes with two small dimples.)

BUT, she won't do it for me when I have the camera. It's too distracting. I have tried SEVERAL times, but to no avail. I have even taken it in with me when she has woken up from a nap since this is when she tends to give me lots of cheesy smiles, but she stops immediately when she sees the small, silver, shiny thing. (dang.)

So, now I am on a mission to document the cheesy smile. Wish me luck.

(By the way, this BEAUTIFUL blanket was made with love by Great Grandma Nickell. Thanks Grandma!)


Here is one more picture just for fun. Isn't she the cutest baby?! I know I am a little biased, but you have to admit, she is dang cute!

Happy Birthday Dan!

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday. He is 29! He seriously is my best friend and I am so lucky to have him in my life. Happy Birthday Dan! I Love You! Here is a fun husband tag that I received and I thought it would be perfect to fill out for today.

1. Where did you meet your husband? Dan and I met at a mutual friend's house.
2. How long did you date? Dan and I dated for for about 5 months and we were engaged for 3 1/2 months, but we were friends for almost a year before we started dating.
3. How long have you been married? It will be 4 years on the 30th of this month.
4. What does he do that surprises you? Dan surprises me everyday. I am constantly amazed at his genuine thoughtfulness.
5. What is your favorite feature of his? I think he is perfect and I like many things about him, but I really love his smile.
6. What is his best quality? I would say his work ethic. Dan is an extremely hard worker and can accomplish just about anything he sets his mind to.
7. Does he have a nick name for you? He has a few nicknames for me, some are silly and he uses them just to get a rise out of me, but he mostly calls me babe.
8. What is his favorite food? Dan's likes any kind of Mexican food.
9. What is his favorite sport? I would say basketball and football.
10. When and where was your first kiss? After making it very clear that I was NOT a girl that just kissed anyone, we had our first kiss after watching a movie at my apartment. Dan was my first kiss.
11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? We pretty much like doing anything together. As long as we are together, we have fun. We particularly like watching movies, playing games and just talking.
12. Do you have children? Yes. Alayna, who just turned 2 months on Saturday.
13. Does he have hidden talents? He has many. Dan is actually a good cook. We like to tag team in the kitchen.
14. How old is he? 29 today!
15. Who said I love you first? Dan told me he loved me first. It was over the phone when he was living in Montana for the summer and I was still in Laramie.
16. His favorite music? I would say oldies music is his favorite.
17. What do you admire most about him? There are so many things that I admire about Dan. He amazes daily. He is ALWAYS striving to do what is right. There is nothing that he won't do for Alayna and me. He would do anything to make us happy. And I love how hands-on he is with her. The list could go on and on.
18. What is his favorite color? I would say blue or green.
19. Will he read this? Yes!
20. Who do you tag? Anyone that wants to do this.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...In the Stevens home!

I thought it would be fun to post some of my favorite Christmas decorations so you can see what Christmas looks like in our home. (Ok. So maybe this post is more for my family so they can feel like they are spending the holidays with us from afar.)

The Christmas Tree.

The white ornaments that you see are porcelain ornaments that my Grammy makes. Every year she makes a new ornament for each member of the family. (She told me Alayna makes 90 people in the Lindstrom family. That's A LOT of ornaments!)

The Christmas tree all lit up.

My Nativity scene. I do believe this is my FAVORITE decoration because it is made with love from my Grammy. When you get married, my Grammy will make different pieces of the nativity and give them for Christmas. It takes five years to collect all of the pieces. (We have one more year to go!)

The cute sign below the nativity is one that KaLee made a couple Christmases ago.

My small Christmas tree.

Our stockings. (Just pretend they are hanging above a nice fire place.)

The snowman magnets. These were a hit in my Kindergarten room and now they decorate my fridge.

More Christmas trees. I guess you can never have too many.

A cute sign. It actually plugs in and the stars light up.

These are wooden letters that KaLee and I decorated one year.

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and enjoys this time of year!

Beautiful Blessing

Thanksgiving weekend we blessed Alayna at my Grandparents home. A lot of family was able to attend. It was wonderful! Dan gave a beautiful blessing. I am truly blessed to have both Dan and Alayna in my life.

Here are some pics:

Here is the Fam minus "Elder Lindstrom" who wishs he was there, but the people in Guatemala need him more.
Here we are with my Grandma and Grandad Nickell. (Can you tell Alayna was DONE being good for pictures!!!)

My Grammy and Alayna. This picture is too cute!

FOUR generations! Can you believe it? So neat!

Oh yeah. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving up at my Grandparents' cabin (um, I mean really nice mountain home). Of course I walked away with no pictures of the festivities, but here is a picture that is Thanksgiving related.

My New Best Friend

This is my new best friend. The tiny love clip n' go mobile.

Why this, you ask.

Because today it kept Alayna entertained for 45 minutes!

Granted, I was holding the darn thing THE ENTIRE TIME. (I'm an idiot. I know.)

The beauty of this mobile is that it will clip to different things such as the crib or a car seat. I should have benefited from this wonderful feature, but I wanted to see if Alayna would even like it (I had pulled it out once before, but she was too young and wasn't interested.) so I tested it out and after immediately receiving a gigantic smile and kicking galore, I just couldn't take it away from her. Not even for a second. I couldn't get enough of her excitement.

So, not having realized the captivating powers of this mobile, I sat and held.

And switched arms.

Held.

Switched arms again...you get the idea.

Anyway, I did this for 45 minutes.

All the blood rushing out of my arms was worth it though, just to see shear pleasure on her face.

I even tried the mobile out for myself to see if it was really as mesmerizing as it seemed.

All I saw were three brightly colored bugs moving in circles to music.

Apparently that is more fascinating than my face.

Who can blame her?

So, do what the mobile says....clip and go.

Lesson learned.

(Maybe I will be able to accomplish more around the house. Yeah right.)

Something to Brighten Your Day

A smile for you.

The Transition...

from stylish young married person to un-cool mom has officially occurred.

On Saturday I went to do some early Christmas shopping for myself.

(I can't very well go and see my family this week and feel good about my post baby self without doing some shopping, plus I needed a few new articles of clothing anyway.)

but, everywhere I went I was extremely UNSATSIFIED with the styles of clothing.

too klingy.

too ugly.

too furry.

too tight.

not flattering....etc....etc.

What happened to the cute, cool, non-maternity clothing that I used to get before I was pregnant?

They have all been replaced with long, klingy sweatery dress thingys. Sweater dresses? Not my thing. (Granted I have not tried one on to see if they are cuter on than they look.)

Luckily, after some determination and searching, I found some nice, cute, non-furry items.

Thank goodness!

I guess the mom in me is coming out and the cool, stylish person is no more.

And I am totally ok with that.

*FYI. I do not think all moms are not stylish or un-cool. Just me. :)

Winter?

65 degrees.

And the lawn is being mowed.

Could it actually be winter?

Yep.

Only in St. George could these things happen at the end of November.

Yes.

I said NOVEMBER!

Ah. This is the life.

I guess that's one way to do it

Background: So let me start by saying, Alayna is not a very good sleeper...yet.

(Notice how I put yet. We are working on it. I have faith that she will get it under control.)

Well anyway. She has gotten into this routine of taking cat naps (30 min.), which I am not loving and she has an EXTREMELY hard time letting herself fall asleep. I think she thinks that she is going to miss out on something. :)

So when we went to the doctor on Monday I asked him about a million questions and he told me he thought it would be best for her to learn how to put herself to sleep.

SO, we have been letting her cry it out in her room. This seriously has been one of the hardest things I have had to do, but we are SLOWLY making some progress...I hope. I will let you know later on how it is going.

Anyway, today I put her in her room, and about 20 minutes later I went in to check on her and this is what I found:

I checked and she really was asleep!

I guess that's one way to do it.

Don't worry. I am not a completely horrible parent. After I took a couple of pictures, I moved the headband out of her face.

AND, she stayed asleep!

One Month Old

Alayna is one month old today!

I will be a typical mom and say...

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!

(And, I will also be honest and say that in some ways it has felt like a lot longer than a month.)

But it has been SO worth it!

We went to the doctor on Monday.

And...

She weighs 9 lbs. 14 oz. (what an oinker!) and she is 21 1/4 inches long. (you may think that she has only grown a 1/4 of an inch since she was born, but actually at her two week visit we found out she really was only 20 inches long. When she was born she kindof had a cone head so she measured longer than what she actually was. So, anyway, she grew 1 1/4 inches in two weeks!)

Apparently she is well fed. We're curious to see what she will weigh at her two month appointment.

Now, on to the pictures.

Here she is, one month old and with a pretty pink bow.

Today, I actually think I got a genuine smile from her... Not one of those gassy, "I'm so content" smiles. A full out, "I recognize who you are" smile. It just absolutely melted my heart. Then I tried for another 10 minutes to get another one out of her, but no such luck.

Here is the start of a smile caught on camera. I don't know how I managed to catch it on camera, but I did. And I'll take it!

I have noticed she is definitely starting to coo and make more noises. Of course, it's adorable. Here is the face she makes when she wants to "tell you something" in a non-crying manner.

Dan and I like to joke that all of her weight is in her cheeks. As you can see in this picture, she looks like a chipmunk. But a cute one!

We sure do love our "layna"!

All Dressed Up

On Sunday, Alayna had her first outing to somewhere besides the doctor.

She went to church! (Just for the first hour.)

This proved to be quite the task.

After trying on three dresses (two of them did not fit) and two poopy diapers (one of which was a blow out), we finally made it to church...10 minutes late.

Oops.

At least we made it.

I guess you could say that she got to make her grand entrance.

AND...

She did really well. She only fussed once, cuz she wanted out of the car seat and then she fell asleep in my arms. She only was awake for about 15 minutes the entire time. (After all, I did pray this morning that she would be reverent. I guess my prayer was answered.)

Let's hope that this is not a fluke and she will be this well behaved every Sunday.

Yeah right.

Here she is after church.
All that sleeping at church was tiring so she needed another nap when she got home. (Her dress really isn't that short, it just was bunched up when she was sleeping.)

This picture shows her cute dress shoes. What a pretty girl!

And, last but not least...

We survived!