Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It's off to work I go . .

This past week was the dreaded "return to work" week. After being off for two weeks, it seemed like the longest week! It was funny because on Monday the kids kept saying that it seemed like forever since they had been to school, and yet I was thinking how it seemed like we were only gone for a day. What a difference in perspective from students vs. teachers.

I said I would try not to go for more than a week without posting, but Kirk has had the camera for the past couple of weeks and I hate to post without any pictures. So, thank goodness my mom lets me use her camera. Thanks, mom. (Did you know I borrowed it??? oops!)

My dad has been saying he wanted to take Kaylee to ZooLights at the Phoenix Zoo. (He wanted to take all three of his granddaughters, but two of them moved to UT last month. We miss them SO much!) Anyway, we tried to plan it a couple of times during December, but things just keep coming up. We're also in the "unsure" stage stage of potty training, so I worry about taking her out to a place like that yet. She's been doing pretty good, but still there are accidents. (I'm just thankful that she hasn't had any at church, or a restaurant yet!) Anyway, we finally made it to ZooLights last night. She had so much fun!

Not a great shot, but this the entrance.

They did a great job with their light displays. Our favorites were the elephant taking a bath and monkeys hanging in the trees.


What an animal . . . sitting on a hippo, and hanging like a monkey!

Kaylee always says her best buddy is "Papa."

Our version of "Where's Waldo" . . . Where's Kaylee?

She always LOVES the merry-go-round. From the second she sees it she is constantly asking if she can go. Sometimes we're able to use it as a bribe for being good. This time we kept saying we were walking around the zoo to get to the back of the line! It worked for most of the night.

My dad thought it would be fun to have Kaylee ride on a camel. When it got to be her turn there was NO WAY she was riding by herself. So I volunteered to go with her. It was actually pretty neat. I did it when I was little, but for some reason back then the camel seemed so much bigger and the ride seemed so much longer!

At the end of the night Kaylee wanted a souvenir. At her sitter's house she was playing with a light sword last week and told me she was going to ask Santa for that. I think she thinks Christmas is a monthly event now. It's going to be a long year . . . Anyway, she saw a lighted sword that she liked, so we got it. But, by far, the funniest moment of the night was when she wanted to take a picture with the sword. I thought why not? As I was getting the camera ready, this is what she did with it.

My dad and I laughed hysterically when looked at the picture on the camera. She didn't quite understand what was so funny. I made her pose a little differently before we left.

I thought this was the only sword picture that I would put on the blog, but I couldn't resist. Sorry if the other picture offended anyone.

Well, there's my update. We'll see what this week is like. I have parent-teacher conferences all week, so it should be fun and exciting, right??? ha ha ha I hope you all have a great week!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy 2009! Hmmm . . Do I have any goals I could set for myself? Do I have anything I need to improve on???

You should have known that when I said in my last post that I would post next weekend that I meant next year! Well, after being harassed by many friends to get off my duff and update this thing I've made it my new year's resolution to try to update at least once a week, but I'm not going to make any promises! I will honestly try to do better this year, though. I might go two weeks sometimes, but I will get better! Stop laughing! I will! I will! I guess we'll see . . .

Let's see . . . where do I begin? The past six months have been very busy, and very difficult. Kirk and I have decided to get divorced. Kaylee and I are living with my parents for a bit. Kaylee gets to see Kirk a lot and she is doing pretty well with the situation. She's had some adjustments to make, but it helps when she is getting spoiled by C.C. and Papa (my parents) all the time!

I missed posting for the holidays, so here's to catch up:

Halloween: Isn't this the cutest cheerleader you've ever seen?

It was even cuter when my dad taught her a cheer:

"Rah, Rah, Ree; Kick 'em in the knee!
Rah, Rah, Grass; Kick 'em in . . the other knee!" Sweet, huh?

This picture was taken at Thanksgiving. She's with her second cousins, MaKenna (Cali & Hardy's daughter) and Alexis (Tyler & Liz's daughter).

It's not much of a holiday picture, but I like to show our friends and family in Utah that we were able to eat and play outdoors for Thanksgiving! These girls were dipping their feet in the pool during the day.

This Christmas was really fun for Kaylee. She was so excited for the whole thing. She loved seeing all the lights everywhere. I took her to see the Temple lights when 259 sang there one night early in December.

Then it was time to visit Santa. My mom works at a hospital in Gilbert where they have Santa and Mrs. Claus come on a Saturday morning to see the kids. Kaylee talked it up the whole way there in the car. She was ready to tell Santa that she wanted a Dora doll, and a Little Einsteins Rocket. We got in line and she was a little nervous . . .

She saw the same Santa and Mrs. Claus that she had seen for the past two years. The same ones she has sat with and taken her picture with. She's never had a problem. That is, until this year . .

She wasn't having any of it . . . What a grouch! Oh well. We'll try again next year.

Later on, she perked up when she got to wear her Christmas dress for church.

On Christmas Day she slept in until 8:00 (thank goodness!), then we got up and opened presents. I asked her if I could take her picture before she opened anything, and she acted like an angel for the picture. What a fake! Don't worry, we're on to her!!

I think it's so much more fun to watch your kids opening presents! I enjoyed watching Kaylee as she got so excited to see what Santa had brought her.


Later that day we went over to my aunt Carlene's house. This is Kaylee with Makenzie (Kristy & William's daughter). I think it looks so much like Kristy and me when we were babies, even though Kristy and I were only a month apart and these girls are 13 months apart!

I had such a great holiday with Kaylee, and I hope all of you enjoyed your time with your family. I'm truly blessed to have so much in my life. I'm thankful for all of you and all of your love and friendship. Thanks for all of your kind words and support. It means a lot.

We're wishing all of you a wonderful new year! :)