2nd Year Checkup

I took Anastyn to her 2 year checkup and everything seems great.  At her 1 year checkup the doctor said she has a heart murmur but it's a "good" kind, whatever that means, and she should grow out of it.  Otherwise she is developmentally ahead of schedule! I sure love this girls, she is so much fun, snot nose and all!

Here are her stats:
33 1/2 inches tall (50%)
25.4 lbs (25%)
50 cm head circ. (97%) :)

Pool girl has a large head but I still love her anyway!!  Here are some things about her:

-Some of her nicknames are Banana, Ana, Ana Banana, Sweetie, and Princess
-She is a happy girl, she loves to laugh and has the cutest giggle ever
-Her favorite book is "Wheels on the Bus" and "Raindrop Plop"
-She loves to sing and is pretty good at singing "Rock a Bye Baby" and "I Am a Child of God"
-She loves babies, she'll take them in her arms and do this cute little bounce rock
-Her favorite movies are any of the "Baby Einstein"
-She is sad if Taeya has left for school when she wakes up
-She still takes a 2ish hour nap (although she has been fighting me on this lately)
-She loves, loves, loves her Binki (we will be getting rid of it soon!)
-She can use many 2-word sentences and several 3
-She loves shoes
-She is getting to be a pickier eater
-She doesn't drink very much milk
-She loves to jump on the tramp
-She insists on wearing diapers with "Mickey Mouse House" on them
-She has peed in the toilet several times (we should potty train soon too!)
-She loves going to Papa and Nana's house
-She loves swim lessons and gets sad when it's not a lesson day
-She has to pick out her swim suit or she gets angry
-She loves to draw, paint and play with play dough
-She knows all her animal sounds
-She is learning to count and can usually count to 5
-She loves nursery now (yeah!)
-She sleeps in a big girl bed (against my wishes)

She is at such a fun age, it's so fun to see her learn new things each day!  I love her so much and I am so grateful I get to be her mom.  Life wouldn't be the same without her.

Minnie Mouse Birthday Party

I went back and forth on a theme for Anastyn's birthday party.  There wasn't anything in particular that Anastyn has been into.  She is fascinated with bugs so I thought about having a bug party but in the end I went with Minnie Mouse.  She has been really liking Minnie and Mickey, I think mostly because Alayna does, but it was a fun, easy theme so it worked.  I have been so busy lately that I just wanted to keep it a little low-key.  So we just had our families come for dinner at the park.  We ordered a 4 foot sandwich from Walmart and ate it with chips, fruit and lemonaide.  I made a cake, we opened presents, ate,  and played at the park.  Thank goodness the weather was still nice.  I think it turned out just right!  Anastyn loved it and that's all that mattered.  Here is a ton of pictures to prove it:

Here's the birthday girl all ready for the party.  We borrowed this outfit from Alayna.  I made it for her for her 2nd birthday and thought it would be fun if Anastyn wore the same one.  This is Anastyn's "Cheeeeeese" face!

I helped Alyson make a Mickey Mouse cake for Alayna so this one ended up being pretty easy - Alyson helped me to return the favor. We added eyelashes and a bow for Minnie.

Cassidy, Taeya, Jayne, Anastyn, and Presley - The kids loved the cake.  If you look close you can see where Anastyn couldn't resist a little nibble before the celebration!

Jayne and Anastyn were ready to eat!

Anastyn was so cute as we were singing to her - she just lit up.  She was smiling so big.  I loved it.  All day she kept saying "happy birthday to me!"

Blowing out the candles was a little tricky - I love Jayne in the background blowing.

Opening presents is always fun and of course she had several helpers.

She got a lot of fun presents - we gave her a new baby and some play food.

Anastyn loves bottles and binkis!

Sweet kiss

Papa and Nana gave her these cute little Mickey and Minnie stuffed animals.

They also gave her this cute towel.

Frank and the girls gave her this big Minnie Mouse

What a fun birthday party - our little family.

Kelly, Jayne and Garrick - Anastyn was nice to share with Jayne.  They gave Anasyn a cute book.

Anastyn loves Papa and Nana - she is so excited when I tell her we are going to their house and she gets upset when it's time to leave!

Grandpa Lee and Grandma Laura gave Anastyn $50 which we put in her savings account.

Presley, Frank and Cassidy - we were so glad they came to the party.  These girls are so much fun!

A new big girl bed was Anastyn's "big" present from us.  She started crawling out of her crib shortly before her birthday.  We tried putting her and Taeya in the same room on Taeya's trundle bed but that was unsuccessful - they just wanted to play around.  With the size of the girls rooms daybeds just work the best - I found this one on KSL for $100.  Now I just need to make her some bedding - maybe for Christmas!

2nd Birthday!

For Anastyn's 2nd Birthday I took her to McDonald's for lunch with Mindi, and Alyson and that night we went to the State Fair.  We picked up Gordon from work on our way and grabbed a pizza to eat for dinner.  It was a perfect night and we had a lot of fun.  All Taeya wanted was to get her face painted and Anastyn was just excited to see all the animals.  We let her pick out a toy and of course she chose a cell phone that broke the next day!  Taeya chose to go on the Ferris Wheel with Gordon so Anastyn and I went on the carousel instead.  The girls went together on this car ride that whipped them around the corner and they laughed and laughed.  It was a fun night and Anastyn was so excited that it was her birthday.

Lake Powell in September

Ryan and Kristy weren't able to come to Lake Powell with us when we went with my whole family in June because Gage was just born the day before we left so they were anxious to get a trip in before it got cold and we were lucky enough to get invited!  Since Gage is only 2 months old Ryan and Kristy wanted to keep the group size small.  They invited us and their neighbors the Holyoaks.  Truthfully I think we got invited because Gordon is so helpful with everything, but whatever the reason we were all excited to go.

We left our house Wednesday right after Taeya got out of school and we launched the boat just before the ramp closed at about 8:00pm.  We stayed in the slip that night since the Holyoaks wouldn't be coming until Thursday morning.  Wednesday night we walked to the pizza restaurant at the marina and then put food and luggage away then went to bed.

Thursday morning we got up, got everything ready and as soon as the Holyoaks arrived we pulled out of the slip and headed to Gunsight.  We found an awesome spot to park the boat and the kids immediately got in the water and collected seashells.  It worked out perfectly as far as kids and their ages, everyone had a friend even Anastyn! That afternoon the kids all tried knee boarding and we even took them out on the water to do some tubing.   They all did great!

Friday morning we did some more tubing and relaxing but by Friday afternoon the weather turned to lighting, thunder and rain.  It was a beautiful rainstorm but it really cooled things down and put a damper on our swimming.  Taeya and Gordon went for a nice hike and I got to read alot of my book.

Saturday we took a drive to Rainbow Bridge.  It was a great time of year to go because the weather is so much cooler.  It was a nice drive - much shorter than I thought it would be.  We stopped at the Dangling Rope Marina and got some ice cream on our way back to the houseboat.  That afternoon the kids all waterskiied and played some more in the sand.

Sunday we had breakfast, packed up and went home.  What a great trip - I just love Lake Powell.  The food is always delicious, the company is always fun, and the water was so nice and warm, what more can you ask for??

Gordon showing Taeya how to knee board.

All ready to give it a try.

There she is way out in the water.  I'm sure her back was hurting after this because of her posture while she was knee boarding.

My nakey girls!  She was ready to show dad how well she swims with flippers on. 

Taeya and Anastyn

Taeya and Lizzy with the rainstorm in the background

Gordon and Taeya with the pretty waterfalls in the background.

Taeya, Lizzy, Dalli, and Anastyn

Gordon and Anastyn walking up to rainbow bridge.

Lizzy and Taeya - these 2 played together so well.  They are both 5 years old and in Kindergarten.

Our Family

Daylen and Ryan - Kristy stayed on the houseboat with Gage

After our drive to Rainbow Bridge the kids had a great time playing in the sand.

Taeya wanted to be buried several times!

Taeya having a refresher lesson on how to ski.

I sat on the back of the waverunner so I could get some pictures - Taeya did awesome.  Gordon likes to bribe Taeya to ski so at the marina earlier in the day Taeya picked out a necklace she could earn by skiing.  In the past she would just get up for a few seconds, but we told her she had to stay up for a long time.  She made 3 big loops, she did awesome, and she had a smile on her face the whole time she was doing it. 

Once again, this bucket was one of Anastyn's favorite playing spot!

Taeya taking Gordon for a waverunner ride.