15 Months.

At 15 Months Kennadi is...

-weighs 21.5 lbs and 31 inches tall

-still takes 2 naps a day and sleeps around 11 hours at night. She loves her sleep! She will go down to sleep without a fight and most of the time will drag us is into her bedroom to put her in bed.

-communicates by grabbing your finger and taking you to what she wants. She can say a few words like “mom,” “dad,” “grandma,” “grandpa,” “ball,” “milk,” and “goldfish”

-has 9 teeth (4 front top, 4 front bottom, and 1 bottom molar) with 1 more on the way.

-knows animal sounds. She can do dog, cat, cow, horse, elephant, lion, sheep, and when we ask what a fox says she dances.

-loves puppies! As soon as she sees a dog she drops everything, starts clapping, and barks.

-can point and identify her eyes, nose, teeth, ears, tongue, and belly button.

-obsessed with Curious George but she will also sit and watch Arthur, Mickey Mouse Club House, Little Mermaid, Robin Hood and Tangled.

-loves her Aunt Lindsey and whenever she is around no one else matters.

-is a book worm. She would choose to read a book over any toy. She has started to read aloud and will sometimes even read to her stuffed animals.

-is a little diva. She loves the sound of her own voice and has mastered the tantrums if she doesn’t get what she wants.

Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was spent at my grandma and grandpa hunt’s house in Spanish Fork with most of my extended family. It is always a bit crazy when we all get together but we have fun. This year we had a ton of food and I mean a ton….like 17 pies for 23 people. I ate way too much, which wasn’t too nice to my figure but at least I enjoyed doing it! Kennadi loved the endless supply of food, especially grandma’s homemade noodles.

One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is looking through the Black Friday Ads and then going Black Friday Shopping. Markel is usually my partner-in-crime when it comes to Black Friday shopping, but since she is on a mission I had to recruit Austin to step in this year. I think he hated every minute of it, but at least we walked away with the tv we were after. We ended up returning it a couple of days later so our hard work was useless but it’s all about the experience, right? 

Trevor and Owen made these cute Indian headbands for these two. Didn't they do a great job?

Thanks to Toni’s facebook page for the pictures…I always seem to forget to snap pictures at the big events.

Fall.

Here are some of the highlights of Fall.

Kelby came home.

My cousin Kelby came home from serving a two year mission in Minneapolis, Minnesota speaking Hmong. Kennadi had never met Kelby so we opted to go to the airport to welcome him home. Kennadi was a little hesitant at first but after we went to lunch and Kelby shared his ice cream they became good friends. They haven’t stopped being good friends either, mainly because Kelby spoils her rotten.

Friday Night Date nights.

Poor Austin has been crazy busy the past couple of months. He is currently working full time, doing night classes, taking a ton of online classes to help him graduate next semester, and still tries to squeeze in some time for Kennadi and I. Basically, he is a rockstar! Some of our favorite things to do together include snuggling in bed and watching Netflix. Since we have caught up on all of our favorite shows (Arrested Development, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, and New Girl) we decided one night to redbox a show Kennadi would like and made caramel apples. Kennadi thought she was pretty hot stuff all night!

                        

Emergency Room Visit.

One night I woke up in excruciating pain. I couldn’t lay, stand, sit, kneel, crawl. Nothing. Finally after hours of me trying to relieve the pain and nothing working, Austin insisted he take me to the emergency room. At the hospital, the doctor’s initial diagnosis was appendicitis. They sent me into do a cat scan to make sure that was the problem where they found that it was not appendicitis. I had a large ruptured ovarian cyst instead. This means that there was absolutely nothing they could do for me except let my body take care of it by itself, which takes a couple of days. I wasn’t super excited about that but after they pumped a ton of morphine into my body and sent me home with more pain killers I didn’t mind. Luckily, I have a great mom who came down and watched Kennadi so I could rest and a sweet husband who took great care of me. I haven’t had any more cysts since then. I am hoping and praying that it was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of deal.

Jazz Season.

The Utah Jazz Season is officially underway. This is personally one of my favorite parts about Fall. We don’t have cable at our house which means I haven’t been able to watch a lot of the games. It has been a real bummer. Not watching the games hasn’t stopping me from brain washing my sweet, innocent Kennadi though!

Josi’s Wedding.

Josi, one of the three amigos, got hitched the first part of November. She married Greg Hawkes in the Brigham City Temple and had her reception in Tremonton. I was asked to be a bridesmaid so I was able to go the ceremony, reception, and luncheon. Everything was beautiful and very well put together.  Now that all of the three amigos are married, I need to convince them to start planning a cruise together!

BYU Basketball Game.

Lorie and Clay had some extra tickets to a BYU Basketball Game and invited us. I haven’t been to a basketball game in a while so we definitely took them up on that offer. It just so happened that Austin’s Uncle Paul and cousins Quinn and Mykaela were at the same game. It was pretty poorly attended so they came and sat in front of us. Kennadi loved all the attention and especially loved everyone feeding her snacks. BYU ended up winning, by far, but it was still a fun game.

BYU Football.

For those that know me, know that I am an avid sports fan. I live for game days, and BYU Football game days are no exceptions.

This season, we were lucky enough to snag some season tickets. My aunt and uncle have 4 season tickets each year. With 3 missionaries out this season, they didn’t have enough bodies to fill the seats yet they didn’t want to give up the tickets so they asked if we wanted to take two of them off their hands. It was a no brainer, especially since I am married to someone as passionate about BYU Football as I am.

We have really enjoyed going to the games every week, even if we had to survive some interesting weather. I guess the fight song doesn’t lie when it says, 

“We will fight, day or night, rain or snow…”

Now that the home games are over, I am already going through withdrawals. There is nothing quite like being in the stadium under the bright lights, cheering with thousands of others, and watching your team win!

After a 2 hour rain delay we FINALLY got to watch the season opener against Texas!

Tailgating before the much anticipated Utah game

After being dripping wet from the snow and freezing rain at the Idaho State game.

Pumpkin Walk.

This year we decided to go to the Pumpkin Walk at Utah Central Gardens in Orem. We went with Courtnie, Dillon, Easton, and Madison. Kennadi was her usual, curious self and wanted to see and do everything. They had a “spooky animal” section which acted like a petting zoo. Kennadi loved petting the rabbit and turtles but once she saw the giant python and lizards, forget about it! The Pumpkin Walk also had some fun photo ops, some crazy good carved pumpkins, and some fun fall activities for the kids (that Kennadi was still too little for, maybe next year). I must admit, it is nice to have family so close so that we can do these kinds of things.

Halloween.

First off, I hate Halloween. I always have.

 BUT

 I must admit, Halloween is  much more fun with a little munchkin running around (even if she doesn't quite grasp the concept of knocking on strangers doors and begging for candy).

This was Kennadi's first real Halloween. Last year she technically was alive, but lets face it, she was teeny tiny, slept half of the day, and we recieved zero trick or treaters so it didn't really feel like Halloween. 

We let Kennadi pick out her own Halloween costume this year. We took a trip to Babies R Us and held up all different types of costumes to Kennadi. After being very indecisive she finally settled on an owl and I am glad she did. I personally think she looked super adorable. We opted to spend Halloween up in Tremonton with all of Austin's family. We attempted to go trick-or-treating but I think Kennadi was having way more fun running around outside. She would walk halfway up a drive up and then turn and run away. At the end of the night I think we only made it to one doorstep. We cut our night a little short because it was freezing and we were getting tired from chasing Kennadi all around the neighborhood. I don't think Kennadi minded though. It looked like she had more fun greeting all the trick-or-treaters from inside. 

Birthdays.

September is the month of birthdays. In fact it’s the only month of birthdays in our house. Having everyone’s birthday in the same month makes for a pretty crazy month. Kennadi’s birthday came around first. You can read all about her special day here. My birthday followed shortly after and unfortunately it landed on a Sunday. Boo! Having it on a Sunday simply meant I did absolutely nothing fun to celebrate expect lounge around all day with my family--which wasn’t bad, just not what I would have picked for my special day! Austin made it up to me the next day by taking me to dinner, bringing me home a Cinnamon Roll from Kneaders (seriously to die for), and taking me to Ikea to pick up a buffet table that I have been eyeing ever since we moved into our new place. Austin’s birthday quickly came after mine. Austin got a new golf driver so we spent most of his birthday out on the golf course trailing behind some high school golf teams (not fun!). We then finished the evening with a trip to The Pizza Factory and eating some homemade apple pie.

I have quickly learned that as I get older and kids are thrown into the mix that my birthday seems to be less and less important and exciting, which I am ok with! Birthday Parties for little kiddos are more fun anyway!

Guest Post.

My husband is the best. Have i mentioned that before? Today Austin wrote up a nice little post for me to feature on my blog. It was his way of subtly reminding me that I haven't written a post in a whole month and maybe my followers (all 3 of you. Hi mom!) would like an update every once in a while. So without further ado, here is the lovely post from the dear husband of mine....

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I am always thinking about how Fall is the best time in the world so I decided to jot down a few things that I like.

AWESOMEST Things about the Fall

-BYU football games

-College football

-NFL

-Fantasy Football

-Apples

-Apple Pie

-Apple Crisp

-Sliced up apples dipped in caramel

-Caramel apples

-Just eating apples

-The World Series

-Brisk Mornings

-Perfect Temperatures

-Being able to wear shorts and a jacket

-Still can golf

-NBA starts

-My Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Thanksgiving

-All the Food I like at Thanksgiving (sweet potato casserole, stuffing, Jello, Rolls, and a bunch of other things I can’t think of at the present time)

-My favorite pies at thanksgiving (Apple, Pumpkin, Pecan, Blueberry)

-Smell of leaves

-New England (Fall time makes me miss it) 

1st Birthday Party.

My baby can’t seriously be one! Where did time go and why won’t it slow down? It seems like just yesterday I was bringing Kennadi home from the hospital and now she is a talking, walking, silly little girl. On Labor Day we opted to do a small family get together to celebrate Kennadi’s birthday. It was a couple of days early but Labor Day worked best for everyone’s schedule. We went to our community pavilion and had a BBQ -- nothing fancy but I think it turned out perfect! We are incredibly blessed to have such supportive and loving family. Kennadi was showered with gifts and kisses. She loved every minute of it though, she loves being the center of attention! 

1st Year Pictures.

We decided to get some pictures done for Kennadi's birthday. Once again Ashley Huish delivered. I absolutely love how they turned out. I am never disappointed when she takes my pictures but maybe that's simply because I am a little biased and think any picture of my little girl is adorable! Kennadi is not camera shy and especially loved the cake smash at the end. She was getting so into it she even started smashing the cake with her feet. A special shout out goes to my fabulous sister-in-law Aubrey. She is the oh-so-talented one who made the cake. Didn't she do an amazing job?

12 Months.

At 12 Months Kennadi is...

-20 lbs 7 oz and 29.5 inches long.

-wearing 9 and 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers.

-can say “daddy, mommy, what, ball, Baxter and hello”

-obsessed with Curious George. It is the only show she will sit down and watch. As soon as she hears the theme song she gets all giddy and can’t stop dancing.

-is walking, or should I say running all over the place and she is fast! She can’t sit still for longer than a couple of seconds before she needs to be up and moving.

-has her 2 front bottom teeth with another one on the top starting to break through the gums.

-favorite food is strawberries but she will eat anything we put in front of her.

-can identify and point to her nose, eyes, and teeth.

-loves animals especially dogs. She thinks all dogs are named Baxter (after Lorie’s puppy) and is not afraid to touch them or bark at them.

-definitely a girly girl as she loves shoes and playing with jewelry or hairbrushes.

Top of Utah Half Marathon.

Courtnie and I participated in the Top of Utah Half Marathon on August 24^th. This half marathon starts 7 miles up Blacksmith Fork Canyon, zig zags through neighborhoods in Nibley and Providence and ends at a park in Providence. I was so nervous to run this race, mainly because of my lack of training. I had previously ran the American Fork Half Marathon in the middle of June and due to not being able to move my body afterwards I took a week of training off. Then we bought a house which resulted in painting, moving, and cleaning for weeks which sucked all my time and energy. So Needless to say, after taking a month off of training I had a few short weeks to get my butt back in gear. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. The race snuck up on me and I definitely was not as in shape as I would have liked but what can ya do?

On race day, Courtnie and I got to the finish line around 5:30 am to load the buses up the canyon to the starting line. At 7 am we were able to start our long journey down the canyon. At mile 3 I lost Courtnie. She had to stop at the aid station and I wanted to keep plowing through. She eventually caught up to me around mile 8 and by mile 9 she passed me as I had to make a quick little pit stop at the porta potties. At around mile 10 my legs and knees had had enough. Pain shot through my knees with every stride I took and my legs were starting to cramp. It was not ideal. This is also the point where I kept telling myself “You are never doing a half marathon again. You are a crazy person. What were you thinking?” These thoughts kept running through my head until I crossed the finish line. Then my thoughts turned to, “I wonder which half marathons I should run next year.” I crossed the finish line at 2 hours and 25 minutes, WAY better than I thought I would be. Courtnie was able to cross a few minutes before me as well.

After the half marathon I was able to recover a lot quicker and easier than the previous races. I was not nearly as sore and immobile as before. After two days or so I felt good as new! Thank goodness! I am all done with races for the year but have big plans for next year. So the training continues...

Catch-up.

This poor little blog has been neglected for too long so now it is time to play catch-up!  This summer has been busy, busy so there is much to report on.

Lizzy’s Mission Call: My fabulous sister-in-law Lizzy got her mission call to Paris, France. Not gonna lie, I am a bit jealous she gets to go to France. She leaves December 11^th. As sad as I am to see her go, I know she will make a fantastic missionary.

New Car: So, as you probably read in a previous post earlier this summer we moved to Spanish Fork, Utah. Spanish Fork is about 15 minutes away from school and work so the whole “only having one car” situation was not working. Because we are poor college students and we had just bought a house we didn’t really have a whole bunch of cash sitting around to buy anything fancy so we opted for an older, used car. We figured it would just be Austin’s back and forth car and we still had my nicer, reliable car so it didn’t need to be spectacular. We settled on a ’08 Volvo S40. Well, long story short we had the car for about a week and it started leaking transmission fluid. We took it back in the shop to get it looked at. We bought an extended warranty with the car so we just took it back to the dealership to have them look at it. No big deal right? Wrong. Well, apparently the warranty we purchased, the one that would cover everything including oil changes, wouldn’t cover the repairs they needed to make because the warranty didn’t kick in for 30 days. We had the car for a week, 7 days. Not cool. So after A LOT of waiting, complaining, and the car dealership avoiding our numerous calls we finally got it figured out and they fixed the car under the warranty. It only took about 3 weeks from start to finish. It now works like a champ and I am very grateful I no longer have to drop off/pick up Austin at work every day but still annoyed the car dealership was such a pain to work with. Moral of the Story: never buy a car from Larry H Miller Used Cars in Orem.

School Started: the school year is officially in full swing and I am so glad I have graduated. I don’t miss it all. But having school up and running does mean that work is super crazy for me and I never get to see Austin. Boo! I am currently working at Utah Valley University as a recruiter in the Career Development Center. I like still being on campus without the stress of all the homework and classes. Austin is in his last year of school. Hooray! He is amazing and is working full time plus going to school full time. He is gone some days from 7:30 am to 10 pm which totally bites but I am so glad he is such a hard worker and is trying so hard to get school done quickly. I just can’t wait until April when school will behind us for forever (or a year or two when I decide to start Grad School).

Box Elder County Fair: The Box Elder County Fair is a big deal in Tremonton, and when I say big deal I am not kidding. I don’t really get it but I tolerate it because they have yummy food. I was up in Tremonton for a couple of days during the fair thanks to a half marathon I was running in so I met up with my favorite amigos, Josi and Carlie, at the fair for lunch. Kennadi tagged a long and was not feeling very well. Teething AND allergies are the pits so our lunch was cut a little short but I still had fun. Kennadi finally got to play with Wytten (Carlie’s little boy) and if I get my way these two are getting married!

Thanks JaDene for the pictures...

Sweet Summertime.

This summer we have...

been to Seven Peaks too many times to count.

played in the sprinklers.

blown bubbles.

shopped until we dropped.

had our nightly ritual of watching Arrested Development.

played at the park.

read stories outside.

spent many nights watching Austin's softball games

and attended many parades.