Five

We celebrated our five year anniversary on July 15, and decided to go to Las Vegas for a couple days. My mom was nice enough to watch Raylee for us, so we dropped her off and started the long drive. When we got to Santaquin we started having car problems and ended up turning back around, driving all the way back to Ogden and switched vehicles with Coreys mom so that his dad could fix it for us while we were gone. We then started the drive all over again. We left at nine in the morning and didn't get there until seven that night. Talk about a long drive! It was lots of fun to spend time with just Corey since we usually have Raylee with us and I can't believe it's already been five years!

Bird Family Reunion

We had our annual Bird Family Reunion in the beginning of July, and this year we stayed in some condos above Powder Mountain for a week. We were literally on the top of a mountain and the views were incredible! We went on some walks, did lots of swimming, and spent lots of time chatting with the fam.

Baby Bailey

My sister had her baby girl on June 26th and my sister and I and all our kids went to the hospital to see this little cutie. She is so adorable and Raylee absolutely loved her and wanted to keep holding her.

A picture of Hailey, Raylee, and Bailey

Splash Pad

After we had a family baby shower for my sister Emily, we all decided to try out the new splash pad park that is by my moms house. Raylee wasn't too sure about all the water squirting out of the ground and would only stick her hand in it, but she still had lots of fun playing with her cousins.

Hailey, Ashlyn, Raylee, and Mickell

All my cousins kids that were there.

Disney Train

When the Disney Train made its stop in Ogden to promote their new movie The Christmas Carol, a bunch of my moms family decided to go. It ended up being quite the wait, but it was fun to see. Raylee got to go on a ride on a little train.

And we also looked around at all the trains that were at the Train Station.

Once we actually got inside the train it just kind of showed how they make the movie as well as some of the costumes that were used in the movie. At the end it let you morph a picture of yourself into one of the characters on the movie. The picture below is just a few of us that were there.

We also saw a clip of the movie in 3D. Raylee loved to wear the glasses, although they were a little big on her!

St. George

In June, we went on our yearly St. George trip with Corey's family. We stayed in some really nice condo's just outside of St. George that had an awesome swimming pool, although it was a little cool for my taste. Raylee wasn't too sure about swimming. She never really wanted to get in, and mostly just played on the side of the pool. We also did some shopping, and the guys were able to go golfing everyday. It was so much fun to just spend a few days swimming, shopping, eating, and relaxing!

I finally remembered this time to try and get a 4 generation picture with, but unfortunately none of them really worked out and this was the best I could get.

Digging For Gold

Yesterday Raylee was sitting on Coreys lap watching a cartoon and I turned to look at her and saw that she had fallen asleep like this:

Easter

WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD

This year Easter was a lot of fun, and we were able to make it to both families which meant Raylee was lucky enough to do two easter egg hunts. We started the day off at church where Raylee got to wear her Easter Dress.

I love this next pose, the picture is really blury, but I still had to post it.

We went to my families house where all the grandkids got to go on an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. This was Raylee's first Easter egg hunt and I didn't think she would do very good, but she loved looking for the eggs and putting them in her basket.

Everyone watching the kids get some of the eggs that were in the garden.

All the grandkids and their loot.

Raylee and Ashlynn were just sitting on the grass looking at their eggs (by this time Corey had shown Raylee that their was candy inside).

Then all the sudden Raylee noticed that Ashlyn had some eggs, so she decided to help herself to them. Ashlyn was not very appreciative.

After the egg hunt we had a yummy Easter dinner with ham and potatoes and monkey bread and lots of salad and fruits. Mmmm! After dinner the kids dyed Easter eggs. Raylee didn't really understand what was going on and kept trying to drink the dye.

After that we had an egg cracking competition where all the adults took an egg and hit it against someone elses and only one of the eggs cracks. I ended up being the champ! This is really the only type of competition that I will ever win, so I will probably be bragging about it for awhile.

We left after the competition to go to Coreys family where we arrived just in time for another Easter egg hunt. Raylee was a pro by now!

But she needed a little help with the one up in the tree. She just wasn't quite tall enough.

Raylee and her cousins that were there for the Easter egg hunt.

It turned out to be a perfect day filled with lots of family and fun!

19 Months

We finally took Raylee in to the doctor for her 18 month checkup. She did really great. I always worry that I'm going to get in trouble for her not weighing enough, but I definitely didn't need to worry this time! She had gained 3 pounds in the six months and the doctor and nurse were really happy about that. Anyways here are her stats.


Weight: 19 pounds (still not on the charts, but getting closer)
Height: 30 inches (20th percentile)


A few other things about Raylee right now:

-She loves babies. She loves to wrap them in her baby blankie and rock them and pat their backs and give them hugs and kisses.

-She loves phones, or I guess I should say still loves phones. She loves to talk to Corey on the phone when he is at work.

-She loves cartoons. Her favorites are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and My Friends Tigger and Pooh

-She loves purses and bags

-She still loves bracelets and necklaces

-She finally figured out how to give a closed mouth kiss

-She love shoes, anyones shoes. When she finds a pair laying around she always has to where them. If they are mine or Coreys she puts them on her feet, but if they are hers a lot of times she will put them on her hands and clap her hands together.

-She loves to sing songs, and will sing along with you and love doing the actions. I know which ones she wants to sing by the actions she shows me. Lately she is loving 5 little monkeys swinging in a tree, and Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree.

-When it's time for prayers when you are saying a sentence she says aaahhhhhhh at the same time like she is saying it with you.

-When she wants a snack she goes to the pantry and when I open it she will show me which one she wants, right now she likes pretzels.

-She still doesn’t do very good at feeding herself with a spoon or fork, but she is getting better all the time.

-I still don’t know if she’s right or left handed, she uses both pretty equally. Maybe she’s ambidextrous.

-She does really good with going to sleep when we just go lay her in her crib. She doesn’t even cry anymore, although it’s a different story for her nap. She will usually just fall asleep on the couch when she’s tired for her nap.

-She loves to play outside, especially when I blow bubbles for her.

-She loves to dip her food. It doesn't matter what type of dip either, I once saw her dip an apple in some A1 and then go back for more.

She still doesn't talk a lot, she is just a really quiet girl, but these are some of the words she says and how she pronounces them.

Mama
Daddy (da tee)
Yes
No
Please (pwease, pease, mease)
Thank you (ta du)
Ball (dall)
Doggie
Kitty
Bubble
Mickey (key key)
Love you (du oo)
Hi
Hello
Bye
Wow
Ought oh (uh oh)
Tickle, Tickle (ickle ickle)
Dip, Dip
Zip
Peek
Beep, Beep
done

Date Night!

Corey and I braved the elements last night and went to the Real Salt Lake Soccer Game. It was freezing cold, but the rain was nice enought to stay away until close to the end and because it rained we get free tickets to another game later in the year! I looked really stupid all bundled up, but I was nice and warm! It ended up being lots of fun despite the frigid temps and the downpour!