what's new???

in no specific order...

it snowed!  

I bought this "trashed" peg perego stroller at my neighbors garage sale for $10, which just happens to be the same stroller that Kai's car seat (that chad gave to us) goes to.  What a steal!

Kai apparently thinks he is a real man... falling asleep with his remote already.

Me and Berg made a gingerbread house this year!

Another steal from Diona's garage sale... Kai loves his new walker/car.  As you can see by the look on his face, it gets pretty intense sometimes. 

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!

cheese, anyone?

Sianara

Taylor is really gone.  Two weekends ago we had his open house and farewell, and then we dropped him off at the St. George airport where is flew to Salt Lake, then flew to Dallas, and then straight to the Brazil MTC.  It still hasn't hit me that he really is gone, probably because he wasn't home much anyway.  We love you Tay and we are so proud of you!  You will be the best missionary ever to roam Brazil!

ketchup...

It hasn't been that long since we last posted, but a lot has been going on so here's a little update:

Josh decided he needed to do a mud mask.  Hermana Ricks would be proud!

Josh and I went to Vegas with our friends Landon and Britt.  The water show was magical, as always!

Us at the atrium.  That place blows my mind.

Kai sporting his beanie, getting ready for a morning stroll.

And lots of Baby Einstein!

Taylor played in his last "Ketcher" concert on Nov. 1st.  They rocked the Electric Theater!  Tay has an open house at my parents on Nov. 14th from 6-8, speaks in church at 1:00 on the 15th, and departs for Brazil from the STG airport on Tuesday.  Everyone come and say your goodbyes this weekend!  We will miss you T-Bone!

TAG! I'm it.

It's picture tag.  Take the 4th picture from your 4th folder and tell about it.  This was our first family picture taken in St. George.  Taylor was about a year old, I was 4, and Bryn was 5.  It was taken in Sunbrook (you may notice the famous bridge in the background).  The photographer gave all of us kids pennies to hold in our hands so that we wouldn't have fingers flying everywhere.  What a cute little denim family!  

Now it get to tag 4 people... I tag Megan Hardy, Brittney Wimmer, Liz Shelley, and Haylie Weston.

BOO

Here are just a few pictures of our Halloween.  I don't really have much to say about it.  I'm kind of sad that I didn't get a better picture of Kai because he looked so freakin' cute in his little giraffe costume, but he would not smile for us.  Oh, well.  Josh ended up being "goth" and he was so creepy.  And I was a viking, if you can't tell by my massive horns.  Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!!

  

   MY FAMILY'S AWESOME PUMPKINS

   JOSH'S FRANKENSTEIN AND MY SKELETON

    KAI IN HIS GIRAFFE SUIT

SO HAPPY TO BE OUT OF HIS COSTUME!

ALL OF US IN OUR HALLOWEEN-NESS

Kitchen News{ies}

I haven't posted in awhile and I am really sick of those cheer pictures being the first thing on my page, so I just decided to post a cute picture of Kai.  It totally reminds me of that show "Newsies".  Thanks Sheryl for the cute outfit!  We love it!  We haven't really been doing a whole lot lately.  Kai is just crawling all over the place.  He loves to throw everything, kiss his reflection in the mirror, and squawk at us when we make him mad.  Josh just started a new job working as a legal secretary, and I have been doing lots of cakes!  Luckily I have a break now and am just enjoying my free time and getting ready for Halloween!

I'm too old for this...

HOMECOMING... A few months ago I was at my in-laws house and me and Tiff realized that all four of us girls could cheer together at homecoming this year.  It sounded like a funny idea, so I agreed to do it.  Stupid me.  The day got closer and I was getting pretty unsure about my commitment, but didn't want to go back on my word.  So the night came and I was brave enough to sport my uniform one more time.  I remember it feeling pretty skimpy when I put on a uniform for the first time in high school, but after wearing G's it felt like I was naked!  We were planning on Melissa joining us but she just couldn't bring herself to doing it.  I felt SUPER lame for awhile, maybe because I was the oldest one there by like 3 years or something, I don't know. Anyways, we ended up just having fun with it and it turned out to be way better than I thought.  I actually surprised myself by remembering all the cheers and even whipping out a few kicks! haha  Scary, I know.  I would NEVER do it again, but I'm glad I had the guts to do it with my cute sisters!

Tooth #2 and 3

In my last post Kai had gotten his first tooth.  I tried to get a picture but he was being difficult.  Well on Monday tooth #2 popped up, yesterday #3 joined us, and now the first one is poking out pretty good!  This time I got Bergen to help me get him to smile and now you have proof of Kai's newest little friends.

Tricky, tricky!

Kai has been learning so much lately.  It has been so much fun to watch and interact with him.  Last week was a big one for our little dude.  He started crawling and he got his first tooth (which has been kinda crappy for nursing, but it's still exciting! haha).  Kai can also pull himself up to standing while holding on to furniture, and push himself to a sitting position from crawling.  And now he is getting brave so he tries to let go of stuff and stand by himself sometimes.  So, he's pretty much the bomb!  I can tell I am in for it though because he is already so active and daring.  When he starts walking I am seriously going to be chasing him all day!  It already feels like all I do is clean up mess after mess, so I may go completely insane in the near future!  Just keep me in you prayers!

This post is a little late, but in this case it really is better late than never!  Last Tuesday, the 23rd, my dad celebrated his birthday!  I feel like my birthday is pretty lame now that I am getting older, so I can't even imagine how insignificant it must feel when you are that old.  Not saying that he is THAT old, he is actually fairly young, especially for being a grandpa!  Anyway, I just wanted to give him and shout out and tell him how much I love him.  He is the absolute best dad in the whole world.  He is such a great example to me and I am so lucky to have someone that is so incredible to watch and admire.  Being Bishop I have been able to see a side of him that I rarely saw before... his "soft" side!  I love how after 22 years I am still finding out new things about him that make him even more amazing.  I love you more than I can show, dad!  Happy Birthday!

Birthday Boy!

I just thought I would say happy birthday to my favorite little brother, Taylor!  I offered to make him a cake, but all he really wanted was a Dairy Queen ice cream cake.  Psh.... However, we did get him one of his favorite movies... UHF.  He turned 19 on the 18th, and I seriously can't believe he is that old.  I feel so much older than him, but I swear my 19th birthday was like, 2 weeks ago.  Taylor leaves for his mission in 2 months and we are going to miss him so much!  There is not a party without Taylor because he IS the party!  He is so much fun and is some dang good entertainment.  We'll just have to enjoy him while we've got him.  Happy Birthday T-bone!  We love you!

HAPPY HALF!!!

My brand new baby turned six months old on Monday, and I can hardly believe it!  It seems like we've had him forever, and that he just got here.  We went to the doctor for his check up and he made us (especially Josh) very proud!  Kai weighs 17 lb. 13.5 oz, which is in the 58%, and was 28 inches, which is in the 93%.  Happy Half Birthday Baby Kai!!!

Labor Day Fun

After delivering the birthday cake I did on Monday, Josh had a great idea to go hiking somewhere.  We originally thought to go to Zion but on our way there we decided just to stop and hike the Red Cliffs.  It was a little hot, but luckily there was a slight breeze coming through that saved us!  The scenery is so amazing out there.  I think we forget we live in such a beautiful place until you take the time to actual go and enjoy it.  Josh packed Malakai the whole time and I could barely keep up!  He acted like he was taking some dinky nature walk or something, and I was behind him wanting to just die at some parts.  In the end I was so happy we went, and so glad Josh didn't let me wuss out.  We had such a blast just being able to hang out all together!  Cheers to Labor Day!

all about Malakai, of course

So... Malakai was pretty sweet at the first of the summer because we would take him in the pool and he would just hang with us and was cool with whatever.  But now he is BOMB!  He loves to sit in the shamu shelf and splash, slap the blue tile (random, I know), and "swim" around.  He is getting so big and Josh and I are loving it!  Kai is so much fun!

Our baby model... you gotta love the windblown hair...

Kai laying on the jacuzzi ring splashing

The other thing that has been so much fun to do with Kai lately is eat!  He loves food more than anything and will eat whatever you give him.  We've been feeding him peaches, bananas, pear, sweet potato, etc. and he totally digs it.  He's got that "Kitchen" intensity though so he doesn't just eat nicely, he has to grab the spoon from you and shove it in his mouth!  Crazy kid.  At least we don't have to worry about him not gaining weight.  He hit 18 lbs. yesterday!

Kai making a complete mess of himself and his high chair...

and enjoying every second of it!

We LOVE you Malakai!

Our look-a-like meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

HUGE blowout!

Last weekend we decided to go for a drive and while we were out Kai started getting kinda fussy.  We figured he was just hungry so we stopped to feed him.  Josh looked down and noticed a little yellow spot on his shirt just above his shorts.  Since we'd eaten a couple things that day we didn't really think it was a big deal.  He didn't seem too interested in eating so I stood him up and faced him away from me.  SHA-BOOM!  There was poop all up his back.  We started stripping him down and literally, there was thick, yellow poop streaked from his knees to his nipples, back and front.  Not only that, but it smelled SO terrible!!  We threw open the doors and and stuck our heads out trying to inhale fresh air.  I really think it could have caused some serious brain damage if we were to take one more sniff of his foul mess.  It was the craziest blowout he has ever had.  I pride myself on being able to clean up just about any diaper mess with one wipe, but this was insane... it was a 7 wipe job!  As you can see in the picture, Kai was having a great time watching us try to clean him up.  By the time we were all finished and the diaper and wipes were all rolled up it was the size of 3 of my fists... no joke.  We're hoping to never have one this bad ever again... probably wishful thinking, huh?

Park Day and the Home Life

Wow, I don't think I've gone this long without posting in awhile.  Well life feels like it's pretty much the same with a few fun things here and there.  I won't bore you with too much writing... I'll just get to the pictures.

 vs 

Last Friday we went to the park to have a picnic and some much needed frisbee golf.  Unfortunately Kai started getting a little tired so we left before the game was over.  It ended the lamest way possible... in a tie.



The last couple weeks Kai has gotten so good at sitting up!  He still tips over sometimes, especially on soft surfaces, but we're so proud we don't even care.  

He also learned his favorite new trick recently... jumping.  There is practically no such thing as just standing anymore.  Josh is hoping that he is the next basketball legend.  We'll see about that...

When I do laundry I will sometimes let him sit in a basket of clothes and watch.  I don't know why but he loves it, especially if I carry him up or down the stairs in it.  It's amazing the things that entertain babies.  

weekend fun

This weekend one of Josh's mission companions came down to visit, so Friday we went to Sand Hollow to go boating.  I haven't been since last summer, plus I had a baby so I am way out of shape and it was so tiring!  But it was still way fun to get out and just be on the lake. 

My lame attempt to wakeboard

One of Josh's sweet jumps

Taylor's "epic" run on a slalom

Also, it was Pioneer Day last Thursday so we got a few little fireworks to light.  It's amazing how many fireworks you DON'T get for your money.  Oh, well.