Gracie turned One!

So little Miss Grace turned one on February 27th! We had just a fun day at home playing and doing whatever she wanted. I wanted to do a photo shoot with her and came up with making a one out of cardboard and then wraping it in paper. It turned out really cute thanks to my awesome husband who did it all!

Me and my birthday buddy. 

With her Birthday money from Great Grandma Jones we got some wooden blocks and she has been having lots of fun with them. 

She's getting so big I can't hardly stand it. She is so smart and learning new things everyday. Justin does this thing where he squeezes his hands together and says "squeeze!" now whenever Justin comes in the room Grace does it back to him. She is great at playing peek a boo and just having a fun. 

I love this one! It shows her funny little personality and a little bit of her mischeivious side. She sure is getting into everything. The saying that goes kind of like this. " Trying to clean up after a toddler is like trying to plant flowers in a tornado " has been ringing true at our house lately. But it's all good as she is learning and exploring.

How we really feel about photo shoots. Mom happy and excited. Grace.....very upset. 

This girl LOVES books, especially the book of nursery rhymes that Great Grandma Jones got her. We could look at that book all day every day. She loves to turn the pages, look at the pictures and just sit and have fun with mom. 

I love this one and was so sad that she moved just enough to make it blurry but she's still cute.

Grace is a lot like me in the fact that she loves soft things. She loves her blanket and when she's tired she has started to snuggle her blankie and anything else soft. She has never been much of a snuggly baby even when she was tiny so it's kind of nice to have that now. 

My beautiful babe. I can't believe what a little girl she is starting to become. She is such a joy and a light in our lives. I reflected back on what was going on  year ago and I am so glad that everything went well and that she made it a year. We both survived with many more years to come. She is my best little buddy and we have so much fun with her. What a blessing and a challenge it is to be a mother but what a great reward when she snuggles me or comes to me when she's hurt or smiles and plays with me. No better love then the love of a child. I am so grateful that I get to share in her love and show her my love for her.  Nothing is better then family. 

February Birthday- working- serving extravaganza

I got to get better at this blogging stuff. February come and went before I knew it. It was a short but busy busy month. I had to work quite a bit and that was stressful but now I am back to my normal two days a week and I am loving it! February is always fun for me becuase it has some of my favorite days. Valentine's day and birthdays. I feel so special to share my birthday month with so many of my family members. I share a birthday month with my niece, my dad, my sister in law and my beautiful baby. Needless to say we eat a lot of cake this month. =) 

Some of the other things that have been going on this month was that I recently got called to be the Relief Society Secretary in my ward. The Relief Society is an organization in the LDS chuch for all women 18 and older. The Presidency has a president, two counslers, and a secretary. We are in charge  of essentianally all the women in our church within our boundaries. We help to serve them in any need and uplift them. We help to plan activities to involve the women and provide friendships. As the secretary I am in charge of the roles making sure they are current and providing information to the women concerning activites or important info for the week. It has been a blessing in my life this past month. I have gotten to know some great sisters in which I am serving with. I had been praying everyday for opportunites to serve those around and boy did I get that chance. =) It's been great though and I am excited to see where the next couple of months take us. 

In other baby news, Grace is doing great! She turned one and is learning so much each and every day. I love her to pieces. 

Getting some teeth! She had the one around Jan 25 and now the second bottom one is coming through. She is awful at teeth taking pictures. As you can see it's kind of torture. She is eating more and more solids and we are getting closer and closer to weaning. 

Playing with Daddy one of her favorite things. 

For my birthday I got a bike! I have been wanting one for years so Justin finally broke down and got me one. It's a normal 7 speed, handle brakes, normal tires bike. He got an awesome seat for Grace so we can go on rides together. We've gone on a few family rides and it has been fun. It's a change for my legs and my behind but I Love it! 

Grace loves cats! or Tigers or Dogs! She has been loving animals lately. Here she is trying to pet Aunt Jinni's cat. Whenever we go over when she sees one of the cats she goes crazy. It's pretty funny. 

My best little Valentine.

Happy Birthday celebrations with the Messengers. Grace was a little tired so the cake smash was a bit uneventful. But it was fun to get together with the Messenger and my Birthday buddy Jyana. 

We were having some delightful weather lately and I laid out and got some vitamin D on my birthday. =) 

It's been a great month but I am glad that it's done. On to Spring! and Sun! and Flowers!