11 Months Old

Jayla now walks very well. She is also signing like crazy and her favorite sign is food. She learns very quickly. She loves being outside. She also loves to sing to the hymns in church. She loves dogs and other children. She can say bye and Dada. She gets into everything! She loves to go to the park and swing. She loves water and isn't afraid to dip her legs in even when the water is cold. She still only has 5 teeth. We are waiting for the other ones to come in. She can "shake her noggin" on command. She is getting so big. She is very curious and she prefers to explore rather than sit in one spot playing with toys. She loves bathtime still. We can't believe that she is getting so old. She now brings me books and then sits on my lap on her own so that I can read her a story. She keeps getting more and more fun.

A Day at the Park

We took Jayla on a walk to the park today and for the first time we put her in the swing. She loved it! She giggled and squealed the whole time! I then took her down the slide, but her favorite by far was the swing. She started throwing a fit when we put her in the stroller so we let her swing a little bit longer. She had so much fun and we had so much fun watching her giggle and smile.

Snow in April

We took Jayla outside to play in the snow since we thought that she was old enough to appreciate it and because it isn't every day that you can build a snowman in April. We don't think that she had that good of a time. After much coaxing we finally got her to smile for this picture. Perhaps next year she will have more fun when we take her sledding.

Tazia and Eric

Tazia got married to Eric yesterday in the Temple. Her dress was gorgeous. she had the rotten luck of having it snow the day before her wedding, in april! Although it was cold. I think that wedding pictures in the snow are beautiful. We had fun talking to family and taking picture after picture. The great thing is that we get to do it all over again next week for my little sister's wedding!! My mom started crying at Tazia's wedding just thinking about next week. I have to admit that I shedded a tear thinking about Jayla's wedding day. Yes I know I am pathetic especially because she still has about 18 years to go.

The Bride and the Groom. Aren't they so cute!

Tazia with her sisters and her mom.

My mom insisted on taking our picture. It doesn't look like April does it?

My cute grandma and grandpa

Jayla walking daddy around the temple grounds.

All of my cute cousins, cousin-in-laws and sister

Jayla was mesmerized by this fountain. She kept playing in the water and got so wet that we had to change her clothes

Spring Photo Shoot

I have taken up the hobby of photography and I love it! My favorite thing to take pictures of is a little girl named Jayla, hence all of the many pictures that I post on our blog all of the time. Here are a few pictures I took today in one of the Easter outfits that Chauntel gave her.

First Easter Egg Hunt

It is a tradition in Kristen's Family to have an Easter Egg Hunt every year. We even had them when there were no little kids left to enjoy it. It is also a tradition of ours to divide up the candy equally. The only problem is trying to keep it away from the kids long enough so that we can make equal piles for each family. Wesley kept stealing everyone else's candy from their piles, but I really don't think that anyone minded.

Like Wesley my dad always eats the candy before we divide it up. It wouldn't be Easter without my dad stealing some candy! He is a little kid at heart.

Vanessa, always being the helpful one, unwrapped a Milky Way and gave it to Jayla when no one was looking. Yay for Jayla!! She got to taste her first candybar. When I stuck my finger in her mouth to make sure she didn't eat the wrapper she clamped her jaws down so tight that I almost gave up. She didn't want to give up her candybar treat!! Doesn't she look like she knows she is going to get into trouble?

We had so much fun taking Jayla on her first Easter Egg Hunt and we can't wait to do it again next year!

Michael had to help Jayla get all of her candy. She seemed to be more interested in the tree at this point than the candy that was hidden.

For some reason my mom still thinks that I am a little kid and she has to make sure that I don't miss any candy. Here she is pointing out some candy that I missed. I guess I needed her help after all. My mom is the best and I love to watch her find so much joy in the simple things in life like watching her family find all of the candy that she hid. Also the trick is to find the candy before Marshmallow eats it.

This is a precious moment! Don't you think?

Yvonne, being the sweet mother that she is is trying to make sure that Wesley doen't eat too much candy. She is a very patient mom and she is really sweet to her kids.

Brittany and Matt are trying to decide if this is the GOLDEN EGG!!! They turn out to be right and they wouldn't share with me.

Happy Easter

This is what Jayla got for Easter from her Birth-Family. They always pick out the cutest stuff for her. She loves her little guitar. She looks so cute in her sunglasses but she never keeps them on. We gave Jayla some new church books and some bubbles for Easter. She loved the bubbles. She tries to eat them, but fortunately they pop before she is able to get them in her mouth. Happy Easter Everyone!

Boys All-Star Basketball

Michael's brother Tyson was playing in the 1A boy basketball All-star game so we took pictures of the important stuff like Jayla playing with her grandpa. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of the actual game, but thanks to Jessica, our cousin, we have a lot of good ones of Jayla.

Below is Jayla playing with Chelly. She is so good with kids and Jayla loves her. Here Jayla is trying to share with Chelly. Jayla loves to share her food lately along with anything that she is eating at the time.

Jayla obviously thought that Tyson was pretty funny with the marker in his mouth.

Here is Jayla with Aunt Marjean, the happiest woman I know. She is always so sweet to everyone and we love her! No one ever goes hungry when Marjean is around.

This is Jessica who took all of these cute pictures. Thanks Jessica.

After Conference Party

After Conference we were excited to have Jayla's Birthfamily over for dessert. Of course Jayla was a show off the entire time and she absolutely loved all of the attention that she was getting from everyone. I think she is starting to realize how cute she is and that she can get whatever she wants.

Jayla with her Birth-Mom, Chauntel.

Jayla with her Great Birth-Grandma.

Jayla playing peek-a-boo with her Birth-Grandpa, Kurt. I love this picture!

Jayla is pouting because we wouldn't let her eat Shannalee's cell phone.

This is Karesa and Eric. They are so cute with Jayla. She loved sitting on their laps.

Jayla sitting on her Birth-Grandma's lap and loving it!



This is Jayla's Family. She is so lucky to have so many people who love her. We had so much fun with everyone. Thanks so much for coming and know how much we love you all!

Conference Weekend

I just love conference weekend. I love hearing all of the talks and not even having to leave your living room. Elder Jeffery R. Holland's talk was my favorite one of them all. I loved how he talked about the Savior and he gave a new light on the atonement. I think Jayla loved the hymns a lot more than the talks. She would crawl up to the T.V. and pat it because she loved the music.


Between the sessions we took Jayla outside. She loved it. She would crawl to the door after we went inside because she wanted to go back out. She would also try to eat the leaves every chance she got. I'm starting to think that she will never outgrow that stage of trying to put everything into her mouth.