Birthday Pics

like i said before.... we had a blast celebrating jonnie's birthday... i definitely think it's WAY more fun celebrating her b-day than my own... i hope i can always make my kids' birthdays special ALL DAY LONG. i look forward to making big yummy breakfasts, checking them out of school early for lunch at their favorite place, making their favorite dinner dish, and of course the checkerboard cake will definitely be our little family's b-day tradition. it'll be fun to start new traditions over the years.. JD and I both agree that family traditions are what we REALLY love about holidays. here are some of my favorite moments from the big day:

she loved her crib full of balloons! We had to put them in there to keep them in one spot til we hung 'em up.
Birthday girl right after she got outta bed

playin with lil grey. she was giving him big hugs when he got to the party:)
tryin out her new shades.

i had so much fun making this w/ JD.

the inside.

some of our friends... jonnie has so many people that love her:)


this girl is a shoe lover ALREADY. yikes!

it took her a minute to get into it.... but she loved it once she realized it was ok to get messy!

the big O-N-E-

I cannot even believe Jonnie girl is already ONE! The year has flown by and I have loved ALMOST every minute of it. Let's be hones- I'm a realist... I could have definitely lived without some of the sad NICU days...screaming tantrums...and bumps and bruises. HOWEVER- moments like that sure do make me appreciate all the other wonderful ones:) I love my little girl more than words can express!!

We had so much fun celebrating her big first birthday! Since it fell on a Sunday and we still wanted to celebrate on her real b-day... we had some of our friends over for Sunday dinner and to have a little party:) We had lots of fun and are so grateful for the friends we have out here!! We sure wish our family could have joined in on the fun! I'll post pictures of the party soon once I upload them.

I put this together and it was so fun looking back through all the pictures and video we took throughout the year. I managed to only shed a FEW tears... which was an amazing feat for me! So enjoy seeing our precious little tiny tot as she's grown into a darling INDEPENDENT toddler!!

We sure do love you Jonnie Belle! HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY!

Jonnie Belle - Slideshow

can't believe it

these past few weeks, Jonnie seems like she is growing up so much! with her 1st birthday just 9 days away.... it's all really starting to set in. my baby is definitely more toddler than baby anymore! it makes me sad but happy all at once. she is such a sweet little one... sweet AND spicy for sure though. she'll now just come up to us and give us big hugs and kisses... which totally melts my heart. then we'll turn around and she's jetting hard core for the bathroom to see if she can hurry and stick her hand in the toilet water! GROSS. for some reason she has a mad obsession with the toilet and garbage cans. very nice huh?? she has started talking more lately too and it's been so fun to see her brain just going a mile a minute. she now says: mama, dada, ball, baby, apple, up, and happy. her greatest most recent accomplishment {and mine} is that she is FINALLY sleeping through the night! she's been going strong for a week now so i think we've got it all figured out... it only took 11 1/2 months. no biggie. it has been an amazing week to say the least! here are a few randoms from the past couple weeks.
I was super sore one day so I had JD rub out my hamstrings... Jonnie's favorite thing is acting like the grown-ups:)

Another perfect example.. she is convinced that JD's protein shakes MUST be delish since he drinks them a few times a day and she never gets any. So we've figured out that if we just let her think she is drinking some... it keeps the tantrums to a minimum.

She loves her baths now. The second we turn on the water she swings her leg up onto the ledge and tries jumping in on her own!

We headed to the beach a few days ago and Jonnie just loves it. Last summer was hard with her being so small... I was super paranoid the whole time... not so enjoyable. This summer will bring MUCH better beach days! Jonnie absolutely loves water anything... and actually keeps the sand eating under pretty good control:)

a breath of fresh air

last weekend we were able to skip out of town for a bit and spend some time in oklahoma, checking out the vet school and town of stillwater. since it will likely be the place we spend the 4 years after football, it was such a relief that we absolutely loved it! we even were able to go to the ward there and the members were so nice and welcoming. i love that no matter where you go... the church always provides a family away from home. my sophomore seminary teacher is even in that ward! such a small world. i was always a little nervous thinking about being away for 4 years, especially since JD will be super swamped studying and doing his school stuff... but i feel so much better about it now that i know we'll love it there. whew!



as most of you know...traveling with a youngster can be quite the treat! good thing daddy finds ways to entertain her!