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!

Date Night

If you know us well.... you know we NEVER leave miss Jonnie Belle. Well, this past weekend we were forced to.. and it ended up being a nice little date night! JD's agent wanted to take us to a fancy restaurant where rambunctious tiny tots probably wouldn't be.... so we dropped Jonnie off to play with our friend Molly for a couple hours.

It was nice to just be with JD for a little while... even though we missed Jonnie! I knew she was in good hands so it made it a lot easier:) Molly better watch out or we might make this a monthly routine;)

mary's visit

my aunt mary graced us with her presence this past week and we had lots of fun! we shopped til i about dropped... visited the white sand beaches in naples... took the tikki beach barge tour through miami... and ate WAY too much yummy food at the knife restaurant. (an argentinian restaurant like rodizio grill:) my favorite part of her stay was our late night chats.. one of them til 4 in the morning... i love talking and catching up! it was sad to see her leave sunday. we love you mur!







now we are just getting back into the swing of things. getting all our tax stuff together so we can get those done in the next week or so. it's ridiculous how much information you have to scrounge up! for the nfl, they make you file in every single state you play a game in... LAME!

our apartment complex just got a personal trainer and he's doing some classes each morning. i decided i would give it a try to mix things up a bit and this morning i was the only one that showed up for the power circuit class. he kicked my butt and then some. i am still feeling the pain and can hardly hold jonnie cause my arms are so dead. sheesh. just what i need tho!

we are leaving in a couple weeks for a short trip to oklahoma to check out the vet school and surrounding area. we're excited to see where we'll probably be spending 4 years after football is through. hopefully i blog before then.... but with my past record.. i might not. life is good. family is great. valentine's was lovely. we miss you all!

we're back in action

I know it's been forever since I posted last... and things have been crazy so i felt like there was too much to blog about so i just wasn't gonna do it. then things just started piling on so that didn't solve anything! where have we been you might ask?

Utah then Montana then Utah again.... now back in Florida!

We spent a little over 3 weeks back west and loved every minute of it. JD made his first saddle with his dad while we were up in Montana and decided that he definitely wants to get all his own tools so he can build saddles in the offseason / during any downtime throughout vet school / for a forever hobby:) he sure is quite the little handy man.

It was fun being back with family and I know Jonnie loves every bit of the attention she gets from everyone. She's quite the little entertainer these days! Wait.. who am I kidding? She has been from day one.

She has been up and at em walking since 8 1/2 months and we can't hold her down for a second anymore. This girl has gotta be on the go at all times and believe me.. you will hear about it if she's not! She's got a little hot personality to go right along with that red hair! We are currently in the process (now that we are home in one place for a bit) of trying to get her on a better sleep schedule... and it has been quite the treat:) She's actually been doing pretty well so hopefully it keeps going!

She loves the outdoors, so the other day JD and I took her to the park and she wanted to stay there forever. I think she would love an open field with her ball just as much though. She has the cutest obsession with balls already. Any kind. She just walks around holding them at all times. Thus, we have one in the car, the diaper bag, and all over the house. Perfect. Good thing our place is so tiny... it's turned into Jonnie's own little play pen.
She didn't exactly love the swing... especially when she was doin it superman style.


JD's schedule is really nice during the off-season. From the beginning of Feb-mid March, he just works out 3 days a week in the mornings. The other two days he's shadowing a vet for about 10 hours a week so he can continue working towards the vet stuff. He's doing 6 credits through weber while we are out here and shadowing counts for 4 of them. WOO! We also just found out the other day that JD's year deferment from Oklahoma State got extended for another year:) So he still has a spot there for the 2011 class if he decides football just isn't his thing.

All in all.. we are loving just spending lots of time together and can't wait for family to get out here soon (Aunt Mary is on the plane as I type this.... YAY!!) Hope all is well with everyone!

Oh ps... we just took this from our apartment balcony a couple weeks ago and I just found it on the camera.. love it!

sunny holidays

I can't believe the holidays have already come and gone!! It was pretty crazy having Christmas out here in Florida.. it never REALLY felt like Christmas... I wanted the snow a few days before the 25th to get me in the mood and then it could have melted the 26th. haha. Since there was no white stuff to be found... we figured we might as well hit up the beach a few times... it felt great... Not so Christmassy tho...We had such a fun few weeks though. First my family came out to visit on the 16th and was here til Christmas eve. The funnest part was going to Orlando and hitting up Universal Studios and Island of Adventures for a couple days. There were so many fun rides and it was a blast taking the kids on their first REAL roller coasters! Jonnie was such a CHAMP!





Once my family left on the 24th, JD's family got here the same day.... just a couple hours later! We went to the Everglades and saw the gators for the first time and that was so neat! It's crazy how different it is out here from Utah... I sure do miss the mountains! But it really is nice not having to drive in the snow. The Folsoms left yesterday and we miss family already! It was SOOO nice having them all out here and it made the holidays just perfect! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR COMING! We love and miss you already! December is the best month as it is... having you all here just made it that much more special.




Since football season is just about over... we have booked our flights back west for a WEEK from today! I can't wait to head back for about a month and just spend time hanging out with family and catching up with friends. We can pick up right where we left off with the card games and late night chats... those are always my favorites:) Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

takes after daddy

she's a natural. it must be in her blood. this is her present from grandma tracy and grandpa john. she loves it already! daddy and her named it after one of their riding sessions.... lil' bay. i'm sure they'll become the best of friends:] i know this city life is starting to take a toll on j.d's country ways.... but i gotta make sure i keep him from sneakin a ride. i think he misses the weight limit by just a hair!

best TWO years

Yesterday was our two year anniversary!! What an adventure we've had so far!! Last night as we were lying in bed... JD and I were talking about the things that have taken place.. and the places we've been since December 8th two years ago. It is amazing to look back on all that has happened and the greatest thing BY FAR is our little creation, Jonnie Belle. (Who is pretty much a spitting image of her Daddy) I can't imagine going through life with anyone else by my side. JD is the love of my life and makes me want to be a better person day in and day out. I just can't get enough of him! Best two years sweetheart.. and millions more to come!