12 Months - July 2, 2014

You are walking all by yourself and you are very good at it - even in the sand! You linked it all together right around 11 1/2 months and you haven’t gone back to crawling since! 

Walking has given you a ton of confidence and freedom, it is so fun to see you cruising around wherever you want.

We celebrated your 1st birthday on the 4th of July. Beach all day at churches, then we came back to the house and had a lemon & blueberry cake for you that I made. You weren’t that stoked on it. :) You loved opening your gifts and you took time with each one, studying it, reading the book, playing with the doll, holding up the clothes, etc. It was so sweet to see and it really did seem like you were thankful for each one. What a sweetie.

No real words yet - just dadadadada all day long. But I think you understand a lot of words.

You’ve done this for a while, but you pat your belly when you’re nakey before/after a bath.

You were successfully weaned from breastfeeding. Bittersweet! We had a good go, especially considering how many rough patches there were!

We sure love our curious, sweet, and adventurous one-year-old. Can’t wait to see all of the things you’ll keep learning and doing baby girl.

11 Months - June 2, 2014

You like to wave to new people that you see. You also like to wave at your Grandpa Facer when he is sitting on the stand in church as the Bishop. You can pick Beaver out of the sacrament line-up. 

You attended lots of bonfires and beach days this month.

You are now at the age that you are really liking to play at the park - climbing up the stairs, going down slides with us.

You can walk from furniture piece to furniture piece. You can also walk around just holding one of our hands. Going to be doing it on your own soon!

We visited Berkeley/SF area to try to find an apartment. We found one! I knew it was a good fit when you "walked" down the hallway to your own room and got excited. We also took you on walks around the block by Darren & Corinne's house, and you could do a whole block or two with us just holding one of your hands. You get so happy the more you can move and do on your own.

You've spent a lot of time in the backyard with grandma and grandpa. You "water" the flowers with grandma, and grandpa takes you on "walkabouts" and you discover all sorts of things.

10 Months - May 2, 2014

First hike - we hiked the Y with you on my back in the Ergo the whole way!

You turned 10 months in Hawaii!!! 

You are officially a beach baby. You love love love the water. You loved having us run you right up to the waves and let them break on your legs. At first you did NOT like the sand, not even sitting on a towel on top of the sand...you are a texture person, so I guess it bothered you. But one day you scooted right off the towel and started picking it up in your hands and letting it fall on your legs and you were all of a sudden loving it and crawling all over.

You got a lot of attention in Hawaii from strangers...”little Betty!” Because you are the cutest baby.

You practiced patience this month with mom and dad finishing classes, finals, graduating, and packing up the house.

You did pretty well on both flights to and from Hawaii. And you always do great in the car!

You have mastered taking naps in your carseat, especially when the sound of the waves can lull you to sleep.

Speaking of sleep....you woke up a couple times a night and would stay up for an hour or two in the middle of the night! It must have just been the time change, but boy that was rough. 

We call you our adventure baby, and we love that we can take you anywhere!

9 Months - April 2, 2014

You get a thrill out of chasing any kind of bird, whether that be ducks at the pond or seagulls at the beach.

You love your board books more and more. Especially the ones with flaps you can open. You are very proficient at this!

You are moving around with the help of furniture pretty well. And you love trying to climb. You are going to keep me on my toes, I can tell!

We wanted to play tennis on a nice sunny day, so we brought your pack-n-play and had you on the side of the court. It was full of a ton of toys, but of course just pulling the wipes out of the box was your favorite! It was fun for all of us.

We go and visit dad for lunch breaks at BYU and walk around, sometimes we visit the MOA. You are so cultured ;)

You love all animals, I took you to a friend's "farm" and you were not scared one bit of the alpacas, cows, horses, etc. I was scared they were going to try to eat your little top bun off your head!

We saw the Angel Moroni get placed on the Provo City Center Temple.

Last month in Utah! Pretty soon you will be a California babe once again.

8 Months - March 2, 2014

The day after you turned 7 months old you started legit crawling, and it hasn't stopped since! You picked it up super quick and you love to move around.

When you are sitting in your carseat, you like to kick your right leg over the side. Just a funny little thing you do.

You can pull yourself up to standing on lots of things.

You never. stop. moving. Which I am happy about, it just makes me tired.

You LOVE the bee on Baby Einsteins.

You’ve got your two bottom teeth! 

You love jumping in your jumper.

You are starting to “play” with little friends and “share”

We visited dad’s future school, UoP in San Francisco. We went to Alta Plaza park, and I loved watching you crawl in the grass and pick the little daisies. 

We took you sledding up at Sundance in a cardboard diaper box. You had the cutest little smile and you did great in the snow!

We took you swimming for the first time and you loved splashing around. Water baby!

Grandma Lisa came to visit and we went to the Hogle Zoo.

You are loving the park more and more, being outside for walks when it is warm.

Valentine's Day

My dearest had a bouquet of roses delivered to the house! It also had a box of chocolates. Double whammy! This was so unexpected and SO nice. I absolutely love fresh flowers. They brighten a room make me happy every time I walk by them. Thanks Dave.

I really lucked out. He is an exceptional husband. Most importantly, he quickly forgives my shortcomings. Love you boo! ;)

As of Now

Dave has been accepted to 2 dental schools (UNLV, UDM), and waitlisted with Roseman. He has an interview with UoP on the 20^th . UoP is his dream school, so we are excited and nervous for that one! As of right now we are settled on Las Vegas, and we are super excited about that. Sunshine, heat, and close to family/CA.

Dave also got offered the Navy HPSP scholarship. He is one out of 60 people in the country to get it! He’s awesome. They will pay for all of his dental school fees, and we will get a small income each month. Then Dave will work for the Navy for 3 to 4 years in return (depending which school we go to). We are excited for this adventure. We could end up living anywhere, maybe even Japan!

Winter is the pits. At least in Utah. Usually I try to have a good attitude about it, but this year is hard. Sally is too little to be out in the cold for very long, plus she can’t play in the snow yet, so everything we do has to be inside. And if you don’t want to spend money, there aren’t a lot of options. This is making me very excited for our pending move. We KNOW it is going to be a warmer climate. Can’t wait for that.

Dave is graduating from BYU at the end of April, then we are going to take a trip (Me, Dave, & Sally), to Hawaii! We want to visit Luke, Kari, & Simon, and Shan & James. Super excited for that. We were in HI the semester we were engaged, and we are so excited to go back! It has been 4.5 years. Can’t believe how fast time has gone by.

Sally has never taken a bottle, and she eats every 2.5 hours during the day, so Dave and I haven’t been able to go out at all! Finally, this past Saturday, my Aunt Megan was able to watch her for a couple hours while we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was really nice! But it was super fun getting back, calling sally’s name, and seeing her light up and start crawling toward me (the most crawling she had done at this point!). So…note to self for future children, start the bottle sooner! At least every once in a while.

We’ve got some fun things planned for our last couple months in Utah – museums, a trip to the zoo, planetarium, fish tanks, maybe a baby swim class or two. Only 2.5 more months here, so we are going to enjoy it!

Sally 7 Months

You absolutely LOVE baths. You seem to know when it is bath-time, because you will start crawling for the bathroom. I take you in there and hold you on my lap while we watch the tub fill with water. You kick and squeal in excitement. Then we go back to the living room to undress you. I hold you up by your arms, and you lead the way and march right over to the tub, taking big steps all the way there. Once you get in, it is splash zone for a little bit, then you settle in and are just mellow. Love this time with you each day.

We are trying to get you to eat more, so you can put on more weight. But you are always moving, moving, moving, and it is hard for you to sit still for more than 3 minutes to eat.

You babble and squeal. For a couple months now you have been saying “mamamama” – it used to be when you were upset, now you say it when you want my attention or are hungry. Lots of “ba’s” and “la’s” and we are working on your “da” so you can say “dada.” :)

You had a “breath-holding spell” that scared me to death.

Still no teeth.

You CRAWL. You have been army crawling since you turned 6 months, then on the exact day you turned 7 months you started the “real” crawl.

When we got back from Christmas vacation, we decided sleep training was in order. You were waking up 5+ times a night and I was still rocking or feeding you to sleep. Dad and I were so ready to change it up. We decided to try the Ferber cry-it-out deal. First two nights were rough, but by the third night you were falling asleep quickly. Now we have a super simple routine. Bath, Feed, Sing “Silent Night”, Prayer, lay you down, Sing “I Often Go Walking.” Then it’s a kiss goodnight. You will usually fall asleep on your own after this without a fuss. SO much better. I still miss rocking you to sleep sometimes. So we just do that during the day. You don’t really like it anymore though. Sad!

You sleep from 7pm-7am. 12 hours! You still feed at least once in the night though.

I think 7 months is when I feel like I no longer have a “little baby.” Now you are entering the “big baby” stage, then its 1, then you’re a toddler. You grow fast! I am so thankful I get to stay home and watch you grow and learn.

Ice Ice Baby

Stopped to watch some ice-fishing on our way to Park City. Dave kept trying to get me to say "the mountains are pretty," but I was being a stink and wouldn't admit it because I was so over the cold and snow! Now looking back at these pictures I can say that they are indeed pretty. Ha!

Provo Castle

We had a little family outing. Dave took us to this cool castle-amphitheater against the hills in Provo. I've lived here 5 years and I had no idea it was even there! It was a pretty neat place, and gave great views of the city. Sally tasted some snow. She wouldn't crack a smile, she really doesn't like the cold!

Sally 6 Months

Scooting. You put your head down and use it as leverage to scoot toward what you want.

Spent 2.5 weeks in California this month! You were loving being outside so much. You got to play in the sand and on the back of a surfboard.

You got your legs dipped in the jacuzzi with Grandma Facer and Auntie Clare.

You had your 4^th flight! You were a dream! Much easier than the last flight.

You started sitting up on your own right before you turned 6 months.

We started solids a couple weeks ago. Oatmeal, Sweet Potatoes, and Butternut Squash are the staples.

We are getting antsy being inside all winter – you dislike the cold as much as I do. Putting on a coat is a s-t-r-u-g-g-l-e. So we are trying to get creative with fun things to do. We go to the library for story-time, walks when it’s not to bitter, trips to the mall and target (which is actually still enjoyable without spending money - everything is so shiny, and organized, and pretty :), baby-dates, and we go watch dad in his diving class. The first time we went to the diving class, you were a little unsure of the noise of the splashing and the bang of the diving-board, you were clinging to me so tight. I loved it.

Sometimes when I'm holding you and you don't want to get put down, you grab the sides of my neck and hair and jump up with your legs so they are tucked under. You only do this with me. It's like you've got your reins and you're not letting go!

I hold you in my arms and dance and spin you around – this brings a big smile to your face. You like music and always try to touch the radio.