January 2013 - Rachel's 1st B-day, Tausha's 26th b-day, washing dishes, paiting, etc

 Ken, Lindsi, Canon, and Gunner were able to come up to the cabin for our last day there.  They had been sick with ear infections and pink eye and in and out of the docotor's office.  Landon also had pink eye and many of us had colds.  Tis the season for staying up late, too much sugar, and sickness.  Here is Ken and Lindsi with baby Landon.

 The cute little cousins playing with games at the cabin. They played so great together. They are at a fun stage now where they can finally communicate pretty well with each other.

 Back at Grandpa and Grandma's house Grandpa got Landon to sleep.

 We celebrated Aubrey's birthday with everyone at the cabin.  Aubrey really wanted blondies for her cake.  We may have substituted mayo for eggs because we didn't have enough eggs, but don't tell anyone. :-)

 The girls played dress up with all of Kayla's Miss Utah attire.

 We went bowling. It was tons of fun!  The best part was watching the parents help the kids. I love this picture. Andrea and her Dad are in a perfect 2nd position plie!

 Everyone looks so good. We have a beautiful family.  Kayla and Tyson are in the back trying to snag some of their fries and drink before Aubrey and William eat them all. 

 Cami helping Leah in my awesome Zumba socks.

 I love this picture! Perfect form for Elliott and Brooke.

 Aunt Kayla chasing down Rachel at the bowling alley because she kept running off.

 Rachel Marie is 1!!!! Yea!!! This is her eating some of her birthday cake after her party with the family.  

You can tell she is loving the cake, but teething pretty bad.  Look at those rosy red cheeks.

Mmm. That cake is good!  

 Scott and Stephanie with Landon  He is such a big but wonderful tempered baby. So adorable.

 Sledding down the hill at Grandma and Grandpa's new house.  It was a pretty fast and scary hill actually.  Casen went off the side once and a bunch of us almost smacked our head on some equipment.

 Getting ready to go down for the first time.  Here goes Andrea and Casen!

 I love their faces.  It explains exactly how the hill felt, FAST!

 Cuddle time with Grandma and Grandpa.  I love this picture! She loves her grandparents.

 Gunner is keeping all the crazy kids under control in the play room. Look at how hilarious they are.  Cousin time is so much fun!

 Celebrating Tausha's 26th birthday with the family and Steve on Skype.  Andrea took this picture. The laptop was right here too so Steve could be there with the family for the celebration.

 Andrea and Casen getting ready to sled down the driveway.  There was barely two inches of snow left, but they still managed to sled for about an hour with some nice pushes from me.

 Now to finish off the day and the Utah trip with some nice snow angels!

 Grandma Barclay drove all the way back to California with me.  We did the whole thing in one day. We even made it home in time for a late dinner.  Steve had spaghetti and garlic bread all ready for us when we got home. It was so nice and wonderful! Andrea crashed on Grandma's lap that night.

 Steve and Andrea got me some presents for my birthday.  Andrea got me a bird cage that we could paint and decorate together and Steve got me exercise clothes.

 Our first fire in our fireplace!  It was so wonderful!

 The first time that both girls helped me wash the dishes. Yes, they were completely soaked when done.

 We (Steve) finally put the Andrea's head and foot board together.  It fit just perfectly inside Rachel's room with the crib.

 Rachel's first time painting with water colors, or painting anything really.  She was a natural. She knew exactly how to dip it in the water, then the paints, then the paper. She is so incredibly smart. She just watches everything that Andrea and mom and dad do and she copies it.

 Painting the bird cage with mommy.  It actually turned it so cute! We finished it off with some glitter glue.

 My two little helpers helping mommy wash the floor, walls and seats.  I love when cleaning is cool to them.

 The girls help me make dinner almost every night which would explain why I stay up so late many nights cleaning my kitchen. :-)  Despite the mess that they make, I know they are learning and we are creating memories together. Grandma Bentz sent a new apron, so they could both wear one.

 Playing together with Chase and Tayla at the Rambow's house.  We have dinner and games with them almost monthly. We are so grateful for the Rambows.  They are such fantastic friends and they live close too!

 Andrea and Tayla almost always play dress up for the majority of their play time.  They are dressed up to watch a movie.

Rachel climbs on everything to do everything that adults do, including flip pancakes.  The grill had been off for a while, so it wasn't too hot, but look at how good that pancake flipping form is. :-) 

 Yea, she finally got one!

 Uh Oh. She accidentally dropped it on the floor. Look at that face!

We actually got to spend a whole Saturday with Steve.  We went to the duck pond and fed the ducks.  He flew his remote control helicopter and it got stuck in a tree.  So he spent a half hour trying to get it out by climbing the tree and chucking things at it.  Eventually we borrow a little boy's pinecone and hit the branch with that and the helicopter fell out.

During this month Steve was working on Cisco.  It was a big project that wasn't too exciting.  He also worked on      that actually was interesting to him.  Needless to say, he was gone a lot.  The Saturday at the duck pond was one of our few whole days with him during the month of January.

Highlights from January: 

* Andrea chases Rachel and Rachel runs away now. Rachel tries to get Andrea to chase her and then she runs as fast as she can to mom  while falling over a lot.  

* Rachel is constantly full of bruises and cuts, because she tried to run and climbs everything and her body isn't quite old enough and her balance isn't quite good enough for those things. 

* One day Andrea said, "It's such a beautiful day for a walk isn't it. Mom, do you want to go for a walk right now?"
* Rachel says, "Baby, Open, Close, Wee, Up, Bubble, and Coco." 

* Rachel dances with the girls for the first 20 minutes of dance class now.  

* Andrea is a fantastic sunbeam. She is definitely ready to be a sunbeam.  

* Rachel finally got her first top tooth on January 30th! yea! 

* Andrea always says, "Owee" while I wash her hair in the bath tub. One night when I washed Rachel's hair she said, "Owee, Owee" while smiling.  It's like she thought that is what she was supposed to do while getting her hair washed! :-)