Thank you Shari

These are some Pictures my Sister Shari took of Kaiya while we were in Utah.

Kaiya Lilly Shurtleff

We her name is finally official. While we were in Utah we had Kaiya blessed on Christmas Day. Although the snow kept many of our family and friends from coming, it was still a beautiful event. I loved watching Brett bless our little Kaiya. I love them both soooo much.

Christmas in Utah

Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it snow! That song will forever remind me of Christmas this year. From the day we arrived until pretty much the day we left it Snowed. There was no dreaming of a white Christmas it was there. While we were there we went to a couple family parties. It was so good to see cousins, aunts uncles, grandparents and give Kaiya the chance to meet them all. We rented a car for the first few days. Then Kaiya got sick with the adjustment to a higher altitude and dry air. So we spent the rest of the time pretty much in doors back and forth from my sisters house to my parents. Which on Christmas day alone it snowed about a foot and a half to two feet. CRAZY!! I will say the -3 one night made me very jealous of the 70 degree weather they were getting back home in NC. Well My sister's family got Kaiya a really really cute bear that was the highlight of her Christmas. She loved the bear and good ole Mom (me) left it on the plane. So we have been calling around trying to get it back :( I feel so bad. She did get a few other presents too that she liked. Most of all she loved all the attention from friends and family. We enjoyed seeing friends and family. But after a delay at the airport and not getting back until 2 in the morning. We are happy to be home. I never realized how much I love North Carolina until I was gone.

Brett's Grandpa who is 92 met us at the airport to say goodbye. Here is a picture of him with Kaiya. She was so intrigued by him.

Christmas at Home

Before we Left for Utah we did Christmas at home. Kaiya of course loved the wrapping paper more then anything else. It was so fun though to see her get excited about presents.

Brett Cooks

Brett Decided the Sunday before we left for Utah to surprise me with cooking dinner. He has done this once before at I ended up with Mac and Cheese with a hot dog (no bun) on the side. So I was a little bit worried. But he made a chicken garlic pasta dish and potatoes. It was actually pretty good.

Kaiya Meets SANTA

So we took Kaiya to meet Santa at our Church party. After a fun slide show, and some Yummy Cookies, Santa came. Kaiya was so happy and playful right up until we got in line to see Santa. Then she fell asleep. Once we got home she was happy and playful again, Silly Girl!

Kaiya Laughing

When we got home from Brett's work party I was playing with Kaiya. She has been laughing for awhile but we have never been able to record it because she sees the camera and stops. Well tonight she was laughing harder then either one of us has ever seen and luckily we got it on recorded:)

Christmas Party

So we went to Brett's work's Christmas party out on a huge boat. It was a lot of fun. Also a few of our friends from church also work there so we had a good time.

Sitting Up

Kaiya is doing such a good job sitting up. I can now have her sit and play with toys. It's so fun to see her reach these new milestones.

Mirror

Kaiya loves to check herself out in the mirror.

Christmas Shopping

I've almost got all my Christmas shopping done. We are doing it pretty simple this year though. Our main present is our trip to Utah. Since that pretty much took all of our money. But here is a picture of Kaiya all bundled up and ready to get her shop on.

Family Home Evening

Last night for Family home evening we went and got a "Christmas Tree" It's actually kind of a small fern that still planted. But since we will be in Utah this year for Christmas we didn't want to spend the money for a big tree. This one we can put out on our patio all year round. We also made a ginger bread house and watched the movie Hancock. It was so much fun just having some family time just the 3 of us.

Diaper Time

Kaiya loves Diaper time! She cries every time we have to put clothes back on her.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We went to Brett's parents house from Wednesday night until Saturday night. It was nice to get away from the daily grind. All the food was great and the company was even better. That night a few of Brett's sisters and Mom got in the Hot tub. Brett and I forgot our Swim suits but Kaiya got a chance to enjoy it with her Aunt Karie. Kaiya had fun watching her cousins run around and play. Also her Cousin Shelby taking good care of her while Mom and Dad ran to the store. It was a great day and I am so Thankful for spending time with family.

Kaiya meets the Dogs

Well since we didn't really have room at our apartment for Simon he's been living at Brett's parents. Brett's other dog is there Sage and they have a big back yard. Well when we were up there for Thanksgiving we decided to see how Kaiya did with the dogs. She seemed okay, pretty interested but didn't like when they got to close to her face.

Pre Holiday Madness

Well I could go on and on about what a crazy day last Wednesday was, but I rather not relive it. So I will just make this brief. I had two sick babies crying and fussying all day. Well thats saying it lightly, Kaiya was screaming. She threw up all over her crib, all over me, poor thing. all this was going on while I was making 3 well should have been 4 pies and 2 cheese balls. I say should of been 4 because in the middle of all the madness I was trying to put a pumpkin pie in the oven and dropped it all over my floor and oven. I had made an extra pumpkin pie just for home, which I had already taken a slice out of to try, because I was trying a new recipe I wanted to make sure it was okay before making one to take to my in laws. Well it was good :) and I dropped the second one, so I had to take a pie missing a slice with me. Thank goodness my Apple and Cherry pie turned out, that I had something else to take. OH and my cheese balls turned out sooo yummy!! I will have to make those again :)

Girls Night out

So I got my first girls night out since I had Kaiya. Thursday night a bunch of friends were going to the Mid night showing of Twilight. I had told Brett I would wait to go with him since he loves to go to the movie theater and I always turn him down. But after a day of being thrown up on by Kaiya. Plus the little girl I watch has had an ear ache. So basically a week of sick babies I needed to get out. Brett said he didn't really care to see it. So last minute I called up the Girls and got me a ticket. It was so nice to get out. I felt a little Nerdy being at a midnight showing with a bunch of teenage girls all over posters of Edward. But it was a pretty good movie ( not nearly as good as the book). Plus I got out. I was very happy though when I got home at 3 in the morning to get to crawl in bed with my own Edward and not a picture of me against a poster haha. I wasn't to happy when Kaiya got up at 6 only 3 hours later :(. So I saw this Twilight spoof on my niece Anneka's blog and I thought it was so funny I decided to add it here.
I will put the original and then the spoof so you can see just how funny it is.

My poor little Kaiya

My poor Kaiya sleeping on the Dr table

Kaiya is Sick :(. This is her first time. She has been blowing out and through diapers right and left the last couple of days. Has warn have of her wardrobe in the process too. But this morning I decided its finally time to take her in when she threw up all over, and I mean a lot. I think more then she actually drank. It was so sad. After she looked up at me and smile. My sweet little girl. Even through the last few days she hasn't been cranky about it. She just smiles and laughs as Mommy cleans her up. But she did cuddle up with me this morning after I got her cleaned and fell right back asleep. So I hope its just a little bug and nothing to big.

Friends

So it had been a little bit since Brett and I had a game night. So last minute we decided to call some friends and through one together. I made some Chocolate Hazelnut Popcorn, Apple Cinnamon muffins and pulled out the games. We had a lot of fun, and a nice escape to the recent stress on my mind. Although our apartment is a little small for it all the kids seem to have fun playing allowing us to enjoy our time together. I realized I don't have many pictures of my friends out here and needed to get some. Brett and I have been so lucky to find some awesome couples to hang out with here in Wilmington.

a lot of the pictures turned out blurry ( I need a better camera). So these are the only pictures I ended up with.

Breads

Well I gave it another try. I made a loaf of Bread to test out the recipe. When it actually turned out I decided to give Bread Bowls another try. They actually turned out too. So then I had to made Homemade soup and have a few friends over to try it all out. I had 3 friends over for lunch and they all have babies, plus mine and the one I baby sit. We had a Total of 5 babies just crawling/walking/sitting around. It was a nice break to the day to have some grown up time.

Hurt

So I know this post may stir a lot of deep feelings for many. But I just feel I need to get a few things off my chest. Last night Brett came home from work pretty upset. He said he had read an article about protest going on outside of our Temple in California. So today I decided to look up the article he was talking about. It completely broke my heart. Our church as been through so much to get to where we are. I don't want to get into to many details on Prop 8. I just know as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later day Saints, we really truly are taught to love and respect everyone. I know I have had MANY friends that are gay. I still love them as much as any of my friends that are not. There were many religions speaking out against Gay marriage being legalized. It hurts so bad that our church is the one being attacked back for standing up for our beliefs. I just think the trouble with it all is that you start to mix religion with government. I have heard a lot of people say " You wouldn't dare tell blacks or Jews that they can't get married" Well you are right because that isn't against my religious beliefs. I wouldn't be putting other people in the position to marry people that may be against their beliefs. This is the part that actually brought tears to my eyes, "For every $5 donated, Jean said, a postcard will be sent to the president of the Mormon church condemning "the reprehensible role the Church of Latter-day Saints leadership played in denying all Californians equal rights". If you have the same beliefs as us or not, how could you do this to a Man who has given his life to God. I can only Imagine if they had said donate 5 dollars and we will send a postcard to the Pope, how many people would be angry. But since it is to the "Mormon" church people tend to look the other way. 90 percent of Religious groups teach that Marriage is between a Man and a Women. Hate is something Satan encourages not God. It only makes me wonder why Satan has gone to such extreme to put so much Hate towards The church of Jesus Christ of Later day Saints.

Family Time

After church Brett and I decided we needed some good ole family time. We have both had a very busy week and just wanted to get out of the house and enjoy some time together. So we took a blanket and went down to the beach to play cards and take some pictures. It was so nice to just be together and have nothing else going on.