Kinley: 11 months

I can't believe in just one more month, Kinley will be one. This sweet girl is such a blessing. At 11 months, she is saying several words...mama, dada, da-ee(doggie), nigh nigh, more, ba-ee(brady). And when you ask her to dance, or when she hears music, she shakes her head back and forth, as if she is saying no. She can stand up on her own, take steps while holding your hand, but not walking by herself. She is quite the eater these days. Loves to try new things. As well as whatever else she can get her little fingers on from the floor. Yikes.

She has always been really good in the sleep department. 7:30-7:30. Thankful.

Eating black beans. Not chocolate. :)

Road Trip...

We left Fresno around 2 pm, had planned to drive 7 hours or so to Kingman, AZ. But as we were on the road, we wanted to get a little further. So, we made hotel reservations at the Embassy Suites in Flagstaff, AZ. From Fresno, it took us 10 hours to get there. I'm not going to say it was easy being in the car that long with the kids, but considering all things, it was not that bad. Thank goodness for new DVD's and a DVD player. And headphones. Brady has never used them before, so he was very into using them.

On the second day, we went from Flagstaff to Lubbock, TX. And let me tell you, we saw some of the craziest weather I have ever seen. It went from 100* to 75* in a matter of minutes. HUGE dark clouds, serious rain...like we had to drive 10 mph, serious rain, clear as day lightening bolts, followed by car shaking thunder. These storms only lasted about 5-8 min, but it felt like they lasted forever. I can handle the lightening and thunder, but i am not a fan of not being able to see because of the pouring rain and hail.

Yikes.

We stopped at a fun restaurant on the historic route 66. It was a nice, much needed break. We made it to Lubbock around 9:00 pm. Again, we stayed at the Embassy suites. Which turned out to be such a blessing. After traveling for so so many hours, it was so nice to have a hotel suite. Kinley had her own room and Brady slept with us. And when we woke up, we enjoyed a nice big breakfast. Got the day started right, you know?

To be honest, the last 2 hours of the trip were the hardest. The kids were restless, I was restless, and I think we were all just ready to be there. I can't tell you how relieved we were when we started seeing Cedar Park signs. Ah. Just so you know we had never seen our house we are renting, in person. Only pictures online. So we were excited and a little anxious at the same time. Thankfully it was everything we thought it would be. We love it. We love our big yard, cul-da-sac, and the over all lay out of the house. It is a great rental.

Weekend stop in Fresno...

With all of our belongings in a uhaul, pulled by our mini van, we headed out of Ukiah. Stopped for the night in Santa Cruz, at Mt Hermon family camp, where Tommy's family was. Said good bye to them. And headed out, slightly teary eyed, to Fresno.

My best friend from 7th grade through high school got married on the 23rd. Shauna and I have shared some of the craziest times together. I was honored to be in her wedding. She married such a great guy, who Tommy actually spent a lot of time with when he went to Fresno State. They were both back up quarterbacks. Small world. The wedding was beautiful.

Here is Shauna and me in either 8th grade or 9th grade.

And here we are at Rehersal dinner. Still waiting to get some pictures from the wedding.

On Sunday, we went to church, said goodbye to some great friends, then went to my parents house, where my whole family was, for a bar b que.

I wish I could take these sweet kids and their parents with us to Austin! :) Aubrey Rose Smittcamp, Logan Demanby, and Brady.

It was a fun afternoon being with everyone. We were filled with anticipation to get back on the road, knowing we had a long drive ahead of us.

here are some fun pictures of our afternoon at my parents house.

My mom and grandma.

My dad's brother, Lee and Brady.

Papa and Brady.

I like to call this the "miracle picture". Everyone is smiling. And the picture turned out.

My dad and Brady. LOVE this picture.

:)

About to hit the road. Bye Fresno. Until next time...

Last couple weeks in Ukiah...

(Insert deep deep sigh). Well, we have officially been in Austin for 2 and a half weeks. Things are going great. But I will save that update for a different post.

The last couple weeks in Ukiah, there were a lot of different emotions. We were excited to begin this journey, sad to be facing the reality that we were moving so far from our families in California, thankful that Tommy's sister Beth, Violet and Elaina were there visiting, stressed out trying to pack up our house, clean the house, pack a uhaul, pack suitcases for the next 2 weeks...all while taking care of 2 busy and energetic kids. Yikes. Thinking back on all of it, I am glad that part is over with.

Cousins, Violet and Elaina, and Brady are at such fun ages to sweetly play together. We had a fun week with them while they were in Ukiah.

Elaina and Brady in the trailer.

Beau is such a sweet cousin. Pushing Elaina and Brady.

Violet and Brady. Brady adores her.

Kinley's first time on the teeter totter with Auntie Beth.

Cute moment.

Elaina loved holding Kinley

Marshmallow roasting time.

The office ladies threw Tommy a birthday party/going away party. Brady is always about the cake and the "fire".

The ladies opening the gift we got them. They wanted lots of pictures of the kids :)

Brady and Elaina on Uncle Jay and Aunt Kristi's super fun trampoline.

And whipped cream dessert after dinner at El Azteca. (A restaurant we went to weekly while we lived there)

On our way to the movies with cousins!

We saw Winnie the Pooh. They loved it.

Lots more to come:)

Kinley:: 10 months

It's amazing how much babies change in just one short year. I was looking back at some of the pictures of when Kinley was born, and it really feels like that was just yesterday. She changes daily, really. Between starting to say a few words(mama, dada, nigh nigh, and for doggie she says da-eee) and cutting some serious teeth, I can't believe how quickly she is growing. She loves any finger foods, avocado, cheese, bread, are among some of her favorites. She still loves to crawl, stand up holding onto anything and can now stand without holding on. She loves people around her at all times. So, for me, forget trying to get anything accomplished while she is awake:) Brady and her are really so cute together. She tries so hard to communicate with him. He loves to get her the toys that are hers, not his:)

I just love watching her develop and start to figure what her little personality will be like. My guess: sweet with a little spice :)

night night

Miss Kinley loves her sleep. So much that one of her first words was "nigh nigh". And if you say night night to her, she lays her sweet little head down. It is the cutest. I happen to have my camera out to catch a sweet moment. Brady loves Kinley and she loves him. I really love watching them interact. And let me say she laid like this for at least 3 minutes with out moving. Probably a record for her. She is quite the squirmy one...like brother, like sister :)

lots of water time..

With all the heat, the kids have absolutly loved being in the water. Any water. Any where. The lake, nana and papa's pool, the hose in the backyard, and even cool baths;) I wasn't sure how Kinley would like water at first. But I'll let the pictures show you what she thought. And Brady has become quite the fish. We (and I mean mostly Tommy) has been working really hard with him. Making it all fun of course. But he can officially swim from the steps about 5 yards or so. This changed all with in one week or so. We're continuing to work with him and he's getting it. Thankful it's finally starting to click.

We are so looking forward to spending lots of time at the pool, splash parks, water parks, and running through the sprinklers in our backyard in Texas. We love summer time!!!

First time on the lake :)

He asks to go to the lake on "papa's boat" just about everyday. He loves to inner tube with Tommy.

Cooling off..:)

This was her first time in a pool. Look at her smile! I love it!!

Happy girl loved splashin around!!

She loved the boat ride. Sat still and made her excited squeal. :)

This girl loves bath time. She speed crawls from her room when she hears the water running. And she'll wait standing up ;)

Time to invest in a new bath tub for her. Oh well. She loves it anyway!!