Life is a tReAt

Christmas has come and gone and we have survived! Alaynah was at Ben's house for most of Christmas and had a great time. We opened presents later. Alaynah wasn't interested in opening presents. She went through her stocking and found the movie "UP" and wanted to watch it, and I quote "Right Now!" She calls it the balloon movie and LOVES to talk about the 'snipe'. When finally prodded to open a few presents, she found some great surprises. The best was when she opened her Sleeping Beauty Character set. It has all the characters from the movie inside. She exclaimed "Oh my Goodness, Oh my Goodness!!" Her favorite character is, ahem, the dragon? Maybe I have raised a little villian. She calls the dragon, 'dragon tales' and runs around the house reinacting the scene when Prince Philip (why can't she like him?) chases down the dragon and violently stabs him with his sword. The reinactment includes swishy sword noises and all! It is quite the treat. I am loving this darling princess stage and taking full advantage. I love the sound of clattering dress up high heels in my kitchen!

Snow White is also a favorite, having to battle for 1st place with the infamous "Dragon Tales". Alaynah has had a little trouble falling asleep at night after a cold. I listened in my room as she complained, tossed and turned. Finally it stopped for a minute and I hear, "Wicked Witch! Look in my eyes!" What?! The next night it was singing, "I know you. . . . ." over and over. It's the song from Sleeping Beauty.

We're Doing Great!!!

Alaynah and I are doing really well. We have a new place and it has been FABUOLOUS. We are without internet and cable, so pretty much we are omish (we do have electricity! hahaha). I hope to get back into the blogging world very soon. I miss keeping up with everyone! Don't lose hope on me!

Alaynah Funny Post

I have always made an effort to point out things to look at while in the car to keep Alaynah entertained. We look for busses, air planes, horses and most importantly. . . motorcycles. Alaynah is obsessed with motorcycles. When she sees or even hears one, she says "motorcycle man!!" Keep in mind, it's in this gruff 2 year old voice.
I went into Alaynah's room to get her out of her crib from her nap. She looked up and me and said (very excited and in her 'gruff 2 year old voice') "Motorcycle man, I ride!!!!" I then proceeded to ask her if she had a dream about a motorcycle man. She excitedly, and with very bright eyes said "Yeah!" I asked, "Did you ride the motorcycle?" She answered, "Yeah!!" Too funny.

Happy Birthday Alaynah

My little Alaynah is almost 2 years old. Oh, what a big girl. I have contemplated, as most mom's do, if I am sad about this. I have decided that I am not. I do miss my pudgy (ok, extremely obese), squishy little 12 month old. I am happy that she is growing into such an amazing little girl. It helps that the first 6 months of her life were spent screaming, nonstop. Can't say that I miss my little newborn. Sad, but true. I love my little toddler. We had a birthday party at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It ended up being a little later in the evening than we planned, thus some of the funny looks on her face. She started to get tired and ask for "milk with strawberries in and Jerry Show." She got a lot of fun presents and really loved her Elmo Bus Cake. Thank you to all for the gifts!

the Fall Orchard Trip

Every fall, we take a trip with Grandma (pronounced Damn-ma) and Grandpa (Papa) to the apple orchard and get us some yummy apples. This trip was a success, as usual. Alaynah thought it was just great. She tried to eat the apples, but it ended up being a bite and spit out fest. We got to feed apples to a horse, which Alaynah LOVED. I, myself, do not enjoy animals and this includes furry, hairy horses. Alaynah was not afraid one little bit. She held out the apple for the horse to eat, let the horse lick her legs and even tried to kiss the horse at one point. Oh it was so cute! Justin picked some plums, which Alaynah demolished. I heard a strange grinding/crunching in my ear, only to realize she was eating the pit!! It was SO much fun and a tradition we plan on keeping forever!

dInOsAuR mUsEuM

The lovely Lisa and Caydance came to visit us!!!! We took a fieldtrip to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum. The girls LoVeD it! We played in the cool magnetic sand, saw TONS of Dinosaurs, got to play in the sand and uncover dinosaurs with paintbrushes. Everytime we drive past Thanksgiving Point, Alaynah will yell "Dinosaur!!!" What a blast. There is a picture of Alaynah with a turtle fossil. It's inside the rock (or course). She was very disturbed by the fact that this turtle was stuck inside the rock and tried numerous times to get it out. "Stuck Mommy, get it out! Help!"
It was wonderful to have Lisa and Caydance stay with us. Wednesday we went to the park and Thursday we had a bbq with my fabulous neighbors 'The Crocketts' and played in their backyard. We headed to Idaho Falls on Friday to visit Grandma and Grandpa and celebrate Alaynah's early 2nd birthday!

A New Obsession

Alaynah LOVES to color! I love my little artistic bug and her beautiful pictures. She was coloring at the table while I was busy in the kitchen, I turned around to find her feet on the table and crayon in her hand like a cigarette! Too funny.

Bear Lake

Over the 24th of July, (yeah, we are definitely playing catch-up here) Alaynah and I went to Bear Lake for a HUNSAKER FAMILY REUNION. It was a blast! Alaynah had so much fun in the sand. Needless to say, sand was everywhere! We played all day in the sun, and then headed back to a cabin to spend the night. What great memories!

WE ARE ALIVE! ! ! !

I know, it's a true miracle, I am actually posting on my blog. It has been a looooooong 6 months and no blogging :(. Alaynah and I are doing great!!! She is getting to be such a big girl and brings a lot of joy to my life. Tomorrow, we celebrate her 2nd birthday (early because I will be on a plane to Hawaii on her birthday. . . I know, I know)!!! I am hoping to post some pics and actually share something!!! WooHoo!

A dAy WiTh mY bEsT fRiEnD mAx

Alaynah is turning into such a little person. She has the sweetest little personality and is growing so tall (tall to me is very small to most people :)). She is talking so much and always trying to communicate with me. She LOVES to be outside. The other day we were outside looking at the 'wawas' (translation = flowers) and there was a 'bee'. She tried to touch it and I told her "no, the bee will bite your finger." These pictures were taken by my awsome friend and most wonderful babysitter in the world. She said Alaynah was nervous that there were bees around this one flower tree. I laughed and told her that I had told Alaynah that the bees would bite her finger. She had a great time outside with Max and Heidi.

Quote of the Day

"Don't Sweat the Petty Things, and Don't Pet the Sweaty Things."

My little Mother

Alaynah and I were in our jetted tub the other night, just relaxing and taking in the hot water. It's just the 2 of us, so baths are great! This is what happened. Alaynah (very known to be obsessed with soap, including eating it) grabbed 'Mamma's soap', lifted up my arms (one at a time) and proceeded to scrub them with the soap. Oh it didn't stop there! She then took her sharp little fingernails and placed all her little fingers together and 'scratched' each armpit separately in an attempt to shave my pits! Ha hahah! She would lift my arm and then take her fingernails and 'shave my armpits!' Next, she grabbed the cup, filled it with water, lifted up my arm and rinsed my armpits. What a nice daughter I have to look after my welfare and hygiene! Even at 18 months, she looks after me! I just can't believe she pays so much attention to detail to know how to shave armpits! Yikes!

cUpCaKe AdDiCtIOn StOrY #2

I have recently blogged about a little addiction we have in our house called "cUpCaKeS." Just to emphasize how serious this problem is, I will tell a little story about Alaynah. This incident happened yesterday, April 10, 2009 as I was getting lunch ready. Alaynah is playing in the kitchen, and pulls a cupcake pan out from under the oven. She brings it to me, tries to hand it to me and wants me to pick her up. I pick her up and her eyes are beautiful and bright, just asking to make cupcakes. She points to the inside of the pan with a smile and says, "uh, uh." She is very excited and it is obvious that she is wanting to make cupcakes. This child is only 18 months old, and she is asking to make cupcakes?! Oh Dear is all I have to say.

The Find of the Century

Alaynah is absolutely obsessed with BUSSES. That's right, I said yellow school busses. The only thing I can figure is that she has a baby Einstein movie that has some busses in it, and we sing 'The Wheels on the Bus.' It is a true obsession, quite comparable to cupcakes, we are talking serious here people. We spend a lot of time driving to Daddy's house, the babysitter. .etc. It has become a game (it started out to keep her preoccupied and not screaming in the car) to look for things out the window to find. The BUS is the favorite. This is the BEST in the morning when all the busses are picking up the kids for school. She will yell (excitedly) "Bus, Bus!!"
I have been searching for a toy bus to give her for Easter because I just know it will be the perfect present. Walmart. . no. Decided to search Target tonight and see what I could find. No toy busses. Frustrated, bummed and desperate, I decided to try Kid to Kid (second hand toys and clothes for kids). It is so random, and I am totally getting desperate and taking a shot in the dark here. I walk in all by myself, mosey on over to the toy section thinking, 'what the crap am I doing? This is crazy, I will never find the bus here.' Lo and Behold . .. there, sitting on the shelf is a little toy bus!!! I aggressively grabbed it in triumph and looked around as if some small child might come and claim it before me! I was willing and ready to fight off any 1 year old for this bus. It was mine! I looked a little more and ANOTHER BIGGER BUS! Hurray! This is amazing. My faith is renewed in small second hand kid stores. You never know what you are going to find. There is nothing better to me than finding a treasure for a good deal somewhere I would never expect it. SUCCESS!
Soon to come. . . more on the infamous Easter Bus!!!

EaStEr BuNnY

It is a tradition that I take Alaynah to get her picture taken with the Easter bunny. This year we went with our cute friends: Brittany and her little boy Jaxson. Last year, Alaynah was happy as a lark and loved sitting on the big, white, fluffy animals lap. This year she gladly took candy from this friendly fellow's hand (please see previous post about addictions). I went to sit her on his lap and she totally white knuckled my arm, death grip. I am not a fan of forcing kids to do things as they freak out, scream and cry. Poor kids, scarred for life! So, I decided I would be in the picture with the Easter Bunny. Why not? Got the pic, Alaynah is in it, no bad memories and everyone is happy.

Will Work for Bubbles (and water)

The only way I can get dishes and other kitchen work done is to have a 2 1/2 ft tall, brown haired, blue eyed helper. She LOVES to do dishes. This is, of course because bubbles and water are involved. She often drinks the dirty water (sick) and always gets sopping wet and surely has a blast. In my day, I have learned that a little dirt and mess is worth making a memory and letting her have fun. What a good little helper I have. I wouldn't trade her for a real house maid!

hOnK, hOnK, bEeP, bEeP ! !

Saturday, April 4 we babysat cute Jaxson while Brittany was working out. We LOVE it when Jaxson comes over because it gives Alaynah a chance to play with someone and learn to SHARE. Plus, we love and adore this darling little boy and he is so easy to watch. Alaynah did better this time than the last time. She was kind and more willing to share. Jaxson LOVED Alaynah's play car. I put them in together and thought there would be a massive cat fight (with my darling daughter the provoker). They were quite happy in there together, so I had to take a picture. At one point, Alaynah tried to kiss Jaxson and he covered his eyes with both hands! Oh dear! At least Jaxson is modest, not that I can say the same for my wild cat!

Um. . . We Have a Serious Cupcake Addiction ! !

So. . . We make cupcakes a lot. They are easy, and delicious. Alaynah has come quite addicted to this routine and quite enjoys the batter and cupcakes. She got a little "ex ta" wild this time and I just let her have fun. The mess was a nightmare to clean up, but it's worth it, right? She was seriously licking the bowl, the spoon, the beaters and grabbing every cupcake in sight. Oh what a funny girl!

Easter Egg Disaster

Introduction: I have always loved to dye Easter eggs. Ever since I was a little girl, it has been one of my favorite times. My family is in town and my Mom decided it would be fun to dye eggs while they are here. We boiled 2 dozen eggs this morning and put them back into the cartons for tonight. I stripped Alaynah down and I pulled 2 dozen eggs out of the fridge. Justin was busily dying eggs and Alaynah started grabbing them like a crazy women. She threw about 5 into the yellow dye. She was being very wreckless with the eggs, but they're hard boiled, right? Well, come to find out, I grabbed the 2 dozen eggs that were NOT hard boiled. We found this out when Alaynah squeezed one of the eggs and it went everywhere. It was a frenzy from then on out. Eggs were breaking everywhere, I was laughing, my Mom was laughing, pure madness. I had egg yolk between my toes by the end. We cleaned up and started over. We gave Alaynah a hard boiled egg and she put it in the green (poor yellow had to be thrown out due to contamination with egg yolk), stirred aggressively, took it out and licked it. Yum. She then proceeded the squeeze the holy living daylights out of every egg she could see. I don't know if this child has some serious built up frustrations or what. I have never seen a 1 year old squeeze a hard boiled egg like it is nothing. It was disaster and a mess. Tips for 2010 Easter Egg Coloring with Alaynah: 1) Make sure the eggs are actually boiled 2) No one wears any valuable clothing ( everything WILL get dirty ) 3) Color eggs outside where a mess can be made without disaster 4) Realize ahead of time that the eggs will not be pretty 5) The eggs will be crushed and destroyed by Alaynah 6) It will not be the fun, dainty painting of eggs like I enjoyed as a child 7) There maybe rage and aggression taken out on the eggs

bUbBlE bAbE

Alaynah LOVES bubbles. She wants to do dishes, eat soap. . . etc. etc. etc. We put some dish soap into the Jetted Tub and wow was it a blast. My little brother Justin was a great sport and played with her. The bubbles were overflowing. We put bubbles on her head and then she wanted out. As she ran, the bubbles just bounced on her head and bum and didn't even come off. It was hilarious!

My Friend Lon ;-)

I had the chance to see my cute friend, Lauren, a couple of weeks ago. She was in town from Arizona and called me up. Lauren and I grew up together in the famous 'Lovell, WYO' and have known each other since we were crawling. We are actually cousins through the Winterholler line somehow. It was great to see you Lon! Your family is darling (I am truly jealous) and you are beautiful!

Cute Hair

I have mastered the french braids, and they look so cute with Alaynah's crazy hair. They stay in pretty well, and keep it out of her face. Thank Heaven's for Lisa, Jill and some random life size barbie doll I practiced on when I was little!

aLaYnAh BaNaNa

Alaynah is getting so BIG and I can hardly believe it. I see babies about 9 months old and I still think that's how I imagine her in my brain. I was looking at how long her legs (really short legs are still long legs to me) were in church on Sunday and thought, 'what thing is growing out of my small child?' We read books every night before bed and her favorites are the ones with animals. We will open the page and she will either sign or make the noises of the animals she knows. Then I will ask her, "Where is the Lion? Zebra? Fish?" and she can find them all! I am so thankful for her in my life. When she is gone, I just can't get myself together!

aLaYnAh'S lOvEs:

* Jambi the Cat - Our neighbors upstairs have an outside cat named Jambi, and it is Alaynah's best friend. She looks for it every time we go in our out of the house. She hugs and kisses her and waves hello and bye.

*Swinging - We go to the Park every now and again and her favorite is the swings. I will put her in, and start pushing her, and every time she points to the swing next to her and is adamant that I swing also. I think this is so kind, especially at 1 to be concerned about another person (namely me, thank you!)

*Dip-it - Alaynah is an ok eater, but sometimes she needs a little prodding. I will give her ranch (her fav), ketchup or yogurt (got creative with that one) to dip things in so she will eat more. She will sit and say, "dip-it, dip-it, dip-it." It has worked out quite well for us. Today, she enjoyed dipping grapes in ranch, not my plan, but oh well.

*Shows - I have a serious tv bug on my hands. It is scary how insanely happy it makes her to see the tv turn on. She will walk around saying "wows (pronounced wose). She can open the case and even put it in the portable. We really restrict this.

*Max - Her baby sitter's son is Max and he is pretty much like a brother. She thinks anything he does is hilarious. She loves him to death and gets so excited to see him. Sometimes when she is throwing a crying tantrum that nothing will stop, I just start telling a story about Max and she is just fine. She can even recognize his house. We were driving by the other day and I didn't not mention anything and she said, "Max!" as we were driving past his house.

*Hugs - Only when she is the one giving them. I adore this. She will randomly come up to me and wrap her tiny arms tight around my neck and just cuddle. Ah! She melts my heart.

aLaYnAh'S dIsLiKeS

*Sleeping - oh wait, have a mentioned this before? Does this sound familiar? That's because IT IS! She has never slept well in the 1 and a half years I have known her. Note to self: next child (if any) will have to sleep well or will definitely be given a lot of children's NyQuil.

*Sunday School and Relief Society - We can make it through Sacrament, but the rest is chaos. She will be old enough for Nursery (woo hoo!!) at the end of the month, which will make us now 'active' hahaha! I will actually have to socialize in my new ward.

*Dolls - Doesn't play with them or pay any attention. This is not alarming to me, she is obsessed with bears and animals. She also is very thoughtful to babies at church. She appreciates 'live' babies and just not fake ones. Is this so bad?

*Brushing her Teeth - I am a dental hygienist, and I must say that I expected my child to enjoy cleaning teeth just as much as I do. Not the case. We have a knock out, drag out fight with screaming and wailing every night. BUT! The job gets done!

fIsH iN tHe PoOl

When the Winterholler clan was here, we went swimming at the Lehi Legacy Center. It is such a great place to take the fam, there is something for everyone and we had a blast. Justin seriously is part fish and swam his little heart out. Alaynah has to sit and watch what is going on for a good 10 minutes, and then will procede to play when it seems safe (hmmmm who does she get this from?). Caydance is a wild cat and jumps right in and tries to drown. There is a big kiddy slide (seriously for probably 10 year olds). Caydance walked right up and went down all by herself and went down without a thought about it. Luckily Jilly caught her at the bottom. I went down myself with Alaynah and it is fast and we were under water when we came out! We had a blast and thankfully the water is like 90 degrees, I HATE cold water.

Seventeen Month Swearing Sailor

Ok. Funny story. For a little background first, Alaynah is not around swearing much. I admit, I tend to slip every once in a while when it is needed (there are times when a little 4 letter word is permitted :) For the record, Alaynah is not around vulgar language. When my family came to visit this weekend, Alaynah's slide was a hit with her and Caydance. Alaynah is always going down the slide, and I usually say: Ready! Set! Go! My Dad and Michael were hanging out just watching, and they called me into the living room, kind of laughing but confused. We watched Alaynah for a minute. She would climb the stairs of her slide and say a@# (rhymes with 'grass' ahhahah). All the way up the stairs she says this and then goes down. It is so strange! It doesn't make any sense as to why she would say this, but it is clear as day! We laughed and laughed. I have not made a big deal out of it with her, because she is 1 and has no idea what she is saying. What a girl!

bRoOkLyN's WeDdInG

Friday March 6th, my cousing Brooklyn got married in the Salt Lake Temple. It was wonderful to share her special day and see friends and family. My family came from Idaho and stayed with me, and it was a blast! Grandma Darlene bought Alaynah and Caydance matching Easter outfits that they wore. They were so darling in polka dots! Alaynah's favorite part was running free around the temple and eating snow off the ground. It was a great day and we are so happy for Brooklyn and Josh. Congrats!

Saturday with Grandma

Saturday February 21, we took a drive with Grandma Darlene to the Draper Temple. She was kind enough to get us tickets to the open house, but we didn't make it because I had to work. We drove around and took some pictures in front of the temple. It is really pretty and is build from big grey blocks. We then went shopping, Alaynah hated it and made a big fuss. We had a great dinner Sunday and were very sad to see her go. We love you!