A visit from my Aunt Michele!

My Aunt Michele from L.A. came to visit us and to go skiing, of course. Her hubby, Uncle Burt, had too much work to do to tag along, but of course we wish he had. It would have been hilarious to see him ski!!
She came in last Friday and we went tubing in Soldier Hollow. We skied on Saturday at Sundance and we dropped her off in Park City to ski on Sunday while we visited Jared's Grandmother, all to find out the ski slopes closed because of lightning. :( On Monday, Aunt Michele treated me to a manicure and pedicure, lunch, and a facial and massage. It was a heaven on earth day! We actually had lunch with my friend Janine! Monday night we ate my delicious crock-pot burritos and called it a night. Tuesday, my auntie went skiing in Sundance again since she didn't get to ski in Park City and then we ate dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen. Kailee ate a whole slice of pizza! Then she went back home on Wednesday. She actually took a cab because Kailee was so sick; I didn't want to go through her crying the whole way there and back. She was just miserable. I took her to the doctor that morning and she had a virus, a sore throat, and an ear infection. It was a good thing my aunt got a cab because after Kailee woke up from a 3 1/2 hour nap (which is very unusual) and ate lunch, she threw up everywhere; that would have been horrible if I had to deal with that in the car. Poor girl. I'm actually sick now with a virus as well. No fun. :( I hope my aunt doesn't get sick from hanging around us.
Isn't my aunt beautiful!
This was the fireplace in the lobby of the hotel my aunt stayed in. As you can tell, Kailee adored her great aunt!
Thankyou to all of the babysitters that made my aunt's visit so wonderful. Jenny Jones watched her while we went tubing, Jared's family watched Kailee when we went skiing, Janine Adamson watched her during our manicure/pedicure, and Holly Rader watched her during our facial/massage. Thanks a billion!!

Skiing with Aunt Michele!

My Aunt loves to ski and snowboard, so she came to Utah mostly to see us, :) but to ski as well!
Jared and I are definitely beginners. My aunt bought us lessons so we wouldn't kill ourself, which would've been very likely since there are like cliffs with no rails everywhere. My aunt actually wet her pants from laughing so hard at Jared; he had some pretty spectacular falls!
My aunt skis all the advanced slopes, but was nice enough to join us on the easy slopes for a little while!
We topped off our ski day with a nice cup of hot chocolate! It was delicious! Jared and I are so mad we had not yet skied in Utah (though we've been here 5 years), especially now that we're about to move. :( We're glad we got to experience the fun with our Aunt before we move to Texas!
This is my aunt in front of Bridal Veil Falls! The waterfalls were frozen; it was gorgeous!

Cancer-causing chemicals found in Baby Wash

My friend, Kate, mentioned on her blog that she heard on the news that baby bath wash can be harmful to our little babies. So, it looks like Johnson and Johnson, Huggies (the brand I use), etc. baby wash, all contain harmful chemicals. Because these cancer-causing chemicals are a contaminant produced during manufacturing, the FDA does not require them to be listed as an ingredient on product labels. You can read more by following this link: http://www.breastcancerfund.org/site/pp.asp?c=kwKXLdPaE&b=2483603 So, what now? Kate found a baby wash at Target called California Baby that is non-toxic, etc. So, I'll be headed to Target this weekend! Because who knows how much bath water babies swallow a year!

President's Day Weekend!

Since coming to BYU, it has been a tradition of mine to visit my aunt, uncle, and 4 cousins who live outside of Boise, Idaho every President's Day 3 day weekend. I broke tradition last year due to Kailee's birth, but made up for it by going the Thanksgiving before and in August of this year. This is my Aunt Vicky in the picture. Yes... another person in the world very much like me. Why do I say that? Well, she's so fun and cool!! lol We decided to workout together Monday morning before we left and my Aunt Vicky came out of her bedroom not in the expected leotard, but like this... lol. The funniest part was her hair. If you look at the picture below she looks like a 10 year old in an older body. She is so funny. As you probably can guess, we spent most of the weekend giggling. All we seem to do is laugh together. She has a great family. The oldest, Kelly Anne, (5'4"...maybe) is 21, goes to BYU-I and got engaged on Valentine's Day... Yay! I'm so excited; looking at wedding dresses with her made me want to get married again (still to Jared, of course). Ben is 19, 6'4, goes to BYU-I, is about to turn in his mission papers, can't get the ladies to stop chasing him, and is great at the piano and singing and maybe guitar, Jason is 17, 6'5, with a girlfriend (whom he kisses... yuck), and is very musical as well, including the guitar (I think), and McKinsey (14) is 5'9", is her mother's clone...GOOFY... lol, she loves volleyball, basketball, singing, socializing, and not giving all the guys chasing her the time of day!
Here is my sweet southern Belle, Aunt Vicky, who can't believe her kids are growing up so fast! Uncle Ken sure was lucky to snatch her away many years ago!!
Here we are trying to dance some calories away!
Aunt Vicky tries to look tough when doing her punches, lol.
Here we are kissing our muscles, except Aunt Vicky turned to me and said "how do you kiss your muscle?" Apparently she's not as experienced as I am. I grew up with one of my brothers always flashing his muscle in my face and kissing it, so occassionally after I workout, I'll do it to Jared, which is pretty funny considering my muscle is hardly visible. This visit, I failed to get pics of the rest of the family... sorry!

LOVE is in the air!

Here is Kailee and Drew (I think... I always get the boys confused) playing happily together!
It seems that Kailee is most often playing with boys these days... I hope that changes before she hits 16, lol. These are my friend, Emily Kate's boys! Drew and J.T. They are so cute. Kailee seems to get along with J.T. better because he's so chill and mellow like she is. But who knows, her preferences in guys changes all the time!
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! It is our tradition to go to the Olive Garden (or another Italian restaurant like Macaroni Grill or Ottavios) on Valentine's Day... Last year we went to Ottavios while my Mom babysat Kailee (Kailee was only 5 days old!! Time sure does fly) It was fun to have Kailee join us this year. She loved chowing down on breadsticks and some of Mom's chicken con brocolli pasta dish! Though we asked for a high chair, once we sat down they said a high chair in the lane is a fire hazard so we'd either have to try a booster seat, hold her, or wait for a table.... it's Valentine's Day... we had already waited 45 minutes even though we went at 4:15... so we decided to try a booster seat. We turned the seat towards Dad so she didn't slip and fall under the table. As soon as Jared sat her in it, she climbed out into his lap, lol. So Dad held her most of the time while Mom cut up everyone's food!
This is me with my new hair cut! Thanks to Julie Beck's recommendations ( I went to her hair lady!)
Mommy doesn't have a red shirt (except for her Christmas sweater which she already packed away), but though I don't look very festive in this picture, I do have a pink lace undershirt on that you would be able to see had we gotten a full body pic. So, you'll have to imagine! Daddy and Kailee are matching though! We saw this young single couple while we were there and the guy was wearing a pink shirt with a red jacket over it and the girl was wearing a red shirt with a pink jacket... it was quite a site. I won't tell you what Jared said, lol. I wont' make fun too much though, I could see Kailee and I doing that in the future, lol.

Kailee turns One!

Kailee turned 1 Saturday, Feb. 9th! Time sure does fly! We can hardly beliefe a year has passed. She is such a delight in our lives. She brightens every day! In honor of her, I thought I'd write a few of the many things we love about our Kailee-pie!

1. She is always happy unless it's nap time and she is always smiling!

2. She loves to stand up and crawl around in the tub. She is so cute in the bath. Bath time is her favorite time of day!

3. She loves to play hide and seek with Mom and Dad. We'll crawl around through the house and hide in one of the rooms and she'll follow and come find us and when she finds us, she laughs really hard!

4. Kailee has this hilarious laugh that she does all the time. We call it her courtesy laugh! Friends and family love it too!

5. Kailee loves to explore and get into everything. Everyday at least twice, she loves to take these plastic bowls off of a bottom shelf and play with them. They always seem to entertain her! She loves to take things out of the drawers in the kitchen, and she loves to take anything off the table that she can reach.

6. Kailee is fascinated with a laundry basket. Whenever I fold laundry, she helps. I'll give her a basket to have fun with while I fold the rest. She has so much fun taking clothes out of the basket and putting them back in. It's fun to watch!
7. Kailee loves to say "yeah". She says "yeah, yeah, yeah" loudly all the time.
8. Kailee loves to play peek-a-boo. She covers her face when we say "where's Kailee"! Then we say "there she is" or "boo"!
9. Kailee loves it when we go get her up in the morning or from a nap. She just laughs and smiles and is so thrilled that it's play time!
10. Kailee can take a few running steps and then falls into our arms. It's fun watching her learn to walk!
We are so grateful to be parents and we couldn't have asked for a more wonderful child. Kailee is the cutest, funest, and sweetest little girl! (in our eyes, I'm sure some of our friends would argue that their daughter is, lol)

I added like 5 posts, so look at all of them!

This has nothing to do with her birthday, but it's a cool gymnastics move Kailee likes to do. She's a smart girl, always looking behind her!
I cut a 1 out of a cake and did a pretty good job if I do say so myself.
My friend Becky had told me she's taking a cake decorating class, so I asked her if she wanted to help me make Kailee's cake and WALA... she did! I wanted to use whip cream for her cake because Kailee has never had sugar before and Becky had Merengue powder that thickened it up so that we could decorate a cake without the whip cream drooping off the sides. Becky is brilliant! She has a really cool cake decorating kit with like everything you might need in it that she got at a cake store that was closing. So, if you want to get started on a cake decorating hobby (like me)... look around for stores that are having closing sales!!
Here's a side shot of the beauty that we made!
Here's Becky again... I thought about leaving her out and let you marvel at MY skills, but I decided to give Becky some credit because without her, our cake would've been very plain and it would've looked like melted ice cream. I love you Becky!

Here is her finished cake!

I made cupcakes for her friends too!

Here is Kailee in her birthday cupcake pajamas with Janine and her little boy Jonas!

This is Erin Lundgreen with her daughter Emery, another of Kailee's friends!

Here is Jonas again. I'm so mad I didn't take more pictures when others arrived. Julie and Will Beck also came with Reagan who was also in her pajamas for the pajama party! My friend Jenn and her husband Royal brought their daughter Andelyn too. Of course we invited the Allen's and Alissa John too. Kailee definitely wanted to invite them since they watch her so much while I do my 10 minute errands like laundry or picking up Jared from school! We had her party on video, but I don't know how to upload it yet. Sorry. Our new video camera that my Dad got us for Christmas is complicated! So when we figure it out, we'll post more videos! All in all, Kailee's 1st birthday was a blast. She was a little scared of her cake, but did stick her hands in it. Will Beck and Jared stuck their face in her cake to show her how it's done, but she still did not follow. That's okay, if my baby prefers vegetables, that's great!!

Kailee & Leighton

Kailee loves having a play mate!
Here they are both excited because they think they are going to get the camera from me!
Kailee burnt her hand on the glass wall around a fireplace and this is her all bandaged up. It happened 2 weeks ago and we are relieved that she is all better now!
This is how they bandaged her the next day when we went to the doctor. She was still able to crawl around, it didn't really bother her at all.
Here's one more pic. of her playing with Leighton. Leighton is so cute!

SNOW ANGEL!

We realized we hadn't yet taken a picture of Kailee in the snow, so I decided we better since she won't have any snowy winters like this in Texas! YEAH!

Here is Jared and I decked out in our snow gear ready for sledding! We went to rock canyon park by ourselves for a date night and had a blast! It was so fun! It was a great workout too having to walk back up the hill every time we went down.
One of Kailee's hobbies is looking out the window; she especially loves it if there are people walking by to look at! If I take the cushion off the couch, she can crawl up there all by herself!

Kailee!

Kailee loves bath time and Mommy especially loves it because she gets to see Kailee's cute little bum! lol. I always take Kailee's diaper off right in front of the tub as I'm getting the water ready. One day right after I did this, Kailee squatted down and peed on the floor. I ran for the camera. I thought it was hilarious!
I think it's so sweet when Kailee cuddles me. I had Jared take a picture because it doesn't happen often. Normally she'll lay her head down, say "sike" and then want to get up and play. She snuggled me this day for like 5 whole minutes, it was great!
Kailee still never ceases to be amazed by keys.
Here's her tongue roll up!
Kailee discovered that she can stick her finger up her nose the past couple weeks. She'll just stick it up there and hold it there for like a minute and then move on! Mommy is still the picker though!

I've been husband tagged!

What is his name? Jared Bernard Critchfield II
How long have you been together? Almost 3 ½ years
How long did you date? 9 months
How old his he? 26
Who eats more? Depends, if I’m pregnant or nursing, we eat about the same. Otherwise, he eats more. If it’s sweets, he definitely eats more, lol.
Who said I love you first? He did and of course I got all giddy inside and said it back.
Who is taller? He is, by 3 inches. So basically, I can’t wear high heels unless I want to feel taller than him.
Who can sing better? Oh, definitely me…NOT! If you know Jared, you know he’s got one heck of an amazing voice! He serenades Kailee and I all the time.
Who is smarter? Well, according to ACT scores, he beat me by 1 point! He is for sure smarter. He could write an English essay at BYU without even reading the book and get an A on it… made me sick. But when it comes to cooking, aerobics, taking care of Kailee (lol), doing dishes, playing most games, and probably science, and maybe math… I’d say I’m the smarter one!
Who does the laundry? We both do. Sometimes I do it by myself and sometimes he’ll haul it all to the laundry mat and start it for me, I switch it, he brings it back, and I fold it. And sometimes we fold it together! And 2 weeks ago, he surprised me and folded all 5 loads while I napped; what a doll!
Who pays the bills? We both do. He always pays rent and I pay utilities. We both pay other bills like cell phone.
Who sleeps in the right side? Depends on the night. Jared sleeps wherever I tell him to sleep. My body is weird and tells me every night which way I need to lay in order to get to sleep. I like to sleep on my side turned away from him because I can’t stand hot air blowing in my face. I like to be spooned and boy is Jared a great spooner, lol. TMI. So, if my body tells me to sleep facing left, then he sleeps on the right side and if I need to face right, he sleeps on the left side. Jared could fall asleep on a log; he could sleep anywhere. He often likes me to sleep on the right side by the wall because he thinks it’s funny that I have to crawl over him if Kailee wakes up.
Who mows the lawn? Wymount Custodial! But when we get a yard, we’ll probably fight about it. I think mowing lawn is a great time to ponder and get a tan, especially if we ever get a riding lawn mower!
Who cooks dinner? I do. I think Jared knows how to make ramen noodles, scrambled eggs, and maybe mac and cheese if I help him. He has made me dinner twice in our marriage and it was delicious. Truthfully, Jared hates to cook so I don’t make him. I love cooking anyways.
Who drives? We both do. If it’s snowing, I like Jared to drive and he actually prefers to drive because he says I drive slower than the people jogging outside. You can never be too cautious, right?
Who is more stubborn? That’s a tough one. We can both be stubborn.
Who kissed who first? Jared kissed me… after a nice evening of watching “Elf.”
Who asked who out first? He asked me. We went to Mimi’s Café on our first date!
Who proposed? He did and it was so exciting I almost hyperventilated.
Who has more friends? Dunno. We both love making new friends and hanging out with old friends. I probably hang out with friends more just because I have more time. He has tons of friends in his major at school, in his old choir, from playing intramurals, and he keeps in touch with old friends farely well. He still keeps in touch with his 4 best friends from high school and his 2 best friends from his mission. Jared is a great people person and enjoys throwing back a cold one (root beer) with his buddies over a nice football game or game of ping pong.
Who is more sensitive? Tough one. If it’s that time of month, probably me. Any other time, probably him, lol. JK We are probably equally sensitive.
Who has more siblings? He does. I have 3 brothers and 1 step brother. He has 5 siblings.
Who wears the pants? We both like to think we do, but truth is we both do.
Bonus: What’s his favorite thing to do? Snuggle me!!! And play with Kailee; she cracks us up!

Here is my handsome hunk as a cute little boy!

Okay, I tag Ashley W., Julie B., Becky O., Emily-Kate, Lindsey S., Sara S., & Jenn S.