January

I love this picture...it always makes me laugh. I was taking pictures of her through the sliding glass door and captured this beauty.

Kenleys favorites:
straws and a package of tissues
Napping great
loves all food
loves water
brushing her teeth
Her favorite toys are hersheys toys-gross
likes to pretend to drink out of every cup and will fake chew


hates having her face & hands wiped after eating
Hate the car wash, she cried the whole time.

She learned to say UH-Oh and likes to drop her binki/ toys over and over and have us pick them up going Uh-Oh Uhh-Ohhh
She learned to go down the stairs so now she goes up and down the stairs all day. Sometimes when she tries to go down, if she isn't lined up right, she will scoot backwards on her belly all around the floor until she finds the stairs. She kicks her legs when she is excited and will crawl fast and snort when shes hyper.

This month we have been doing a lot of swimming, its so nice to have an activity to do so close by and Kenley can easily last an hour or two at the pool crawling around and practicing her swimming. I helped her go down one of the little slides and she wasn't too sure about it at first but now she doesn't mind. I was able to get a few pictures one of the times we went but then was informed photography is not allowed. Bummer.

We started using our zoo pass and met Kelly between classes one morning. We practically had the zoo to ourselves.

The weather had been so nice we went to the park after church. 9am church is rough, its right during Kenley's longest nap of the day. 

January has been a pretty slow and relaxed month, but  has been full of hard days and challenges. Kenley got sick for a week which was hard on us all and Kelly started another semester and is working with Highland high school. 

FOR MY DAUGHTER

I saw this poem a while ago and loved it. I especially like the quote the poem is based off of.

“Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be.” – Clementine Paddleford  

FOR MY DAUGHTER

By Sarah McMane

“Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be.” – Clementine Paddleford  

Never play the princess when you can
be the queen:
rule the kingdom, swing a scepter,
wear a crown of gold.
Don’t dance in glass slippers,
crystal carving up your toes --
be a barefoot Amazon instead,
for those shoes will surely shatter on your feet.

Never wear only pink
when you can strut in crimson red,
sweat in heather grey, and
shimmer in sky blue,
claim the golden sun upon your hair.
Colors are for everyone,
boys and girls, men and women --
be a verdant garden, the landscape of Versailles,
not a pale primrose blindly pushed aside.

Chase green dragons and one-eyed zombies,
fierce and fiery toothy monsters,
not merely lazy butterflies,
sweet and slow on summer days.
For you can tame the most brutish beasts
with your wily wits and charm,
and lizard scales feel just as smooth
as gossamer insect wings.

Tramp muddy through the house in
a purple tutu and cowboy boots.
Have a tea party in your overalls.
Build a fort of birch branches,
a zoo of Legos, a rocketship of
Queen Anne chairs and coverlets,
first stop on the moon.

Dream of dinosaurs and baby dolls,
bold brontosaurus and bookish Belle,
not Barbie on the runway or
Disney damsels in distress --
you are much too strong to play
the simpering waif.

Don a baseball cap, dance with Daddy,
paint your toenails, climb a cottonwood.
Learn to speak with both your mind and heart.
For the ground beneath will hold you, dear --
know that you are free.
And never grow a wishbone, daughter,
where your backbone ought to be.

December, 8 months and a new year

This year has gone by way too fast, Kenley is growing and learning so much. 

Kenley has two teeth and loves to use them. She is most interested in feeding herself and doing it all on her own. If we try and feed her pureed foods she want to use the spoon herself equaling in a giant mess. She loves using straws to drink and is not into sippy cups at all, which is ok by me.

She knows who mom, dad and Hersh are and will look for us. She barks(grunts) at hersh and says "sthhh"which I think is her saying hersh. She gets so excited to see Kelly and squeals when he scares her. When shes sad or overly tired she only always wants me to hold her and reaches for me. She gives kisses on the cheek, I  give her a kiss on the cheek and say mwah and then she will go it back. Its so cute. Shes loves the stairs and standing up on everything, she can stand unassisted for a few seconds...why is she growing so fast..it makes me sad.

 She hates diaper changes and getting dressed. She likes to talk/scream at kids and reaches her arm out to everyone to "give high fives".

This month Kelly went to Vegas for 5 days with the University of Utah football team for their bowl game against Colorado.He really enjoys his Athletic training program and working with the athletes, we're proud of him and all his hard work. 

Christmas was great, and so much more fun with a baby. Kenley wasn't very into it but we sure loved having her and starting some of our own family traditions. Kenleys favorite toy was probably a mini piano, she loves to play us songs, Our families were great and spoiled her, and now she has so many toys and  not enough places for them. Our parents gave us some really great activities as gift that will be  fun for the whole year (zoo membership, Rec center pass and a cruise in May!) 

We ended our year at a Gatsby party with our friends the Nordfelts and had a blast with dinner and games all night. Kenley is a party animal and didn't want to sleep with so much fun going on. 2014  was a great year, we are excited for 2015 and all the adventures it will bring.

Happy New Year!