The Rest of December

 Makenna has had lots of fun playing with the new toys she got for Christmas. This is a tractor/farm set.

 We also went to the phoenix Zoo with my family. This was Makenna's first time.

 She liked looking at all the animals. Checking out the elephants here.

 She especially liked the petting zoo area, probably because she could be so close.

 Enjoying a ride in her new cozy coupe.

Taking a whack at the pinata at the Shumway's house. She laughed pretty hard as she watched the boys hit it.

Christmas 2012

 The Shumway Family Dinner and Nativity came first. Makenna was a halo-less angel with her "Non angel" mother holding her. 

 We took Makenna to see the Temple lights this year and she really seemed to enjoy all the lights!

This was from the butler extended family dinner. Makenna met up with some of her 2nd cousins. This is Joe Jr., who followed her around most of the night trying to kiss her. 

Christmas Eve with my family. Spencer and his family came and spent Christmas with us this year!

Christmas morning excitement! Makenna didn't really know what was going on, but all of her cousins were so excited she couldn't help but join in.

AH YES! WAR BOOKS!

My much anticipated brown sugar saver. :)

 She would carefully rip little pieces of paper off of her present then hand them to her uncle Jordan.

Opening a pretty bracelet 

 In the afternoon we had a Wii Just Dance tournament with a bracket and everything. Hailey is MCing with her new karaoke machine. 

 Pretty much every one got involved, Here is Scott vs Grandpa

This is me actually losing to Jordan! I was shocked! But jordan let me continue in his place in the bracket and I went on to win the whole thing :)

Are you Impressed?

                                      
Brad had his 28th birthday a few weeks ago. I really believe birthdays can kinda last as long as you want them to... so this is for his birthday :)
Since the leading baby Makenna came along and Brad has been in Med school, Brad hasn't made as many appearances on the blog, so this is for him. I hope this doesn't embarrass him. I wanted to write all this stuff down for my own journal anyway.. so I thought I would share.

 "Are you impressed?"

Brad is always trying to impress me in some way or another. It is quite often that I will get asked, "Are you impressed?" after he does something that he thinks is good.
As I look back on one of the first time he tried to impress me, it was before we were dating. We were at a friend's pool and he kept doing all these crazy dives. Some of the dives were; superman, peter pan, and the fish. I had two thoughts. First...... Show off. Second........ impressive. Both were true. And he has been trying and succeeding to impress me ever since.
Brad has many talents and gifts. One of the things that impresses me the most  is he is a hard working person. When he does a job, he doesn't cut corners. He is thorough and makes sure he does it right.
There are also many hidden talents that Brad has that may go unnoticed. I would like to list several things, that may seem funny that really do impress me about my man:
1. Making Crust and Rolls- refer to this post
2. Spacial skills- Brad is good at fitting things together and into spaces. I first discovered this playing Blokus Trigon with him.  I am still amazed at how he fit so many things into our closet under the stairs. so full and compact, yet very organized. I think he has himself a job the next time we have to move. Those would be the most efficiently packed boxes you've ever seen.
3. Hiding- When we play hide and seek with my nieces, it is incredible the spots he comes up with and manages to fit his 5'11" body into.
4. Music- So Makenna has one of those 4 note piano toys. Brad will can pick out a wide variety of tunes on that thing. I can come up with maybe 1 tune.
5. The old man- I'm always impressed with Brad's old man impersonation. The humped back, the feeble cautious walk, the crotchety raspy voice. Its pretty good.
6. His athetics-weather its scaling the wall at an old school house, doing pull ups with a 50lb pack on, winning the 100 yard dash, doing a flip off the swing in the backyard, juggling(athletic?),or standing with one foot on the seat and one foot in the air on a bike.... It's all good.
The list could go on and on. So even though I may roll my eyes when Brad is showing off, deep down I'm impressed.

Park Fun

We have made quite a few visits to the park (well several different ones) in the last month or so. Makenna is really starting to discover how much fun they can be now that she can explore, climb all around and go down some of the slides.

Learning the art of feeding the ducks at Anthem Park

Recently Brad was able to come with us to Deer Valley Park ( Near our house)

So Fun!

She is such a happy girl :)

Thanksgiving 2012

We had dinner at the Butlers on wed evening before thanksgiving. Makenna really likes this little pony that she can bounce on.

Thanksgiving morning I ran the Mesa Turkey Trot (10K) with Jordan. Here is the Shumway family preparing for the 2nd annual turkey trot.

 Brad was still recovering from knee surgery so he borrowed his niece's (Sam) bike to keep an eye on the course.

Crossing the finish line!

So excited about her medal. She still proudly wears it around the house sometimes.

High Five!

Makenna enjoyed a ride too.

The weather was perfect outside and made for a very enjoyable thanksgiving lunch.

 Makenna loves all her cousins. Samantha is especially nice to play with her so much.

Walk the Walk

Now that Makenna is like a pro at walking I figured I better document it. She has been able to stand and take a few steps for a while, but just in the last week and a half or so she has really been working on her walking skills. I loved how when she was first learning she would stand by the couch, then take a few steps and fall, then she would crawl over to the same spot and try again. She was "practicing".

Happy Halloween!

It sure seems like we did a lot of Halloween partying this year. Makenna had a lot of fun watching everyone dress up and playing the games at the events.

The Hula Girl

At Carolyn's Halloween party

The Frankenstein Cake for the Cake Walk

Our Ward Trunk or Treat

Having fun with Daddy

Baby Kenna is 1

Makenna's birthday was October 13th and a few day's before we had lots of people come and help us celebrate.

 Makenna had lots of cousins near by to help her open some presents. She has really been enjoying having lots of books to read and some new toys to play with.

 She really wasn't too interested in the cake. I was disappointed, I was hoping for a good show. Especially when just a couple weekends before we were at a friends birthday and I had to restrain her from getting into our little friends cake.

 She decided she liked the ice cream better. Her aunt Erin helped her get what she really wanted.

Here are a few things about Makenna at one year old:

Makenna is trying to walk and can take a few steps. She can say a few words like, Mama, Dada, Ba (Bath), Ball, Mo (More). She also says No No Do (Don't), but I don't always think she means it.  She babbles a lot which, often consists of  many grunts and oohs. She loves books and likes to be read to. Whenever Makenna is playing, she always seems like she is working hard, like she is getting a job done. She likes to push boxes around and plow through things. She still sucks her thumb when she is tired. When she hears music she likes "dance" by waving her arm with the occasional bouncing of the legs or kicking her feet.  We are so grateful for our little sweetie and are so glad she is ours. Happy Birthday Makenna!