gracie - 18 months.

it has been a long time since i've done an update on gracie. although it does seem like most of my posts are centered on her anyway, but whatever.

at her check up, she weighed in at a whopping 19.4lbs (that's 1%!!). granted, she had been sick for about 3 weeks prior and i'm pretty sure she lost a pound or two from that, so really, we can give her a little more credit than that ;) she's just little and petite and i love it.

she has huge brown eyes that many people comment on. they are one of my favorite things about her. and as much as i loved her gummy smile, she has the cutest little teeth haha. can teeth be cute? anyway she's got 4 on top, 4 on bottom, and two molars on top and two molars on bottom. good times, them molars.

she talks CONSTANTLY. her pediatrician asked if she's saying 5 words or something, and i laughed and said um yes. and then by the end of the appt, he said "she talks like a 2 year old!". i just smiled. obviously she's my first kid and i don't know exactly how much other 18 month olds talk, but i know she talks a lot and all the time and it is so funny. she will say pretty much anything. she puts at least a couple of words together in phrases, and amazes us with how smart she is and how quickly she picks stuff up.

lately her favorite things to say are stop! or don't! whenever we're doing something she doesn't approve of. and jae just looks at her and says "i'm the dad! you stop!" it's pretty funny. most of the time.

i would have to say, my favorite thing that she says right now is 'lub you'. there's nothing quite like telling your baby you love her and her being able to say it back to you. magical.

she is proving to have eating habits more like her mother - she loves her carbs and fruits and refuses veggies most any time they're offered. oops. her current faves: waffles, eggs, yogurt (which she can totally eat all by herself with a spoon, it's awesome!), grapes, strawberries, mac n cheese, nuggets, pb&j, and most anything chocolate. and yes, she can say the word chocolate too, so we know exactly what she's talking about ;)

one of our favorite things to do in the mornings is get our waffles and eggs and sit up close to the dining room window, with it open, and listen to all the birds talking and chirping and watch them fly around from tree to tree. i tell her they're saying 'good morning gracie!' and she just chuckles.

her and zoey continue to have a love/hate relationship. gracie is finally big enough she can rough house more evenly with zo, and they'll play tug-o-war with toys and things, but zo definitely still just flat out knocks her over sometimes or gracie will just try to lay on her and zo gets so mad. i love them together.

she now sits in a 'big girl' seat in the car and gets to face forward. it's a win for everyone all around. we love it. even if the new car seat takes up just about my entire back seat. geez those things are ginormous.

surprise birthday bash.

(yes, i started this post in february, and yes i'm just barely finishing it and yes i'm still going to post it anyway).

well it happened again.
we had another year go by and another birthday to celebrate!
jae's on the 21st, mine on the 22nd.
but this year, jae turned the big 30!!!

he was less than thrilled about that number. but i have a feeling it'll be a good year for him :)
i decided it was a good year to do something a little extra special for him. i've never tried to surprise him for his birthday before, so i wanted to try it! i was so nervous it wouldn't work out - either he'd find out or no one would show up or something. but it actually turned out pretty perfect and i think he really enjoyed his night, which made me super happy too :)

basically, i had one of his besties help me out by spreading the surprise info to all the other friends. i told him specifically who i definitely wanted invited, and then told him to just invite anyone else who i'd forgotten or who he thought jae might enjoy seeing. we did this about a month in advance and then another reminder the week of. i was just so worried people would forget or not show!

after throwing around a few different ideas, we ended up just meeting everyone at the Garage in SLC. yes, it's a bar and we don't drink, but we've heard rave reviews on their food, so it's somewhere we've had on our list to try for a long time. plus it was a good central location for everyone that was coming so it worked out perfect.

all i told him was that we were going out on a special date. his mom came to babysit and we headed to SLC. he tried guessing a few different places of where we might go to dinner, but he failed. just as we were about to pull up to the Garage, he guessed it and i told him yes. he was surprised, but excited.

we walked in and i kind of pulled jae behind me to the back patio (neither of us had ever been so he was kind of confused where i was going, but i just acted like i was checking out the place). we got out back and i pushed him ahead of me to the patio area and everyone was there and said surprise! haha nothing was really actually planned for that part but it turned out great and he was super surprised! yay!! there ended up being around 20 people come and i was so happy. since being  married and then having a baby, jae doesn't get to see or hang out with his guy friends a whole lot, so i really wanted to make this something fun that was all about him and something he would really enjoy doing. it was so fun for me to just kind of hang back and watch him just hang out and talk and catch up with everyone. it was super laid back and casual, which was exactly what i was going for.

and yes, after all that planning and scheming and work behind the scenes, i only took one picture the whole night. i guess that just means it was too fun to worry about pulling out the camera :)

happy 30th my love! you're amazing and handsome as ever and i love you most.

PS...i have to add these in at the bottom since they are birthday-ish related.

these were taken at our Horrocks birthday lunch. gracie with her cousin jack (who's only 9 months older than her but a giant next to her!) and her super fun uncle jaron. aren't they cute? (i realize the picture quality is pretty terrible, dangit)

for our birthdays this year, we went on an IKEA trip and bought ourselves a couple of new dressers as well as a shelf and drawers/storage for gracie's accumulating toys, books, puzzles, etc. happy birthday to us! gracie was getting sick of IKEA (it can be a rough, long trip even for an adult) so this was the only way to help her stay pleasant for the rest of the trip.

my co-workers really went all out :)

and my cute message waiting for me on the bathroom mirror. love mirror messages.

easter 2015.

this year was a little more exciting than last year, mostly because gracie is older and starting to enjoy the holidays and fun things that go with them more. obviously she still doesn't really "get" it, but it's fun to start doing more things with her anyway.

we had a couple egg hunts this year - a smaller neighborhood one with some of her little friends, and the big farmington city one (jae has to work it, so we tag along) with hundreds of people. she's not the biggest fan of tons of people and gets super sidetracked and a little anxious and unsure sometimes, but it was fun to get out and help her find some eggs!

i only took pictures at the neighborhood hunt, none at the city one.

and then for the actual Easter day, we spent the afternoon having a picnic at the park. the weather was beautiful and we had to take advantage. even zo pup got to come!

i had to work in the evening, so i missed out on dinner, but jae and gracie got to spend the evening with my family. it was a lovely day spent together, listening to the leaders of our church give wonderful messages & remind us of the important things in life. i kind of loved having easter and conference end up on the same weekend. less eggs, more Christ :)

and of course, the little lady in her new Easter outfit!
(i totally forgot to get a picture of her in her dress before i went to work, so my dad was nice enough to snap a few)

(hello, teething!)

life lately.

a few quick catch-ups from the last month or so.......

ME...i started a new job. it was supposed to be replacing my other two but instead i decided to stay on PRN/on-call for my staffing job at primary's just for the extra hours and ability to pick up and make some extra money if i need or want it. i just can't seem to stick to only one job. seriously, what is wrong with me. i'll have to post about the new job.

JAE...he already has a tan from all the sunshine and warm weather we've been having. i think he's got the right idea - working outside every day.

GRACIE JANE....is growing like a weed!! (well, as in she's getting so grown up. physically, she's still pretty tiny). she is so dang smart and says pretty much anything and everything. she's got 8 teeth and is working on molars now (not any fun for anyone). now that it's warmed up, she has LOVED being outside and gets really mad when we try to bring her back inside. i think this summer will be full of outdoor adventures!

lately gracie has been getting sick of riding in the usual spot in the cart, but she also didn't want me to hold her and i didn't want her to run around. so i stuck her in the back of the cart at target one day

and she was loving life! 

helping mom make banana bread.

(read: "mom another picture?")

one day, jae came home from work and declared he was going to make a fire in our backyard. mind you, we do not have a 'fire pit'. well, now we do. literally, on the grass in the middle of our backyard. 

and we love it!

afternoon family walk.

the two littles lounging (being bored) while i got ready for work.

enjoying the nice weather with grandma karen! i love that she sends me these 

random little gems throughout the day :)

gracie and i went on a little hike with our gf's emily and zoe. the view was awesome.

just a silly little cheesy gracie girl. got some new clothes & sandals for this girl, we can't wait for summer!

went on a little sunday afternoon hike. it was really windy ;)

this is very exciting for everyone - gracie girl got a new carseat!! 

she is loving it and so is mom. 

baby animal farm day

gracie's cousins have been on spring break this week, so as one last fun day before they go back next week, we all headed up to logan for baby animal days. tons of baby animals to see and pet and hold! what's cuter than baby animals?! even though i worked late the night before, i knew gracie would have so much fun seeing the animals and playing with her cousins, so we went. i'm so glad we did!

she was a little hesitant and a little anxious about the crowds and crowds of people, but i think she had fun and i know she loved petting the animals!

the horses were definitely her favorite (not even the baby ones, the big huge horses she couldn't get enough of! she wasn't scared at all and they were RIGHT up next to us.) there were also baby chicks, ducks, cows, goats, bears, pigs. oh and a choo choo train to ride. so fun.

(did i mention it was coooold? thank goodness for that sun because otherwise, that wind and chilly cache valley temps were enough to send me back to the car. brrr)

 i don't have all the pictures, since some were taken on my moms camera, but here are a few phone pics.