Linder Farms & Kaity at the Funeral

We went to Utah last week because my grandfather was very ill and was going to pass away.  He did on Oct 11, 2012 and although I will miss him so much, I am so glad he is finally whole.  Because he served in the Air Force, they lined the street leading to the church with American flags.  Kaity loved playing in the leaves and seeing cousins.  More on Grandpa later, here are the photos of Kaity playing outside at the church.

This past Saturday, Oct 20, we went to Linder Farms, which is this great farm here in Idaho.  I've seen Carisa's posts on it the past few years and was so excited to take Kaity this year!  We loved it so much that she asks to go back to the farm every morning when she wakes up.  Her favorites were the slide, the swings, and the bunny rabbit.  Kaity has asked pretty much every day if we can go back to the farm.

So much fun!

Barrel Train

giant box of corn

making "corn" angels

swing ride & cheesy smile

bunny rabbit

This past Saturday, Oct 20, we went to Linder Farms, which is this great farm here in Idaho.  I've seen Carisa's posts on it the past few years and was so excited to take Kaity this year!  We loved it so much that she asks to go back to the farm every morning when she wakes up.  Her favorites were the slide, the swings, and the bunny rabbit.  Kaity has asked pretty much every day if we can go back to the farm.

Fotofly Family Pics!

My favorite of all three of us!

Originally we were headed to Utah to spend some time with the family, have a birthday party for my grandmother, and take family photos.  Family pictures are super important and fun to both me and my sister.
The first extended family photo I know of was taken in 1983 (ish). My uncle John was still alive, I wasn't yet.  The photographer was such a jerk and the picture turned out so horrible that the next extended family photo was taken in 2007.  Yeah, it was +2 grandchildren, 4 spouses, and 11 great-grandchildren.  That photographer was a friend of the family, Jay Bryant Ward.  He now focuses mainly on his painting career (and rightly so).

She looks so grown-up!

My immediate family took a group photo when I was in middle school.  I always loved going to friends' houses and looking at their family photos and seeing how much everybody had grown and changed - it made me kind of jealous and sad that we didn't have that.
Last year, my sister found this place on Facebook.  It's in Draper, Utah and it's called FotoFly.  They are amazing.  They have several different backgrounds and you rotate through everything in about 45 minutes.  They are AMAZING with children.  Last year I came away feeling like Kaity wasn't cooperative at all and my pictures wouldn't turn out - but I loved them!
This year, we all met up and did our sessions again.  Kaity loved all the attention and was such a little ham!  Here are my favorites from this year:

I am 3!

Candid Cuteness!

All the Zaelits

My dad is such a goofball, he is always doing stuff like this!

The best of cousins!

Brettster

 

Halloween Time

It's Halloween and we are loving it.  Kaity is going to be "Princess Hair" aka Rapunzel, so I am busy making the costume.  We are also getting ready for a trip to Utah to do family pictures and planning various Halloween parties for Preschool and Cub Scouts.  It should be fun.
I love the idea of having craft/learning projects as countdowns to holidays.  The Activity Mom has some great ideas and links, so this year we've put together a folder and have been doing a few of the ideas I found on her site.  You can see the whole countdown here.

So this week we have done sorting, matching, coloring, counting, and Spider Webs.  Kaity loved making these, and they were super easy and turned out so cute!  Kaity couldn't to wake her daddy up to show him her "pider wev." (Jared is working nights right now so he's usually asleep until 3:30, give or take).  Anyway, I didn't have any black yarn but I do have a ton of spare yarn so we picked out the colors.  I like how they turned out, I think the bright colors really make the spiders show up well!

Kaitybug turns 3!

Kaity totally got into the opening of presents, she was truly spoiled and had a great day!

This is a Mater book from her Daddy, she loves look and find books - and she is really good at them, too!

She actually squealed when she opened this Princess Hair (Rapunzel) doll.

She then had to hold Princess Hair with every additional present she opened.

Got some lipgloss and knew exactly what to do with it - don't tell me gender isn't inherent.

I got these dolls in a four pack to get the one for her cake, she loves the extras, especially making the wedding Flynn and Rapunzel kiss.

One breath!

This is her cake, it turned out awesome!  I was so excited because I was able to recreate the idea that was in my head.  Also, the little 3 girl with the doll was on my cake when I turned 3!

Thank you so much to everyone who came and helped us celebrate, we had a perfect day.

Kaity cut her hair

I promise to get birthday festivities up soon.  However, I sat down to work on that post this evening and had to go to the bathroom.  Thinking I could go solo (a rarity in my house), I locked the door.  When I came out, there was hair all over the floor.  Kaity got into the preschool supplies (I started a preschool, more later) and cut her hair on both sides.  She had a great mullet.  Anyway, a friend across the street has an aunt who was visiting and knows how to cut hair.  So she evened it up and Kaity now has a cute sassy little 'do.  I will soon stop mourning the 4-5" loss and the adorableness of Kaity in a ponytail and will begin thinking how cute she is with headbands and clips.  Here's a phone pic because I can't find my real camera right now. Oh, and also notice the adorable cheesy smile - this is what she does when you tell her to smile. :)

Kaity's new best friend

We finally got a puppy.  You would think with the way I love dogs that it wouldn't be too hard to find the right one, but we need a dog that is good with kids but can also hold her own against an overzealous one.  Also, we have a small yard and a short fence - nothing too big or that can jump too high.  Anyway, we finally found one.  Her name is Laney and she is a cattle dog/lab/border mix.  She is 6 months old and we got her from the pound.  Kaity loves having her here, and often asks if she can go play with the puppy.  Laney knows to be gentle with Kaity but sometimes she gets too excited and Kaitlyn gets knocked over.  Some quick loves and they're best friends again.  Kaity loves to help out and has decided that it is her job to give the puppy food and water every day.  It's so cute to see them together, especially to watch Kaitlyn try to walk Laney.  They weigh exactly the same, so either one on the end of a leash is a hilarious exercise in futility.  Luckily, Laney stays close to me or Jared on walks, so we don't have to worry about her running off.  Here are a few pictures, as you can imagine, getting a puppy and a three-year-old in the picture at the same time is near impossible.

Scripture Study

Many friends in Provo saw my scripture study method and this past weekend my sister came to visit and asked about it as well.  So, here's the basics.  I certainly am not a pro, I was just looking for a system that would help me remember things and be able to find notes more easily after I had taken them.  Before, I would write in the margins of the Ensign, but then I'd have stacks of magazines to look through before I found the article I was looking for.  Now, I have everything together in one source.
First off, gather the following supplies:

• Whatever you are studying: Ensign, Sunday School lesson, Church book, etc.
• Have your scriptures nearby
• a blank notebook.  I like Mickey, so that's who is on the front of mine :)
• Post-it notes
• a six pack of highlighters (I like to color code things, and six is what I've found works for me)

So, as I read, I take notes of what is important, what stands out, and what I am thinking/feeling on the subject.  First, I write the date and the source, then I make note of anything I liked about the article, chapter, whatever.  Direct quotes, scripture sources, personal thoughts, and summaries are all common.  When I've finished with the article, I write the general topic or theme in the margin, making it easy to find talks about specific topics later.

Then, when I've finished, I go back with my highlighters.  Above is the first page in this notebook so I included a color key, but if you can't read it I use the following:

• Yellow: Author, speaker, source
• Blue: direct quotes from the article
• Green: my personal thoughts
• Orange: scripture notations
• Purple: anything that has to do with parenting (since that is my focus in life right now)
• Pink: major announcements 

So, what if I find a quote that I like so much and think it pertains to a specific scripture?  I write the quote on a post-it and stick it right to the page in the scriptures.  Post-its don't ruin the thin paper in the scriptures and can be moved and replaced multiple times.  Also, you'll note a purple bracket around a talk in the notebook above.  That's because the whole talk related to parenthood, but I also wanted to use other colors to denote scriptures and sources.

That's pretty much it.  It sounds complicated but it actually only takes about 30 extra seconds at the end of my study to highlight items.  It has helped so much with giving talks in Sacrament meeting as well as Family Home Evening lessons and impromptu supplements to our couples scripture study.