Ashley & Scott's Wedding

My sister, Ashley, was married in December to a stud of a man, Scott Whitaker. I was so happy for her and excited that Scott is now a part of our family. I've had three siblings get married this past year! It has been one wedding after the other. What fun! We had a great time celebrating the day with Scott & Ashley. One of their many beautiful engagement pics...I don't think this girl ever takes a bad picture!

The growing family. Now T-roy is the only one not married. I'm predicting this coming year!
My mom & Reese. I found this adorable coat for Reese to wear to the temple from the DI for $2.00...I wish I would have gotten a better photo of it.

Reese and her handsome dad!

The sisters

The whole family

The siblings

"Gangsta" pose as my family cause it, but I am not gangsta at all, so usually Phil & I usually just look silly in these photos! Reese is looking at my mom like, "What the heck are you doing?!"

My brother Tyler & Rachel flew in for the wedding from Florida. Rachel looked so cute with her baby bump! Reese is going to have a baby boy cousin in March...so exciting!

Saturday Errands

It has been a long time since I've had a Saturday off and it felt wonderful:) I have now gone to part-time (30 hours) at work and I'm loving it! I feel like I have a life again. Yesterday after Reese woke up from her morning nap, we went and ran some Saturday errands.

Reese likes to sit on the bed when I get ready, even though this is becoming a little dangerous because she can crawl now. Actually now that I'm thinking about it, I should probably stop this tradition. I had her all bundled up because it was snowing, and I just had to snap some pics and try on her winter hat. It's a miracle she didn't rip it off! This Little Miss makes me so happy I can't stand it sometimes.

We had fun going from store to store wasting time for a change. Usually, I have no time to waste on Saturdays. She loves being put in the shopping carts. She flaps her arms and makes lots of noises as we cruise around. How nice to always have a shopping companion!

Discovering Utah

I have in been in Utah now for almost 7 years and just started to discover some of the beauties this state has to offer. In May, Phil & I went to Zions National Park & Arches National Park. They were both pretty spectacular. I loved the Delicate Arch pictured below. It is gorgeous and "license-plate worthy" as my brother-in-law Blair put it. I would recommend the trip to anyone! It is an hour long hike to get up to the arch and then you turn a corner all of the sudden and you are there...breathtaking! Reese had a rage attack at the top b/c she was exhausted & it was past her feeding time. She crashed after the tears & bottle.

She absolutely loved being in this thing! So fun!

The whole gang! We went Phil's family and his aunt & uncle Laury & Wayne and their girls, our fav, Taylor & Sydney.

I think this picture is hilarious. She is just passed out!

Beautiful scenery

Phil and I were literally getting back on I-15 to head to Salt Lake from Travis' & Alise's wedding when we asked ourselves, "Why didn't we go to Zions?" We turned around, found out it was 30 minutes away, convinced my sister Ashley & bro Troy to join us and off we went! We packed a little lunch and went on a small hike to Emerald Pools. Lots of fun!

My Man's a Dad

I think all wives would have to agree it is one of the most special things to watch your husband with your baby. I am no exception. It has been such a joy these past months to watch my man with my baby. He is in love with Reese and I am even more in love with him for it:)

Happy Father's Day!

Travis & Alise are Married!

My little brother Travis, not so little any more, married probably the SWEETEST, BEST girl in the world, Alise, in May. No joke, she is honestly the nicest person ever, same with Travis though. I also think Alise is probably about one of the most well-rounded people I've met...she is a state champion runner(makes me a little jealous), majoring in accounting(never be able to do that), can sew a quilt in a day(seriously)...just amazing! I think she will be a perfect wife; Travis definetly scored! They both radiate such a goodness and have such a positive energy. I doubt they will ever get in an argument. I already think Phil & I need to take lessons from them:)

They were married in St.George where Alise is from and then my parents had an open house in their backyard the following weekend. I am so happy for them and glad that Alise is part of our familia!

Reese is 5 months...eek:)

*Can someone please help their blogger-challenged friend and let me know how I can move pictures in the middle of my text...I uploaded the pics last and now I can't move them in my post. Also, why can I not copy/paste anything. Leave a comment & let me know. Thanks:)

So, I thought my bad blogging days were behind me with the birth of Reese because I would always have something to blog about. Well, turns out, it is true I do now have worlds to blog about, but I just can't find the time. Gush, I wish it didn't take me 2 hours to figure out how to make photos smaller so they don't take forever to load. Ahh, I hate that:(

I thought I was extremely busy before I had Reese, now I realize I didn't even know what the word meant. I have such a new appreciation for all moms (my mom especially who had 6 kids in 8 years...crazy) because I know literally there is absolutely no free time. Zip, zero, zilch. Making the transition to a full-time working mom hasn't been the easiest thing. I feel like I am now just starting to get the hang of it and that is only because of the overload of help I have had.

Oh how I love being Reese's mom! Days are hard sometimes, weeks are hard sometimes, but I just can't remember what Phil & I did with ourselves before we had the little nugget. She is definitely the center of our little world and how much better she made it:)

Here are some of my favorite things about Reese (in no particular order):

I absolutely LOVE the way she looks at me. I know I'm bias, but I think she is really smart. I feel like when she looks at me she is processing everything I say, every move I make. I know she doesn't understand it all, but she is definitely so aware & interested.

She is sleeping 9-10 hours a night. She actually has slept through the night since week 9. Thanks be to my wonderful sister-in-law, Sarah, who has probably been one of my biggest assets since being a mom, and her recommendation of BabyWise.

She loves her hands. I love to watch her move them. She moves them like a robot, just trying to figure out how to make the darn things work. And oh!...what victory it is when she can put the object of her pursuit in her mouth. It makes me so proud:)

She has a big smile and loves to make all sorts of squawking, squealing noises. She has laughed a couple times but, I have to work very hard for it to happen.

I would say she is very particular. She likes to be held a certain way (facing out) and loves to sit up. She doesn't really like to be cuddled, but wants to see everything that is going on.

When I rock her before she goes to bed (my most cherished 10 minutes of the day) she always makes noises when I sing to her...it makes my heart melt!

She hates to have anything go over her head. We call them her "raging" moments because she does get really ticked. Changing outfits is the worst thing in the world to her, which is hard because I always want to try on her vast wardrobe.

She now only uses bottles & we finally have found a formula she can keep down (never knew that would be so hard). I could go into that whole traumatic story, but I won't bore you with the details. It wasn't traumatic for her, just her mom.

She loves to stand up and feel her leg muscles (or that's what I tell myself).

She thinks her dad is very funny and chooses to look at him instead of me if we are both in the room...I told you she was smart:)

She loves her bath time and trying to reach out and grab the water.

At her 4 month checkup she was 79% for height & 56% for weight.

What a good Reesie Cup!

We have a Baby!

Reese Taylor McDonald

January 6th, 2009 at 9:14pm

7 lbs 5 oz

20 inches

more to come.......