Sick!

A blankie...

A book....

But still the saddest, little look! My poor baby!

I cannot play with you today.

Said little Aly Hope "McKay"

I have streep throat and the flu

And both ears are infected too!

My mouth is wet, my throat is dry

I really think I'm going to cry.

I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke

I can't even laugh or smile or joke.

My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,

I hardly whisper when I speak

My tongue is filling up my mouth

I think my hair is falling out.

What? What's that you say?

I'll feel better in a couple of days.

Well... okay.

Alyson and the Terrible, Horrible, No good, very bad day

Alyson is 15 months old now and a wonderful delight to be around- except for when she isn't. She is by no means a bad kid and usually so awesome that when she is a stinker, she is a BIG stinker and it totally turns into a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day! Where her dad and I seriously contemplate moving to Australia! Or trading her in, or shipping her off to grandma. But we love her and she is growing up into a smart, active, fun, friendly little girl. She points at everything and says "What's this?" She also says, "baby" when referring to herself. I hear that a lot these days- feed baby, take baby, like I'm going to forget about her or something. Silly kid. We went for a check up today- she is in the 75% for height and 25% for weight and Dr. Shori says she is perfect and Aly hugged her for saying so! Daddy and Mamaw (her great grandmother) are still her favorite people, but sometimes she will come and sit by me and tell me that she loves me too. We have issues during meals, because she is constantly changing what her favorite foods are- but the doctor says that normal. We are learning not to throw food when we don't like it..... she makes the biggest mess and it drives me crazy- but what can you do- Everyone is her friend and she gets so excited to play with kids- she plays really well with her Texas cousins and we can't wait to see our Utah cousins in a few months so she can play with them.

Snow Day?

I have to update this post, because my pictures below were from that morning and it just kept snowing, so here are so updated pictures:

Jonathan braved the weather to help out some families in our ward that lost their power. We lost ours, but only for a day. Others were out for 3 days. Jonathan set up generators to keep them warm. We had a dinner to help feed those that didn't have power. Anyway, that is why his truck doesn't have as much snow on it as the car. I decided that the baby and I would just be snowed in for the weekend. We stayed home.
View of our front yard covered by 9 inches of snow. I shoveled the front porch and side walk for the first time ever in my life. I was quite proud of myself. Jonathan still had to go to work so I surprised him when he came home. I forgot to take a picture of the sidewalk after I cleared it, so I don't have proof- put just ask me- I'll tell ya!
There is a tree in our neighbors front hard that hangs over into our yard, we share it. This is it covered in snow. The snow was so heavy, the branches nearly hung to the ground.
This is the view from under the overhang of Jonathan's workshop. Crazy huh?
The official tape measure picture to show proof of the record breaking snowfall!

Wow, this is the third time it has snowed this winter. What's up with that? Where do I live again? Canada, eh? We are set to break the record for all time snowiest (word?) day. We've had 8 inches at our house. Drifting up to a foot in some places. So here are a few pictures to commemorate the record breaking day.We woke up to about 2 and 1/2 inches already on the ground and it continued to fall all day. I love the snow covered trees.

This the view from our front door. Alyson had fun knocking off all the snow on the railing.
Aly's tiny footprints in the snow!
We tried walking in the snow, but after a few steps she fell and was not happy about the snow being wet and cold. She prefers to view the snow from the safety of your arms.

When I'm a walking, I strut my stuff-

Alyson is officially walking. She will just stand up and take off. She is still unsteady on her feet, but she doesn't have to constantly hold on anymore. She has been walking for about two days, but this is the first time I've caught it on video. Wow- I have a toddler now!

We Inturpt your regular scheduled programming

Okay, so this post isn’t about Alyson, but the blog is my way of scrapbooking her life since I am poor and can’t afford the cute stuff, and she should have some posts about her mom and dad. So over the last few months Jonathan and I have been talking about the kind of people we want to be when we grow up. Since we are now the proud parents of a one year old, we decided that we are officially grown ups and should start acting like it. Never mind the fact that we are now in our late 20’s and have officially been adults for 6 plus years- we are now going to be grownups. I know- our moms must be so proud. Anyway, we decided that overall we are good people, but that we do have some things we need to work on. So I have a few goals for this next year: Have family home evening every Monday- with a prepared agenda. Go to the temple every month, and lose weight by improving overall health.
Now, I have to admit that FHE was hard when it was just me and Jonathan- because we would rather read our scriptures on our own than together, but now that we are responsible for the gospel teachings of Alyson, we are going to become awesome at FHE. I’ve been using the Nursery manual; I found it online at LDS.org. We have a lesson, complete with pictures, a song, scripture and everything. Alyson does so well too. Her job is to say the opening and closing prayer. She is good at folding her arms and saying amen. Now, I’m not trying to be all look at us- but I am proud that we are making these changes.
Also, I was thinking the other day, we have never, since being married, consistedly gone to the temple. Now, we have been married for 5 and ½ years. That is 66 months. If we had gone every month that we were married and did a session -that is 132 people we could have done the work for. 132 people- How lazy and selfish have I been? That I couldn’t give up one day to go to the temple? Worthiness wasn’t an issue, it was that we just didn’t make the time. I didn’t make the time to help 132 people? Needless to say, Jonathan got an earful of my “ah-ha” moment. We are going every month this year. I told the bishop and everything. We will do it!
And on the improving overall health- Aly is eating tons of fruits and veggies and I am adding more of them to our diet as well. I’m working out and have lost 10 lbs so far this year. Operation Healthy Mom is a go- I will be able to keep up with Alyson when she learns that she can run. J
To sum up:
So there is a song called The Reason by Hoobastank. Part of the lyrics say: “I found a reason for me, to change who I used to be. A reason to start over new- and the reason is you”
So, Alyson- the reason is you.

Random acts of cuteness

Why yes, she is looking at her own blog and checking out her pictures and video. She thinks she is the best thing on the computer screen. She so doesn't have self esteem issues!
This is my favorite outfit of hers for church. It is so simple, just pink and white, but she is so dang cute in it. So this is the calm, oh so pretty girl before church.....
And this is after church- dad and little girl crashed cause getting all that religion is tough! No pictures of the crazy devil child that she is during church... on no... best no one sees that!

Alyson: "Mom, I've got to check out my bff Lucy's blog. I need to see what that girl is up to now."

Alyson: "Lucy you are so funny. Let me tell you what me and my mom did...."

Someone's in the kitchen with mama....

Aly loves to follow me around the kitchen, especially when I'm cooking. I finally learned how to do video on my camera, so here is a clip of her helping me cook, and a few pictures. I'l post more movies.

Enjoy.