Um... did that just happen?

This must be noted! When Ally turned 1 she decided that she didn't have to behave in church anymore. No more of the site in your lap and be cute and read a book eat a snack. Oh no... we had to dance, cry, try to run away, cry to sit with her friends and all kinds of other toddler foolishness that neither Jonathan or I care to experience. Well... today we did not have to take Ally out once for throwing a fit and she was what you could call reverent for an 18 month old!!! We had a very peaceful 45 minutes, about 10 minutes of having to talk her back down and then finished sacrament with a cute girl sitting in her daddy's lap! We actually heard some of the talks! I even felt the spirit. I didn't feel like I was ready to trade my kid in half way through church! Here's to a more mellow sacrament!!! Cheers!

I hope it wasn't a fluke.......

Who cares? Today we celebrate!! Everyone go get ice cream! (tomorrow of course, don't break the sabbath)

-Lacy

Her cousin Maddy, from Utah, taught her how to say "cheese" when you take a picture. She closes her eyes when she says it, too cute! This is her saying "cheese" to the camera.
We've been busy this last week and have had to be gone from the house a lot. Guess she was going through toy withdrawals. She was so excited to stay home and play with her all things today.
And in playing with her toys... that now means climbing on everything, that's not meant to be climbed on... but whatever... She's standing on the second floor of the doll house. I know this because, she fell after I took the picture.

We had a special family night on Friday, pizza for dinner, ice cream and watched "cloudy with a chance of meatballs" (we had never gotten around to watching it). Ally used to only eat the home made pizza that I cooked and only off her daddy's plate, while sitting in his lap (spoiled much?), but now she's discovered the joy of eating her own pizza, in her own chair. I love her fat kid happy face in these pictures. She picked out her own slice and everything.
She has also stopped referring to herself as "baby" and as moved on to calling herself "me". So all day long our conversation goes something like this: "Me go", "Me, Me, Me!" "Me love dad" "me see george" (curious george), "me, book" etc.

She has also discovered the sprinkler! We will have to get pictures of that soon. She's picked out a swim suit at the store and as soon as I have 8 dollars, I'm going to buy it for her to run in the sprinkler.

She loves to say prayers. She can fold her arms and close her eyes with no help and will stay that way till we end the prayer with amen. But, one prayer is not good enough for my Ally. We have to say several extra prayers every day. Usually sometime each morning, she will decide that it's time to pray and we pray for all her cousins, all her friends, her and her daddy. She is super sweet and I am so glad that she loves to pray.

Alyson is hilarious! Either she says no and runs from pictures or she does her version of a pose. These are her latest poses.
Well, we made the trip to Utah and Arizona and back. We totaled 3065 miles, or 56 hours of driving. Ally did a wonderful job on the trip- we were blessed. I'm sure the Lord was tried of hearing from me, because I was sure praying a lot that she would be comfortable, make the trip okay and no scream! Jenny's wedding was great, though there wasn't a lot of visiting time. We will have to do anything visit some time soon. Maybe after we move closer! Jonathan and I decided that anything longer than 12 hours- we fly! My camera is momentarily misplaced.... so as soon as I find it- I will have more pictures. Plus, I need pictures from the trip sent to me.

Things to note: Alyson is officially 18 months old and able to attend nursery. She did fabulous on Sunday- went right in and climbed up in a chair and started saying "hi" to everyone at her table. I hope that she continues to do well. I was told that during singing time, she danced around instead of singing. Pure Ally. It was kinda weird to see her sitting all big-kid like at the table in nursery. I didn't get all sappy or anything, but it was kind of like "huh... she's really turning into a big kid..."

She is still the best of helpers and is getting really good at playing with other kids. She still doesn't say much, just a few basic words. I'm going to talk to her doctor at her 18 months check up to see if there is anything else I should be doing to help her in the speech department.

House is still up for sale- hard to keep it spotless with Ally and Jonathan around, but doing my best. Timeline for move to Arizona is still up in the air.

Link to our virtual tour

http://tour.circlepix.com/FQM6SW

Here is the link to the professional pictures and virtual tour of our home. I was only mad about the dinning room shots, because he had me move the highchair and then didn't allow me to push the chair closer to the table to stage it right before he took the pictures. And Alyson screamed the whole time the poor guy was there, so I guess I don't blame him for wanting to hurry and leave. But still.... it's only 95% perfect.

My house... the way it should have always looked.

Finally! The projects are done and the tools have left the building! I finally don't feel stress walking through my house. Too bad it took almost 5 years for it to look this way.....

I'm waiting for the realtor and I took some of my own pictures just to get an idea of how the house would photograph.

Breakfast Nook

Kitchen and breakfast nook

Guest Bedroom

Hall Bath

Living room

Dining Room

Livingroom

Master Bath

Master Bath

Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Alyson's room is being painted tomorrow, so I don't have a picture of it yet because it is still a mess, but I will post her room later.

Alyson: " But I want to wear it this way, Mom!"

This is one of her favorite shirts to wear... and normally she wears it the right way. However, on this particular day, she kept pulling her arm out of the sleeve and screamed "no, no, no" when I would fix it. Finally, I gave up, took a picture and told her to explain her one sided sleeveless style to her daddy, when he got home.

Aly has a new form of entertainment in the kitchen- letters! Now, she was given a bag full of about 50 of these things, but let me tell you, after stepping on one and sliding halfway across the kitchen floor and nearly busting my you know what- she is limited to only a few at a time. So right now, the letters spell out: mom, dad and Aly. That way I know which ones are missing and need to hunt for so I don't trip again. I switch out the letters and spell new things each week. Not that she puts them in the right order or anything... wow...now, that you all now I'm a letters Nazi.... we should move on.... to baking!

"MMM.... needs more chocolate!"

I had a doctor's appointment, so Sister Ruiz kindly watched the little munchkin so that I could go in peace. As a thank you, we made brownies and sent them with Alyson. Aly was used to making cookies with me for the missionaries, but not brownies. She enjoyed licking the bowl. I would scrap it with a baby spoon and then give it to her. And yes, she is using her left hand, but to be fair she uses both at different times, so we still don't know if she is right or left handed.

"Check out my mad coloring skills. I got this, Mom.

You should have bought me these a long time ago!"

Well, as she will be in nursery soon, I stated thinking about everything that she would need to know how to do: color, pick up toys, sit in a big girl chair, fold her arms... etc. So we have been learning all the things that a soon to be 18 month old needs to learn. Which means, buying Aly her very own crayons and coloring pages. I am proud to report- not one crayon went into her mouth and she colored only on her coloring page. She can also hold 5 crayons in one hand- at the same time- something she was quite proud of and that she can say "Dora". Never even seen the cartoon, but she can say Dora.... kids...

All grown up... or not

Alyson always seems like she is such a little grown up. She's already helping me cook, clean and do laundry. When she tries to talk, it sounds like sentences "there's the ball" "look- it's Daddy" etc. And her attitude... don't get me started on that... it's like living with a teenager sometimes. But despite her attempt to be grown up and outsmart us, I still get glimpses of my baby girl. Like on this day, when all she wanted was her pacifier and Daddy bear ( The build a bear that her dad made her the weekend before she as born)
"Oh you must of been a beautiful baby... You must of been a wonderful child"