How Did Kadee Get So Big??

So I am having a really hard time with Kadee growing up so fast. Really. This is ridiculous. A 14 month old should not be half the size of her Mommy. Kadee is the size of my whole leg. She is so tall! She can only wear clothes size 18mo and bigger. She is up to size 5 in shoes. She's now in size 4 diapers. We had to buy her socks from the little girls' section because nothing in the baby section would fit her at all. 

Her vocabulary is increasing daily. Listed in order of the most frequently used:

• Hi
• Puppy
• Daddy
• Banana (na-na)
• Cookie
• Fish (psh)
• Hop, hop
• Happy
• Cracker (ca, ca)
• Baby
• Quack quack (cack ca)
• Go
• Key
• Hey!
• Num num
• Woo-we! (weeooowee; it means "you stink")
• Shoes (shoosh)
• Mmmm!
• Pretty (pi-eee)
• Brush (Bush)
• Dance (Da! Da!)
• Hot
• Hat
• Book (Boo; no 'k' sound)
• More
• Bye bye
• Mail (ma)
• Yuck (only a 'k' sound)
• Momma
• Grandpa
• Grandma
• Bum bum
• George (Gurj - she's really referring to "monkey")

Sorry Grandma, but I'm right down there with you.

Kadee can also tell you what a puppy says, what a fish says, what a duck says, what a monkey says, what a car says, and that a bunny goes "hop, hop".
Because of piano lessons, Kadee thinks that every time we get out of the car, we are going to see a puppy. She is a big time puppy enthusiast. 

Kadee has also figured out how to work the drinking fountain at church and how to climb up and down the step stool. Although, going down isn't super graceful and I have to help her off the top step. The bottom step, she has no trouble with. She likes the step stool so she can "help" me wash dishes.

Kadee loves reading books. We read books over and over all day long. Some of her favorites are "Quiet Bunny's Many Colors", "Paddington","The Napping House", "Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose", "Curious George", and lately, "Just Me and My Dad". And "Baby Beluga", but we sing that one, we don't "read" it.

She's becoming more mobile each day and walks less and less like a bow legged Frankenstein. We have been having her walk a lot to get plenty of practice in because she is definitely too heavy and too big for me to carry around.

 Asleep with "Curious George" still in hand.                     Loves reading with Daddy.

She could not stay awake to wait to pick up Daddy.

So, SO! Sleepy                                Caught red handed!

October 2017 General Conference

I have loved this General Conference. I had prayed in the temple for help in being happy each day and I have found multiple speakers have addressed just that very thing this Conference. The Saturday morning session I thought was especially good.
You can go back and watch individual talks, or the whole thing, here,
https://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng 

Many of the speakers talked about The Family Proclamation. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1995/10/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world.p8?lang=eng 
There was a lot of emphasis on the family and finding joy in our trials. It was exactly what I was looking to hear.
President Uchtdorf gave 2 reasons we should turn to God; 1, your life will be better and 2, God will use you to help others lives be better. He said sometimes it fells our lives are more difficult because we are trying to live the gospel. Turning to God opens opportunities for God to help.
Sister Oscarson said that the essence of living the gospel is service. Heavenly Father may be placed those who need us most the closest to us. Her point was that we don't have to look far to find opportunities to serve. She said serving others is the noblest at home.
Elder Oaks talked a lot about The Family Proclamation. He reminded us that this life is the time to prepare to meet God.
Elder Pinegree talked about how there are specific things God has for each person to do in their life. He said the Lord has more in mind for your than you have for yourself. He said there were four things we should work on to find out what it is God would have us do. 1, to focus on others. 2, to discover and develop our spiritual gifts. Everyone is given gifts of the spirit, to some is given one to some is given another. 3, to make use of adversity. 4. to rely on God. He also reminded us that Satan seeks to distract us with less important matters in our busy lives. I really liked his talk.
Elder Christofferson said that we all have different needs to be strengthened through the Atonement of Christ. He said we also must internalize the qualities and characteristics of Christ. He quoted President Monson saying, "We are the product of all that we read, all that we hear, all that we see, and all that we think." I also really liked his talk.
Then Elder Holland talked about Christ's command to "be ye therefore perfect". He addressed how Satan has somehow managed to make commands of the gospel daunting and depressing as we strive for perfection but continue to fall short. He said, "here in mortality, perfection is still pending." Another very good talk.
Elder Stevenson - technology should be used to teach, uplift, and inspire others. We should not use it to rant or bring others down.
I also really appreciated Elder Cook's talk on humility and being careful of how we can become prideful to boasting on Facebook and other social media. It really made me think. It's interesting that we can find so much good in the internet and it's uses, but Satan also finds ways to turn it into distractions and even sin.
Sister Bingham asked the question, how do I find joy despite the trials of life? That was a talk I very much needed to hear.
Elder Bednar addressed how we can easily be distracted from things of eternity by our many busy lives and schedules. I liked his talk a lot.
Elder Waddell said that we cannot control the trials we have, but we have absolute control over the way we respond to trials in our lives. That was another talk for me.
President Eyring reminded us of the Savor's words "look unto me in every thought. Doubt not, fear not." He also admonished that we diligently follow prophetic council.
Elder Ballard spoke on our trek through life. He said as we walk the road of life, we are tested to see if we will fulfill all of God's commands.
Elder Callister gave a very powerful witness of the truth of the Book of Mormon. He said "God's fingerprints are all over the Book of Mormon." 
Elder Koch - we have no right to portray anyone in a negative light.
Elder Ellis talked about how hard is good. He said, "I have learned some of the best lessons through the hardest times." He reminded us of the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants "..endure it well. ...All these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good." Another great talk.
Elder Anderson gave a wonderful concluding talk! He summed up the whole conference beautifully!
One of my very favorite parts of Conference was in the Sunday morning session. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang "Dear To The Heart Of The Shepard". It has already been one of my favorite hymns but the version they sang in the conference was exquisite. So wonderful! The harmonies were amazing! I highly recommend going back to listen to that one!
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/music?lang=eng#conference=PD60003502_000_000

Spencer shared,

My favorite thoughts from the Priesthood Session:

Elder Evans - we keep our testimony strong by constant nourishment - we have to act in order to maintain it

Elder Maynes - being a "man of integrity" - having integrity means having pure actions and intentions whether we are alone or with others - integrity builds trust and is very hard to get back once it is compromised

President Uchtdorf - spiritual wellness comes from having "light" in our lives - if we lack light, things that were once clear to us can become obscured - if we are in darkness, it means we are not in the right place to receive light

Summer Zoo Fun

Kadee loves going to the Zoo. Luckily for her, it is close and we can go all the time. Her favorites are the Sea Lions and the fishies! We also like to go see the gorillas. They never disappoint! It's also really cool to go into the wallaby enclosure where they can hop around you. I was not really a fan of going inside with all the parakeets. They are really loud and I did Not want one of them to come and land on me. Too scary!

Kadee also seems to really like the rhinos for some reason. But she thinks they are puppies. Actually, she thinks everything at the Zoo is a puppy lately. The rhino, the bears, the zebras, the giraffes, the flamingos, whatever. Oh well.

This last time we got to see the Sea Lion show. I think Kadee would have enjoyed it more if she hadn't been so tired. Oh well. It was still really fun.

Tanner's Farewell

Tanner leaves for the Mexico Queretaro mission on August 22nd. He spoke this last Sunday so we were in Roosevelt for a visit. Aaron and Carmen picked us up at the airport and then we all drove to Roosevelt. Kadee is really good at saying "hi", and Carmen is really good at saying "yes". So for a good part of the drive I sat between a chorus of "hi, hi, yes, yes, hi, YES, hi, HI, yes, hi, yes Yes, HI, hi."

It was so good to see family again. Kadee and Carmen had a lot of fun playing together. Those two little girls absolutely loved going to the swimming pool with their Grandma! They would splash and jabber and squeal - so funny to watch them!

Saturday we spent the day at the lake. Kadee did a great job riding in the boat....as long as she had a cookie to eat. Silly girl. She definitely had too many cookies that day. She had fun splashing on the shore though. One of the first things she did was pick up a big handful of dirt and eat it. Spencer was laughing. I was grossed out. I made her cry because I wouldn't let her eat the lake dirt. So gross! And such a mean Mom.
Spencer got to water ski and we all had a great time. Kadee was SO tired by the time we were done that she fell asleep almost as soon as we got in the car. I had laid her across the seat to get her life jacket off and she fell asleep right on top of it before I could even get her into her car seat.

Sunday was great because we got to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Dana, Grandma and Grandpa Wallace, plus all of my family and Spencer's family. And Sunday, as always, was a struggle during Sacrament meeting. This time the meeting was during Kadee's afternoon nap time instead of normally during her morning nap time. Either way, she will not sleep during church because there are too many people for her to see. (And to say "hi" to.) My family sat behind us and I think they spent most of the time laughing at Kadee and talking to her and catching all of the books and things she would drop over the bench. That Kadee girl sure likes Brynne though! She can sort of say her name now. Even if she just hears Brynne on the phone, "Bi! Bi!" Brynee has been working at that for a long time and it has paid off for her. So it was a good thing that "Bi" was sitting behind us. Kadee was even brave enough to sit on my Mom's lap for a while because she wanted to play with Grandma's necklace. It didn't last super long, but longer than I was anticipating. We are still working on that.
Tanner gave a good talk, although I have to admit. It was hard to listen to all of it because I was wrestling with a smallish monster. Sorry Tanner. I ended up singing in the musical number after Tanner's talk because they needed another soprano and Tanner came and asked me. Ha! My sight-singing classes in college definitely paid off there! I got one and a half runs through it before and that was it. Oh well. Still a good job to Tanner.

We tried getting a little family picture. Kadee was having non of it.

Kadee continued to be spoiled this trip with a new outfit from her Grandma Carrie, a birthday present from Grandma Dana, and a birthday present from one of my YW leaders. Grandma Dana got her a little puppy that makes noise. Kadee quickly learned to say something that resembles "puppy" and she likes to pant like a dog and say "uff, uff!" Maria got her a cute Willow Tree figurine of a little birthday girl with a balloon. Then my Mom decided to give her a little computer that she had from...Brynne I think... As well as a dress that she sewed. We definitely came home with more than we took.

By the time we arrived in OKC late Monday night / super early Tuesday morning we were all very tired. Kadee only slept the the 30 min of the airplane flight but that's better than nothing. She was so groggy when Spencer carried her in the apartment that we laughed at her and then put her straight in her crib still wearing her clothes from the day. So much fun for such a silly girl.

Kadee is not really a fan of swings..

1 Year Old!

I cried multiple times in the days leading up to Kadee's birthday. Time has flown by way too fast! I would hold Kadee while she was falling asleep and just wish she could stay littler for a while longer. She is just so big now. Kadee likes to whistle, show off how good she is at saying "hi", and say "Dada" all day long. In the last few days Kadee has started to experiment with different word sounds. She also loves the fish at the zoo. When I took her this last week, she liked to stand in the window and point and shout "ishy" (or something extremely close to that..). Then she would mimic the fish opening and closing their mouths. According to her, that's what a fishy says. Brynne and Cache also taught her what a monkey says during one of our Skype calls, and today she has started to figure out how to make a duck sound. She is getting very good at imitating the sounds she hears.

We celebrated Kadee's birthday one day early because Spencer has been doing his summer pharmacy rotation in Ada. But I baked some cupcakes on Sunday and grilled cheese for her dinner. I think she liked the grilled cheese..sorta. I made it with homemade bread so we liked it at least. We Skyped my family first. They sang Kadee "Happy Birthday" and watched her open her gift from my Mom (onesies that fit). Then we did the same thing with Spencer's family (she opened a cute book). We let her eat her cupcake while we Skyped Wallaces too. I don't know how much of it she actually ate. She made quite a mess though. She also opened the gift we got her, which was a pack of fridge magnets that I knew she would like.

On her actual birthday it was just Kadee and Mommy at home. We were going to have her 1 year doctor appointment that day but they rescheduled so we took advantage of that time to get some pictures taken.

She didn't want to hold still so I gave up and just followed her around.

Whistling :)

Her 1 year appointment was actually rescheduled for today. Before we left this morning I was trying to get some laundry put away. I turned around and found Kadee totally immersed in books. She was reading "The Napping House'. It was upside down but just too cute.

We walked over to Kadee's appointment early because I knew she had to get a lot of shots. I got her all ready for the hot walk over there. Kadee weighed in a 23 lbs and is 31 inches tall. She got 6 shots and screamed a lot..that is.. until she saw the sucker the nurse gave her. Then all was forgiven. She did a pretty good job though.

Kadee was SO sticky when we got home that I put her in the bathtub until she had completely finished her sucker.