December 2015 - Christmas in Katy

We spent Christmas in Katy this year

Kayla and Bella

P.S. There will be a few matching outfits in these photos ;)

Kayla and Henley

Kayla, Bella, and Harrison

All of the Ruske grandkids, except Bailey.

McConnells on Christmas Eve

My family always celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve.

A few days after Christmas, a few of us went to lunch with my Grandma, or GG to the grandkids.

We had a great Christmas holiday filled with love and surrounded by family. We are so blessed!

December 2015 - Utah

At the beginning of December we took a 2 week trip to Utah.

This was Kayla's first time on an airplane.

She fell asleep shortly after we took off and slept most the way, both times!! It was awesome!

After the Parkers spent most of Thanksgiving week in Texas/Oklahoma, we flew up to stay with them for 2 weeks, just a few days later.

Reese is pinching Kayla's very pinchable cheeks. Both cousins thought that Kayla was just "so cute".

They have chickens in the back yard. Kayla loved sitting at the window and watching them.

Meeting Great Grandpa Ruske for the first time

And Omi, too.

One of my favorite things will always be playing Rummi with Omi and Grandpa.

While there, Emma and Reese had a Gymnastics Recital, showing off all that they had learned. We were pretty impressed with Emma's rope climbing ability. She can go all the way to the top!

At the Parker's ward Christmas party.

Temple Square

Kayla met Santa for the first time. We'll see if it's as successful next year, too. Haha.

We also met Great Grandma and Grandpa Lazenby on our trip. At this point, Kayla had seen all of her living great grandparents within about 3 months.

I feel like there aren't enough pictures with me in them, so sometimes I take selfies with my girl :P

Meeting some cousins at the Ruske Christmas party.

Kayla was adored by all.

I'm still learning that it's okay to let my baby get passed around. Even though I feel weird not holding her...

We love Omi and Grandpa!

Me and some Ruske cousins

The weather was so perfect the whole time we were there. Then we finally got snow the day before we were leaving. I was very happy with the way it worked out. Jacob on the other hand, was sad he didn't get to ski.

She wasn't too sure about the snow.

Kayla preferred to be held. Reese was obviously happy. And Emma wanted it to be just her and Kayla. But I promise that everyone had a good time!

November 2015

Mid-November my sister and her husband went to Costa Rica for about a week, so Kayla and I spent that time in Katy with her kids and Grandma.

Kayla had so much fun playing in the bath with cousins, but I'm pretty sure the floor got more water on it than they did. And that's saying something!

Finally, Kayla had enough hair to put a rubber band in it… barely. Haha. But I clearly took advantage of it.

Harrison loves Kayla, sometimes a little to much. But she's tough, so it all works out.

Sweet cousins!

Back at home Kayla begin to get in some mischief...

Mondays...

Safe to say the chair is becoming useless at keeping her in the living room...

See those 2 teeth on the left? They popped in at the same time, making a total of 8 teeth for Kayla!

I can even get pigtails now!

Cousins, Reese and Emma, came to town for Thanksgiving

Kayla loves them, and they had so much fun with her!

Thanksgiving outfit #1

Pushing Princess Kayla around Grandma's house

Grandma with Jane and Kayla. The girls are about 5 months apart.

Thanksgiving outfit #2

Kayla & Emma

Enjoying Thanksgiving weekend in Oklahoma.

By Sunday we had had 3 Thanksgiving meals. I'm done with turkey for a while. Ha!

Kayla - 9 Months

Kayla turned 9 months old on October 22.

At her check-up she was 29 inches tall and about 22 lbs.

She is in the upper 90% for height and for weight compared to other kids her age.

She is still the happiest baby ever! Although, I'd be lying if I said she didn't have her moments ;P

Bedtime in particular. I miss when she used to go to bed so easily and actually sleep through the night.

She is a pro at crawling, eating, laughing, standing, and walking (as long as she's holding on to someone or something). Really she could walk if she wanted to, but she doesn't want to. She gets so mad when I try to let go when she's standing up.

She loves music.

She loves clapping, but won't do it on her own.

Considering who her parents are, is it even a surprise that she's stubborn?

And she has 6 teeth and a 7th that will cut soon.

It has been some of the hardest and best 9 months (well, 18 if you include being pregnant) and we wouldn't change it for anything.

We love you Kayla!!!

October 2015

At the beginning of the month, we went to a pumpkin patch near Katy, called Blessington Farms. Everyone had a lot of fun!

Kayla and Daddy sliding.

Cute cousins, just missing Logan & Alyssa

Harrison was creeping behind Kayla because he wanted to give her hugs.

He gave her lots of love. He even wanted to hold her. But I'm pretty sure she's the same size as him, if not bigger. Lol.

Old trucks make him happy

The first 3 cars are our group, and then Brody and Billy were in the very back. And my parents rode the next one.

That evening we met up with my Mom's family to celebrate Grandma's birthday!

My sweet Omi made this cute dress for Kayla! We love it!!

I've always had a hard time leaving Kayla. A few weeks ago I worked an 8 hour shift, which I haven't done since before Kayla was born. It helped that my sister in law sent me cute texts. Haha.

She loves being outside!

Poor girl got sick for the 1st time, so glad we're over that and that she's feeling much better!

Halloween 2015

Fairy Godmother, Prince Charming, & Cinderella

My favorite princess has always been Cinderella. This was all for me. I'm just glad Kayla & Jacob went along with it :)

So cute! But no candy for her.

And I clearly underestimated Trunk or Treat. It was supposed to last and hour and a half and I ran out of candy in 20 minutes!! Oh well, we had fun.

This is seriously my favorite Halloween tradition. And I hope Chipotle does this every year for ever!! $3 "booritos". Last year you just had to dress up. This year you had to dress up and add something unnecessary. Baseball hats for everyone ;) But silly is my husband's middle name, so it was perfect. (Well, except for all the people who got E.coli, but we were fine… too soon for jokes?)

I'm trying to make a point to get pictures with all of us in them, so maybe I'll actually be in some pictures when we look back one day. Lol.

As we were walking back to the car from Chipotle, Jacob had the BEST idea to go to the drive-in. Seriously, we had a great Halloween!!

She loved playing the back of the car!

We love this drive-in!! This is actually where we went for a date the night he proposed.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!