So its been a long time since I have posted. We have been busy- what more can I say! Little ones will do that to you- keep you very very busy!

Life continues at a very busy pace here in our home. Mckayla is now almost 1 year old. Her birthday is this Sunday. I cannot believe that it has already been a year! It does not feel like that long ago we were contemplating names and getting prepared for her arrival! Sh is doing great. She is crawling everywhere and into everything. It makes getting things done somewhat difficult at times. She also has just recently started self-feeding with fingerfoods. As I sit here typing this she is next to me in her seat feeding herself noodles for lunch! We just had her 1st birthday party on Saturday at her "Grandma Gwen's" house. It was a arty with close family and a few friends. She got so many fun toys and cute clothes!!

This summer has been busy so far and will continue to be that way too. We went to Sedona in May with my mum Gwen. her boyfriend Marshal., my sister Heather and her husband reid to celebrate my mum's 60th birthday which is coming up in August. We stayed at wonderful resort where we played tennis, golf, croquet,went hiking and swimming. we all had so much fun. We will also be going to Australia for a couple weeks this summer with my dad, step-mom and step-sister to visit my extended family there. Mckayla, James and I will be staying with my 96year old grandfather. I am so excited Mckayla will have a chance to meet him! We will be in Melbourne for 8 days and then at the Great Barrier reef for the last 3 days of our trip. we are so excited but nervous about how Mckayla will do on her first airplane flight- and such a long one for a first flight too! Later in summer we will also be going to Illinois to attend James' brother Jon's wedding. James is the weddinjg and Mckayla and I will be attending it. Busy busy summer for us!!

We are attempting to short sale our house and move to the east valley, closer to James work, closer to my parents, closer to church and closer to some of our close friends. We have had an offer and are waiting for it to be approved by the bank.

I am still at home full time with Mckayla but hope to return to work one day a week. Mckayla's Grandma Gwen has volunteered to babysit Mckayla during her one day off each week! So we will see what happens. Anyway thats our update for now.

she loves playing with her Daddy

she likes looking at the world sideways!

happy baby girl

playing with Daddy's creepy crawly hand

she loves this!

Playing with her Wooly Mammoth that her Auntie Heather gave her

Layla with her Auntie Heather

Layla with Auntie Heather and Uncle Reid

she was all tuckered out!

She's growing and so much fun!

Mckayla is growing like crazy and she is somuch fun! She is constantly making us laugh. Her personality is truly deveopingand she is becoming more and more fascinated by things! Its so much fun watching her discover new things! She is now pushing herself into sitting more often and she also said "hi!" for the first time yesterday! My mum told her to say hi to Zephyr (the dog) and she said "Hi!" It was so cute! She has an amazing love for dogs- our two puppies and my dog at my mum's (Zephyr). She loves to watch them, pet them and gets mad if they walk away before she is done. She is constaly amusing us wih her personality and funny sounds and faces! We just love being her parents!!!!

checking out her new Easter bunny

Mckayla with James and my godkids Sage and Bryce. Layla just loves the "big kids". Bryce and sage are so good with her.

My babe and I

Sage (our god-daughter) and Mckayla playing

Mckayla and James with our friends

Rolling around on the floor with her easter eggs

checking out her Easter basket and eggs

Playing with her Easter eggs

Hunting for eggs

hunting for eggs

James and our baby girl

On a family hike

First time on a slide

Mckayla at the park

Hello Again

Hello Again to Everyone! Sorry it has been awhile since I posted on our blog. Life has been busy! Mckayla is growing like crazy and is just so much fun! She is very expressive, very noisy and very cute! She is going through a phase where she does not like to be put to bed so we have been somewhat stressed dealing with this, as well as trying to convince her to eat more lately as well. But she is doing great. She rolls all over the floor- from one side of the room to the other. She does not crawl yet- but she may be like her Mommy and just skip crawling all together. I never crawled and just got up and walked at 10months old. So who knows! She has recently pulled herself into sitting position independently a couple times- so we are watching for this to start happeneing regulalrly. She has also just begun helping turn pages of a book when she is being read to. Also sometimes when I hold my hand up and say hi- she will hold her hand up too and yell out something (what I think is her version of hi!). Just so cute!!!

We had a lovely Easter weekend. The day before Easter we had a lovely meal at my mum's place. My best friend and her husband and kids (our godkids) also came and so did Mum's boyfriend Marshall. The kids hunted for Easter eggs (plastic)which they enjoyed. Mckayla had eggs that had pacifiers or a teether in them. She also had some empty ones. The other kids got eggs with candy an stickers. Mckayla loved rolling around on the floor playing with her easter eggs! On Easter day we had another lovely meal- this time with James' family. Then in the evening my sister Heather and her husband Reid came over to our place to eat. A great day was had by all!!!!

We are in thr process of tryig to get our house sold. We have had an offer and are waiting on the bank now. We hope to move to the east valley closer to James' work, my family, our church, and my best friend and her family. Once we move to the east valley I may go bac to work just one day a week.

Anyway that's our family news for now!

I have not been on here in over 6 months! Life has been busy with life as parents! Little Mckayla is almost 7 months now and such a blessing in our lives. Shr brings us such joy on a daily basis. Mckayla was born by an unplanned c-section as I did not progress after being induced. She was 8lbs 6oz and 20inches at birth. I am currently still staying home with her. I do not yet want to returnto work, even part time. I want to be home with our precious little girl! Our pups are doing great. They are now a year and a half and quite bug. They do great with Mckayla! The worst they do toher is cover her in puppy kisses! I will try to update at least on a weekly basis now!!!

Being Induced!

Well we are going in to the hospital tonight for me to be induced. Baby Mckayla will be wth us within a couple days and we can't wait to meet her! Right now I(Marion) am pretty anxious about tonight. We are very ready fior her to come and for me to not be pregnant anymore. I am just getting more and more uncomfortable. And the summer heat does not help one bit! James will be home with Mckayla and I for 2 weeks- which will be so nice. We can settle into our new life with Little Miss Mckayla together. I think she may be more active in the evenings as some people say by now her sleep wake cycle is likely to be similar to what it will be when she is born. She is v ery active after din ner until; about 10 or 11 at night. So we'll see I guess!

The pups are doing well. They are growing so big and getting so much better behaved. We think they will do well with Baby Mckayla but may take a bit of disciplining at first. B ut they are so sweet- I know they will do well.