A Post Not About Katya... Wait, It Still Is

I just realized that every post I do is about Katya, not that I mind. My whole life centers around Katya and she pretty much consumes everyday. I was just thinking that there must be something to write about that was about my life or Jethro' right now. Well, Jethro has his education blog that's all about him, so I guess I just have to write about myself.

I absolutely love to do crafts and Jethro makes fun of me for it sometimes. He'll come home from work and I'll tell him of a cool craft idea that I saw on Studio 5, a local morning show. I love watching it because they not only have good recipes, but they do a ton of scrapbooking and craft stuff. Jethro very patiently listens as I tell him about all that I learned that day and what my next craft project is going to be. Poor guy. He does let me try out tons of the projects that I see and even the ones that I come up with. I love scrapbooking and always tells me what a cute page I made even if I show him a new one every day and if he could care less about them. That's what I love about him. I have decided to post a few pics of what I have been working on or completed recently:

I made this scrapbook for Jethro for Christmas. It has pictures of us from our time together. I also wrote journal type entries on my feelings towards him and about our time together. I got the scrapbooks from Costco and love the good deals and things they have- 2 for $15. I couldn't believe it! I absolutely loved making it and love that it is something we can keep and look back on. Even though Jethro's not a huge scrapbook person, he still really loved it.

This is a little bank that I made for Katya, so this post is about Katya. She got money for Christmas and I just didn't know where to put it. I made it using a plastic container that was hanging around and scrapbook stuff. I love it. I also like how it was cheap to make. That's what I love about using things from around the house.

I made the letters for Katya's room last year before she was born. I was disappointed that all the ones I saw were a little on the pricey side so I decided to make my own. I am impressed with the way they turned out and glad that I didn't have to spend a ton of money on them.

I made this wall hanging for my parents for Christmas. It was so much fun to make. I just bought a white canvas and then painted it. I then stuck the ribbon on with double stick tape and then glued clothespins on to hold pictures. I also found some really cute quotes at the craft store about families. I also made one for my apartment. I love being able to change the pictures out easily.

Katya's 9 Month Checkup

Katya had her 9 month checkup today and she is doing great. She now weighs 12 pounds 10 ounces and is 25 inches long. She has just about grown as many inches as she has put on pounds. Her little feet just about hang over the bottom of her car seat now. I just can't believe that she is getting so big. The Early Intervention Specialist who visits Katya every month says she is already that she is doing great and is pretty much right on track for her development. She is trying to crawl now and is almost there. She is able to push her little but in the air, but hasn't quite figured out how to bend her knees and push herself forward. It is really cute to see her try.
It is hard to believe that she is already 9 months old. It feels like she was just born yesterday. Looking back on pictures, it's crazy to see how much she has gown. Some days it feels like she hasn't grown very much, but then I think back to when she was born and am amazed how much she has actually grown. I'm excited to see her continue to grow and develop, but sad that my little baby is growing up way too fast. She sure is wonderful to have and such a joy.

Katya on her first day




Katya at 9 months

What's Next, Katya?

Katya is really funny sometimes. She always has the funniest faces. When she was first learning how to hold her head up, we would call her "Turtle, Turtle" because she looked like a little turtle poking her head out of it's shell. It reminds us of the turtle from "Over the Hedge".

As she plays and gets all excited, she sometimes looks like a cute little monkey. On Sunday Jethro was watching Animal Planet and saw this cute orangutan. Katya then made a face and she looked like the orangutan. This is a pick from November. Unfortunately, we were unable to get a pick of her with the face on Sunday.

What funny face will she make next?

Katya Loves Surprises

Katya got a box from my mom yesterday with some bibs, a toy, and a few other things. After I got it from the UPS man, I told Katya that it was for her and she got really excited. I helped her open it, and this is what she did:


It's so cute how she just gets so excited for things.

Nya loves Katya

Today I watched Nya and she just loves to play with Katya. As I fed and burped Katya, Nya insisted that I let Katya play with her. I kept telling her that Katya had to finish her bottle, but Nya kept asking. Finally Katya finished and Nya wanted her to sit on the couch next to her. I put Katya on the couch and then Nya climbed off the couch, went and grabbed a blanket, and then climbed back up. She got back down and got some toys and then came back. She climbed up on the couch, covered both of them with the blanket, and gave Katya some toys to play with. It was so funny. About 10 minutes later I informed Nya that it was time for Katya to take a nap. Nya got mad and told me know. She wanted to play with Katya. It cracked me up that she was so mad that I was going to put Katya down. I sat Katya up and then let them play together.





Nya made sure that Katya had every toy that she wanted. After Nya handed Katya the rings, shown in the previous picture, they fell into Katya's lap and bonked her on the head. Nya said, "Oh. I'm sorry baby. I'm sorry baby." She said "I'm sorry" to Katya like 20 times. She just kept saying it over and over again until I told her that Katya was okay. It made me laugh. She wanted to make sure that Katya was okay and that I knew that she didn't mean to hurt Katya.

I just love how much Nya loves Katya. She tries to teach Katya so much-- like how to blow her nose. She is such a good cousin to Katya. I'm so glad that we live near Rebekah so that Katya has such a wonderful cousin to learn from. If Katya learns a lot from Nya and turns out as good as Nya I will be so happy. They are just too cute together.

Silly Katya

Katya is pretty much over being sick and was so goofy on Sunday. It's nice that she's back to her normal self. She just sat on the couch and just laughed. She also was chewing on her toy like crazy, even though she just ate. She chewed on the toy so much that it was soaked through. She loves chewing on it and laughing.

The following picture is brought to you by Jethro. For the last couple of days, Jethro's laugh has made Katya cry. We are not quite sure why it has been traumatizing her, but hopefully it doesn't for much longer.

The Many Faces of Katya

Our lives pretty much revolve around Katya right now which is why every post is pretty much about her, including this one. She is really starting to make all sorts of funny faces. Since most of you can't be here to see them, I thought that I'd share a few of them with you.

"What are you looking at?"

"Yikes!"

"You caught me. I did it."

"That is so funny!"

"Oh."

Cute Pictures

Being Cute

Katya snuggling in our bed

Katya's Little Feet

Nya and Katya wearing the necklaces Nya made

Nya

Peekaboo

Katya and Jethro were laying in the bed looking at each other and snuggling under the down comforter. Katya would look at Jethro then pull the comforter over her eyes. She then would pull it down and check if Jethro was still there and then hurry and cover her eyes again. She thought that it was funny playing Peekaboo with daddy. She continued to do it 9 or 10 times until she realized that mommy was watching.

Katya is so cool.....

These picks were taken at Rebekah's house in Nya's chair a little while ago. It was so cute because Katya was chillin' like Nya used to do. Nya has taught Katya well on how to be cool and cute.

Cute pics of Katya

I sometimes forget to send the new, cute pics of Katya to the fam. Sorry about that. Here are the really cute ones that we've taken in January so far. She is just growing up way to fast.

This is our favorite outfit for Katya. We have waited forever
for her to get big enough where she could somewhat fit into it.
We got it from Jethro's mission president and his wife- President
and Sister Lawrence. It also has a white sweater that
goes with it and it is just so cute!

We really hope that she never grows out of this outfit.
It is a 3-6 month outfit and by the rate she's growing it could
be her 12 month before she does.
Sweet!

Katya absolutely loves this dog. She got it from Grandma
Jones for Christmas and loves to play with it, chew on it,
and snuggle it.

This is just Katya being cute in her crib. I caught her
mid roll on this one. I never thought I'd see her roll as fast
as she does. It's crazy!

On Sunday we walked down to my sisters apartment
and bundled Katya all up. She doesn't seem to like it as much
as she did when she was younger. Right after I took this
picture she started screaming.

Jethro took this picture one morning. Katya
usually ends up in one of the four corners of her crib with her
legs up on the side. I'm not quite sure why or how she
does it, but she manages to do it every day. Her
sleeping positions always make us laugh.

Sick little Katya

Katya has been sick for the last couple of days with a cough and and a stuffy nose. She sounds super congested so both Jethro and I feel bad for her, but she doesn't seem to mind too much. She is just her happy normal self. She still loves to smile and laugh, but since she's congested it is so cute. She tries to laugh, but can't breathe through her nose but is forced to breathe through her mouth. She makes this super funny scrunched up smile with flared nostrils as she tries to laugh, smile, and breathe. It's way cute. The pictures don't do it justice because we just can't seem to capture her funny smile at the right moment. Here are our failed attempts to catch Katya's "sick" smile:

Funny Things Katya Does

Katya is always doing these really funny cute things. I always forget to share them, so hopefully I can remember a bunch of them.

• We often put a hat on her when she goes to bed, but it doesn't seem to do too much good because she wiggles around so much that it usually comes off. We checked on her this morning when we woke up and her hat was off again, but it was on it's side still in the shape of her head. As if that isn't funny enough, I checked on her a couple hours later and had a good laugh. She had wiggled back up to her hat and managed to get her head back inside. I'm not quite sure how she did it because the hat fits snuggly when I put it on her. I picked he up and she had gotten it back on snuggly enough that I had to pull it off her head- it just didn't fall off. It sure was funny. I'm not quite sure how she does some things.
• Yesterday we were over at Rebekah's house and Nya was playing with Katya. We were upstairs and Katya was sitting on the fireplace hearth next to Rebekah as Nya played with her doll. She picked up the doll and put it on the hearth next to Katya's feet. Katya moved her feet and knocked Nya's doll off. Nya turned around, picked up the doll, then scolded Katya. She said, "No Katya! My baby, my baby!" She put the baby back on the hearth and pushed Katya's feet away. I was so funny.
• Nya was also reading to Katya yesterday. She was holding Rebekah's book and Katya tried to grab it. Nya then proceeded to scold Katya again, "No Katya! Mommies book. Mommies book. No baby." That always makes me laugh. After reading Katya some books, Nya had to say goodbye to Katya. She leaned in to give Katya a kiss on the lips and Katya suddenly laughed. This made Nya laugh. She thought it would be funny to try it again. She did it like 7 times and Katya laughed each time. It was so funny to see them both laugh so much.
• A couple of days go Katya was playing on her blanket on the floor She rolled all the way over to the corner and grabbed the corner of the blanket. She rolled back the other way with the blanket in hand and wrapped herself all up. She ended rolling on her stomach and then stuck her head up. She looked so funny. I went over and unrolled her and she started cracking up laughing. Way cute!

That's all the funny stories that I can think of right now, but as they happen I'll try to post them.

Being her cute self!

Katya's First Christmas

We had a great Christmas. I think that Christmas is so much fun with kids. We had a lot of family time with Jethro's family this year. Last year we were with my family this Christmas so it was good to be with Jethro's family this year. His mom, JoAnne, came down from Spokane so it was good to see her again. We were glad that Katya could spend some time with her Grandma Jones. We also went to see Jethro's grandparent's and saw some cousins and aunt's and uncles. We also spent part of Christmas day at our friend Kirstin's house. She is the secretary at Jethro's school and she's pretty cool. We had a ton of fun just hanging out. It was nice for Jethro to have a break from teaching and from school. It was fun to just hang out and relax. Katya enjoyed having her daddy around every day because she doesn't get to spend as much time with him as he and she want.

Katya is too young to understand the whole presents thing, but she sure did enjoy ripping them open. It was so cute. She was opening a musical caterpillar and when she saw it she got so excited and started smiling and laughing. It was cute. It is so fun to have her around because it brings a totally different dimension into or lives that we are grateful for.Jethro and I have decided that we are only getting our children about 3 presents and a set of pajamas each Christmas. We decided that we would get each other one homemade gift and then one big gift, along with a set of pajamas. We also want to do one big Christmas service project also. I really want our kids to grow up not counting presents, but being grateful for what they have and really enjoying the spirit of Christmas. I hope that it's good for them.

For Jethro's Christmas present, I made him a scrapbook of our lives together up till now. I am so proud of myself and Jethro really like it. He doesn't really care about the whole craft side of life, but he loved the book. I wrote in their my feelings about dating, engagement and wedding. It was kind of like a big journal entry for me and a big love letter for him. I really enjoyed making it and made me love Jethro even more. Jethro's working on a digital picture frame. It's not done because he ran into problems, but he's pretty close to getting done. He's doing a good job on it and I'm proud of him trying something he's never done.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Katya's First Christmas

My Little Elf

Katya in her cute Christmas dress

Smiling Katya

100 Things About Me

I was reading a ton of blogs of others and I thought that it would be a good idea to also do 100 things about me. I realize that a lot of times I don't focus on myself or take time for myself. This is an opportunity to rediscover myself and take pride in myself. It's about time I begin to appreciate and realize who I am. (This sure is hard to do!)

1. I've always wanted to be an astronaut.
2. My first job was delivering papers- Yes, I rode around on my bike and threw them.
3. I graduated from college with a bachelor's in 3 1/2 years.
4. I want eight kids- 2 girls and 6 boys.
5. I love to scrapbook.
   
6. I love making cards more than I love to make scrapbooks.
7. I want to climb Mt. Everest- even though I probably won't, it doesn't hurt to dream.
8. I want to travel to every continent.
9. I want to visit every state in the U.S.- I've never been out East.
10. I didn't get my first kiss until I was a sophomore in college.
11. I got married when I was 20.
12. I hope to be done having kids by the time I'm 34.
13. I want to keep taking college classes online for the rest of my life.
14. I absolutely love dark chocolate!
15. I love being married.
16. I was married in the Bountiful Temple on October 9, 2004.
17. I have 4 sisters and no brothers.
18. I love reading and wish I had more time to do so.
19. I enjoy doing crafts.
20. I really like cooking, but I hate cleaning up.
21. My least favorite part of cleaning the house is the bathroom- especially the toilet. (I usually have Jethro do that.)
22. I love going on family vacations to national and stake parks.
23. I love the outdoors.
24. I can't sing or dance or play an instrument.
25. I am a little bit obsessive compulsive.
26. I always cheer for the underdogs in sports, unless they are playing BYU.
27. I hate going to the doctor.
    
28. I love kids.
29. I really enjoy rearranging furniture.
30. I can't live without my cellphone, even though I didn't get it until I married Jethro. What did I do before I had one?
31. My best friend Dierdra and I have been best friends since 7th grade.
32. I had my first boyfriend when I was a sophomore in college.
33. I've only kissed two boys.
34. I put the moves on Jethro and that's how we hooked up.
35. Our dating and engagement only lasted 7 months.
36. The only time I've left the U.S. was when we were on our honeymoon cruise to Mexico.
37. I'm a middle child.
38. Someday I want to live in a big house with a huge laundry room, scrapbook room, den, and a gorgeous Tuscan kitchen with stainless steel appliances. Maybe someday.
39. I want to be rich so that I can give it away.
40. I get addicted to t.v. shows really easily.
41. I love drinking water.
42. I like drinking hot chocolate year round.
43. My favorite music is Christmas music.
44. I love playing at the park on the jungle gyms.
45. I think baby clothes are so cute and I love buying them.
46. I shouldn't play games (cards, board, computer, video) because I'm way to competitive and usually end up mad for one reason or another.
47. I like to organize and reorganize things on a regular basis.
48. I have been wearing glasses/contacts sine the third grade.
49. I have a robot vacuum.
50. I used to be a non-stop talker, now I like listening.
51. I am terrified of getting in a car accident. (I've never been in one.)
52. I made a king size quilt my senior year of high school for Young Women's.
53. I hate public speaking and avoid it like the plague.
54. I hate 3rd floor apartments.
55. I love the California beach.
56. I am afraid to swim in the ocean.
57. I can't swim very well.
58. I get emotional during most t.v. shows and movies.
59. I can't stand the house being quiet or dark.
60. I'm scared of the dark and strange people.
61. I wore the same size jeans from 7th grade till my senior year of high school.
62. I love to see it snow, but hate driving in it. Why does it have to snow on the roads?
63. I love playing with little kid's toys.
64. I love Costco samples.
65. I think king size beds are the best.
66. I love sliding down the stairs in sleeping bags.
67. I love playing the Nintendo Wii.
68. I always wanted to be a high school cheerleader.
69. I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue.
70. I can never keep a plant alive.
71. No matter how hot I am, I have to have the covers on at night.
72. I was a valedictorian in high school.
73. I got into all colleges I applied to.
74. I love picking out clothes and dressing up my husband.
75. I enjoy doing things for my husband and I don't think I spoil him too much. There is always more for me to do.
76. I like taking things apart and then putting them back together.
    
77. I love painting things- canvas, garage doors, rooms, furniture.
78. I wish I was superwoman so I could fly around and visit my family.
79. I love colored pens.
80. I have a hard time talking about myself and it's already taken me 3 hours to do this.
81. I love helping people.
82. My favorite time of year is Christmas.
83. I want all my kids to have uncommon names.
84. We've moved 4 times since we've been married.
85. I wish I could be a kid again.
86. My favorite colors are blue and yellow and have been for a long time.
87. I am afraid to go fast in cars, boats, skiing, roller coasters, atv's, sea doos, etc.
88. My various jobs have included paper deliverer, babysitter, dog sitter, custodian, omelets chef, ice skating rink attendant, receptionist, recreation guide, food worker, digital archive assistant, and housekeeping. Most were in the 3 1/2 years I was in college.
89. I love taking pictures of Katya and thinks she is just the cutest baby ever.
90. I love reading Hollywood gossip.
91. I've never be in a car accident or gotten a ticket.
92. I love to people watch.
93. I can't stand stupid drivers who blame meteorologists for the weather predictions being off resulting in them getting in an accident. Why can't they just slow down when they drive in the snow. (I always see this on the news in Utah.)
94. I've always wanted to be a waitress.
95. I hate wearing shoes inside.
96. I like to make lists.
97. I love staying in my pajamas.
98. I love fruit.
99. My favorite class in high school was AP World History because the teacher was fabulous and that was my first class that was truly challenging.
100. I've finally finished this super hard list and now realize how interesting I really am.
     

Starting a Blog

After reading other's blogs, I have decided to start my own. With both of our families far away, I thought that it might be a good idea to blog so that they can all keep updated on us and on little Katya. Katya is getting so big and does new things every day and I can never remember everything cute that she does when we talk to our families so this way I can keep up with all the cute stories. I hope that I am able to keep it updated and that everyone enjoys it.