Coley baby girl

Baby Collette, my little ladybug, little mamma, sister.... these are just a few of the names that this little lady is known by. I can't believe that a year of her life has already flown by and yet it's crazy to think that just a year ago she wasn't part of our family. I can't imagine life without her.

We decided for her birthday we'd keep things pretty low key. Tyler was out of town until late in the afternoon so when she woke up, Owen and I sang to her.
Owen then proceeded to open a few of her presents while she was happy just playing with the balloons I had blown up for her.

We had some strawberry pancakes for breakfast and then headed to the pool to celebrate with some cupcakes and some friends.

That night we decided to invite a couple other friends over for some cake and ice cream.

She LOVED her cake. Until it got all over her hands, then she wasn't sure whether or not it was something she was into. 

A few things about our little baby Coley:
1. She stands on her own and claps for herself nearly every time. Still not super interested in walking but she will now take your hand and walk with you.

2. She says ball, that, and snack (in a language only her parents and Owen can understand)
3. Her favorite toy is a ball, anytime. We got her a few little dolls and a princess tea set but she'll choose a ball to play with over all of those any day. Don't tell Owen this but she is also has a much better arm than he does.
4. She is a fantastic eater. Anything you put in front of her, she'll eat.
5. She loves to draw. Or just loves to stand at Owen's craft table and pretend to draw.

6. Nothing makes her happier than this:

Yes, still a thumb sucker and won't let that blanket out of her sight.
7. She LOVES Owen. Still laughs at everything he does and follows him around everywhere.
8. She loves shoes. Already at this age, she will go to her closet, pick out a pair and want me to put them on her feet. Which is weird because I never put shoes on her feet otherwise.
9. She's a mamma's girl. That makes me really happy.
10. She is the happiest little girl. She cries very rarely and is so quick to smile all the time.

We love this little girl and are so thankful she is part of our family! Happy Birthday little lady! 

Orlando baby! Again.

Our good friends the Steel's were heading up to Orlando a couple weekends ago and since we had to use the rest of our Disney passes by the end of May, we decided to tag along. We had such a blast!

We got up early Friday morning and headed north, we made it to Animal Kingdom around eleven and hooked up with these peeps:

First stop- a bird show:

Second stop- a jungle safari:

The rest of the day was full of walking, rides, digging for dinosaur bones, and checking out more animals:

After a fantastic day at the park, we decided to do something else fantastic... meet up with Tyler's brother Todd, who happened to be in Orlando as well. We picked him up and headed out for some dinner.

The next morning we got up early and made our way to Magic Kingdom. It was so fun with Owen at this age. He was excited about everything. We had so much fun.
The boys had to check out what they wanted to hit up first:

Some highlights:
3D movies (weird that these didn't feel crooked on my face at the time. How embarrassing)

Racing some cars:

 This is a perfect example of us trying anything to get Owen to look at the camera. "Show us the craziest face you can make!". Pretty crazy and pretty cute. I love this kid.

 Zurg.

Riding some rides.

 Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks? I do.

 The obligatory pic with the Disney castle in the background.

 Success!

There was also eating, more rides, lots of people and a little bit of heat.
All of the ingredients needed to make a fabulous weekend. Have I mentioned that I'm kinda loving where we live?  

Mom and Dad

Don't you hate when you look forward to something for months and then it comes and goes, in what seems like minutes? That just happened to me. My parents came out for a visit for nine days and it seemed like no time at all. We tried to live it up while they were here. Get comfy people, this may be a long post.
The rundown:
Started the week with some time around Ft. Laudy Daudy:

We had some beach time:

Some Riverwalk Time:

Some boat time:

Some down time, to do things like this:
It's a Grandpa Cushing tradition:

Wednesday we headed to South Beach for the day:

 Had some fantastic lunch and walked around all of the shops.

Thursday we headed to the Keys. Tyler had to go for work and we tagged along. We thought it would be great to spend a few days there and end the trip scuba diving. The main thing I was excited to do with my dad while he was here. He loves suba diving and living in Utah, he doesn't get the chance often.
First stop Key West:

 We took Owen into an art gallery and my mom got a brilliant idea to take a picture of a three year old by a $7000 train. He turned around right after the picture and accidently got the edge of it with his elbow, knocked it off the table and BROKE IT. We were freaking out. Luckily the nice lady that was working said she would just glue it back together... phew!

We decided to go to Kermits for some Key Lime fudge to make us all feel better about it.

Yes sir, you're right,  that is the sun. Thanks for pointing it out.

Southernmost Point

Spent some time at the pool. This is the cutest baby bum ever. I'm convinced.
After spending a couple days in Key West we decided to make our way up to Key Largo. We stopped a couple places along the way.
First,  Bahia Honda:

I love this place.

we also stopped at Robbies.

Seriously people, watch this video. These Tarpon are crazy and my mom is a Rock Star!

We headed up to Key Largo Friday night with big plans to snorkel/dive on Saturday. We got some dinner and headed to bed with high hopes of some great water for the next day.

 Unfortunately, we woke up to a huge downpour :(. Something to know about me. I only use emoticon's when I'm really serious about something and this day people, I was seriously :( we didn't get to go diving.
Since we couldn't do that, we headed back to Ft. Lauderdale and did the next best thing...
Bowling!

 Owen's first time bowling. He loved it. For the first three frames, then he pretty much begged us for money to play games and buy treats.

The bowling alley was super legit. They even sold moustaches in their quarter machine. Totally worth the money.

We also spent some time watching this:

Some Jai-Alai action. It's just a fantastic sport. 

We spent Sunday recovering and getting in some spiritual upliftance.

Monday I had to work. I was doing stuff like this.

I don't think I've mentioned this but I got a job. I work four hours a week throwing bags so that I can get free flights! YAY! More on that later. Anyway... parents watched the kids on Monday while I did that and we spent the rest of the day doing stuff like this:

This is my dad being a super good sport and going down the slide with Owen on his back.

That night we went down to Hollywood circle for a food truck event. We couldn't wait to partake of some yummy tacos from Taco Fresh!

 Mmmmm... yummy.

Tuesday we headed over to the Children's Museum. This place is awesome.
Six hours and Owen could have stayed longer but we had other important things to do:

Like ride our bikes to get frozen yogurt.

 It was fantastic until my dad was multi-tasking. Both riding a bike and talking on the phone. Don't do it. Otherwise you'll wreck and bust up your face. It sucks. My dad knows from experience, poor guy.

Wednesday I took the parents to Anne Kolb Park for some good old fashioned trail walking.

Later that afternoon we decided to try snorkeling again since our diving trip the weekend before was a bust. Poor Dad was such a great sport and hopped in and tried even though he could barely kick his leg from his accident the night before. Mom was a great and held my sleeping child so that Tyler and I could do a little swimming together.

Thursday sucked. Mom and Dad went home. We've been going through major withdrawls since.
:( :( :(  Really sad, as is evident in the emoticons.