Kobe

When my family moved into the house where my parents live now, Jed and I desperately wanted a dog. Desperately. I remember keeping a shoe box under my bed and every now and then, near bedtime, Jed, my Dad, and I would meet up in my room. I would pull out my shoe box which was full of dog toys (all of which were from my Dad who would sometimes make a pit stop at Petsmart on the way home from work), and an old pickle jar which we would fill up with the money we earned doing chores around the house. Sometimes, Dad would surprise us with a $10 bill and that was HUGE to us. This shoe box was our secret Dog Fund that Mom wasn't supposed to know about. Up until that point, we had only cats and my Mom was dead set on not letting us get a dog. We would look up dog ads in the paper every Sunday. We wanted a Black Lab and we were determined.

She finally gave in and Christmas of my 8th grade year (Dec. 98) Mom and Dad brought us Kobe. We named her Kobe because Jed got a pack of Basketball cards in his stocking and Kobe Bryant was on the top of the stack. We mostly just liked the name. We all worked really hard to train her and eventually she knew a bunch of tricks. She could sit, stay, shake, roll over, "dodge bullets" (Jed would have her lay down, point his finger at her, say "bang", and she would roll over), and balance a treat on her nose and keep it there until you told her it was ok to flip it up in the air and eat it. She was so good at showing off. She also acted like a puppy all the time. She never "acted old".

You can probably see where I'm going with this... Kobe passed away today. She had cancer and had gotten a cold these last few days. Jed was the one that found her. It was good I was here this last month though. I got to see her before it was time for her to go and I also let her do all the things she's not allowed to do. :) I think she was happy and didn't suffer too much. Today was a sad day for our family. We will miss and love Kobe and she was the best first dog I have ever had. Never again will another dog be as good as she was to us.

Zoolights

Zoolights. D was a little cranky. Then she wasn't. Then she LOVED it. Oh she's a cute one. Lookie at my pictures!

Dinner with my Friend-O

Clint, D, and I went to dinner with my supa friend Daphne! She is all things good in an awesome friend! She is hilarious. She gets annoyed at all the same things I do. She is from AZ and best of all... she LOVES DP!! The first day we worked together at Pebbles we bonded over those very things. I'm sad we can't hang out as often but man I love this girl!! And yes Goffy, we talked about you. :) Daphne says hi and she misses you!

I love a messy baby!

Oh geez. We can't help it in this house. D looks too cute all messy and covered in food. She looks like a different baby without her cannula.

Oh my goodness... I. LOVE. THIS. PICTURE. Look at her toes. Oh I love her!!!

D makes this face sometimes when Mom's camera goes off. She flinches after the flash goes off. It was so funny! There was no flash but the clicking from the camera was confusing her.

All clean.

Hockey Game

I know what you're thinking... You took Darbi to a hockey game?! Ok. Don't judge me. :) It was a blast and hilarious and we were super careful. I gotta break out of this obsessive routine someday right?

First of all... Darbi only poops like once a week now, right? So since she poops once a week.. when it comes.. it's a doosy. I'm not kidding! So why does she decide that she wants to poop at the hockey game??? UGH. So Mom and I head off to the bathroom. We sanitized everything, then laid down a mat and proceeded to clean up the dirty little mess D made. Then... I realized. I. FORGOT. THE. WIPES. I was dying laughing on the floor. But not really on the floor because that's dirty and gross. But almost. So Mom went and got some toilet paper and everyone was wondering what was wrong with me because I couldn't stop laughing. So. Gross.

But after that, it was really fun. We took ear plugs because it's so loud there. D didn't seem to mind at all. But she did decided she was hungry TWICE while we were there. Our seats were on the bottom level on the very last row so no one was behind us. I was able to nurse D secretly and she just looked like she was asleep under a large pile of blankets. We're sneaky.

Facebooking!

She loved making noises with all those crazy loud songs they play.

She was exhausted after the game! She just wanted to snuggle and she only does that when she's sick. I love snuggling!!

We ran into one of my old friends from a loooong time ago at the hockey game! Brenton! We've known each other since my family moved to AZ from UT like 16 years ago. Good 'ol Peoria 1st ward! Funniest kid I've ever met! It was good to see him!

Do You Flip?

Santa brought us this fun little toy for Christmas and we LOVE. IT. It is seriously the easiest thing to use and you can mos'def' expect more videos on the ol' blog! It records in HD! This video looks better on my lappy. Blogger's video program isn't so great..

We got D some Fisher Price stacking rings and she thinks they are supposed to go on her feet (mostly because that's where we always put them) and then she twirls them non-stop!

Darbi's First Christmas

Last Christmas... I was 22.5 weeks pregnant. I was just barely showing. Most of it was probably swelling. That morning was the first and only time Clint ever felt Darbi kick!

Having a baby around makes Christmas so much more fun! I can't wait to start traditions with her as she gets older.. I'm already bookmarking ideas in my head as I hear about them. I seriously can't wait!!!

We started Christmas Eve out finishing last minute stocking stuffers and cleaning the house.. sorta. :) For dinner we had finger foods - meat balls, mozzarella sticks, tiny hot dogs, spinach artichoke dip, and 6 layer dip from Costco - then we played games when we should have been wrapping presents. Clint and I started a tradition when we first got married where we go to Denny's on Christmas Eve super late at night but we had too much going on and didn't start wrapping presents until 9:30!

I think Darbi could sense the excitement and stress of the evening because lately, she's been consistently going to sleep around 9 and last night, she went down at 9:30, woke up a half hour later and was up until 1:30. She wasn't even tired though. It wasn't like she was fighting to stay awake. She just plain was awake.. It has made for a weird day for her today though. She woke up at 3:30, 6:30, and again at 8:30 when my Mom came in and got her so I could sleep in a little.

Clint and I got up around 9 (everyone else was already awake...) and after we all showered, we opened presents. Darbi was SO tired but didn't want to sleep and she wasn't even cranky. She was really good about staying focused while helping Clint and I unwrap her gifts with her.





My dad made our traditional Christmas morning breakfast - fried eggs, cinnamon twists, pork chops, biscuits and gravy, and orange juice. This year we had freshly juiced OJ from my mama's new juicer! Dad got one for Mom and also for Clint and I and I am SO EXCITED about it.

Juicing - so hot right now. It's gonna be awesome.

Early Christmas from Grandma

Mom bought Darbi an exersaucer for Christmas so we could get her to work on some more eye-hand coordination. She is also standing steadier on her feet since we got it. She loves it! But only for 15 or so minutes at a time. She gets kind of worn out quick playing in it.

Notice she's using both hands!

Sometimes these are all she needs to stay happy. It'll be a sad day when they're gone (for her...).

I love how focused she is.

Carrots

We've been slowly integrating baby food into Darbi's diet. Mostly, she'll do ok with it but, at most, will only eat 1/4 to 1/3 of the jar - then she's done. We tried carrots for the first time and I was sure she would hate them! I warmed it up just a tiny bit and she didn't mind them at all. So I just kept feeding them to her straight from the jar after she finished off the stuff in the bowl. She went crazy!! It took carrots to get her to open her mouth in anticipation for the spoon and she finished off the entire jar!! The ENTIRE jar!!

Unfortunately, I only brought one cannula and the carrots stained it orange. That lead us on a hunt to all medical supply stores trying to find an infant cannula. No place around here has infant cannulas!! Because we're close to Sun City, 98% of the people on oxygen are old!! We either had to order it online or they said we had to have a prescription to buy an infant cannula! Ridiculous. We finally got one and they actually gave it to us for free so we got lucky. No more orange cannulas!!

I'm Yours and the Asian Boy

This is AWESOME. Watch for the nose itch. I'm serious. I've already watched this like 8 times. It's FUNNY.

First Sunday

We never take D to church for obvious reasons but I decided to take her to church here on my first Sunday. Mostly to show her off. :) She did really well and I only had to step out of Sacrament meeting once to feed her. She only smiled for the men at church but I think that's because she misses her Daddy. TOMORROW Clint comes!! Woot! We got her a cute dress special for today and she's rocked it. :)

D in AZ Week 1

This is how I find her most mornings.. She doesn't even cry. Usually I wake up to her laughing and playing. She just waits until I come fix it. Cracks me up.

Playing with her new phone from Grandma Pam.

She looks so chubby in this picture!! She is spilling out of her bouncer!

Bathtime in Grandma Gretchen's sink. She looks like a different baby without her cannula and headband (which holds on the cannula)!

I really just love these pj's!

If you look close, above her right eye you can see dried bananas. I had Dad feed her last Friday while Mom and I went shopping and I guess it got a little messy!

I love this picture! I took her outside in the cold one night while she wasn't feeling well. I think the cold air was refreshing for her and helped her breathe a little better. She look so sweet with her little red nose.

Eureka!!

I've figured it out! Thursday morning, D cut her first tooth! That's where the fever and the runny nose came from. We are on the mend and daily trying to get a good picture for you.

Sicky Eyes

My baby girl has some sicky eyes. :( She has officially gotten her first cold. We've been lucky enough so far - mostly because I've isolated myself from everyone because I'm a crazy overprotective mom.. I don't care though.. get over it. I knew that we would be holding our breath the first time she got sick. But, it's super mild and we're lucky because it could be a lot worse. It's just a little runny nose and a very slight fever that doesn't even hit 100. I'm wondering if it is because of the climate change. My dad said that this will happen to calves on the farm when they are moved to different climates.. I know my baby is not a cow but it kinda makes sense. Dad and Jed gave her a blessing and I'm feeling very reassured that this little cold of hers will pass uneventfully. I am sad Clint is not here to take part in the snuggling. He is sure missing her.

D and Grandpa

First Roadtrip

On our way

Feeding break in Beaver

Kermit in the car

Overnight in St. George

St. George Temple

New bridge at the Hoover Dam