Happy 1st Birthday!

This big girl turned 1! Wow. We made it through the first year of parenthood, what a ride, a fun and adventurous ride.

Ari loves her Dad.

She is too fun!

We went to Idaho last weekend for Grandma Jean's birthday. It was a fun weekend and good to get back up there. We hadn't been up there since we were engaged, so it was great to go and see family. They had a big family dinner on Saturday night which was fun.

Above is Ari with Grandpa Jack and Grandma Jean. Grandpa was sure good at making Ari laugh. He kept saying she was the happiest baby he had ever seen.

This is Ari all smiles on her birthday with Ammy and Poppop. We went for a walk down to DP Cheesesteak for lunch. That is Seth's favorite place to eat lately.

Ari with Mom and Dad. The wind was really strong that day as you can see.

Ari with her birthday balloon from Harmons.

Ari opening her gifts. She loves her purse she got from Ammy and Poppop. She knows what to do with purses!



This is Ari playing with the toy from G & G McArthur. She wanted to understand what made the toys pop up.

She wasn't too excited about the flame, but we helped her put it out.

Daddy helping Ari start into her cake.

She did well after he helped her get started. She was very clean about everything.

Ari enjoying her cake and all of the attention.

Ari in her birthday jammies with her balloon. That night in bed she couldn't stop jabbering. We couldn't help but think she was recounting her fun and eventful day.

11 Months Today

Our little angel turned 11 months today. I cannot believe she is almost 1! She took her first step yesterday and today she added another one, so she is up to two steps. That is pretty good. I bet she is walking like a pro for her 1st birthday.

Seth was gone today so I took these photos by myself and usually if it is just me and the camera, I get the solemn faces from her, but sometimes those faces say more than the smiley ones.

Nothing really new except we have finally found out that there is no way Seth will be able to get hired on at Salt Lake County like we were hoping. We always thought it might work out since all of his supervisors and co-workers really like him, however they are not the ones that call the shots.  The new administration has no intention of ever hiring entry-level attorneys. We thought for awhile they might, but alas, we were wrong. So we are opening the doors to basically any legal job, civil or criminal, private firm or in-house counsel, basically whatever. If anyone has any suggestions or connections, we'd love to hear about it. We are no longer just looking for prosecutor jobs.

Ari is growing up too fast. She loves to drape her shopping bags over her shoulder and drag them around the house. She loves to read her books and will turn the page for you if you aren't reading fast enough. She loves bananas and loves to move to the music. I can't wait to have little dance parties with her. haha

Any good ideas of your favorite toys for your kids? I am trying to think of something fun to get Ari for her birthday.

Las Vegas Baby!! Woot Woot

 

We had a great Labor Day weekend. We took family pictures! Yeah, that is always nice to get them out of the way. We stopped by to see Jace and Brooke in their new little place in Cedar. They just moved up there to go to school. While we were there we had Jace take a couple of pictures since we have a hard time getting all three of us in a picture at the same time.

So to start off our fun holiday weekend, we went down to Las Vegas to see The Phantom of the Opera. I had purchased tickets for our 5-year anniversary, and the time finally came to go. The music was so beautiful and the theater at the Venetian was specifically designed for the Phantom and it was amazing! We had a great time!

We were walking around after the show and found a candy store. I buy Hershey's syrup for Seth by the gallon, I swear, so this was a great find. You can see how happy his chocolate milk makes him. Grinning from ear to ear. This picture gave me some great laughs, multiple times. What a cheese, he never gives me cheese like that.

We stayed at the Golden Nugget with Kylee and Jon. They watched Ari while we went to the Phantom and we watched Millie the next day while they went to go see Wicked. It was so fun! These are the girls sleeping in the hotel bathroom together. Kylee and Jon said it was quite the ordeal trying to get them both to go to sleep at the same time. Millie would cry and wake Ari up and then fall asleep and then Ari would start crying and would wake up Millie and she would start crying. But finally they both gave up and went to sleep.



We went swimming in the 'Shark Tank' at the Golden Nugget and the girls loved it. They had a slide that went through the fish tank which was pretty cool. The is the fish tank behind us, it looks confusing because of the reflection of people, but there were lots of fish and like 7-8 sharks in that tank.

And here are the girlies living the high life, enjoying the slots. :) 

Ari loved the lights on the slots. Too bad the security lady was eyeing us so we had to leave. No babes allowed. We had such a fun time!

Game-Changer

I just have to post to tell the world (or at least the two people that read my blog) that I finished Insanity today! Hooray. I really was running out of motivation to keep at it much longer so good thing it was only 60 days. Conclusion: Yes I think it is worth it. I have more endurance, my muscles are tighter, I think I have lost some body fat and a few pounds (like 3-4), so I feel good about it.  It was hard to get myself motivated to do it, so I usually just had to wake up and do it first thing before I could think too long about whether or not I really wanted to do it. I think I will definitely take a break from Insanity and try something else. But maybe incorporate it back into my workout regime. Who knows....

Well I have been trying to eat more protein since I started Insanity since I do not think I was eating enough and I think protein really helps to stabilize my blood sugar so I do not have spikes and crazy sugar cravings as often. I made a protein shake this week and I decided to name it the 'Gamechanger'. It changed the protein shakes entirely for me. It is dang good and I usually really despise protein powder (granted it is a protein shake). So I think you should give it a try if you are interested.

"Game-changer" (Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Shake)
1 cup milk (I use skim)
1 scoop chocolate protein powder (we buy the stuff from Costco in the big bag, the brand is CytoSport)
1 big spoon of peanut butter (I think this is the magic ingredient, probably like 2 TBs)
6-7 ice cubes depending on how thick you want it. I like it thick, the more ice cubes the better.

I also add some ground flaxseed but obviously this isn't necessary. Blend it all together and there you have it. Amazing! Feels like you are having dessert for breakfast. :)

I should have taken a picture of it. Maybe tomorrow.

Somebody Got Their First Tooth

Ari had a present when she woke up on her 10-month birthday, her first tooth! Yeah Ari. It is no fun having them come in, but most good things take hard work.

This is Ari enjoying meal time. She loves to put her feet up under the tray and just rest them there.

Oh What Do You Do In The Summertime....

 I love that Primary song. I had a goal this year to do at least one post each month and I was doing good until summer came.... You think you'll have lots of free time in the summer but it gets pretty hectic with all the trips and events. So here are some pictures to help you see what we've been up to these past couple of months. We have been enjoying our summer!

Seth and I celebrated our 5-year anniversary in June. Don't we just look like kids? haha Crazy how time flies.

Seth got Ari and me each our own little bouquet of flowers to celebrate. Seth wanted to be sure he was the first man to give his daughter roses. 

Ari just wanted to eat her flowers.



We went on another hike to Doughnut Falls. It was SO crowded. I don't think I will be doing that hike again any time soon. Granted we went on Memorial Day, which was not a smart idea. I didn't get to see the actual Doughnut fall either since there were so many people it just wasn't worth it.

I went and spent time with Becky who had her baby Lily just two weeks after Ari was born. She wanted me to take some pictures of Lily and she had that cute pink outfit and headband, so Ari borrowed it for a couple pictures. Aren't they just the cutest?

They did good for awhile but then Ari want to grab Lily's binki clip and Lily wasn't having that.

Doesn't Lily's face just say 'Mom, get Ari away from me...'

Ari then proceeded to get her huge alligator tears. Sad but too cute at the same time.

We went to St. George on our way to Texas and we all went to the splash pad. Ari had a fun time in the water.





Kylee and me with our 'girlies'. Millie and Ari are exactly 3-months apart. So fun!



Ari wasn't sure what to think of the water.



Ari showing off her new crawling skills while we all cheer her on.

We also took a fun trip to San Antonio to spend time with Seth's family. We had a great time. It is always so fun to be with family.



Ari after her first ride in an airplane. She did pretty well overall. She decided to dirty her diaper in a major way about 15 minutes after take-off. Very convenient Ari!



This is us at the Alamo.



This is Seth so excited to be at the Alamo.



Marissa and Ari swimming at Canyon Lake. Ari is enjoying eating her rock....until it gets taken away...



So sad. :(



We all stayed in a little cabin by Canyon Lake and had lots of fun doing crafts and just hanging out. This is Seth by the river. We were planning on going canoeing but the lady with the canoes never came back to the office so we never got to go. Bummer. Maybe next time. We had some yummy, authentic carne asada tacos, went to the Riverwalk and the Alamo, went to Freddy's steak burger restaurant twice (it was good) and Ari threw-up in the car ride home from Canyon Lake. That was a first of many, I am sure.

My mom wanted some pictures of Ari so we took some down in St. George, these are just a couple that we got. The one below Ari has some sweet comb-over going on.

This picture reminds me of the really old Gerber baby photos from when I was little that were on the baby food jars. Maybe because she is kind of staring off in the distance or something, not sure why exactly.

Seth and I ran a 5k with Ari in tow. It was for the Utah Crime Victims Legal Clinic. Seth actually got third in his age division and he was pushing a stroller the whole time. We stuck together the first half then Seth just couldn't stand to not try to pass everyone so he went ahead of me and finished with Ari. She loves going on walks in her stroller.

People love to comment as we pass them, like 'wow, we are being passed by people pushing a stroller'. One girl refused to let us pass her. Every time we got close to her, she would look over her shoulder and take off sprinting. Then we would catch up to her and she would do it again. This happened several times until she ran out of gas and we finally got around her.

We did another hike with Seth's cousins (some of the Probst's and Eric and his boys) to Stewart Falls. It was a pretty hike. Ari loves the outdoors.



She was worn out by the end...



This little munchkin turned 8 months!

She would not leave her paper alone and insisted on eating it.

And if I take away the paper, she eats the stick. Can't win. :)

This was her cute face when she realized she didn't like sitting or crawling on the grass. She didn't want to put her hand down on the grass.

Ari had her first trip to Lake Powell this year.

When she gets excited she lifts her arms up in the air. She loved driving down the lake on the houseboat.

She got to help Grandpa McArthur while he was fixing something on the houseboat, if you count holding his tools for him while he worked.  


This is Ari eating her first lime. She thought it was pretty sour at first but then she went to town on it. This was when we were in St. George eating at Hermidas with my family.










And yet another hike! This one was to Twin Lakes up by Alta Ski Resort. This hike we did with some people in our ward up here, and we invited Ben Arnold to come along since he was coming through Salt Lake. He is one of our friends from our Provo ward.


And our little munchkin turned 9 months old!

We tried getting some pictures and she just wanted to eat her headband and her paper, but she looked cute doing it.

So we had to enlist Dad's help.

For how much of a skinny little peanut she was the first 6 months of her life, we never thought she could have such a cute double chin. This one shows it off nicely. :)

I think I need to laminate the little month signs. The 9-month sign never even made its debut before she destroyed it.

We started the 'Insanity' workouts if you have heard of those. I am still going strong trying to be committed for the full 60 days. It is hard to stick with it, it is not enjoyable by any means. Seth will do it with me most days but not everyday, so I am trying to stay motivated. I feel so much better when I get my workout in.

Ari is now into everything and just a ball of energy. I am still getting around to baby-proofing everything.

Ari loves to suck on my phone charger. She heads straight for it whenever we are in our bedroom.

I just love this look she gives me.

Ari also loves bath time. She loves to splash but then wonders why there is always water in her eyes. She hasn't made the connection yet that she is the one doing it.