Temple Square

Temple Square is amazing at Christmas time!  We had such a fun night seeing all of the lights and spending time with family.  Dave's cousin Jon made this fun video of us and family as we enjoyed temple square.


Lights at Temple Square from Jon Price on Vimeo.


Some fun pictures from the night.

More One

I can't say enough how I love this little one year old.

Just One

I loved this advice given by our wonderful prophet in the April 2011 General Conference:

To you parents of young children, may I share with you some sage advice from President Spencer W. Kimball. Said he: “It would be a fine thing if … parents would have in every bedroom in their house a picture of the temple so [their children] from the time [they are] infant[s] could look at the picture every day [until] it becomes a part of [their lives]. When [they reach] the age that [they need] to make [the] very important decision [concerning going to the temple], it will have already been made.

I thought what better way to follow this wonderful counsel than by taking Kaia's pictures at the Salt Lake Temple.  The week she turned one Dave and I did just that.  The temple grounds were beautiful with the changing fall leaves and I decided to post just one of my very favorites from the day.

I am so thankful for the importance of temples and also loved this talk because of the prophets comments on the temple being built in Rome, Italy.  My little brother is serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints in Rome, Italy.  To read this talk go to:
http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/the-holy-temple-a-beacon-to-the-world?lang=eng

Here is also just one picture from Kaia's birthday party.  As you can see she loved her chocolate cake with pudding and whipped cream.  Thanks to all of you who came to celebrate with us and for the unexpected gifts!

Change

So I am a little late on this post because Kaia is already one!  Those pictures to come soon!  I can't believe how much she has grown and changed in just one SHORT year.  These were taken at eleven months.  I love the goofy little facial expressions I captured during this shoot.  

Giving kisses.

Ok so you may be wondering why Kaia had her picture taken with a Detroit Tiger.  And maybe not.  Dave bought this little tiger for her when he went to Michigan for an interview for graduate school.  Applying for graduate school has been quite the process and left us wondering many times where we would end up.  First we found out Dave was accepted to Midwestern University in Arizona.  We were not too excited about living in Arizona and with some guidance from our Father in Heaven Dave turned down the offer.  Next we found out that Dave had been placed number five on an alternate list at a school in Oakland, California.  Last year all fourteen of the alternates got in so we thought for sure this is where we would end up and we felt pretty good about it.  Unfortunately this year was not like last year and only one alternate was accepted.  Dave applied and interviewed at Michigan State University and didn't think he would be accepted there because they only accept ten students and have pretty strict requirements.  It turned out he was accepted!  Sometimes it's funny in life how and where you are led.  In the next couple of months our life is going to change a ton but we are so happy to take this next step in our lives and that Dave will be on his way to becoming a Nurse Anesthetist!  We are going to miss our family, friends, and Utah so much but are excited to explore Michigan(thankfully not Detroit) and to have this adventure together.

                 This blog will most likely have some changes too as we know some of those at home will be missing us.  We hope :)  We certainly will miss everyone!  Let us know if you still read our blog and still want to in the future.  

Where we go, she goes- Part 2

I complained a lot about how long winter lasted because it was inhibiting us from hiking and getting along with the summer activities we love. We loved our season of skiing and got to go every week but when it's time for hiking it's just time!  My attitude changed after seeing what a beautiful green summer we had. The flowers were more beautiful on some of our hikes than I have ever seen! We feel so lucky to be able to get up in the mountains as much as we do and do the things we love.

Gobbler's Knob.

Hike up to Twin Lakes, then to Twin Lakes Pass, then down by Lake Solitude.  Photo with Silver Lake in the background on the way up.

We do love our mountains!

Our Family

I have loved all the sunflowers that have been around lately and loved the photo I took of Kaia in a field of sunflowers (below) so I decided it would be fun to take some similar family photos.  I thought they turned out fairly well considering I used a tripod with the camera on timer.  Of course my mom was there to make Kaia happy!  We are still so grateful to have her as part of our family.  She is truly a blessing!

Ten Months

Nine Months

The Subway

We recently went on a fun adventure in Zion's National Park.  We got permits to the Subway and took Dave's Dad, his brothers Brett, Mike, Dan, & Darin, our sister in law Tiffany, our nephew Devin, and my sister Alex.  We originally had planned to go in June but couldn't because it was flooding which made it so there was more water than normal when we did go.  There were lots of tadpoles and little frogs jumping around and we even caught a horny toad.  What a fun day!

Sawtooth Mountains

I should have come up with a more exciting title for this post since this one comes up every summer but I am not feeling very creative at the moment. Every year we look forward to going on our Badger family camping trip to the Sawtooth Mountains. We always have a blast and this year was no exception. This year everyone was able to come + Dave's Dad - Zeke (serving an LDS mission in Italy). Rather than bore you anymore I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Where we go, she goes!

Kaia loves being outside!  If we walk past the door without taking her out for a little walk she will start to cry.  One of her favorite things to do is sit on the front porch swing.  She loves to sit on the lawn as long as her skin isn't being tickled by the grass and for some reason she loves to eat it.  So naturally she loves to go hiking with us.  We take her everywhere.  Here are some of the hikes we have done so far this summer.  

8 Months Old

Fish Lake

At the end of June we went on a camping trip to Fish Lake with the Hansen Family. Every year more family members are able to come and it was fun to hang out with everyone this year.

St. George Seven

We are a little behind in the blogging world. In June we took a quick trip to St. George with some of my family and did some swimming and a short hike to some petroglyphs. It was Kaia's first time swimming and she absolutely loved it! Kaia had recently turned seven months old and we went to a fun park to take some photographs of her.

Big Blue Eyes

The other day Kaia was playing in her chair and I looked over at her and noticed this great light shining through the window making her eyes pop! I grabbed my camera and got some shots.

Firsts

We have enjoyed all the "firsts" with our little girl. We had a great Easter. Kaia's Aunt Alex bought her a cute little Easter dress and her cousin Braxton a matching tie so they could get their pictures taken together. The Easter Bunny brought Braxton a real bunny that they loved playing with. Or should I say Kaia loved to grab it, pinch it, and pull it. It passed the test on being a good pet!

Kaia's Uncle Robbie returned home from his mission in Germany. Her Uncle Zeke recently left to serve a mission in Italy and her Aunt Heather returned home from serving a mission in California.(still need some photos with her) I am so proud of them! They have helped to make a difference in so many peoples lives. I wish I could tell everyone I know about the gospel! I know it changes lives! I don't know what I would do if I didn't have the knowledge that we have a loving Heavenly Father and Savior, that we have a living prophet, that families are forever, that this life is not the end and we will see our loved ones again. I am so proud of them but glad they are home!

We took Kaia on her first camping trip to Capitol Reef. We had fun hiking together and Kaia did great in her new backpack! We can't wait to go again!

Our little girl is six months old! She is so happy and so much fun to have around! We are so blessed! She loves talk and roll around and almost has the sitting thing down. We love her so much!