Over the Hill

In April, Dan turned 30!!! I had such a fun time teasing him about how old he is. Sad thing, I am not too many years away from that myself. Weird to think how young we still feel but as kids 30 was ancient.

Dan doesn't mind being publicly teased in the least bit so I had to take full advantage by throwing him a surprise birthday party.

These were the invites I mailed out to family. I have been waiting for the right opportunity for years to use this picture of him.

Daphne stayed overnight with her Aunt Nat and Uncle Mike while we went to Park City. It was the first time we left her with someone else overnight. It was a good experience for all three of us. When we arrived back in Layton I had Mike invite us to dinner and say he had coupon we could use. I knew after having spent money in Park City he wouldn't agree to spending more unless it was mostly free!

Dan was quite confused when I had to literally drag him to this weird back corner of Roosters with the curtain closed. It was fun to pull off the surprise. Most of the family were able to make it, which was great.

Pictures of all the guests:



Wouldn't be a party without our friend Mike stealing my phone to take a picture of himself

Only old farts like Tinkerbell

Wrapping up March

Just a few random pictures of March. I am not very good about printing most pictures anymore so if I at least include them here, they will end up printed in our blog book.



She went through a phase of loving to help with the dishes.



Just being cute

Had a fun play date with Karson Deaton

She especially enjoyed riding on his zebra and is now the proud owner of one herself. Silly girl loves to hold crackers in her mouth.

 Hanging out with her Uncle Rueb and Aunt Kamille. In this instance, I think she preferred the carrying methods Rueb used over Kamille.
 

St George- March 2013

Yeah, I am three months behind on blogging. I guess that is what happens after Daphne turns a year old and I stop my monthly posts. Oh well. A lot has happened since then. Hopefully I can do lots of small brief posts and get caught up so I can order another blog book!:)

Back in March, we went to St. George for the weekend to visit Dan's dad and his grandma. Daphne learned a few new tricks while we were there. She learned how to talk on the phone versus just playing with it as well as how to stand up! The second one was much more exciting. I love when Daphne learns new tricks. She is funny to watch. She was so proud of herself that she would squeal and clap her hands, look at us, in hopes we would join her, and then when we did, giggle and clap so hard that she would topple over. Such fun.

She also loved crawling over to her Grandpa's picture table and pointing out her cousin Boston's picture all day long. Guess she missed him:)

We took her to ride the Merry-Go Round, went swimming, visited Grandma Crandall, and went to Zion's while we were there.

 At Zion's, we hiked the three legs of Emerald Pools. Note, in the picture to the right, Paul pushed the stroller (or rather carried it as you could only push it through the first leg before it was mostly climbing) the whole way there and back empty. Yup. Daphne stayed with Dan the whole time! It was funny to watch Paul carry it everywhere. Not sure why he didn't even fold it up.

Second, we hiked to the beginning of the Narrows trail. This time Daphne actually used her stroller. On a side note, we ran into the Barkers from our ward during this trail. It was funny, because we had ran into them pretty much every day of our visit in the most random places. Their kids were ecstatic to see we were on the same trail as them and had to speed up to catch up to us. Small world.

Easter

Yay for Warm Weather!

After such a long winter, we took full advantage of going to the park over a course of about a week, before it got super cold again. Glad we did since we now have snow in April!

First Trip....

We went for family night! Daphne had fun exploring the park with her daddy. We weren't sure if she would remember how much she loves to swing, but once again, she was all giggles and squeals!

Second trip....

We went to the same park later that week with Aunt Nat while Uncle Mike was at school and Dan was out on visits with the missionaries. We had a picnic of chicken noodle soup. A funny food to bring on a picnic but that's what I had cooked for dinner and figured it would be fun to pack it along!

Third Trip...

The next day we were running a little early for an appointment we had in Layton, so what did we do? Went to the park and let Daphne see the ducks.

Fourth Trip....

The next week we met my mom and Aunt Nat at the Layton park again for a picnic prior to us leaving to St. George for the weekend to see Paul. Daphne was excited to get more acquainted with the ducks after our short visit the week before. She kept on barking at the ducks in excitement (any animal that is exciting is a dog apparently).

She also had fun swinging and trying to spill Aunt Nat's bubbles (who cares about the actual bubbles being blown...).

We are looking forward to being able to go to the park lots this summer! If it ever stops snowing, of course:)

Oh baby it's March Madess!

At the beginning of March we learned that good news comes in threes! On the first Saturday, we found out Shannon (Sister-in-Law) was expecting and just the next week we learned of two more! When I say we, I should clarify, Dan and I. Daphne was a little stinker and had known for weeks about one baby but failed to mention it to us:)

 

We got this fun text from Aunt Nat one morning and I may have squealed, just a little! Mike and Nat have been such an awesome Uncle and Aunt to Daphne, that to say I am thrilled for them would be an understatement:) Aunt Nat had babysat for me while I was at work about three weeks prior and took this photo. I can't believe Daphne didn't let her mommy in on the secret!

 I sent a very excited reply to Natalie that basically said "I knew it!" (I had a hunch for a few weeks that she was) and a little congrats as well thrown in there. I guess Uncle Michael thought my reaction was lame (since I was the first person they told, it was supposed to be quite grand....)

So Daphne helped me out and we did a re-do reaction with photos and all. Note, Daphne even work her "My Uncle Rocks" outfit for the photo shoot.

 Then, just minutes after Nat's announcement (which I was told to keep quiet about), I got a call from my Sister-in-Law Cami that she was pregnant but to keep my mouth quiet as well. I was about to explode. By the way, Shannon had told me to keep my mouth shut too (I guess they knew me too well when it comes to wanting to share excitement or something...) so I knew of three babies but no one to tell! And the best part of all of it? Nat is due one day, Cami the next, and Shannon shortly thereafter! I am so happy for the three of them (equally happy, even if this blog post centered mostly around Natalie...I had pictures of her announcement, what can I say?). Daphne is going to love being a big cousin to all three. Can't wait for Oct!

Go Daphne!

While in St. George this last weekend, Daphne had a blast practicing standing up on her own. She has let go of support at times, without realizing it, but will always plop down the second she realizes. Just recently she started getting brave enough to stand up in the middle of the floor all on her own! She was super excited and very proud of herself. Every time she did it, she would clap her hands, look for us and wait until we joined in on the clapping, giggle and bounce until she lost her balance and fell down. A few minutes later she would pop right up again. It was the best part of our trip seeing how proud she was of herself! She is strong enough to walk without support yet, but isn't quite brave enough. Whenever she is ready is fine with me. Now that we are back home and there are stairs to play on (her favorite toy), so she hasn't been standing too much.

Daph is 1!

It's August 19th, 2014 and I just realized I never posted the pictures of Daphne's 1st Birthday on the blog! So here you are:)

My best childhood friend, Jessica Cooper, came and took pictures of Daphne and her decor a few hours before her party. We had a Daffodil themed party since at the time her favorite color was yellow and her nickname is Daffodil. I had lots of fun prepping for her party and making her cake.

 

I had a flower garden of Daffodils that displayed all the monthly photos I had taken of her over the course of the past year.

As well as her invite on a piece of scrapbook paper so the guests could each write her a little note.

 Daffodil rice crispy treats

 

 Daphne riding her favorite duck toy

Cake time! I actually let her dig into two cakes that day. I made 3 cakes total. One for her to dig in for pictures with Jess, one for her to dig in for the party guests, and one for the guests to enjoy.

She was a little hesitant to dig in, which surprised us, since she is the messiest eater in the world. Grandpa Crandall and Daddy didn't seem to have much trouble showing her how to do it. Haha.

Party time! There were many more guests in attendance, like Uncle Rueben and Aunt Kamille, Grandma and Grandpa Jasmer, Uncle Mike and Aunt Natalie, and my Aunt Renae and cousins. I think someone else took pictures for me on their camera, but I can't remember now who would have, so at least I have the below pictures to capture some of the party!

She was pretty obsessed with this toy from my Aunt Renae and kept on going back to it in between daddy "forcing" her to open each gift. I am happy to say though, that this spoiled girl has loved and played with all the toys she was given since.

Her favorite part was all the attention she got. She quickly learned that others were cheering for her as she tried to figure out how to open each gift. So she tested out clapping for herself, which in return, would cause everyone to clap more. She loved clapping and clapping and clapping so that she could get everyone to clap and giggle along with her.

Happy first birthday my baby girl! I can't believe how much you have grown. You are now 2.5 years old and it is so fun to look back on you at your first birthday.