Kaiden's New Toy and Walking Officialities!

Today Darren declared that Kaiden is Officially "walking!" Our DR told us he was officially walking yesterday! I think I'm holding off my officiality to the day when he can take more than 10 steps. Lol.
Also, Kaiden is LUVIN' his new toy! Here is a montage clip of him playing wih his new favorite toy! The first clip he was kinda scared of it, but after that he wouldn't stop turning it on and dancing to the music and chasing the balls that fly off!
Enjoy!

Sorry that it just cuts off so abruptly. I really needto invest in a good Movie Maker type thing.

I also wanted to add that Laura and I will be having a Bake Off this saturday to see (and to just test recipes for funs) who can come up with the better version of Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes! I won't let ya'll in on my recipe or plan of attack due to my fear of sabotage, but I feel I may already be in the lead due to Laura's last experience with cupcakes! Burn! (Just playful Banter! =) lol Luvsies Lou Lou!) Also I hear talk of the pair of them starting a baking blog called Love & Chocolate.

TTFN!

9 Month Check Up, Toys and Errands

Today Kaiden had his 9 month old checkup!! Okay he is 10.5 months so we're a little late but there weren't any shots so we're all good! He is 29 inches tall (60th percentile) and weighs 19.4 lbs (20th percentile). He is one long and lean lil man! If we're lucky he has my mom's genes and will be taller than us! Haha. The DR said he is advanced for his age both physically and mentally. She was surprised to see him walking and babbling all over the place. lol Its always good to hear your child is ahead of the game. He is healthy and happy as a clam except he has a really bad yeast infection thats been caused from all the upset tummies he has been getting since he started teething. At the end of the appt they had to prick his toe to draw blood to test his iron, which is also really good. He didn't cry just whinced, but I still felt really bad. We grabbed his prescription (for his infection) and left. =)
We headed for Babies R Us to get some formula and then to Target because I really wanted to pick out a toy for Kaiden. I know the toe prick didn't hurt him but I guess it was more to ease my own mind. LOL. Plus I like having age appropriate toys around the house. =) I found this really cool toy that you drop these balls into and they twirl and whirl down and then they POP up! It's way cool and was just the toy I was looking for! Kaiden learned how to use it very fast. This kid is a sponge! haha. =)

So then we drove home and I start getting the box opened and assembling the toy and I find out it requires D Batteries! Who ever have these on hand!? lol But I also had forgot the most important thing! Kaiden's prescription! Oh Snap! So I loaded Kaiden back in the car and drove to the Walgreens around the corner. (Have I mentioned how much I love being close to everything!? It makes random trips like this sooo much more bearable!) lol. I'm actually glad I went there anyways cause it only took 10 mins for them to fill our prescription AND they were having a buy one get one free battery sale! I must have been destined to go there! Haha. The 10 min wait was sooo nice, Im so used to the 1 hr minimum wait that we always had in Rexburg. I had forgotten how nice city living is!
So as far as new things Kaiden has picked up over the past few days, he can play catch, well he tries to throw the ball back to me instead of rolling like he was doing. We're still working on his "pitching arm! He also has these "Mega Blocks" (like leggos on steroids) lol and he use to just chew on them but he recently learned that they are also stackable! haha. My lil builder!
Well, thats it for now!
TTFN!

Schwooooop! My Birthday!!!

Yesterday was my 22nd Birthday! It was such a fun day! Ashlea was with me all day and Darren left for work early so he could get home early at 12:30! He picked pizza for lunch on his way home! Lol. He knows my love for pizza but I had forgot to mention that I has asked Laura to pick up a pizza for dinner from The Brick Oven on her way home from work. We definitely took Pizza Friday to the next level! Haha. Anyways, we wanted to do a bit of shopping before Laura got here but before we could go out, Darren had to finish some homework. So to keep myself busy, I cleaned. Yup, I did one of my least favorite activities on birthday! I guess when you get older and have families birthdays change. When I was little birthdays were about getting to ride in the front seat all day, getting out of chores, and having the day be all about you. Now birthdays are mostly the same as every other day. I still have to keep up on housework, Kaiden still needs bathed, fed, changed, etc... It didnt feel like a Birthday.... yet! So after he finished (which took forever. lol) We stopped by Target to pick up my present from his parents. A heavy duty rolling pin! Can you believe Darren and I have made it through 2 years of marriage without one? lol. Dena also made me a beautiful apron! Then we jetted over to the mall to shop around. Ash found some clothes and Darren bought some new Skull Candy headphones, but I just couldn't find anything I really wanted. So we left cause Laura was waiting at our house! Needless to say the Brick Oven Pizza was delicious! ANd dessert was just as good! I had made Cake Bites to look like mini cupcakes and I also made Brownie Batter Ice Cream! YUMMMMM!After Darren and I ate, we skadaddled outta there (leaving Kaiden to be babysat by Laura and Ashlea). We went to the Gateway Mall and shopped at my favorite store, The Buckle! Where I found clothes I just had to have! Aftewards we went and saw Eclipse! Which was sooo good! I just love spending time with my hubby! It's nice to get out of the house and just be by ourselves! =)
It was just the perfet ending to a birthday! Spending time with the Hubby!
Thanks everyone for the birthdays presents, shout outs, calls and loves!!!!

Feeding My Baking Addiction

So baking is kinda my thing! I love sweets and anything delicious! Today I spent hours looking up the recipe I want to try for my birthday cake. Darren hates cake because its too dry and airy. He really prefers a very dense, moist cake. So I've been looking up cakes to make us both happy. Here's the one I'm thinking of trying out. Using 2- 9 inch pans instead of a bundt!! =)
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Too-Much-Chocolate-Cake/Detail.aspx
While looking up recipes, I came across a blog that I believe was made for me! It is bakerella.blogspot.com I can't find how to follow her but I won't forget the website that's for sure! To back track a little, Laura loves, and got me and Darren hooked on these little bites of heaven called Cake Bites that are sold locally in Provo at The Sweet Tooth Fairy. Well although they are addicitve they are extremely expensive (we're talking $1 per bite size morsel!) and I've been looking up recipes online for forever to attempt to make them at home for super cheap! And Bakerella has solved my problems! You can make 40-50 Cake Bites for less than $5! I encourage everyone out there to try these! Really! You won't regret it!

Okay moving on.... Kaiden is doing really good! Today we stayed at home and snuggled all day! I believe I've mentioned how much he loves opening and closing doors, haha. Well today he crawled into his room and shut the door behind him. So to play along I knocked on the door and started to slowly open it. And he stood up and opened the door for me to come in, lol, with a huge grin on his face. He is soo funny! Oh and today he started biting my toes. Really weird, I don't know what he was thinking, but it was really ticklish so I started laughing . And my boy loves making me laugh so of course he tries to go back for more and continues to attack my toes! I had to distract him quick so he would stop. lol. Oh my, I fall more in love with this kid all the time. His personality gets cuter and sweeter everyday!
Today I found out when my parents are coming to town! Darren and I love having family in town. Probably because its a break from the same ol' same ol' and well, becasue we love them! Turns out my parents have different agendas for July so they will be flying out seperatley at different days. I'm hoping they will overlap so we can go do something fun!
Well Kaiden's asleep and Darren and I are snuggling with bowls of spaghetti and about to put on "our show", Heroes!
TTFN!

Kaiden is taking STEPS!!!!!

Okay so I've told ya'll how he has taken one or two steps here and there, well yesterday I was just playing with Kaiden and he took 4 steps all on his own towards me. Good thing Darren was there, he would have been upset to have missed this! So Darren and I had Kaiden "walk" back and forth between us. He is still learning, but he did take 6 steps one time!!!! It won't be long now!
Today Darren spent the day playing "handyman" and Ashlea had spent the night so I was playing with her when Laura called and asked if she could come up and see us! Well of course I can't resist a chance to hang with my bestie! So we all had lunch, (after I dropped Darren's off to him!) played at the mall and shopped around. I love hanging with her, she makes my day! It is so great being around family and good friends. It makes the day go by so much faster and that much sooner that I get to see my LUV!

To the ZOO!!

So today is July 3rd and since July 4th lands on a Sunday this year, everyone is celebrating the special holiday today, which also happens to be Kaiden's 10 Month mark!
Well this morning we woke up and went to our ward's 4th of July breakfast. It was nice to run into the people we knew and to meet new ones as well. The breakfast was scrumptious and was a great way to begin our way amazing saturday!
Since we had gotten up so early and were all ready for the day, and since the weather was super nice (as in, not too hot, high of 82!) I suggested we go to the zoo!
It was soo much funn! We ended up spending over 5 hours there which is good cause it's a pretty small zoo to begin with. I think Kaiden liked the zoo, since he wasn't at all fussy and was just "chill" the whole time. He loves being outside and people watching and the animals weren't too bad. lol. His favorite part was probably the Bird Show! He really liked having the birds flying all over and swooping right above our heads! Darren and I made sure to stand in line early to get decent seats and good thing we did, cause we got the best in the house! We also got to meet the new baby elephant, Zuri, that is the same age as Kaiden, 10 months! She was pretty cute! All the other animals were pretty fun to watch however half of them were sleeping. Major Bummer. On the plus side, Darren and I got our exercise in and I also got my tan on! However, the most important "plus" is spending time with our lil family! =) To finish off our Zoo Trip, we took the train ride which Kaiden reall really liked!!
When we got home, we put Kaiden to sleep and threw some veggies and BBQ ribs on the barbie for a true American way to end this special holiday!
We also detailed Darren's truck which pretty much took all night!
The only question now is should we wake Kaiden up later to watch the fireworks.....? lol. I guess we shall see!

****Update****
We did end up waking Kaiden for the firework show! I found a show that was only a 5 min drive away! Darren and I happened upon the perfect spot!!! It was a dark back parking lot that was so close to the fireworks. We could even see the ground show! We just laid a blanket down in the back of our truck and enjoyed the show! Which was pretty good! Kaiden was a little fussy since we had woke him up but once the show started he was locked on and since we were so close I had to cover his ears because they were so loud! It was a great way to end the night!!
TTFN!!

You scream! I scream! We all scream for ICE- CREAM!

Well today has been eventful. I turned down the job offer at Babies R Us. Just trying to get babysitters and everything all "worked out" didn't really "work out". lol. So looks like its just gonna be me and the Roo-ster! As much as I love working I realized that I dont really miss it as much as I though I did after all. =)
Yesterday Kaiden took a few unassisted steps! They were just here or there and only one at a time but walking has to be near! He is also standing for longer periods of time and today he threw a new one at me! Standing while drinking his bottle! Okay maybe ya'll don't think that is a big deal, but come on! He has to balance himself as well as holding a tilted bottle! Now thats pure skills to thrill! He also has mastered walking while only holding one hand! To be honest we know he can walk without our help since he barely even holds on to our finger, so I'm guessin he is just nervous about walking on his own. I keep thinking, "today is the day!" But maybe he is saving that whole walking business for my birthday present or something. Which, P.S., is in exactly one week! lol.
Oh and if you remember Fridays are our Pizza Days and we ordered Papa John's! I forgot how much I LOVE their pizza! lol. And for dessert I made ice-cream! I tried a recipe that has a light, mousse kind of texture. Oh my gosh! To die for! And for Darren I bought Reese's PB Cups to top it off with and, well, WOW! Why did we ever buy ice-cream from the store!? We should have invested in one of the puppies years ago!

P.S. Target is selling Sunbeam brand ice-cream makers for only $20! If any of you decide to buy one of these dream machines you have to try this recipe!!!!
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocolate-Velvet-Ice-Cream/Detail.aspx
(Just read a review from this recipe that said one person made this recipe without an ice cream maker and had superb results! Best of Luck!)
TTFN!!