Kalai's First Debut

To Nursery! The picture above was taken after we got home from church today. You can see how happy she is! Now that she is eighteen months old Kalai is in a Nursery Class at church. Today was a bittersweet day for me. I knew I was gonna miss Kalai but at the same time I knew that having Kalai in nursery would help me be able to fulfill my Church responsibilities. I am the YW secretary and I work with the girls on their Personal Progress. So every week I try to pull the girls aside and get updated on what they have been working on. Things went more smoothly today and I got alot more done without having to chase Kalai down the hallways. But what really helped the most was knowing that Kalai was going to have a great time. And we were right. All her nursery leaders told us that she did just fine. When I walked in to pick her up, she was dancing. As soon as she saw us, Kalai wanted to show us all the new toys in the nursery room. Kalai is a super social little girl so I knew that she would love all this playtime with kids her own age. To prep for nursery, Michael and I have been teaching the nursery lesson that is going to be taught to her ahead of time for Family Home Evening and then I try to do a quick review everyday. Also, we taught her the song Popcorn Poppin' which is a popular nursery song. She can sing some of the words and do the hand motions too. She got a little shy for the video camera but if you watch the video, you can see her sing her little heart out!

And here are a few quick shots Michael took of us.

Proud of my Baby Girl!

"One of these things is not like the others,One of these things just doesn't belong, Can you tell which thing is not like the others?"-Sesame Street

"One of these things is not like the others,One of these things just doesn't belong, Can you tell which thing is not like the others? By the time I finish my song?"
-Sesame Street Song



About three years ago Michael and I went shopping at one of our favorite stores IKEA and saw this kitchen table set. This is an image I found of the kitchen table online.



We absolutely loved it. However when we bought it there was one little problem. Can you spot it?

Here's a hint.....


Ugh! Our chairs don't match! Of course that was never our plan. When we bought the table Ikea told us that they did not have any matching chairs in stock but since it was a popular table the employee promised us that they should have a new batch delievered in no time. So we went ahead and bought the table planning to buy the matching bar stools later. Weeks later, I stopped by Ikea again to buy the stools and they were still out of stock. So a month or so later I stopped by again and still no chairs. But this time I got the sad news from a different Ikea employee. Ikea had discontinued the Ensta Line and we would not be able to find matching stools. I was disappointed but Michael and I realized there wasn't much we could do so we bought some stools that would do the job even if they didn't match. But there's good news! For Christmas, Michael's parents searched around and found some matching chairs for our table!!! I love them so much more than the orginal stools too! Thanks Julie and Larry! So here's a picture of our new matching table and chairs! Ta da!


P.S. I painted the wall in the background! I love how it turned out.

They also bought and painted another piece of furniture for us which I am really excited about. It hasn't arrived yet so I'll have post a picture of it later. Also, I decided to include a picture of our new couch we bought a while ago. I have had some requests to post a picture of it so my family members can see it.





Also, just for fun I decided to post a couple pictures of Kalai's room. When I was pregnant with Kalai I never really got to "nest" since I knew we were going to move one month later. So since I never posted a picture of Kalai's nursery I decided now would be as good time as any.



Last but not least I have to post a couple of pictures of my cute baby girl!

45 Days of Christmas!

"Truly He taught us to love one another, His law is love and His gospel is peace."






This Christmas Season has been a crazy busy time of traveling for our family. Within the last two and a half months Kalai and I have been visiting family for 45 days! First we went to Utah to visit my sister for three weeks, then to California (2 weeks) to visit my parents and grandparents while Michael was taking finals. Then my family flew into Birmingham and we headed for Panama City (8 days), Florida for Christmas and New Years. It was the first time my sister had ever visited Alabama so of course we had to show her the sights. We took her to The Civil Rights Museum (which was amazing and I highly recommend everyone going), 16th Street Baptist Church, The Culinard, The Vulcan, Chuy's and ate plenty of southern food! In Panama City we went here

Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum and had a Blast! Adventures included a ropes course and laser tag and much more!
We also went here...

But we spent most of our time here...


Saying good-bye to my family was tough but luckily we had the Brown Family Christmas to look forward to! We spent a couple days there totaling up to 45 days. Here are some more pictures from our travels!











We are so thankful for the Christmas Season which helps us reflect on the birth and life of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are excited to see what adventures the year 2011 brings us and wish everyone a Happy New Year!