My little ice princess!

My sister-in-law Rachele not only babysat for me the other day, but she took Kylee ice skating with her kids!!! She is the BEST! Here are some pictures of Kylee's first experience ice skating!!

Rachele said she was hesitant at first but by the end of the day, she was skating by herself!! She liked it so much that she told David and I that we have to go again sometime. I love it when she tries new things and loves it! Thanks again Rachele for taking her and for taking pictures!! Kylee had so much fun!

Posted against my will....

My Mother-in-law couldn't pull this up on her computer so the only way she can watch it is by me posting it on my blog. I personally can't stand to watch it again!!! It literally makes me sick to my stomach. But for all of you who are interested in seeing what it looks like for a person to get tazed.......ENJOY the following video! This is David doing some "intensive" training! :)

I can't wait!

It might be a little too early to start "pre-celebrating" Christmas but I just can't wait. I absolutely LOVE this time of year! Halloween is just around the corner, which will be followed by Thanksgiving, and then..............CHRISTMAS! The happiest time of the year! I love everything about it......the music, the decorations, the cheerful feeling in the air everywhere I go.......oh how I can't wait! It's amazing how Christmas comes at the most perfect times in our lives. Last year around this time, David was going through hard times at work and was in the transition of having to quit. Times were hard yet Christmas seemed to melt those worries away (temporarily) and we were happy and optimistic! Now, Christmas comes at an even harder time for me in my life. I've been battling infertility for 3 years now and just when I start to think there is light at the end of this tunnel, my hopes got crushed with more bad news. The only thing keeping me sane at this point is realizing the amazing blessings I have in my life with the most amazing husband ever and the most amazing daughter ever. Christmas is the cherry on top that is keeping me happy and excited for the future (near distant future anyway)!

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I'm posting this for two reasons......

A: I'm just too excited about Christmas to hold back on the music and background any longer, and

B: I needed to push the spider post down my page so I don't see that everytime I go to my blog! That spider was freaking me out! (ps - the bug man said it was just a wolf spider.....no brown recluse! Thank goodness! But it's still UGLY and I don't want it in my house ever again!)

Pest control is my friend forever!!!

With the economy being the way it is, we have personally felt the affects of the hard times in our home. However, there's one thing that I REFUSE to cut out of our budget........and that is PEST CONTROL!!! And here is why.....(please excuse the nasty dust bunnies on the baseboard)

Kylee actually saw it first and said......"Mom, what is that!!!!???" I looked at it from where I was and said it was a grass hopper (because it literally looked that big). Then I started walking up to it and it took a few steps and I realized it was the BIGGEST GOLIATH spider I've ever seen!!! I sprayed this sucker to death with my can of bug spray. It paralyzed him a little at first and then he slowly stopped moving and died. He is laying in a pool of bug spray right here!

This picture is just to show you the size of this honker! He shrunk a little after he died so this picture doesn't show the true size of this nasty thing. He was about twice the length of a quarter and as tall as big grape. I only compare it to a grape because there happened to be one on the ground right by him. EWWWW!!! It seriously grossed me out beyond measure. Needless to say, the bug man is getting a nice phone call this morning! Once I discovered this spider last night, I got to thinking and realized that my bug man missed his last appointment. It's been almost 4 months since he came and sprayed my house! He's supposed to come every 2 months! Grrrr!!! I saved this spider to show him.........plus I want to know if this is a brown recluse or not. Yuck!

FINALLY!!!

A couple "finally's" happened for me this weekend. It's nice to have these things crossed off my "to-do" list. Ever since we moved into our house 5 years ago, I've wanted a security/screen door. Every year around this time of year (when it starts to get cooler), I tell myself I'm going to get one. But it never happens for one reason or another. Well, I finally just made myself go and do it! I'm so glad it's finally here!!!

The morning and nightly breezes are amazing!

Thanks to my sister-in-law's father for coming over and helping David install it. They worked for 2 long hours to install this bad boy. It was a task.....that's for sure! I'm so glad he was in town to help us. He loves to work on project's and fix stuff so we figured he was the perfect person to call! Thanks Craig!

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And the BIGGEST FINANLLY to happen this weekend was David's graduation from the academy! It was a LONG 4 months with a lot of stuggles and downs but the end is finally here and Officer Pew is finally official and doing his police thing! I'm so proud of him. Words can't even describe how proud I am. Here is one of the pictures from the day. There are many more to come but I want to get them all first before I post his graduation pics. My sister took some and I took some. So grad pics to come!

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We had a great weekend filled with family and new things. We can't ask for a better family! And I couldn't ask for a better husband. He amazes me day in and day out with how hard he works for this family and with how much love he shows Kylee and me on a daily basis. Congrats to my man!!! I love you David!

Family time...

We spent a little time outside today attempting our second try of teaching Kylee to ride her bike without training wheels. She freaked out most of the time and kept begging for her training wheels to be put back on, so we gave in again and put them back on after a while. She just isn't ready yet!

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I tried first and had no luck so David tried after me, and yep.....no luck!

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We took advantage of the nice weather we are having and spent some time lounging on the grass. Kylee captured a few typical "Pew" moments! I swear we know how to take normal pictures too.......they just don't happen very often! Hahaha!

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Here's a normal picture! See, I told you we have it in us to take normal pictures SOMETIMES! :)

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Our attempt at a family picture...

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Kylee was towering over us as we lied in the grass so I told her to jump and this is what I captured. She's flying everyone! Hahaha

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We brought the spray bottle out with us so that we could spray ourselves if we got too hot, but Kylee decided it was more fun to spray all the ants on the walk-way.

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She'll get ya!!!

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In the end, our fun little trip outside resulted in this.....

.....Kylee just loves her bike (WITH TRAINING WHEELS OF COURSE)!!!

Can't make up my mind

It seems like in the past 10 months, I've had about 5 different posts about my hair. I don't know what my problem is! I usually don't stress or care this much about my hair. Just for a refresher, back in March I started my journey of trying to go blonde. I still had long hair and started dying my hair as light as it would go without turning orange. About 3 treatments later, it was pretty blonde! Well, then I went and chopped my hair off about 2 months ago. Still had the blonde though. And as of 2pm today, I went back to my dark hair. It's about an inch longer than it was in my last hair post and now it's back to my natural color (for the most part). I just can't make up my mind!!!

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And speaking of hair changes........I straightened Kylee's hair for church last Sunday. I've only straightened her hair 3 times in her entire life. I love her curly locks! But it's fun to change it up every once and a while. I don't do it very often because her hair is thicker than mine and it takes me about an hour from wet hair (drying to flat ironing). But it's worth the time spent.......look how pretty she looks!!!

And NOOOOO......I'm never cutting her hair!!! Although Kylee does tell me that "when it's gets down to my ba-hooty, we have to cut it Mom"! Okay fine....... BUT ONLY A TRIM!!!!

Another year of preschool...

Kylee started her second year of preschool last week and she couldn't be more excited! If it were up to this girl, she'd be in 5th grade by now. She LOVES school and can't wait to go each morning. I wish it was everyday. She is learning and growing so much. We absolutely love her teacher!

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Here she is ready to go on day 1 (cheesy smile and all)

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Gotta love the backpack! Pink princesses!!! Her favorite! Thanks Grandma Montez!

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First week is the letter A and the number 1. This is "Alli the Aligator". I posted this picture to show how she writes her name. The "K" is legible for the most part......and I love how she writes her "e's" upside down. This is just so precious to me! She couldn't write her name last year and refused to try it by herself, but now she is taking chances and moving on. I love to see her grow and learn!

Labor Day Weekend....CALI!!!

We had a wonderful (much-needed) 4 day labor day weekend! David was lucky enough to get Friday and Monday off, so we took advantage of this and drove up to California for the weekend. We stayed at David's parents house and visited with them, but we also drove up to San Diego to Mission Beach for an entire day to enjoy some beach time!

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Here is what Kylee looked like on the way to the beach.........she had a smile from ear to ear the entire time!

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Thanks to Nick, we got some great advice as to where to have an amazing breakfast right on the pier. This place was packed! It's called Kono's and the line was wrapped around the building. Apparently it's always like that too. Here is David and Kylee walking to the restaurant.

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Finally......the BEACH!!! Woo hoo!

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We asked some guy to take our picture and this is what he got! Horrible! Hahaha!

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Kylee and David racing to the waves!

Playing in the water!

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Playing in the sand! (yes everyone.....that is what a TRUE FARMER'S TAN looks like! Hahaha!)

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KYLEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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She had a blast!

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Awwww.....the lovely couple!

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We had an "ugliest face" contest! I think I won!

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Precious moment!

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The smoky horizon from the fires just North-West of where we were. Crazy!

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My most favorite temple ever!!! Beautiful San Diego!

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The temple is seriously so stunning! Oh, and Kylee isn't so bad herself! Haha

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I think Kylee's favorite part about the temple was all the beautiful flowers. She's such a girl!

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Kylee's a natural photographer just like her Aunt Nanny!

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Pretty girl!

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The awesome thunder and rain storm (and crazy wind storm) we drove through on our way back from the beach. It was kind of scary to be driving through!

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Kylee giving Grandpa Jiggs the special treatment! Foot lotion massage! Ahhhh!

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Me and my wonderful Mother-in-law!

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Grandma always lets Kylee put on her make-up when we visit. Beautiful Kylee!

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Our little fishy! She loves to swim at Grandma's house!

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Looking stylish in her goggles and floaty!

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Kylee and Grandpa Jiggs! She was his little helper and nurse the entire weekend. She loves to help him!

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Kylee and Grandma Deede! She just loves them to pieces!

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We had an amazing weekend.......and I'm so glad that David got to get away from the pressures of his job. But the weekend ended with a taste of reality as David was studying the entire drive home (I drove obviously). He has 7 tests tomorrow to kick-back him into his normal schedule of craziness! I love you David and I'm so glad you got to take this much-needed family vacation with us! Good luck tomorrow! Thanks Grandpa Jiggs and Grandma Deede for letting us stay with you!! We love you!