Zoey's first birthday

Wow! I can't believe it has already been a year! My little girl is getting so big! We had a really fun day with her! We started the day by singing happy birthday to her, then I made her some scrambled eggs (she has never had that before). She loved them! Then we skyped grandma and grandpa Stegen and opened the present they sent (cute blanket, book, card, and outfits). We played until naptime. Dad came home from school and we all went to the Greenbrier toy store...way fun! She loved playing with all the toys and seeing the giant stuffed dogs. She loves puppies! Now she sees them and says "woof woof!" The chocolate shop gave Zoey a free delicious chocolate lollipop:) After the Greenbrier we took Jason back to school, Zoey napped again, and I made Zoey's Elmo cake. We had a party for her that night with our friends and their kids, it was so much fun! We sang to Zoey and she had a funny look on her face, not knowing what was going on. We gave her cake, but it was pretty uneventful. She didn't even get messy...not like Zoey! Anyway then she opened a few gifts and played with her friends the rest of the night. She was so tired at the end of the night that I took her into her room and she reached for her crib! I love my Zoey girl! She is so smart and goofy! She learns so much everyday! Some things she can say: Mommy, Dada, bye-bye daddy, Hi, backpack, map, no-no, num num or yum, ball, doggie, hot, boogie (when dad is cleaning her nose!), owie, and some others I can't think of. She loves to give kisses and blow kisses (says mwah), wave, throw balls, kick balls, starting to run, plays peek a boo and says boo or baa, airplane with dad, plays pat-a-cake, eating pretty much anything now, can push play on the dvd player to play her elmo movie, loves to read her books with mom or by herself, swimming (can't get enough of the water) and she loves to dance! Those are just a few things she does! What a year- she has learned all of these things, been to california, st. george, virginia beach, Richmond, DC, and Utah a couple times of course. She has done well with all of the plane rides... lets hope it stays that way! Jason and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect daughter:)

Christmas 2010

Well we had a good long Christmas break! We left good old West Virginia on the 18th to fly home to Utah for Christmas. We flew out of DC so we had a good little drive (4 hours) thankfully we got to stay at the Gilbert's home once again to break up the trip a little bit. Anyway Zoey did a really good job on the flights. She slept the entire flight from Dulles to Denver (awesome). Jason's parents picked us up from the airport and took us to a really good pizza place in SLC! I had been craving GOOD pizza for a long time so thank you Hyde's! We surprised my parents by coming a day earlier than they thought. It was pretty funny, we had Zoey in her car seat all bundled up on my parents porch. We rang the doorbell and hid. My mom opened the door and just stared for a minute, not knowing what to do! She didn't even realize it was Zoey until Jason and I came out. We got some good sleep that night because we were so exhausted from traveling! The next day all of the festivities began! We had party after party after party! Between the two families it was craziness trying to make it to everything, see everybody, and have a relaxing vacation at the same time. All in all though we had a great time and we all got spoiled. Hopefully our families didn't feel like we were rushing away from them all the time :) Both families were so accommodating and understanding. We love you! Zoey had warmed right up to everybody! She loved being the center of attention! Now that we are home and I am the only one around she doesn't know what to do with herself... she must think I am sooo boring! Zoey got so many cute toys and outfits for Christmas. She loves stuffed animals and dolls! Every time she opened one she looked at it said "ohhhh!" and then gave it a hug. She makes me laugh! She also likes to give the "babies" to other people to hug and kiss, but they have to give them back right after. She got a new snow suit, a coat, and a bunch of new shoes. So clothes, toys, books... the list goes on and on. Jason and I also got spoiled! I won't list everything, but I will name a few Jason- a Flip, clothes, shoes, way fun board game (Ticket to Ride), and books. Shay- nice knife set, Food dehydrator, Pedicure, barefoot running shoes (don't know what they are called), and clothes. Jason and I weren't supposed to get anything for each other since we bought plane tickets home, but he broke the rules and "Zoey" got me a Garmin Forerunner GPS/heart rate monitor! I was so excited, but so mad at the same time! Budgets and rules never work with Jason, he always over does it:) After Christmas things slowed down a little and we saw some friends and relaxed before we flew back to DC. We had so much stuff that we ended up paying $250 just for our bags!! (Well there goes all our Christmas money! Ridiculous!) Oh well, I guess next time we will plan better:) On a better note, we flew back on the 31st so we spent new years eve and new years day in DC. Our hotel was fancy so we swam, relaxed and then saw a museum or two before heading back to Lewisburg. I am still trying to adjust to regular life! I have been taking care of a sick baby, getting sick, speaking in church, and trying to find a place for all of our new goodies from Christmas! I think that about sums everything up! Zoey's birthday is Thursday so I will most likely post again soon. I can't believe my baby is already ONE!