Mia Love

No...not the republican running for congress in Utah...but a post all about Mia! I realized that it has been awhile since I've updated everyone on all the new things Mia is learning.

If you can believe it, my baby is now 18 months old! The big thing about turning 18 months is that she no longer has to make all of church miserable for us but can now go to nursery! She of course loves it! Mia has never been one to be really attached to us, in fact the minute we set her down anywhere she seems to start booking it in the other direction. Having a very adventurous toddler is fun but makes it extra hard sometimes when we're out, because we basically spend our time chasing her around, but has been nice for things like babysitters and nursery.

Mia is learning LOTS of new words! It's so fun to one day hear her say a word I haven't really been trying to teach her, but just picking up on things I always so to her. I guess we need to start watching what we say! Her vocabulary includes the following words:

"Daddy"
"Mama"
"Hi"
"Mia" (not sure if she has made the connection yet that she is saying HER name)
"Ba-Bye"
"Here ya go" and "Here we go"
"Tank dou" (Thank you)
"Wee"
"Wow"
"Nigh nigh" ("night night")
"GO!"

She can tell you what a cat, cow and bear say. She has started giving big hugs where she wraps her arms around your neck and now kisses with her mouth closed so they are not as slobbery. Mia can eat a bowl of cereal all by herself with a spoon and can also use a fork. She gets scared when people knock on the door or ring the door bell for some reason. Her favorite movies are Tangled and Finding Nemo and she LOVES to have books read to her, especially "Go Dogs Go" and her Sandra Boynton books. Mia is also getting better at listening to me when I ask her not to do something and even isn't too bad at staying in time-out when I set her in corner. Sometime when I just warn her that if she does something again she will have to go to time-out in the corner she'll walk over to the corner and sit down like she is in trouble already. I have to keep from laughing a little. Lastly, Mia is so playful and loves playing with friends and of course her Dad!

Also as of this week Mia not longer uses pacifiers. Before she only ever got one during her afternoon nap so she didn't really use it a lot anyway, so when she bit through her last pacifier I decided to just get rid of it all together. It only took her one day to really adjust to napping without it and hopefully stays that way!

My favorite thing right now is when I go and get Mia in the mornings or after her naps she holds her blanket up to me and wants me to wrap her in it and snuggle with her for a few minutes. Then she proceeds to give me a big hug with her cute cheesy smile.

Although this girl can be all drama sometimes, nothing has giving me more pleasure then to be her mom. I don't know what I would do when Eric was gone if I didn't have her to keep me smiling, regardless of how tiring it can be some days.

Family Activity #2: Cornbelly's

Instead of our annual Halloween Dinner Party just for the adults, Sara and I opted for something a little more casual and less work this year. We invited friends to join us with their families at Thanksgiving Point's Cornbelly's where fun was had for the whole family along with cookies and hot chocolate. If you live in the Utah County area and haven't been to Cornbelly's its great for the whole family and you can tell they really put a lot of thought into making it "kid-friendly" for all ages.

Although I love to throw a good party, I didn't miss all the stress that comes along with it so this year was a lot more enjoyable. It was also fun to do something with the kids. Since it got dark so fast and we were doing things I didn't get a whole lot of pictures of the night, but a big thanks to everyone who came. We had a blast!

Mia's little buddy Cohen. These two always have a good time together.

Family Activity: Pumpkin Carving

For the first time in what seemed like forever, Eric was finally home this week for work. Last couple times he has been home we've had so many things going we hardly get to do anything together. We were starting to notice the distance in our relationship and decided to make an extra effort to do more things together and as a family when we get the chance.

We kept driving by this huge pumpkin patch down the road we always go down, so one day this week we decided to go and get pumpkins to carve. This was a fun experience then just going to the store and grabbing one, plus was a great out for Mia.

This is Mia's "intense" face.  Boys watch out!

The next night we cleared out a space in our kitchen to paint/carve pumpkins as well as enjoy pizza and some Halloween candy. This night even included the "Family Halloween" pandora channel for some good ambiance music for this festive night. Mia enjoyed playing with the paint and painting her pumpkin, but wasn't too sure about playing with the insides of the pumpkin.

Mia's final product! We taped it before she painted to say "BOO".

My crazy skeleton

...and Eric's scary pirate

Overall this was a very fun and long needed family night! It has gotten me excited for all the holidays coming up and all the fun things we can do together as a family.

Shout out to Sister Medlyn

A couple weeks ago while Eric was in Japan for a business trip Mia and I caught a ride home to Ely with my parents to spend the week there. Not only is it always good to be home, especially during the fall season (one of my favorite seasons for Ely) but I also got to spend some time with my best friend Ashly before she left for her mission to Tallahassee Florida.

From meeting that first day in gym class in the 7^th grade, to weekly movies and dessert binges,  to crazy and unplanned trips, to speaking together at high school graduation, weekly lunches on BYU campus, from weddings, births, funerals and as of most recent a mission farewell besides my twin sister, Ashly is my closest friend.

To celebrate Ashly going on her mission and to have one last girls night before she left Sara, Ashly and I went to the General Relief Society meeting again this year. Traffic was horrific so we were a little late getting there, but it was a spiritually uplifting meeting. I loved how they focused on the atonement and what it can do for us in our lives.

My other best friend who is good enough to also keep me company when Eric is away.

 Afterwards we went to Olive Garden for dinner, but decided not to get as crazy with the ordering as we did last year. Talking miles a minute, lots of laughter and switching stories constantly, I’m sure anyone sitting around us must have thought we were the craziest group of girls. Needless to say we had a great evening!

Anyway, so this post is to a great friend but also an amazing example who has played such a big role in who I am today. I'm excited for Ashly's new adventure and think she will be a strong and faithful servant and friend to those in Florida.