Aloha!

Last May, we took Jadeyn to the beach for the first time...in Hawaii! Here's our week long vacation in pictures. It was awesome! Enjoy!


Getting ready for the beach already

First plane ride. She did fine once the benadryl kicked in : )

These life jackets are a little top heavy!

In the backyard of our beach house

Jimmy finding a treasure buried in the garden

beaching it with a yummy lunch

decided to trade in mom's sunglasses for a pair of her own

First time to experience sand. I think she likes it!?

Since we're not surfers, boogie boarding is the next best thing

And first time in the ocean. The noise was a bit scary, but no tears! We didn't venture in the water much though

She enjoyed getting her tan on more : )

Mommy did too

Jadeyn's favorite part of the trip? Being NAKED! She was pretty much diaper-less anytime we were at the house.

AHHH! Gorgeous! Our view from the living room

The hot tub was perfect day or night

Settler's is always a fun way to break up the day! Especially with the sound of waves crashing

LOVE this girl! At Waikiki Beach

Uncle Waffles sharing his "puka dog" ~ YUM!

JR learning to surf at Waikiki

loves chasing the birds

A wonderful all-you-can-eat seafood dinner after a long beach day. J loved the crab legs!

My mom spotted this seal right outside our backyard one early morning. It woke up and hurried itself back to the ocean.

Seriously. Gorgeous.

Snorkeling at Shark's Cove on the North Shore. Jadeyn opted to stay in the sand.

We were at a luau and lo and behold, I look over and Jadeyn spotted a broom. How she saw it, I have no idea, but once seen, she had to clean! Ha!

Gah, is she not the cutest thing?

I love you, Jimmy!

Getting down with the "hula"

Love you, Bop-Bop!

"Hi fish"

And love you too, Mimi! (I'm in love with this picture! So funny to me)

Hang loose friends, I'm a natural surfer

Um, the BEST hot dog I've ever had. PukaDog, come to Oklahoma!

The WORLD'S largest maze (Dole Plantation)! I completed it (by cheating), Erik got bored and walked out, Jr and Jimmy didn't cheat, but also didn't finish and the guards had to go in and get them out. Ha!

Got bored of the birds, now she's chasing cats during dinner.

At Waiamea Bay, the waves were crazy big. Erik and my dad both jumped off that big rock! I couldn't tell them the reason I didn't jump was because I was pregnant! Not sure I would have jumped anyway, but...

The surfboard Jimmy found at the beginning of this post? Well, on the last day, my dad attempted to surf it. There was a reason that board was hidden in the garden.

Family Pictures! I love these two!

An amazing trip with my incredible family. I love them so much!

Jadeyn's first birthday!

For Jadeyn's birthday party, we invited family and a few close friends to a nearby park where we served lunch and had cupcakes to celebrate Jadeyn's first year of life. It was a lot of fun and she was AWESOME at eating the cupcake! She received many gifts and did a good job pulling the tissue out of each bag. Probably typical, but was more excited about tearing the paper than seeing what the actual gift was. That changed once we got home and got to open up the presents and put them together. Although the party was at the end of April, it was SO COLD! So we sorta rushed through the whole party, afraid of the rain, and then family gathered back at our house and celebrated some more. For Jadeyn's big gift, us and both sets of families chipped in and we basically "redid" our backyard into a toddler wonderland. Ha! We bought a playhouse, water table, sandbox, slide and swing. She had lots of fun over the last year playing with all her new toys outside.

Check out the cupcake progression...

daddy made her a special birthday breakfast

first time forward-facing! car rides are SO much easier now!

Happy Birthday Jadeyn! We love you more than we ever thought possible!

Part II

Remembering Aug-Dec

August - We found out this month if we were having a girl or boy. We decided it would be fun to have a cupcake reveal with our closest friends and family. It was a lot of fun! I had my friend, Elizabeth, at cuppies and joe, put in PINK icing in the cupcakes and then we had everyone bite into their dessert at the same time. The majority of everyone thought we were having a boy, so it was fun to see the surprise on lots of the faces. We also had our annual float trip with the college group. Jadeyn spent the weekend with her grandma and papa quinn.

September - School starts! Jadeyn moved up to the toddler class and has some amazing teachers! She is loving school and has learned (for the most part!) her colors and shapes. She loves going to music class and singing "wheels on the bus". She also loves to paint. Thank goodness for washable paint! Jimmy and I took a weekend off and went to a lakehouse of some church friends. We had so much fun! We rented a boat and did some water skiing/tubing. Well, I didn't. I enjoyed sunbathing in the boat!

October - Jadeyn and Logan spent their Halloween night together and had a blast! Jadeyn was a puppy dog and Logan was a monkey. They were so cute walking around the Reininger's neighborhood. Jadeyn tried to walk right in to some homes, especially if they had pets. We are still eating through her candy! We also celebrated my Nee-Nee's 80th birthday! We had a big hoorah in Sand Springs with lots of extended family. Jadeyn played well with her 'distant' cousin, Hannah. They are 3 months apart and had fun chasing each other the gym.

November - I started watching a newborn baby this month. Her name is Patterson and she is a sweet baby! It has been a good test for Jadeyn, learning to share her mom with someone else. Hoping it prepares her for her new sister. She loves pushing Patterson in her swing and always trying to give her milk or a pacifier. She (J) is such a good mommy! We also had a good Thanksgiving with lots of families! Jimmy and I ventured out on Thanksgiving night and stood in a super long line outside of Toys R Us, trying to get Jadeyn her big present - a play kitchen - for christmas. I just knew we weren't going to get it, but we did! I was so excited to get it for her! I also picked up my christmas present, early. I had really been wanting a DSLR, so my parents and Jimmy's parents chipped in and helped me buy it. I had so much over Thanksgiving break getting familiar with it.

December - What a fun month we had! Other than me being cranky and not feeling super well and tired a lot...We had lots of christmas parties, performances and presents. Pictures to come!

Month by Month

Since my last post was my time in New York last February, I figure I better do some quick updating from March-January! Let's see if I remember...

March - We went to Tempe, AZ for a spring break mission trip with our college students. Jadeyn went with us! We had a great time, my parents went as the cooks and also watched J if I wanted to get out and do some ministry with the students. She started walking better in March and officially got off the bottle at the end of the month. It was a quick and simple process. The girl is great at transitioning!

April - I actually don't remember when Easter was this year...but I know it was sometime around now. She had her first easter egg hunt at CLC/school. Her and Logan are friends at school and they had fun walking around together, hunting eggs. She caught on pretty quick and grabbed a few out on the lawn at church. We also invited family over one night before Easter and hunted eggs in our backyard. She was definitely a pro that time around. We went "easter egg hunting" a number of times in April. She loved carrying her basket.

She also celebrated her first birthday! A whole post/pictures will be devoted to her birthday party.

May - Our main thing in May was vacationing in Hawaii! We had an awesome time. A future post for this one too : ) We also found out we were pregnant this month. We kept it quiet until we got back from vacation and then told family by letting Jadeyn "announce" it with an "I'm going to be a big sister t-shirt/written note".

June - I tried out 'house cleaning' for awhile. Not my strong suit. In fact, I got hired and fired with 2 different jobs. It was my first "firing" experience. What can I say. I make a better wife/mom than an employee! We did however see the need for some extra money, so I agreed to start watching a new little baby in our house, starting in Oct.

July - Jadeyn met her first cousin! Abel Ross Baker was born July 8 in Tahlequah. We are in love! Jadeyn calls him "Babel" and asks about him constantly. She does like the reassurance that she is #1 in our books though. She saw her 2nd batch of fireworks and stayed awake for them! She was exhausted when it was time to go home.

Next 5 months, next post!

We're Baaack!!!!!

Quite a lot has been happening the last 10 mos, since taking a "much longer than I intended" hiatus from blogging. I kick myself for not returning earlier. The whole point in starting to blog was to preserve memories as we raise Jadeyn and future kids. Sooo. Get ready friends, I'll be updating the last year for awhile, while also trying to update about our new life. That's right! We have another baby!

Presenting:

Miss Brynlee Kate

Born 1/11/11

8:00 a.m.

6lb.15oz.

20 1/2 in

She's beautiful!!! Here's a peek!

Stay tuned...We have pictures to share from Jadeyn's first birthday, vacation to Hawaii, Halloween, Holidays, and whatever else comes to mind as I reminisce over the last year!