Happy Birthday Daddy!

Dear Kacie,

On May 14th, we flew to AZ. It was my first time flying with a baby and I was doing it alone too! I was really nervous.

I was fortunate to sit next to a super nice lady. She said "My friends call me the baby whisperer" and let me tell you, she was awesome!

Now Kacie, you are basically a perfect human so you did really well on the flight anyway, but this lady loved you.

You even sat on her lap for about 30 minutes of the flight. You also fed her pretzels, put them down her shirt and smeared them on her clothes. And this lady didn't even mind at all!

I mean, it was perfect. It definitely relieved a lot of my feelings of stress!

When we got there it was too late to go see grandma. She was drugged and we were tired.

So the next night we got to go. 

This is her arm. It's so exciting isn't it?

You loved collecting everyone's visiting stickers every time we went!

Ready for bed

My caption for the next picture is:

"No mom, don't put clothes on me! It's sooo hot here!"

But, I put clothes on you anyway.

You love baby einstein!

Also you love chicken!

Bath time

This was at church on Sunday. Your grandpa, Aunt Aub and Uncle Jerm loved having you to entertain at church!

I never realized how much me and Aunt Aub look alike!

When I sent this picture to our families, your Aunt Mallory text back and said "There is clearly an 'M' being formed by her hair. Obviously she is stating that I am her favorite person."

Then we got to go to your Uncle Jerm's seminary graduation.

We would sneak a snack into grandpa's hand, then he would keep it closed. You would open his hand, take out the treat and close it again. We would sneak another treat into it and you would open the hand back up. It was incredibly smart of you! I was so impressed with how easily you learn things!

Me and Aunt Ang had to go run some errands. We found these hilarious hats! We didn't buy it for you because you hated it, but I snapped this picture just in time!

Grandpa's birthday was on the next day. Grandma was still in the hospital.

So we ordered Cafe Rio, made a banana pie, snuck it all into the ICU and partied!

The funny thing about the pie is that grandma told me to make the crust with Nilla Wafers. So I lined the pan with them and poured the pudding in!

Apparently Nilla Wafers float!

Here is the card we made for my dad.

It wasn't exactly the way anyone thought we would spend my dad's 50th birthday, but we were just really grateful to be together and alive!

Your grandpa is an incredible man. He has so much compassion and patience. I hope that you can see that in him and learn to be like him. You are very blessed to have so many family members (on both my side of the family and your dad's side) that love you so much. Not everyone has the opportunities to get to know their families the way you will. Your grandpa loves you a lot!

I saw this shirt at Ross and I really wanted to get it for Aubree… But I guess a picture will have to do!

I think one of the best things that came from this trip was learning how to lock the screen on my iPad! Whenever we Skype, you really like to play with the iPad but if you touch the screen, it would move or close the screen!

It is seriously the best that I can lock it!

I feel like the first couple of days that I was in AZ this is all I did!

Graduation announcements, thank you cards, thank you cards, thank you cards… We had so many wonderful people help us out. It was amazing to see how many people care for my parents. They are amazing people!

I had to walk them to the mailbox one night. It is always funny to make that walk because I walked to that mail box almost everyday waiting for letters from your dad when he was on his mission. Back then it seemed like the longest walk ever!

One day I was trying to get the dishes done. I loaded the dishwasher and grabbed the soap.

In my defense, I just grabbed the bottle closest to the dishwasher. I had no idea that they used packets or something now!

The good news is that your Uncle Jerm was mopping the floor anyway, so I didn't even have to clean it up!

We had to run to the store to get a new mop and you helped Uncle Jerm carry it out of the store. And by 'helped' I mean you actually carried it yourself!

You're so strong, just like Uncle Jerm!

We Skyped with your daddy every night. You would get very excited when I pulled out the iPad. And then when you saw him, you just talked and talked and talked and you'd wave your arms around. It was adorable to see you recognize that it was dad and then be excited about it!

We love you a lot!

Love,

Mom and dad