Feeling Sentimental

Last night at 11:00 PM Cam asked, "Kelle, can you do me huge favor?". Sure...?? "If I go get Millie out of her crib cause I just really want to snuggle her, will you put her back for me?" Haha I love him so much. So of course I got her out and we had a family snuggle session. It was perfect. And our hearts melted the whole time. It made me realize how much our lives revolve around her. We both just love her so much. And even on the days she drives me a little bonkers, I find myself needing her love more than ever. Funny how that works, huh? All my life I had been looking forward to being a mom and having kids, but I totally underestimated the amount of joy a little child can bring. It truly is a miracle!

Last night also made me realize even more that our little Mills is no longer a baby. How did that happen? I love her to pieces and absolutely love the phase she is in, but I still miss her being a newborn.

I miss this.

Millie has decided that everyone is "papa"

Impromptu snuggles

Millie's Christmas present I made her - super fun teepee. I think I might play with it more than her.

When you love the bath so much, sometimes you don't want to get out (even if all the water is gone).

Catch Up - Fall Festivities

I have been absent for a while. Well, a little more than a while. Over the summer life was so crazy, out of control and stressful most of the time. I don't really need to get into details, but I will just say that we were really excited to come back to Utah to our family, friends, and our own little apartment. We were very blessed to stay with another family for free this summer, but it's really hard to live in someone else's house for a long period of time.

Since we've been settled back into our lives in the bubble of Provo, life is just wonderful! We still keep ourselves pretty busy but it's a better busy. If that makes any sense. I am able to stay home with Millie and not have to worry about another job or anyone else's kids. And let me tell you - it is fantastic! I toyed with getting a job just so we could live more comfortably, got a few offers and decided to turn them down. The stress of having to work weird hours part-time, find a babysitter and come home to be a mom/wife was just not worth it. Especially since we are only going to be here until Spring. So Cam and I decided together that it would be better for all of us to let me just be a stay at home mom. And I am so happy about it! Yes, there are still some days that are really hard and I want to pull all my hairs out. BUT any day like that is still 10x better than having to work away from little Millie or worry about other responsibilities. However, I am still grateful for the opportunity I had to work after having Millie because it gave me a great perspective and greater appreciation for everything that mothers do - especially working moms! It also gave me a better appreciation for the chance that I have to stay at home. It truly is a blessing!

I'm done ranting now. I just had to say a little something since it's been so long since I've posted! Fall has been so fun! We've taken lots of day trips up to SLC to hang out with family, played at the park and enjoyed having time to just be together. Although Cam still has a pretty busy schedule, Millie and I still see him a ton more than we did last year. Senior year is great! For Halloween we did lots of fun things - family party, friend party, ward trunk-or-treat, and carving pumpkins. Before having Millie I was never a huge fan of Hallowen - I liked it but wasn't crazy about it. But let me tell you, with kids Halloween is so much more fun!

I know that most of you are only here to see pictures, so here they are!!!

Millie and her 2nd cousin Jonathan at Gardner Village

I think we have to do this for every holiday...

Little Red Riding Hood...she kills me

Still can't believe that Cam volunteered to wear a dress...haha

Getting eaten.

"get candy, get candy, get candy"

Millie and her BFF Harper. They are like sisters. Love each other but hate sharing their toys ;)

The carving crew

I forgot to mention a few things about Millie. Sweet little Mills is turning into quite the....acrobat?? She is CRAZY!!! Trying to climb up on everything, pulling everything out of any drawer that isn't locked yet, squeezing her little body into the smallest, most obscure places, crawling behind any piece of furniture, etc. Haha she definitely keeps us on our toes 24/7. Although it might drive me crazy sometimes, it's still pretty hilarious and makes me fall in love with her even more. She knows when she's in trouble and starts trying to sweet talk her way out of it already. Boy are we in trouble!!! Her little voice and smile melt my heart and can captivate any audience she has. We love her so much - even if she is a wild hooligan ;)

This is what happens if I try to shower while she's awake...keep in mind that she only has access to 2 small drawers. Haha

She loves reading books. And will do it on her own sometimes :)

Her recent obsession is pulling the chair out, climbing on it and quickly trying to climb onto the table to access whatever is up there...big trouble.

Father's Day Weekend

Father's Day weekend was just what it needed to be. The Meyers were out of town so Cam, Millie and I had the house to ourselves. The peace was very much needed and enjoyed :) Don't get me wrong, the boys are very fun, spunky and sweet all at the same time...but just very busy and loud. Whenever they're not around the house is very quiet, almost too quiet. But I won't complain! Haha

We decided to stick around close to town this weekend and just went into Georgetown. We had fun walking around the Georgetown campus and exploring the buildings. There are a lot of really cool buildings with some history behind them, but since it was Saturday not many of them were open to the public. Of course we had to go to the bookstore and buy some Georgetown paraphernalia. We decided to buy a t-shirt from each university we visit. Who knows what we'll do with them all at the end of the summer...maybe make a quilt, or just work out in them until they get too gross to wear in public. Either way it will be a fun way to remember our summer!

Afterwards we walked up and down M street a few blocks. Being Saturday, it was FULL of people. Lots of them. It's a good thing I don't live right in a big city, being surrounded by so many people at one time makes me stressed. Haha it's fun for a while, but if I had to deal with it for a long period of time I might start getting grumpy. Anyways, I really wanted to go get a cupcake at Georgetown Cupcake. Michelle and I went there a few times when we lived here a few summers ago and it was a really fun little shop. Since then it has its own show on TLC and has become extremely popular. Now I didn't take this picture, but that's almost how long the line was to get a cupcake...needless to say, we didn't wait! Cam would not allow it. Not only was there over an hour wait, but the cupcakes were $3 each. Not acceptable in his terms :) So we just walked down the street to another cupcake shop to fulfill the craving. I tried to convince him that buying an expensive cupcake is part of the DC experience, but he still refused to get one.

Georgetown was followed by a yummy Mexican dinner at a hole-in-the-wall type of restaurant. Although the service was terrible, the food was great!

On to Father's Day...I don't quite know where to start. Father's Day this year meant so much more to me than it ever has. Although I have always loved and appreciated my dad for all he has done for me, I never knew how much I actually appreciated it until I had little Mills. He has been such an amazing example of hard work, dedication, loyalty and love. The lessons he taught me throughout the years will always remain with me...even if it's the time he made me go out and do yard work for an hour right after I just showered off from several hours of previous work (towel still on my head). Love you Dad!

And Cam. Oh how I love Cam. My love for him has increased exponentially since our family of 2 turned to 3. It's hard to explain, but I love him more than I ever did before and it's in a different way. I think my heart is starting to understand what eternal love feels like. I know I won't fully be able to understand what that's like on this earth, but my heart grows more each time I see him with Millie. Fatherhood has come very naturally to him and I know that it will only get better in the future. He will be an incredible example to our children, I feel so blessed to have him as a husband and a father to my children. His kind, fun-loving, hard-working and spiritual example to our children is something I always dreamed that my husband would possess. Cam definitely has each one of those attributes and more! So anyways, I guess I'll stop bragging about my husband now. But I just wanted to give him a little shout out and verbalize how much I love and appreciate him.

And I can't post a blog about Father's Day without mentioning the other wonderful father in our life, Curtis! Cam's dad is absolutely amazing and we look up to him in so many ways. He is one of the most self-disciplined and selfless human beings I have ever met. He gives practically every second of his life to serving others - definitely a good example for us as we start our journey of parenthood.

Other than the peaceful home, Father's Day was mostly celebrated with good food. Haha Cam has been super healthy lately, so I made him splurge. Overall, we definitely enjoyed spending the Sunday together as a little family, although we really missed our family members on the other side of the country.

Millie's present to Daddy

Yummy breakfast recipe we copied from a friend...whole wheat waffles and special cool whip topping. SO good!

Dinner - filet mignon from the freezer? Sure. I guess that will suffice :)

9 Months & Lavender Fields

Little Miss Millie is now 9 months! As each month passes I catch myself wondering where the time has gone. It has definitely gone by much faster than the 9 months she was in my tummy...everyone said it would, and I now believe them :) I'm also one of those moms that wants to tell moms with newborns to enjoy every moment because they grow too fast. BUT I have to stop myself because it can get a little old. But seriously, Millie is growing way too fast! She is quickly becoming a little princess and knows how to milk it. Haha it's hilarious how fast babies can pick up on things. She's going to be a smarty for sure.

Here are some of Millie's 9 month marks:

-She can climb stairs
-More stable on her feet when she stands up on things (and can crawl really fast!)
-Noises/words: "baba" and "MAMA!" She usually only says mama when she is hungry or wants something really bad (I guess she already knows who to whine to)
-She will "blow kisses" by smacking her lips, which she also does when she is hungry
-She waves to say hi by putting the back of her hand to her mouth and waving her fingers (cutest thing ever)
-She loves real food: apples, bananas, cheese, ham, anything bread and water
-She's getting her top 2 teeth in and when they come in all the way they're going to be BIG! Haha

For her 9 month photo shoot we took a little weekend trip to some lavender fields an hour or so away. I thought it was going to be larger than it was, but it was still really fun. We got to pick some lavender and most of all, take lots of pictures of Mills. She's getting harder and harder to photograph...there is way too much going on around her to focus on a little lens.

This happens a lot...my hair gets in the way while trying to entertain her

The "hi" wave

So big!

"What is this stuff?"

And some scenery stuff. One of my favorite things about the East Coast is the fact that less than 30 minutes outside a huge city you can run into large farms and rolling hills. So different from Utah! The fields had a little farm next to it with some animals you could pet, Millie loves petting animals! She probably would have eaten the rabbit if we let her.

And of course, I had to add the crib pictures. They aren't very good because this girl will NOT lay down. I can hardly get her to hold still while I change her diaper, let alone to take a picture of her...let the blurry pictures begin! :)

On the run for the monitor

Cameron Junior

Cheeser

This was as close as I got to a laying down shot ;)

Enjoying her big girl food

Bed head...the sign of a great nap

Always on her tippie toes

She found a new toy...the toilet paper roll!

The sumo squat and stair climber

Like father, like daughter?

First ponytail!