Pigtails and Baby Dolls

I just had to share these pictures of my baby looking more like a little girl. She is very confident in her walking skills and now toddles behind me all over the house. Now that she is so mobile I am finding toys stashed all over the house in strange locations. I found her stuffed teddy bear in the dishwasher, I guess he needed a bath. She is turning into quite the ham, can anyone think of where she possibly got that trait? She is so much fun, Stephen has told me on several occassions he would be perfectly happy if we had 10 more litte girls. He better be careful what he wishes for!

A picture is worth a thousand words

Here are some pictures I couldn't resist sharing from Christmas morning. Yes, she did climb to the top of the box and slide down quite a few times. I adore the innocence and joy of this age, she could care less if she got presents she just enjoyed playing with the boxes.

Go Tanner

I know that January is half over, but I can't let this pass by without mention. In December, along with everything else, my brother Tanner graduated from ASU. I am so proud of him! He has worked full time throughout college, bought a house on his own and now has finished his course work and joins me as a first generation college graduate. Go Tanner and Go Mom and Dad for raising such a hard worker.

Samuel

Stephen and I were so sad when our friends Bill and Krissy moved to Ohio, which was only compounded by the fact that Krissy and I were both pregnant and I was looking forward to our babies playing together, well this Christmas my wish came true. They all came out for a wedding and Christmas and we were able to spend a few hours together. Yeah! It was fun to see Sam and Malia interact, they weren't quite sure what to do with each other. Malia did give her first hug to Sam without any coercion, so dang cute! One of those moments I wish I could have caught on camera. She reached over to him and gave him a hug, but in her excitement she forgot to let go of poor Sam and it morphed from a hug into a chokehold. I am choosing to remember the hug, and I am sorry Sam, what can I say she likes you.

Christmas Eve

One of my favorite memories from Christmas is that Santa comes to the Broughton Family Christmas Eve celebration every year (for the past 50 years or so). Santa usually brings a special gift that you are allowed to open Christmas Eve and a magic orange that will help you sleep, so that Santa can come to your house later in the evening. Malia will need a few more years to appreciate this tradition as you can see from the picture below! The other pics are just her dressed up for the evening, yes, she did have the cutest red shoes with a rhinestone buckle but I couldn't keep them on her. Malia preffered taking them off, chewing on them and throwing them across the room instead of wearing them. I wasn't going to push my luck, after all she did leave the bow in her hair for more than 30 seconds!