"mommy, mommy, my ponytail is too tight..."

So, today i put Leah's hair in a "ponytail" for the first time...just a teeny tiny litte one on the top of her head, but i thought it was so cute. The front of her hair isn't long enough yet, so she had a few bangs, but i think it worked well for the most part. And, about 8 hours later, it's still in tact. yay!

p.s. mom, i now understand why you made Kelli's and my pigtails/ponytails so tight...sorry for all that complaining...

in other news...we're off to Sacramento tomorrow for the big race. ryan is running the marathon relay with 3 others as well. wish us luck!

"you've GOT to be kidding me"

...that's what leah said when the pediatrician told her she was in the 0.23 percentile for weight today. yes, i said zero-point-two-three-percentile. i knew she was little, but come on! we have a new diet regimine for her to follow and will have a weight check in two weeks to see if she has gained anything. the doctor would like to see her in at least the first percentile...i told her that means she only has to be able to beat up one out of 100 babies. that's doable.

if any of you mothers out there have good ideas to fatten this girl up, let me know!

and this is the face she pulled when she found out how large and in charge she was...

(if you're interested, she is now 25.5 inches long...2nd percentile and weighs just under 14 pounds. her head is in the 25th percentile, so at least she's smart, right? hehe. and let's give her a little credit here...i think she lost at LEAST a pound this morning after ryan changed her diaper.)

9 months

indesign is back up and running; and for that, i am grateful. our little 9 months old enjoys any and all foods. she hasn't quite figured out the opposable thumb, so she grabs the food, squishes it in her fist and then proceeds shove her entire hand in her mouth and scrape off the food. still no teeth (she's asking for her two front teeth for christmas). still no crawling (we're just fine with that). she is rarely found with her mouth closed and is always talking or singing (or yelping). she loves shaking her head no and loves when we say bye bye or play peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake. she enjoys books more and more every day and gets so calm when i sing to her. her smile is contagious and she seems to make friends wherever she goes. she is such a blessing.

turkey trot

knowing we would most likely overeat later in the day, we decided to run a quick 5k on thanksgiving morning to burn those extra calories. we ran with scott and rachel mcphie (pictured) and paul and kristin hepworth. i had a p.r.: 26:40! yaaaaaay!

a day of thanks

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and have so much to be grateful for. Pictured are some highlights of Leah's day: eating "turkey and vegetables" (yes, i bought her that specific baby food for her first turkey day!), playing in the park, bathing with her boyfriend (and then sleeping in the jammies he wore at 8 weeks old) and just being cute.

We had dinner with 5 other couples from our ward and everything was so delicious! It's so nice to know that even though we weren't with extended family this year, we have good friends to keep us company. Rachel did such a great job on the turkey!!

Things I am grateful for:

10. A warm home and food on the table every day

9. Ryan's job

8. A body that functions properly - I am continually amazed at the human body and how it can be pushed and strengthened and used for our benefit and the benefit of others. I also realize more and more why it is so important we take care of our bodies.

7. Mothers - I realize more every day how wonderful mine truly is and how much I have to learn

6. Fantastic friends - both near and far

5. Two wonderful families: the Kinnersleys/Hauleys AND the Laytons

4. My health

3. Leah - her smile brings such joy to my life!

2. Ryan - he is so wonderful and works so hard both at his job and at home...I coudln't ask for more.

1. The Gospel of Jesus Christ - without it, I am nothing

2,344...

...is the number of jumps I completed while jumproping today.

I needed to shake up the workout regimine a little bit and i have a semi-busy day ahead of me (but i still have time to blog, of course); so i couldn't take a ton of time out to go running mid-day (and, when running with leah mid-day, it takes a lot of time out...promise). So, i decided to jump rope outside of her bedroom window during her morning nap. i set my stop watch (yes, julia, i got a stop watch!!) to 30 minutes and off i went.

Can i just say that jumping rope as a 26 year old is much harder than jumping rope as a 6 year old? I was the third grade champion for those jump-a-thon things when i was little and don't remember sweating or being tired at all. not the case today.

I did go 412 jumps without messing up, though. yay. and now leah's awake. perfect timing.

a little bit of leah

so, i wanted to upload some videos of leah from the past few weeks, but after lots of trying, they would not upload. and trust me when i say i tried. we're talking every day for the past week, i waited while the upload bar spent hours slowly creeping to the right, only to show a big, fat, red "X" and say, "Error: a timeout occured during your upload." Barf.

So, here is the sole vidoe that would upload. leah is our little star. i will post more if they ever decide to cooperate. Enjoy!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

20 miles

Done.

And I'm still alive to write about it.

my cute niece

my sister, kelli, had a "sleepover" with my cute neice and nephew so their parents could have a much needed weekend together. it also happened to be my brother's birthday the following monday, so kelli recorded his cute little girl, arianne (almost 4 years old), singing a birthday song for him. so funny.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

there's no place like "fale"

(at least that's what the english-tongan online translator told me "home" was...)

Ryan's parents have been serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the past 18 months in Nuku'alofa Tonga. They were able to stop through San Francisco on their way to Salt Lake so they could meet their first grandchild. We had fun eating American food, shopping at Target, looking at pictures and taking naps. Welcome home!

she's a heartbreaker...

Leah has a dilemma. There is an abundance of boyfriends for her to choose from, she's just having a hard time deciding who is right for her.

Initially, she was betrothed to Zach Low, then he moved to Canada. Enough said.

Then, she was destined to be with her twin, Jack Smith...but we all decided incest is NOT best (they are second cousins, born 30 minutes apart!!).

Her most recent love interest is Tyler McPhie. They seem to have a lot of fun together and have been on multiple dates. We've even caught them playing footsies and holding hands.

leah playing with ty and jack...

what's a girl to do???

leahs and tigers and...pumpkins, oh my!

happy halloween...a few days late.

yes, we're okay...

a few people have called and emailed to ask us if we are doing okay after the earthquake on tuesday night...and yes, we are just fine! the epicenter was near milpitas, which is about 10 miles away from us. it was a 5.6 on the Richter scale and we definitely felt it. our entire apartment (which is on the second floor with only a carport underneath it) was kind of rolling back and forth slowly with a slow, low rumble. there was no damage and we are all doing just fine. thanks for your concern!

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/5.6_earthquake_strikes_California