Happy Happy Birthday Selena

Our little punky girl celebrated her first birthday on the 27th and it was so exciting!! She has brought so much happiness and fullness into our lives, it is hard to remember life before her! She is learning and growing so much. She walks everywhere and gets into everything. Her favorite spots to be are splashing in the toilet and digging through the garbage! We have to keep a watchful eye on her. She says Dada, but no Mama. She can shake her head no, and points to things that she wants. She has recently become more of a Mama's girl, which of course I love! She is a little social butterfly though, waving and smiling at everyone we pass in the grocery store. Her hair is long enough now that I can pull it into little piggies that are so darling. I feel like her 1st birthday is such a bitter-sweet day. My baby is growing up....but my baby is growing up!!! She is so smart and makes me laugh every day. I have so much love for her and am so grateful to be her Mom!

Her Birthday just happened to fall on the first day we were at Disneyland and we loved that the whole family was there to celebrate! We had a little breakfast party for her and she was showered with love!

Zachary got her this darling little BYU jersey, you got to start training them young! It was such a special and memorable day. I just hope her 2nd year goes by a lot slower than her 1st year!

DISNEYLAND!!!

We were so lucky to take a little trip to the Happiest Place on Earth with my whole family! We had such a great time, we loved every minute. Selena was just a little doll on the plane ride. She wanted to be buckled into her own seat and read the safety booklet the whole time, always prepared that one!

First order of business- The Beach!!! We could not get over how amazing the weather was, we were in Heaven. Selena was exhausted and NOT a fan of the sand. She did however love all the birds at the beach!

First ride was the Tower of Terror. I think by far this was my favorite one!

Check out my Mom's face- Hilarious!

Little Mermaid

Selena got a Minnie Mouse from my parents for her Birthday, which she LOVED! She wasn't quite as sure about the big Minnie though....

All the Boys

Waiting for the parade

World of Color Show

Selena didn't show much expression on a lot of the rides, but she was lovin' Dumbo!

Autotopia with my Sweetheart! It was so nice going with the whole family because Zachary and I got to go on a lot of rides together while someone stayed with Selena!

Jungle Cruise she loved! And I just love her little ponies!

We had the best time and we can't wait to go back. Disneyland is truly one happy place!

Christmas

Selena celebrated her very first Christmas this year! We loved having a little one to share all the excitement with! She was all smiles on the way to meet Santa.....

...and then she met him. And hated him. She was a bit traumatized by the whole experience. Next year will be better, right?

We went on a little Provo River Holiday Cruise to see the lights. It was FREEZING!

The highlight of Christmas was going home to WA. Selena was spoiled spoiled spoiled! She loves all the attention she gets and loves being the boss! I love when Selena gets to spend time with my family for an extended period, it happens far too little.

Christmas Morning

She doesn't look all that happy, but she LOVED all of her presents! She has so many new toys, it is so fun! Poor little girl did start teething the day before Christmas, so she is a little snot nosed in all of her pictures.

I love this picture of her and her static hair!

We did A LOT of this over the break- Relaxing! She is such a big girl now, and I feel like it is so bitter sweet. We loved our time at home and all the fun things that the Holiday season brings; friends, food, lots of sleep, and let's be honest I love the presents too! I love Christmas so much more now that I have my own little family to share it with! As for the New year and Resolutions, we have a few we are working on, we will see how we do! I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for us!

November

We went home for Thanksgiving and finally made it up to Leavenworth! Such a fun place!

The whole crew at lunch

Travelling in style, funniest thing ever.

Selena's first Thanksgiving, and she loved it! We feel so blessed to be at home with our Family!

Her first pony! Such a big girl! Selena is also sporting her first black eye! She got it from hitting her eye on the corner of the entertainment center, so sad!

Hanging out with Uncle Dave

It seems like time just keeps speeding up. We had such a wonderful time at home at Thanksgiving and were so grateful everyone could be there! We of course shopped all night and day on Black Friday and got some great deals. We are loving this Holiday Season and being able to experience all of Selena's firsts. She is growing so fast! She will be turning one in January, I can hardly believe it! We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas in WA!

Selena and I had a little Mommy-Daughter date a few weeks ago to the Hogle Zoo. I guess everyday is kind of a Mommy-Daughter day, but I planned on going to the Zoo specifically for Selena, so to me it felt more special. I thought she would like the Zoo, and boy was I wrong, she LOVED it! I never would have guessed she would have got SO excited over the animals. It made me so happy to see her arms and legs go crazy every time she caught her eye on a new animal. Monkeys were a favorite for sure!

We went to the Zoo during fall break so it was crazy busy, but we had so much fun because some of our friends could come along!

The elephants were so fun to watch that day, they were super active. Selena's face is priceless. We had beautiful weather, great company, and a happy happy baby. Who could ask for more?

Selena experienced her first BYU basketball game this past weekend. She loves all the people watching so she was thoroughly entertained the whole game. My favorite part of the night is when the lady next to me came back from the concessions stand with a pretzel and Selena popped her pacifier right out and was ready for a bite!

I feel like I am always taking pictures of Selena in her pajamas while she is eating breakfast, but she is always SO happy and funny right when she wakes up. She is growing so fast. She is into everything these days and learning a lot. She loves reading books, especially ones with animals. Selena loves to mimic sounds that we make, she says dada, but is still working on mama. She gives high fives, hates getting her nose wiped and loves food! She recently started drinking apple juice, and was unsure about it at first but now she can't get enough of it. She loves to be out and about wherever there is people, and I secretly think her favorite activity is shopping, just like her Mama!

October

We had a great little date night with Texas Roadhouse and Jason Aldean. Can't go wrong with that combo! We love love loved the concert, and had a wonderful evening out alone! We did miss our little baby, but we are so grateful that Zachary's parents are willing to watch her for us.

Our weekly skyping sessions with my family keep me laughing all week long, I cannot wait for the Holidays when we can all be together for real!

Selena had her first experience carving pumpkins, she obviously wasn't too interested, but of course we had to get a picture.

Selena got her very first package in the mail from the Rodriguez's!

She loved all her new goodies!

We took Selena to the Lehi pool where she had the time of her life! I love that she is a water baby, she could splash and kick all day long in the pool. I am hoping next summer she still loves it.

Happy Halloween! Our little Witch made everything about this Holiday so much more fun. I am super excited for next year when we get to take her trick or treating!