Evelyn's a Swimmer!

Though she just turned 1 years-old, Evelyn took her first swimming lessons and did awesome. She always loved being in the water and wanted to swim so badly so I thought we might as well give her some lessons so she can start learning and be a little more safe in the pool. The teacher came everyday for 5 days and taught her how to hold her breath under water and swim to the wall or the stairs and pull herself up. It was so funny to watch her little body kicking and splashing in the pool, but I am amazed at what she can do now. She now knows when I put her under to swim to the side, so hopefully we can keep working on it and she'll be doing laps in no time. Here are some snap shots of her being an awesome swimmer!


This morning my family went with my mom to the American Cancer Society Relay for Life event. It was really awesome. There were so many people there cheering for cancer survivors as they did a lap around the whole event. There are hundreds of booths supporting cancer societies and there is a big circle they make that people are continuously walking for 24 hours. I am so proud of my mom and what she has gone through and am so thankful she is getting better everyday.

Our Little Girl is 1!

I can't believe this day one year ago I was seeing my little girl for the first time. It truly has been one of the best years of my life. Kyle and I have been so blessed to have her in our lives, she has brought so much joy and love into our home and family. She is just getting so big and very independent, and I am starting to miss my little baby. She is walking everywhere and getting into everything. She loves to go running with me, swing on the swings, swim in the pool and spend as much time as she can on the trampoline.
Here she is waking up on the day of her party which was on Saturday, and was so excited to get it started.
I had a lot of fun setting everything up and making my cupcakes into the shape of a ladybug. We had a lot of family over and some friends, it was so fun to have everyone together.
Here Evelyn is with two of her great grandmothers, my grandma and Kyle's nana.

Evelyn is sure enjoying spending the summer with her cousins and loves to just follow them around.
Here's our family picture, Evelyn wasn't in the mood to look at the camera for us.
Evelyn got so many nice gifts from everyone, here is her baby doll and ball that mom and dad got for her.
Getting ready to eat cake!

She sure loved the chocolate cupcake, she had no problem squeezing it and shoving it into her mouth.
Lickin finger good!


Back to one of her favorite spots, in the water getting clean.

Oh my cute cute girl, I just love her so much.




Ending the day in the pool with her aunt and uncle, she loved it so much and wanted to wear her crown in there too so nobody would forget who the birthday princess is.

Weekend Trip!

We have settled back into California living quite nicely and are happy to be here. On our trip out from Michigan we stopped in Tulsa, Oklahoma to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Koester. It was really so nice to see them and spend a couple days and for them to see Evelyn.
Here's Evelyn out on the swing just relaxing and enjoying herself.

This past weekend Kyle and I got to go on a little get-a-way and spend some quality time together. We headed out to Palm Springs where it was 103 degrees. I absolutely loved it. I could just sit in the pool and be so nice and warm. We had a great time hanging out by the pool, having our non-alcoholic drinks, going to the movies and sleeping all night. These couple of pictures are of us at 8500 ft up. In Palm Springs you can take a tram all the way up to the top of the mountain which is really neat and see out for a long ways. When we got up to the top the weather had dropped about 30 degrees.

Kyle is not taking any breaks. He has started his externship with a great attorney and is very busy with that everyday and then also working at night, since we all know those externships don't pay very well. It will be nice though for when next April comes and classes are finished he will be completely done. This weekend we will be celebrating Evelyn's 1st birthday which I really can't believe, I am so excited and can't wait to watch her eat her own cake!

California Here We Come!

Only 2 days left until we leave for the summer and head back to California. I really am so excited to see my family and friends and have another great summer with them all. I can't believe this time last year I was at home counting down the days until Evelyn arrived. These next 2 days will be filled with cleaning and last minute packing. Luckily we found another great couple to rent our place out for the summer so we are keeping our fingers crossed it all goes well. Well if anyone feels the need to head out to L.A. this summer, just know you always have a place to stay.

Easter Sunday

We are a little late on our recap of Easter weekend but sometimes you just don't have the time. It was a very nice and pretty low key Easter this year. Sunday Evelyn had fun gathering all the eggs I put around the family room for her, putting them in her basket and then dumping them so she could do it all over again. It was just unfortunate that I had to eat all the candy inside the eggs since she just isn't quite ready yet. These days it is a lot harder to get her to focus on the camera and give me a smile since she is so mobile. The last thing she wants to do is sit still, so I guess I get what I can. I waited a couple days to take pictures in her dress since the weather was so gloomy and I knew good weather was coming that way we could get some good outside shots. We had a nice Sunday together as a family and enjoyed the peaceful day.

Party TIme!

This weekend Evelyn went to her first birthday party. She was so excited to go and wanted to look so cute. She had fun picking out a fun toy for Cameron, but was a little upset when she didn't get one also. Thanks Cameron for the fun party and we were so glad we got to go.

Out and Back

Evelyn and I have been out for a while and now we are back. This past weekend our travels took us to Georgia to visit the Koester family. We sure had a great time and enjoyed being there with Grandma and Grandpa K. Evelyn had a bit of a cold during the weekend but she seemed to handle it well. On Friday we went with Grandma K to her school and Evelyn got to meet all her students and fellow teachers, it took her a little to warm up but I think she enjoyed the visit and all the attention. Afterwards Grandma K took Evelyn to the store and bought her some beautiful Easter dresses and I can't wait for her to wear them. I'm so glad we got to have another fun girls trip together. Here Evelyn is sitting in her daddy's old rocking chair. She really loved rocking back and forth in it.
Evelyn had fun playing with her Aunt Amy and playing with Uncle Kurtis and Uncle Daniel.
Evelyn and little Teddy had a good time getting to know each other, that is when there was some separation.
Evelyn just couldn't leave before cleaning out the cupboards and playing with the tupperware.
Well this was the end of our travels till we leave for California in about 4 weeks for the summer!