Almost a year

My baby is almost a year old I can't believe it. My parents came out to visit for a week so we had an early birthday dinner for Addi.

We had her favorite things for dinner Broccoli and french fries (we also had pork chops for the adults)
I bought her a 1st birthday crown and wand and she loved them. To my surprise she kept her crown on all night. She never leaves headbands on she must know that she is a princess.
She had lots of presents to open and I didn't even give her all her presents she is way to spoiled.
She held on to her princess wand the hole time.
I made her a pretty flower cake. I made a delicious cake for the adults (check out my mommy creations blog to learn how to make it).
She dug right into her cake.
She decided she didn't like the cake to much,
but she loved the frosting.

We taught Addi how to say how old she is and I was lucky enough to caught it on camera.
We had one messy baby on our hands,
so we took an nice little bath. Notice how murky the water is from all the frosting.
All clean after a fun full night of birthday celebrations. Addi loved having grandma and grandpa here for awhile and was very sad to see them go this morning. Back to only boring old mom all day.

Carthage Jail and Nauvoo

On Saturday while Jared was taking his boards My parents, Addi, and I went to CArthage Jail and Nauvoo, Il. My mom had never been to carthage. There wasn't anyone else there so we got our own private tour. Addi loved the rugs in the house she got to play on it in the jail and then when ever she saw one in the old house in Nauvoo she wanted to get down and play. It was a very nice day and made for perfect weather for walking around old Nauvoo. Last time my parents went to Nauvo was when Jared and I were sealed in the temple and it was over 100 degrees outside and very humid. When we got home Jared was home and had made us dinner even after his hard day of boards thanks hunny you are the best.

Chicago: Family Day

Despite all the fun we had by ourselves we decided we wanted to take Addi to some places so on our last day we took Addi to the Aquarium and to see the big bird show at the planetarium. Then we meet up with my parents at Millinieum Park. I barely made it to the park. With all the walking we had been ding I got to huge blisters on my feet and was limping by the time we made it to the park so Jared and my dad had to walk back up to the hotel and get the car to come pick us up. We had a lot of fun in Chicago. Having your parents on vacation with you is great because we got to go and do stuff on our own, but Addi was just down the hall if we miised her or she needed us.
Addi got to sit in her own seat on the bus. She enjoyed the bus because everyone told her how cute she was.
Addi liked to point at everything at the aquarium. Pointing is one of her new favorite things.

It was dark in the planetarium show and Addi hadn't taken a nap all day. She woke back up in the middle of the big bird show and was hapy to see elmo on the big screen.

While at the park waiting for us my parents were sitting on the steps in front of the silver bean (it is called something else but everyone calls it the silver bean) when some guy says to his wife hunny why don't you go up there in the middle of the bean and take your hat off and I will take your picture. All of a sudden my dad stands up goes over to the bean and takes his hat off. He thought the guy said buddy not hunny and was talking to him. My mom was cracking up. First off why would some random person want a picture of my dad and second does my dad just take his hat off for anyone. Hehe!

Chicago: Day of freedom

For our second day in Chicago grandma and grandpa took Addi to the zoo while Jared and I went to the Museum of Science and Industry (our favorite), The Field Museum, and the Adler Planetarium. After a day full of musuem hoping we went up to the Hancock Observatory. It was very cool and I would recommend it to others. They have a tour of Chicago you get to listen to and it was very interesting. It was nice to be able to spend the day with just Jared, but we missed our baby so we meet up with my parents and Addi and enjoyed some Chicago style pizza.

Chicago:Navy Pier

Jared has never been to chicago and I have only been for a conference so for christmas Jared got a trip to Chicago over spring break. My parents flew out there to meet us so that they could watch Addi while Jared and I could spend some time together. We picked up grandma and grandpa a the chicago airport in the afternoon and then after checking into our hotel we all took a walk down the beach to Navy Pier. We walked down the poer and had dinner at Bubba Gumps I love their cocunut shrimp. Addi loves that grandma and grandpa are here to play with her. She would rather be with them then with me :(.
Apparently Chicago is not called the windy city because it is windy there (but it is windy) it is the windy city because their politicians are full of wind.
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Isn't he sexy
Walk on the beach

The Ferris wheel was design by a chicagoian for the world fair. They were trying to out do the french who build the Effiel tower for their worlds fair.
Our Family
Addi with Grandma and Grandpa

Pay it Forward

So, here's how it works: the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Come and play!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Cheer up baby grandma and grandpa are coming today!