Christmas is More Fun With Kids

Alisha says: Even though Skye is still a bit young to fully appreciate Christmas she was still a lot of fun this year. We had a very enjoyable Christmas Eve dinner at the Welsh's complete with a family Christmas song jam session with everyone who has any bit of musical talent. The rest of us enjoyed listening or chasing the kids around.

Christmas morning after snuggles in bed we opened our gifts. Skye was treated to a few toys, clothes and some books. She also thoroughly enjoyed the wrapping paper. We then made our way over to the Leavitt's for brunch and more presents. Skye enjoyed playing in the presents under the tree and with the ornaments on the tree (I was bad and didn't put up our big tree this year). It was fun exchanging gifts with Dave's family and watching the Leavitt kids open their gifts. Skye got spoiled with more gifts from the grandparents and great grandparents.

Family jam session

Christmas morning smiles!

Opening gifts

She played and played with the presents and tree ornaments in this very spot for a long time

Seattle Visitors

Dave says: Our friends Chris and Sarah came down from Seattle for a bit of winter adventure in Arizona. Right before their trip, a big storm dropped the temperatures and so we spent the first day in Phoenix doing a little hike and a mtb ride. 

On Day 2, we headed north to Sedona after brunch in Scottsdale. There was time for a trip to the cathedral overlook and a short hike around Bell Rock before dinner once we finally arrived. We took them on the Devil's Bridge hike the next morning which was a lot of fun. In the afternoon, we walked around Sedona's art center and admired all the Christmas displays and $30,000 bronze sculptures of animals. It's nice to travel with other couples with a little one who are used to all that this entails.

Day 4 took us up to the Grand Canyon where we hiked down the Kaibab trail for two miles to Cedar Point. When the sun was out it was warm and pleasant. When the sun went behind the clouds and the wind blew, it felt like winter. Skye did well on all her adventuring although she didn't want to wear her gloves but also didn't like having cold hands. Only two miles of uphill on the way out of the canyon still felt like a pretty good workout to me. After a late lunch and a short rim walk, the rain started coming down right as it was time to head home. It rained all night and pretty hard during the drive home the next day so I guess our timing worked out pretty well for the trip. 

Sedona MTB

Dave says: We left Skye with Grandma for her first overnighter and went on a quick trip up to Sedona. Our afternoon ride from Oak Creek took us around Slim Shady and HT to the Hogs, Broken Arrow, and Little Horse. It's always enjoyable to sit on the big rock at Chicken Point, take in the view, and talk about the white line on the cliff and the crazy people who ride it on YouTube.

The next morning we went out to the west side. Before jumping on the bikes, we decided to take a short hike to Devil's Bridge. I drove the Subaru in part way but the road got a little gnarly and so we walked for a bit to the trailhead. It's a pretty great little hike with an arch you can walk out on that looks a bit scary in pictures but isn't too bad in person. 

It was a great day for riding the west side and we finally have a good loop figured out. We added in the Mescal trail (which for some reason we had never done) and it was some pretty great slickrock at the base of some cool formations. After a tasty lunch it was time for our getaway to come to an end and we drove home and found Skye and Grandma doing great. With this trip only 2 hours away, it's hard not to want to come to Sedona on a regular basis.

Updates and Ramblings

Alisha says: We are now thick into the holiday season and we've just been busy with regular life. Skye is now 13 months old and although I don't know how long I will continue to do monthly updates here is what she has been up to. She is a super fast crawler and cruiser but not too interested in walking. She also scoots/bounces along on her knees as a mode of transportation. Now that it is colder and stays dark longer in the mornings we have a morning routine where she wakes up around 6 (usually a little earlier but I try to make her stay in her bed until around 6) then I get her a bottle and bring her into our bed where we snuggle for at least 30 minutes before she begins to be more active and starts crawling around and climbing up on the wire headboard. I sure do love those morning snuggles, they are the best! She is getting a little more independent and wanting to feed herself a little more, she loves grapes, cheese and oranges.We also have to keep and eye on her as she loves to play with the fireplace and climb on the boxes that are keeping her away from the TV. She likes to read books and is getting good at pulling the flaps open in the pop up peak-a-boo books.

 This is what she does while I try to cook dinner, holds onto my leg begging to get picked up or plays in the pantry.

We took a day trip to Tucson. Doug and Roberta watched Skye while Dave and I went for a road ride and then we all went for a walk at Sabino Canyon.

Early Thanksgiving

Alisha says: We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family early this year to accommodate my dad's work schedule. It worked out wonderfully though as all my siblings were able to spend the weekend at my parents house in good ol' Cedar. It was a bit tight and wild with all of the kids running around but it was so great to get to hang out and catch up with everyone. My mom fixed a very tasty Thanksgiving dinner. We also took an updated family picture with everyone wearing red jackets that my parents gave us.

When we weren't hanging out with family we took advantage of some awesome babysitting to sneak away and get out on some great mountain bike rides. First we did Jem/Gould's Loop and another day we did Little Creek. The last time we did Little Creek I ended up getting a few stitches in my leg so I am happy to report that this time there were no crashes. It is one of my top 5 favorite trails.

The Bezanson Family

Hiking in Kolob

Mountain Biking Little Creek

12 Month Update

Alisha says:
Her 1 year wellness appointment numbers:

Weight: 20.4 pounds (60%)

Height: 30 3/4 inches (90%)

Head Circumference: 18 inches (75%)

She also received 5 shots at this visit.

Skye is a speed crawler and loves to be chased. She can stand up and cruise around furniture but really isn't interested in trying to walk by herself yet. She really likes to be outside crawling around, swinging or hiking. She currently likes to make a clicking noise with her tongue, we think it sounds like a noise an insect would make so sometimes Dave will call her "daddy's little insect". Another funny thing she does is that she will sit on the floor and spin herself around in a circle with her feet. Favorite foods are cheese and sweet potatoes and she is a great eater eating a lot of different foods. She takes two naps a day and sleeps through the night. Most of the time she is easy to put down for naps and bedtime, she gets a bottle and then when I put her in her crib she is usually still awake but will lay down and put herself to sleep. She doesn't like to be left alone and will follow mom or dad around the house begging to get picked up. She can also be a little mischievous and will play with the blinds, computer and piano cords, and has started to climb a few things like under the coffee table and over the boxes to get to the TV. Despite all that when she gives me a snuggle my heart still melts, we sure do love her.

Happy Birthday!

Alisha says: Wow! It is crazy that a whole year has passed since Skye was born. To celebrate her big first birthday we had a bunch of family over for dinner, cake and ice cream. My mom was staying with us for a few days and helped cook up a delicious soup, ham and cheese rolls, mummy dogs (since it's close to halloween) and the cake.

We did a little photo shoot with her the day before. She was not exactly very cooperative, not wanting to sit and smile and it took several tries. She didn't really get into the cake smash very much and was pretty content to just take off the number one and play with it. We ended up with a few cute ones though.

She was spoiled by all her family and got books, toys, clothes, a pirate water table from mom and dad and a huge teddy bear from our awesome neighbors.