Penny can walk!!!...sort of

For the past couple of weeks Penny has been standing on her own, but not doing much else.  If she was feeling really brave or if we had something she really wanted she would try to take a step, but that's about as far as she would go.  Last weekend we were at my parent's house when my sister, Kim, was able to get Penny to walk about five steps!!  Now we hardly need to coax her at all, she'll even take steps while we're not looking.  Last night we video taped it (this was after she got home from daycare so she looks a little like an orphan, sorry)...

Penny turns 1!!!

Last week our little Penny-Tallu turned 1. 

I can't believe it's been a year since I had her!!  That year went by SO fast!  This last year has been full of adjustments and challenges, but even more full of laughter, joy and love.  I love my little girl and I'm so happy she's a part of our family.  I couldn't have asked for a more sweet, well behaved baby.  She really is such a blessing to us!! At one year old Penny is almost 23 lbs, 29 in. tall, has eight teeth, and will have some molars pretty soon.  She's starting to take several steps on her own and is learning how to use eating utensils.  She knows how to sign "more", "all done" and "bath".  She can also wave, clap, give high five and blow kisses. 

Likes:  Food, giving kisses, pushing buttons, snuggling with mom and dad, her grinch doll, peek-a-boo, her binki, riding in the stroller or the car, and anything soft

Dislikes: getting her face and nose wiped, sitting in the high chair without having food in front of her, people around her eating while she's not, and time-out

On her Birthday we had a party at our house with a bunch of family and friends.  My mom and sister were there along with Brad's entire family and my best friend, Candi.  It was a lot of fun and I know Penny had a blast. 

Here's the Birthday Girl in her new birthday outfit.  Isn't she the cutest one year old around!?

This is just a shot of how many presents she got.  She's so spoiled...I mean, loved.!

Penny's cousin, Myles, was there to help her open her presents.  He also showed her how all the toys worked.  Thanks Myles!!

It didn't take long for Penny to get the hang of opening presents.  I have a feeling she's gonna LOVE Christmas.

Here she is giving one of her new dolls a kiss.  Aww, she's so sweet!

She had a lot of fun pulling and eating the paper out of the gift bags.

And then it was cake time...

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures of her actually eating the cake because we video taped that.  She really didn't EAT very mich of the cake, Grandma Wheelwright wanted to feed her lunch one last time before they go on a mission.  And needless to say...she was still really full from lunch, but she sure did play in it.  Although it might not look like it from the pictures, she made a MESS!!  here's a picture of her profile so you can see just how full her belly is...

Cake up the nose...

Emily says Penny looks a little like Hitler in this picture...

Luckily, both Grandmas were there to give Penny a much needed bath...

Happy Brithday Penny-Tallu!!!

Halloween and stuff

I know I'm runing a little behind on this, but better late than never, right?  We had a lot of fun this Halloween.  We went Trick-or-Treating to Brad's parent's house then we came home and passed out candy and watched Casper.  I dressed up as Edward Scissorhands, Penny was a Pink Leopard and Brad was a Daddy who works at a hotel (great costume, I know).  One of these years we'll coordinate.

This picture isn't from Halloween, it's from when we went to "Sweat for a Pet".  It's a fundraiser for the Humane Society where you walk your dog for a mile with other odogs or you can run a 5k. We go every year to let the dogs socialize and it's for a great cause.  Here's Penny all bundled up and ready to go...

Now this is from the Saturday before Halloween at a Hallween Party, we didn't dress up becuase we were going to Stake conference right after...

This is also not on Halloween, we went to my friend's mom's ward for their Halloween party.  This is her little girl Caitlin dressed like a lady bug and Penny as a Pink Leopard...

Aw!! They're so cute!!

Here's Penny at that same party enjoying a Halloween sucker...

I loved watching her crawl around in that costume, her little tail was so cute...

Now this is Halloween.  I think we had some really great costumes at work...

Here's Penny on Halloween, looking oh so cute in her costume...

This picture isn't from Halloween. In fact, I don't know what it's from or why I took it, I guess Penny was just looking especially cute that day...

So Penny will do this really sweet thing where she'll lift her arms and  hands up so I can gently scratch them.  She LOVES touch!!  Sometimes when she's sleepy she'll grab my finger and she'll stroke her own face with them.  She's so funny and sweet.  I just love her so much!!

Albuquerque Trip

I did it again...I went forever without posting.  I am the worst blogger EVER!! Oh well, I'll try harder next time.  So, at the end of Septmeber we went on a trip down to Albuquerque to visit Brad's sister, Wendy, and her family.  Her son, Jacob, had turned 8 and was being baptized so it was a great reason to make the trip.  While we were there we also were able to see the annual Ballon Fiesta (it was super awesome) and the Albuquerque Zoo.  It was a really fun trip and I hope we can go visit again soon.  Here are some of my favorite pictures (I should have taken more,  I always should have taken more). 

We flew into Albuquerque Friday afternoon and Jocob's baptism was that evening. I have to say, I am a horrible Aunt!  I didn't taken any pictures of my nephew's baptism.  I'm sorry Jacob, I still love you, I promise.  It was a really good baptism, and afterward we had dinner with friends and family there at the church (Jacob had a really great turnout).  We went to bed early that night becasue the next day we had to wake up at 3:30 to go to the Balloon Fiesta.  It was early and it was cold...

But totally worth getting there to see the "Dawn Patrol"

There were SO many ballons spread out over this huge field and they would just inflate them right there next to you.  Penny got to touch her first balloon...

As the morning went on more and more balloons lifted off,  there were balloons everywhere.  I've never seen anything like it...

Penny and Dad at the Balloon Fiesta...

Then she got sleepy...

Penny and mom at the Balloon Fiesta...

The funniest balloon...

The creepiest balloon...

The best balloon...

Overall, the Balloon Fiesta was super cool!  Something I would definately want to see again.  I'm so glad Brad, Penny and I were able to go.

The rest of that day we just chilled at Wendy's house and recovered from the early morning.  That evening we celebrated Adam and Penny's Birthday early with the traditional Wheelwright Jello mold.  Penny LOVED it!!!  Of course right at that moment both my camera and the camcorder ran out of batteries so this is the only picture that I got.  Luckily, Tammy and Wendy had their cameras and got some good shots, although I don't have them right now so I can't post. Just take my word for it, Penny was COVERED in jello by the end of it.  I was still pulling jello out of her nose the next day!

The next day we just hung out at Wendy's, listed to conference and took naps.  Penny loved visiting her cousins and playing with all of their toys...

On Monday we went to the Albuquerque Zoo.  I had never been there before and besides going the Willow Park Zoo (which my family calls a glorified park) Penny has never been to a Zoo before.  Here she is super excited to see some cute animals...

Penny and a Zebra..

Penny and an Ostrich...

The fam and a Giraffe...

The fam and a Chimpanzee...

Most precious Chimpanzee picture ever...

Mid-day nap...

Most precious Orangutan picture ever...

Most dangerous picture ever....Penny and a....KOMODO DRAGON!!!!

(Awe, she loves him)

And last, but not least a Koala....you guys...a KOALA!!

We had a lot of fun at the Zoo it was fun to see Penny react to all of the animals with her cousins.

Close up of Penny...

Best picture from the trip...Penny on a ginormous Aztec chair...

The zoo trip tuckered poor little Penny out.  Good thing she had her Grinch to cuddle...

The next day we were on our flight home.  We had a lot of fun visiting with Wendy and her family and we hope to do it again soon.  Penny was a super great traveler, she slept the entire flight both there and back.  She's the most precious little tushy love ever and I feel so blessed to have her in my life.  She was so cute on the flight back, there was an empty seat next to us so we buckled her in and she kept turning around and waving to all the people behind her...she was a hit.