My baby is one!

It is amazing to think that one year ago today my baby girl came into my life. One part of me feels like it was just yesterday but the other part of me feels like it was a totally different life before she came. I also feel like I was a totally different girl. Kate has taught me so much about myself and life and love. I never knew what it was like to love someone so much. She has taught me the importance to life and I don't want to miss any second of it with her. In the past few weeks I have felt like if I blink I could miss something. She is getting so big and is turning into a toddler. I love her more than words can express and I can't believe I get to be her mom FOREVER!

Princess Katherine

No Sleep?

So last night I could not sleep. I was tossing and turning the whole night. The main reason for this is because I just went from the easiest calling to the hardest (worst? jk) calling. The bishop called me two weeks ago and asked me to be the primary pianist and I agreed, happy as can be. I love this calling! I seem to get it in every ward since they are always in need of a pianist and it really is SO easy. You have no prep work and nothing during the week. You just show up on Sundays and get to play the piano for a couple of hours. But then the next week the bishop calls and says "sorry we didn't sustain you in sacrament meeting last week but when I called the Primary President to tell her you had accepted the calling she told me she didn't want you as the pianist but as the chorister!" Then he says "....... so is that okay too?" I wanted to say "Do I HAVE A CHOICE??" but I did as I should and accepted. Now I have to plan practically 20 minutes of entertainment for both Junior and Senior primary every week and make sure they know all the words to all the songs before the program! I have been feeling very overwhelmed..... Let's just say I don't sing. I am the one that hides behind the piano. But today I have been looking up on blogs and websites to get ideas. There are a lot of really good ideas out there. I am feeling a little bit better now. So...... the reason for the story is if any one out there that reads this blog has any fabulous ideas on keeping the rugrats quiet, yet bringing the spirit in, and helping them learn new songs PLEASE fill me in!

The second thing that kept crossing my mind last night as I was tossing and turning is that I should probably make this lovely blog private. I have always hated when people went private b/c it would limit my blog-stalking but I think the time has come for us. So if anyone would like to be invited to see our blog just leave a comment with your email or you can email me at danielle.c.perry@gmail.com. I am probably going to change it in 2 wks, once I figure out how. (Sarah?)

Well it wouldn't be a post if there wasn't a picture of this little one..... she turns one in a WEEK! AHH!

More festivities!

Well here we go again with a crazy amount of pictures of Kate! But what can you expect it's her first Christmas! She is such a character.

Santa definitely made it to our house this year!
Kate has a SERIOUS obsession with Barney. It has been such a treat though because I can finally get stuff done around the house. All I have to do is turn on the big friendly dinosaur and Kate is hooked! So when Kate saw Barney sitting in her new big chair she had no interest in any other presents. But with a little help from mom we got her interested in her other presents. At first she only wanted to eat the paper.

Kate is so much like her dad. She is a total show off to the point of a complete distraction in Relief Society showing all the old ladies her tricks. And she really is a total jokster and loves to play games. She is a pro at peek-a-boo and puts any piece of clothing on her head and then pulls it off thinking she is so funny!
Here she is clapping right along with her barney show during the song "If you're happy and you know it". She will even hurry and pull herself up so she can do the stomp your feet part. Seriously, she is a total nut! After all the excitement in the morning, she crashed!

But then after a three hour nap she was up and going again!
She wants to walk so bad and thinks she can (no fear) but her balance isn't quite there yet.

Here she is a few days later enjoying her toys. Barney goes everywhere with us! So much for that cute baby doll she got..... maybe in a few months.

On Sunday, Ty was giving her a ride on her helicopter and she was just having a fit until we realized it was because she wanted Barney to ride with her.
A few days after Christmas all of our friends got together at the Breens cause the Morgans were in town. It was so good to see them and hear about their exciting life in Boston. But don't worry I didn't even get a picture with everyone. But I did get one with all the kids which I had to post because I can't believe how many kids there are now and Brooke's got another one coming in April! It is starting to get crazy!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve I got to go with all my family to the matinee Nutcracker to watch my niece Maggie who was a soldier. Ty and Greg stayed home with the babies. I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures but Maggie did a great job and I loved all the dances as usual. Frank, my brothers and Drew saw it with us for the first time and let's just say the men in tights did them right in. I don't know if we will ever hear the end of it!

Then Christmas Eve night we went to the Perrys and did fondue. It was really fun!

Ty thought he was being funny teasing Kate with a marshmallow.....
But she knew what she wanted........

and would do anything for it.............and of course she got it! Our nativity got a bit crazy this year but don't worry our angel was stellar at her part!

Kate was the sheep in the nativity. She wasn't so good at staying still.

All the girl cousins except for Jane... We missed her. She better be here next year! :)

Bring on the Festivities!

Well to be completely honest the Christmas festivities began the last week of November when my mom took Brecken and I to David Archuleta's Christmas concert. It was amazing! I love his Christmas CD. It was on repeat at my house the whole month of December!

Then of course it was off to the tree lot. Kate was such a good helper in picking out the tree!

Special thanks to Brecky for stopping by to help us take a picture for our Christmas card. It turned out really good! I wish I knew how to upload it on the blog but I have no idea how!
Kate's first experience with Santa was at the ward Christmas party and it didn't go so well! But she did like the candy cane he gave her.

Her second time meeting Santa didn't go any better. This time was at the Perry's annual Santa party.

Still very skeptical....

New Christmas jammies! Yeah!
It was my turn this year to host the annual friends Christmas party. Considering we had 18 people my mom let me swap houses with her. I hosted the party at her house and she took care of Kate at mine. It was so nice to visit without any kids.... that is a rare occasion these days.A few days before Christmas we had a Chapman adult Christmas party at the Ivorys where we exchanged our homemade gifts. Rachael and Frank had me and my mom and they put together all of our favorite recipes into three huge binders categorized and everything! I am so excited!

I had Frank and Ty had Greg and we plant Amaryllis bulbs in a pot for their offices. They turned out really cute but of course I didn't get a picture.

November Recap

Well here I am.....It's the beginning of January and I am updating for November. That goes to show what our last two months have been like: CRAZY! Even though I am excited for Christmas I don't want to skip all the fun things we did in November.

It all started with SYTYCD! I LOVED this season! I think since Kate was sick during this season I would always look forward to it every week to take my mind off of our issues. So when Megan said they had extra tickets I couldn't let the opportunity pass.

Next we had Thanksgiving with the Perrys. All of Ty's family was in town from AZ so we had a FULL house and ALOT of babies. Kate wasn't feeling that well but we still had a lot of fun!


Then last but DEFINITELY not least, Ty got to baptize his cute neice Hadley and confirm her a member of the church. What a special day that was. Let's just say I was one proud wife and aunt!