4th of July

This 4th of July was a small one this year because we couldn't spend it with any of the families this year. We still had a ton of fun celebrating with just our little family and our ward. It was a block party with a few families from the ward. They all lived in the clinic housing (I'm not sure if that's the real name.....they are all medical people) so all of the members that were there were all next door neighbors. Daley really enjoyed hangin out with her nursery friends out in the street.

It is a small world in Kayenta! There is a couple in the ward that got back from a mission and decided they werent ready to retire when they got home but they didn't want to deal with the hustle and bustle of a private practice like what they did before their mission. So they asked where it the hardest to keep dentists and it ended up being Kayenta! So it has been fun having them in the ward! Their youngest daughter and her husband came to celebrate the 4th with them and Denver and I had fun getting to know them. The husband is a grandson of a couple Denver use to home teach when he was young in Eagar. We really enjoyed making friends with them and hope they come back to Kayenta to visit!

We had a pot luck at the block party and later we met up with everyone at the airport to watch the fireworks. The fireworks were great! I didn't think any firework show could get as good as Eagar's, but Kayenta's was pretty good! Kayenta's show has 5 Grand Finales!!! haha That's a joke.....There would just be long pauses in between some of the fireworks and we thought it was a grand finale. You just had to be there.....

Daley has this new obsession with rocks....at the block party, Daley was busy running around looking for the biggest rock to either carry around or suck on. This is her and Max....Max was

deciding on whether or not sucking on rocks was as fun as Daley thought it was.

Finch Reunion

The weekend before the 4th of July we got to take a quick trip down to the ranch and go camping with the Finchs'!! Denver and I made our tent in the back of our car. It worked out great with Daley sleeping inbetween us. When she woke up the next morning and realized where she was she turned into a crazy girl! Haha....she was squealing and had a ball playing in the car. When we got up and got dressed we enjoyed our time we got to spend chatting and hanging out with the family and Daley really enjoyed running away from us and playing with all the kiddos! We really enjoyed our weekend and getting to see everyone again.

Daley found Jenny & Kayde's soda stash!

We had to leave late Saturday afternoon because we had to talk in church the next day. We were really sad to leave so early but if you have to talk in church........ you have to church. Well when we got to church the next day a couple of girls were asked to bare their testimonies

on their experiences of the Trek they had near Flagstaff. They were given 2-3 minutes. Well 2-3 minutes turned into 20 minutes each at least and Denver and I were asked to talk two weeks later! Hahaha! But it was all good....we really enjoyed hearing the girls testimonies and I was really impressed with them how they could bare their testimony for so long! Still to this day I couldn't take up that much time if I wanted to! Denver and I have really enjoyed going to church up here! It almost feels like home....

Summertime!

This summer what have been busier than ever! I honestly thought we would have a nice quiet summer with nothing to do...but I was very wrong! Haha I don't even know where to begin to tell you all about it.....it all happened so fast! Now that I am getting to blog about it, school is about to start here and that is CRAZY!

This is a pic of Daley just getting cleaned up from playing in the mud...She was having fun taking a photo shoot!

I'll start with all of our summer visitors! I had no idea that Kayenta would be such a popular place to spend some of your summer vacation! jk I will give a list of all of our visitors and I hope I get them all in! Bri and Sonora have spent the whole summer with us and we have had so much fun with them! Daley is going to be so sad when they leave! On the weeks that they go home she lets me know how boring I am!

Chad has also come up and spent a couple of weeks with us and he has become Daley's favorite! She would rather go to Chad than any of us that are here at the house!

Roger, Babbett, Jack, Evette, and Ricky came up to help us do some deep cleaning here at the restaurant and we had lots of fun considering we were doing some pretty hard work.

Blake, Martha, Riley, and Tess came up and spent a few days with us while they were evacuated for the Wallow Fire that hit near Eagar. We had tons of fun with them too! We just sat, relaxed, ate, and swam and to me....that's all I want in a vacation!

Mom, Dad, and Madi came too and spend a week with us while Dad worked at the mine to do some installs. It's really nice when they get to come up! We really miss them and we were so lucky to have them for a whole week! Daley loved hanging out with Aunt Madi even though Daley would bug her sometimes. We had a blast going to Monument Valley for the first time with them! I wish I had some pictures of that! It is seriously one of the most beautiful places in the world!

I feel bad I didn't do the best about taking any pictures while we had visitors but as you can see I do have a few here and there. We miss everyone a ton!

We loved all of our visitors this summer and hope they all come again! And this is a shout out to everyone else who wants to come visit! We would love to have you!

Some other things that have been going on this summer on our few boring days usually after work we all go out as a family and work on the yard.....Daley has her favorite spot where she likes to walk back and forth on the side walk and she reaches as far as possible under the fence to get a rock. She loves to suck on rocks! So usually Denver is working on the lawn and I am guarding the rocks to Daley doesn't get to them. So if Daley cant get to them, she likes to play in the mud and play with Blue!

Daley has also been learning how to drink out of cups and use a spoon or fork.....she definitely hasn't mastered it yet but we are working on it a little bit! One thing she does like to do though is find treasure in the trash! Denver was drinking a Mountain Dew and he wouldn't share it with her.....so when he was finished and he threw it away....she went right behind him and dug it out of the trash to get her share of it! Haha Denver and I were cracking up because she knew she was doing something naughty and she was looking at us like..."What are you going to do about it?"

Denver and I have found out that Daley knows what the work "no" means. Whenever she gets into something she is not suppose to Denver and I will tell her "no" and get up to take it away from her. When she sees us get up she just does it harder and faster or she runs away! Little stinker!

Memorial Day Ward Party

Last Friday we all got to go to a ward party picnic. We all had a blast and we had a chance to meet more of our ward and make new friends. I didn't do the greatest job of taking pictures of everybody and the kick-ball activity we had but here are a couple of Denver and Daley.

Playing at the park at the primary school.

Daley practicing her flying skills! Mom...don't look! Haha.

This is a picture of her chewing on a stick....(I probably shouldn't let her...but I thought...Aunt Madi does it all the time and she is just fine! Haha ;) )

A little update on Daley.... She is getting braver and braver about her walking...it will be any day now that we wont be able to keep up with her. Today we went to the high school track to walk and Denver and I had her walking back and forth to us. Well on one of her last runs she was suppose to be walking back to me and she turned and started walking the other way because she saw something she wanted. Denver and I thought that was crazy!

She is starting to make the noise that people make when they are gasping for air on the movies....well she does it now when she is excited. Denver and I crack up everytime!

Another thing about Daley is she is FEARLESS! She would dive off the couch and the bed if you weren't watching her. Sometimes Blue will get excited and knock her over and she doesn't even cry! She just gets back up and claps or looks at Blue with a weird face. She loves people...someone standing outside the pizza restaurant was talking to me and asked if she could hold her...to tell you the truth I was very hesitant and I was going to tell them that I was busy and had to go, but before I could say anything Daley holds out her hands and leaned for the lady to hold her. So the lady got to hold her for a little bit... I learned my lesson!

Whenever we have to hold her while we shop or go to the swap meets..her favorite thing to do is look at the ground if she's not looking at all the people, which makes it REALLY hard to hold her. She doesn't help hang on at all!

She is starting to get braver and walk from the couch to her toys about five feet away without me asking her to. She just does it on her own.... So Denver and I have decided that she is officially walking now. Haha....

Daley's First Steps!

We can't believe how fast Daley is growing! Bri (my cousin) and Sonora (her friend) came last night and that is where it all started. Daley stayed up late showing off to them and took a little step last night. Well today she was really putting on a show and did a few more! Here are a couple of videos with Daley walking! We are so excited and proud of our little Daley Girl!

Graduation

I finally graduated!!!!! I cannot tell you how good it feels to have a nice long break to just be a mommy.....The only way I can describe my feelings is that I want to squeel, sing, and dance in the streets...weird, I know! Well the weekend was one of the greatest!

My parents and my grandparents were able to make it and we all celebrated by some shopping and eating out! Here are the pictures....(Some of them had really bad shadows so I did my best to fix them up)

This is us before the ceremony...


Daley and Pop in the big tent where graduation was....they were fixing up the Skydome so they did it in some huge white tents!

My Grandpa & Grandma Alder and I

My parents and I......

All the girls...

We want to thank everybody for all of their help and support during those years of school! I know I couldn't have done it without you!

Thank you Aunt Carol, Aunt Becky, and Ashlee for helping me with great ideas for homework and great tips during my student teaching.

Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Alder and Nana and Papa Platt who have taught me the importance of education and the gospel.

Thanks to Wade and Nanette for their patience and their sacrifices while we lived with them for my last semester....thank you so much for taking care of Daley! I know she loved every second she got to spend with you guys and she misses you!

Thanks to my parents for eveything!!!!!! I could write the longest list and still not covering everything that you have taught me and helped me with....words cannot describe my appreciation for all that you have sacrificed for me! I know I coudn't have done it without you!

And a very special thanks to my sweetheart.....First of all thank you for helping me get through my frustrations with school! you helped me so much for all of those papers I had to write! You were always there to help me re-word my sentences and edit my mispelled words and punctuation.....thank you for all of those late nights doing homework, all those times our house was a complete mess, and all the times dinner wasn't made. I promise I'll be a much better wife! I love you....

Lazy Sundays & Pig Tails

We got to experience a lazy Sunday this week for Mother's Day! We started out the day first by sleeping in...thank-you Daley! Then we got up and got ready for our first Sunday in our new Kayenta ward and believe it or not Daley actually let me put two little pig tails in!! They definitely weren't perfect but they were there. She looked so cute! We have some pictures of her down below...she didn't have the rubber bands in but you could tell where they had been.

Church went well and we are going to love our new ward. Everyone is so friendly! We got home and barbequed some green chili burgers and enjoyed the back yard and played with Blue.

Then we came in and took naps...It was funny Daley fell asleep before we could put her in her crib.

Daley FINALLY gets to sleep in her crib! She loves it.

This is a video of Daley being NAUGHTY! She found her wipes and thought it was pretty fun pulling one out at a time....see the big pile right next to her.