My weekend in Texas!

This weekend, McKinley and I were able to take a trip to Texas for my little sister Emily's bachelorette party and bridal shower. We got in Friday morning, and by Friday night my whole family was in town. It was great getting to see my parents, all my sisters, my 2 nieces and my nephew. My parents got to have all their kids and grand kids together for the weekend! We had fun playing cards, visiting Emily's new apartment, and just hanging out all together!

This picture cracks me up because all 3 of us are standing the exactly the same way!

Having fun with Gabby!

Meme and McKinley

Pepe and McKinley

Saturday night was Emily's bachelorette party. We went out to dinner at a yummy Mexican food restaurant, Ruthie's, and then went bowling!

Here is the bachelorette all decked out for the evening!

Here she is opening her presents!

Having fun at dinner!

Sisters and our babies!



McKinley and the bachelorette! McKinley got to go to her first bachelorette party!

All the girls at the bowling alley!

While I was there I got to see 2 of my best friends from college Kari and Michele! It was so much fun to see them again and introduce them to McKinley for the first time! I miss those girls!






We had a great trip and had so much fun! I'm so glad we were able to go to Texas to be a part of it! Travis was happy to have us home Monday night. When he went to get McKinley out of her car seat when we got home she gave Travis a nice big smile! She missed him and was happy to see him when we got home! We're glad to be back home, but had a wonderful trip!


Check out my next post about the bridal shower I threw for Emily!

Halloween!

We had a wonderful Halloween! On Friday, after Travis got off work, we headed up to Hyrum to spend the holiday weekend with Natalie, Mike and Clay. That night we decided to get some take-out, carve some pumpkins and make some caramel apples.




The only thing was we never got to carving the pumpkins. It was late and we had to put the kids to bed, and once that was done we were too tired to finish it up! They were still pretty pumpkins, even though they weren't carved :)

On Saturday, we met up to have lunch with Cody and Kayla. And McKinley got to wear her cute little Halloween outfit :)



McKinley and I were matching in our orange and black :)

And of course Travis was wearing his Nebraska pullover. A common staple he sports every weekend in the fall.

That afternoon we went trick-or-treating with Clay in downtown Logan to a bunch of different stores that were handing out candy. Here's Clay in his cute monster hoodie Natalie made for him.


McKinley spent her first trick-or-treating experience sleeping on my chest all warm and snuggled up :)

That night we got dressed up to take Clay trick-or-treating around one of their friend's neighborhoods. McKinley and I matched and were both cats for Halloween :)

She made a super cute kitty :)


I tried but I just wasn't as cute :)


On actual Halloween day, McKinley wore a cute Jack-o-lantern outfit. That day we went and met one of Travis's mission companions and his family for lunch while he was in town visiting for the weekend. For dinner Natalie made yummy soup in bread bowls and cute bundt cakes with orange frosting!


We had a great Halloween weekend and it was a great first holiday for McKinley! I look forward to many more with her and when she's old enough to enjoy all the festivities herself :)

2 Months Old!

McKinley is officially 2 months old! It's crazy how time flies when you're having fun. In the last month McKinley has:

• Started smiling, one of my favorite things to see! I work tirelessly sometimes trying to get her to smile so I can see that cute little face smiling :)

• Started to grab things with her hands, mainly my hair :) I've gotten quite a few painful hair tugs in the past few weeks!
• She'll hold a toy in her hand if we put it in there. Travis put a set of plastic toy keys in her hand the other day and she held on to them for a while and almost hit herself in the face with them, luckily we were watching her and didn't let that happen :)
  

• Gone on her first trip and overall did really well. She flew with us to Missouri, rode for 6 hours in the car on the way to Nebraska, and flew back home with us from Nebraska. She's quite a little traveler now.

• Went to her 2 month check-up today and here are her stats:

Weight= 9 lbs. 15 oz. (40%)
Height = 22.8 in. (90%)

She's quite the tall thing

Here's McKinley with her new friend Mikayla who was just about a week old here. This is the first time we thought McKinley looked big and not quite like such a newborn anymore!

• She's doing awesome developmentally. She can focus on people's faces very well, follow objects with her eyes, can smile at us and even laughs in her sleep :) Hopefully she'll start doing that when she's awake soon! She's even starting to hold her head up! She's not quite ready to hold it up on her own, but should be soon! The doctor said she's a very strong, healthy baby :)

We can't imagine our lives without her! She is the cutest thing we've ever seen and makes us really happy :) Becoming a mother has been one of the hardest, but best experiences of my life! I'm so grateful Heavenly Father decided to bless us with McKinley! Our lives are no longer complete without her!!!

McKinley's Baby Blessing

On Sunday, October 17th Travis blessed our little McKinley in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was a wonderful experience to have my husband give our little girl a blessing and to have so many members of our family to be there to be a part of it! Travis was able to bless her with my Dad, his Dad, and his brother Brad all in the circle. Travis gave her a beautiful blessing that of course made me cry :) I'm so grateful my parents, Travis's parents, Angie, Brad, Emily and Mya were all there to be a part of it! Travis's mom made McKinley a beautiful dress for us to bless her in! She looked absolutely perfect in it! It was a special day!

Me with spit-up on my shirt, an accessory I always have these days

Me and my little girl, she loves it when I hold her like this :)

With my parents

With Angie

With Travis's Parents

With Brad, Emily and Mya


With my Parents again

Midwest Trip

Last Saturday, we were able to make a trip out to St. Louis, Missouri to visit some of Travis's family. We were excited and nervous to take McKinley on her first trip. She did good on both of the plane rides, which is what we were the most nervous about when traveling with her!

Walking around the airport in the Baby Bjourn, she loves being in it!

McKinley slept on the take-off and landing, but was awake the whole rest of the flight!

Sucking on Daddy's thumb on the plane ride :)

Once in St.Louis, we were able to introduce McKinley to her Grandpa Hulse and Aunt Angie for the first time!

McKinley and Aunt Angie

Travis's sister Racheal came down from Illinois to visit us with 4 of her kiddos so they could also meet McKinley for the first time!

McKinley and Aunt Rachael

McKinley with her cousins Sabrina, Cora and Prescott

McKinley and her cousin Janette

McKinley and her cousin Prescott

McKinley and her cousin Cora

We had a great time in St.Louis spending time with Travis's parents and sister Angie. Travis's mom helped me make my first quilt, we were able to watch lots of movies, go shopping at fun stores (a coin store for Travis and Charming Charlies for me), and have fun playing with McKinley! St.Louis was beautiful this time of year with the leaves changing! It is such a pretty part of the country!

Me and Angie and the swans after taking a pretty drive through scenic Missouri

McKinley and Grandma Hulse in front of a pretty lake where we had a picnic

Another fun part of being in St. Louis was getting to meet up with my sister Mandy and her family. It worked out perfectly that they were boarding the Amtrack train in St. Louis to head back to Dallas from visiting family in Indiana while we were there! It was fun to meet up with them at the Steak and Shake and visit for a little while! I love her kiddos and its so fun when I get to see them!

Me and Melia :)

Me and Oli and Gabs :)

On Friday, we took the trek out to Nebraska to meet up with Travis's brother Brad and my parents, who were in town for McKinley's blessing. It's a 6-hour drive from St. Louis to Lincoln, which is quite a long way with a baby. But, McKinley did great and slept almost the whole drive! Our little girl is a little traveler in the making!

Sleeping on the long drive

Cute picture I snapped of her one of the few times she was awake on the drive

While we stopped for lunch, McKinley was happy and smiled at her daddy for the first time. I tried to get a picture of it, but was too late!

Once in Nebraska, McKinley got to meet her cousin Mya for the first time. Mya loved McKinley and was so interested in what she was doing at all times. She couldn't say McKinley, so she just called her baby and would always inquire about her goings on, "baby eating?" "baby sleeping?" "baby crying?". It was also cute when she'd go up to McKinley and say, "Hi, baby" in her cute little voice! Looks like great friends in the making!

McKinley and her cousin Mya

We had a great time visiting family and getting to introduce everyone to our little McKinley!