9 months old....

 I cannot believe all that Reese has learned in the last month. She has started to crawl and she is pretty quick at it. Especially if she wants to play with the dogs. Her crawl is so cute. She is not real good at moving her hands one in front of the other so she does this worm looking crawl. It reminds me kinda of the butterfly stroke when you are swimming. I am sure she will get the hang of it soon:) My mom got Reese a walker for Christmas and as soon as I put it together, she took off in a run and almost landed on her face. She was so excited though to be on her feet. The problem with the walker though is that it plays really fun music and Reese will start to walk with it and then starts dancing away when the music comes on and she loses her balance. This girl loves to dance. Reese loves to stick her bum high in the air and laugh. She also sleeps like this, which brings the issue of a very full diaper in front in the mornings. I would like to give her baths at night, but her diaper always leaks out onto her belly and she smells like pee. ( If anyone has any advice for these little tummy sleepers......let me know:)

 Reese seriously has the strongest little legs. It is funny because Reese has these short little legs then really strong quads from all of her jumping.  We are wondering what activities she will like to do when she gets older.

 I had to show this picture again (above) because you can see Reese's first tooth pretty well. It seems that her tooth came in later than most, but I don't know much about these things. We can already see another tooth starting to come through so I guess they come in two's.

 On wednesday, Reese had her 9 month appt and I am always excited to get her new stats. She has pretty much caught up with her weight and height and doing great.

She weighs 16 lbs and is in the 10th %

Height: 25.5 inches, which is in the 5th %

 On Christmas Eve, Reese was watching her cousin clap and within the week, she is clapping away. We clap at everything these days, which is a lot of fun!

***** It's crazy how quickly she learns things. I started this post yesterday and by today, she learned to crawl normal, no longer the worm crawl, and she pulled herself up to the standing postion today. I love being home to watch every new phase, but I am especially having fun with this 9 month phase.

Isla's birthday...

 My niece Isla just had her 2nd birthday and I can't believe how fast it has gone by. It seems like yesterday that my sister and brother in law adopted their little baby. She is so much fun and has the cutest personality. I went with my sister to Costco to get her birthday present, which was this kitchenette. Well, Isla ended up playing in the little kitchen for about an hour with my sister while I finished up shopping. I love how little girls know how to use spices when they cook and always offer you a drink to go with your donut or hotdog or whatever they are serving you:)

So I had to take some pictures of my other nieces hair. My sister in law amazes me with all of her talent, one which is doing 5 girls hair. They looked like cute little "Cindy Lou Whos" These are their hair do's for Isla's birthday......

You can't tell real well,  but Kolby has her hair twisted into hearts, tied with ribbon.

 Kelsey's cool braids

 Khloe had cute messy buns all over woven with ribbon

 Kaiya just had some cool, braids, buns, and etc. Kennedy is in the back with her long beautiful hair.

 Reese liked wearing Isla's chef hat a little too much:)

Reese's first Christmas....

 I had to post a lot of pictures because there were too many to choose from. We had so much fun celebrating Christmas this year as a family! A baby definitely reminds me of the true meaning of Christmas! She didn't care about gifts, but just loved the lights and singing about Christ birth and just being together as a family. For the past couple of years, Ron and I have not really bought each other gifts for Christmas because we were saving to adopt. Well, we didn't need to really buy gifts this year either because we had been given the gift we have been saving for. Truly she is the greatest gift and we enjoyed every minute celebrating Christmas together.

 I was so excited to give Reese this dress I made for her for Christmas. ( Not the best picture) We went to church at Ron's parents ward so we could go to the 9:00 church. It was great for getting to all the families, but Reese was so tired! Usually in the morning, she gets so excited when I walk in her room to get her in the morning, but I had to wake her up on Christmas morning and she looked up at me, whimpered, then lied back down:( It was so sad! She at least was able to take a few cat naps between opening up gifts at all of the grandparents houses. Reese loved to chew on all of her gifts and tried to eat all of her wrapping paper.

Christmas Eve is always fun at Grandma & Grandpa Scoville's! Ron's mom always makes a really yummy dinner, then we usually sing Christmas hymns, the kids act out the nativity, and then we play chimes and read stories. It was getting a little late this year, so Reese had to go to bed, but it was a fun Christmas Eve.

 On Christmas Eve, we have a tradition of opening up one gift, which is always pajamas!

 below: Reese and Isla Christmas morning, with their cute Puma outfits from Auntie Leigh

 below: we seriously have the nicest neighbors. This cute older couple in our ward gave Reese these pajamas.

 below: Reese loves her cousins

 this is seriously the saddest face

 Christmas morning!!!!! Reese loved opening up and then eating her stocking!

below:

Ron took this picture of Isla and Reese holding hands. They are seriously best friends!!

 above: Reese's gifts/climbing blocks

We got this monkey for Isla. She named him Marvin!

Reese's Bedroom

I have been meaning to post these pictures for a while. I absolutely love Reese's room and I could stay in there all day. I still need to hang up her new pictures, but her room is pretty much done. It has been a lot of fun to decorate Reese's room and I love to walk in there each morning to see my cute smiling baby.

 You can't really read the vinyl, but it says, "I love to see the temple , I'm going there someday"

 I love her window, it was so much fun to decorate.

A perfect day amidst the storms....

 My best friend, (well, best (girl) friend), was married last Thursday and it was amazing! I have been friends with Michelle since I was 7 years old. We played soccer together in elementary although we went to different schools. Then we went to Jr. High and High School together and cont. to play soccer together. She was my go to girl when we didn't feel comfortable at a party or any other place. I remember leaving a party with her and I think we went running at like 10:00pm in the winter. She has always been such a good friend and example in my life. After High School we both went up to Utah State together and lived in a fun old house with Michelle's sister and another friend. We both came back down to Syracuse and West Point so that she could student teach and I could start the Respiratory Therapy program at Weber State. We would always go on walks and talk about everything. She is my one friend that I have really kept in touch with and has always been there for me. She amazes me because although marriage did not come when she expected, she didn't dwell on it, but bettered her life in every way possible. She has traveled to Mexico a few times to build homes and raised money to build a water system in Peru, traveled to Switzerland to take a study abroad art class, and is always taking a Spanish or sewing class. Anyway, I am grateful to have such an amazing friend that we can be there for each other during the trials, as well as the good times.

 During the past few years as we have had our ups and downs of adoption and she has had her ups and downs of dating, it has been a sweet feeling this year to be able to celebrate the blessings that have come to both of us. It is wonderful to have a friend to help you through the trials, but it is more amazing to be able to celebrate the day Michelle has been waiting for. I ran into Michelle before the ceremony in the temple and as I hugged her we both about started to cry just thinking about all of our talks we have had awaiting this day. She looked so beautiful and happy and I am grateful for such a wonderful guy that has made Michelle so happy. I realize now why it is so important to choose good friends when we are young.  Michelle has blessed my life so much and I can only hope that Reese will find the kind of friend that Michelle has been to me.

Now......Michelle got married on Thursday, Dec. 1, which was the day of the huge windstorm. I admit, it was pretty scary driving down to Salt Lake. I drove by at least 15 semi trucks that were rolled over on the side of the road. I have never seen anything like it. Power lines were pulled down everywhere, houses torn apart, and trees in the middle of the road. It was pretty scary driving down to the temple, but as soon as I got there, it was truly a perfect day and I was so happy for Michelle. I was reminded that amidst the storms, we can still have perfect days and watch the hand of God work in our lives. 

 Chevron torn apart

Phone lines torn down

8 months old

8 months have gone by so fast and I have loved every minute of it. I love every new stage of development. Reese's personality just seems to be getting bigger and bigger and she is such a busy body. When Reese wakes up in the morning, I love to crawl into her room and wait until she sees me and starts kicking her legs and smiling away. Reese loves to play with the dogs and I cannot keep her and Sachi away from each other. Reese starts to giggle as soon as she sees Sachi. I think they will be best friends when Reese gets a little bigger.


Reese's teeth have not broken through yet, but I think she is teething and so she sometimes wakes up late at night or earlier than usual. Now, I know this is not a good habit to start, but I love to bring Reese to bed with me while I read and she falls asleep. Everyone tells me how their kids will not snuggle with them anymore and so I figured I would get my snuggle time while it lasts:) Reese loves to sleep on her belly, usually with her bum in the air. It is so cute and has also helped her hair to grow back on the back of her head.

Reese loves to roll around everywhere. Last week she really started to try to crawl and it is too cute. She gets on all fours and revs up jumping back and forth and then pushes forward onto her face.She also pushes her legs straight and her bum in the air and reminds me of Mogli from the jungle book. She is such a busy body and as soon as she can crawl, it will be a job catching her:)

Reese loves to help scatter laundry:) Yeah, don't ask what she is wearing. My sister just gave Reese 3 huge bags of old clothes so we were trying everything on.
Like I said......Reese rolls everywhere.
Reese loves oatmeal and will sometimes eat two full bowls between eating her toes. She is a good eater and loves anything that is thick. For you moms out there, when did you start feeding your baby normal food like bread and cheese? Just wondering?