Christmas Card 2009

Matt and I really wanted to send out our first Christmas card this year; we even took a picture for it! But after looking over everything, we decided we didn't really have the money to print out and send a card to all our family and friends. So, I decided to blog our Christmas card this year instead! Here is our year in review:

January 2009: We had an awesome New Years Eve party with a murder mystery dinner, written by yours truly, and we went and saw Jeff Dunham live at Energy Solutions Arena.

February 2009: For my 25th birthday, we had a massive party at the Layton Surf n Swim with lots of family and friends.

March 2009: Several baby showers from work, my family and old ward, and Matt's family.

April 2009: Kalianna Dace joined our family as the best April Fools Day trick ever! (arriving 3 weeks early)

May 2009: Had some professional pictures taken of Kalianna for her newborn pics and birth announcement.

June 2009: Kalianna was blessed by her daddy.

July 2009: We went to Oregon with our good friends, Brian and Anna Johnson.

August 2009: Matt had a friend (Sveta) visit from Latvija, which doesn't happen very often!

September 2009: Both Matt and Kalianna's first time going horseback riding.

October 2009: Matt and I celebrated four wonderful years of marriage! Matt also turned 26 and Kalianna got her first taste of Halloween, dressed as a little fairy.

November 2009: We had a great Thanksgiving with family and got our first professional family pictures taken (technically in October).

December 2009:

Merry Christmas!

With Love from Matt, Stacy, Kalianna, Sobaka, and Kutse Carroll

Festival of Trees

I had never been before, so we decided to go this year when my sister, Kristine, invited us to go with them. Then my parents, Theresa, Bryan, and Ricci decided to join us too! Then Matt ended up having to work on Saturday, so he didn't get to come =-( It was fun and I enjoyed all the different trees. So creative! After the festival we all went over to Spaghetti Mama's for lunch.

Cute girl! She looks so excited to be there, doesn't she?

I love the way she is watching Uncle Bryan

Kalianna's first cotton candy

We took this picture for daddy. His girls in front of the chocolate tree

Some trees I thought were fun

Some super cool gingerbread houses

Cute quilt

Lunch afterwards

8 Months!

So last night we were at Matt's soccer game and someone asked me how old Kalianna was. I was about to say "she'll be 8 months in December". Then I realized...Holy cow! It IS December!! And I forgot to do her 8 month post! I blame it on being sick this week. I haven't even had the energy to decorate for Christmas yet. =-(

So I took her updated pictures this morning. It was so cute! As you can see, this is the first time Kalianna really noticed the big teddy bear I was leaning her against. She was fascinated! Such a cutie! So a few things about Kalianna at eight months:

- She is getting so close to crawling! She gets up on her hands and knees and moves back and forth. Its only a matter of time now...

- The tooth that has been threatening to come in for weeks has finally broken through the gums! Now when she bites, you can feel it!

- She's babbling more and more. She's always been a talker, but now she is learning new syllables and getting closer to forming words.

- She loves to try new foods! Her favorites now include gingerbread cookies, apple slices, and pickles. She Loves pickles! The first time I gave her one, I thought for sure she'd make a funny face. But not at all! She loved it and just kept sucking and sucking.

- All she wants to do is jump. She's getting too big for her door jumper, but if she could, she would probably live in that thing! Even when she is standing on my lap, all she wants to do is jump.

- She loves singing songs with mommy. Her favorite right now is "Old McDonald". She loves when I make the different animals sounds.

- And she desperately wants to be bigger than she is! Whenever she sees little kids walking or running, she tries to throw herself out of my arms to join them.

She just gets to be more and more fun every day!

Actor Recycle Bin

Kalianna and I have both been sick this week. The only good thing about being sick? It means I get to watch Gilmore girls! So I started season one again for the millionth time and realized something. I may have seen Gilmore girls too many times! After watching it again this week, I noticed they re-use actors to play different parts later in the show! For example:

* If you are a fan, you probably already knew that Carol King (who sings the theme song) also plays the owner of the music store later on.

* Also that Kirk, who ends up being a predominant character, starts out as Mick, the guy who is installing a DSL line at Lorelai and Rory's house.

* You probably even noticed that the long-haired troubadour from season one comes back to be the preacher when Liz and TJ get married.

* But did you know that on Jackson and Suki's first date, the waiter at the fancy french restaurant also comes back to play Suki's good friend, Joe, from cooking school?

* And when Rory goes golfing with her grandpa at the club and she is in the steam room, one of the ladies in the steam room talking gossip comes back to be in the booster club with Lorelai. She helps with the fashion show and has a crush on Luke.

* Jess' dad's girlfriend from California comes back with a completely different hair color as April's mom.

* And one of Rory's professors at Yale (the one who is teaching when Logan and Collin and Fin come in and interrupt with their performance) plays her professor on two different occasions and then when Luke and April's mom go to court, the same actor plays the police officer who is standing by the door.

I'm sure there are probably even more, but those are the ones I have noticed so far. Yeah...I think I've seen the show too many times!

Breeding License

You have to have a license to drive. You have to have a license to hunt. You have to have a license to own a business. You have to have a license to breed animals. Why then, do humans not need a license to procreate? Admit it. You've seen those people and wondered why on earth they are parents?? The mom who is carrying a baby on her hip in November in nothing but a diaper (no shirt, no socks, just diaper). And she bundles herself up when she steps outside saying, "Burr, its cold." The dad who leaves his baby in the car so he can see the midnight showing of Harry Potter. The girl who gets pregnant to force her boyfriend or husband to stick around. The dad who is pushing a stroller along a busy highway...I could go on.

My friend's little sister recently got married. She dated this guy for awhile. He was extremely abusive (emotionally). Dumped him. Then decided she wanted to get married, so got back together and got engaged very quickly. One week after the wedding, said she wanted it annulled. Week three: finds out she is pregnant. Super excited because having a baby is going to fix ALL of her problems! Had to quit her job because she is super sick with the pregnancy. Hubby works as a bus boy at Chilis. Often skips work when he's too busy playing Nintendo or doesn't "feel like" going in. Its okay though, because this baby is going to fix it. He'll realize he has to be responsible when the baby comes, so he will whip into shape and magically become a super hard worker and provider for the family. She has been struggling with depression for years. Its okay though, because this baby is going to fix it. Having a child to love will finally make her happy and make her bad feelings magically disappear. They fight constantly. Its okay though, because this baby is going to fix it. The baby will make them feel like a family so the fighting will magically stop. I don't know about you, but this seems like a lot of pressure to put on this poor, tiny little baby!

I was talking with a friend recently about having kids and she said something I really liked. She said having a kid makes the great things in your marriage 10 times better, and the struggles in your marriage 10 times worse. Brilliant! If this is the case, why don't people have to take a class before they can get pregnant? If they don't pass the class, they don't get their license. Simple as that! Okay, so I know these thoughts are not realistic and seem somewhat communistic. But what about these poor kids??

Cleaning Schedule

When Matt and I lived in the basement apartment, it took no time to clean at all! You can give 500 square feet a pretty good scrub-down once a week and it will only take a couple hours. But when we moved into our house, I knew I needed to find a different way to clean. Otherwise, I would be spending all day every Saturday cleaning. Not cool! So I devised a cleaning schedule for myself, and it works fantastically!

Monday - Laundry day

Tuesday - Dusting

Wednesday - Sweep and Mop

Thursday - Bathrooms

Friday - Vacuum

Saturday - Yard work

I have found that with this schedule my house stays clean, and I feel productive but not overwhelmed by doing one thing each day. If I ever miss something, I just add it on to the following day and quickly get caught back up. This schedule is also nice because it leaves our weekends open, since Saturday/Sunday is our only time to visit with family and friends. So yes, you are welcome to borrow my genius idea. =-)

Girl's Day

Saturday was Girl's Day with my family again. Unfortunately Matt has been sick so at the last minute, he stayed home to rest and Kalianna came with me. We met Kristine and Ricci at my parents house in the afternoon and my sweet brother, Bryan, watched Kalianna while the three of us went and got pedicures. So nice! It was needed! We then went back to my parents to pick up Kalianna (didn't want to scare the poor boy off from ever volunteering to watch her again). We did a little Christmas shopping before meeting up with all the rest of the ladies at 6:00pm. (It was the BYU football game, that's why we started so late). We went to dinner and discussed the book My Sister's Keeper, which we had all read over the last few months. Thankfully my dad was able to watch Kalianna while we ate. I really liked the book, but the language is pretty bad. So I would totally recommend it if language doesn't bother you! Its a tear-jerker though so read with a box of tissues. After dinner, we went back to my parents to watch the movie My Sister's Keeper that just came out this last year. It was completely different from the book! Not just slight changes because they didn't have time to fit everything in, I'm talking completely different story. The movie was pretty good. Not great, but good. I like the way the book was done better. Not sure why they would change the ending of the movie. I don't think the story worked as well with the changes. But that's just me. It was pretty late by the time the movie ended, but it was a super fun girl's day! Thanks ladies!