Standing Tall

So our little one is getting not-so-little. She's growing up fast and surprises us everyday with something new. She's 14 months old!! Isn't that crazy? Here's Anne doing some of her favorite activities:



Listening to her tunes

Playing at the playground

Playing with her buddies

Standing and Cruuuuuising

Lookin' cute (Her hair is getting longer and more fun to play with :)

Chillin with her buddies Molly and Michael

Ha Sike! Zac thought this would be a funny picture. She is nowhere near ready for potty training.

Reading stories with Mama. I think if Anne had her way she would read her favorite stories all day long. Her favorite authors are currently Dr. Seuss and Sandra Boynton.

Just hilarious. This picture makes me laugh every time I see it. Anne was just looking particularly groggy one morning and I couldn't resist.

For my birthday Auntie Jennifer sent me some lip gloss and Anne was interested.


Playing at the new park in our neighborhood. Anne loves the slides and the swings.

Our little maestro.

Ok, so to clarify I am Not Pregnant. But we thought this was a funny reaction.

Happy Halloween!

We had a very Happy Halloween at the Thatcher household! To start things off we had fun carving our pumpkins. The one on the left is sleeping (mine), the one in the middle is a puppy (Anne's), and the one on the right is Zac's.

The mad scientists.

Anne at story time. She even sat on the blanket by herself...she's getting so big!

Trick or treating at Dad's work.

She's discovered she can "work" on the computer like Dad.

Our cute little Halloween girl :)

We're #1!

I'm his biggest fan :)

So we've had a rough last couple weeks with the wonderful sick season that's hit here. Luckily it wasn't swine flue, but Anne had a not-so-fun cold, flu, and teething all mixed together. She's just needed some extra lovin' from mom and dad and puppy. He helped her eat breakfast on this day and tried to cheer up her little scowl.

I can't seem to get Anne interested in coloring with crayons so we tried finger painting the other day. She liked it when I'd paint her hand and then smush it on the paper. It's a start.

Anne was in great "spirits" :) at the ward Trunk-or-Treat on Halloween. She reached in everyone's bowls and chose her own candy and gave everyone great big grins. It was a big step for our shy little one, we're so proud of her!

We have a bunch of videos this time because Anne has been a dancing queen the past couple weeks showing us some cute new dance moves.

One of her favorite songs righ now is "Itsy bitsy". I thought Grandpa Russell would appreciate that :)

When Anne wants to hear music now she points to the speakers on the floor and waves her arms all around and claps. We do this several times a day. Music is definitely part of this little girl's soul. She sometimes just starts dancing even when there's not music playing.

Anne liked helping with the pumpkins. I think she thought they were big bowls of food...which...was close. We did make dinner-in-a-pumpkin a couple weeks ago which was really tasty.

Zac took us out to celebrate my birthday on Friday. We had a yummy dinner at Carabbas where he took care of feeding Anne so I was able to just sit and enjoy my yummy (and warm) food. Afterwards he took me to the mall and we got some new shoes! Which is a big deal for me since I only own four pairs of shoes and two of them were completely worn out. So Mama has some cute new running shoes and boots :) Thanks hunny!

Fall Activities and Zac's BDay

When we came back from our trip to VA, it had turned to Fall here in Utah! Boy did it get chilly which usually makes me happy because I love fall, but now makes me kind of sad because that means not as much time outside running and other fun stuff. But Anne and I braved the cold one day and took a trip to the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake which was actually really cool! I recommend it to others in the area. It's connected to Liberty Park up there in Salt Lake. Anyways, Anne and I had a blast. She loved the big birds that made funny noises and I loved reading all the info signs.

These were my favorite. They are such pretty birds!

I like that Anne is making her kissy face lips in this one :)

She was mezmorized by the peacocks.

These birds just reminded me of a married couple. The one of the left was just pecking the heck out of the one on the right....helpful cleaning or nagging...hmmm? :)

Anne liked saying hello to the birds through her imaginary telephone.

Zac and I bought a Starving Student card to help the scouts out in our ward and it's been a great way to think of things to do and places to eat. They had a buy one get one free bowling so we decided to take Anne for her first time. She was a pro. She loooooved the bowling balls.

Withe the cold weather comes cute winter clothes. Anne picked out the hat herself.

And some cute non-winter clothes from Gabbie :)

So Anne has entered a new phase in her life called movement. Our once immobile and content child is now all over the place...and we're thrilled! She's starting to explore with her crawling and loves to stand and walk with us or whatever she can pull up on. We're so proud of our little one! Here she is sporting her first pair of sneakers.

Zac had his birthday this last week...Happy Birthday Honey! His boss let him have most of the day off so we had a fun filled Birthday day starting with muffins and omelets and then to the shooting range. I took him to shoot his first automatic weapon and he was thrilled! It was an mp5....a machine gun that was a lot of fun to shoot. Anne didn't actually shoot...or go in the room where the shooting was (it was too loud) but she did sport the cool safetywear.

We watched in another room that had TV's.

The happy birthday boy.

Don't mess with this Mama.

On the way home from shooting we saw this park with the biggest flock of ducks I have ever seen. Among them were some of the biggest ducks I have ever seen. Anne helped me feed them bread that these nice people gave us there.

And to finish things up I took Zac to a new restaurant where we live called "Pirate Island" which was awesome! Really cool decorations, pirate waiters, strobe lights and pirate songs, balloon animals, arcade, allright food, decent prices...yeah we had a good time.

Anne's spontaneous presents for Dad. So cute. She just reached over and did this.

The balloon man made her a pupy which lasted until the car-ride home....then it got a leak from too much lovin.

The other day we took her to see some puppies. At first she was little shy and giggly but then petted them lovingly.

Better Wedding Pics :)

So here is a compilation of pictures from my brother and sister's cameras which turned out a heck of a lot better than ours. They're not in chronological order (oops) but you'll get the general idea. How things really went was on Thursday morning Jason graduated from TBS, then that evening they got married in the DC temple, and then the next evening was the reception.

Anne at the reception.
My pretty sisters Jennifer and Michelle (I helped pick out her wedding dress ;).

The bride and Mom.

The proud parents.

The girls. (They're colors were pink, purple and black which turned out really cool)

Jason's family is very musically gifted and actually has their own band that would perform all the time and we got to hear them at the reception! They were awesome! Michelle, Loren and I got to help out a little which was a blast. I sang "When you say nothing at all" because it's one of those songs that reminds me of Michelle.

Pretty self-explanatory. :)

At the reception I was able to see one of my best buds from high school Shara! It was great to catch up and remenisc over high school lacrosse days. I miss that cool girl! :)

It was way past Anne's bedtime.

Gordon (my little brother) busting a move.

Michelle and Jason also bustin a move.

Gordon keeping himself entertained.

Michelle rocked "Lookin for love in all the wrong places" at the beginning of the reception because it was her favorite song as a kid.

And these are some kind of random in-between things pictures.

Anne is a little phone talker. She uses our phones perfectly like this and even if she just hears Zac's phone beep or hears a phone on tv beep she puts her hand up to her ear and says "Hooow".

Jen did a great job getting this picture, it's one of Zac's and my favorites at the moment.

A shot of Jason at his TBS graduation.

Ok and here are some pics right after the wedding ceremony at the Temple.

This is actually my favorite picture of Michelle and Jason. It's after his graduation and you can just see how much they love each other. It makes my teary...but in a happy way :)

And back to the reception.

My brother Loren rocked the bass and DJed the fun wedding shin-dig.

Band practice beforehand.

VA, Wedding, and other fun stuff :)

This last week we were very blessed to be able to go to VA for my sister Michelle's wedding. It was beatiful and very special and I'm so glad we got to be a part of it. We're stoked to have a new addition to the family (Yay Jason!) and to see Michelley so happy :) You guys rock! So unfortunately...we're kinda lame and didn't take any good pictures of the after-wedding or reception. We took some but they were all dark as you will see. But my other sister Jennifer is a photographer and took some awesome pictures so a future post will have better ones...sorry for the delay. But here's some other fun stuff.

Our house is very much a football house so Anne knows the word football and touchdown and likes to clap for the tv. Here she is sporting her BYU outfit (the shirt says "Hold on Cougars..I'm coming!) and watching the game intently while slapping her football. Sooo cute.
And yes..she is also girly. Dad put the hankerchief on her so she looks like a little cowgirl.

Also very cute ;) For Michelle and Jason's wedding present I made my first quilt (or cover because I didn't actually put any batting in it). I did however sew all the sqares together and learned some valuable lessons for next time, hehe. But it was a lot of fun to make and I hope you guys enjoy it!

One of the days in VA was spent at Family Day at the base the day before Jason graduated from TBS. We got to do a bunch of neat stuff like sit in a CH-53 (the helicopter my Dad used to fly).

The highlight of the day was getting to shoot some cool guns (machine gun and granade launcher). We could not believe Anne fell asleep because the guns were really loud! But when she's tired, there's no stopping her. And Grandpa got a chance to hold her without her crying :)

Shooting the guns was awesome, but I think I got the biggest kick out of wearing the cover and vest. They sure are a lot heavier than I thought they would be.

Zac had fun shooting the granade launcher and alsmost hit the target! And the best shots of the day:

As soon as Zac lifted her up there she knew exactly what to do.

Move out!

Dad remeniscing.

So here's what we got from the wedding...I know...I know...better ones will come. But here's the bride and groom!

And us...

Anne kept herself entertained at the airport.

And got a huge kick out of these things.

Anne is learning to do the actions to songs and this one is her favorite. I guess if you know the actions it makes more sense: the first is "over the hills" so like a wave motion, the second is quack with your hand but I think Anne hears "clap" instead, and the third is waddle so she usually just sees me waddle my head.

We think Anne is going to be a gymnast someday. She loves flipping and has almost done a summersalt by herself.

1sts

So the past couple of weeks have been full of firsts for our little Anne:



For family home evening we went and got Anne her first Happy Meal! We were rather dissappointed that she didn't get a box with the cool handles and her toy was a book meant for older girls....but Mom took her to get another one on her birthday and got a cool toy car :)

First sewing project: Anne was in charge of making sure the tape measurer was well-lubricated.

First fashion decision: while "helping" Mom fold clothes Anne did this twice with two of my shirts all by herself.

First pet: Dad caught a fish at a scout fishing trip and thought it would be fun to bring it home for Anne to see and play with. She is still very shy around adults...but boy does she love animals and other little kids. (And by the way, the fish only remained our pet for a few hours...thank goodness Anne is not old enough to get attached.)

We had to keep her from jumping in the sink. She even petted it.

First cruise: Anne is starting to take steps along the furniture.

First spaghetti dinner.

And the big one.....Anne's first birthday!!! I've learned now that the anticipation I used to feel for my birthdays has shifted to being excited for my kid's instead. We had a blast celebrating our special little one. We are truly blessed to have been given such an amazing daughter. We threw her a little party and bbq for our friends and family. We decided to make it pumpkin themed since we have 15+ pumpkins coming from our garden. We were going to have everybody carve one but ended up running out of time...but that explains the decorations a little bit.

And one of our proudest moments of the day was Anne devouring her cake. We totally thought, given her shy, non-aggresive personality, that she wouldn't even want to touch her cake...but no. Anne picked it right up and smeared it all over her face. Though once she was finished with it she was very anxious to get it off her hands.(We have a video of it but blogger won't upload it cause it's a little longer. I've got to find another way to post videos that are longer than a minute..anyone have any ideas?)

Anne was given some awesome presents at her party but I accidently deleted the picture on here and it's kind of a pain to move pictures on this blogger program...so thank you very much to all who were so generous in giving Anne presents.

After the festivities we opened some family-sent presents starting with a cute turtle from Auntie Jennifer. Her expression says it all.

And she's given it lots of hugs since then.

She also got some stylin beads from Grandpa Thatcher and Pat that have been a big hit not only with Anne but with her friends as well.

And she just looked so cute in her pj's that night I decided to take another picture.

Birthday Song

Birthday Gang

Eating all by herself.

Touchdown!

And the best for last....it's been a long time coming......she's crawling!!! (We get a kick out of her sensitive feet that hardly ever touch the floor while she's crawling.)

Campin And Fishin

We had a fun week in celebration of Zac getting a job!! Wahoo! We took off for the weekend with Zac's cousin Dylan and his friend and had a fun camping and fishing trip up at Strawberry Reservoir. Unfortunately the fish weren't biting, but as you can see in this picture...the bug sure were (all the little white dots in the picture are bugs).

Anne was a great little camper once again. She loved talking to the cows and seeing all the four-wheelers.

Our little trooper :)

We had a little tangle with the fishing line, so cousin Dylan got a little wet....and boy was it not warm. :)

Cookin some grub.

Our pretty campsite.

Anne's new favorite perch. She likes to play with Daddy's hair.

A week or so ago we took a Sunday drive down one of the canyons and found this cool spot to eat our home-grown watermelon.

Good handles.

Great shot ;)

I love my baby.

Anne had a fun time at our family reunion hangin out with a second cousin.

We are amazed every day at how much Anne is improving in her mobility. She stands great, sometimes without holding onto anything, rolls around like crazy, can sit up from laying down, and can get into the crawl position. We're so proud of our almost one year old!

Toothy grin....this week a molar came in...soooo not fun.

And here's some pictures of this year's crops. From the not so impressive.....

To the ...holy cow...(watermelon)

and pumpkins

Bathtime fun.

Brings back memories...huh Gordon?

Anne has a fun new thing of tasting foods before she eats them.

And saying mmmm when she likes it.