Whoops.

I haven't written anything since Daisy Doo was 6 months old.
She is now nearly 15 months old, and I have reached the point where strangers don't care about the months so I usually just say "she's one" unless prompted for more information. (it's amazing how the months really do make a difference still, but people-in-general stop caring so much once they hit a year)

So...pictures!

My sister is a good picture-taker.

day one: system beaten

accidental Halloween matching cuties! that's Myles, the neighbor boy I babysit a couple times a week!

sickie in a box

party at my crib, yo!

Kronk, Bucky, and Yzma!

Dad is much more fun with shopping carts than Mom

messes messes messes

nun in a tub

another plane ride!

cheesin'

long day of many plane rides!

cheesin. drinkin out of a cup.

buddies.

Santa! yes, I did the whole mall thing this year.

getting ready for some BYU Football!!!!

2013 Fight Hunger Bowl! not the greatest photo of the Cosmo the Cougar hat, but eh.

queen of the slide. these two cute boys are our neighbors (Taj and Myles)

bath hairs

Myles' lil' red wagon

minutes after someone asked if she was a boy.

she is a little bit obsessed with flowers

and reading to herself

and climbing in and out of the Bumbo

birthday park day! five teeth!! and you can see them all!

the loot.

cake time!

manhandling the goods.

surveying the destruction.

BAM - almost entirely caught up!
In the last 3 months, she managed to get ALL of her teeth with the exception of her canines (top and bottom). Those four suckers are all coming in now. All at once. And it is worse than when she got all of her molars all at once. BUT, they are the last ones! Then we get a break from teething!!! She really hasn't been that awful, but these last four teeth are giving her a run for her money and it makes me sad :(

Other notes that might be good to write down before I forget them entirely:

1. She started walking about 2 weeks after her birthday. She kind of swaggers like a cowboy, super wide stance and all. It's great.
2. Since she has started walking, she has also started dancing. It's stinking adorable.
3. We have been teaching her some sign language. She started to understand some signs around 9mos and do some signs herself around 11mos. Now she knows and uses quite a few!
4. Her first word was "HI!". First notable catch phrase was "OooooOOooh!" with her mouth in a perfect "o" shape. 
5. She is now pretty good at repeating the general syllables/sounds for words. She now says regularly: her name, Mama, Dada, baby, bye, keys, eat, doggie, kitty, flower, bird, outside, signing time (her ASL videos), train, and bear. But we're still pretty much the only people that understand her, and she usually only says "mama" when she is sobbing.
6. She doesn't really act like a firstborn child, in the sense that she is pretty rough&tumble and generally doesn't get upset when I hold or care for other babies.
7. There is a healthy independent streak in her personality as well. She doesn't cry when we leave her with other people, she's never been afraid of strangers, and she's tackled slides by herself on numerous occasions.
8. She is currently obsessed with shoes and flowers and phones
9. She dropped her second nap before her first birthday. Ay caramba. But the one nap she does take is starting to get longer! 2hrs on a good day.
10. She will sleep from 7p-9a on a good night. She does still wake up once between 4-6a to nurse for 5mins, but that's it. If that's the trade off for no naps, I think I can live with it.

Love you all - I promise to update more diligently!

- Rachel

SARAH'S WEDDING!

So, on May 11th, my sister got hitched!!!

First, we took a plane to Salt Lake City. DAISY'S FIRST PLANE RIDE. She was a champ.

 snoozin' in the airport while Mom horked down some Burger King and a large amount of Dr. Pepper [don't judge, that bacon cheeseburger was delicious]

 after ten minutes of hollering for no discernible reason just before takeoff, she chilled out and didn't make a peep the rest of the flight

 I was trying to be artistic, and I was drinking an additional complimentary Dr. Pepper [I may have consumed entirely too much DP on this trip and gone through caffeine withdrawals the other day...]

the sling is probably the most adorable thing ever. she loves looking out at everything, and just the top of her head peeks over while she's looking around...yeah, it's precious.

And the next morning, it was off to the temple!

 cuties. sealed in the Mt. Timpanogos temple.

my brothas are snazzy.

Anyway, that was a completely gorgeous and lovely and wonderful day, and we all love Adam so much and are stoked to have him as part of our family! And it was a blast to see old-friends-that-are-practically-family at the reception. I'm sure I'll have more photos to share soon :)

As luck would have it, some funky schedule-shifting occurred at Dreamworks, and Chris was able to take some time off of work, and we spent an entire additional week in Utah and Idaho with family [and a couple friends!] it. was. awesome. here are a few random snippets to prove the awesomeness to you:

 kind of blurry....but Daisy ADORES Aunt Michelle :)

Oh, and Grandpappy too ;)

We went up to Idaho Falls for a day to see Grandma Annie [and quite a few of the Rydalch cousins/aunts/uncles! Forgot to take pictures though, boo!]

And the day before we left we met up with the Utah Rydalches for some delicious burgers and shakes! This is Chris' youngest cousin, Dylan. Chris and Tori had to help him figure out how to hold Daisy, but it was adorable.

And no trip to my husbands' childhood home is complete without cleaning out some boxes and finding gems like these...

there are so many drawings akin to this one in all of his childhood notebooks and journals...I am so excited to have sons someday.

 

he worked at a Scout camp when he was 16

yep...he met Elder Holland while on his mission. Some local church member stood by and took pictures, even though you weren't really supposed to...hahaha :)

and someday, eventually, I will be better about remembering to take photos while we are on trips. there was so much we did this week that I didn't document, that filled my soul with joy!! and I just can't find the words to paint a mental picture for you at the moment. Maybe after I eat some lunch or something. I'm pretty hungry. We'll see how I feel after that ;)