An exciting day!!......

Today is a wonderful day!! My little brother Devan finished his two year mission for our church in the Tallahassee, Florida Mission. He returned home today, and sadly we are not there-(which is hard for a big sister!), but we will see him at Christmas and we can't wait for him to meet his niece!!
Devan served an amazing mission. It was full of lessons of humility, patience, tolerance, service, hard work, commitment and love. He has born witness of the truth as a constant and true servant of The Lord. He has had many obstacles to overcome in the past couple of years, and he has faced them with confidence through his faith in The Lord. During these past two years, Devan's been incredibly blessed to be free of a physical burden that has taken a toll on his body most of his life, for the first time ever. What an incredible miracle it has been. We are all truly grateful to our Heavenly Father. He really does provide the way that is meant for each one of us.
Devan, we love you and are so proud of you and the work you have done on your mission. We know you will continue that work throughout the rest of your life.
The love that you have shared will live on in the hearts of all of whom you served forever. We thank you for the blessing it has been to be a part of this with you and the joy and strength you have brought to us through your missionary work.
At this time we feel it very much appropriate to say,
"Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

Here are some pics of Carly expressing her love for her uncle. She wanted to welcome him home!

Our little Curly Sue!

I love how much Carly's hair curls up!! I love the ringlets!! I love how sometimes it's stick straight, and other times flares out to the sides and looks super long!! Her hair has many looks, not to mention the crazy way her bangs are growing out!! I could swear that she has at least 50 different lengths going on in front!
You'll have to blow up these pictures to really appreciate those ringlets!

Let's open presents!!!

Carly loved opening presents!......Well playing with her presents!!! We wish we had tapes for our video camera,(we didn't do b-day cake for this reasons. We'll do it tonight!)because she was laughing SO hard when we'd rip paper in front of her!! As you can see from the last pictures, after we'd open presents, she'd then lay down on them and cuddle them!! She really LOVED them!! Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa Williams and Grandpa and Grandma Hill!! You spoiled our little girl, and she enjoyed every minute of it!!

Here's the Birthday Girl!!

WE decided to reminisce and watch some old videos of Carly, and she was fascinated with herself!! As you can see....
We opened some of Granma and Grandpa Moyes' presents early in the morning....Carly was anxious....Well mommy too!

My little princess.....

Hey is our little princess in her Birthday dress for church!!!





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It seems like yesterday......

Here's what it took to bring our little baby girl into this world!!.......

Carly was 4 days overdue, and earlier this day we had to get an ultrasound to make sure everything was still looking okay...........Well, when they told us that this "little" girl was looking at least 9 lbs. we were no longer aprehensive about getting induced!! We called our doctor right away, and he sent us to the hospital that night!...................After a long night of discomfort and contractions caused by a device they had to place in me to prepare for the induction, the induction finally began Friday morning @ 7:00 a.m.. What a long day that would be!.............By 10:00 pm and almost 24 hrs. of labor, I was finally ready to start pushing-and boy was I READY!!! Unfortunately our baby girl was not, and decided to take her SWEET time just as she had for the past day and a half, and had her Mommy push for a whoppin' 2 1/2 hours. Unfortunately Mommy only got to enjoy her epidural for 45 minutes until it had worn off( they turned it down once, and then off because they said I wasn't pushing right. They assured me that she'd be out in no time!! NOT SO!!!)SO for the next hour and 45mins. I experienced the shear pain of giving birth-Well, the shear pain of trying to get a baby out that just could do so on her own, and was literally shattering my tail bone!! With the patience and "handy work" of our wonderful OB, we were able to dodge a C-section, and miraculously "pop" that girl out with a 3rd degree episiotomy @ 12:45 a.m., 12/30/06, early Saturday morning!! No one could believe how big she was at a huge 8lbs. 9 oz. except for her Mommy of course, who'd sworn up and down for the past month that she was with out a doubt carrying at least an 8 pounder!!
I remember when they placed her on me and thinking how heavy she was to me! I cannot describe my relief and my joy to finally have her here. THe pregnancy had been long and hard with the hyperemesis and IV fluids, and getting through record heat wave in CAli during the last two months with NO AC! But I am lucky to have had a healthy baby, and I know like others, I could have had MUCH worse. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and thoughs at that time.
We are so grateful for our darling girl and the daily pure joy she brings to our lives. The time has flown to fast this past year! We love you Carly!

Here's some pics of me right before we headed to the hospital @ 41 weeks! Oh, and Ryan waiting so patienty and passing the time in my delivery room, at last our beautfiul baby girl!

We're trying to walk here!

Carly's not quite walking yet, but she's sure trying! SHe'll stand up for a while and then when she feels like it, she'll take a step or two, and then tumble to the ground!! Although she's not as good as her cousin Hudson,(he's two months younger and taking five steps at a time! What a champ!), she's quite proud of herself when she's trying!(As you can see in the last picture.)

We have some piggies!!

Carly standing on her own!

Our reverent little Carly....

OKay, so some of you may know that Carly is quite good at picking up words with movement. Long story, but for example, when she was just 5 months old she starting to clasp her hands together in a begging kind of way whenever I said "Please Mommy!" It's been so much fun to see what she picks up, and we of course think she's the most gifted child around! So here's one of her things that we love to do with her. Whenever we're about to pray, we say to her, "Let's pray!" and about 90% of the time, she'll fold her arms, and bow her head!! She's done this for a few months now! When we're actually saying the prayer though, she just looks at both of us back and forth in a sort of, "What are we doing, and for how long do I have to fold my arms?" way. She thinks it's so funny that we're closing our eyes-Well kind of closing our eyes. We can't help but try not to laugh as we peek down at her to see what she's doing. IT's so funny to watch! She just sort of giggles quietly at the whole thing!
So obviously, we aren't praying here during these pictures, I was just folding my arms while sitting and watching her, and for some reason she thinks that means "Let's pray!" also!! Most the time now, if she sees us with our arms folded in any way, she does the same!! What a reverent baby we have!!! LOL~

Like my dress Grandma M.?

Grandma Moyes wanted to see pictures of Carly in one of the dresses that she sent Carly a while ago. This is one of our favorites because she can crawl around in it so easily (plus it's so darn cute on her of course!)!! Both Grandmas have been so generous in supplying Carly with clothes!! What would we do without these wonderful Grandmas?! Thank you!


Carly literally enjoying her dress!



"So BiG!"

We need a "Big Girl" seat!!...But what one? Any suggestions?

Okay, so we are retarded and can't figure out what to put Carly in for a carseat. As you can see from the last post, she's very much outgrown her infant seat, but we don't know what to buy next! We don't know what's the best or worth the money. I'm reading that Britax marathon is the best, but almost $300 for a carseat? Is that normal?>we don't know. We just want something that Carly will last in, be comfty in, and not scream in the whole time we're in the car(which is where we're at now-the poor thing probably hates her carseat at this point!! IT's TOO SMALL!!
Okay, so I know lots of you mommies that read our blog have just transitioned to a bigger carseat or are about to, so please tell me your thoughts, suggestions, or what you've gone with!! Thank you!! We really need to get one soon!
(Thanks Sarah, for reminding me to post this with your comment of how surprised you were to see Carly in her infant seat still!!LOL~Hehe, this is the reason she's still in it!^^^^^)