While we were in Spokane we had the opportunity to go to the temple with my mom and Annah!  It was the first time Alex and I had been back to the Spokane Temple since we were married there in 2005!  It was a great experience to be there again!

Since our wedding they’ve added a new front addition on to the waiting room area so it looks a little different than the last time we were there.   Spokane was the second of the small sized temples (after Monticello).  Monticello has already been added on to in order to accomodate the number of people who use that temple and Spokane is a very busy temple as well!

Here we are trying to recreate our “classic” wedding pose in front of the gate!  Alex kept telling jokes though…which made me laugh…and consequently blink.

Me, my mom, and Annah outside the temple.

Here was a picture I took really quickly before we hopped in the car.  I thought it looked kind of pretty with the clouds in the back! (even though it’s off center)

I was really glad we had an opportunity to go the temple while we there!  It is such a wonderful experience to go with so many members of our family!

So get ready for some crazy pictures of Emeline…like you’ve never seen her before…with straight hair!!!

So one morning while I was sleeping in Emmy saw Christina and Annah straightening their hair and asked if they would straighten her hair too!  Here she is modleing her new do!

While they worked on her hair she kept touching it and saying “now I have flat hair like my Mommy!”  Haha! Thanks Emmy!  When she came in to wake me up she was so excited to show me her hair!  She kept saying “look mom we are the same”!  What a sweetie!

I’m sad this one is so blurry!  This was her model pose!

Here’s a pic. of Kaylee with Aunt Christina!  I call that Kaylee’s Park City outfit because she looks like she is ready hit the slopes!

And finally a very happy Emmy with her beauty stylist Aunt Christina!

So…I guess this is better late than never!  We’ve had a couple crazy busy months here at the Baker household but I’m finally getting back into a groove and getting somethings done that I’ve been putting off!  Including the blog!  So without further ado…here are our pictures from our awesome trip to Spokane for Christmas!

Here’s a picture of Kaylee on the plane! It’s  kind of nice that Emmy gets an actual ticket now so we get a whole row of seats and the girls can stand up on the floor and play!  I can’t remember if it was this trip or the one to California  but on one flight Kaylee got her head wedged under the seat!  Which was a little sad but mostly funny!  That is such a Kaylee thing to do!

When Christian was in Boston Children’s after he was born my Mom found this shop that made little rocking horse ornaments.  So she bought one for each of us kids.  Last time they were in Boston my mom got some for Emeline and Kaylee too!   Here are Kaylee and Grandpa putting up Kaylee’s horse!

Here’s another shot of them putting up the rocking horse ornament!

Here’s Emeline’s ornament!  And Kaylee wearing her B-day girl shirt because it was her actual B-day the day after we got to Spokane!

We had Kaylee’s big party a few days before we left home but we had a small party for her on her actual bday too!  Here she is trying a little cake!

And here she is killing a little cake!

Since we were leaving so early for Christmas in Washington we exchanged presents with the Baker’s the night before we left.  Here are some pics of the festivities!

Here are the girls modeling their new dresses from Aunt Beth!  They are both just holding them up but it really looks like Kaylee is wearing hers, huh?  They also got some tutus that Aunt Beth and Grandma Kath made just for them!!

Grandma and Grandpa also got them these cool stools that have come in super handy!  Emmy uses it as a stool, a chair, and as a table!!  Kaylee pretty much uses hers however big sister is!  One is princesses and the other is tinkerbell!  They also got matching puzzles and place mats!

Here’s Kaylee sporting her new tutu!  She is very into dress up and dancing so she loves these skirts!

Emmy got a Tinkerbell puzzle!  She looooves the new Tinkerbell movies and whatnot.  She is also really good at puzzles.  She helped us do a bunch of them in Spokane!  She can pick out all the edge pieces and get them together already.  And she uses the box to figure out where pieces fit!  Very smart!!

Thanks Bakers!! (Including Givens!) We loved all the perfect little girl accessories!!

Well, it’s been a month since Kaylee’s birthday and I still can’t believe that she is already a year old!!  Since we were already going to be in Spokane for her birthday we had two parties for her: One in Los Alamos and one in Spokane.  We invited her friends James and Asher and I think she had a great time!

Here’s a picture of the cake!  I had seen a few different wreath ideas online but I kind of just made this one up.   I just kind of freehanded a bow and filled it in with stars.  Then I drew a bunch of pointy looking leaves and berry looking things.   For the sides I just used some Christmas ribbon I had!  I was pretty excited about how nice the ribbon thing worked!  I will definitely do that again…it was super easy and made the cake look really cool!  One of the guests even asked where I bought the cake…so that made me feel pretty good!

Here’s a side shot of the ribbon!

Here are the presents and cake!  And Tinkerbell decor…which Emmy “helped” Kaylee pick out!

The birthday girl herself!!  She was ready to dig into her enchilada and rice!!

Here she is opening her very first present!  (Between two birthday parties, opening Christmas presents with the Bakers, and Christmas…she is a present unwrapping pro!)

Her First Cabbage Patch Doll!!  She was pretty excited about that one!  Both the girls love to play mommy!

Darn my head is in the way!  She is scraping icing off while everyone sings to her!  Happy Birthday to Kaylee!

Just a little taste…

Now a big taste!

Now smear it all over the face!!  (She actually was much cleaner than Emmy was.  However there are some really good pics from her party in Spokane…she went to town on that cake!  Those will be in another post though!

Sleepy sleepy Kaylee heads upstairs for a bath and bed!  We love you Kaylee!  Congratulations on your first year!!  You are the cutest!

The Elder’s quorum had an ice skating activity.  This is one of Alex’s favorites since he is a good skater.  I am not so much so I was the self-appointed photographer!  Emmy loves skating too and she even took a few steps by herself this time!

Here’s Emmy and Daddy skating!  Look at the smile…she was so proud of herself!

Here’s a good one of Alex’s smile…he is so proud of himself! 🙂

After Alex and Emmy skated in the same direction for awhile Alex turned around and held on to Emmy’s hands while she skated toward him!

Then they moved on to one of these walker things for beginning skaters!  Emmy thought it was totally awesome!

Then Emmy needed a quick hot cocoa break so Kaylee got to take a spin around the rink with Daddy!  I think she liked it but was cold!

Here’s Emmy trying it all by herself!  Alex was right next to her in case she fell but she could hold herself up!

She even took a few steps all by herself!

After I took Kaylee home for her nap Alex took the camera out on the ice and got this really cute one of Emmy skating all by herself!  She loved it and they even have a little girl hockey team here in town…Alex can’t wait! 🙂