11 months old

Anna is 11 months old, only one month away from finishing her first year of life.  I know I say it every month, but seriously, how does she grow up so quickly?  I'm so grateful I decided to start this blog and record pictures, videos, and memories of Anna's babyhood because it's gone by so, so fast.

Anna had another eye appointment in November and her doctor is still really pleased with how her eyes are doing.  That was such good news.  I was looking back at pictures from right before her surgery, and I forgot how bad they were.  It really is amazing how perfectly straight they are now.  That was definitely one of the feathers on our thankful turkey!

She's hasn't started walking yet, still crawling everywhere, getting into everything.  We bought locks for all the cupboards and put covers over all the electrical sockets in her reach.  Thankfully, she hasn't seemed interested in climbing the stairs yet, and she's mostly left the Christmas tree alone so far.

Have I mentioned yet that Anna hates the vacuum cleaner?  Remember how she used to love it?  Well, now she's terrified of it.  For a long time, she would bawl her head off every time I turned it on.  She doesn't usually cry anymore, but she stares at it with wide eyes and quickly crawls away any time it comes near her.

One new thing Anna has started doing this month is giving kisses.  But only if you're really lucky.  She loves making the kissy-lip face.  But when you go in to give her a kiss, 9 times out of 10, she'll turn her face away or cover her mouth with her hands at the last second, giggling.  She thinks it's so funny!  It's also funny because now any time Derek and I kiss each other, she will make the kissy lips at us!

We had our first big snowfall last week.  She liked to look at it through our back door window.  I brought a little handful of it inside and let her play with it on the kitchen floor.  She held it in her hand for a few minutes, then of course put it right in her mouth. :)

I promised I would post a video of her dancing.  She seriously does this ALL the time.  Derek and I were commenting the other day that there are some things she does because we taught her or encouraged her, but some things are totally and completely Anna.  This is one of those things.

Another funny thing Anna likes to do is look at herself in the mirror.  We have this big mirror just sitting against the wall because we haven't gotten around to hanging it.  And now maybe we'll just leave it where it is because it will seriously entertain her for a good twenty minutes.  She will make all sorts of funny faces at herself, it's hilarious!

Well, that's about all I can think of!  Here are some pictures I took the other day of her next to the Christmas tree.  She is such a cutie!

Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving in South Dakota!  Anna did SO well in the car.  I was really worried how she would handle being in the car so long, but she did awesome. Maggie and one of her friends from Minnesota rode with us, so there were always two people sitting in the back to entertain her.  That definitely helped.  We made it there in 15 hours, with only 4 stops and on the way back we made it in 14 with only 3 stops.  Amazing!

We were able to go for a whole week, Saturday to Saturday.  (Well, really it was Sunday through Friday, since both Saturdays were travel days.)  Most of our visit was spent just hanging out at home, enjoying each others' company, making and eating good food...and lots of playing with Anna. :)

Anna decided she would "help" Aunt Haley with her homework

It was funny watching her with the pets.  Anna loved the cat, but the cat didn't love her and she got hissed at a few times. She was fascinated by the dog but a little terrified at first.  She would get close to her and then get scared and start whining.  By the end of the week though, she got brave enough to crawl past Pepper and even touch her a few times.

Getting used to Pepper

On Monday, we went to the community Christmas kick-off at the Corn Palace.  We ate chili and watched the high school show choir perform a few holiday numbers.  Santa was there so we took Anna to sit on his lap.  I was sure she would cry, but I don't think she even saw who was holding her...she was too distracted by the flashing cameras and Mrs. Claus. :)

Wednesday night, Grandma watched Anna while the rest of us went to see Catching Fire.  SO good.  We listened to the audio on the trip out, but only got halfway through it, and I really didn't remember much about the ending.  I was gripping Derek's hand in suspense through the entire second half.

After the movie, Derek, Anna, and I went to visit Ashley and her family.  I wish we would have gotten to spend more time together, but it was so good to visit for a couple hours.  I was bummed that we missed Sam and Andy who were out of town for the holiday.

Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving.  Brent and Tauna's family (minus Seth) drove up from the farm to spend Thanksgiving with us.  The food was delicious and we enjoyed an afternoon of visiting, watching a little football, and playing games.

Visiting after dinner

Daddy's gonna get you!

She loves to cheese.

Playing with Daddy's phone.  A favorite activity.

None of us like Black Friday shopping, but a few of us did go to Cabela's to show Anna the fish and stuffed animals.  She wasn't too interested, probably because the animals don't move.  She did like the fish and the little waterfall though.

Saturday morning came all too soon!  I wish Utah and South Dakota were closer so we could visit more often.

Oh and here is a picture of our little "Thankful Turkey" we made for Family Home Evening.  We really do have so much to be thankful for!

Halloween and Thanksgiving Point

We went over to Beth and Todd's for their traditional Halloween dinner of broccoli cheese soup in pumpkin bread bowls.  They've generously invited all the college-aged nieces and nephews (and those of us who have graduated) every year.  I think I've only missed one Halloween since I was a freshman at BYU.  Maggie came with a friend, and Brittney, Matt, and Monty were there too.  We took Anna and Monty trick-or-treating...and by "we" I mean all of us.  Two babies, six adults, plus Jared.  We only went to a few houses, but it was fun anyway!

We found Anna's ladybug costume at a consignment sale for $2.  It was nothing too special, but because Anna is adorable, it was adorable. :)  I tried to coordinate our costumes with hers, dressing myself up as a butterfly and Derek as a "bug catcher."

Yes, Monty went as the Michelin Man! :)

Matching polk-a-dots!

Last Saturday, we went to Thanksgiving Point as a family.  We had planned to go to the Cornbelly's Fall Festival, but when we got there, we decided most of the activities were too old for Anna and that she would have more fun next year.  Instead, we went to the Dinosaur Museum and the little animal farm, both of which were free with Derek's pass from work.

Getting eaten by the Utah Raptor.

The giant Brachiosaurus

Anna got to pet the cows and seemed to like them ok until the momma cow mooed.  After that, she was scared of all the farm animals and didn't want to go near them!

After we got home from Thanksgiving Point, Derek raked the leaves in the front yard into a pile and let Anna play in them.  She loved it!  We got some pretty cute pictures.