Happy Birthday Eliza!!!

"It's her party ....And she'll EAT CAKE if she wants too!!" You know the rules!!! And boy did Eliza eat cake at her birthday party this past weekend!!!

I have been driving myself crazy the past month or so looking at all of her newborn baby pics. and being reminded of how big she has gotten! She is one years old for cryin out loud!!! I cannot believe it! We had such a fun weekend celebrating=) On Friday, I spent literally the whole day baking the cake, but unfortunately I had to leave about 4:00 to make dinner so we could feed the missionaries. Not unfortunate that we were feeding the missionaries, we love that....just unfortunate that i had to leave my mom to do all of the decorating by herself! She is the best!! She is so talented and she did an amazing job!!!! After we fed the missionaries, we took Eliza to Babies R Us and got her birthday presents. I know we are a little last minute. Last stop of the day; Party City to get the rest of her party supplies. Saturday morning I have a mandatory college success class at TCC Northwest, but fortunately we always get out early. And as a side note, when I David and Eliza picked me up, I couldnt help but realize that there was a huge "On the Border" cup in the cup holder...turns out David and Eliza had a little lunch date...I thought that was so sweet!!

We headed to my parents house, to decorate and get everything ready.

We enjoyed some snack foods, and then opened presents. Eliza made out like a bandit! Tons of clothes, and books and some toys (we warned everyone not to buy a ton of toys because to date, Eliza shows no interest...for more than 1 day). But she loves loves books!!

She's ready to check out the loot!

liking her new sandals from Auntie Lauren=)

Rocking chair from Grandma and Grandpa Peterson...She knew just what to do=)

After presents we moved right into the most anticipated event of the day....atleast for me=)

The cake.....My mom did an absolutely AMAAAZING Job!!!

Here comes the Birthday Princess!!

Singing "Happy Birthday"...at first she loved it...

Then she got embarrased...

For the past couple of months...since talk of birthdays started coming up...everyone has been making predictions about Eliza's cake eating experience.....

...She first had to test it out...a little on the safe side there..

But she didn't disappoint!!!!

She is just getting started....

Then Memaw surprised Tickie-tie with a birthday cake since we didn't get to celebrate his birthday the week before....

We told Dad to go sit by Eliza so we could get a picture...and she automatically went for his cake!!!

She was so funny...she went really slow, and kept looking over at Tickie-tie like "are you really letting me have this?!"

But she was willing to share=)

And of course she loooved it!!!!

forget the vanilla cake....A girl after my own heart!!

Me and my messy...chocolate loving, ONE year old=)

Memaw and Grandma...She is one loved little girl!

Grandma taking her out back to hose her down....

Just kidding....she gave her a bath=)

Laughing with Memaw and Auntie Mandy=)

The Birthday girl with Auntie "Fanny"=)

Love from Great Aunt Deanna=)

She loves "G.G."!

Sorry about the ten page post! But we had such a great day! If you have to celebrate your baby growing up, you might as well do it with everyone you love. We missed Great Uncle Tim, Uncle Glenny and Aunt Sarah and Codi. But we have tons more partying to do!! Codi is next on March 9th!

I am ever being reminded of how abundantly blessed we are!! Our families mean the world to us, we are so grateful to be so close to them!!!

I am so grateful for this past year that I have had the opportunity to be at home with our baby girl....I have been able to see every mile stone and take care of her when she is sick. I am so grateful for her! She is such a blessing to us!! We love her with all of our hearts...and more!!! She is the absolute light of our lives!!

Here's to a New Year!!

Well Happy New Year!!! I cannot believe how behind I got!! To give myself some credit, I have had this post started for weeks, but can't seem to finish it! There is alot going on now, thats for sure! We had a great Christmas and New Years! Christmas Eve we always spend at Davids parents house in Paradise, and this year they invited my family to join them. It was a BLAST!!! We played games, and ate (homemade Pasole with New Mexico chile...mmm), and even put on a nativity (one of my family's traditions since forever). It was so fun! As is tradition in Davids family, Santa comes to visit and give presents on Christmas Eve. We were all speculating on how well that would go over with Codi and Eliza...and we werent too far off. Codi actually did great! She was so cute, she just sat there and stared at "santa". Eliza on the other hand immediately burst into hysterics...and didn't calm down for about 15 mins. after the traumatic experience. Poor baby. In my haste that day, I left my camera at home, very sad about that, but fortunately there were atleast 4 other cameras present to document it all.

New Years Eve day was a beautiful sunny 70 degrees, so we wanted to do something a little different and memorable. We have never taken Eliza to the zoo, so we figured it would be the perfect opportunity. It was perfect! There were not huge crowds and all the animals were out. Eliza loved it!!!! She loved loved the monkeys...of course. It was adorable!! She was watching them play and was just giggling and growling and yelling=) I cannot wait til it gets warmer to take her again. We spent that evening at my parents house. All of my family was there and our friends Cody and Kendra. We ate alot of food, played some singstar and rang in the new year. Eliza slept through the whole thing amazingly!!

Daddy and Eliza on Christmas

Love my baby girl

Yelling at the monkeys=)

She wouldnt even look up for a picture

Our little family on New Years Eve
(Eliza was ready for bed, if you couldnt tell)

I am so blessed to have such an amazing hsuband!!!

I will update on life in an apartment, and our texas snowstorm soon=)

Big changes!!

This whole year has been full of big changes for us...the greatest was our lil munchkin. But since we have been married, we have yet to make the big change of being out on our own...until now! Unless you count the two weeks we were in Houston right after we got married, which we don't. For the past nine months we have been living with Davids parents, and it has been such a blessing! They have gone above and beyond to help us and we are Eternally grateful to them!! We are moving to Bedford which is close to where my parents live (about 15 mins.) and we will live like 5 mins. from school for David! It is going to be an exciting and challenging adventure for us I'm sure. We will have new stresses, that we have been so fortunate to have missed out on the past two years. But we have been looking forward to this day since we've been married! Who doesn't? I know that for me it is way more exciting! ha David keeps asking what is so exciting about an apartment. He is definately excited, but I think for a woman, it is on a whole different level when you get your own place. It's kind of like nesting when your'e pregnant, it just comes naturally....an innate desire to have a place that you can decorate and take care of, to be able to cook dinner for your family in your own kitchen! Come on...Exciting!! So we now have electricity in our names and an address to call our own. Ha I'm sure someday I will laugh at that statement. We are really going to miss living with his parents though, they have honestly been so easy to live with and we have had so much fun! They are so good to us! Eliza is sure going to miss not seeing them everyday...She is so spoiled!!! But I am excited to be close to my parents again, and for them to be able to get to know Eliza better and vise versa. And so aside from that excitement, here is what has been happening with our little crawler=)

Baby food doesn't really cut it enymore, so she eats table food, like whole green beans,

peas, rice, pears, some pasta...she loves it!!

While doing dishes one day, we turned around to find this! She is a big helper=)


David brought home one of her Christmas presents and when he put it down

she just sat there and stared at it for a long time

then crawled up to it and squealed and talked to it=)

She has been so good about the tree, for the most part

she will just sit and stare at it...so sweet=)

But she is already sneaking candy! We came back into the room
to find her chowin down on a candy cane from off the tree!!

Trip to Albuquerque

So we finally embarked on our first major road trip with Eliza. David's parents were driving up to Albuquerque, NM. so that his Dad could go hunting with his moms brothers like they have done every year for practically all their lives! They invited us to go, and even though David couldn't come because of work and school...we decided it would be good for Eliza and I to go so she could meet his family. We left bright and early on the 20th at 5 AM! Eliza did so so amazing!!! I am so proud of her! She didn't fuss or cry much the whole way....Just about the time she was getting ready to we would stop to use the bathroom, fill up on gas, stretch our legs, eat, etc... including one longer break for lunch at our halfway point in Amarillo. We arrived in ALB. at 4pm NM. time. It was a warm welcome from Grandma Baca, Uncle Frank, Marcus, and Arianna. It's so fun because everyone is so close there...literally. Uncle Frank and Marcus live with Grandma, and Uncle Johnny, Aunt Juanita and Arianna live across the street. So we got to see them everyday. Eliza with second cousins Marcus and Arianna

Marcus looks alot like David

Eliza and Ari were friends right away...Ari is such a sweet girl

and it was her 12th b-day the day we arrived

Happy Birthday Ari!!

First things first when we arrived...food!! Gardunos of course!! Yummy stuffed sopapillas with red chilli...just a preview of our eating habits while in NM. Def. gained a few pounds =/

The first night was a little rough for Eliza...and Me. She has really never slept overnight anywhere other than her own crib, so the strange travel crib, in a strange house wasn't cutting it. But she DID fall asleep and each night got progressivly better. And luckily even naps went pretty smoothly...as long as I kept the room dark. I had a hard time because I havn't slept alone for over a year and a half...pathetic, yes I know.

The next night we met Dads family at El Pinto. Everyone wasn't able to make it, but we were able to see Aunt Cindy and Uncle Tony, Uncle Brian and Brent and Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Dennis.

Aunt Cindy and Uncle Tony

Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Dennis with
their great granddaughter

Friday night was girls night! The guys left that morning for the mountains near Colorado to hunt, so we went to Uptown with Moms Sisters Joann and Sandra and Joanns Daughter Sammy and Grandma Baca. We decided to take a break from Mexican food and went to a nice Italian restaurant. Eliza was sorta protesting all the driving and staying out late, so dinner was a little rough. Poor baby, she is such a Trooper!! But it was still alot of fun=)

Auntie Joann, Sammy, Auntie Sandra and Grandma with Eliza

The ladies

Eliza has been getting ready to crawl for a few weeks now, and David warned her that she better not start while he wasn't there....so of course she did! Now she is everywhere!! It is the cutest thing to turn around and see her chasing after me!

Eliza posing at the Chili stand

Of course you can't come to NM. and not get fresh roasted chili! So we went to a place Grandma had been raving about where they sold green chili called "big Jims". Turns out they did have some awesome chili...and an owner who Grandma thought was really cute...haha poor Grandma we were giving her a hard time about "big Jim" the rest of the trip! She is so cute!

Posing by the red chili ristras

Eliza loooved playing with all of her second or third cousins....im not sure...they are her dads cousins kids. But she is not too far behind Jude (lil guy in the yellow shirt) so it'll be fun to get them together as they get older. David has a few cousins who just had babies so hopefully they will all get to meet soon.

And she loved loved Grandma Baca! Luckily she gets to come up for Thanksgiving=)

Sunday we went to church in the Ward mom and dad were in when they first joinded the Church 30 years ago! There were only a few members there that they recognized like the Thurgoods (Brother Thurgood married them, so that was neat). And Davids Sunday school teacher. It is always great to go to other wards and know that the church is the same wherever you go. I love that.

Eliza and Memaw bundled up at the Ore House restaurant in Santa Fe

Monday we drove about 45 mins to Santa Fe. It is such a beautiful Drive!! All of the mountains and mesa's...such a nice variation from flat Texas.

It was a long, pretty chili day.

We had so much fun even though it was a little cold and windy and we spent most of our time looking for someplace that sold stuffed sopapillas ha...we didn't know that in fall and winter all the restaurants close at 2!! Dont worry we did find someplace to eat. I cant wait to go back with David.

The guys got back Tuesday, and Dad had shot a deer! Way-to-go Dad!! They had alot of funny stories to tell, as always! What a great bunch of guys...I'm Glad Eliza got to meet them all=)

Getting ready to skin the deer...disgusting.

Wednesday we just stayed home, packed, and enjoyed our last day with family in New Mexico. We left at 5AM on Thursday and got into town about 5:30PM Texas time. We stopped by to see David at work because I was really anxious to see him=) Eliza was happy to see her Daddy too=) A week is a long time to be away from your hubby! But we had the best time!! Eliza was a little angel and loved meeting her New Mexico family! Hopefully it wont be long before our WHOLE little family gets to take the trip.