Oh Canada . . .

Rilynne and my birthday's are in January so Tyler took us on a little trip to Vancouver BC. It's only 5 hours away but we have never been there in the 6 years we have lived here. The car ride got a bit long for Rilynne in her car seat but over all she did really well.
We went to Robson St for lunch and shopping, Stanley Park for the Aquarium, swimming, playing at the park, relaxing and watching movies.

Here is Rilynne in her cute new swimming suit.

Rilynne LOVES the water! Ty had her laughing so much that she was so sad when we had to leave. The other family that was at the pool just kept saying how cute Rilynne was. She is such a happy girl!

Later we took her to a really cute "themed" park. Everything was designed like a small town. Needless to say Rilynne LOVED the swing. I love the look on her face. She was so delighted! We have a park right outside our house and we have played on the swings for about 3 hours this week! Today we swung in the snow. That girl likes what she likes.

We went to the Vancouver Aquarium and Rilynne loved the fish in the tanks.

Ty & Rilynne with the birds

Rilynne giving her "cheese" smile. You gotta love my little girl!

View outside our condo. The NW coast line is so beautiful rain or shine.

Rilynne Turns ONE Year Old!!

Can you believe it!? My little girl turned 1 this month. Where has the time gone. It seems like yesterday that we went to Colorado to go met/pick her up. We were there the day she was born, although exactly when she was born, stayed in a hotel for 5 days (5 very long days) and then were able to bring her home. We waited for so long for her and now she is one. Over the past several weeks I went through all the pictures and videos we have take over the course of the year. She really has grown up. It's still hard to believe that she's my daughter. It still makes me so happy to introduce her to people as my daughter. We waited so long for her and words can't express the joy she brings into our lives everyday. She is a happy, fun loving, curious, and sassy little 1 year old!

She is so, so curious. She wants to get into EVERYTHING! Because of that we had to baby proof our house. We left her 2 drawers in the kitchen that she could get into without much harm - the hand towel drawer and the tupperware cupboard. She loves to pull out each towel out individually and throw it on the ground. Then she starts to "swim" in all the towels and "skate" around the kitchen floor with the towels on her hands. It is so darn cute! Although, I end up washing a lot of towels. She is also fascinated with bathrooms, particularly toilets and tubs. I know most babies are but it still grosses me out. She gets so mad when we shut the bathroom door on her.





She is also getting some little sharp teeth - 6 total, 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. She has taken to biting everything. I need to go find crib protectors because she has chewed her crib. There are little teeth marks and places where she has actually bitten off pieces of wood. It's crazy! I can't get her to stop. Her crib is so nice and she is eating it! I am not too excited to pay $60 to have protectors put on her crib rails but I can't get her to stop.




Can you see the teeth marks - make it stop! It can't be good for her and I am not sure how to get her to stop. Any suggestions other than the crib proctors? Anyone?


On her official birthday we planned to have a small get together but it ended up as a large dessert night at our house. I think we had about 45 people there with tons of goodies! It was so much fun. I think Rilynne loved being the center of attention. As she set in her highchair with her piece of cake all the little kids jumped up and down chanting "go Rilynne, go Rilynne". It was really cute and fun to watch.




Picture of the kids all around her. She was lovin' it!



Here is the cupcake cake I made her. I thought if turned out pretty cute. Thanks Michelle for letting me borrow the cake pan!





Here is Rilynne with the Tanuvasa's. Our family away from family. Rilynne LOVES them! I am convinced the Tai and Rilynne knew each other before - kindred spirits if you will. Rilynne LOVES him and get so excited when she sees him. It's kind of weird.





Rilynne and Hallie. Look at that smile. Overall I think she had a pretty great 1st birthday!




P.S. - check out her leg warmers. Aren't they great! My mom and I made them over Christmas. I just love them!






We love you Rilynne and are so happy you are part of our family!

Merry Christmas!!

So this year for Christmas we were lucky enough to be able to go to SLC to visit family. We spent the first week up at the Gathering Place at Ty's parents place in Eden. All of Ty's siblings and families were able to come so we had the entire Hollist clan there this year. Rilynne was loving all the cousins and everyone there to entertain her. For some of them it was the first time seeing Rilynne in person because not all the cousins were able to make it out to the sealing.

After that we headed to WJ to spend some time with my family. Rilynne was showered with gifts and attention from all her aunties and cousins. Unfortunately, while we were at my parents house Rilynne got the stomach flu and croup. Poor little girl was super sick. Thank heavens for children's tylenol and the instacare.

Here is Rilynne at my sister's house on Christmas morning. She didn't sleep well (either did we) and so I think she was kind of tired and wasn't sure what was going on. She got too distracted by her previous gifts and everyone else unwrapping presents. By the end I think I unwrapped the last 2 gifts after breakfast. I do love the little face that she's making though.

Here's the family at Temple Square. We all went down to see my parents at the Conference Center where they volunteer to give tours once a week. They gave us a really great tour and then we headed out in the 9 degree weather to see the lights. Rilynne did have a nice warm hat but she wouldn't wear it. Then she started sucking it so it ended up all wet anyway. I had to throw that in there so no one thought I was a bad mom for not having a warm hat on my child in freezing temps.

Look at Rilynne's face - she loves the camera and will usually strike a big smile when you say "cheese"

Here's a nice pic of Ty and Rilynne. I just love the lights and Temple Square.

Look at those eyes and eyelashes!!

Here we are at Michelle's house again. Rilynne is making her "oh no" face. I just think that's the cutest thing ever! She even says "oh no" when she is making the face. Super cute!

Rilynne LOVES dogs. I am afraid we might have to break down and get a dog in a few years for her. All night she followed Jack around. I bet he was tired of being poked in the eyes . . . poor dog.

While we were in UT Rilynne got her first hair cut. My mom just evened out spots. She had a lot of hair when she was born but parts rubbed off and so she had some really long parts. I think she looks a lot better. She didn't like to sit still for grandma though. She had big crocodile tears while she got her hair cut.

The other main event while in UT was that we were able to see the Mathews. Lisa introduced us to Rilynne's birth mom when they lived in OR. Lisa and Kurt are Rilynne's great birth aunt and uncle. Marcus is her second cousin. It was so GOOD to see them. I love it when we are able to spend time with Rilynne's birth family. The Mathews are great friends and we will always be indebted to them for helping us with our adoption of our sweet little girl! Love you guys!

November Wrap Up

I have been such a slacker on the blog. It has been a busy couple of months and I know I won't be able to blog about everything we've done so I will give just a quick update. November was a great month of firsts for us - first Thanksgiving, first time crawling, first time swimming, and the first time Rilynne has met her birth mom. Rilynne is growing up fast and she has decided she's not a baby anymore. She is crawling all over. My house is a wreck because everything is on shelves or counters out of Rilynne's reach. The first thing she does in the morning is go to her toy box and dumps everything out. Once everything is on the floor she is uninterested and crawls away. She is so busy and into everything!

Look at that smiley little face. She is such a happy lil' girl!

For Thanksgiving we met Lisa (sister-in-law) and her family in Bend, OR. We had a lot of fun. Rilynne loved crawling after Jack and trying to steal all his toys. Clara and Adian did a great job at entertaining Jack and Rilynne. Both Jack and Rilynne cut teeth while we were in Bend, which meant 2 babies with fevers and running noses. They both did well but Rilynne struggled sleeping, which meant Mom and Dad struggled sleeping as well. I think Rilynne was relieved to get back to her crib and out of her pack n' play. While in Bend we watched movies, played games, went swimming, played racquet ball and basketball, and of course ate a lot of yummy food. It was my kind of vacation.

Here is Jack and Rilynne hanging out in the morning still in the PJ's

Rilynne's first time swimming. The place was a bit steamy so my camera lens kept fogging up so the picture isn't real clear.

Rilynne playing with daddy's hat. Ty is hoping she grows up to be a Michigan fan.

We went downtown Bend for lunch. Rilynne didn't want her hair done so we left it as a fro and put a bow in it. I still think she looks cute!

Here is another picture of her fro. She has such soft hair but it's super curly.

The highlight of the month for us was having the opportunity to see Rilynne's birth mom. We haven't seen for since Rilynne was born. It was so great to see her! She is such a great girl! I can't believe how much Rilynne looks like her. I have pictures but for her birth mom's privacy I won't post them but I was so happy to be able to have pictures with both of them together. I think it will mean a lot to Rilynne when she's older. I am so grateful we were able to spend a few days with her. I look back at where our family was a year ago and the miracles that have come into our lives. Rilynne and her birth Mom are the brightest stars in our lives. I am humbled by the miracles that the Lord has blessed us with.

That in a nutshell was our November and we can't wait for Christmas! I hope Rilynne loves Christmas as much as I do!

Happy Halloween!

This Halloween was so fun! Rilynne's first Halloween and she was so adorable in her little bee costume. She was good sport through it all. I dressed her up several time to take her different parties and she left her costume the whole time, with the exception of her little ebee hat. She kept taking it off an eating it. We ended up putting on a little yellow flower instead. Everyone was loving up on her and how could you not!? My little Rilynne was the cutest little thing ever!

All smiles now that the hat was off her head. I wish she would like hats more but she hates them and just ends up eating them.

My sweet girl! I love it that she breaks out in a huge smile when I bring my camera out.

Getting ready go to the party. We had to take off her costume in order to get her car seat.

This is another costume my friend let me borrow for when we took her outside. It was so adorable. The video is of Rilynne trying to eat the antenna's. Love you my little girl! Can't wait for your first Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Rilynne's 9 Months Old - Hurray!

I love this picture!!!!


My little girl is 9 months old! I can't believe it. I want time to slow down. I feel like I haven't had enough snuggle time or cuddies yet and she is starting to crawl and doesn't want to snuggle with mom anymore. I makes me kind of sad, although I love to watch her grow and discover new things. She loves to eat, takes walks, playing in the bath, and her tiger stuff animal. She can roll over like a champ and is really close to crawling. She almost always has a smile on her face and loves to be around people.



Getting ready to go to a football game so she can do a little people watching.



She loves the bath. Can you see her 2 front teeth? Love it, love it, love it. I think her 2 teeth make her smile even better.
I love you, Rilynne! We are so grateful you are part of our family.

Miss Thang!!

So this is Rilynne's new sass look. I LOVE it! I think it's so adorable. She is getting more attitude. Sometimes it is a bit much but most of the time it's just really, really cute. She also has figured out how to scrunch her nose and eyes. When she eats and she likes what she's eating she'll make that face and laugh. It's too cute for words!
I love my little girl!