Daddy's Little Girl

We have been having so much fun this summer. It has finally warmed up to where McKinley can be outside doing most things with us. Needless to say, her and Rawlee have definately bonded!!! She has become the biggest daddy's girl. You would think I would be jealous because she's been such a momma's girl all winter but it is so fun to watch them! Every evening they leave together to go feed the horses and calves. McKinley's new favorite place to be is sitting on the center console in the car headed up to feed. Good thing we live in a small town and only about a mile away :) Rawlee tells me as soon as they turn on to the road her eyes light up and she starts waving her arms in excitement. They have their own little alone time each day and both love it!

Rawlee is an amazing dad!! He is such a good example of a caring, compassionate, and loving father. McKinley adores him so much and is in heaven whenever they are together. We were so excited to celebrate his first official Father's Day! I appreciate and love him so much. He is such a blessing to McKinley and I. We are two very lucky girls to have such an amazing man in our lives! :)

Happy Father's Day - We love you!!!



Just like dad!




I also am one lucky daughter myself to have such a great dad to look up to. He has always been such a support to me through the activities I have been involved in. I have amazing parents who are always there for us and give all their support. They are such fun grandparents and love to spoil McKinley! Happy Fathers Day Dad!!

Rawlee's dad is such a great help and support to him as well. It is so fun to watch their father-son relationship. They rely on each other a lot for roping tips, advice, and so many other things. Ray and Marva have so much fun with McKinley and love to spoil her as well! We are so lucky to live right by both sides of our family!!!

Happy Fathers Day!!

Oh Happy Day Goes to Paris

Just saw this giveaway on another friend's blog...check it out!

http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris

I have terrible luck at winning things but a free trip is always worth trying for!! :)

Playing Catch-Up

Well....I have been wanting to get this blog going but havent gotten to it until now. When I logged into our account I realized it had been almost a year and a half since my first and last post. At that time, I was saying how much Rawlee and I enjoyed being married and doing all the things we wanted to do before we settled down to have kids. Thats so funny to think about now because within a month a found out I was pregnant and we were on a whole new path. It has been the craziest and most amazing year since then!!! We have a beautiful baby girl who is now seven months old! I cant believe she is already that old. She has been such a joy in our family and brings the most exciting and loving spirit into our home.

There is never a dull moment around this girl. From the beginning it has always been "exciting." I had a few scary complications during my pregnancy so we were overjoyed when she came! We were so happy to have a heathlhy, adorable baby girl. She was perfect and everything we had been waiting for.





After getting home from the hospital, we found ourselves back within a few hours. McKinley was in 2 different hospitals during that first week being evaluated.


Initially, the problem was that she, for an unknown reason, had trouble breathing leading to episodes where her oxygen level would drop very low and her heart beat was irregular. After a lot of testing, thinking she may have a heart condition, we were told that everything had stabalized and she was going to be okay!!! We were so relieved! The doctor told us she may have just been earlier than we thought and needed some extra care until she was a little stronger and able to thrive on her own. I'd love to say I was a rock through the whole experience....I definatley was not!! With the problems I had experienced during my pregnancy, I couldnt wait to get her here so I was able to take care of her. Through this I leared that even though she was here and I could hold her, I still had no control and had to rely on my faith and knowledge that Heavenly Father would take care of our little family. My faith grew so much and my understanding of what a special gift an eternal family is made these two people in my life the most important thing to me.

McKinley is the most adorable little girl. I know every mother thinks that...I am definatley one of those pround moms!! Here are some cute pictures of her
The first is her as we were leaving the hospital for the last time...she looks so excited :)


Cruisin on her new ride we call Norman - it was her dad's when he was little :)



Everything is going great for Rawlee and I. We are so excited for summer to be here!! Rawlee is just getting started with rodeos for the summer. Last week McKinley got to cheer on her dad at her first rodeo. It was a down pour so we enjoyed the rodeo from the hospitality tent but were still in view of the big screen so we cheered from there :) Rawlee and I will be married for three years this year - it has been an amazing experience and I truly have the best husband. He takes great care of us and is such a caring father and husband. We get to be together so much now with recent job changes and love every second of it! We have been able to take a few fun trips together and have a lot of fun.
I was able to go with him on a work trip to Kentucky. We went to Church Hill Downs.




We also went to Mesa Verde while in Colorado for a rodeo

He'll kill me for this one but I love it! :)


Life is pretty great...


Hopefully I will be better at blogging now. It will be fun to share the things we do as a family and read about everyone's fun adventures. I hope you all are doing great!!!!

Hey everyone! So...I have not died or moved to the other side of the world, I am just terrible at keeping in touch! I'm very new to this whole blogging thing but am hoping it will be a better way of keeping up on how everyone is doing and how much your cute little families are growing! I am hoping everyone is able to add to my blog because I have no idea how to navigate around and add. You would laugh if you knew how long it took me to figure out just this first part! :) I definitely felt like I was about 5 years old and had never seen a computer before! Anyway, I miss seeing all of you and hope you are doing well! Rawlee and I are doing great, we moved to Grace about a month ago. Here is a funny story all of us Soda girls will laugh at...the other night we were at a boys basketball game and their pep band started playing the school song. Of course the whole crowd stood up, Rawlee included. He looked down at me with a VERY clear expression on his face of "aren't you going to stand up?" I jokingly said, "isn't that a bit of a stretch. I am from Grace now, but really?" I did end up standing for the song; after a guy I have know since I was little leaned over to me and laughted saying, "now that's a new experience for you." It was all pretty funny. I guess that's what happens when you fall in love with a Grace guy, you end up living there and even standing and clapping during their school song! We like to tease each other about it but I truly have enjoyed living in Grace already. I have always loved so many people down there, so it has been a very easy adjustment! Everyone has been very welcoming! We have great neighbors - one is out snow blowing our driveway after every storm before we even have the chance to make it out ourselves. Our ward also has been great! We are both so excited for summer to come!! Anyway, I can't wait to see everyone's pictures!! I hope you are doing well!!!