Christmas 2009

We had a good time visiting with everyone over the holidays.  We saw lots of family, and due to ALL of this family getting sick most of the time we werent able to see as many friends as we would have liked to.  I for the first time in my life realized how DRY Utah really is.  Jason's parents put a humidifier in our room we were staying in because we both felt like we couldn't breath since it was so dry. You know when you wake up and get that itchy feeling in your thoat? well we all had that!  during the days Kailah was good despite her fever and coughing. but nights over the holidays were not so much fun.  I have never had to hold Kailah to help her fall asleep or get up in the middle of the night to feed her or bring her into bed with us, but I felt like that was all I was doing to help her go back to sleep.  Jason and I both agreed this was the hardest nights we had with her since she was a newborn.
Even though it was tough leaving all our friends and family this time, I think we were all happy to be back in the warmth. Kailah definately knew we were home. And she's Kinda back to her normal self. she's pretty much back on her schedule but she must have really liked the attention she got in utah cause she wants it like crazy here.   I'll blog more about her later since she will be 9 months this week and I have lots to say! :)

The first pictures are christmas and christmas eve, Kailah with her Raleigh cousins. I didn't get any with the Miasnik side. oops! Jaylee and Kai at Jaylees dance recital, these two were unseperateable. and Kai with her gramee pamee.
I took tons of pictures of a lot of my nieces and nephews so keep checking my photo blog throughout the next couple weeks. I just need to photoshop them and find time to post them.

Asia for Kswiss

Jason was so lucky to be able to travel to Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Thailand for work.  He spent a lot of time in different factory's learning the ins and outs of how shoes, jeans, purses, are made.  He also got to do a lot of leisurley things like eating out at nice restraunts at night and going to Thai Boxing with the guys. 

Hong Kong

Bangkok, Thailand

"We're gonna miss this"

Jason leaves to Asia tomorrow and is taking his laptop with him so this will probably be my last post of the year.

When we were first married Jason helped me realize that I am the type of person who anticipates the future, doesn't enjoy the present enough, and forgets the past. Since discovering this I have taken it to heart and made an effort to live for the now, while still having something to look forward to and making memories that are worth remembering. Being this time of year, I reflect on the past twelve months and smile, laugh, cry, and rejoice in the memories that we have had, the friendships we have gained, and the lives that have been made.

There's this (country) song, it says: "your gonna miss this, your gonna want this back, your gonna wish these days didn't go by so fast, these are the good times, so take a good look around, you may not know it now, but your gonna miss this."

I am the luckiest girl to have the most hard working husband who loves me with his whole soul and a beautiful daughter who makes me smile everyday. I look forward to what the new year has waiting for us. I realize how short our time is here on earth and i dedicate my life to making the best memories and growing old together with love and laughter.

and THIS is why I LOVE country music!

signing off - Kristen

random fun pics/video

lately Kailah has been leaning her head to the side when she looks at things. we think it's so cute. she will also put her head down and just look up at you with her eyes. don't know why she does this but it's funny and makes us smile!

We went to dinner at Chili's(haven't been forever!) we love Chili's Kailah really liked their coasters she ate half of one and ended up throwing it up across the table. we gotta watch what she gets her hands on now!

I left the room for one minute and when I came back Kailah was up on all fours! I am so proud of her. she is learning so much and will be crawling in no time i'm sure!

Kailah likes to stare at the Phillips logo bounce across the screen when our TV is sleeping. It's like that office episode.

 

Kailah likes iphones too. I mentioned before that I have this app on my phone that's an interactive book called little bella. Kailah smiles the whole time she watches this book. and when I go to take the phone away she freaks out! She's starting to really know what she wants now and she cries if she doesn't get it. luckily she can usually be distracted.


So I got a couple swings for free and put them in the garage cause I figured Kailah was too big for them. well Jason insisted we try out the swings. he even wondered why they put seatbelts on the swings. well here's what happens when you put an 8month old in a floor swing...

Thanksgiving 2009

For Thanksgiving we went to my cousin Jamie's house, who hosted an awesome thanksgiving! We are so lucky to have great family. We had a really good time.

 Johnny and Kailah really liked each other. It is so fun to me to see how Kailah interacts with people.

I think she really is a people person cause she really enjoys seeing and interacting with them when they are around. she especially like kids and other babies.

 I went ahead and decorated for Christmas, before thanksgiving actually. Jason is planning on going to Asia for work in 2 weeks so that only gave/gives us 3 weeks to enjoy our own christmas tree.  Thank you to my Grandma Mary for the Tree. We updated the ornaments, but it's still the same ole tree.

 

 a special thanks to santa's little helper Kailah the elf! (she's teething, hence the drenched shirt!)

 This weekend we did a lot of shopping. I think we were literally at the mall everyday!!! It wasn't a total waste since we did get some stuff and 2 free scarves for shopping at foreign exchange on black friday! wahoo! I LOVE freebies! I think Jason does too after he scored his awesome free black scarf.

Kailah did so well during twilight that we risked another late night movie showing. 2012...cool effect...not worth $22 to see it in theatre's!(that's coming from someone who LOVES chick flicks and cheesey love movies!)

I finished our christmas letter so that will be going out hopefully tomorrow. Now I can worry about more important things like... well, I mentioned how Jason is going to Asia in 2 weeks and that would leave me lonely here during the holidays(up until the 23rd) so I've decided to go to Utah early! I'm really excited and I'm planning on driving and doing it in a couple days, since it will just be

Kailah and I. I can't wait to see everyone and spend a lot of time catching up. I love the Christmas season and as much as I love you California weather, it's not Christmas without Utah's snow! :D

We went to see Twilight this weekend which was really fun and we were set on finding a babysitter but decided if we went to a later showing Kailah might be able to come since she would just sleep.  Well... it was a SUCCESS! Kailah slept through the whole movie. yay! It was a nice change to go out to a movie instead of our usual redbox weekend!

My sister Amy saw this pic of Kai and said she had one just like it of her daughter Noelle.  It is fun to see the compaisons... Noelle is 11months in this pic, Kai is only 7months. Look at all that Hair!!!

Kailah and I went to a farmers market with aunt Marianne and uncle Ed this weekend. It was fun to get out and find interesting things to photograph even though I like photographing people most. thanks for the fun day guys!

beautiful day at the beach

First of all it's November and this is what it looks like where I live. (some days...) but I love the days when the weather is this nice.   I definately DO NOT take advantage of it like I should!!! SOOO....

(channel islands in the distance)

I took Kailah out to take some pictures which I have edited and posted on my photo blog (under; kiwi photography on my side bar).   These are just some snapshots from today that I thought were funny and worth sharing.  the shoot started out like this smiley looking at the camera. I take a photo and faced my camera down to look at the photo on the screen and...

 ...Kai follows the lens and looks into it like this....

 

...Oh how i wish I could have videoed that moment cause it was so funny...  sorry about the pic not being focused, I just hurried and pushed the button to get the look on her face.

And... Baby+Beach= lots of sand eating...

 

I ended up taking over 400 pictures and only thinking 7 were worth editing.  Photography is definately a lot more complicated than it seems.  My goal today was to shoot in full sunlight and not get shadows since that is sooo hard to do. I felt like I did ok....

Anyways on to more interesting things... I hope everyone is enjoying New Moon tonight. Jason and I are going to have to find a babysitter soon so we can go!

turning 29!

This weekend has been full of celebration!  Our friend Mayra is having a baby girl this friday and so we thre her a baby shower, and I finally had a reason to make these:

Diaper Cake

Onesie Cupcakes! (yummy huh?)

Jason turned 29 this weekend! One more year to embrace his 20's and be included in the "young couple" category.

We went shopping for his birthday(of coarse!!) It has now become tradition that every year for each others birthday we each get a gift for ourselves, so i made sure to get a couple outfits for myself while we were out as well. :)

Then sunday night we had friends over for cake and ice cream.

My latest Hobby

Since having Kailah I have been more interested in photography than I ever have! So I've decided to start my journey into the world of Dslr cameras...
I got my camera on monday and I am so excited to start shooting...this means I need some models...let me know if your interested...
Thank you to all my photographer friends who have helped me make a good decision on a camera and who have given me great advice on where to start and some good websites! All the advice has been SO helpful and I'm already learning so much! If anyone has anymore advice feel free to comment. I'll take all I can get!
I'm starting a New blog for all my photography work. the blog spot is www.kailahiswonderfulinspiration.blogspot.com i will put a link in my sidebar as well. I haven't posted anything yet but I will as soon as i start taking some pictures.
Also I have a hair blog at www.hairbykristenraleigh.blogspot.com I haven't updated it in awhile but now that I have my new camera I plan on doing some headshots of my work.

Even though she was SO sick today I got Kailah ready and we went and took some pics this morning, so here's a couple with my new camera!

November is here...

...and it's starting to get a little chilly outside. I've had to buy some warmer clothes for Kailah lately since it is getting colder and now she will have some warm stuff for when we go to Utah for Christmas. :)

This week was Kailah's last swim class so I made sure to get a picture of her and her first swim instructor. (think, the turtle from Nemo.)

We went on a hike over the weekend and literally changed Kailah's diaper on the top of the mountain!Our Ward has new boundaries and we have new callings. Valiant 9 teachers in the primary. Sunday we practiced the primary program and Kailah was loving watching the kids sing and do motions. she was pretty warn out by the end of the meeting.I don't know what it is, but Kailah has been pooping like crazy lately!!!! seriously like 6 soiled diapers a day! she hasn't been that poopy since she was a newborn.
Speaking of poop I have been reading this book called "the diaper-free baby" I really like it and so I have been trying to put kailah on the toilet everyday and just tell her poopy, potty, and so she knows that is where we go the bathroom. So today before bath time I put her on and she went poo AND pee! So proud of her. too bad she can't walk and go to the bathroom by herself yet. getting your baby diaper free is SOO demanding. but My goal is to just make her comfortable with the idea of going potty on the toilet. being a first time mom I had to take a picture of her first poo in the potty. WARNING:next picture is graphic. :)