Our Life in Alaska and Beyond

Going along with all the flashbacks I've been doing, I've been meaning to post this one for awhile! A few weeks ago Scott and I taught our Sunday School class (14-16 year olds) about the importance of journaling, and I showed them my blog. This blog has been a great way for us to document and remember all the important events and fun things that we've done. Ruby's blessing is something that I have been wanting to share on here. :)

Just before moving to Alaska we blessed Ruby in my parents' ward. We lived with my parents for a month (Sept. 2012) in between moving out of our Logan apartment and moving to AK. During this time we blessed Ruby. I remember it being a beautiful warm, sunny day. :) Scott gave Ruby the most beautiful blessing, and many family members were able to be there with us, too. After church we all had lunch at Grandma and Grandpa B.'s, but I don't think we took a big group picture. I just have these few. Ruby was kind of in a stage where she pretty much cried non-stop, so I didn't take too many pictures, but I remember I asked Chrissy (she had a better camera on her iPhone, haha) to take our family pic just before going into the church and I'm so glad I have these. Ruby was the most beautiful little baby, and her dress was gorgeous. It was very similar to my wedding dress. :) Enjoy these sweet pics of baby Ruby! <3

Robyn turned ONE on August 2, 2018. I still can't believe she's already one whole year! Even though we had already had a little party for her while family was visiting, we decided to make some cupcakes and let her have some more fun on her actual birthday. She loved her cupcake, and we enjoyed celebrating our sweet little baby again. We absolutley love our little Robsy-Roo!

Her birthday cards. Far right was made by Noelle, and next to it was made by Ruby :)

I can't believe Robyn is already 1 year old! This past year really has gone by so fast. Time just keeps moving forward and our girls just keep getting bigger. Robyn had her 1 year appointment and she weighs almost 19 pounds, right on track with her sisters at this age. She's not quite walking on her own yet, but getting more comfortable cruising along our furniture and the walls, and she loves being in the learning tower. She still loves all food, especially being able to feed herself, and she loved her birthday cake! She loves her daddy and sisters, but is definitely still a mama's girl. One of the newest words she can say is, "bear bear." She somehow keeps getting cuter everyday. We love our Robby girl and are so glad she's in our family. :)

<3 <3 <3

The pics this month were definitely the hardest to get. I'm a little relieved we're done with these monthly photos on her back, lol.

This is how Robyn felt about me trying to get her to stay on her back, poor baby.

One of my favorite outfit/blanket combos :)

Also, this blanket is the same swaddle we used in her newborn pics. <3

Sweet girls <3

Robyn got to celebrate her first birthday while Grandma and Grandpa Hadley were here visiting, and she enjoyed her cake so much we decided to party again on her actual birthday two weeks later, haha. While family was here I made this yummy white layer cake, with a cake pop bird on top, kind of a bird theme, to go along with her name. It turned out so cute, and it was so fun to celebrate our baby girl turning one! We enjoyed all our visitors this summer, and Robyn's birthday was the perfect way to top it off!

All three of our girls have had this same "1" candle on their first birthday cake :)

How can our sweet baby Robyn already be 11 months!? I can't believe it! Just one more short month and she'll be a year! She's getting so big and learning so much! A big milestone she just met is that she started saying her first words! She can say Dada, which actually sounds more like "aDa - aDa." And she can say "dog," and "bye-bye." She calls all animals "dog," which is so cute! She is also getting closer to walking! She can balance without holding onto anything just for a second, and she's cruising along furniture, but still prefers getting around by crawling. She's loving food more and more, which is making us hopeful that she'll be our first baby to actually enjoy her first birthday cake, haha! If we can't keep food on her highchair tray fast enough she'll definitely let us know with a piercing screech, lol. (We started calling her our little screech owl.) She has two little teeth on the bottom, and then three on the top. Her left central incisor should be cutting through any day now though, so pretty soon she'll have six teeth. We sure love our little Robby! <3

She was giving so many smiles, so get ready for a ton of pics!

Robyn is already 10 months old! I can't believe it! It really goes by so fast! Robyn is eating more solids, crawling everywhere (super fast!), standing up on just about everything, cruising just a bit, sitting up like a pro (bath time is getting a lot easier), and she just started clapping! Clapping is one of my favorite skills that babies learn. It's just so sweet to see those cute, chubby little hands slapping together happily. :) Robyn also has another tooth that is barely popping through, her first tooth is becoming more visible, and it looks like her top four incisors are just about to cut through too. She's the best little baby! Enjoy these pics!

That little belly <3

This sweet quilt was a baby gift to Ruby from Scott's old boss in Logan.

I love her little tooth and spiky hair in this one :)

Sweet little profile <3

We sure love this baby!

Our sweet baby is somehow already nine months old! I can't believe she's been out as long as she was in, lol. She's still just the sweetest baby ever and such a joy in our family. She has become a lot more active this past month and is now an excellent crawler. She has also started to pull up to standing on just about everything. (I swear she's too little to be doing this stuff!) She loves food, and always wants little tastes of everything we're eating. It's so cute! Her first tooth just barely popped through a few days ago, but it's still so small it's easier to feel with your finger than to see it, haha. We sure love this little baby. Enjoy the pics!

Robby has the prettiest blue eyes!

These pics with her on her back keep getting harder and harder, lol, but we still managed to get a few.

This blanket was a baby gift to Robyn from Grandma Kay. The giraffes are so cute!

Robyn gets to celebrate her 8 month birthday by going to Washington DC with Mommy and Daddy! Scott will be going to the ACSM conference and I get to go with! (I also got to go with him last year too, when it was in San Diego. See here.) We are so excited! Grandma and Grandpa B. are coming here to watch the older girls, so it should be fun for everyone! We're hoping for lots of sunshine and cherry blossoms!

Robyn turns 8 months the day we leave for DC, so I took her pictures a little early and I'm trying out the scheduled posting feature. Robyn is full on crawling! She'll go for a little bit on her hands and knees, then decide that scooting is faster, so she'll switch back, inch worm style. It's so cute! She can sit up on her own for a bit, but would rather be scooting around. She still doesn't really like baby food, but she loves puffs! Ruby and Noelle are such good helpers and love to give her puffs while she's in her high chair. Robyn is getting to be more of a momma's girl, and always turns to find me when I say her name. She's such a cutie! The dress she's wearing in these pics was a baby gift for Ruby, and all our girls have worn it. It's definitely a favorite! I think Robby looks like a little porcelain doll. She's so precious! <3

Those blue eyes <3

It seems like I just did Robyn's six month pics, and now she's already seven months! It's going by way too fast! Robyn is the sweetest baby ever! She's so smiley and happy! She's becoming more of a momma's girl, but also loves her sisters and daddy. She has started to scoot (army crawl) and rock (up on her hands and knees) like crazy! I think she'll be a full-on crawler before we know it! She can't quite sit up on her own, but she's close! She loves to play with toys, and everything goes right in her mouth. She seems to like the idea of eating solids, but hasn't quite gotten the hang of swallowing it yet. Still no teeth for this babe, but that's fine by me! We love our sweet Robbie! Enjoy these sweet 7 month pics!

It's getting hard to keep her on her back long enough for pics (and diaper changes, lol!)

Our sweet Alaskan baby is six months old! I can't believe she's already 1/2 way to a year! She's still the sweetest and cutest baby ever! She's loving her sisters more and more, and has started to grab everything! She's a pretty good little roller (only to her left) and can almost sit up on her own. She gets a little stranger anxiety when around people she doesn't recognize, and as far as eating goes, she's not a huge fan of solid foods yet. We love our sweet little Robyn!

Laughing at her sister :)

A few months before Ruby was born our wonderful families threw me a baby shower! It was at Aunt Carole's and we had all sides of the family there. It was beautiful and we were blessed with so many nice gifts for our sweet baby girl. My cousin Kim gave us a free newborn photo session. (She had a photo business at the time, and she lived in Nibley, while we were in Logan.) I remember being so excited to get these pictures taken because I knew how amazingly talented Kim was! Five days after Ruby was born we took her over to Kim's home where she had a perfect little home studio and she took these gorgeous photos of Ruby. I'm so happy we have these beautiful pics! Enjoy! :)

Ruby was born Wednesday, June 6, 2012. (Fun fact: All our girls were born on a Wednesday!) I woke up around 4 am that morning and realized my water had broken! My due date wasn't until June 19th, so we were surprised she had decided to come a little early! After getting dressed and getting all our things together we headed to the hospital where they confirmed my water had broken and I was in labor! We excitedly called our families to let them know the good news! It was so nice that our families only lived about an hour away so they were all able to come see us and Ruby after she was born. I got an epidural and continued to labor throughout the morning, but unfortunately I developed a fever. I think it was at 1 pm when I was complete, then they had me wait an hour before pushing. I started pushing at 2 pm and she was born at 2:40, weighing 7 lb. 1 oz. and measuring 20 inches long. We were so surprised to see that she had a beautiful head full of black hair! We instantly fell in love. With me having a fever, Ruby sadly came out with a fever too. She had to go to the NICU for a couple days, but luckily we were able to take her home Friday evening. Becoming parents was a HUGE change for us, but something we wouldn't change for anything. We love our Ruby girl!

This melts my heart! <3

<3 <3 <3

Proud Daddy <3

We're kind of at a slow, dark, and cold time of year where I'm just not taking a ton of pics, but I still want to blog! So, I've been thinking that I want to do some flashback posts. I started this blog when Ruby turned two, so I'll start the flashbacks with Ruby's first birthday, then her birth/newborn pics, maybe some posts from our wedding, and probably a few in-between too. I'm excited to look back through old pics and see how far I've come as a photographer too! I got my first DSLR in April 2014, (right before I started this blog!) so most of these flashback posts will be old cell phone pics or my old PowerShot (or someone else took them.) Enjoy tiny 1 year old Ruby! <3

A couple weeks before Ruby turned one we took her to JC Penney to get her pictures taken. She was terrified of the lady taking the pics, but we still got a couple cute ones.

On her actual birthday! So cute!

Our sweet Robyn is already 5 months old! She's the sweetest little baby and we all love her so much! She recently started rolling over and I don't think it will be too long before she's mobile and scooting all over the floor. <3

The sweetest smile :)

This cute outfit was a Christmas present from Grandma B. :)

Robyn has the cutest eyebrows!