Happy 1st Birthday Diya!

It is hard to believe that it has already been a year since Diya was born, but it is true, our baby is growing up!!!

I love this picture. The pure joy on her face makes me so happy. As a mom it is always great to see your children happy.

We had a "garden girl" birthday party complete with sunflower cupcakes with ladybugs. At first I was disappointed in how my cupcakes turned out, but after I got up the next morning and my feet weren't sore anymore and the frosting had hardened I was happy with how they turned out. I am glad that I did them for Diya and hopefully she will look back on these pictures some day and see the love I put into these cupcakes.

I made Diya her own smash cake with lots of pink cake, tons of frosting and few Oreo cookies on top. This made for a great color combination for Diya to smear all over her body.

Diya dressed up in her strawberry dress so that she blended in with the party theme. She even had her very own 1st birthday girl sash!! I figured I had a better chance of keep a sash on her than a tiara.

Diya giving Tony some good snuggles. Just when I think that she can't get any cuter or sweeter, she does!!

Diya loved her cake. It took her a few minutes to figure out what to do with it, but once she did it was all down hill!!! I don't think that the high chair will ever be the same again because it was covered in frosting and cake crumbs.

This is our little neighbor, Ashton, enjoying his cupcake.

Diya and her big sister. We had a great time celebrating Diya's first birthday.

Diya's Baptism

Diya was baptised on August 8, 2010 at the 8:45 Mass at St. Edward The Confessor Catholic Church. Getting Isha to smile nicely in pictures is almost impossible these days.

Mommy , daddy and baby Diya at the baptismal font.

James and Karina are Diya's Godparents.

We are so lucky to have such amazing friends in our lives.

Shawn and Sara drove down for the day to help us celebrate Diya's big day. Sara and I have been church buddies since high school so it meant a lot to me that they were able to be there for the baptism.

Isha and her Godparents, Adam and Laura. Our little group had certainly grown since the last baptism!!

Diya wore the same gown that Isha wore for her baptism.

Diya did a great job! There was no crying even when the priest poured the water on her head. Isha asked me the morning of the baptism if, "that guy was going to throw Diya in the water?" I explained to here what was going to happen and had to crack up at her blunt way of putting things. After church we all went out to brunch and it was nice to sit down with good friends and enjoy a meal together.

Fun In Salt Lake City

We had a few extra days in SLC after the wedding to so a little sight seeing. We spent one afternoon at the Hogle Zoo.

We all took a ride on the Merry Go Round. Diya had fun riding on her cheetah! We took a little train ride around part of the zoo and it was nice to sit down and be off of our feet especially since it was a hot day. Luckily there were misting stations all over the zoo to help cool us off.

Isha and her "sassy" pose!!

Diya and Mommy on the train.

Isha liked the tigers, but she didn't like having to walk. She was frowning in this picture because her feet were tired. We only had one stroller so that meant she had to be a big girl and walk.

Our favorite part of the zoo was Zuri the baby elephant!! She is just a few days older than Diya. We watched as she ran around and played with all her toys. She was so adorable and had lots of spunk!!

Here mom came out for a little bit to check on her baby and to give us a demonstration.

Isha and Diya posing with the huge elephant statue. Diya was not to happy about having the sun in her eyes.

One little monkey checking out another monkey!!!

On another afternoon we took a drive down to the Sundance Resort. It was so nice to get out of the city and see the mountains.

On our way there we checked out Bridal Veil Falls.

Here are a few shots of Isha and Diya hanging out in our hotel room. Poor Diya managed to fall off of a bar stool and got a concussion that required a trip to the emergency room. Poor thing was really sleepy and throwing up. I felt like the worst mother in the world for letting her get hurt, but luckily she was back to her normal happy self in just a few hours.

Isha spent lots of time hanging out in grandma and grandpas room because they had all the fun toys and candy!!

We all spent a day walking around temple square and we were able to get a picture of all four generations together. This was really important to me because I have a picture of me when I was little with my mom, grandma and great grandma and I wanted my girls to have the same thing to look at some day!

So here we are, all four generations of us!!!

Uncle Jamie and Aunt Nicole's Wedding

July 17, 2010

Salt Lake City, Utah

Jamie and Nicole at their reception. They did all of the food for the reception by themselves. We had a wonderful lunch of pulled pork and roast beef sandwiches, pasta and potato salad and fruit and vegetables complete with brownies, cookies and cupcakes for dessert!!! Jamie and Nicole at the wedding ceremony. After the wedding reception we all went to The Copper Onion, where Jamie is a chef, to have more to eat and spend more time visiting with family. I love this picture!! I couldn't as for a better brother or uncle for my girls!!!

Diya got to meet her great aunt Donna, my dad's sister. She also got to meet her great grandma Jeanette who lives in Seattle. I am so glad they were able to make it to the wedding so that we could see them and they could get to spend some time with the girls.

This was the first time that Diya had met her grandpa Jack. She gave him lots of good loves and snuggles!! Plus she enjoyed hamming it up for the camera.

This was also the first time that Diya had met her Aunt Kelli.

Diya and Uncle Marty were best buddies. She took to him instantly and never fussed once while he had here. He is like some sort of baby/kid whisperer!!! Kids just love him.

The wedding was wonderful and it was so nice to have all of us together to help Jamie and Nicole celebrate this great day in their lives.

Graduation Party

Jai's cousins just graduated from college and high school so we headed up to northern Virginia to help them celebrate. Isha and her Aunt Sweetie.

It took Diya awhile to warm up to everyone but eventually she let other people hold her. Anish and Parul finally get a little Diya time.

Diya loves to lean back when you are holding her. I have to be careful because I have almost dropped her a few times when she leaned back and I wasn't expecting it.

The girls had lots of fun being pampered by their aunts and playing with their cousins. We definitely need to head back up so that we can all hang out together again.

Diya is learning all kinds of new stuff. She has started clapping and the other day she finally said Mama. I was so happy to finally hear her say it after hearing her say Dada for months now. Her other cute trick is that she rubs her hands together every time I change her diaper. She is copying me because I use the hand sanitizer when I change her diaper. Smart little cookie!

She loves to crawl under stuff, but then she has no idea how to get out.

Playing Outside

I haven't been brave enough to take both girls to the swimming pool so we have been playing in the little blow up pool in the back yard. Diya loves to kick and splash in the pool. It is so cute to hear her scream and squeal!!!

Isha enjoys playing in the sprinkler and I am sure our poor dry grass enjoyed the extra water. It has been extremely hot here. There were a few days that we didn't even leave the house because it was so hot!!

My little bathing beauties!

Sisters

As Diya gets older and bigger her and Isha are getting closer and are spending more time playing together. I love to see the two of them together. Isha is a great big sister. She is always making sure that Diya is safe and happy.

Now if I can just get Isha to share toys with her then life would be almost perfect!!! But it doesn't look like that is going to happen any time soon. Isha loves to pick up toys and hide them so that Diya can't play with them.

My sweet girls.

The girls love to be together. They spend lots of time snuggling, but lately I have had to remind Isha to be gentle with her. I think that since Diya is so mobile now Isha forgets that she is still a baby.

No one makes Diya laugh as loud or as hard as her big sister! Her little face lights up whenever she sees Isha.

Isha loves to hold Diya like this but of course Diya wants to be left alone so I have to remind Isha to give her some space, but for the most part Diya is pretty patient with her.

I love having two girls!! Watching them interact together is the best. I hope and pray that they always love each other.

Going for a pony ride. Diya doesn't look to happy in this picutre.