One

Kensie turned one!

Which means I survived the first year of being a new mom! (Maybe a post on that later)...

And overall I'm SO happy to have a one year old and not a newborn this year:)

Her one year stats:

Weight: 17 lbs 11 oz. (5th percentile)

Height: 27 3/4 inches (10-25th percentile)

Head: 45 cm (50th percentile)

Little miss Kensie...

Goes up both flights of stairs but not down

Stairs are her favorite activity. Goes straight for them after breakfast.

Shakes her head 'no' if she doesn't like something

Likes wearing shoes now!

Moved up to a size 2 in shoes finally

I'm lucky if she will keep a bow on her head these days

Sleeps with her puppy and her kitty

We called her shark tooth and little pirate for a few weeks because she only had one sharp canine tooth on top

Now she has two teeth on top and two on bottom

Has her beauty pageant wave down to a T. People comment about it all the time.

She learned to say No

Whenever she sees stuffed animals she says, "Ahhhhh Ahhhh"

Does the same when she sees puppies and gets really excited

Diaper changes are pretty much impossible

Telling her "No" only encourages her

She started mimicking us

Wears 9-12 month clothes

Got her first black eye. She hit herself with the remote.

Points at things

Likes getting her teeth brushed

Favorite foods: yogurt, chicken, cheese, bread, and watermelon

She started being a picky eater. I hope it's just a stage.

Words she says repeatedly: boo, Da Da, Ah-done, No, Hi

When done eating she does one of three things: 1)Starts throwing all food off of her high chair 2) Politely signs 'all done' in ASL or 3) says, "Ah-done"

Sleeps 7:30 p.m.-6:30 a.m. Still experimenting with nap times.

Gets really excited when her dad comes home from work

Side note: She posed like this all by herself. I put her in the chair forward facing and she maneuvered to the side, put her legs through, and crossed them. That's my girl.

Yay for being one! One is more fun than being zero.

Hotel Del

Last California post...I promise.

After spending all day at the zoo on Monday we wanted to hit the beach one last time. We asked a local where a good beach was and she directed us to Hotel Del at Coronado Island.

We were so glad we ended up going there even though it was only for a few hours. Hotel Del was gorgeous and the beach was even better. So serene.

We had dinner at a yummy local seafood restaurant because I'd been craving clam chowder. Kensie made friends with the server and everyone around her at the restaurant. She was soaking up all the attention and waving to everyone.

Tuesday, on our way home we stopped in Colton where we previously lived to visit Gayle Land, one of our favorite people from CA!

Our first family vacation with just the three of us was so much fun. I'm hoping to make the family trip to California a yearly tradition:)

San Diego Zoo

Monday we went to the San Diego Zoo! I'm like a little kid and had been looking forward to going there for years. An advantage of having kids is it gives you an excuse to do things like go to the zoo, play with barbies, watch cartoons, etc.

We took the guided tour bus around the park when we first arrived.

Our favorite animals were the polar bear, lion, koala, and panda. I also thought the laughing hyenas were pretty cool too.

While we were watching the polar bear, he got into the water and swam right in front of us. It was pretty amazing to watch this giant polar bear swim gracefully in the water.

Kensie waved to some of the animals from time to time.

We went to the petting zoo. She liked petting the sheep but wasn't too sure about the goats.

The last thing we did was ride the Gondola a few times across the park.

That zoo is HUGE! We arrived around 9 a.m. and stayed until 4 p.m. There was still more to see but we were tired and our feet hurt so we called it a day. Kensie was SO good for us all day and didn't have a problem staying in her stroller (rare). She even fell asleep in her stroller (also very rare)! She was still a little young to fully comprehend the zoo so hopefully we will go back again when she is older because that place is amazing!

San Diego

Sunday we went to church in Irvine and ran into my old roommate from BYU, Karyna. Completely unexpected and a fun surprise! We attempted to take some family pictures after church but Kensie was the only one who looked good...so here are some pictures of just her instead:)

On our way to San Diego we spotted the beautiful Temple from the freeway.

We had to stop and walk around because we hadn't seen the San Diego temple in person before. The weather was perfect. Sunny, 75 degrees, and with a breeze. Felt like heaven compared to the heat we had been surviving in Las Vegas.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn on the Harbor in San Diego. Sunday night was probably my favorite night in California. We walked along the harbor with Kensie in the stroller and enjoyed the cool ocean breeze. We found a pizza place and ate outside until pigeons started eating our food. I freaked out a little bit when one touched my foot so we moved inside the restaurant. Then we walked around the quaint shops, watched the caricature artists, and got a giant chocolate chip cookie.

Me and miss Kensie at the San Diego Harbor after sunset

Once the sun set it got pretty chilly outside so I had to cuddle Kensie under my sweater. She was tired of being in the stroller so Niel and I took turns carrying her on the long walk back to the hotel. Little stinker. I couldn't even be mad that she wouldn't go back in her stroller though because she was giving us so many hugs and kisses on the way back. You think she has us wrapped around her finger?

Laguna Beach

Finally blogging more about our California trip....

Saturday we went to Laguna Beach for our first time! We spent the day on the beach and had lunch downtown.

Niel bought a body board and had a blast.

Kensie kept getting sand in her food, in her mouth, on her sippy cup, etc. and wasn't too jazzed about it.

Once she met up with her friends she was happier. Our neighbors and good friends the Elliots happened to be in Laguna Beach the same time we were! Kensie loves their two sons Ernie and Caleb and had fun playing with them and their sand toys. I even got in the ocean while Bailey played with Kensie. It was a fun surprise to find out they were in Laguna also and meet up!

Newport Beach

Last year on our California trip I was nine months pregnant and looked like I swallowed a watermelon. I remember watching a couple next to us walk their baby girl in the sand and introduce her to the ocean. I couldn't wait to do the same with our baby.

Niel had some time off work so we took an anticipated family vacation to California. We took Kensie to the beach for the first time! She wasn't too impressed.

This is how she felt about the sand... and this is how she felt about the cold ocean water...

BUT, she did really enjoy sitting on our towel, playing with her toys, and climbing around on our backs. In fact she acted like climbing on our backs was the funnest thing. Maybe next year she will like playing in the sand and ocean more.

(Take note that her favorite puppy came along to the beach.)

On our way into California we stopped and had lunch at Lonestar with my old co-workers from Downs Energy. It was so fun to see them! We stayed in Irvine with Niel's cousin Kristin on Thursday night.

Friday we spent the day at Newport Beach. We bought a bike trailer to hook behind our bikes and rode for miles. I decided riding bikes along the beach is one of my favorite things to do. I forgot how much I loved doing that! Kensie even fell asleep in the bike trailer. Poor thing was slumped over in the seat passed out.

After riding our bikes for a couple of hours we got corn dogs and fries from the pier. (Have I mentioned how much I love corn dogs?!) I do. Nothing like corn dogs on the beach.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach and then rode our bikes back to the car. Fashion Island Mall was calling my name so we stopped there on our way back to Kristin's.