Teagen's Birthday Present

For Teagen's first birthday we bought her first piece of jewelry . . . and a little pain to go with it!

Before & After

Yep, we finally got Teagen's ears pierced! She is such a champ. She cried for about a millisecond and then was totally fine! She looks so cute with her birthstone earrings!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby Girl

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEAGEN MAE! I can't believe a year has already gone by and our little baby is now one! It has been so fun watching her grow into her little fiesty personality. She is a little ham! And she absolutely adores her big sister. Watching them play together is one of the best parts of my day.

But I can't help and think about this exact moment a year ago. I was nursing my barly 18 hour old baby not knowing that in about an hour the doctor would come in and tell me that he'd like to release us from the hospital (yes with a baby that is not even a day old) so that we wouldn't get stuck at the hospital due to road closures from the Wild Fires. And not a mere 2 hours after that we'd find out that our neighborhood was being evacuated. Boy am I glad that were home . . . in a house that is still standing . . . and safe.

Teagen's birthday started with our traditional breakfast in bed. She was just starting to wake up when we (Chad and I) came in singing "Happy Birthday." Her special breakfast in bed was chocolate milk. (if she was eating real people food it would have been easier, but I refuse to feed her baby food over her crib!) She thought she had died and gone to heaven, having a drink in her bed! She laid right down and sucked down that milk!

Unfortunately I had to work on her birthday, so we hung around the house and played while I answered the business phones. She was hammin' it up for the camera! After work we did do something fun. But that will be a surprise for the next blog!!

So Happy First Birthday, our Sweet Baby Girl!

Our Pumpkin Pies!

One tradition we have as a family is going to Bates Nut Farm. It is a pumpkin patch close to here. They have hay rides pulled by a tractor, pony rides, petting zoo, games, the list goes on and on. And they have GREAT food. We always get their corn on the cob! YUM YUM.

Then we go searching for the best pumpkin in their dozens of piles of pumpkins. The tradition continues with a picture of the girls in the middle of the pile. (My favorite!!)

This year was Teagen's first time at a pumpkin patch. (Last year it looked like I was trying to steal a pumpkin under my shirt!!)

Maya took picking out a pumpkin VERY seriously. She checked every pile, I think, to make sure she got the best one! And she even carried it all by herself.

Some times my parents are able to join us. They have been getting a BIG pumpkin for many years now. This year they couldn't make it so we picked out a pumpkin for them. Here are the girls sitting on one of the prospectives!

Teagen even got her own little pumpkin!

After a long day, with not very long naps . . .

. . . we had one crying

and one dog tired!

Thought it would have been the other way around, huh!!

Tahoe Fun

We had an absolute BLAST in Lake Tahoe. After a busy summer and avocado season, we all needed some time to just be away from the hustle and bustle. And what better place to do it in than Lake Tahoe!

My sister, her husband and their two kids were up at the house with us for the first week. It was a great chance for the kids to plan non-stop! We had some fun times at the lake, fun (and crazy) times on the boat (we got caught in some bad weather. Good thing my brother-in-law trained to be a boat operator for the Long Beach lifeguards!!), great times at Squaw Valley Resort, and above all, quality family time!

Maya, Taylor and Teagen looking out to the front yard.

Taylor thought she should do some homework while Maya was doing hers. Thank goodness for a fax/copy machine at the house!!

The kids at Squaw Valley


Best buds!

After my sister's family left, we had some quality Hustead family time.

We also got to stop on the way home to see a friend of our, Josh, from college, and his family! They have two girls, so all four of them had a great time playing. It was a short visit but well worth it!

WAY BEHIND!!

I have been a total SLACKER on blogging. We actually just got back from our family vacation in Lake Tahoe. MUCH NEEDED time to spend with family and just relax. I will post pictures from the trip soon, but we did have MAJOR news about one thing that happened in Tahoe that I couldn't wait to share.

Teagen was taking a few steps before we left, this was about the middle of the trip. Now she is standing up by her self in the middle of the room and walking EVERYWHERE! That's until she realizes that she can still crawl faster than she can walk. It's the beginning of the end, I guess!!