Christmas Time!

So it has been a fun and crazy 3 months and I can't believe that Christmas is a little over a week away!  Fortunately I did most of my shopping in November, cuz it's crazy at stores now when I go to get basic necessities.  I'm excited that I got the whole weekend off to spend Christmas with my family and Rigo's family, cuz I was originally scheduled to work that weekend.  Christmas in the hospital, definitely not as fun as spending it with your loved ones.  I need to find some time to make it to the temple and see the lights and enjoy the events going on up there...it is always beautiful and comforting to take a lil trip there, especially when it's only 20 minutes away!


I got my first nativity set this year and it's awesome cuz it's toddler friendly...Kaylana can pick up the pieces and play with them!  We put up a Christmas tree for the first time in 3 years, smells so good!  Kaylana helped me decorate and loves to say "Christmas tree" all the time.






Kaylana is the funnest little girl ever and she has grown SO much.  She talks like crazy and runs everywhere.  She says and does things that just crack me up and are so dang cute, I wish I wrote down all those times...I'm going to have to start carrying a notebook around with me or something.  She loves her yogurt and one evening I asked her "Want some yogurt?"  and she ran into the kitchen (which was dark since we were watching TV in the family room and it gets dark at like 4:30 now)...all  I heard was a slap on the floor and then "I'm okay!"  Or when she puts on my shoes or purse and walks around saying "Mommy's Shoes" or "Mommy's Purse."  I love how she wakes up in the morning and tells me Hi or Good Morning and gives me a hug and kiss.  She is so affectionate!  She is absolutely in love with Mickey Mouse and occasionally she will be watching on our bed and when we walk in to check on her she will say "Hi Mommy!" and pull the blanket off of her, pat the space on the bed beside her and say "Sit down, Mommy, sit down!"  She is darling.  I find myself surprised by her every day with how smart and talented she is.  Anyhow, I just adore her and could go on for days.  Instead I will catch up the last few months.

My Turkey Day decorations =)

So we had Thanksgiving at our house this year.  It was awesome to have both my family and Rigo's family under one roof and not have to trek from one house to another.  The food was amazingly delicious and I think I ate 5 different times cuz I kept going back for more like every hour haha.  We enjoyed the great food, company, and the 49ers game, even though they lost.

Halloween was so fun for Kaylana.  She went trick or treating for the first time and dressed up as Minnie Mouse.  She currently is in love with Mickey, so I thought it fitting to make her Minnie.  We only went about two blocks and within an hour she was asking me to carry her.  We had an awesome evening with my brother's family, Rojohn, Merilee, and Ashilene, who was dressed as the cutest Elmo ever!  Those girls have so much fun together!  I bought 3 big bags of candy to give out, and it was gone within an hour of coming home...by then I was looking through Kaylana's candy to see which ones I didn't want her to eat, but then I just said forget it and turned out the porch light at 9pm.  I was amazed at how many kids were out in our neighborhood, and love that we live in such a family-oriented area with tons of younger kids!  I think Kaylana will love growing up her and playing with the neighborhood children.

 

 
We also enjoyed a Trunk or Treat at church and Kaylana loved the games, the coloring, and of course the candy.  It is so nice to have a bunch of other kids her age and a good amount of youth to play with the younger kids. 

   
Kaylana's annual trip to the pumpkin patch!  She loves riding in the wagon, going down the giant slide, playing in the bouncy house, touching all the pumpkins, and playing with all the fun lil cars and horsies they have.

Kaylana's first manicure.  My sister, Jubie, and I were getting pedicures and her daughter wanted one (who is 3 years old).  When Kaylana saw all of us getting pedis she wanted to take her shoes off but instead I told her she could get her hands done.  So she got a manicure and loved it!  You can't really see but she picked orange and they drew a pumpkin on one thumbnail and a spider on the other.  She was so excited and kept showing everyone her "Pun-kin" and "Ewww Spider!"

Latest Rieta Family Pic

So I am going to continue later since I have to finish preparing my primary lesson.  Oh yeah, so after 5 years of working with the Young Women I was released, had a few chill months, then was called to be a primary teacher.  I teach the CTR 5, and I love those lil 5 year olds!  They are so smart and so sweet.  It is an exciting change and I am grateful to have the opportunity to be with them!  So much more to catch up on, but...my next post, I'm sure, will probably next year.  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!!!

2 Years Old, like a month ago

Yeah, so I'm a little late.  There has been a lot going on in the past, how long...almost 6 months since I last blogged?  The highlights of which were Kaylana turned 2, we bought a house, and I turned 27.  Not in that order though.  I also got injured at work and have been doing modified (light duty) work in pediatrics for almost 3 months now.  The people I work with are awesome...so nice and like a big family.  I would love to work there when the schedule fits better for my family.  Since late June it has been sometimes difficult to find a babysitter for Kaylana all day, but thankfully it has worked out.  Also in late June I turned 27, not a big deal just another day really, and we went into contract for the house that we are now living in.  We moved in last month and feel that the Lord has truly blessed us to be able to still live in Castro Valley as we love this area.  It is a nice area and the schools are good, and hopefully will stay that way as our kid(s) grow older through their school years. 
Kaylana has hit the terrible 2's, and as much as I love this age and her interactive, imaginary, playful, affectionate ways, she also has this attitude at times and can throw lovely tantrums.  She talks all the time now and I love it.  She asks to watch TV, loves Mickey and all kinds of animals, can point to and name every body part that I've taught her, and is very polite.  She is constantly saying "Please," Thank You," "Sorry," and "Excuse Me."  Oh and also "Bless you."  I am enjoying every moment with her and I can't believe how big she is getting!  At her check-up last month she weighed 27 1/2 lbs and was 33 1/2 inches tall.  I think that's 60 something percentile for weight and 48 percentile for height.  Not too bad.  I finally took the bottle away after her 2 year old appt because my pediatrician (and I say my because she's not only Kaylana's but she was really my pediatrician as a child) said it would be difficult to potty train her on a bottle since she'd be peeing all the time cuz Kaylana LOVES milk in a bottle, she'd drink it all day if I let her.  So now I give her milk in sippy cups and she hardly drinks any.  Maybe like 1 cup every other day.  But I give her lots of yogurt and cheese so she gets enough calcium.  I need to get some ice cream.  Haha.
Oh yeah, Rigo and I had our 5 year anniversary last week also.  We were thinking of going out for dinner but instead I made dinner and we went out for a movie.  We watched Planet of the Apes, not too bad considering I'm not a big fan it was a cool movie.  It's funny how we enjoy the simple things so much now because those are the things that are so difficult to do when you have children!  We also went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and watched every show.  Kaylana loved all the kiddie rides and roller coasters, she is such an adrenaline junkie.  She screamed "Wee!" on every ride and threw her hands in the air too.  It was lots of fun.
So we are pretty much settled in our new home.  I think I have 2 boxes left in the office to unpack but we are waiting to build a storage in the backyard.  Kaylana loves running around out there and we put her slide, bikes, and cars out there to play with a long with a foam mat.  We have a few fruit trees too...apple pear, plum, pomegranate, and citrus.  It's cool and at the same time quite time-consuming.  I really make an effort to remember to water the plants and trees every other day and turn on the sprinklers as ours go off twice a night instead of once like I programmed it to, so I just put it on manual.  I also got Rigo a nice cordless electric lawn mower, which he unfortunately has lost the cord for...so we cannot charge it but fortunately it's still working.  He's becoming more of a handy man and I've actually become pretty handy myself, especially with a power drill!  Home ownership definitely has its ups and downs, the joy of your own home and the headache of improvement and maintenance.  Lol.  It is definitely a huge blessing and we are so happy to have achieved a goal that we didn't think we'd be able to for a long time.  Kaylana loves having more room to roam and actually gets excited when we leave somewhere to go home.  She says "go home!"  Oh my funny cutie girl.  So here are some pics to show how she's grown and other fun family moments:

 at her BFF Lacey's b-day party

 eating snacks with cousin Ashilene at the temple

 Easter fun!

 Six Flags

 Cozying up with Lacey

 Watching Sprout with cousin Ysella

 Hi-five Ashilene!!!

 Showing off her new kicks...Nike Frees and Jordans, all with a pretty dress =)

 She looks so big here, it trips me out.  If you look closely you can see the scar above her left eye cuz she fell being the daredevil she is and hit the sliding door runner.  Poor baby, that was not a fun trip to the ED.

 Mommy and Kaylana on Mommy's 27th Birthday

 Kaylana and Ysella all ready to go to the water park

 Kaylana's 1st Bowling experience with Grandpa at work, she carried that ball all by herself!

 Ashilene and Kaylana snacking (again?!?) in our new backyard.

 Kaylana enjoying her birthday cupcakes made by Shawna, they were delish!

 Kaylana's hearty birthday breakfast!

 Knocked out in her high chair after eating...I love how she always crosses her feet.

 Kaylana put on my sandals...and she put them on right!  and came to show me, it was a fun surprise

 Fun day at Six Flags seeing all the animals

 Showing off her pretty skirt

The latest and greatest from 2 days ago...Posing with an umbrella at Toys R Us!  My cutie is growing up so fast!

20 Months Old...and Modeling??

Kaylana just turned 20 months old last week!  My friend Ashley who diligently serves with me in Young Women is an amazing photographer and happened to need another baby girl to model headbands.  Since I had a day off, I jumped at it.  I warned her firsthand that Kaylana doesn't like headbands and doesn't usually smile for a camera.  But since we were going to enjoy a walk at Lake Chabot, we figured we would give it a shot.  I'm so glad we did, because the pictures came out so well!  Her son, Kyle, definitely was a big help and played peek-a-boo behind the camera to help bring out Kaylana's smile.  Thanks to Ashley for her talented photography skills in capturing my baby girl.  Here is Kaylana...she is such a cutie!

Playing on the stairs with her cousin Ashilene.  Kaylana probably started it.  Lol.

This is how I found the two after we attempted to barricade the stairs.  Cuties!  Enjoying the barricade chair.

Here is Kaylana enjoying the little car and tricycle I got for her!  She actually fell in love with the push buggy in Hawaii visiting her cousins.  So I was so excited when I stumbled across this one!

Kaylana is such a daredevil.  She jumps off the sofa and runs, sometimes straight into another piece of furniture.  She loves to bolt outdoors any chance she gets!  She also loves playing with other kids, especially her cousins, who are now all within 30 minutes away.  Kaylana's vocabulary has definitely grown and she tries to say more words every day.  They may all sound the same, but I am happy that she is trying.  I think it is hilarious that she pronounces "Barney" and "Elmo" the same, they both sound like "Mama!"  Fortunately I can always tell because she is either pointing at Barney on the TV or pointing at Elmo in a book or holding Elmo.  Haha.  She is too much fun.  She loves to copy me when I exercise and always tries to tickle me during any floor exercises.  It is an interruption that I enjoy.

 Yum...pretzels and other snacks are always a great distraction for Kaylana.  She loves food, just like her Mommy and Daddy!

Walking in her Daddy's footsteps.  Literally.  She loves shoes!  I guess we better watch out.

 I love this one with her finger in her mouth.  She almost looks like she's contemplating what sneaky thing to do next.  Haha.  I always miss this girl when I am at work.  Of course, who would rather take care of patients and their families instead of your own children!  Especially when the poops are so much easier to handle on a 1 year old than a 70 year old.  Hahaha.  Oh how excited I get when I have a young patient who can clean up after themselves.  Is that lame or what?  Well...in TCU that is a one in a thousand thing.  Anyhow...how did I start talking about work?  Here is the last picture of my little angel modeling.  She brings so much joy into our home and I could not thank my Heavenly Father enough for the blessing she is in our family.  I can't believe she will be 2 in just a few months!  I am definitely enjoying every single day with her.  I think this is such a fun age, she is so playful and laughs at everything.  I just keep praying that I will be more mindful of my words and actions because I know that she is watching and copying everything!  We are grateful to have Kaylana in our lives and are amazed at how much she grows every single day.  I want my little girl to stay little!!!  She is getting so big!  Sometimes I look at her and think that I am looking at a little me, that is until she darts off and I remember that she is so quick just like her Daddy.  We love our Kaylana!!!