Can I get a woot, woot?

We got a new camera this week. Nothing special - but we are going to Disneyland in a week and a half and our other one was giving us stress. Anyways, Alayna loves these sculpture fountains across the street from the mall. She really just loves to play in the water.















Alayna reading with Mark Twain - who doesn't love a little Huck Finn.















Today Brother Larsen had his big backhoe tractor across the street pulling out some shrubs s0 Alayna had to go check it out. He even offered to give her a ride and she loved driving. She was so serious. I was impressed our new camera took this good of a picture while the tractor was moving.















My little tractor driver - you can tell she is part Stewart because when she is real serious and concentrating really hard - her tongue sticks out of the corner of her mouth - just like me and my dad.



Another water pic - she just can't get enough of it.

Family Fun!

Earlier this month we went to my cousin's wedding in Idaho. It was fun to see family that we hadn't seen in years. Here is Kali, Cassie, me, my mom, and Alayna. Alayna had a great time playing with all her little cousins she's never even met.

Here is my dad with his parents and all of his brothers and sisters - all nine kids were together and that doesn't happen very often.

Grandma and Grandpa Stewart

Tifani, Madeline, and Josh stopped to see us for a day en route to Seattle for the summer. We had a great time with them. Alayna and Madeline just loved each other and played so well together. We wish they could play more often together because they would be the best of friends. We had a busy couple of days and I didn't have my camera very often, but we enjoyed a good time at the aquarium, swimming, and at the zoo.

Alayna and Grandpa watching the zebras.

Grandma reading to Alayna and Maddie - she wouldn't be doing anything else...

My friend Natasja from the Netherlands sent Alayna this really cute outfit. Here she is showing it off. Thanks Natasja!!

Random...

I feel like I've been so busy lately that I haven't taken any pictures and I haven't had time to post anything, but here are a few cute random pictures and thoughts...Alayna and I are babysitting my friend Ashley's little baby - Topher - while she finishes teaching school...so we have had a lot of fun. Alayna let Topher lay in her lap for a second and I got this cute picture. She really likes him and gets really concerned when he cries unless she wants my attention too. Last week it was really funny because just out of the blue - she was starting to get tired and wanted my full attention and told me "Mama, Topher - night, night" - I just had to chuckle because she knew that if Topher was having a nap - I was hers 100%.

This last month we had a lot of birthdays - here is Alayna with Grandma and Kali on Kali's birthday. She was so funny because I told her that it was Kali's birthday and she told Kali about her birthday expectations..."Kali - Happy Birthday to you - blue candle - fire! - blow it." She was so excited but when it came time to light the candle - she quickly became petrified and said, "oh, scary!"
I have had a few really funny conversations with Alayna lately - I am pretty sure her brain goes nonstop. About a month ago we had this conversation as we were looking out the window:
Alayna: Mama, chicken outside...
Me: A chicken?
Alayna: Chicken!
Me: What's the chicken doing?
Alayna: Kickin'
Me: What's the chicken kickin'?
Alayna: Kitty!
I laughed so hard - her imagination just had me going. Then today we were eating outside on the patio with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Lloyd and we had this conversation...
Alayna: Oh mom, scary?
Me: What's scary Alayna?
Alayna: Pirate
Me: Where?
Alayna points....
Me: What's the pirate doing?
Alayna: Eating.
Me: What's the pirate eating?
Alayna: Doggy!
I don't know how she came up with that one - but we all had a good laugh!

1st Real Haircut!

Alayna got her first real haircut yesterday. We took her to the Cookie Cutters Salon that is especially for kids. She loved the pink car that she got to "drive" while she got her haircut - and as you can see she was also watching a movie and wouldn't even look at me for her "before" shot.


Here is Alayna's "after" shot of her new haircut - she did a really good job I was surprised. I trimmed her hair when she was about 6 months old - but this was her first real haircut.

Showing off her new haircut and new dress this morning.

Kali started pinching Alayna's cheeks not to long ago and saying "Alayna so cute". Well she picked up on that one pretty quick and is always trying to grab my cheeks and she says - "Momma so cute" - it pretty funny.

Trying to get another shot of her haircut - it is a little bob that is cut pretty much straight across so hopefully now we can let her hair grow a little bit longer now that "all of the baby hair" has been cut off. I think it makes her look a lot older.

After her haircut we went to the zoo - here are my little prairie dogs sticking their heads up out of the hole.

Have I said yet that Alayna loves the carousel - when she saw the dolphin she had to ride it - of course.

Getting a drink in the mouth of the tiger...

Happy Easter!

Alayna loves her new shopping cart that she got from Grandma Kelli for Easter - we had to set up a store in the living room so she could go "shopping".

Our neighbors across the street set up this giant duck and Alayna went crazy - she just had to go "touch it" - then for the rest of the day that is all we heard about...

Smelling the daffodils on Easter Sunday - so cute!

Posing outside - Happy Easter!

Our living room had easter eggs all over it and Alayna went straight for her new books and couldn't be distracted for quite awhile.

The Middle of Nowhere

Today we went to the middle of nowhere - where Coby's family was camping for the weekend. Alayna had a great time running around in the dirt - and "driving" (sitting in it and turning the wheel) Joey's green truck.

Hanging out in Grandpa Lloyd's motorhome - that is literally a house on wheels - pretty luxurious.

Alayna and her Great-Great-Grandma Richard (5 generations)

Getting ready to shoot her pink rocket that Aunt Jami made for her - Alayna loved to watch the kids shoot their rockets but only pushed the button once and then preferred to watch from a distance and run around waving her rocket.

The Easter Egg hunt - we practiced before so Alayna could hold her own with all of the other kids there - the little kids got a head start.

Coby got me with the famous "Kitchen Confetti Egg" - an eggshell filled with confetti that someone breaks over your head. No worries - I got him back pretty good!

Alayna just keeps going!

Alayna showing off her full basket!

I've been looking around online and trying to get ideas for Alayna's hair - so we tried another new hairstyle - her hair wasn't quite long enough, but it turned out pretty cute with the braids pulled back up and the ends curled.

The 3 R's - Rats, Reading, & Relaxation

Kali will kill me for posting this picture, but she was scared to death of the baby rats - and we all thought that it was hilarious - it took her almost a half an hour to get up the nerve to hold one. My parent's neighbors had 12 baby rats a couple of weeks ago and so we took Alayna over and she loved it - of course they were all "Remy" & "Gus-Gus."

This got in here at the wrong place, but oh well ... Alayna loves to give Snickers a treat and to Snickers joy - she gave them all to her the other night.

Alayna holding the baby rat all by herself!

Getting a little bit of lovin' from the rats!

Getting brave enough to let the rat run up her arm - it only took a few minutes for her to fall in love with the rats.

She was really focused on balancing the rat.

A new hairdo - "puffy braids" - since we can't quite do a French Braid yet...Alayna hates having hair in her face - so we have to get creative sometimes.

We are trying to get Alayna into potty training mode even though she hasn't actually gone in the toilet yet - but we laughed so hard when she grabbed this little book off the back of the toilet seat and started intently reading.

Just like Grandpa....

A little relaxation - squished inbetween the couch and pack-and-play...Alayna loves to hide and can squeeze herself into the weirdest places.