Things that make me smile

Things are going good at the West house. Paul is at a rotation at Paradise Valley hospital. We went and visited him as a surprise the other day and got to meet some of the people he works with. That was fun. We were also informed by Walmart that our destination after graduation will definitely be Flagstaff. Paul was able to take a day off and we drove up there to look around. We are pretty excited. It is a beautiful place! We are sad to be leaving so many people we love in Phoenix but we know Heavenly Father is helping find where we need to be.
We've had a fun February. Last year Paul and I started a Valentines tradition of "14 days of Service" where we do something nice for each other the first 2 weeks of the month. It was a lot of fun last year so we decided to do it again this year. I loved it!

Here are a few pictures of things that make me smile:

When Braden smiles! It only takes a little tickle or some silly words. He is a smiley boy. 

When Susanna and Braden play together

When Susie pretends to be in a "deep sleep" and the only way to wake her is true loves kiss

Having friends to play with (this was our fun Valentines Day party)

These pictures all make me smile too! My friend Aly (who is a very skilled photographer) invited us over to take these Valentine photos. They turned out so adorable. I will treasure them always. 

Fun in January

We have had a fun January. We decided to start potty training when Christmas vacation was over so January 6th was the big day. We bought juice and snacks and stickers and treats and Dollar store rewards. The first week was not fun. There were lots of accidents and lots of crying but Susie did a lot better the second week! She still has a few things she needs to get better at but I'm thrilled that it hasn't been terrible. I've been nervous to potty train and after the first couple days I was even more nervous. But she's definitely getting it. This picture is from day 1: 

We went to the zoo with some friends last week and had a great time. We get a culture pass from the library and are able to get in for free! So awesome! Because of that we pay a few dollars to touch the sting rays and feed the giraffes. It's so worth the five bucks. I love it!! It was a beautiful day at the zoo and we had so much fun. 

We like to take Susie's picture on the same orangoutang when we go. It's fun to compare the photos. The first one is when Susie was a little over a year old, the second one is when she just turned 2, and the last picture she is almost 3! It's amazing how much she's grown. It's so fun to watch. My little girl is definitely growing up! 

Due to the amazing weather we go to the park with friends a lot. 

 We also had our cousins over to stay the night on Sunday. We all went to the Gilbert temple open house together the next day. Susie LOVES her cousins. And they love her. It's so cute. It was fun to get together with Andrew and Nicole and the temple was beautiful. Nicole is due for her 4th baby, a little boy, in about 3 weeks! 

Here's a cute picture of Braden. I feel so blessed to have 2 adorable kids to take care of. It makes for a very happy life! 

Disneyland!

After our Christmas morning we packed our bags and set off for California! My Dad's gift to us all this year was Disneyland tickets. We went with Aunt Livy, Aunt Tiffany, Ty and Grandma and Grandpa. Susie was beside herself the whole trip. I can't wait to take her back. I took lots of pictures (below is just a small sampling.. ) she was so good to smile and pose whenever I wanted her too. She was in quite the good mood. Must have been meeting all those princesses that put her on cloud nine. She loved all the rides- she would say "faster! faster!!!" Except for Pirates of the Caribbean and Snow White's Adventure... she thought those were a little scary. She loved Bug's Life land and Cars Land in California Adventure. She went on Soarin' over California (she wasn't quite tall enough to go on it... I may or may not have sneaked her in..) She loved the Monster's University ride and Astro Orbitor and the Ferris Wheel and the Little Mermaid ride. It was all so fun. She did great with the lines. Braden was a good sport, too. He slept a lot in my arms. Everyone was so nice to help out with the small kids so Paul and I could go on rides too. 

We went to California Adventure on Christmas Eve and Disneyland on Christmas Day. Christmas Day at Disneyland was P-A-C-K-E-D. I have never  seen anywhere close to that many people at Disneyland in my life. And I've been a few times...

Despite the crowds we still had the BEST time!! 

Christmas at our house!

We had Christmas early at our house. We wanted to do our own "at home" Christmas before we went to Disneyland so the night before we left we had "Christmas Eve." We prepared a delicious feast full of our favorite snack foods, the kids unwrapped their new jammies, and we all watched Miracle on 24th Street. There is nothing quite as wonderful as little kids in Christmas jammies. They looked adorable. Then we had our Christmas Eve devotional. Susie sang along to our a new favorite Christmas song, "Susie Snowflake" (it's by Rosemary Clooney and it's adorable!). Paul shared the Christmas story with us. I worked all month to make this make-shift manger and I was so excited to show Susie! It turned out really cute. We talked about Jesus and the gifts that we can give him. 

We decided to start a new family tradition with our new manger. Each December we will put the manger under our tree and whenever we do something nice for another we write it down on a yellow strip of paper and put it in the manger. Throughout the month we try to give these gifts of service to the Savior and record them. On Christmas Eve we'll record any last things we want to add to the manger. On Christmas morning we'll find baby Jesus in the manger. Before opening presents we will all read what gifts we gave the Savior that month. 

We had so much fun on Christmas Eve! After our devotional we set out some cookies for Santa. Susie was so excited when I told her that he was coming to leave presents. Christmas morning she got a set of Disney princess books from Santa. She also got a doctor kit (she gives me about 20 shots a day), a Cars puzzle, and a Letter Factory toy. Braden got an adorable hat from my friend Michele! I love Christmas as a mom!