Kaylee's 1st birthday

Overdue? Yes...
We threw a very small first birthday party for Kaylee at my mom's house. Her Grandma's anunts and uncle's all came to enjoy cake, ice cream, dinner, and presents.

There are too many cute pictures to choose from!

This one is a personal favorite! Kaylee really enjoyed her cake but she was kind of a princess about it. If you want the extended version you can watch the video (although you've probably already seen it.)

Kaylee is really enjoying her new toys and clothes.


She sometimes gets a little possessive over her truck though and get very angry at it if she can't get it to go everywhere with her.


Happy Birthday Baby

CHRISTMAS!!!!

I have been hanging onto all my Christmas decorations for two whole years. (Our first christmas we bought this condo and were moving, not decorating, and last christmas we lived in my sisters house.) I was so excited to finally put it all together. I love decorating!

Ryan spent a littlt too much time making this video cool but now you can all enjoy our tree with us!...


I was in the process of taking pictures of the rest of the decor when my camera BROKE! ***crys*** Well Maybe this means I can get a new one... I never liked this expensive piece of junk much any way!

Cell phone pictures anyone?
Garland above the cabinets...



Garland above the windows...


Lighted fancy garland on the entertainment center...


Lighted home entrance with santa merry christmas wreath...


Cranberry candle on table (with tree behind)...


Red trees, stockings and snowmen!

I have other decor here and there but you get the point :)

Free Time?

I wrote down everything I need to do before the last day of class and decided I could afford to sit down and organize all my photos in prep for upcoming blogs....

I have become a very lazy blogger... sorry. I had every intention of doing the usual cutesy pictures with text describing them but instead I am just going to tell you about Jordan's homecoming and then give you a link to Ryan's mobile me where I uploaded all the pictures to for Grandma Pullan.

It's so great to have Jordan back. I already can't wait for the next family gathering. It has been so empty without Chelsie, Jordan, Chason, Brooke, and Rylie. Having Chelsie and Jordan with everyone was a lot of fun. Chelsie took Jordan back out into the world yesterday to buy things and get ready to be a none missionary. I can't even imagine how incredibly hard it must be to leave such a wonderfully spiritual life behind. We had rotisserie chicken instead of turkey which is fine by me because I love that stuff. Jordan taught us all anew monopoly card game while we listened to christmas music. What a great de-stresser!

Any way check out the pictures I took here... They are pretty blurry. The lighting in the airport didn't agree with our camera... LAME.

Someday I'll do a normal blog. Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

blogs to come

I have many blogs to catch up on over Christmas break...
Kaylee's birthday, Kaylee in general, Jordan's Homecoming, Thanksgiving...

please be patient.... here is a fun video to watch in the meantime

The life and times of R.S. & K. Hightower

Well I'm actually in class... I think I have some sort of senioritis but don't worry I'll make it :)

Ryan has taken a leave of absence from school until the end of the year. He and I talked about it and we decided that this was best for all of us right now even though it pushes his graduation back to late September. He has a lot of work projects lined up and there just wasn't enough time for him to do all the work and be a more than full time student who cares for a 1 year old all day. He is using this time to make us a little bit of money so we can eat a little longer ;) The good news is, in January I will only be taking 10 credits which I have crammed into 2 days of the week (Tuesday and Thursday). This means I will be home most days of the week to help him with Kaylee. I will still graduate in August, but I have just spread the work out between winter spring and summer semesters. (10, 5, & 3.5 credits respectively)

I have 4 weeks of class left... 1 of them is Thanksgiving week (only 2 days of class) 1 of them is the last week of class (4 days of class) There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

I am very excited for Thanksgiving (and the break that comes with it) and I am teaching sharing time the Sunday after. Does anyone have a good idea for a serving my family sharing time? (Have I mentioned that I am the primary Secretary? I'm not very helpful but I do what I can.) The Straw family is taking new pictures on the 28th to include the new grand kids. Hopefully we get some good ones.

We have having Hightower Thanksgiving on Nov. 30th when Jordan gets home. I am very excited for that day too! I am not going to that day of school so that's another non full week!

Kaylee is getting a bit too smart for our own good. She is getting so old. It almost makes me want another tiny baby (but not enough to make it worth going through school pregnant again.)

So that's life :)

Family Pictures/ Kaylee 1 year

We took some new family pictures the day after Kaylee's birthday. I had every intention of uploading them to the blog but after sorting through all 92 of them for my favorites I only have time to give you a link...
Click here for Family
Click here for Kaylee

ENJOY :)

I want to blog about her birthday but I'm waiting to get all the good pictures from Kristi's camera. coming soon...

Halloween '09

Five grandbabies 2 and under in costumes eating candy = PURE INSANITY! Halloween was really fun though and all the grandbabies looked cute. I made all the girls bows and did all their hair. I love that kind of thing.

Kaylee fell asleep after 1 street (not enough napping on such an exciting day) of trick or treating but after her little nap she was having a blast! People probably thought yeah that little kid won't eat that candy but seriously her doctor said feed her anything... make her put on weight so she has been loving the candy! She totally understand that if she can get her hands on the bag with the pumpkin on it she finds sugar. Kaylee is such a people person. She would giggle every time I stopped to grab her out of the stroller for the next house. And as a mom I did love hearing people say Oh how cute:)

You can see more pictures here : Facebook Album