The Adventures of Katie

11:41am: Show daddy how to find the tape.




11:43am: Reorganize mommy's pots and pans.




11:44am: While screaming, hit pugs with pan until they run downstairs in terror.






11:46am: Don't forget mommy's decorations and photos.




11:51am: Daddy can always fix that later. The fridge looks better without it anyway.

Katie's Birthday Plans

Katie's birthday is fast approaching: about 1 month until her party!

I have started putting together plans for her birthday bash. We are going with a Tinker Bell theme, because she seriously LOVES her Tinker Bell movie. We already picked out the most adorable cake... but it feeds like a million people...so you should come...really...everybody.

I am so excited to celebrate her 1 year mark in this world. As I have been sharing my plans with family and friends, I tend to get the same reaction:

"Why are you putting so much effort into something she won't remember?"

WELL ladies and gentlemen, there are two very important reasons to make her first birthday fantastic.

1. I want to get in the habit of making her birthday a big deal.
2. I have a healthy and wonderful little girl and that is something to celebrate.

Let's talk about habits. I want to get in the habit of making celebrations fun for my kid. I want her birthday to be something she anticipates over the years. Why start on her 2nd or 3rd or even 4th birthday? I know she will love eating her sugary cake and be so excited to play with her friends. This is not an event she won't like. She will love it. She will also be able to look back in her baby book to see how cute she was.

On the second point, I ask you:
"do we only do nice things for others when we will be recognized for it?"

We shouldn't, and I know my babe is not going to say thank you after or remember how much work I put into all the little details. But I want to do something fun for her anyway. It's how I am going to show her how much I love her and how important she really is.

Life and health are such great gifts. We too often take these for granted when we should constantly be celebrating them. I want to throw a big party with our family and friends to celebrate the huge blessing of having Katie in our lives for a year.



It's been so amazing, it only seems right to end the first year with a bang.

If you haven't received your formal invitation yet, no worries, they will arrive soon!

Christmas to Now

After a fun-filled Christmas in NH with my family, we are back in Idaho starting our winter semester classes.

January 4th marked my last first day of school, ever!

Weird, isn't it? Well, I guess when you consider I've been working on my degree for 5 years, it's not all that weird.

The next few months are going to be amazing. February is Valentine's Day, and I already told Rob how I want my day to go, so I know it will be great:-) Then there is March when Katers turns 1! I am planning a huge birthday bash which will probably just be me, Rob and Ryan, but again, it will be great.

Then the month I most look forward to, APRIL! I am so excited to have so many relatives coming to see me graduate. I feel special. April will also be awesome because I have two weddings I am shooting (yay for fun things!) I will also hopefully start working for some great company with great benefits. Wishful thinking?

I have started putting together my resume. It's been an intense process trying to make my resume look and sound professional. It's amazing that a few words can make you sound so much more experienced.

I am so anxious to start applying to businesses in the area. At least it means I get a new outfit! I don't think I own an outfit that says, "I have a degree and I am awesome so please hire me so I can feed my family."

Maybe Macy's has one.

Katers is still as cute as ever. She is SO close to walking! She stands all by herself and even takes 2 steps. If I try and make her practice too much, she starts growling at me. So I let her decide how often she wants to practice.

Katie's First Halloween

Halloween is such a fun holiday, especially once you have a little one to make it special with!
We decided on the Star Wars theme. Mostly because we thought Katie would make the cutest Yoda! We bought Katie's costume and then mine and Rob's were homemade. Here are some pics from the "trunk or treat" at our church. Every family decorates their trunk and the kids go trick or treating from trunk to trunk in the church parking lot. It was so fun!


Princess Leigh, Han Solo and Yoda!

I just love taking pictures!

It's amazing what I can do with my old camera and a nifty, yet seriously inexpensive lens! I just want to share a few of my recent shots. I get to shoot a couple's engagement pictures today and I cannot wait to share those! I am having so much fun! I just LOVE capturing beautiful moments for people to keep forever.

These pictures are of our Friends Jace and Jo (Jeffer's parents) we just took these outside our house candidly when I was trying to test out the light. The first one is of course my Katers and Rob in our house.





The Dilles

Some Picture Updates

We just can't get enough of our Katers! Here are her red hat pictures, along with a picture of her with grandma in NH and a pic of her with her best bud Jefferson.

Back to School

This past week has been a busy one as we scramble to get ready to start classes on Thursday. Luckily we are taking a lot of classes online, so we will be home more with Katers. This has it's advantages and disadvantages, but more advantages.... we think.

We spent a little over a month visiting friends and family in NH, which was lots of fun and always an adventure. It feels really good to be back in our home though.

The airline lost my stroller and car seat when we got to Utah. It took them a few days to find them but because I live 4 hours away from the nearest airport, I am still without my baby gear as I wait for them to deliver.

Rexburg is simply not the same this semester. Most of our friends have graduated and moved on, or are not going to school this fall. I guess that means more study time and less play.

With the new semester starting soon more and more college kids are back in town, and you can tell. I was almost hit twice yesterday while driving by people who don't watch stop signs. It's so frustrating when people aren't paying attention. It bothers me more now because I have precious cargo in the backseat named Katers!

On a lighter note, Katie has been so much fun! She sits up, rolls over, grabs things, and interacts with us so much. We just love her, as does everyone that meets her.