Happy Easter

Our Easter celebrations have really spanned this whole past week. Since we had General Conference this weekend (which was absolutely wonderful!!!), Tori wore her Easter dress last Sunday. Grandma Allen sent Tori the most beautiful dress which was so perfect. Here is Tori in her very first Easter dress!

Just because a girl is all dressed up doesn't mean she can't have a great time playing as well!

On Thursday, our apartment complex put on an Easter egg hunt. This was so great for our little family. Here is Tori as we were getting ready to start out. Her Uncle Douglas says she looks like a grandma looking for her lost crochet needle - and he is right. But she still looks so cute!

After the hunt started, Jared grabbed a few eggs and then we set Tori in the grass, with the eggs in front of her, to see what she would do. And of course, the eggs went right into her mouth!

Here are a few more!!! And just in case you were wondering, she left her glasses on the whole time - totally cracked us up!

Sadly, we didn't get a family photo on this occasion. But we did get ones of each of us with Tori. Here she is with her Daddy!!!

And here is Tori with me!!!

Even though Jared is not an egg fan, we still decided to color Easter eggs - yeah, more devilled eggs for me!!!

It's a good thing we stripped Tori down to just her onesie, we had a few close calls with the bowls of die!

And of course, the eggs had to go in her mouth. I don't think she likes the taste of egg shell!!!

And here is our little Miss Tori with her very first Easter basket!!!

Above all, I am so glad that we were able to have General Conference this weekend. As always, the talks were absolutely amazing and just what I needed to refill my spiritual cup. I think it helped us to focus much more on the Savior and the real reason why we celebrate Easter. I am so grateful for all that He sacrificed for me that we might live with Him again. We wish all of you a very Happy Easter!!!

March Memories

As Tori is getting older, I am finding that I have so many fun pictures of her that I want to share. So, here are a bunch of our fun March memories!!!

I know it is sad, but Tori looks so cute when she cries!

Sometimes a girl just has to relax a little - and having Lumpy along is even better!

This month Tori has discovered the fun game of peek-a-boo. She especially loves playing it with her Daddy!

If any of you are Dr. Seuss fans, you may remember the book The Lorax. In that book there are some characters called Bar-ba-loots and they are in their Bar-ba-loot suits. Well, here is our little Bar-ba-loot in her Bar-ba-loot suit!!!

I don't think she was really excited to be in her suit!

Tori loves playing with her toes. And she especially loves holding onto her right foot while chewing on something - like this...

The weather has finally gotten warm enough that we have been able to get outside. Tori loves going for walks in her stroller. I love how little she looks in there!!!

Tori loves her new sun glasses from Grandma and Grandpa Allen!

If only she would leave them on - but they must taste great!!!

Uncle Alec sent Tori some fun princess dolls. Apparently, we need to teach Tori that you shouldn't chew on Cinderella's head!!!

As a family, we have been singing songs from the Primary song book for Family Home Evening every week. In the past few weeks, Tori has discovered the joy of playing the piano!

She really is pretty good for being so little!!!

This is what happens when you have the "favorite" toys packed away and Daddy dumps out the toy chest. Tori was in heaven!!!

Tori was having a great time helping me make some booties - she loved playing with the yarn!!!

This month we have come to realize that we have a little jumping bean on our hands!!! (She takes a little break on her jumping in the middle, but just wait for it!)

Since Tori tends to spit up on her dresses before we even get out the door, I decided to use her robe to keep her warm while we finished getting ready for church. She looked so stinkin adorable that I just had to take a picture!

Oh, how we love our baby girl!!!

We hope you enjoyed strolling down our March memory lane!!!!

We love our veggies!

This month we have introduced Tori to puffs and all of her veggies. It has been fun watching her figure out how to eat her puffs. She has gone from having us feed her to being able to actually use her little pincer grasp and feed herself. Tori sure loves her puffs. The first veggies we introduced to Tori were carrots (15th). She really was not such a fan the first time around. But by the second round of carrots, Tori did much better. I don't think she loves them, but at least she will eat them! Sometimes I really wish I knew what Tori was thinking!!!

Green beans were the second veggie (19th). Tori loves her green beans - it is so much fun watching her chow them down!!!

Peas were next and again Tori was a huge fan (22nd)! It must be that she is a fan of the green foods!

Squash came next (25th). Tori did better than she did with the carrots, but not nearly as well as the greens.

Our last veggie was sweet potatoes (29th). Of all the orange foods, Tori likes this one the best!!!

Yeah for veggies!!! Overall, Tori did a great job and we are really glad that she will eat all of them!!!

Our Little Bear Cub

I don't know if this is a common stage of development, but Tori has started to growl all the time. It really is pretty hilarious that such a crazy sound comes out of our little girl. Tonight we were chatting with the Allen clan over Skype and Uncle Dillon really got our little bear cub going. We hope you enjoy the show!!!

(Don't you just love the look Tori was giving Jared. I wish I could have captured it better, but I was afraid she would stop growling if she saw me with the camera.)

I may be prejudice, but our little Tori is just the cutest thing ever- even if she does sound like a bear cub!

St. Patrick's Day

We didn't do much to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year. I guess it is an interesting holiday to really celebrate. Anyways, we did at least wear our green!

Here's wishing you all the luck of the Irish!!!

(P.S. I am just realizing that Tori wore her fabulous St. Patrick's day outfit for many big occasions this month. It's a good thing she looks so cute in green!!!)

The fine art of wearing a bow!

Since Tori has discovered her bows, we have found her sporting some fun new styles.

Argh matey!!!

I was really surprised to find her smiling - this one is my favorite!!!!

Already 7 Months

I can't believe that our little Tori is already 7 months old. She has recently started to explore everything around her. She loves to intently study her hands and feet. She has also started to grab at everything around her - the remote control, the pattern on the couch, the phone, and especially my hair. Tori also loves making noises - she has added in a few grunts and even a "b." Jared and I have noticed that Tori will turn to her name - it is so neat to see! But the biggest news of the month is that Tori got her very first tooth - actually it came in today!!! Here are some pictures of our little, but getting bigger, baby girl!!!

It's so fun watching her play with her feet!

I love Tori's smile!!!

I'm not sure what this face is, but it makes me laugh!

This is one way we can tell Tori is tired, she starts to rub her eyes! (P.S. Thank you for her turtle Aunt Michelle - Tori loves it!!!)

The Heart of Texas...

Came to visit us this week! We were so excited that Grandma Allen was able to come stay with us this whole past week. As any good visit should, it started out with some awesome Grandma bonding time.

I know that Tori really enjoyed it!!!

And what could be better than a nap with Grandma?

Grandma Allen was able to teach a few scrapbooking classes in order to pay for her plane ticket out here. Tori and I tried to be a big help this week in getting ready for the class.

Tori sure does love tulle!!!

After all of her hard work, Tori was so tired that she fell asleep while still holding Lumpy!!!

In the midst of all of our hard work, we did make sure to get plenty play time in!

And a lot of tummy time with our Baby Einstein movies and Lumpy!!!

Tori and I were so excited to be able to attend Grandma Allen's scrapbook classes. I learned so much and had a great time! Part of what I learned is that I need two classes to get everything done when all the other ladies only needed one class. But for my first venture into scrapbooking, I think I did an okay job. It is definitely something I hope to get better at! Tori loved being the center of attention with all the scrapbooking ladies!!!

The event had a St. Patrick's Day theme, so we had to make sure Tori was appropriately dressed!!!

Tori even helped Grandma teach her class- which was a huge hit among the ladies here in Indy!!!

Before we had to take Grandma Allen to the airport, we stopped to have one last lunch together. Tori is such a big girl now that she was able to sit in a high chair at a restaurant for the first time.

Tori also got to eat her very first french fries - we think she liked them!!!

And she also had her first drink of soda pop - pretty sure she is not a fan yet!

Mom Allen, thank you so much for coming to visit us. Thank you for babysitting so Jared and I could have a real date. And thank you for spoiling us all rotten! We love you so much and can't wait for our next visit!!!