Montoya Family Portraits 2010

A good friend of mine, Lauren, who I have known since we were 1-2 years old, has just started her own photography business, and agreed to take our family pictures. They turned out so awesome!! :-)

Our Baby Boy is ONE!!!

When Connor was born, I decided that on the 22nd of every month (he was born Jan. 22nd), I was going to take a picture of him with just a diaper, on a black background. That way when he turned one, I could put them all together and see how much he changed...

We were VERY surprised to wake up on his birthday to find that it had snowed that night. This was the first snowfall at our house. Of course Connor was WAY to into the snow to actually look at me while taking his picture, but that's okay :-)

Connor's hair has been getting really really long lately, and I've wanted to cut it, but EVERYONE tells me not to, that it's so cute. Well normally he just looks like he's got bedhead all the time, lol... but I guess his hair cooperated because it was his day, and it looked so cute with his little curl

We decided to go out to breakfast at Denny's for his birthday, which he LOVES doing.

We also went to get Connor's 1st Birthday pictures done, but that didn't go over very well (thank you JC Penny's) so we might be doing his pictures some time this week instead.

That night we had just a little family get together for cake and ice cream.

Connor tried ice cream, which he wasn't too sure about. I think he wasn't very happy about the cold fingers, and just cried that it was on his tray...

On Saturday, we had Connor's Pirate Party. We just invited some close family and friends to celebrate. I had lots of fun making the cupcakes (with the help of Aaron and his mom).

For some weird reason, Connor has decided that he needs to make this face ALL the time. When he's happy, when he's crying... whenever. Not so sure about it, lol...

Connor loves people, and he smiles and everyone... but when there's too many people, he gets a little scared. That with the fact that he's teething right now and a little cranky from that, makes for an uphappy party goer. He was clinging to me, Aaron, or my sister the whole night, and was not smiling at anyone. But... for some reason he LOVED watching my sister and dad play pool (which he's never seen anyone play before) and was busting up laughing every time they took a shot, hence the reason for him looking down in the next few pictures...

Connor LOVED his birthday cake.. eating and playing in it...

We had lots of fun over the weekend, and we can't believe that our baby is already one year old.

My new job

I found a new job. The past few months I've been working at Riley's Farm, but it was a seasonal job, and once December came, I had no job. So I've been trying to find something to bring in money, especially since Aaron lost his job too, and hasn't been able to find anything yet. He's out all the time job hunting and interviewing, so we hope and pray that he can find something soon. I've been doing photography on the side, which is what I want to eventually ONLY be doing, but until then, I found a babysitting job. I was so excited about it, because it's for a 1 year old girl, and they live only about 15-20 minutes from me, AND I get to bring Connor with me. Sadly it's only part time (about 16-20 hours a week), and it's only temporary because they're moving in Hawaii in about 6 months. But at least it's something for a little while :-)

The little girl that I'm watching, Riley, it exactly one month older than Connor, but it's very funny because she's big for her age, and he's small for his age...

Connor has never really been around babies his age, so I was a little worried at how he'd act around her. But surprisingly, they play VERY well together. The first day we were there, she kept walking up to him, kissing and hugging him, and he was looking at her like "what the heck are you doing?" but by the end of the day, he was hugging and kissing her back :-)

Only one more month and my baby is ONE!!!

My baby boy is getting so big. I can't believe we're going to celebrate his birthday next month. Wow how time just flies!!! Connor's been up to many things this month. He's learning and growing every day. I'm just amazed at all the new things he does every minute.

Connor at 11 months...

He LOVES the television. We don't have cable TV, so he's very limited to about 2-3 videos that we do have, lol... but he just loves to watch anything with music. Backyardigans & Sesame Steet are his favorites. And of course, he can't just watch... he has to get as close as he can to the screen...

Connor went to 2 Wards Christmas parties this year, both with Santa... and he didn't like it either time...

He just got in his top two teeth. He's been teething for a few months now, and they FINALLY came through. The good thing though, is that he started sleeping so much better. He was up 4-5 times at night before, and now he's only up once... maybe twice.
He learned to crawl the "normal" way. He was army crawling up until now, but this month, he finally got the hang of it.

He LOVES helping daddy out with anything and everything that he's doing.... dishes, laundry, yardwork, hanging up the Christmas lights...

He LOVES to touch EVERYTHING with his pointer fingers. That's how he checks everything out. He examines it all in such detail.

He's a big cheeseball... enough said...

He's said "mama" and "dada" before, but I don't really think he was saying it to us. He knows who we are (as in if you say "where's daddy?" he will look right at him) but for the past few months, he just hasn't said much of anything. Well, he now talks up a storm. Not really saying anything specific, but he NEVER stops talking. He did say his first real word this month. "Doggy" which he pronounces more like "dah gah" He LOVES my parents 2 dogs and my sisters dog, and squeals in delight when he sees them yelling out "dah gah... dah gah" But we also found out this week that he doesn't like any other dog. He's VERY VERY VERY afraid of any other dog. He cries and almost shakes because he's scared... not sure when that happened.

He walks along furniture like a mad man, but won't walk on his own. But... sometimes he thinks he can walk and he'll just venture out to take a step and fall flat on his face. He actually took 1 1/2 steps today, which we were all shocked!!!

He LOVES to cook/watch us cook. If anyone is in the kitchen, he crawls over to them, and has to be right there in the action as the food's being made.

Whenever he hears music, he dances (head bangs) and giggles. He LOVES music.

Connor's laughter is contagious and there's no way you can be in a room with him for more than 5 minutes without busting up laughing. He's a joy to be around and we love having him in our lives!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

So as many of you know, our family is going through a lot right now. Aaron lost his job 2 weeks ago, and my job went from about 20 hours, to 5-10 hours a week. We're struggling a lot right now, but at the same time, we're praying a lot and know that we'll get through this.

We just need to remember the true meaning of Christmas and celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Because of the lack of money, we weren't able to send out Christmas cards, but I had made them already, so I figured I'd just post it on here and e-mail it out to those I have an e-mail for.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas. We love you lots!

random

Random pics...

my little businessman...

He's actually just sitting there before church, watching Sesame Street on DVD while I get ready for church, but doesn't he look like he's working on a laptop :-)

This is what happens when Connor gets ahold of a trash can :-)

Happy Thanksgiving

This year was Connor's First Thanksgiving. I LOVE Thanksgiving. Family, food, games, and just lots and lots of fun!!! We were lucky enough for Aaron's mom, step-dad, & step-brother from Arizona to come visit for a few days. We hadn't seen them in about 6 months, so it was fun to see Connor get to know them again :-) This year for the holiday, we all went over to my sister, Katie and her husband, Nathan's house for the day. There were so many people there, so we had to have 2 turkeys, one of which I made (the first time I'd done that by myself). I love Thanksgiving because all the family just spends the whole day together, eating and playing board games, and I just LOVE that. Family is so important to me, and to have both sides of the family together was an awesome experience. I love that Aaron's parents and my family get along so well, like we were all family before Aaron and I met :-) :-)

Connor and Grandma D

Three Generations... there are 4 generations, and I would LOVE if we could all be together some time to take a picture :-) Sadly, everyone is in different states

with Grandpa & Grandma

Uncle Dylan :-)