Twas the night before Christmas...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!

WITH LOTS AND LOTS OF LOVE,

RHETT, HEATHER, & LYLA SUMMERFORD

Tis the Season!

I had to post again! So much fun stuff has happened!
But before I start, yes I am wearing the same shirt that I wore in the post below or maybe below that, but I don't care! ha ha.... inside joke.

First off, Lyla and Kennedy had a play date! I love baby play dates! There really is not much that is cuter than seeing a couple babies playing with each other. It really is amazing to Rhett and I to see little Kennedy running around ALL OVER THE PLACE and know that Lyla will be doing that soon. I love looking/reading/hearing about what's going with Kennedy. #1 Cause she's cute and #2 because I know it won't be long before Ly hits those milestones as well. Anywho, we had a good time hanging out with Jill and her fam!

Lyla and Kennedy playing...Ly can actually move now as opposed to when they first met and she just laid there!

Jill with the girls...

Such precious little angels... sometimes... ha ha!

Mommas and Babies!Secondly, KRISTI'S HOME!!! Need I say more?! I am so so so excited! I was able to hang out with her most of the day and she was able to meet Lyla Grace for the very first time! Lyla loved her...I knew she would. Kristi is so animated and fun, and that definitely gets Lyla's attention. We played at our house for a little while and then went to Tokyo for some yummy sushi. Tokyo is where a first for Ly happened, she started saying "bye bye" and waving! Kristi and I were both shocked and excited. I was so happy that Kristi was able to experience a "first" of Lyla's. After dinner we went back to the house and waited for Rhett to come home (from hunting, blah!) so we could show him Lyla's new trick! She didn't let us down and she started saying "bye bye, bye bye, bye bye" and Rhett said, "she's got a voice"! Ha! Yes, she does! And it's a cute one! I love hearing the sound of her voice! I have been waiting 9 months to hear it! So, she says "mama" and "bye bye" now. No "dadda" yet...sorry Rhett! Speaking of 9 months, my sweet girl turns 9 months Christmas Eve! I wish I could slow down time...

Kristi and Lyla Grace...she's eating Kristi's phone. Uh oh!

She loves her Auntie Kristi... you might not be able to tell from this pic...but she does! PROMISE!

Ly and I at Tokyo for dinner! Mmmm, definitely my favorite restaurant!

Aunt Kristi and Lyla... this is where she said "bye bye"!!

Here's the video of Ly saying "bye bye"... I know I'm probably too excited about it, but I just have been waiting to hear her talk for sooooo long! :)

Just me with a couple of my favorite peeps...

Holiday hustle and bustle!

We have had a busy few days here lately. I love the Christmas Season and everything that goes along with it! So much random stuff has gone on, so basically I'll just post pics. That's what everyone looks at anyway, right?
Ly and I before I went to my work Christmas party at McGuires! Let's see...Ed, Jeanette, Me, Jenny, and Tony. Jeanette and Jenny are my coworkers and I love them! Work would not be the same without them there!

Now on to the O's! Lyla's favorite sound and facial expression...

OOOOOO....

My favorite. :) She's like an owl or something.

Lyla Grace and I before heading to our church Christmas Program.

This was so special! The Christmas Program at church was military "coming home" themed so they had a slide show at the beginning of some of the veterans and the people now serving. This is my Grandaddy, he served in the Army....

And my brother....he is of course in the Navy over towards Africa right this very moment. I miss him...

Rhett, Ly, and I at the Christmas Program. There was no nursery that night so Ly sat with us and enjoyed the show. She was pretty good throughout the whole thing.

At Sonny's after the program...she's saying, "Heyyyy, you guys look really familiar"!

UncleWesley and Lyla. She's really into the whole backwards headbutting thing right now...

Me, Rhett, Ly, and Wes at Sonny's.

Aww, this was fun! We got to see Pam and McKenzie at church today! Pam and I are the same age and so are our little girls. I think there's like a week and a half age difference.

I love babies!

Pam and I grew together in the same church. It is so amazing how fast time goes by and how such amazing things can happen! Amazing things being these two precious girls!

Aunt Kelly and Uncle Wesley at O'Charleys. It is like pulling teeth to get her to look at the camera now a days! You'd think I'd give up....NEVER!

Okay, so that's it. Oh but there is SO SO SO much to look forward to this week!!! Melissa's in town and I can't wait to hang out together, Kristi's coming to Pensacola Tuesday, Lyla's 9 Month checkup is Wednesday, Christmas Eve Thursday, and of course, Christmas is Friday!! Rhett, Ly, and I are leaving the day after (or maybe Christmas night because she'll be asleep) to see my Mom and Charlie for a whole week!! So basically, all that to say I do not know when I'll update next! Maybe in SC at some point?! Who knows! Anywho, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Season's Greetings

I am such an idiot! Really, I am an idiot! I was so excited to make and send out our Christmas cards this year... Lyla was of course the main theme of our Christmas cards which I ended up loving, so I immediately ordered them. I ordered 30 thinking of course that would be enough. I didn't even think twice about it. Well, then our Christmas cards come in the mail and I got so excited that I got out our mailing list out right away to address and send them out asap! Oh gosh, that's when I saw that I had wayyyy more than 30 people to send them to. Mine and Rhett's family consists of like 30 people...what was I thinking?! I got so sad because it didn't even occur to me to count our Christmas address list. So yes, that is why I'm an idiot. I just didn't have enough cards to send out to everyone. I feel horrible. So, here they are. I have learned my lesson and next year I WILL make sure I have enough!!!! I am just so angery at myself...ugh!
Anywho, HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

PS. I did update twice today. Read the post below that's all about Baby Brant!

Sweet BB

Today I was able to drive over to New Orleans to see Jo and Justin's new little baby boy Brant. Have I ever mentioned how much I love babies? Especially when my bf's have babies! Oh, there's nothing better! He is so sweet! Here's the stats: Brant Bradley Varnum born December 11, 2009 at 8:07 pm. He weighed 7 lbs 12 ozs and was 20 inches long. He also has blonde hair! Go figure! :)
Momma and baby...a mother's love is so very precious. Justin changing a very yummy diaper...he was such a sweet and helpful Daddy while Jo was "out of commission" for awhile.

So, these next two pictures are so interesting to me. It just shows how much happens in such a short amount of time! Here I am with new Mommy Jo and Baby Brant....

And here's Jo with me, back in March, when I was a new Mom with Baby Lyla...

Sweet Baby Brant...

So peaceful....I love him! Look at that blonde hair!

Sleeping on his Mommy...it is so sweet how they love to do that!

Baby it's cold outside!

And I mean baby, as in my baby husband and my baby Lyla Grace. It was freezing this weekend! Oh and how I love the chilly weather! :) I'm pretty sure I was meant to live in Alaska or something.
Umm, this weekend was pretty chill and relaxing. Friday night, Ly's grandparents babysat her so Rhett and I could get some Christmas shopping done. I was so proud of us because we started out at Kohl's, where to our utter amazement, everything was 60% off! So we racked up for cheap! :) We ended up at Toys R Us. We only have a couple things left that I really really want to get her. I know, I know...she's a baby and she won't know what's going on Christmas morning, but I WILL! Saturday we ate breakfast with my Dad at Cracker Barrel, went to a craft show at St. Anne's, and then came home to of course watch the SEC Championship. It's so funny, when I was in guard in HS and we had to go to every single football, I had no idea what was going on during the game. I didn't know what a down was. Yeh, laugh it up, but it's true! But of course, as fate would have it I married a football coach and I now know more than I ever care to know about football. Interesting right? Yehhh. Sunday Rhett and I lit the Advent Candles in church and read. Ok, Rhett lit the candle and I read! Public speaking is so nerve racking for me, but after it was over I realized I did fine and I wondered what I was so nervous about. God definitely calmed my fears. After church my Dad, Rhett, Ly, and I met Rhett's parents at the Macaroni Grill for a yummy lunch. And of course (as you can see in the post below) after lunch Lyla told Santa that she wanted puppies, kittens, toys, and candy for Christmas. No no, she didn't say any of that, but she also didn't cry which I was very happy about. She just stuck out her tongue at Santa, that's all. :) Sunday afternoon, Lyla and I sat on a blanket and watched Rhett put up the Christmas lights. Don't you just wish Christmas time was all year long?!
My dad, Ly, and I at Macaroni Grill...Rhett took the picture. Answer me this: Why in the world can men not take pictures??! This is take 1:
Take 2...after I told Rhett to put US in the center of the picture! GRRRR!

Libby after her haircut. I wanted them to go shorter and trim some of her tail. Oh well, I will make myself a little clearer next time.

Lyla in a box...

Outside ready to watch Daddy put up Christmas lights!

Daddy the daredevil! :)

Lyla and I, we prefer to stay on the ground and watch.

BRRRR! It's cold!

Yes, she was very interested in watching her Daddy....

HO HO HO!

Lyla met Santa today! :) She'd look at him, look at the camera, and stick her tongue out! Such a goof! I love love love this time of the year! Especially now that I'm a Mom!

8 Months Old and Gobble Gobble Gobble!

Whoo, I do not even really know where to start. Once you get behind with this blogging thing it's hard to catch up.
Tuesday Lyla Grace turned 8 months old! She is so fun! I love this age so much! She loves playing and laughing and I wish she'd stay around this age forever! But, of course that won't happen (duh!). Anywho, she sleeps pretty descent these days, from about 7:30 or 8 pm to about 5 or 6 am. Nicccce. She has her two bottom teeth and two top teeth now and she clatters them all the time. It's her new "trick" and it's hilarious. Speaking of new tricks, she's blowing raspberries like nobodies business. She's still crawling like a crazy woman and pulling up on everything. No steps yet, thank the Lord! :) I can say that we are not ready for her to walk! Let's see, she does know what she can play with and what she can't. I have Christmas decorations (garland and such) on the entertainment center and one of her favorite things is to crawl over to it, pull up, and try and grab the garland to pull it off. She knows she's not suppose to do this because Rhett and I will say "Lyla Grace!" and she'll look back and laugh! She's such a little sneak! She thinks it's funny to be destructive! As far as food, we're working on the finger foods thing. It's slow going though. We're practicing with puffs...but she doesn't quite get that they're suppose to go in her mouth, so she slings them off on to the floor. Aubbie is enjoying this "practice" time I'm sure. No words yet, nothing clear anyway. She loves the Ooooo ooooo's. We call her a little owl. Anywho, she is such a joy and I am so very excited to spend the holidays with her! It's going to be (already is!) so much fun!
My litte 8 Month Old!! :) She's not a huge fan of her playpen....

Thanksgiving was of course this week. Thanksgiving we always go to my family's Thanksgiving feast at noon and then Rhett's family's feast later in the afternoon. We are always so very stuffed! This year was no exception! Rhett made a trash can turkey for his family (my family made one as well). I LOVE trash can turkey! You literally smoke the turkey under an aluminum (clean) trash can and it is so moist! Mmmm. Thanksgiving was great! Rhett and I have so much to be thankful for this year. The biggest thing is our sweet little girl, I could not imagine our lives without her. Thanksgiving night Melissa and I went to the Foley Outlets at midnight to do some shopping! I did not know what to expect, but it wasn't too too bad. We did encounter some crazies though. For example, we were in line to go in to Gymboree when they opened the doors at midnight and this lady was ahead of us. Well, when this lady went in she ran to a rack of clothes, grabbed the entire rack, searched for the size she needed, and then threw the rack back! Melissa said, "that lady doesn't play fair"! HA HA! Nope. We had a good time though. I got Ly a few pj's and 2 Christmas dresses, one of which she'll wear to see Santa next week! :)

Friday Ly and I ate lunch with my dad and accompanied him on his errand run. We went to Best Buy where he got a digital camera and then we went with him to pick out his Christmas tree. The rest of Friday we spent lazily at home. Rhett and I have a recent addiction these days: Zoo Tycoon. Yeh, laugh it up. It's so fun and addicting. Rhett and I are so competitive and we both try to beat each other's zoos. So alot of the weekend was spent playing on the computer.
I LOVE her face in this one... my cutie!

Watching Daddy and Mommy play Zoo Tycoon

Swinging's fun!

Have I mentioned how much I love this age?!

CHRISTMAS TIME!!

Saturday night Rhett and I met Candice and her husband Nathan at Vallartas for some good Mexican food. We had a great time catching up with each other! I miss her. She lives in Rome, GA now so I definitely don't see her as often as I'd like. After dinner we went to the movies and watched 2012. Okay, so that's a depressing movie. About midway, Candice leaned over to me and said, "this is kind of sad"...and I was like yeh, to say the least. It was an "end of the world movie", but one of those that you had no hope at all... unless of course you had a billion dollars and could buy a seat on a ship that would ensure your survival. Now what kind of message is that sending? HA!

Candice and I! Friends since elementary school! Pine Meadow representing! :)

Sunday we went to church and dressed Lyla up in one of her cute Christmas dresses! I love this time of the year! There is just such a sense of joy and happiness in the air!Ly and I looking Christmasy for church.

Daddy and Lyla Grace. The loves of my life! So very thankful for them...

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