Like mother like daughter. Esther has a rocking panda, instead of a rocking horse, and she absolutely loves to rock on it. She also loves to cuddle with the soft fur of the panda. Yes, she is going to be just like her mother and adore pandas!! It the cute, cuddly black and white bear that is the exotic pet of our home. Does anyone want to join our panda club. Karen? Anybody?

Esther's birthday was July 4th and she is all decked out for the occasion with her flag T-shirt compliments of Grandma Garner. She is also very fond of her red, white and blue flowers received from her proud daddy! She really enjoys flowers as does her mother and so her Dad wanted to be sure that she received some of her very own flowers on her very first birthday.

Esther received her very own baby swimming pool from mom and dad which she really enjoyed playing in on her birthday. We can't believe she is one now, boy how the days and months flew by. Her adorable swimming suit was a gift, one of the many might I add, given to Esther by her Grandma Garner. Isn't that inquiring face precious. Aside from eating and maybe watching baby Einstein, swimming and bathing are favorite activities of hers. Esther never tires of the water.

For her birthday Grandma Garner gave Esther a wooden ring toy that Esther is really enjoying even to this day. She loves to pull all of the rings off and then try to put them back on. Also, as you can see in this first picture she really thinks the wood is quite tasty. However, she is also teething and may find comfort on sucking on the cool wood of the toy. This is a wonderful fine motor activity and she is able to learn about colors at the same time!! Thanks Grandma Garner!!!

Here Esther is patiently waiting to begin opening her presents and really curious as to why everyone is so camera happy. You capture super sweet poses like this one when you can, because everyone knows how quickly the little one move from one position to the next. Good thing the birthday camera crew stood ready for every adorable shot. I must admit that I don't know who was more excited to actually open the gifts Esther of her Aunt Whitney, pictured here. At any rate everyone had a blast and the best part is that Esther's birthday gets celebrated with parades, fireworks and fun every year with no effort on mom and dad's part. I bet you are all jealous.

Wow, I can't believe it, Esther is 15 months old and growing fast. She fall into the 90th percentile for her height and she seems to be getting taller every day. Her hair is slowing changing from blonde to mostly brown but she still has her beautiful blue eyes. As you can see in the picture from the last post she has a gorgeous smile. She is a very happy girl who loves to play whenever she possibly can. She is walking along everything now and will take seven to eight steps independently. She will be walking any day!!

As for Brandon and myself, we remain proud parents and a happy couple. This semester is extremely busy with Brandon taking fourteen credits at ASU and working at UPS. I took the semester off to focus in on exactly what I want to accomplish as far as a degree is concerned. Brandon is taking three Hebrew classes. It's tough but he loves it! I will be posting pictures and videos from recent events so be prepared for what is coming soon!