Shayla Marie GarrettThis is our daughter Shayla Marie Garrett. She was born March 19th, 2000. Nearing 3 years old, she is getting quite talkative and runs everywhere. Incredibly sharp and inquisitive, it's hard to keep up with her. She definitely inherited both her parent's stubborn streaks......
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| As a Newborn |
 This is Shayla just a few days old. She started out alert, and from the very beginning we had to watch what we said or did around her as she remembered and learned at an astonishing rate! |
 Tanya and Shayla while still in the hospital. |
 Already starting to wrap daddy around her finger! |
Learning to WalkYou spend the first year teaching them to walk and talk, then you spend the next 17 teaching them to sit down and be quiet! |
 Here is an early walker shot of Shayla. Just getting into her "chew on everything that comes near me" stage! |
 She really got the hang of the walker and started zooming around! |
 Sometimes she was just too cute! |
Toddler!There has to be a way to harness all that energy! |
 Shayla's first professional picture. Taken in October of 2000 by a good friend of ours. Suprisingly she doesn't actually like candy all that much, preferring fruit. Frozen raspberrys are probably her favorite. |
 Here Shayla is with her "Unlcle Reck" (actually my nephew Derek--yes girls, he is available! Email me for contact info) and her cousin Jared. |
 Here Shayla has her hands on her little Chipmunk .22 Rifle. Her grandfather gave her this rifle before she was even born. In deference to her being a girl, it is the deluxe model with the fancy walnut....Now he can't wait for her to get old enough for the two of them to go shoot it! |
 Shayla driving with Grandpa and Grandma. Shayla likes to go places, often picking up her coat and saying "bye-bye" or "go" or one of a hundred of the new words she seems to pick up daily. When we got the Jeep she started saying "jeep, vroom, vroom!". Nobody knows where she picked that up! Big project for this winter is getting a seat in the back of the Jeep and special restraints for her carseat. Then we can take her wheelin'! |
 Just before we bought a bed for her, Shayla was having trouble sleeping. Tanya was having to sleep with her on the couch to get her to sleep. Well, one night Tanya couldn't get her to stay asleep to be put back in her crib, so Tanya left her in the living room. Shayla woke up and was hungry. She found some stuff her mom put on her lips, so she figured it was good to eat. She ate a little in the bathroom where she found it (the cabinet is baby proof, but Tanya was going to water aerobics in the morning, so she had some lipstick in her gym bag in the bathroom--we learned from this!), then went like a good girl into the kitchen to eat the rest. This was the result! Needless to say, Shayla now has her own single size bed (close to the floor--also, Tanya can sleep with her if nessesary, or we can set her in it without waking her) and a closing door! Still, poor thing knew she was in trouble, you can see the hangdog expression! Me, I had to keep from laughing! |
 Here is our little fireball just before going to the harvest party at our church 2001. Compare it to the picture of her in October 2000. What a difference a year makes! |
Two! |
 During the summer of 2002 we went to the Palmer Reindeer Farm. Shayla liked the reindeer, but didn't like being on the ground, so she spent most of the visit in her daddy's arms. In addition to the couple hundred reindeer, she also got to see Rocky Mountain Elk, Sitka Blacktail Deer, and Bruce Lee (the moose that destroyed a police car, and banged up a police officer as a calf!) She also got her first horseback ride, to her father's heart failure! |
 Another shot of Shayla feeding the Reindeer. Reindeer don't have any upper teeth, so they can't really bite you. However, when you feed them by hand, they can very much SLIME you! |
 The Sitka Blacktail were very tame. Here you can see Shayla even got to pet this doe! |
 Here Shayla and daddy are looking at the Rocky Mountain Elk. Sure seemed a lot less spooky then the wild ones! |
 When our new house was being built in 2002, Shayla liked to stop by and make sure the contractors were on their toes. |
 Here, Shayla is standing ont he porch in front of her new bedroom window. She still refers to the place in Wasilla as "my new house"! |
 In October of 2000 Shayla dn her cousin Jared had their pictures taken together in Old style garb. My niece had this set done and antiqued. Sure look cute! |
 We liked the pics of Jared and Shayla together, we had some done of just her. We also discovered Shayla REALLY likes to play dress up! |
 Shayla at the dinner table for Thanksgiving dinner 2002. She wasn't able to help too much with Thanksgiving dinner, but boy, did she help daddy make cookies for Christmas! |
 Shayla kicking back on her beanbag after a big Thanksgiving dinner! |
 After Thanksgiving dinner, Shayla helped decorate the Christmas tree. Here she is checking out a few ornaments. |
 Here Shayla is helping grandpa get stuff out of the boxes. |
 Shayla is helping daddy decorate a tree just for her room! |
Three! |
 Shayla's Third Birthday party....actually she had two, one in Wasilla, one in Soldotna! |
 Shayla licking the frosting off the bottom of a cake decoration at her second Third Birthday party. |
 Playing with her cousin Jared after her second party at Grandma's house. Both like to play dress-up. |
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Click HERE to see a short video of Shayla and Jared Dancing! (1.6 mb 11 seconds) |
 Shayla proudly modeling a dress she got for her birthday. Shayla likes to dress up for church. |
 Shayla got to go to a friends house and play with some puppies. She loves all animals. Daddy draws the line at horses though! |
 Following in her father's footsteps, Shayla aspires to be a pilot. Taken at Wonderland Park in Wasilla. |
 A little apprehensive the first time behind the yoke, Shayla sits in her Uncle Phil's Cessna 150. |
 Sometimes I think Shayla just loves anything with an engine....sorta liker her dad! Her we are getting ready to go run the track at Susitna Speedway. |
 Shayla loves the gocarts. We have gone several times since these photos were taken. |
 Daddy is laughing like a maniac right here. As we come around the corner Shayla tried to honk the horn (the go-cart doesn't have one) and waved to her mother! |
 Shayla also likes horses. |
 Daddy gets nervous when his little girl is on a horse...and usually lets grandma and granpa or mama take here riding. Daddy thinks things with seatbelts that you can turn off at the flick of a switch are much safer! Still, pretending she is riding a horse is one of Shayla's favorite make believes! |
 Easter 2003. |
 Shayla's 2003 easter dress. |
 Shayla's first shooting lesson. We were firing plastic bullets in the garage with the .44 magnum. Shayla could barely fit her hands around the grip, but had a lot of fun! This was during late winter 2003. |
 We had to put in a lawn at the new house....Of course Shayla wanted to help.... |
 Shayla enjoyed helping with the yardwork and construction projects. Here she is imitating her daddy with her plastic shovel, and doing a good job at it too! |
 Strange as it may seem, little girls like flying rubber band powered aircraft almost as much as big boys.... |
 Actually Shayla really tries hard to help with the free flight planes. She loves watching them. |
 Shayla and the cat get along well together. This picture shows one of Neko's more interesting excursions. |
 Shayla next to the CJ7 we are replacing the Moonlight Rambler with. |
 When first seeing the CJ7, Shayla looked at her grandpa and said "Daddy will make it red by tommorow". When we do paint the jeep, guess what color it will be? |
 Tanya and Shayla all tuckered out after Arctic Thunder 2003. |
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