Thursday, June 30, 2011

9 Months Old in California

So a few weeks ago Kate and I flew to California, and Brett drove out the next day with Deacon and our things. We came because Brett is doing a summer internship with Ernst & Young in San Fransisco. Brett is staying in the bay area with his aunt, while Kate and are staying with his mom in El Dorado Hills, and anxiously awaiting the weekends when he comes back to be with us. Kate did really well on the flights, sleeping through most of them. I say flights because, yes, there were two (we had to transfer). However, by the end of the last flight she was clearly done with the whole experience, and by the time we got into the car to drive from the airport to El Dorado Hills she completely lost it. Overall though, it went about as well as I had hoped.

Since we have been in California Kate turned 9 months old! I can't believe she is so big. She is growing up in so many ways. She just recently got her first two teeth in (her bottom front teeth), and teething didn't seem to be too bad for her. Though she has been mobile for a while, she finally figured out how to army crawl forward, and will crawl on her hands and knees for a few steps if she's very motivated. She can stand up while holding onto furniture, but thinks the funnest part about this is letting go and falling backwards to have me catch her. She also tries to pull up on furniture, and can get onto her knees but not her feet. She can say "Mama" very clearly, as well as "Mom," but still doesn't quite know what they mean. She also seems like she has been trying to say "ball" (she loves balls). She loves to pick up little crumbs and specks from off the floor. She loves to eat, and is quickly mastering the art of finger foods. Favorite finger foods include cheerios, frozen peas, and more recently cheese. She is becoming less shy, and will now let other people in the family hold her, but is sometimes quite the drama queen about it if I am in the room. But I know she likes other people because if I'm not there she is happy as can be, and she is constantly flirting with other people when I am holding her. Everywhere we go people tell me what a happy girl she is, and they are right. She really just has a happy personality, and I am so in love with her.


9 Months!

Getting her California style on

Playing with cousin Marek

Enjoying time with her Daddy after being away from him all week

With Daddy at the Oakland Temple





At Brett & Victoria Candland's wedding reception
We will be in California until about mid-august, and are looking forward to having lots of fun adventures with family and friends!

Utah Fun

Wow. I have been terrible at keeping up with Kate's blog this past month! In my defense, June has been very hectic. We had a lot to do to get ready to come to California. But before I even talk about California, I want to share some pictures from the time we spent in Utah this summer. Kate is just getting big way too fast, so I am going to attempt to catch up by posting pictures of all her adorable moments. All of the pictures were taken when she was about 8 months old.


She still has crazy hair. No surprise.

Still loves to take a bath

Reading a book. This is rare - she generally prefers to eat them.

Baby in a box!

Her first time with the snack trap cup. She was very focused on it, and to my surprise mastered getting the cheerios out in about 30 seconds.

Playing with mom

An unlikely toy

Enjoying her sunscreen before a walk

After an olive oil shampoo. I am still battling cradle cap from time to time.

This girl has the best hair-dos


Even though Kate is a great sleeper, she still has a sleepless night every once in a while.

Just being a happy girl

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Utah Festival of Books

Today we went to the Utah Festival of Books at BYU. It was really fun! We walked around campus exploring all the different activities and vendors. There were several different characters roaming around, so we got our picture taken with Darth Vader. We went to a little animal show. Kate walked away with a couple of new (free!) books. I got ice cream from the creamery. Kate was jealous and let me know how mad she was the entire time I was eating it. As the final event we got to see David Archuleta (not sing, just talk about his book). This only lasted a few minutes because Kate was tuckered out and so we headed home. I'm always complaining that there aren't any fun things to do around here, so I really enjoyed today. I don't think Kate enjoyed it quite as much as I did, but she is still really shy when we take her out.

Kate could tell he was on the dark side

Taking a break to rest in the shade

David Archuleta
 
Home at last