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

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

Bridal Veil Falls

I meant to write about this a few days ago but the camera was lost in our car. Last Saturday we took a little family trip to Bridal Veil Falls. The weather was cool and perfect, and the falls were really beautiful. It was fun to explore one of the local adventures available to us. Sometimes I forget how beautiful living near the mountains can be.

Blades of Grass

This past week the weather has been rainy and horrible. And it was driving me crazy! Being stuck inside all day is no fun. So when the sun came out today I grabbed a blanket and practically ran outside. We enjoyed just playing on our front lawn and feeling the gentle breeze blow across our faces. Kate was especially fascinated by the grass. Touching the grass, then pulling out the grass, and finally eating the grass. I'm glad that the weather has finally given me the opportunity to let her explore these little wonders of the outside world. It was so nice just to be outside.

Getting ready to get out of the house!

 

It's almost impossible to get her to smile outside

I just love this girl!

Puppy kisses

Taking Deacon for a "walk"

 

Deacon enjoyed getting out of the house, too

Happy 8 Months Kate!

Yesterday Kate turned 8 months old and I completely forgot until about 9pm last night. (In my defense, Brett was sick and Kate was cranky and had been up several times the night before.) I'm really not sure where I have been while Kate has been doing all this growing, but here's a random sampling of what she is like lately:

She loves to play games. Peekaboo is a big hit right now, and she will even cover herself up with the blanket and then take it off and look up at me with a huge grin on her face. Another favorite game is knocking over towers of blocks I build for her. She thinks this is hilarious.

She is becoming less shy around other people. She has such a fun and vivacious personality at home, but around others she often is a bit aloof and prefers to observe rather than play. But lately she is coming out of her shell a little bit. Though yesterday when I took her to the mall she did burst into tears when a sales associate was trying to play with her and said "boo". It was adorably pathetic.

She is finally starting to bear some weight on her legs. Previously she has had no interest in standing up whatsoever. I think she is beginning to realize that the coffee table would be even more fun if she could reach what was on top. Good thing we will be getting rid of the coffee table in the near future.

She is on the move! Though she isn't crawling yet, she is becoming more and more adept at rolling and scooting. It is becoming impossible to change her diaper, brush her hair, put on her clothes, or do anything that requires her to be still for any length of time.

She can open drawers. I thought this wasn't supposed to happen for a while. But recently she figured out how to open her dresser drawers. While I am in awe of her brilliance, I seriously need to better babyproof my house.

She is still madly in love with Deacon. They are so cute together.

Her favorite baby food so far is prunes. She loves them. She also enjoys peaches, pears and oatmeal, carrots, and sweet potatoes. She hates peas (in her defense the pureed ones do smell nasty. I'll have to give her some whole ones and see what she thinks). We have also started to give her some table food. She really enjoyed the zucchini pasta we made the other night. Shredded chicken is also a big hit.

She is still a very silly girl. She will laugh at just about anything I do. She is so sweet, and I love that I get to spend every day with such a fun little girl. Happy 8 months Kate!

Playing peekaboo

This was the first time I gave her prunes

Our BYU baby

Crazy Hair

I have never seen a baby Kate's age with so much hair. It is getting so crazy I am going to have to invest in some baby conditioner and detangler (do they even make that?). Most days I pull it up into a ponytail to try and tame it because even if I wet it down and comb it, a few seconds later it just goes crazy. But I love it, and some days like to just let it go crazy.

Oh, and I think in the middle picture (the one where she is looking at the camera) she looks like me when I was a baby.

Spring is (Finally) Here!

Lately it has been warm enough for Kate to trade in her long sleeves and fleece for shorts, dresses, and rompers! So of course I had to take about 100 pictures of her to capture the adorableness of her chunky thighs. I will try not to post all 100 of them :)

Just a few days ago she was wearing fleece pjs (please note how awesome her hair is)

This is what happens when Brett dresses her for church

 

 

This was the first day she wore shorts-- look at those adorable legs!

Easter eggs = best toy ever

Rockin' the side ponytail

Always a happy girl

See? Always happy :)

Getting so big!