Fun in California

We have been having lots of fun this Christmas break. Alot has happened. Here are some of the things that have happened lately.

December 15th - Andy's last day at subway
16th - Dana graduated from BYUI with a bachelors in Horticulture
19th - We secured a townhome in Boise. We are really excited about it.
20th - We got to California

Katelyn loves being at grandma and grandpa's house. So many new things and places to explore, stairs for example. She has been a little sick over the past couple of days but is getting better. Katelyn got to stay home yesterday with Grandma while we went to disneyland with Maddy and Mckay.

We are looking forward to a fun first christmas with Katelyn in sunny California. Here are some pictures from the past couple of days of being here.

We wish you all a very merry christmas and happy holidays!

Christmas Time is Coming!

So Christmas is just around the corner. And with it being Katelyn's first it is going to be extra fun. Yesterday we went to see Santa and go for a ride on a sleigh. Here is the result...

After staring at him for about 10 seconds she decided she did not like this creepy bearded man that mom gave her to. Resulting in our picture. After seeing Santa and getting some hot chocolate we headed outside for a ride on a sleigh. Since there was no snow on the ground (thank heavens!!!) it was more of a carriage ride than a sleigh, but none the less it was fun. Kateylen was a trooper as we stood in the cold waiting our turn. She enjoyed laughing at the kids behind and in front of us.

All in all it was a fun day and we were glad we went. Christmas here we come!

Life moves too fast to not enjoy the moments

So in this journey we call life there seems to be a time line that most people follow. Around age 1 you learn to walk, age 4 preschool, 5 is kindergarten, 8 your baptized, 16 you get your license... and so on. Katelyn for some reason doesn't like this plan. Thinks it will take too long. She is 6 1/2 months and already trying to walk. This next video shows her standing on her own. She has done this somewhere between 3-5 times on not only the couch but the entertainment center and attempted it on our shelving unit. Today she was brave enough to try it in the middle of the room with no support. Unfortunately for her (and fortunately for us) she doesn't have her balance down and she promptly fell right over instead of proceeding to walk.

 

For those not aware, Katelyn has 2 teeth now that she loves to play with. At first we thought these new faces of hers were just her way of exploring these new found daggers in her mouth. But at the end of this video I think you will agree that it is how she shows her frustrations with us (her parents) for not letting her explore more. (Watch the way she looks at Dana at around the 30 sec. mark.)

Life is Insane!

Well pretty much our lives have been crazy lately. Among the 16 hour work days and the 8 hour school days we are still managing to spend time together.

As you can probably figure out, a new semester at school has started. This is my last semester in school!! I'm really excited to get school over with and graduate but it is pretty hard to get up and go each day leaving Katelyn at home. I miss her so much when I am at school. Along with the start of the new semester comes enormous Party sub orders and many more mouths to feed. So Andy has had some long hours this week but hopefully it will slow back down.

Today Katelyn is 6 months today! Crazy. Time has gone by so fast. She has grown up so much! Some of the new things that she has learn to do this month are:

• crawl, nothing is safe in our house anymore.
• She loves to splash in the tub
• She can wave to say hi
• She loves green beans, squash and peaches so far

Zoo Time!

Yesterday we went to the Zoo. It was so much fun! Tautphaus park has about 40 animals. It is the perfect size for small children. I think that Katelyn enjoyed it, she spent most of the time chewing on her stroller straps. We got to see lots of animals, even the tiger was out. And as usual, Andy got lots of great pictures. Here are a few of our favorites.

4 months

Wow Katelyn will be 5 months at the end of this week so I think I should update you on what happened during her 4th month of life. 

Look at the change!

1 month

 

4 months

 She is changing so much. It is so much fun. 

Some of the things that she has learn in her 4th month are:

• She babbles a lot more
• laughs at random things
• Loves dogs
• Starting to creep, beginning stages of crawling. 
• Gives kisses
• reaches for things
• sticks her tongue out at people
• Her first tooth is starting to come in. Bottom right one. in the center
• Went to the zoo for the first time.
• She can sit up by herself for up to 30 seconds at a time.

This month so far we have enjoyed the lovely sunshine and also tried to stay cool. Every morning Katelyn and I go for a walk/jog for about 45 mins. She loves the jogger stroller (thanks Grandma & Grandpa G). She loves it so much that she falls a sleep in it almost every morning. We go to the library every Tuesday as a family to get new books, movies and magazines. 

Last weekend there was the Madison County fair. Andy entered two of his photos in the fine arts division in the fair. There were so many entered. Andy got a participate ribbon for each one. These are the two photos he entered. 

  They were my favorite out of all of them but maybe I'm a little bias.

On Friday we went to the Rodeo. It was so much fun. We watched the mutton busting, bull riding, barrel racing and the pole bending. They also had an event called cash cow. They call all of the kids of a certain age down to the arena and then they let two calves loose with money taped to them. Then the kids chase them to get all of the money. It is so funny!

July

Sorry about not posting for forever! So here is what happened in the month of July.
On July 9th Katelyn was blessed. Andy's family came up for it. Andy gave her a beautiful blessing. Both of our families were there at church along with some extended family. Katelyn wore the dress that I was blessed in when I was a baby. We took some pictures at the park by our house afterward. Then we had a really wonderful family dinner at my parents house.

The next weekend we went down to bear lake where Andy's family has a condo. It is so nice down there! The lake was so high this year. I don't think I have seem it that high since I was about 7 or 8 years old. We had lots of fun there. We went swimming, played tennis, had le baeus shakes, played lots and lots of card games and just relaxed. I love bear lake it is always so beautiful!

That next week I had finals and then the semester was over! I only have one more semester left in school now I'm so excited! The next Thursday we drove down to pocatello to meet Andy's mom and sisters so that we could go on a road trip to Bend, OR.  It is a 9 hour drive from Pocatello to Bend and Katelyn did great. I was so proud of her. We had a blast going to Oregon to visit Grandma Carey. We went shopping, toured a candy factory, cleaned grandmas house, just hung out, played games and put together puzzles. We were sad when we had to leave but we were both ready to see Andy again.

On July 19th Katelyn rolled from her back to her front. She was so proud of herself and so were we. Since she has figured this out she hasn't stopped moving!!

 

On July 26th Andy found out that he got in to BOISE STATE!! So that is where we are going after I graduate in December. We are both so excited.  We are ready for a change. So here we come Boise!

On July 28th Katelyn had her 4 month appointment. She had to get 4 more shots. Poor girl! She weighed in at 11.75 lbs and was a height of 23.75 inches. Shes a growing girl!!

Summer!!

We have decided that it is officially summer in Rexburg, Idaho. It has been in the upper 80s and low 90s for the past 2 weeks. It has been so nice to have such nice weather. We have gone on lots of walks. Katelyn turned 3 months on the 26th of June. She now weighs 10lbs 12 oz and is almost 23 inches long. She is so cute!! She is starting to really laugh and express herself. She can almost roll from her back to her tummy. She loves sucking on her fingers and holding mama's hair.

Yesterday, Saturday July 2nd, was Andy's first Saturday off in a long while. We decided to take advantage of it and go for an adventure to see mesa falls. It was very pretty. We went to both the upper and the lower falls. It was really hot too, so we had to be really careful so Katelyn didn't get burnt!