Happy Anniversary to Us

Three years ago I married this guy. I really love him. Marriage is a lot of hard work. It REALLY is. But it's totally worth it. Three years down, lots more to go.

Kellyn

Kellyn definitely takes after her mom. She's going to be a talker! Here is her vocabulary list so far. All of these words are not completely discernible to the naked ear but we know what she's saying because of our super parent senses.

• Dada
• Mama
• Nana (Banana)
• Jees (Jesus)
• Lithe (Light)
• Daw (Dog)
• Fafafafa (Dog barking--see video below)
• Yeah
• Uh-Uh-Ooh-Uh-Oh (Uh-Oh)

She says all of these words a lot. Over and over. And then she says lots of nonsense words. She talks constantly and we love it. A few of her other favorite things include:

• Dancing--especially to hymns during church
• Swimming
• Walking
• Eating--especially bananas
• Dogs
• Jumping and rolling in big piles of blankets and pillows
• Books, books, and more books
• Watching dumb Baby Genius movies (like budget Baby Einstein movies)
• Playing with her friend Maeva
• Playing and chewing on whatever she's not supposed to

This age is so much fun. The first few months with her as a new baby just about did me in. Honestly, I didn't enjoy it like I thought I would. It was so hard and I wasn't sure I could do it. So here's a shout out to new moms who are struggling--it's really hard at first but it's okay because it gets better! I love it now. I feel so blessed to stay home with her and look forward to all the stages to come. She will be ONE this month. I really wish time wasn't going by so quickly. But I'm just trying to soak it in and enjoy every second with my baby, while she's still a baby!

Timpanogos Caves

Jared loves hiking. I actually like it too but I'm just too lazy to plan it and go. So he planned it and we went. Neither of us had ever done Timp caves before but we realized that it's quite steep and that having a pack for Kellyn would have made it a lot easier. Carrying a 20 pound squirming baby is a bit of a challenge while hiking. She had fun though. Before we went we left her in the living room with all the stuff and she discovered the Camelbak. She was so proud of herself for figuring out how it worked. By the time we found her she had emptied half of it on herself and the carpet. So funny! The caves were tricky cause they say "don't touch ANYTHING" and then they make you squeeze through tiny spaces. Yeah right getting Kellyn not to touch anything! Sorry Timpanogos caves for desecrating you with our greasy little fingers. I guess being carried on a steep hike can really wear you out cause she was a goner on the way down. The next day we took her to Cascade Springs which were beautiful. Hopefully we get to go hike again this summer--with a pack...

She's Walking!

10 Months, 3 Days, So Cute

Does it get cuter than those feet? Kellyn has become very busy and very "helpful." I think maybe taking stuff out of drawers is just a developmental stage she's going through. When is the stage where she starts putting stuff back in drawers? I'm ready for that stage.

Happy Ten Months!

I absolutely love this baby.

In Nine Days...

...my baby will be ten months old! It's going too fast! She now has six teeth--the better to bite me with, she is crawling EVERYWHERE and getting into EVERYTHING, "talking" non stop, walking with some assistance, and sleeping 12 hours at night. Yes, 12 blissful hours! Although I do kind of miss not seeing her for twelve hours straight, I am not complaining! I am one happy, rested mama! She recently has started dancing while standing up which is hilarious, yesterday she did the actions to the song "Popcorn Popping" with me, and she has started making what we refer to as the 'monkey face.' If you have seen Zoolander, just think Blue Steel--that's the monkey face and it is also hilarious. Now we are just attempting to get all of her adorableness on camera. She has a fascination with electronics (does a camera fit into the "electronics" genre?) so any time we get out the camera, the only thing she is interested in is getting it in her mouth as fast as possible. We have to be very sneaky. Wish us luck! Here are some pictures from our zoo adventure this week. She didn't quite get the "look, there are animals in the cages!" concept. But there were lots of other interesting things to look at such as shiny objects and crazy loud kids running around.

She was way more interested in the fence posts than the huge giraffe. Hmmm...

A few minutes of this and Jared's back was aching. I think she's outgrown the baby

pack.