Katelyn's #1 Birthday

Katelyn's birthday was last Thursday. We had a little party and made a special cake just for her. We stripped the baby down to her diaper so she could go wild on her cake but she barely touched it. I guess she just isn't a wild child. Her party was a lot of fun. We had a BBQ and Katelyn got a lot of clothes and toys. She enjoyed playing with the other children the most. Grandma Bev made a play-house out of cardboard and all the kids played in it. All in all I think it was the best day of her life.

Things are going well for Dan and I. We love being in our own house. We had a garage sale last weekend to get rid of all sorts of extra stuff that was in storage. It was actually kind of fun and we were pretty successful. We had a constant flow of customers and we sold just about everything we had. It was a good weekend too because it was pretty sunny.

Work is going a little slow for Dan. He got laid-off, but only for a week. He is working again now, but there isn't a whole lot to do. While he was laid-off I realized that it would be good if I could work while he was home, so I decided to sign up to substitute teach. It took a week to sign up but I decided to go ahead and get ready in case there are future lay-off's. I also think it will be good to keep up on my teaching. Dan doesn't work on Fridays so we decided that I can start do some subbing on Fridays and he can watch Katelyn. I had my first assignment this week, I taught a half day of choir at the high school. It was fun and I was glad that I started with just a half day. There seems to be plenty of Friday work, so I should keep pretty busy.

Also, my brother Nate is engaged! Congrats to him, but he may be getting married the same day as my sister-in-law Carly. Hmmm. What are the chances??

Back on the Train

Well I am back from my blogging vacation. I will try to sum up what you may have missed. Thanksgiving was good. It was nice to spend it with our families.

Christmas was great. Almost all of our siblings were here and we had snow. Bolen got us to try snowboarding behing Uncle Doug's 4-wheeler and after one round and a very ugly knee bruise I decided to stick to driving the 4-wheeler.

At the end of February Dan and I moved into our new house. It is in Vancouver near both of our parents' houses. It is so nice to finally feel like we are home to stay. I have been loving unpacking and moving into this house. It has 3 bedrooms + a bonus room. It has a large backyard, and everything we need.

In March we went to Niagara Falls for my birthday. It was a very romantic weekend and also very cold. After visiting Canada, I flew down to Orlando to meet up with my sisters at Disneyworld. (Dan had to go back to work so he couldn't come). It was really fun and a heck of a lot warmer than Niagara. Katelyn got to meet fairies and princesses and ride the Dumbo ride but her favorite part was hanging out with her cousins; Sofia and CJ. Bev (my mother-in-law) also met up with us for a day.

So here we are in April. The weather is fantastic and we are enjoying life. Next week we will celebrate our 2nd Anniversary and at the end of the month Katelyn will be 1 yearold. She is growing so fast. She loves playing on the stairs, going up and down. She also loves opening all the drawers and cupboards and pulling things out. She keeps me busy and she is such ablessing to our lives. We love her so much.

Halloween was a lot of fun. We had Alice In Wonderland themed costumes. Dan was the Mad Hatter, I was Alice and Katelyn was the Cheshire Cat. My mom made my costume and Grandma Bev made Katelyn's costume. It turned out so good. We went to two ward Halloween parties and had a little get together at our house too, so we got good use from our costumes. And Katelyn's six month birthday was the day before Halloween so we did a few pictures in her costume too. She looked so adorable as the Cheshire Cat.

As for buying a house, things are going really slowly. The house is set to foreclose in 30 days so hopefully we'll buy it before then, but we probably won't be in a new house for a while. Luckily for us we can stay at Grandma's for a while.

A Home At Last... Hopefully.

Vancouver is so nice. It is great to be able to walk to my parent's house or it's just a short drive to see Dan's parents . Also it has been great weather. It has been sunny all but 3 days since we moved here. Although I am sure now that it started raining it won't stop for a while. We have been house hunting and I think we finally found a home. Our offer was accepted and so if all goes well in closing we will probably be able to move in next month. It is a home not far from where we are now and it has 4 bedrooms and a nice yard. I will post pictures after we can move in.

Dan only worked 40 hours this week. It was so nice to have him off work all weekend. He has been working 6-10 hour days and so 4-10 hour days seemed like a short week. He spent Friday working on our new family car. (It is a 1994 Explorer, so old but new to us). It has some problems, but overall a good car, I think.

Katelyn is doing so good. I posted a picture of her bath in the sink. I just thought it was a great picture. Enjoy!

Water Baby

Katelyn went swimming at Grandma K's house with her Grandma Bev, Aunt Carley and Aunt Tori. She had a lot of fun but she was a little unsure at first. She was outfitted in her new sunglasses, swimsuit and waterdiapers, all were a little big but they fit allright. She especially loved her sunglasses. She didn't stay in the pool to long because she kept getting cold, but I have taken her swimming a couple times since and she is beginning to love it. Yesterday she started screaming when I took her out.

You may notice a lot of pictures of Katelyn with her tongue out. This is because whenever there is wind or if she is by a fan she loves to taste the air. It seems to be an instinct for her to stick her tongue out whenvever she feels a breeze.

Katelyn also went on her first hike this week. On Saturday we hiked up to the top of Horsetail Falls with Grandma Bev, my cousin Dallin and a friend of Carley's. Dan had to work so he couldn't come with us. Katelyn made it all the way to the upper falls (of course she was being carried in a little hiker backpack). Here is a picture of the Falls from the top. It was beautiful and a perfect day for a hike.

Back in Vancouver (Washington not Canada)

So we moved back to Vancouver. I know it has been a while since I last blogged, but we've been busy. We were looking to buy a house in San Diego and stay a while but we got a strong impression that we needed to be back home, so here we are. Dan is still building elevators but now he works for a company called Kone. There is a lot of work here so he is working 60 hours a week right now.

Katelyn is doing so good. She is getting strong. She can hold herself up now if I sit her up. She is starting to teeth but she isn't too fussy. She is also very interested in crinkley things because they make noise when she grabs them.

We are staying at my grandma Marj's house while we look for a house. There is a lot in this area in our price range so I think we will find a house that is perfect for us. (It is also easier to find a bigger house than in San Diego).

Life is good. It is so nice to be so close to our parents. It will be good for Katelyn to grow up near her grandparents and Aunt Tori. I will try to post more. No more slacking.

Bumbo Chair

This is a picture of Katelyn in her new Bumbo chair. She seems to like it because she likes to sit up and see what is going on. She also likes to be where everyone is so we can sit her in it and let her watch us while we get things done. Katelyn is so much fun.

She also likes to stand up. She can do it with a little support. She has very strong legs but she hasn't figured out what to do with her arms yet. When we put her on her tummy she kicks her legs and pushes up with her chest. Dan has taken to calling her a little T-Rex because she has strong legs and puny little arms. I think she wants to go straight to walking. Maybe Dan and I need to start crawling around to show her how j/k. She'll get it on her own when it is time.

She has been sucking on her fingers lately. I wonder if she will be a thumb sucker like I was. She also enjoys licking everything, especially soft toys or cloth. She has this long tongue that she sticks way out to taste anything that comes within reach. She is so fun to watch.

Grandma Bev and Aunt Carley came to visit for the weekend. It was so fun having them here. We all went to the beach and we swam at the swimming pool at the condo. We all got a little sunburned, but it was worth it.