Antelope Island

Last Sunday afternoon we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go out to Antelope Island which is an island out in the Great Salt Lake. There's a causeway to drive out there and it's a beautiful drive. I took lots of pictures so here they are to share!

We try not to have Brad nap on Sunday's since his usual nap time is during church and if he naps after church he won't go to bed. You can see here how well that worked out.

Aren't they cute?

When we got out at the first rest area on the island we walked a little ways off and suddenly a flock of seagulls swooped in to get some potato chips someone else had dropped off. They totally cut off our way back and for those of you who understand how much I love birds you'll understand how happy I was to have to walk through this to get back to the car. Ugh.

My buff guys. Next time you see Brad ask him about getting your tickets to the Gun Show.

I took this picture because I was struck by just how close to the mountains Salt Lake is. It really doesn't get any closer than that.

There are several bison on the island and even though the ranch was closed (a fact we didn't discover until we had made the 7 mile drive down the island to find it) we did see some bison roaming around.

Brad is prepared in case they decide to stampede.

She's just happy to be along for the ride.

Brad's favorite part was when we walked down a piece of land jutting out into the lake to throw rocks.

I can't remember whether throwing the big rock was Joe's idea or Brad's.

Either way it made a really big splash.

Lucy loves to wave at everyone now.

And here's my favorite shot of the mountains. I love how they look reflected in the lake. I don't think I could ever live somewhere without mountains.

It was a great little afternoon trip and we all had a good time. I highly recommend a visit.

Lucy - 9 Months Old

On Feb 21st Lucy turned 9 months old. She's growing so fast. It seems like in just in the last couple of weeks she's really gained a lot of new skills. She claps, waves hello and goodbye and signs "more" and "all done". She finally figured out how to crawl on all fours last week and at nearly the same time started pulling herself up on the furniture. She does it and looks around for applause and then realizes the only way to get down is to fall and she freaks out. I wish I could say she was sleeping better at night, but she's not. The one nice thing is that she's taking a bottle at night so Joe is really helping out and I'm getting more rest than before.

Lucy has the cutest smile and the best belly laugh. She still thinks everything Brad does is hilarious and just adores him. He is a wonderful big brother and is always helping me make sure she doesn't go anywhere dangerous or stick things in her mouth that she shouldn't.

Also, when I found out I was going to have a girl people started telling me how much more "drama" there was with girls than boys. I kind-of blew it off thinking that Brad was pretty dramatic and I was sure it wouldn't be that bad. Well, with Lucy only 9 months old I already TOTALLY know what they were talking about now. Every time something bothers her she screams. If she gets hurt, she screams. If I tell her no, she screams. If she's bored, she screams. Don't get me wrong, she's a lot of fun too...but boy is there a lot of screaming.

At her doctor's appointment on Monday she weighed 18 lbs 7 oz and was 27 1/4 inches long. She's just moving up from 6 month to 9 month clothes, so right on schedule. She's also getting a new tooth on the top (her 3rd) but it's not one of the middle ones. Not sure what to think about that...but I'm sure it will be fine.

Here's a picture of her showing off her new trick:

We Love Cousins

My children are incredibly lucky to have lots of cousins. These very special friends are an important part of their lives in many different ways.


Joe and I both have lots of cousins too. We were very close with many of them growing up and are happy to be able to stay in touch with them via facebook, blogs and family gatherings. At the end of February we got the chance to visit some of Joe's extended family in Denver while I had to work at a convention for several days. Joe (along with his parents) brought the kids on a plane and they stayed with me in the hotel at night and spent their days hanging out with the cousins. Joe's cousin Tracy has a son named Taven who is very close to Brad's age and they really hit it off. They spent the whole time being super heroes and searching the world for clues. We've been home for a week and a half and Brad is still talking about Taven. Thanks to Tracy and her family along with Joe's aunt and uncle, Margaret and Marvin for keeping them busy and showing them around Denver.



Actually Taven is the first new person in a long time that Brad has been willing to acknowledge as a cousin. For a long time my sister's oldest two kids, Chelise & Corbin, have been the only people he would call his cousins. He's older than all the other kids on Joe's side of the family and as those new babies have been born we've told him they were his cousins and he just says, "No, Chelise & Corbin are my cousins," I think now with Taven he's realized that having more than 2 cousins can be fun.



Lucy is really lucky to have 5 cousins that are within 15 months of her age. She'll never have a shortage of playmates. Today Tenille and her kids were visiting when Lucy had a massively poopy diaper and had to be put in the bath tub. We decided to plop Carly, who is 8 weeks younger than Lucy, in with her. Here are the cute pictures we took:

Carly has amazing blue eyes.

You can see Lucy's cute little teeth in this one.

We were commenting on how opposite they are - Carly is fair skinned, blue eyed with light hair and cute chubby rolls. Lucy has olive skin, dark hair and eyes and is just a tiny thing.

I snapped a couple more of Carly after the bath

Isn't this just perfect? Kisses anyone?

We feel very lucky that our kids have all these built-in friends and playmates and hope they continue to enjoy them and stay close to them as they grow up.