Being creative

Here are some things Natalie's been up to lately. She is getting so smart and cute and funny! She thinks of funny things to do all the time, and I have to be quick with the camera to catch them.

Going "night-night" with Brooklyn on a pillow they found. This one was Brooklyn's idea.
She loves to sit in this file container/holder thingy and "read." Doesn't look comfy to me, but hey, whatever floats your boat.
Natalie climbed up here all by herself and started playing. Usually she just plays standing but this time I guess she wanted to do it the real way! It was so adorable.
Natalie and Brooklyn take turns pushing each other in the stroller. They both love to ride and push, so it keeps them occupied for a looooong time.
Her big thing lately is to "color." She'll lay down and scribble forever. It's funny because she'll get up, move the notebook to a different place, then plop down and color some more. I love how she lays on her belly.

That's all for now, folks. Latah!

I recommend this

I just finished this book. It was AWESOME! This author never fails to impress me, and even though I'm not really a science fiction kinda gal, this book grabbed me and kept me until the end. I couldn't put it down (poor Natalie) and I've been thinking about it ever since I finished. If you are looking for a good summer read, try this one!

Bun in the Oven!!

We are expecting another baby on November 28th! Here is the little bean at 10 weeks. It was kicking and wiggling all around--weird when you can't feel it! We are super excited and are looking forward to Natalie being a big sister. She has no idea yet, but hopefully will catch on as she gets older. I am feeling pretty good, just a little tired and some nausea here and there. I haven't even come close to throwing up, which is how it was with Natalie during the first trimester (never got sick, that is). I am drinking a TON of water which is helping me not to have headaches. I'm already showing which is weird because with the first one I didn't show until at least 15/16 weeks. I'll post a few belly shots here and there.

There are more new posts below this one, so read on!

My mom, the triathlete!

My mom is such a cool goal-setter and accomplisher. She started gung-ho exercising back in October, and heard about a triathlon that was taking place in April in January. She started training diligently and finished that triathlon last month. Then she did ANOTHER one this past Saturday in Tempe (about 30min away) because she wanted to do better than her first.

For those of you who don't know, a triathlon consists of three events: swimming, biking, and running, in that order. I didn't get any pics of the swim because we were still looking for parking at that point. Anyway, this particular triathlon had a 400m swim, a 12 mile bike ride, then a 3.1 mile run. My mom's goal was to finish under 2 hours, and she did it with 3.5 minutes to spare! Yay for Mom!!!!

Getting ready to mount her bike after her dip in the scary Tempe town lake.
We're waiting for her to finish the ride. It was a little warm. Katie and I made up the cheerleading section for the women finishing the bike portion. Everyone else was just sitting there...weird!
Here she comes, ready to tackle the last leg of the race!

My dad chillin with his two little granddaughters who adore him right back.

The big finish! We all cheered her through the last little bit and she was SO relieved that it was over. I'm so proud of her for doing this! And I have to say...it does inspire me to do one someday. Once I am in a break from nursing/being pregnant and have some extra money, I will definitely do this!

This is a random lady we saw who stood on her head like this for a good 5 minutes at least. She didn't move a muscle. Yoga maybe? Regardless, it was quite amazing.

Fun at the mall

Melanie (my sis) and I decided that we would take our girls to the mall to play. We didn't even do any shopping, can you believe it? They had a blast and were sad to leave this fun place.

They had this little kid carousel of sorts also. It was totally cute and the grandma of the other little girl riding even paid for it! Yay for a free ride at the mall. Poor Brooklyn had a little meltdown after this ride was over and Natalie gave her some sympathy wails. We were sure a noisy bunch leaving the mall! :-)

My daughter, the sidewalk chalk artist

I know you're probably tired of pictures of Natalie, but I just can't help myself. She is so adorable! This was her first experience with sidewalk chalk. Oh, I just want to kiss those little cheeks!

Happy Birthday Mark!

This is me and my amazing husband Mark. It was his birthday on May first....yes, I'm a little behind. He is the perfect person for me and I love him so much!
He's lighting his own candles. He's a get-it-done kind of guy. Procrastination is not in his vocabulary. He even remembers stuff that I need to get done and reminds me in a kind manner that doesn't make me feel guilty for not getting it done...and then reminds me again later.
Blowing out his candles with Natalie. He is such a great daddy to Natalie. He always helps out and gives her a good amount of tickling, wrestling, and cuddling when he comes home from work. He doesn't have any qualms about cleaning up baby-barf in the middle of the night either!
Brooklyn and Natalie "helping" Mark open his gifts. He is a very generous person who always thinks of how other people might be feeling. He is aware of peoples' needs even when they aren't making them known.
Not to get mushy but I'm so grateful I get to spend eternity with Mark. He does so much for our family. He has good goals in life and has had an amazing upbringing and is prepared for life's challenges. Thank you, sweetie, for all you do! We love you!

To Utah and back...congratulations Mike!

We got back from our very fun trip to Utah this past week. It was so great to have a vacation! We drove through Las Vegas to St. George the first day, spent the night with our grandparents, then drove up to Spanish Fork/Provo the next day. Natalie did great in the car, especially because we took a portable DVD player and played her Baby Einstein movies. She would say, "mamoo! mamoo!" every time we got in the car meaning she wanted to watch the "animals" on the screen. While we were in Vegas we stopped to visit our friends the Kishpaughs who moved there last year (sniff). This is me, Natalie, Katie, and her daughter Ava. Ava is just a week older than Natalie and they are so cute together. It was so awesome to see them!

Here's Natalie riding in the car. She's so sweet. We bought her this doll at a Walmart along the way to give her a new toy to play with in the car. She loved it and carried everywhere.
We visited the Bean museum at BYU which has all sorts of taxidermed (is that a word?) animals--everything you can think of was there. Natalie was in animal heaven. She wandered around shouting "mamoo!" the whole time!
You can't quite tell in this picture, but it's snowing. It was so cold up there! Brrr. It even snowed so hard during the graduation ceremony that Mark (who was in the hall with Natalie) couldn't even see the trees outside. But thankfully it warmed up by the time we all went outside to take pictures. I was ready to pay one of those graduates for their warm gown...I remember being so hot in mine the day I graduated.
Here is the person of the day, my brother-in-law Mike Collette who graduated in International Relations. He also had two minors--French and business, I believe. What a guy!
This is my beautiful amazing talented kindhearted smart friend Emily Rosell and her sister Kristen. We all went out to dinner since her mom and my mom were best friends in high school and Emily and I were college roommates for three years. She is so awesome and I'm so happy I got to see her! She teaches second grade and is dating a great guy. We hope the best for her.
On Saturday after all the graduation festivities we went up to Salt Lake to visit Temple Square with Natalie and drop Aubri off at the airport. We met up with some of Mark's family's friends, Melanie and Murray (I won't even try to spell their last name) and walked around with them a bit. They are from Ogden and were so nice to come down to Salt Lake! We had fun visiting. Here is Natalie and me in front of the Christus. She kept saying "ss ss" (Jesus) all reverently.

Natalie smelling the flowers. They were so beautiful!

This is our family in the tabernacle. Here we were trying to snap an innocent picture and Natalie has to do THIS!!

Natalie found a little friend with whom to run around the fountain wildly. I think it's funny that their feet are doing the same thing. She loved the "la la" (water) more than anything, I think.

And of course, Natalie had a great time with her cousin Brooklyn. They are sharing Brooke's stroller.

Sitting in a tree at a rest stop. Some day we are going to FLY everywhere! Enough of driving with a small child.

So Melanie and Mike have moved here! We are so happy! Natalie's face pretty much describes how we feel about them being here. Welcome you guys!

Whew! I think that's it. Thanks for reading!

Natalie's new hairdos

Isn't she adorable? I discovered the art of doing her hair while she eats a snack in her chair. :-)