Summer Vacation: Washington

Washington was such a fun part of the trip. One because I love visiting new places and seeing new things, and two because our whole Morris side of the family was able to be together again, including the brand new edition, baby Ellie. It was fun to have a little Morris family reunion!

We started out with Ellie's baby blessing, the air show, and a nice dinner at the park. It was a nice relaxing day!

 Baby Ellie in her beautiful blessing dress, isn't she just adorable!?

 Hanging out at the air show

 So happy to be with my sister again!

Airplanes

The next day we visited downtown Seattle, Pikes Market, and went to the Pacific Science Center. It was a fun day!

 Downtown Seattle

 Pacific Science Center... very  neat!

 Another day we went to Snoqualmie Falls and then had a wonderful lunch and played at a park after. Then Nick, Katelyn, and I went to visit his Aunt Amy and her family. His brother Daniel, wife Julie, and little niece Leila. As well as Nick's Grandad!

 Snoqualmie Falls!

 Lot's of playing at the park :)

 And a lot of swinging!

 Daddy's home when he was little

 Cousin Leila, Grandad in the back

 Visiting Nick's family

Another day we drove up Mt. Rainier and took a hike part way up the Mountain. It was great!

 Driving up Mt. Rainier

 Getting ready to hike

 Peeking at baby Ellie

 SNOW! Yes, snow in August. This is what we hiked through on Mt. Rainier. Felt very good after coming from Oklahoma

 One of the last days we went to the park again and played some games as a family. My dad came up with some pretty fun Minute to win it games! If you have seen the show you'll know what I'm talking about.

 More swinging! Katelyn loves the swings more than anything at the park

 Playing some minute to win it games

Well, that's about all the pictures I have for Washington. I hope I didn't miss anything. It was a very fun trip and I'm glad my parents provided a fun and relaxing time for us. I can't wait to visit family again!

Summer Vacation: Colorado

We had a lot of fun in the packed 2 & 1/2 weeks we were gone from Oklahoma this summer. SO I'm splitting this post into three. Colorado, Washington, and Utah!

First, Nick and his dad had a fun little hike... actually according to what I heard afterward I might need to reword that.. they had a hard, grueling hike up Pikes Peak, though I'm sure it was still fun. Pikes peak is a mountain in Colorado that is just over 14.110 ft. They left at about 5:30 in the morning and got back around 3:30ish.

 At the top of the mountain

 Part of the trail

 This is what I would have been taking up the mountain...

 Yikes..

Another thing we did in Denver (a little something to interest Katelyn!) was go to the Denver Aquarium. We've never been to an aquarium before, but she loooves fishes (probably because she eats those goldfish snacks all the time and hears me shout "fishies!!" every time). She loved it and would say hi to all the fish.

 she survived!!

 At first she was scared to get up close, I don't think she realized the glass was there

 Dad.... is it safe?

 

 If you've been to the Denver aquarium you'll know that in about 5 seconds a HUGE gush of water comes out right behind Nick and Katelyn. We didn't know the first time and got a little wet ha. It's pretty neat.

 Fishies!

 That's a big fish...

 In the water bubble

So fun :)

Katelyn also got to ride a horse. We learned that she LOVES looking and asking and pointing out horsies, but when it comes to getting close to one she doesn't want anything to do with it, yet..  She is warming up to them slowly.  You gotta start sometime, right?

 "I'm not letting GO dad!"

 Please don't make me..

Why'd you make me mom?

see, nice horse..

SOOO SAD :(

We also went to a fun little place to eat with Nicks family called Flying W Ranch! Unfortunately at this very moment I don't have those pictures, but when I get them they'll be added. It was a lot of fun. You get to walk around a little cowboy town with shops and different things to look at. Then they serve a very yummy dinner and have singing and a show after. It was a lot of fun for all of us!

That's about all for Colorado.. onto Washington.

Exciting News

In case you haven't heard yet..
We're having another baby! Due Jan. 11th 2012

(6 weeks)

We're a bit behind, sorry to those of you who don't know (or don't have facebook and haven't heard- that seems to be the word of mouth for a lot of people now days).

We got the gender ultrasound and we found out we are having a BOY!! We are both very excited (I think Nick especially ;) ..) I'm excited for Katelyn to have a little brother and a little sibling to play with. She loves interacting with little kids.

The doctor assured us that the baby looks healthy and everything looks great. We are very grateful to have a healthy pregnancy after previous complications before this pregnancy. This little guy made me very very sick and I still have morning sickness after 19 weeks of pregnancy, but I am feeling a lot better.

Katelyn is doing well and happy every day with a smile on her face. I think she'll be very excited when the little baby comes. She takes care of her baby doll all the time and kisses her and wraps her in blankies and puts her in her crib to go "nigh nigh". Although I'm sure a real baby will be much different, she might smother him with all her love and kisses.

I'm so excited to have a boy and girl.
I've tried comparing.. but I guess we'll have to wait and see until he comes if Katelyn and the new baby look alike.

 Baby boy (19 weeks)

 Katelyn (24 weeks)

Baby boy profile

I thought you might enjoy this little video. Katelyn is very energetic and learns new tricks every day.

Hopscotch

It's really hot in Oklahoma, but both Katelyn and I love being outside. I hate having to put sunscreen on her every time we go out though and then coming in and later having to wash it off with a bath. So I usually try to find ways to keep her in the shade. One day we went out and the shady area was just right next to our garage so I drew a hopscotch to play with her and keep her in that area. I think she had fun, I did :)

 You can tell she's hot right? The heat and humidity just curl her hair in the back and make her get all red!

 Getting ready to start

 She didn't get what to do with the rock at first so she would give it to me and I'd show her

Picking up the rock.. learning the game took some practice ;)

 Trying to hop haha she's so funny

 Her turn to draw with the chalk

Last week was the first time we took Katelyn to the movie theaters. She did awesome. I took this picture right before we left, but it was for a different purpose. She has her little Winnie the Pooh and I wanted a picture with her and Winnie because we were going to go see the Winnie the Pooh movie. Originally that's the movie we wanted to see, but instead we decided it would be smarter to see a 2 dollar movie on her first time in case things backfired.

So next time we go it will probably be to see Winnie the Pooh. She has all the stuffed animals from DisneyWorld- tigger, winnie, and eeyore (still working on getting piglet from the disney store, that'll be a good 2nd bday present) She was so excited when I told her we were going to watch the Winnie movie, if you can't tell from the picture. Every time the commercials come on she says, "WIIINNIEE!! EEEE (for eeyore)" this time we saw Rio though, and she liked it (until about the last 25 mins ;) ). Can't wait to see the winnie movie with her now!

Ellie!

My sister (the one I always talk about) had her baby girl! She is so so cute and I can't wait to go meet her in August! We as a family are taking a big trip out to Colorado, then Utah, then flying to Washington. It should be a fun little vacation!
Ellie, full name Elizabeth LuAnn Walser, was born on June 25th 2011. She is the first niece or nephew I have from my side of the family so I was pretty excited. Here are some cute pictures of her:

 Ellie with Momma and Grandma

Ellie

I'm so happy for my sister and her little family. She is an awesome mom I can already tell. I can't wait for Katelyn to have another little best friend. :)

Happy Fourth of July!

We had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend. Did the usual, go to the parade, go out to breakfast (a family tradition of mine.. one i love :D ), we had a barbeque with some friends, and finished it off with some nice fireworks.
This first collage is just some pictures I took of Katelyn on Sunday. She was eating a pop tart and was just so happy and smiley.

 At the Parade:

 I love her hand haha, she waves with it kind of turned down.

 Enjoying the parade, surprisingly it wasn't that hot

 Katelyn having a good time

 Trying to steal someone's flag

 Out at ihop, Katelyn waited patiently for her food watching a movie on Nick's phone

 Watching the fireworks!

 She liked them :)

 All together

It turned out to be a wonderful Fourth of July, as always!