Summer!

Well,

I love summertime. It's probably my favorite time of the year, although I do really, really enjoy the holidays. We have had a lot of fun this summer. I just love being outside, going on walks at night, swimming, playing outside with Katelyn, and all of that.

We have really wanted to go on some bike rides lately so finally Nick got us a good deal on a bike trailer for Katelyn! She loves it so much. She always wants to go for rides in it now. I love it too. I love riding my bike. If it weren't so hot during the day we could go more often.

Nick is going to school and doing great. We get a break in August. I can't wait to go see my new little niece! I'll be making a separate post about her later ;)

Other news... Katelyn will be 18 months old in 3 days! I can't believe it. I'll admit I would think about sending her to nursery at church and how I could finally listen to the lessons and have a break, but at the same time it made me sad because I've been with her in church for so long and I get scared when she is around other kids and if she is going to get run over or something.

Well.. my problem is solved. I don't have to worry about that anymore.. but I also don't get to sit quietly and listen to the Sunday school and Relief Society lessons because they released us from cub scouts and called us to be Katelyn's nursery leaders!
I'm actually really happy to be in there with her. She is so good in there. She plays very very well and never steals toys or gets upset if someone takes something from her. Not to say I don't want her to defend herself, but I'd rather her be that way then get into a fight with some kid. She's still just so innocent.

That's about the latest on our lives. Hope you all are having a great summer!

Father's Day

I'm a little behind, but I wanted to write about Father's Day because 1. I have a wonderful father who I love very much and really admire, as well as a wonderful father in law who has been a great influence in Nicks life. & 2. Because I have a husband who is a wonderful father to our little girl.

My dad has always been so kind, loving, and respectful to my mom and us kids. He is very honest in everything he does. He loves the Gospel and showed his children how important it is to honor the priesthood and always be a worthy priesthood holder. I'm so thankful for my dad and that Katelyn has such a great Grandfather.

Nick's dad is a very great person as well. From just getting to know him the past few years I see he too is very honest and makes sure his kids are the same way. He sacrifices a lot of his time and works hard for his family to make them happy and blessed.

Nicholas is such a great daddy to Katelyn. He makes her laugh more than anyone. He plays with her every day even when he comes home tired from school. He helps our home be a better place.

I'm so thankful for the Dad's in my life. I hope they all had a wonderful father's day!

My little baby

Katelyn has been very sick for the past few days. Probably the worst ever. I feel so bad for her. Being sick is no fun.
She is getting so big-- 17 months almost 18 months old. She is such a happy little girl and makes us laugh all the time. She likes to babble a lot now. I love looking at these pictures of her. Enjoy :)

 Feeding herself for the first time....I think she got a fourth of the container of yogurt in her mouth, pretty good if you ask me ;)

 After her baths she loves keeping the towel on her head and this day I kept asking if I could take it off and she would just say no. So she played with it on her head for awhile.

 She's always reaching for the camera. She LOVES the camera.

 She loves being outside. And she loves reading random things now like the newspaper and magazines. There she is with a USAA magazine.

 She likes wearing goggles and going swimming! She LOVES swimming. She's only been once this summer and keeps seeing our friends' pool and always points to it and wants to use it. We're in the process of buying a little pool for her :)

 what mom??

 yay for swimming!

 Katelyn and her friend Blake

All  cozy after a nice bath :)

Get better baby Kate!!

My Grandpa

The Wednesday before last I received a text from my sister letting me know our grandpa (my Dad's father) was in the emergency room. I immediately called my mom to find out what was going on. They didn't have very many details yet, but he had had a stroke and my mom said she would keep me informed. Over the next few days we prayed and thought of him often.

On Sunday, May 29th my grandpa passed away.

He was 90 years old and lived a life that we were all very proud of and honored to have known him and have had him in our lives. 

 I was very very sad for those few days. At first sadness was all I felt, but then after realizing where he was now and what happens after death I felt a peace and comfort knowing that he would be reunited with his wonderful wife who he had been away from for almost seven years. He would also return to be with his daughter and son who also passed away early in life. With out the Gospel I know death would be something much harder for me to handle.
I will miss my grandpa very much. He reminded me of my Dad in so many ways. So calm, so patient, quiet, loving. Every time I saw him and hugged him he had such a cute smile on his face and it made me happy. I wish I could have seen him more often as I got older. My parents did a good job though when we were little in making the effort to go out and visit my grandparents often so that we could become closer to them. I'm thankful for that. I'll miss my grandpa, he was a wonderful person.

  (With our Grandma and Grandpa way back in summer of 97)

We drove out to Colorado last week in case I would have to fly to Utah for a funeral. We stayed there for a couple of days and then on Wednesday night Katelyn and I were able to fly out to Utah. On Friday the 3rd of June we had the funeral. It was wonderful. I'm glad I got to be there for my Grandpa one last time. Katelyn was a sweetheart and handled the driving and meetings all very well. She even got to put two flowers on my Grandpa's grave, which made me so happy to see.

We had a fun little trip out to see Nick's parents and my parents. I wish we could visit our families more often. Our next break is in August and I am looking forward to it very much! My sister is having her baby any time in the next couple of weeks and I'm thrilled to be able to go out and see her and her husband and the NEW little baby girl! :)

Easter Weekend

I wrote this awhile ago... but I'm just getting around to putting it up. It can't wait any longer and I keep forgetting to get our dinner pictures off of Nick's phone.. so I stole a couple from my friend Amy's blog.. (hope you don't mind Amy!)

This was a really great Easter weekend for us. Having Katelyn around and spoiling her a bit with Easter eggs filled with candy made it fun. I decided on Saturday that it might be fun to do a little Easter egg hunt for her and invite some of her little friends over. We had pizza, did our egg hunt, and just had a good night talking.

She loved going after the eggs! She wouldn't really carry her basket. She would leave it on the ground then go get an egg then come back to her basket and toss it in.

 putting an egg in

 friend Blake. He was good, he gathered up quite a few eggs!

 Showing mama all of her eggs

 One of the twins, friend Hannah. She wanted to go after those eggs, but she's still a little tiny! She enjoyed some chocolate though :)

 Katelyn going after an egg daddy hid well behind the bush. 

She was also really slow because she knew the eggs had something good in them so she would pick it up.. shake it... then realize there was something in there and sit there and try to open it instead of just trying to collect them all. ha. She just wanted the candy.

On Sunday we had a good time at church. We had a little Easter lesson as a family. Then we went over to a friends house for dinner. My friend Amy is cute, fun, and SO talented! I was so impressed by what she did for all of us. At the time of writing this I was actually devouring the delicious cupcake she made. :)

 She had everything so nicely decorated. And behind the napkin are those cute little cupcake's she made that look like Easter bunny's! They were delicious too :)

Everything looked really nice. Afterward we had a chocolate cake contest. A few of the couples made a chocolate cake and we voted (don't think we ever really decided on a winner) on who's tasted the best. We really appreciate good friends, thanks for having us Amy!

HaPpY bIrThDaY!!!!

Nick's birthday was yesterday. I always love when it's his birthday. Actually, I love any day when there's reason to celebrate (valentines day, birthdays, fourth of july) because it gives you an excuse to do extra fun things like go on a date or make a cake.
That's basically what we did. We went out to dinner (when I say we went out to dinner I mean we did take out.) We usually don't like going and sitting in a restaurant so we order it and enjoy it back at home. :) Ok, Nick might say that's a lie.. because I do like going and sitting in the restaurant, but that's only if we are alone because it's easier with out Katelyn and we get time to talk, but she was celebrating with us so she came along and we just went back home.

I made a really easy and yummy cake (recipe from a friend) and it turned out good, as always. 

SO now Nicholas is officially one year older! I'm so happy to have him as my husband.

BYE BYE BINKY

The binky is officially gone now! I hope. Katelyn hasn't had it this whole week and most likely she won't be using it EVER again. I feel like my baby is so grown up now. Wow. It wasn't too bad and I recommend to any mom.. get rid of the bottle/binky before they can say the word and whine for it!