She’s such a great baby! Now that she is nine months, we need to list some of the wonderful things we LOVE about this chicklet!

~she laughs, “talks,” and “sings” all the time

~she loves her “ala” (Luke), always smiles at him and crawls around the house to find him

~she loves her “dada” and LIGHTS up whenever she sees his smiling face

~she loves her “mama” especially when hungry, tired, hurt, or bored

~she signs “milk,” but sometimes I think it means she just wants her pacifier

~she will hug and cuddle with you and pat your back

~she is a social eater, and will eat anything, anytime, anywhere

~she pulls up on whatever she can

~she likes the cell phone

~she goes to bed like clockwork (and wakes up in the night like clockwork!)

~she hates hats and headbands

~she dances to any music, anytime, anywhere!

We did get to go 4 wheelin’ (or ridin the quads) and to visit the baby chicks with the Leavitt’s and Low’s… check out these tough boys

and Luke loved watching the other boys play (maybe next time he’ll interact a bit more!) and he thought the tire swing was cool …which is amazing, because he hates swings, of course he isn’t really swinging now is he?!

and then there’s our trip to Calgary… to visit Barb, the zoo (complete with dinosaurs WOW!), and Olive Garden (where Luke peed on me- NICE!)…

(doesn’t Luke’s face match the dinosaur oh so well? poor thing was just worn out!)

aren’t these kids adorable? they were all great on the trip!

and last thing I have to mention is the golf outing. It was the last day in Canada and Luke had not gotten to go golfing with Daddy and Grandpa yet, even though he brought his clubs ALL the way ACROSS the country, so we had to go.  The day before had been perfect weather, but this day… cloudy, windy, even a bit of rain, BUT THAT WASN’T GOING TO STOP US! and it’s a good thing, because Luke loved it, LOVED it, absolutely loved it… proof? he still talks about it!

The boys only played 9 holes, and Luke only got to putt, but he didn’t mind. He did fall asleep (in about a minute) though at the last hole when we had him lay in between us on the cart and cover up with a jacket to hide from the rain that was starting to fall (I’ve never seen him fall asleep that fast and in such a weird position!)

and speaking of sleep, we found him like this one night when the adults were still up having fun and he didn’t want to be in bed but we made him stay downstairs anyway…

Of course that wasn’t the entirety of the trip, but I’m calling it good. I got other things to blog about…

Sunny yet cool for a walk around Red Rock

we are a happy family…

we had a snowball fight at Cameron Lake

and a picnic by Waterton Lake

On our trip we saw a WOLF (rare), sheep and deer…

skipped rocks, ran along the shore, got a little wet…

I have to add in this picture,

look at Natalie’s face…

…it kinda says “Don’t mess with me right now!”

but really she just wanted a rock so bad and there were SO many!

We then went to play at the new park. FABULOUS!

And we finished off the day with, yep you guessed it…ICE CREAM! Once Natalie had a taste, she kept BEGGING for more and would dive into the cone, hilarious!

started off flying to Utah, visiting family and friends (the Peo’s, Joy, Chase & Charlotte, Nikki & Grayson, pretty much everyone at Scera Park)

stopped by Pocatello to see GREAT grandma and grandpa,

had lunch in Idaho Falls with Aunt Christina and Scott (better pics on Facebook)

played LOTs with the Payne cousins

and did so much with Grandpa and Grandma!!

We are enjoying our time with family right now. Luke really likes his cousins, before we left to visit them yesterday, he said, “we go play cousins. they have lots of cars. play Rusty and Lucy (their dog is Rusty, the other cousins’ dog is Lucy). grandpa come. and grandma come. and you come. and me come. and Natalie come.” “And Daddy?” I asked. “And Daddy come. and me come.” He doesn’t want to leave anyone out.

Natalie has a tendency too climb all over me. If she is sitting on the floor playing and she sees me, she starts grunting and whining, and leapfrogs forward to get me, and cries if she can’t quite reach me.

Everything goes directly to her mouth. She loves to eat. She tries everything. Paper is especially delicious.

Luke loves to play cars. It’s cute to hear him while he is pushing the cars across the floor. “going to walgreens. see ya.” “we’re back. you comin’?” “let’s go to the playground. I shoot bas-kick-a-ball (I think that’s how it comes out).”

Luke likes to tease me and call me “mamie,” just so I will chase him and tell him not to call me that.

While Luke doesn’t like when Natalie has mommy’s attention, he sure does love his sister. He likes to take her on walks by pushing her in the stroller. He likes to make her laugh, or least smile, and he gets upset/confused when she doesn’t laugh at he is doing. He likes to feed her. He makes sure she doesn’t play with the wrong toys… “No Nat, you can’t have that. You’re too little. It’s a big toy, you’re too little.” (then he proceeds to play with it, after all he is big!) He often helps throw her diapers away, or get her pacifier for her. I think he likes being a big brother, as long as mommy still holds him too!

Luke hates swings. Verified at the park 2 days ago. Natalie loves them.

They both LOVE being buckled up in the car… NOT!

Natalie still has those long bangs in front (just enough to hold a bow) so I can’t seem to part with them…will she look back at her baby pictures and say, “Mom, why didn’t you just trim those?!”

Natalie naps twice a day. Luke maybe once, every few days.

Luke is all about sharing. When he gets into something he is not supposed to, he looks up with those big bright eyes and asks, “Want some?” If I have a treat/cookie/something yummy, he asks, “Whatcha eating Mommy? What do you got? I want some.”

Tantrums come quite often, but if I stick to it, eventually Luke realizes he has to obey Mommy. And he is much quicker at forgetting about the incident than me. I love that. He can be happy two seconds after crying those big crocodile tears.

I love his chubby feet. I love Natalie’s long slender ones.

I don’t love how she smacks me in the face quite often when I’m holding her, but I know she is just trying to see what’s going on all around her and she forgets my head might be in the way.

I love the smile on Natalie’s face when I come to get her from her nap.

I laugh when I call Natalie a nickname like Lil’ Li-li and Luke says, “No Mommy, not Li-li, NATALIE.” But he doesn’t seem to mind if I call him Nug, Nugget, and Buddy.

“Just a minute” …a horrible phrase to a two year old. “Not just a minute Mommy, now. NOW. please?!”

I can’t help but smile when he says thank you all on his own accord. Or “you’re the best.” I got that one today while sharing my sandwich with him at lunch. “you’re the best Mommy.”

“You’re the best too, Luke.” and Nat, you’re the best too. I wouldn’t leave you out for anything!

no humidity, warm sun, light breeze…

perfect day for the zoo!

This thought also occurred to several schools as well! Thankfully, there weren’t too many groups there today (I hear Friday is horrible!) and we were able to enjoy ourselves without being run over!

We visited the elephants, giraffes, and lorikeets.

And, of course, we played at the playground!

Aren’t they just so cute together?!

I can’t believe Natalie is getting so big!

you crash. hard core!

He took a 3 hour nap today and we couldn’t wake him even by shaking him! Natalie napped for 2, while Darin and I enjoyed an hour and half of snoozing as well! aaahhhhhhhh….

The weather was great,

the food was eaten,

…and the fun was had!

Here’s a smidgen of the festivities from this weekend!

(Obviously I didn’t take enough pictures myself, so I will put up a few more once I steal them from everyone else)

Darin did ski and went down the waterslide,

I enjoyed the tube and snuck into the hot tub w/Dawn & Marissa,

Luke rode the tube and played pool and in the pool,

Natalie was held by everyone, even Alex!

We all rode paddleboats, played games, ate and ate and ate, teased each other too much and soaked up some sun!