Camping in PA

The weather was gorgeous this weekend and we finally had the chance to take Stella on her first camping trip.  It was a little different from the camping we're used to... we had to reserve a camp spot over a month ago and the campgrounds had restrooms with heated water for showers, parks with slides and swings and even a swimming pool.  Luckily, all of these "amenities" were a little ways away from our campsite so we tried to imagine we were really camping.

Stella was great.  She was so good at just sitting in our laps and being held even though I know she wanted nothing more than to get on her hands and knees and crawl all over the place.  She slept pretty well too... with the exception of waking up at 3am scared and confused.  We woke up the next morning, made breakfast, packed up our camp and went on a beautiful 3 hour hike.  Morris was in heaven - and to be honest, so were the rest of us.

Pardon the blur, we forgot our camera and all we had was the iphone.

Our Campsite

Cooking up our dogs

Hiking

So comfortable, I guess I'll just sleep right here.

Take a hike

Well, we finally are getting back into the great outdoors. We're so happy that the weather has warmed up and we're now living in the burbs only minutes away from Valley Forge Historic Park.  There are hundreds of trails from flat river trails to advanced hikes.  This weekend we went on a nice little river trail with Morris.  He was so happy to be able to jump into the water and swim around. Because it was so flat we were able to take Stella in the jogging stroller, since our hiking backpack we ordered wasn't here yet.

Neat Freak?

Stella working her organizing skills at the park yesterday... This was all her, no help from anyone else.

Ugh, what is this mess of red and yellow balls?

Serious concentration.

All done!

Home to surprise Grandma Sheridan for her 60th Birthday!

Last weekend, Mike, Stella and I flew to SLC to surprise Sheridan for her 60th Birthday.  Mike's sister, Audrey also flew in from Minneapolis.  It was so great to see Audrey, she's pregnant with her first and we haven't seen her since the big news.  She looked great and we can't wait to see her continue along the incredible journey of having a baby. 

We all met up prior at the airport and drove to Sheridan's friends house where she was enjoying her dinner club for the evening.  We walked in and she had her back turned to us... all of her friends were coming up and saying hi and she hadn't even noticed we were there.  Finally, Mike decided to drop Stella in her lap to surprise her and wow, was she surprised.  She looked at Stella with a really confused face, a look of disbelief and then noticed Mike, then Audrey and then me.  She started screaming and tears immediately began pouring from her eyes.  And then of course, Audrey and I joined in the tears (we cry at everything together.)  It was so special and so fun to be able to truly surprise her.

We spent the weekend shopping doing whatever Sheridan wanted to do.  We shopped at consignment stores (she has some great spots!), we ate great food and for the bulk of the time, just hung out and talked.  It was so good to see you Sheridan, and we hope you had an amazing birthday!

Stella playing with the birthday girl.

Stella and Buddy.

Of course, while we were there we absolutely had to visit the rest of the families and were even lucky enough to have a few friends stop by Sheridan's house to say "Hi".

Stella and Grandpa Vic

 

Mike, Stella, Alex and Ellie (His new baby that we finally got to meet at 5 weeks old- she's sooo cute!)

 

Andrea, Ellie, Stella and Me (I felt like we were playing with our Cabbage Patch Kids - except they were real)

Grandma Baltz and Stella playing phone.

Cousin Elle reading to Stella

10 months already, really?

It's true, we just finished the 10 month update for Stella. Time really flies!
This month, we had Mike's mom come visit, Stella and Mike had their first weekend alone while Mackenzie traveled to Chicago, and we went on a quick trip to D.C. to hang out with our friend, Stacey Brewster.
Stella is now eating real food which is so strange to us. She's a very adventurous eater for a 10 month old and seems to like just about everything we put in front of her. For example, tonight she had Falafel, mandarin orange, beans, cheese and broccoli. She is also getting much more comfortable with standing and walking while holding on to furniture. Who knows... maybe by next month's update she'll be walking - yikes!  She also loves to copy everything we do... she and Mike scream back and forth at each other the whole time we're in the car.  It's hilarious. She's very familiar with the word "No" and shakes her head "no" whenever she hears us say it.  It doesn't mean that she actually stops what she's doing though. Haha.

Photo album personalized with Smilebox

DC with Stacey

Last weekend my friend Stacey and I did a girls trip to DC.  Stace and I have been friends forever and it was so nice to just hang out with one of my best friends.  We miss our friends and family so much living here and sometimes it takes time with one of them to realize how much we truly miss them.  Stace and I had a blast.  We did a bike tour of DC on Friday, went out to eat, shopped in Georgetown and had fun just being girls together.  Mike and Stella came to DC to join us on Sunday and we were so happy they did.  It was such a great trip, thanks Stace for coming out to visit with me again.  We miss you!!

Out on the town

 

Lincoln Memorial steps

Biking the sites.

Stace and I giving Albert Einstein an eskimo kiss.  Apparently if you rub his nose, you get smarter.  We figured if you rub your nose with his nose it's got to at least double your smarts.

Iwo Jima Memorial

Monkey faces at the Natural History Museum

Washington Memorial (Not sure why I look like I have dreads...?)

The fam at the WWII Memorial

 

Proud Utahns.