happy memorial day

When I was pregnant with Katelyn, I assumed that weekends would lose their luster.  There really are no days off for a mom.  And then there are all of those memes going around that say, "Woo hoo!  It's the weekend.  Oh wait, I'm a mom."  I just expected the days would all merge together into one giant Pangaea week.

I was so wrong.

Weekends are still amazing!  Even mom ones are great.  Dave is home and he lets me sleep in.  We do fun things like go to the library and walk around Target.  (Okay.  We are not too exciting.  No need to go crazy.)  I realize now that even though I'm still on duty, I count down to the weekend just like the rest of the population.

Three day weekends are even better.

Saturday we went swimming in the morning with my parents and Lauren and then lounged around until nap time.  After Kate's nap, we visited the library and walked around Whole Foods just for the fountain.  Off the hook crazy!!!!!

Sunday was nice because we just relaxed after church knowing that our weekend had one more day.

Today, Dave went out to see a movie with my dad and grandpa.  Katelyn and I took it easy around the house reading books and dancing.  My grandma's birthday is this Wednesday so we celebrated today with her favorite dinner at her house.

HAMBURGERS!!!

It was definitely a challenge to stay on my diet with this kind of feast but I am proud to say that there was absolutely no cheating.  She even made a special diet friendly dessert for me.

We ended our weekend with more swimming and now everyone is exhausted.  As I'm writing this post, Katelyn is sound asleep, Dave is dosing off next to me with a book, and my eyelids are stinging from exhaustion.  I'd say it was a pretty great weekend.

baptism

Today my cousin Dallas was baptized.  It was an extra special event because his brother Dustin had just returned from a mission to New York City.  We were all invited to the church for the baptism and a family dinner afterwards.

Katelyn was having kind of a rough day but she was a good sport about everything.  She had been recovering from an ear infection and cold.  But by the end of the week she seemed to be doing fine.  She woke up this morning with a tiny fever from teething.  Instead of napping, she sat out in the living room with Dave and I watching Baby Einstein and eating Twizzlers.  By the time we were ready to go the infant Tylenol had worked its magic and we made the one hour drive with Aunt Lauren in the backseat feeding her chicken nuggets from McDonald's.

For the past several months Kate has been pretty picky about when she will smile for the camera.  She is on to us and doesn't really care to flash a grin or even look in the direction of the photographer.  In fact, I think she looks away on purpose just to be stubborn.

(I wonder where she gets that from?)

I'm so glad we were invited to such a special event.  It was so great to see family members and enjoy some time together.

baby kate goes for a swim

Katelyn went swimming for the first time today!

Our apartments are brand new and when we moved in, half of the complex was still under construction, including the pool.  The pool area was completed a few months ago and it is beautiful.  I have been anxiously waiting for a warm enough day to take Kate to the pool.

Today was finally just warm enough.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  The pool was freezing but the spa area was really nice.  It wasn't as hot as a hot tub.  It was more like a nice warm bath.

At first, Katelyn was not sure about the pool.  It was a totally new experience for her and, like the hose, the first fifteen minutes were spent in serious focus trying to learn.  After a while, I think it got a bit overwhelming and she wanted to get out.  She sat poolside with my mom for a few minutes wrapped up in a beach towel.

Soon, she was crawling back over to the steps wanting to get back in.  This time she loved it!  She was laughing and splashing and even trying to dog paddle between Dave, my dad, and I while we held her.  She was completely fearless when it came to the water.  There were a few times when water got in her face and I thought she would cry but she didn't mind at all.

I have a feeling we will be spending a lot of time at the pool this summer. :)

come listen to a prophet's voice: a general conference pictorial

Saturday morning breakfast

ghetto connections

lunch break at fuzzy's

sharing a drink with Grammy

sharing a taco with Grammy

just a bit of conference crocheting

playdate at Matthew's house

legos

Rahzy was there too

bubbles!

girl's night with my friends Evelyn and Clarissa during Priesthood session

I had a great Conference weekend and can't wait for the next! :)

sparkle duty at the church

This weekend we were assigned to help clean up the church.  I saw the assignment list and we were teamed up with my parents and my dad was listed as the Captain.  I staged a mutiny and named myself the Cap'n.  You know, like Cap'n Crunch.

Seeing as how none of us wanted to wake up early on Saturday morning to clean, we decided to meet Friday night.  By the time we got to the church it was eight and poor Katelyn was so tired.  We created a laundry basket sled to keep her occupied while we vacuumed, windexed, and mopped the church.

She was such a good baby and didn't cry at all.

katie hollow park

This weekend my parents were babysitting my cousin Dallas.  Dallas is eight and thinks Dave is amazing.  I think most people think Dave is amazing.

Dave and Dallas spent the entire weekend sitting at the kitchen table on separate computers playing Minecraft.  Dave taught Dallas how to build a roller coaster.  Dallas returned the favor by reading the entire first book of Captain Underpants to Dave.  It was a great weekend.

By this afternoon, the two had logged about a thousand hours of Minecraft and their eyes had turned into squares so we shut down the technology and drove off to the park.

Kitty Hollow Park was one of my favorites as a kid.  It is huge and has a giant hill that we loved to climb.  In my memory, that hill was the size of a mountain.  I have since lived in Utah and know what a real mountain is but the park is still as beautiful and fun as I remember.

My mom and Dave spent their time taking pictures of our own little model.  It was a pretty funny sight to see two photographers pull fancy cameras out of serious looking camera bags and set up two different tripods to take pictures of a baby in a swing.

saturday in the park

One million points if you can name the band that sings that song (without googling).

We went for a two and a half mile family walk at Oyster Creek Park today.  We saw 47 turtles (we kept count).  D and I took turns pushing the stroller while Princess Kate sat upon her throne on wheels.

But at the end of the walk, Baby Kate was the most worn out.