We spent August in Utah, hanging out and having fun since Brent and I both are working only online! Brent was still in Oregon at the beginning of the month and I was at my mom's house with the kids. They each took a turn waking me up in the night- I was exhausted! Here I am with my stinker sleeper. She stopped wearing her sleep suit this month.
Audrey loves to climb on her siblings. She adores them!
Audrey loves spaghetti! But only if it has red sauce on it. No cheating, trying to give her plain noodles to make less of a mess- she won't put up with that.
The kids loved playing colored eggs with my mom in the backyard. I took this picture of Audrey to remember her crawling because she was starting to transition to walking. She started walking on Sunday (August 2) when Brent was still in Oregon- I took videos to show him! She crawled a lot still, but started taking like 8 steps at a time.
Here's a video of some of her first steps. I was so excited for her!
We were soooo excited to get Brent from the airport! I think he was most excited to see Audrey if I'm being honest. We moved over to the Cowley's to stay when Brent came into town.
We all have enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa's huge garden!
We discovered that Audrey really likes cucumbers- and she just eats the whole thing like this!
Audrey's first birthday was on a Saturday. We invited our sisters to come have brunch and celebrate. Natalie lent me her birthday decorations.
We sure love our Audrey girl! She is turning out to be a silly girl and loves to make us laugh. She is so busy and we have to watch her 100% of the time. She gives us the sweetest slobbery kisses and likes to "talk" on her "phone" which is her hand held up to her ear.
Audrey enjoyed her plastic knife as much as the waffle.
Here's our little crowd that came for her birthday. We were outside a lot of the party- Covid staying ever present in our life!
We sang to her and she blew out a candle that was in her waffle. She was hesitant to eat the whipping cream but finally decided it was yummy.
Her presents!
On Monday we went to Silver Lake with the Cowleys (including Brent's cousins, aunts/uncles and his Grandma) for a little reunion. Coen somehow got his shoe stuck in this really deep hole! We almost had to leave the shoe but Brent was determined.
We had dinner up there and then walked around the lake with some of Brent's cousins.
Silver Lake was beautiful.
Lots of granddaughters! Coen is the only little boy in this picture.
Audrey helping Grandma with a scavenger hunt.
Natalie brought her girls over on Tuesdays and Thursdays the whole summer and the kids had so much fun playing together. One favorite thing is to do dances with umbrellas- pretty entertaining for the adults to watch!
Coen lasted the longest with his dancing- the girls had gotten bored and were off doing other things.
Cher and I met at a conservation garden in West Jordan one Friday morning- it was really pretty! The garden shows the different kinds of plants, trees, etc that grow well in the area.
Sister time is so fun!
Afterward we hung out at Grandma's house together and did a slip 'n slide.
Brent and I went to see Bright Star at the Hale Theater on their closing day. It was our first time to be at the new theater- super nice! The show was very good and the singing was amazing! It did feel pretty weird being with that many people in a small space but we wore our masks the whole time.
Audrey discovered that this little spot where the books are kept was a perfect place for her to sit. She would frequently go take a seat there.
Bathroom mirror selfie with my baby!
We enjoyed such nice weather and it was so nice to have a big backyard for the kids to play in! Staying in Utah for an extra long summer break really helped us.
Ava and Coen were playing Guess Who and Coen decided to say who each family member was in this game. He pointed himself out as the blond-haired boy, and then he said that dad was the guy directly below (the black guy with the afro and beard). Ava started to laugh and then said, "Coen, Dad doesn't have a beard!"
Coen had lots of fun playing with Emma this summer- he is so sweet with her!
I took Ava shopping to Kohls to buy some new tennis shoes. She wore her mask in public! (This is a huge step for Ava). This was the first time I took her shopping in quite a few months.
The Cowleys had a family dinner, Luau style, which was so fun and yummy.
We enjoyed our sunset walks after dinner on the street. Ahhhh.
I had to work so I told Ava I'd pay her $.25 every 15 minutes that she babysat Audrey. She was excited to do it, and earned $1.25!
Ava looking cute with her brand new shoes. Ava grew a lot this summer! She only wore her size 7 clothes for a few months and now I'm really needing to buy her size 8 clothes.
The kids had fun playing Harry Potter with McKenna and Boston. Ava drew a scar on Coen's forehead with marker and made him a tie out of paper. Ava is the kind of girl that makes things happen. Coen was thrilled to be Harry Potter.
We went to Emma's 2nd birthday party, which was Pocahontas theme, since Emma is obsessed with Pocahontas. It was in the backyard with water games like a waterslide, and Laura turned their willow tree into Grandmother Willow. (The tree was lost a couple weeks later in a bad wind storm!)
Cute Emma! She is such a funny girl.
Audrey slept in the pack n play in the laundry room, and she was a pretty good sleeper in there! She looked so cute and baby-ish when I went to get her up from a late nap. She was starting to transition to only one nap a day, so sometimes she couldn't make it and would take a nap later in the day around dinner time.
Audrey loves talking on the phone and the way she says "ah-oh" for hello makes me laugh. She is such a fun baby!
