A first birthday!

This past conference weekend our baby Mae turned one! I remember listening to conference last year in our hospital room cuddling with our tiny girl. Well, she is still pretty tiny (8th percentile for weight and height), but she is definitely not snuggly anymore. We had such a great weekend celebrating! 

We played with Mae in the morning while listening to conference, then had some friends over in between sessions for pizza and birthday cake. There were 5 babies there within 3 weeks of each other! It was very fun. We are lucky to have met some awesome people here. She seemed to like her cake, but she was a little more bashful about it than she normally is with food. She got soiled with presents and liked all the attention.

While Dallin was at priesthood in the evening we went swimming at Tiffany's pool with her and Tara + their kids. Mae loves swimming so she seemed pretty happy. I think she had a pretty stellar day. We just really love her.

Mae @ 12 months!!

To be honest, Calvin's first year did not go by as quickly as every said that it would. Mae though... I am pretty sure she was born yesterday. I cannot believe that she had a birthday yesterday!

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

aaaaand now she is 12 months! I actually think that she got more personality this month than all of the other months combined. She is not low-maintenance or chill by any means, but she is sweet and really funny. 

At 12 months, Mae...

-Finally sleeps 12 hours straight. Felt like a long time coming. We are in a transition period for naps so they are all over the place.

-We were still going strong on breastfeeding until a week ago she wouldn't take a bottle or sippy cup of any kind so I cut her off because it was getting to be a bit much. We were both sad but I think it will be good.

-She is super social. She likes attention, crowds, and especially people she recognizes. She loves calvin (not quite as much as he loves her but that would be pretty hard to do) and gets so happy when Dallin comes home. It is fun.

-She is for sure not the eater that Calvin is. She is good at eating solids but is super picky. Not really sure what to do about it.

-She waves, claps, gives high-fives, and plays peek-a-boo on command. Also, when you ask her what a bear says she will growl (only when she feels like it, of course). It's super adorable.

-She's still pretty dang tiny, wearing mostly 3-6 month pants.

-She loves to be outside, animals, getting dirty, and swimming. She HATES getting her diaper changed. It always takes at least 10 times longer than necessary because she fights it pretty hard. 

-We mostly call her "mae mae" except for Dal who calls her "little loves"

-She is cruising along furniture like a champ and crawls super fast, but has to interest in walking or standing by herself. I think it will be a while.

We really love having Mae in our family. I was pretty emotional listening to conference talks on her birthday thinking of how blessed we are to have her. All 3 of us are pretty smitten by her sweet personality (even if she is a little crazy). Can't wait for many more years with our Mae.

Brenna + Amy come to WA!!!

I had been so, so excited for Amy and Brenna to come to visit, but the whole trip exceeded my expectations. It was sososo good to see them. Our babies loved each other. I had to get after Calvin a few times for loving on Henry a little too much.

I picked them up from the airport on Saturday. We went to Herfy's for lunch on the way home because it is my favorite. After we got settled we took the picnic I had made to Priest Point Park and went for a little hike, then ate a picnic dinner in the rose garden place. It was the perfect evening. Seriously. Oh, and to top it off we went babyless to Target after putting them to bed. I was so elated to see Amy and Brenna and it was super fun showing them around my new home.

 The next morning we went to church. All 3 of our boys sat nicely while Mae was a crazy woman, like always. After church we went for a walk through the woods by my house then ate dinner at home. It was fun watching Amy and Brenna appreciate the fall since they are currently living in 100 degree fall weather. In the evening we went down by the waterfront to see the view and the crabs. We ended the night playing the 4 person game and eating homemade cinnamon rolls. Mmmm. 

Henry + Cal's matching jammies. Seriously they loved each other

Sunday best

Love these babies

I love this photo and everyone in it (also... everyone is looking at the camera!!)

Down by the waterfront near downtown Olympia

On Monday we went into Seattle. I knew we had to go there while we were visiting, but I honestly thought it was going to be pretty hard since we had so many little babies. It ended up being the most fun I have ever had going to Seattle and all of the kids were angels! They all slept the whole way there and did great the whole time- except for Calvin who was crazy hyper during dinner. But mostly they were so awesome. Anyway, we started out eating at Ivar's along the pier. After walking around a little, we headed to Pike's place. It wasn't as crowded as usual so it was easier to get through with all of our strollers. We explored there, bought fresh salmon and flowers, saw the gum wall, then went to Kerry Park that had the most awesome view of the skyline. It was so pretty! But while we were there Mae did not want to be held at all, but when I put her down she would crawl super fast away from me to try to find gross things on the ground to eat. We ate dinner at this awesome burger place and fell in love with Seattle. It is the coolest city. All of the kids slept the whole way home. Best day ever.

Pike's place flowers

On Tuesday we went to Snoqualmie Falls. I had never been there in the fall and was sooo pretty with the changing leaves. The babies weren't quite as laid-back as the previous day, but it was fun. Calvin was a trooper and hiked the whole thing by himself (the way back is pretty steep uphill). I was proud of him. We got cleaned up that evening and went to Tugboat Annie's for dinner. I love that place. After we put the babies to bed we went to Walmart and then stayed up until 2:30 in the morning! I was dreading them leaving the next day! 

They had to go home on Wednesday :( We spent the morning at home so the boys could nap before their flight. We made cookies and watched Pitch Perfect 2. I had so much fun and was so happy to see my friends. I keep thinking I am homesick for Vegas, but I am pretty sure it is just our Vegas people I am homesick for. Cannot wait until we are together again.

(p.s the ride home from dropping them off at the airport was the worst! I had to have Calvin be with a babysitter so we could fit all the luggage in the car. All of the freeway entrances going south were blocked off by police cars so after two hours of driving around aimlessly and being no closer to my house I called the police dispatch people bawling because I couldn't figure out how to get home and pick up my boy. There is not a way to get to my house from the airport without taking the freeway and I went to 6 different entrances that were all blocked off. Dal ended up picking him up after work and I got home FOUR HOURS after leaving the airport. Turns out the Chinese President was in town and they were trying to control traffic for him by blocking the freeway entrances...)