October

In October, we got a piano... for FREE! It's a little bit older, but it fills our needs.

We found the leather lazy boy at a garage sale. We rearranged our living room to make room for it.

Rob took Max to the emergency room one night after Max tripped on his way up the stairs. His top tooth went all the way through his bottom lip. Max had a great time waiting to see the doctor. They didn't get home until 1 am!

Kate started mimicking Max (he licked his lower lip after having it glued back together).

Max has been really creative. I was doing my workout upstairs, and when I finished I went into his room and asked him what he was doing. He said he was, "Building bridges." He is so smart.

Rob invited a couple of his work friends to hike Pinnacle Mountain with us. Tyler brought his girlfriend, Rachel (they are holding Max), and John brought his wife, Mollie. When we got to the park, there was a Mountain Man festival on, blocking the entrance to the west trail head. We had heard stories of the east side, but somehow we got off the trail on the way up and had a great hike. However, we found the correct trail on the way down, and it was a tough one. We actually had Lolo with us as well. I carried a screaming Kate down most of the way, but eventually Tyler took her as he was faster than me. John carried Lolo down for us, and Rob carried Max. Maybe it wasn't the smartest idea for us to take everyone, but we didn't know we would be going on the east side! We all survived, and I ran back home afterwards.

Ron, our neighbor, and Max doing "King of the World!" at the top of Pinnacle Mountain.

Max thinks it's fun to get in Lolo's kennel. I think it's' pretty gross.

Kate has learned to pull her self up to stand. She is a really quick crawler, but now is trying to do the walking thing.

Halloween Trunk-or-Treat at the church. Max, a "Rio-Bird" and Kate, a Chick-Fil-A cow, were thrilled to go through their pumpkins full of candy.

We went to a pumpkin patch with one of our neighbors. Max couldn't believe the BIG spider hanging from the ceiling.

Kate posing by the pumpkins.

We went on a hayride.

Max and Kate in the tractor bucket.

Max insisted on pulling Kate in the wagon.

There was a beautiful sunflower field behind the pumpkins.

They also had goats, among other animals, to look at.

I ran my first ever 1/2 marathon! One of my goals for this year was to run one, and lo and behold it is done! Rob didn't take any pictures of me actually running, but here I am with Max enjoying some of the post race food. It was a really cold start (in the low 40s), but by the end of the race I was able to run in just a tank, short, and gloves. I feel like I ran a smart race, but I would have liked a faster time. I finished in 1:51, an 8:31/mile pace. I placed 11th in my age group (there were 107 in it), and 250th overall (out of 1506). I think if I hadn't had surgery a month prior to the race, I could have completed my training and ran an 8:15 mile. My goal is to get to eventually run a 7:30/mile pace.

The kids on Halloween, just before starting their trick-or-treating. Max typically remembered what to say when he went door to door, but a few times he said, "Happy Birthday!"

Max and Kate emptied their pumpkins of candy in our room (several times). Kate was hilarious and kept on diving back into it when we would try and move her.

Lolo

We added a new member to the family yesterday: LOLO!

She is a Vizsla. She is 3 months old.

Max LOVES Lolo.

Kate likes her.

Lolo and the family.

Something to Remember

If Max ever sees Rob and I hugging, he immediately says, "Excuse me! Excuse me!" and comes over and tries to get in between us. We then do a Max sandwich, and hug with Max in the middle.

Kate: 9 Months

I can't believe my baby girl is already 9 months! At her 9 month check-up, she weighed 24 pounds, 6 ounces (98%ile), was 30 inches long (98%ile), and her head was 18 inches around (89%ile).

Kate is a great eater! On the drive home from Utah, she decided she was done nursing, so she now takes a sipper of formula. She doesn't like to be fed, but would rather feed herself. She only eats table foods (with the exception of yogurt melts). She typically has Cheerios or Crispix for breakfast (with formula milk). Bread with avacodo, turkey and string cheese for lunch. She LOVES fruit and vegetables. Bananas, strawberries, raspberries, peaches, blueberries, apples, peas and corn in particular. She has crackers for snacks. She has exceptional fine motor skills, and 90% of what she puts to her mouth gets into her mouth. We believe Kate is allergic to eggs. We hope she will grow out of it.

Kate likes to talk, and says mamamamama, dadadadada, lalalalalala, and uh-oh. She says uh-oh when she drops something, so it has meaning. She will also yell for Max, "Maaaaaaa!" when she is looking for him.

Kate started crawling last Friday, September 23. She just decided she was ready, and she was off! She finished all physical therapy for her arm. There really is no difference whatsoever between her left and her right. She is right-handed, but will use her left to assist.

Kate likes to read books. She loves watching Signing Time. She has started sleeping through the night on a consistent basis. Kate's right tear duct finally opened, so we did not have to have surgery on it yesterday. Kate loves the swings, and laughs when she is on them. She does not like the elevator, and gets really nervous when we go up and down it. Kate's hair will curl if I put gel in it. It is long enough to put it in a twistie up on top.

Kate loves playing with Max. She tries to keep up with him. Max is typically pretty good about sharing with Kate, but Max would rather Mom plays with him than Kate. Max gets very excited when Kate wakes up in the morning and after her nap. He is always quick to go in and tell her, "Good morning Princess (or Baby Girl). How are you?" It is darling.

We love you Kate!

Utah Part 3

Although I have been home from Utah for a month, I did not put the pictures onto my computer until today. There are a few more that are just too fantastic for me to pass by. Take this one, for example, that my sister Mary took of Kate. I love it! Kate has beautiful blue eyes. Her shirt is off so we can remember what a tubby tot she is.

As you can see, we posed her to be "Fairy Kate." This pose shows how flexible she is, even with her thighs! I know it won't last long. Max was a chunk too, but he has thinned out.

We took a number of pictures inside, but Kate started tearing everything apart so we moved outside. I do like this backdrop too.

I thought Kate might have sensory issues in the sand because of her arm, but it turns out she DID NOT! She loved everything about the sand, including the taste!

We visited my Grandmother Savage while we there. I don't think my kids will remember the visit, but we had a great time playing with her.

4 generations of women.

My mom's garden has been growing and producing like crazy. I try not to get jealous. We had high hopes for our garden here, but unfortunately it has not done well. There are too many critters eating our harvest, even with a net enclosing it. Max thought it was awesome to pull carrots out of the ground. He likes to bite carrots, but then he spits them out after he chews on them. Silly boy!

I celebrated my birthday out there. A tradition I grew up with (and still carry on) is decorating the mantle/fireplace area. It was a fantastic day, although I really missed my husband. Rob and his parents got me a treadmill! It has been so nice to have here. I can run in the leisure of my own home. Although I do prefer running outdoors, it was really hard to do with Rob's long work hours.

One evening we went with my family to American Fork Canyon to do a cook-out. We ate right next to the river. The mountains are so beautiful.

Blowing bubbles for Max to stomp on. He loves to use his feet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he will be a soccer player!

We visited with Grandma and Grandpa Milar. The kids had a fun time getting to know their Great-Grandparents. It was a nice visit.

We met with all the "cousins" at Thanksgiving Point a couple of different times. Here are most of the cousins together. Kate was taking a nap, so I know she isn't in the picture. Max had such a fun time playing with all his cousins. He still inquires about them on a frequent basis.

Last year when Max rode the horse at The Barn, he had a perma-smile. This year he was a bit more timid.

Posing by a bear in the cave at Thanksgiving Point gardens.

Floating a "boat" down the river at the gardens.

Grandma and Kate watching the boats float down the river.

Max is getting to be a great jumper on the trampoline. Although he is blurry, it shows how high he is jumping! Go Max go!

We had a great time in Utah with our families. Thanks for letting us come out and play!

Stomp Rockets and Swimming

Grandpa took Max, Jack, and Davis over to the park yesterday to play with these stomp rockets. Max loves them. He couldn't resist pulling them out and playing with them again today.

Tonight for Family Home Evening, we had a BBQ and went swimming. Max loved having his uncles Mark and Andy throw him around in the pool.

Max really warmed up to Mark. When we got out of the pool to eat ice cream and brownies, Max wanted to sit with Mark, not me! It was so cute.

Kate even smiled at Mark. She has been really struggling these past few days. I hope she is just teething.

Max and Mark.

Kate, Mark, Megan, Courtney, Nicole and Max. The Powells were at the pool too, but they had already gotten out when I snapped the picture.

Tomorrow we head back to SLC. We will miss our St. George family.