Merry Christmas!!!

Tis' the season

I'm back from my blogging hiatus. I ran out of inspiration and I'm not sure if it's back, but here are a few recent pictures. Me, my mom, and Kate went to SLC for Christmas shopping and to see the lights on temple square. Christmas is so much fun again with  Kate. It really does bring magic back to the holidays.

Halloween in New England

We're back from Newport, RI and Boston. A lot my time was spent in business meetings, but in my free time we were able to get out and see the sights. It was so beautiful. The leaves were in their fall splendor and I loved all the quaint little towns. I also ate my first lobster!

We were in Newport for Halloween so we dressed Kate in her flower costume all day. She looked so dang cute! Newport is famous for its "summer cottages." In the background of one of the pictures is "The Breakers" the most famous of the mansions. It was owned by the Vanderbilt family.

It was a fun trip, but I'm glad to be home.

P.S. Hooray election day is over! Hope you all got out there and voted!

On the road again...

*Last trip to Boston (circa 2005) at Fenway Park.


I thought I would be sticking around St. George for a few weeks, but I'm off again on Tuesday. I'm going for a work conference in Newport, RI and then spending a couple of days in Boston afterward. This is the third year I have gone to this particular conference. Last year it was in Kauai and the year before it was in Puerto Rico. Since I'm now part-time I didn't plan on attending this year. Last minute changes happened and now I get to go! I'll post pictures when I get back.

On a side note two of my favorite shows on TV right now are The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. I've already decided on who I'm voting for so it's fun to just kick back and get a good laugh at all things political. SNL has been pretty funny too. Tina Fey does a wicked Sarah Palin impression and last Thursday it was great to have Will Ferrell back to reprise his roll as George W.

Beautiul Nauvoo!

To finish off my whirlwind weekend trip spree the girls (me, my mom, and Kate) took off to Nauvoo. It's a place I've heard about all my life so it was wonderful to finally be able to visit. We had two full days in Nauvoo. The first day we went from building to building and toured around the old city of Nauvoo. We learned about the way of life in the 1840's and saw where many prominent figures of the LDS church lived. The next day we went through a session in the Nauvoo temple. The Nauvoo temple has such a special feeling and I will always remember this trip. On the way back to St. Louis we stopped in Hannibal, Missouri the town where Mark Twain grew up. We also did a drive by of downtown St. Louis and saw the famous Gateway Arch. By the end of the trip Kate completed her 35th airplane ride!

The two Ds. Denver and Disneyland.

Three weeks ago Konan and I went to Denver to visit Kelli and Brandon. We had a great time chatting and playing rock band to the early hours. Thanks guys for the fun weekend! The top picture is of Kate and Ava in their backyard.

Two weeks ago my brother Steve needed to be in LA to fly down to South America. We thought why not go a day early and visit "The Land." When we got the entrance of Disneyland it was packed. We were nervous it was going to be too busy to even enjoy. Turns out the night before it was Miley Cyrus's birthday party and the park was shut down early. Dang, that Miley! However once we got inside it wasn't bad. The longest line we waited in was at the Haunted Mansion and it still was only about 25 minutes. It was during their Halloweentime celebration. There were so many fun Halloween decorations and they completely changed the Haunted Mansion. Kate was trooper and stayed in good spirits all day long! Her favorite attraction was The Tiki Room. She was memorized by the talking birds. All and all a very successful trip.

* My battery died so the good pictures are on my bros camera. Here a few I took before it completely died.

Doctor Checkup

Kate went in for her third round of immunizations on Monday.  It was supposed to be her 6 months check-up, but I had to reschedule twice and it ended being more like her 7 1/2 appointment. I dread watching her being poked with needles. She did so well. She didn't even cry after the first injection and maybe cried for 5 seconds after the other. She is much braver than I am. She weighed in at 17.2 lbs (44%), 27 inches long (59%) and head circumference (17.2) (63%). 

September!

Ava and Kate

Wow! I can't believe it's September. Fall is my favorite season! Konan started school again and is loving his classes. Kate is still as cute as ever! She's seven months now. She is so happy and is constantly on the move. She pulls up on anything she can get her hands on.  Kelli was in town last week. It was great to see her, I wish she lived closer! I want to go on vacation, even though I just got back.  I love hotels. No cleaning up after yourself and no responsibility. Hmmm... what does that say about myself. Well here a couple of cute pics of Kate. I'll write more when something excited happens.

Rome Pictures Continued

Gelato!!!
Rome's drinking fountains. 
St. Peter's Square
The Spanish Steps.
Inside St. Peter's Cathedral. St. Peter's tomb is under this alter piece designed by Bernini.

When in Rome..

Last weekend Konan and I had the chance to sneak over to Rome for a couple of days.  We left Kate at home and she did great! Thank you to both grandparents and Karisti for helping tend Kate. We left saturday from Cincinnati. We were lucky enough to sit in first class (a perk of being an airline employee) so we could sleep most of the ten hour flight. We stayed in Rome for three nights. Our hotel was a block away form Trevi fountain right in the center of all the action. A lot of our time was spent meandering the alleyways of Rome and eating gelato (mmm..) Of course we also saw all the major sites like the colosseum, roman forum, vatican museum, and St. Peters basilica. We loved Rome and had such a great trip!

Trevi Fountain
The Colosseum 
Roman Forum
Ruins at the Roman Forum
Konan and the Emperor Constantine (the guy who made Christianity mainstream)   

First Solid Food!

Kate's finally on solid foods now. She has been such a good eater so far. We'll have to see once we move on to the veggies. Just out of curiosity has any actually made their own baby food? I've thought about it, but I just don't know if I can commit myself. It seems like a lot of work. On another happy note Kate is sleeping through the night. I forgot what I full nights sleep felt like. What a gift!

Back again..for real!!!

Ok, I went out of town again.  This time is was up to Driggs, ID for family reunion on my side and then down to Aberdeen, ID to visit Konan's side. It was great fun to see everyone after so long. I think Kate is done with being on the road for awhile. She did not sleep well at all! She woke up every hour at night! Now that we're back at home she has settled into a much better sleep routine. Thank goodness!!! 

Also just wanted to wish two very special people a late Happy Birthday! First, Happy Birthday Kelli on the 20th! Hope it was great and you and Ava had fun celebrating together. Sorry, this was the only picture of you I could find on my computer. Also Happy Birthday to my husband Konan on the 19th! You are such a wonderful husband and father. We are so lucky to have you in our lives. We love you!!!

I'm Back!

Little Miss Personality
Me and Kate enjoying a break from the car
Konan and Kate with Old Faithful Inn in the background
You looking at me?
 It's been a crazy month. We moved out of my parents basement. Horay! I've been up to Jackson Hole twice to visit the folks and get away from the sweltering heat. Kate has learned a lot of new tricks. She can sit all by her self and can crawl (very slowly.) She's also cutting her first tooth! I know it's very cliche to say but, I can't believe how time flies and how fast she's growing up! Hope everyones' summer is going splendid!

Alaska

 Last November I went to an airline conference in Kauai (rough, in know).  On the last night of the conference they had a raffle for prizes. Well my name got drawn out of the bowl and I won a tour of the arctic circle and a Wii. We were totally stoked! Anyway I wanted to get to Alaska to use my prize before summer got rolling and it was too busy to make it stand-by from SLC to Anchorage. The first day in Alaska we drove down the Kenai peninsula to Seward. It was a gorgeous drive. I still can't get over how vast Alaska is.  The next morning it was time for our tour. Konan and I hopped on a short flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks.  Once there we walked down to the Arctic Circle Hangar. Not quite what I was expecting. It was a shabby old building with no formal office. Once inside about 10 people walked by not saying a word finally a burly looking man asked if we had been helped. I told him we were here from the Arctic Circle tour at 10:30. He looked at me as if i was crazy. He walked off for awhile and came back and said, "I guess we can give a ride up there, let me call our pilot." By then Konan who is already somewhat afraid of flying is looking pale. The man returns a few minutes later and says that their pilot is sick and can't take us! What a weird experience. I thought i'd won this cool prize. Oh well, we still had a great time and saw a lot of amazing scenery. Here are of couple of pictures from our adventure...

Portage Glacier
Feeling Chilly!
Konan and Kate in Seward
Cute Kate checking out the scenery 
See how bad it was!

Picture Update

Not much has been going on these past couple of weeks, but here are a few recent pictures.  

The face says it all!
         Such a cutie!!!
We've been on a hiking kick lately. These were taken at Red Rock conservation area near Las Vegas.