Cruise'n

I'm leaving in a couple of weeks for my first cruise! I can't wait! Do any of you veteran cruisers  have any tips or fun ideas? We're going for 12 days in the Eastern Mediterranean. 

Pigtails!!!

Kate's hair is long enough for pigtails. I love it! Here are a few pictures of the aforementioned pigtails and Kate and her friend Shaylie at their swim lesson.

Fun with Konan and friends

Kristy and Eve
 Little Eve
Kate and Shaylie chilling on the swings
Kate and Kendall
Konan and his "creation"

For an early B-Day celebration (which is in April) Konan planned a fun weekend in L.A. We had such a great time!  The first night we ate a great Mexican restaurant in Santa Monica and then spent the evening relaxing at the hotel spa. The next morning we went for run through Beverly Hills checking out all the amazing houses and shops. The rest of the day was spent at "The Grove" it's an outdoor mall that has all my favorite shopping spots. We ate the Cheesecake Factory and Konan ordered a hamburger that was on a  hard crusty roll.  He couldn't eat it without tearing his mouth up. Konan got creative and took the wheat bread from the basket and turned it into a make shift hamburger bun. Don't really know why I'm writing about this, but I had to explain the picture. I can't believe the only picture I have of the L.A.  trip is Konan and his ugly hamburger. Wow, I'm the worst picture taker!

Anyway, lately I've been able to catch up with some friends which has been great. A couple of weeks ago I spent some time with Cass and Kendall (I can't get over little and sweet she is.)  This week I spent a few sunny days at the park. One day with some SkyWest pals and another with Kristy Allred (used to be Downey) and her newest addition Eve. She looked so cute and was such good little baby. We were there for a couple of hours and she didn't make a peep! 

Also big thanks to Grandma Elaine and Aunt Karisti for helping tend Kate over the weekend. I'm sure Kate had a blast with her cousins!

The Grand Canyon and beyond...

I was freezing!!!
View from the plane window

Ok, I'm a bad blogger! Since the last post there has been a flurry of activity with our family. First, Konan and his mom went to visit family in Portland. That same week I went to Ashland, OR  to visit the newest addition to the Bywater side, Wren Forester Bywater (Great outdoorsy name, huh?) While I was on my way home from Ashland, Konan was on his way up to Salt Lake to take in the Jazz/Lakers game (We won!) Konan and I were able to say "Hi" in SLC airport before going our separate ways again. Finally, for Valentine's Day Konan and I stole away to Vegas for short getaway.  Whew! 

On our Vegas getaway we stayed at the Trump, went to the Blue Man Group and then the next day we went on a Grand Canyon excursion. Our trip to Vegas ended up being fun, but not exactly relaxing. Here are a few pictures from the Grand Canyon...

Picture of the Day!

Happy Birthday Kate!!!

Rocking chair from Great-Grandma Bywater
Inspecting the presents
Before
After
"Are you sure I can do this?"

Kate celebrated her first birthday last Tuesday. I can't believe she's already one year old! We love you so much! Here are a few of her favorite things...

Favorite Food: Blueberries (hence the blueberries on her cupcake)
Favorite Place: The beach
Favorite Animals: Cats and Roosters
Favorite Song: Patty-Cake
Favorite Activity: Practicing walking and going down the stairs

going back a couple weeks...

Kate in her ears at D-land
Brad and Angelina!
Dustin Hoffman
b Above:Beyonce  / Below:Anne Hathaway
Ok this trip happened before Kauai, but I had to show my paparazzi pictures from the Golden Globes. We were down in Cali with Konan's fam to go to Disneyland. It was the day we were heading home and we had a couple of hours to kill until our flight back to SGU. Anyway I thought it might be nice to show Konan the LA temple.  We did a drive by of the LA temple and continued down Santa Monica Blvd and next thing we knew we could see the red carpet. We joined the screaming fans and paparazzi at a chain link fence outside where all the celebrities were getting out their cars.  You'll need to enlarge the photos to even get a sense of who it is. It was a totally random experience, but a lot of fun!