A new start?

Okay, so obviously I haven't updated the blog in over a year. Last year this week we packed up all of our belongings in Lincoln, Nebraska and moved across the country to Ogden, Utah. Unfortunately, our stuff (essentially everything we owned) didn't follow us for eight full weeks. So, in those first eight weeks of learning a new place and sleeping on our floor, I got out of the habit of blogging about our new adventures.

So, now it is a full year later. We do have furniture in our house, and we have a now Two-year-old Cate. She keeps us fantastically busy, but is really a joy. We had the chance to be "home" in Michigan this summer and a cousin let me know that she missed our updates. So, I'm trying again to keep a blog about our (mis)adventures. We'll see how this goes.

Here are a couple of recent pictures of Cate at the Botanical Gardens in Salt Lake City.

Fourth of July

We went down to celebrate the Fourth of July in Kansas last week. We had a lot of fun, and Cate got to play with many of her cousins (including her "twin" cousin). Here are two of my favorite photos of the weekend.

13 Months Old

So, in honor of Cate's 13 month old birthday, she decided to trade rooms with the dog.

He was laying in her room, and she crawled into his dog crate and tried to shut the door.

This is her climbing back out after I explained that she could not sleep there,

even if she really wanted to.

 That evening, she was so tired that she fell asleep during her nightly story time.

We thought it was funny.

 Cate's last day of school for the summer was June 30th. She is going to stay home with me until we move on July 21 to help me pack and to play while we have time. We decided to spend her first day off school (Friday) heading to the Acquarium at the Omaha zoo. It is her favorite place to go.

Here are a few of my favorites:

The Sunken Gardens, Sunday June 12

We decided to stop at the Sunken Gardens on the way home from the Zoo on Sunday. Cate was exhausted at this point, so she looks pretty mad in some of the photos. But, she's so funny when she's mad (to me anyway) that I wanted to share anyway. The Gardens were beautiful, so we'll have to go back when she's a bit better rested.

The Lincoln Children's Zoo Sunday June 12

We decided to visit the zoo since it was such a beautiful day on Sunday. We went at about 2 in the afternoon and it was a lot of fun. Cate still likes fish and turtles, but she is enjoying the larger animals more and more.

But, she still won't pet the animals, especially the goats. She reaches out toward them, but as soon as they move she freaks out!

Friday June 10th

Cate's cousins Mason, Henry, Caleb and Simon and Cate's Aunt Pam and Uncle Scott stopped by town on their way from Kansas to Iowa. We took everyone to the neighborhood park to play. Despite my entreaties to take pictures, Chaz only managed to snap one of Scott and Simon. But, there are some cute pictures of Cate swinging, so we'll post anyway.

Cate is 1!

We had a wonderful birthday weekend, with all of Cate's grandparents and one of Cate's cousins here to celebrate with us.

 We also had a joint Memorial Weekend BBQ and Birthday Party on Sunday. We had lots of wonderful friends attend. We all had fun, but Cate easily had the most fun, especially while eating her birthday cake.

 At the end of the long weekend, she's still ready to party. In fact, all she wants to do now is practice walking while holding our hands. And she is growing fast. According to her one year check up, she is now 28.5" tall (27th percentile) and 19lbs 13 oz (50th percentile). So she is still pretty average (though a bit on the short side).

Thanks to all of you who made this first year so very special for our whole family!