Helping to Build the Swing Set

We bought Cate a swing set that is supposed to take 8 hours to build. Well, 8 hours later and we still have swing-set parts all around the backyard. But, we are hopeful that tomorrow we will have pictures of the finished product.

Here are a few pictures of Cate helping to build the frame.

Finally, I went and got Cate a back-to-school haircut. It is actually very cute, but she wouldn't sit still and let me take a picture. It is just longer than chin length with bangs.

More pictures of finished swing-set soon (we hope!)

Overdue Post - Family Visit

On their way to Seattle, Chaz's sister Pam and her four boys - Mason, Henry, Caleb and Simon stopped by with Chaz's sister Deb to play with us for about 24 hours. We had much Cousin fun, and finished by a trip to Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake, where we saw wild bison. Here are a few pictures from the adventures:

And, just because she wore a cute dress to church on Sunday, here is a picture of Cate with Chaz.

Pioneers' Day

For those of you who don't live in Utah, today is a "Very Special" holiday. It is Pioneers' day, which in Utah is at least as important as July 4th (if not more so). It celebrates the day the Pioneers crossed the mountains and founded Utah. Or something like that. Anyway, Cate and I were off work/school today. Chaz unfortunately was not because his company in Nebraska does not recognize that today is the kind of day where everything (banks, trash pick-up, etc.) is closed here.

This morning Cate and I went with our friends Jenny and Oliver to the Pioneers' day parade. Even though we live in a desert and it is July, it poured rain on us for most of the parade. But, here are a couple of photos anyway.

Then, after lunch and nap, Cate and I went to play in the only place that was open - the mall. They have a little play train there that we decided to ride for the first time. Cate loved it.

Chaz goes out of town tomorrow for work until Saturday, so Cate and I have a few more mommy/daughter play days in our immediate future.

So, how did you spend your Pioneers' Day??

Busy weekend

We had a busy weekend. Yesterday my university had discount tickets to the local amusement park/water park. So, we went and swam away. I wasn't smart enough to take the camera with me (I was too busy packing up sunscreen and such), but we had a wonderful time. Cate loves any form of water and she was more than thrilled to slide down all of the kid-sized water slides. Here is a picture of the park:

We are headed swimming again tomorrow at a local pool, so I will try to remember the camera.

We did a bunch of errands today, but then tonight we went over to some friends' home to eat yummy food and play. Cate had a blast chasing their five year old son around the house. All in all a great weekend.

I promise, some pictures soon.

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: