11 MONTHS

It is almost impossible to get a still photo of her now.  She WILL NOT sit still.  But we had a fun time trying anyway.

She loves to move.  She walks along furniture and gets around any "trap" we make for her by climbing over things and people.  She is starting to walk on her own now too.  She's taken about nine steps at one time, but usually it's just three or four and then realizes people are watching her and just sits down and claps for herself.  She loves attention and knows she's cute.  She will let anyone hold her (almost, usually) and makes people's days.  We are lucky to have her!

Friends

Our good friends came into town from Texas and we got to visit with them while they were here.  They came over for a couple hours and then we went to the park for a picnic.  They're three oldest kids are close to the same age as Evan, Kamri, and Miles.

It was a good time and it's always nice to spend time with friends.

10 years old

My little girl is in the double digits now!!

Sara turned 10 last Thursday.  I remember ten years ago being so nervous for the responsibility of raising a child and trying to teach her how to be a good person.  Now ten years later I'm still nervous but so far she's turned out awesome.  

We are so lucky to have her.  She is a super help around the house and taking care of her siblings. She changes diapers and puts Asia down for naps.  She's learned to cook pancakes and mix the waffle batter and cooks breakfast all by herself sometimes.  

We had a fun day.  The kids had swimming lessons that morning but then we met Trista and her kids at a splash park where they just played in the water for a couple hours.  It's so fun having friends/cousins close by.

That night we had her birthday dinner of chicken pillows with green beans, presents, and delicious dirt for dessert.

She likes to exercise and goes out on a job/bike ride almost every morning and is always having to borrow Evan's basketball shorts.  So I got her some exercise clothes of her own.  She also got some books, gum, library card of her own, painting book, and cards and money from her grandparents.  She was a lucky girl!!

Sara, we love you!!

Kamri's dance performance

I put Kamri in a 2-month dance class put on through the city.  It was a modern/contemporary dance class.  She's been begging me for dance so we did it.  But she actually didn't really like it. This was the only one that was being offered and it turns out that neither one of us is a big fan of the contemporary dance style.  She liked going but afterward when I asked if she had fun she never said she did.  They actually didn't teach much because it's all about the kids' "interpretation of how they're feeling".  Blah, blah, blah....Kamri needs structure so leaving it up to her to do whatever she wanted resulted in running around in circles to the music - literally.

The last day of dance the had a "performance" to show the parents what they learned.  She learned to run around in circle and then stop and pose on the floor.  But she had a smile on her face while doing it.

Miles was bored and just laid down on the floor.

A family night out....

This is what Ben sees every time we're in the car.  We have another daddy's child on our hands.  She is attached to Ben just like Miles was.  Whenever we are in the car she is always looking up behind her to get a look at Ben.  He wanted to have record of the view he sees when he looks back (when he's not driving of course ;)    )

 This is the view from my side

Ben loves the outdoors.  He grew up with the woods as his backyard (literally) and being outside in nature just makes him feel good.  So we try to get up to the canyons as often as we can during the summer/fall months.  Since we moved we had to find a new spot to visit.  We found this great spot off the road where we can climb down some rocks and spend some time by the river.  

How sweet

how happy to be able to throw things without getting in trouble.

How handsome!!

How strong...

I was watching Asia and taking pictures and decided I wanted to try and get a self portrait of the two of us.....Do you know how difficult it is to do with one hand while the other is trying to keep from dropping her and getting her to atleast look in the direction of the camera.  Quite impossible actually....

She kept leaning her head into my nose.  This is one of her favorite things to do now.  Lean into your face when you're looking at her.

and sticking her fingers in your mouth if she sees it open

Bet she'll cooperate when she's with Dad.

She actually like the cold water.  When we put her feet in she would pop them back out but then lower them back in and laugh.

Sara was at a friends' party so she wasn't there but here's most of our family.  We couldn't get Miles to stop throwing rocks long enough to turn around and smile cut we got him to look in my direction whilst throwing.

So fun!