fourteen months

L took her first steps on July 22nd, when she was barely over thirteen months old. But that doesn't mean she's a walker yet. She just decided to let go of the coffee table and walk two steps to me, falling into my arms. I think she has been a little afraid and cautious about walking. The most she has done is 7 or 8 steps toward me. She'll walk to other people, too, or to something she can grasp, like her crib bars. She's very good at side-stepping as she holds on, and she crawls fast.

She does choose to stand sometimes, like in the tub; usually when I put her down in standing position she slowly squats and sits.

She likes playing with this toy that we finally brought back from my mom's house. There's a short song for each texture. The one she's holding in the picture says, "Fuzzy . . . fuzzy fuzzy."

Lately she's really into climbing. Even if an object is only a few inches high she'll get onto it and sit there. One day (during her 14th month) she climbed onto our little stool, then into one laundry basket, then into another laundry basket, back onto the stool, etc. It was adorable and funny.

L's seventh tooth appeared on July 28th.

Here are the 14-month-day photos:

She was starting to want her headband off. She pulls it down so she's wearing it like a necklace; I don't think she knows she's still wearing it.

Fish Lake and Capitol Reef National Park

Our friends (the ones we bought our house from) invited us to their cabin for a few days. We were there Wednesday, August 11 and went back home Friday the 13th. I had been to the cabin twice before, in 2000 and 2003. My husband, with Josh and others, had been there more than twice. I have good memories of those fun times, and I wrote a lot in my journal about them. Now most of the group are married and/or couldn't get off work, but it was fun with just Josh's family and ours.

Actually, my husband and I planned on bringing our kids, but the day before, we decided it would be really nice not to. So this was the last time I saw the girls until more than 48 hours later. (The longest I had been away the little one during the day was eight hours. That was only two or three times in her life, and the person who babysat brought her to me halfway through so she could nurse.) I'm so grateful we were able to have this little vacation. Of course our girls were just fine, and enjoyed sleeping over at Grandma's with two of their aunts.

We bought food for the cooler (gotta love shopping without kids), and traffic was good. We love having Google Maps on our iPhone! We got to the cabin at 4:30, which gave us about four hours to ourselves before Josh's family arrived. Mobile phone service isn't available, so as D called his step-mom to check on the kids I got another phone booth shot.

We went in the lodge and played a Simpsons arcade game. (It needed cleaning -- ew! -- but we played it anyway.) It's funny that alcohol isn't allowed, but they do have old empty bourbon bottles. Then we ate dinner there; it was tasty except for my salad. We like to sit next to each other in a booth instead of across from each other. We read a little before our server brought our meals. (Yes, I take a lot of pictures.)

I'm glad we don't bathe in something like that!

I would have played this if it weren't for the sign.

Maybe next time we'll sit and rock.

We drank these Thursday night with our grilled chicken, spinach salad, and baked potatoes. Mmm.

Wednesday night, Kristi and Josh helped us work on the 1000-piece puzzle we had started before they arrived.

Thursday morning . . . with beautiful sunlight.

Josh had stayed up late to complete the house. By the time we left, we still hadn't finished the trees. They were so hard!

French toast, bacon, and fruit for breakfast on Thursday. He's a great cook. (Friday morning there isn't a picture, but Kristi made German aka "rollercoaster" pancakes.)

 

We caravaned to Capitol Reef National park after breakfast. It's about an hour away.

We decided to do one of the shorter hikes.

I love this wall.

All of us! (D put the camera on a rock and used the timer.)

My sweetheart and I sharing earbuds while the kids rested.

Hickman Bridge, the focus of this hike. (Josh took this picture)

Hickman bridge

The shade was perfect as we ate sandwiches. We'd gotten hot, thirsty, and hungry.

Petroglyphs by the Fruita area

Friday morning. It's fun to sit up here, between two bedrooms, and look down into the living room. We talked about how it would take a long time to read all the books and magazines that are in the cabin.

The boys enjoyed watching D play his cat physics game.

This tree between the lodge and the lake was really cool.

A man fishing in Fish Lake (my dad always thought fishing was very boring, so he never took us fishing). We all walked around a little and skipped rocks before going home. Unfortunately the two of us didn't have time to rent a boat.

ten- year high school reunion

First, a flashback of my five-year high school reunion:

I think 40-50 people came, but there weren't that many all at the same time. This photo shows who was there at the end of it. I went to school with four of these people from second grade on. :) I probably met the others, except Katie, in 7th grade.

I love these girls! Hillary and Anne had been living a couple of hours away from me (opposite directions), so I hadn't seen them in a while.

This year, instead of a Friday afternoon event that was hard for people to come to, the committee picked a better time. We had a nice dinner on August 6th. The next day, Saturday, we met at a park. D and I had a lot of fun with these cool people! (I have to admit, though, that I didn't know the names of a few of the people at the dinner.)

Watching the video of some photos from when we were in high school and new interviews with some faculty members.

Mike married my cousin just a few months after I got married, and our kids are close in age.

Emily's eyes are closed in this shot, but my mouth looked weird in the next one.