September 2015: Friends, Family, and Chocolate Donuts

September started out with Swiss Days (naturally, why wouldn't it?) and Kollyn had a lot of fun! :) She loved the parade, especially the horses and "old cars", and even the weird on/off rainstorms didn't deter her from watching. We wandered around, got her some new wooden blocks since she loves to build things and a little wooden truck and horse trailer with handcarved horses. She has been in heaven playing with them the last few weeks. :) It was a hit. She ate a lot of food (the cheese curds were especially popular) and loved seeing her aunts (she kept saying BEANY all the way up the canyon) and of course hanging out with Grammie and Poppa. (and the bach-bachs because life isn't complete without some chickens in your life).

Beany helped her go get the eggs, another one of her favorite pastimes at Grammie and Poppa's house.

Showing off her tower that she and Dada built. She loves to build towers. They are seriously some of the only toys we play with anymore, and she is content for a good while just building her tower and making sure everything is just perfect. The other day, she built a tower so perfect, that she refused to let anyone, including herself, destroy it.

So much cousin love going on between these three. :) They love to hold hands, run around, and play together. 

We had a ton of fun going to Airborne with Karin, David, and Luke on Labor Day. :) Kollyn seriously couldn't get enough of it. She was running around, jumping on the trampolines, diving into the foam pit and climbing around in there. She was seriously having a blast. It is definitely what we will be doing for her birthday. :)

Sometimes, our friend Lily comes over to play while her mom's in classes. :) And we love having her. Kollyn adores her and tries to share all kinds of things with her, even if she doesn't want it. For days afterwards when I asked Kollyn what her favorite thing that we did that day was, she would always respond, "Lily play house" because she loved having her friend come play. :) 

This gem was when we went and visited them. Kollyn sat on Lily's elephant and Lily pushed her around the living room. :) They were both totally entertained by this game and kept at it for a while. 

Every once in a while, when we go grocery shopping, we let Kollyn have a donut. And sometimes, if she's really good, we let her eat it while we're shopping and pay for it at the register. And sometimes, she gets chocolate all over her face and hands. ;) But she's so cute it's not a big deal. That's what wet wipes are for, right?

She loves to sit in things. Boxes, her laundry basket, the bag her blocks are stored in, anything that can be sat in, she sits in it. And loves every minute of it.

This is her being "sad". Usually she does this when she doesn't like me saying no, or when she can't have something, or if she's SUPER tired (which has happened quite a bit lately because she's getting her 2 year old molars and hasn't been sleeping as well). She just lays on the floor and says, "Sad" with her face in her hands. Better than her throwing a tantrum, right? I think it's adorable.

She likes to tuck Dada in as she's getting ready for bed. She just adores him and they are just so cute together. :) He basically turns into a kid around her and they have so much fun, she is definitely a daddy's girl. :)

She LOVES books and loves to read. She's always reading a book, and thanks to the Endless Alphabet app is getting really good at identifying letters, and even knows the sounds some of them make. She loves to learn and is always finding new books to read and remembers things so well! I can't ever deny her when she comes to me with an armful of books and wants to sit and read them. :)

David is really liking his job at PCG, He's been moved over to more database stuff, which he really enjoys, and less accounting. He is always talking about how much he likes the people he works with and how he's liking what he's doing. I'm glad he's found a job that he actually enjoys, especially after what he went through at Vivint. :) We were very blessed to have this opportunity.

I'm just enjoying my time with Kollyn. She learns new things every day and loves to entertain. She always asks me for snuggles before naptime, "Snuggle minute?" And likes telling me about her day. I love seeing what her favorite things are that she does. If she truly loves it, she talks about it for days afterwards as if she did it just that morning. :) Being her mom is hard sometimes, but definitely rewarding. :) I'm glad I get to do it. :) 

August 2015: $2 Tuesdays, Hiking, and (Finally) Finished Projects!

I am obviously the world's biggest slacker. I've been thinking about blogging for August for 2 weeks. haha. I finally used the excuse that we got new phones and I needed to transfer pictures off my old one to my computer as the reason to sit down and do it. 

August was a fun month for us. :) We found ways to keep busy and Kollyn had a blast with it all. We went to the library and played with friends. One of our favorite things was $2 Tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. We were able to go with Luke and Kelly to the different things there that we wanted to, for $2 admission instead of $15. Total score!

The first week, we went to the Museum of Natural Curiosity. It was so much fun for the kids. They got to play with giant Legos, puppets, "x-ray" some animals at the vet station, and slide down the slide together. Kollyn's favorite part was the water area. She loved the water table a lot, but her favorite was turning the knob and letting water flow out the pipe onto the floor. She could've done that all day. By the end of her playing there, she was soaked but really happy.

Luke wasn't as interested in the water, but he thought it was fun to splash in a little bit.

The next week we did the dinosaur museum and they got to build a dinosaur and play with the magnetic bones.

The last week we went, we did the farm country. Kollyn freaked out when the horse neighed loudly while we were petting him, so she was a little on edge the rest of the day, but had a lot of fun anyway. She loved seeing all the animals. She is obsessed with animals. She loved the bunnies and pigs the most, after the chickens (or the bach-bachs as she says). And of course stomping in the little playhouse with Luke.

August 14 was David's last day at Vivint (YAY! He's done!!!) and so he used his PTO and we spent the morning at the zoo. Kollyn was in absolute heaven. And since we got there right when it opened, we got to see the animals eating breakfast and being very active. It was so much fun! Kollyn still talks about how we saw "giraffe eat breakfast" whenever I ask her to tell David what we did during the day when he gets home from work. Every single day she has to tell him we saw the giraffe eating breakfast. She could've been there all day long, watching the animals, getting so excited about each and every one. We heard the tiger roaring at the lady tiger they were just introducing and she thought that was so much fun to listen to. It was so cute to see her so fascinated and intrigued. She tried to say every animals name and got most of them really well.

This guy came right up to the glass before they let him out into his outside area and he and Kollyn just watched each other for a while, which was fun to watch.

There was a bear swimming in the pool but when I wanted a picture, he went behind the tree trunk and wouldn't come out. This guy was catching a snooze, and the other one was rolling around in the hay that was spread out on the ground. Kollyn loves bears so we spent probably about 15 minutes just watching these guys do their thing and she was entranced the whole time.

And, as per tradition, we rode the train. Kollyn had a lot of fun, seeing the zebras, giraffes, and ostriches, and pointing out trees all over the place. This little girl loves being able to be outside, and if you add animals into the mix, it's a perfect day.

Just had to share this one. :) Kollyn and Luke are like best buddies. They love playing together, even if sharing isn't the fist instinct always (Luke is usually really good about it, and has started to rub off on her thankfully), and I love it. It's so fun to watch them!

This girl has definitely gotten her own personality more and more as she grows up. She knows exactly what she wants and how she wants it. She's very particular about some things, but not everything. 

She loves my water bottle. She loves water in general (drinking, swimming, splashing, you name it, if it involved water, she is all over it), but apparently it tastes better out of my bottle. This was too cute not to share, her drinking from my bottle in her car seat like a big girl. I love watching her grow up! I

Her favorite, and I mean FAVORITE, snack, is guacamole...David made some, used about 3 avocados, and she ate almost all of it while we were cooking dinner. She just kept dipping her chip into it, using her chip as a spoon to get the guiac to her mouth. :)
It's awesome that she likes to eat fruits and veggies more than candy, though we let her have candy too, and it's fun to see what she likes and doesn't like. Granted, there's very little she doesn't like, but eggs is on that list. She won't eat them if they're plain, but will eat them if they're mixed in with potatoes, sausage, things like that. But scrambled eggs, fried eggs, etc...are a no go. It's fun to see her preferences.

We have recently gotten into going on little stroller friendly hikes around the area with some friends who have kids around Kollyn's age. Karin and Luke join us sometimes and it's kind of a come if you want type thing, but it's been fun. Our first one we went up to Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon. It was fun to get the kids together and throw rocks in the little pond at the bottom of the falls. There were at least 10 HUGE fish, I think some kind of trout but I have no idea, swimming around. Kollyn loved seeing the fish and the duck swim and got excited when they came kind of close to us.

She discovered that Elsie is her friend and these two held hands the whole way back to the car. They've held hands at pretty much all our hikes since then and it's so cute. :) Kollyn calls her Elis (anything with an S in the word usually ends up with the S at the end instead) and wants to play with her at least three times a week (guess that means more playdates Alyx!) which I love. She hasn't really had that connection with any of the other kids she's around (with like three exceptions), even the ones in the neighborhood, so I love that she has connected with Elsie.

This is my project that I finally was able to finish (I couldn't for the life of me find my glue gun) and I'm really happy with how it turned out! I've been working on this since right after Kollyn was born and finally finished it!!!

I plan on putting it up on her room soon, just need to rearrange a few things. :)

David is really liking his new job, the boss is nice and the people he works with that he knows he likes a lot. It's a small company and he likes the atmosphere. There's a lot of work, and it's kind of overwhelming with school and the huge homework load that he was no anticipating, but he's been able to get that taken care of, so he isn't as overwhelmed by the amount of work to do at work. School has been really rough on him this last month, there's so much homework and attendance is graded which he hates, so it's been hard to find out the balance between school, work, and spending time with Kollyn, while working on the start-up. Only a few months and he'll be done forever, which is what I keep reminding him. We'll make it through and it'll be worth it.

Love you all!

July 2015: Bean Museum, 4th of July, and Family Gatherings

July was full of fun adventures. :)

We started the month off by going to the Monte L. Bean Museum at BYU. It was a fun (and free!) way to spend a day with my friend Tricia and her little boy. He and Kollyn have a lot of fun together usually and it was nice to see them both so excited about all the animals.

Kollyn got to meet Shasta the Liger. ;) Isn't a visit to the Bean without visiting Shasta!

I loved watching her get so excited by all the animals. I wasn't surprised she loved them so much (she's obsessed with animals and will only watch any movie/show that has real animals in it, not even cartoon animals are good enough haha). She could point out specific ones like the elephant, the swordfish, and the "hiphopomus". It was also nice being able to get out of the house and not spend any money. :)

On July 3, we were invited to the Driggs' 4th of July celebration by Karin and had a lot of fun! Adam and Carlee were also there so the three cousins that are really close in age all got to play together. It was fun to see Jane interact with Kollyn and Luke. They're all within 4 months of each other so it's fun watching them all grow and experience things together. :) Kollyn had fun dancing with Luke, hanging off the coffee table, and pushing cars off the edge with Luke and Jane.

 We went up to my parents for the 4th and it was fun. :) Kollyn has recently discovered a deep love of coloring, so she did that for a good 20 minutes after she finished her dinner while we were all eating. Then we took a walk up to Ridley's to get some last minute fireworks, but realized she wasn't a huge fan. The sudden noise and light was too much for her, so we did a sparkler instead, which she was much more keen to enjoy. :) We ended up watching the neighbors' fireworks and then watching the fireworks show they do off of Memorial Hill. :) It was a fun holiday and I think next year she'll be more interested in the fireworks. At least, we hope so.

This was her reaction the sparklers. I think she was more indifferent towards them than anything, but at least they didn't scare her.

This little girl is seriously a huge ham. She finds something that makes people laugh and she'll keep doing it. :) She loves to make people smile and does whatever she can to make that happen. It has been good lately because she's been more quick to get frustrated, so I just get her to do something that I know makes me laugh, and she is instantly happier.

She loves being outside. Like, if we could spend all our time outside, she would absolutely be all over it. She has recently figured out what ants are and loves to lay on the grass or the sidewalk and just watch ants crawl around. She gets so excited whenever she sees them. Naturally, all bugs are called ants right now, but we're working on that. ;)

Kollyn adores my friend Sierra, who she calls C, and her husband Michael, who K calls Mike. We were lucky that Sierra was able to work from home so she would come over to our house and hang out with us during the day. Kollyn seriously loves her and we're going to miss them now that they've moved to St. George. This is Kollyn giving Sierra knuckles, and in Big Hero 6 fashion, she says "ba la la la!" afterwards (we definitely DIDN'T teach her that.). 

I took Kollyn mini golfing for the first time on July 8 at Trafalga in Lehi with my mom, sister, and her girls, as well as my mom's cousin who was visiting from California. It was a black light course (since it had been raining a lot the outside course was closed) and she had a ton of fun running around, "hitting" her ball, and then hurrying to throw it in the hole. She had a lot more fun than I thought she would.

She loves her cousin Aleah and the carousel so she was pretty happy that the carousel opened up while we were there (we were afraid it was closed since it wasn't going when we got there). Any day she gets to spend with any of her cousins, it is a good day. I love how much she adores them and they adore her. We're definitely blessed to live so close to so many family members and so many cousins. :) Kollyn never gets bored!

On the 18, we had my family all get together, and it was a lot of fun. My sister from Oklahoma drove in, my sister from Cedar with her girls came up (my brother-in-law wasn't feeling too well and neither were my nephews), my sister and brother-in-law from California flew in, and my brother and sister-in-law and their three little munchkins from California drove in too so it was a mini family reunion and Kollyn was in heaven. She played with her cousin Gemma, who is 10 months older than her, and loved running around, jumping on the tramp, and coloring all day. It was so fun for her that she didn't even take a nap, but it didn't matter because she loves being around people, especially cousins, so much.

I wish I'd gotten more pictures of this day. On the 22, we went to 7 Peaks with my family (my sister came up with her kids from Cedar, my brother and sister-in-law were still here, and my sister from Oklahoma was still here) and Kollyn had a lot of fun. We went down the racer slides and played in the kiddie pool. She splashed in the very shallow end of the wave pool, and then sat in her stroller, drank water, and ate snacks. It was a lot of fun. That night we went over to Melissa's house because my brother had bought a bunch of fireworks, since I guess where he is in Cali they're illegal. And we had fun lighting them. Kollyn wasn't a fan, she just didn't care for the sudden noise. She was ok if we were snuggling her and covering her ears, but it was best that David took her home. I stayed with my siblings and watched the show. It was really awesome. :) I got some good ideas for the ones we should get next year for our own show. After we'd lit all the fireworks, we took all the scrap cardboard and the kids roasted marshmallows over the little fire. It was fun watching them all play together. :)

My dear friend Tricia had her second baby on Monday, July 27. He is such a cutie! Kollyn and I went up to the hospital on the 29 to meet him and it was so much fun. I love his chubby cheeks! Kollyn played with Wyatt, she really liked playing with his cars with him, and I got to snuggle that little guy all I wanted while she was distracted. We spent a couple hours there chatting with Tricia and Steve. It was fun since we haven't seen them in a while because they just moved.

You can't see it very well because my picture taking skills aren't the best, but he's seriously so cute! 

The 29, my parents took Kollyn for the night so that David and I could go out with Sierra and Michael one last time before they moved. We went to dinner at Wallaby's (Michael got stuck at work so he missed that) and then went bowling at Fat Cat's. I remembered why I don't really bowl. haha. I'm not very good, but it was a lot of fun anyway.

Not the best pictures but it was important to capture the moment. :)

This little girl seriously LOVES to color. She could do it all day every day. She's learned how to climb up into the chair and will sit at the table for a while, which is nice because it gives me a chance to clean the kitchen or vacuum, or whatever else I need to do without her trying to get my attention. I just leave a piece of paper (we got the big roll and the dispenser from Ikea last week and she is already almost halfway through the roll) and the bag of crayons at that spot and she'll be totally content. We might have a little artist on our hands!

It's been an emotional month for us, that's for sure. David was having a pretty rough time with some people at work, but luckily he was able to get another job and will be starting that soon. :) We've all been trading the same sickness back and forth for a few weeks and are finally feeling better so that's a win! And we're the Weblos leaders in our ward so that keeps us busy, even though there's only one. David is down to his last semester at school (YAY!) and we couldn't be more excited for December to come! It'll be crazy but it'll be a fun adventure, just like this summer so far.