baby einstein

niya is 10 months old now and can already read 

what can i say, she's kind of the smartest baby alive

ok, so she can't read but she loves, loves books. she turns all the pages, and studies them carefully as if she really was reading. she even laughs at the funny parts

she does all kinds of other things too.

she walks around all the furniture, climbs on everything, feeds herself (very messily), clicks her tongue, jumps like a little bean, grew just enough hair for pig tails, has new found fear for all kinds of things, knows when she's doing something naughty, waves hi and bye bye, gives great big slobbery kisses, points, throws little tantrums when you tell her no or take something from her, and just in general is adorable all day every day!

we love her

i hate to admit...utah has perks

everyone knows my heart belongs to california, but utah does actually have some perks, in its peaks. the mountains are most definitely her best feature

as the summer is rapidly coming to an end, we had to find a night that we could go camping. i actually love overnight camping. you know the kind where you go on a friday night, and leave on saturday morning. its the perfect amount of time. enough to enjoy the out doors, stuff your face with tin foil dinners, and make yourself sick on s'mores. so thats exactly what we did, and it was delightful!

we found a perfect little spot up american fork canyon. away from the camp grounds. all by ourselves.

niya was a big help putting up the tent

it was a little hard to keep her from eating the weeds

once we got the tent up and the fire going, it was time to just enjoy

and eat our DELISH tin foil dinners. im kind of really good at tin foil dinners

once it got dark enough we put niya to bed, and just got to sit out by the fire and eat s'mores and look at the stars. 

i can't say i slept all that well though. i was paranoid that niya was going to get hypothermia in the night. but of course she slept like a champ

camping is fun

birthday mama

Every year my mom takes aunts, sisters, and cousins to vegas to celebrate her birthday. its been a tradition for almost 10 years and we all look forward to it every year! we stay in style at the bellagio and spend most of our time just hanging out, laughing, eating, and catching up. this was the first time i left niya over night. i was really nervous and missed her a lot. but she was in good hands, and i really enjoyed my freedom.

we always eat at the Grand Lux Cafe. its pretty much delish

hanging out at the pool is one of the best parts

its so fun to be with my sisters and cousins. it really helps us to stay connected. 

thanks mom for another fun fun time in vegas. we love it! and we love you!!!

more little bitty clothes

here are a few more things i've made.......

i made this for a drews cousins wedding. i thought it turned out pretty cute. i made the skirt and just added the ruffle to the onsie. the flower and the ruffle are thrift store fabric. i think maybe an old curtain??

this little top i dreamed up. the fabric is a pillow sham i scored from the thrift store. 

this one was her 4th of july outfit. she was being a big stinker so i couldn't get a good pic. i made little red bloomers too, but they didn't make it to the picture

lake powell.... again

we had another few fun filled days on the moenkopi. it was a really perfect trip. the weather was great, not to hot, a little bit of rain, and good company

the speed boat did NOT break down this time. In fact scott bought a new one the day before we left. so we got to break it in. no complaints here

we found a nice little spot to make niya a bed. she slept like a baby

when she wasn't asleep she was wanting to run wild. she felt right at home on the new boat

drew was happy because he got some good wake boarding and skiing in. here he is mid back flip. check out his hair, wow

yep he landed it

still rockin the pony

niya loves baby brother, and the drink cozy

baby brother was catching some good air

cousin jason attempted the very first  off the back of the boat wake board start. it was unsuccessful, but we gave him a great big A+ for effort, not to mention it was quite entertaining

niya has graduated from the sink bath to the plastic tub bath on the back of the boat. she's getting so big so fast...sigh

till next time lake powell

zions

after our ogden family reunion we headed south with the saylors family for a few fun filled days in zion. mom and dad rented a couple of "cabins" at zion ponderosa ranch. they weren't really cabins at all, they were pretty nice homes. it was nice to be just with the saylors family for some bonding time. paul and cathy and family couldn't make it so we missed them. 

Heres the fun things we did:

we went hiking in zion national park. all of us on the same hike!

drew and i love zions. we go there quite often

niya is becoming a local there. she loves hiking. she usually never makes a peep along the trail. she just takes in the scenery from the comfort of the baby bjorn

i was pretty impressed that my dad did a part of the hike with his still healing back.  drew found him this nice walking stick. he looked pretty funny in his hiking get up

the one lung-er made it too

the kids had fun and kept up really well. i was the one that was lagging in the back

at the end of the hike everyone went swimming in the river except for me, drew, niya and my parents. they had a blast

we prefer the pool to the river. we spent the next day hanging out there

everyone just relaxing

later that afternoon we took a horseback ride. drew being sooooo allergic to horses stayed behind with the baby.

the trail was a mega dust bowl but we still had fun.

my mom brought poppers since we were there for the 4th of july. we didn't get to see fire works but we had a little fun with out own

we mostly just had fun beating each other with them. you can get a good sting if they pop on your bare skin

our last adventure before it was time to leave was zip lining. it was definitely no zip lining in costa rica but we still had fun doing it.

we all went our separate ways later that day. its always sad to say good bye. i really love spending time with my family. thanks mom and dad for making such a fun vacation for us!