Independence Weekend

The 4th of July weekend was a fun filled one for us. On Saturday the 3rd we went to the Murray parade.

This was my favorite "float" in the Murray parade.

We then went to Grandma and Grandpa Readings to play in the water and have a BBQ.

Sunday the 4th was filled with two baby blessings. Mike went to his sister's baby's blessing with Natalie in while I went to my brother's baby's blessing.

On Monday the 5th we went and spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa Lewis. Of course it involved more eating and a yummy BBQ...

...splashing in more water...

...and riding Grandpa Lewis' 4-wheeler.

Yellowstone

We went to Yellowstone this last week for a family vacation. It was a fun trip! Natalie did very well with it being her longest car ride and her first time sleeping somewhere else (the first night was rough, but after that it was great). We got there on Thursday and it was very cold, a little rainy, and a little snowy. We went into the park for a bit and saw Firehole Falls and a few other things.

Throughout the time that we were in the park this weekend we saw buffalo, elk, a coyote, a huge wolf, bald eagles, pronghorns, cranes, squirrels, and ducks.On Friday the other Reading clan (Jeffrey, Keri, and Maddie) joined us. We began our day by seeing Old Faithful and the geysers around it.

Natalie sure enjoyed having her cousin with her throughout this trip!

Then we hiked to Lone Star Geyser.

Mike and Natalie hiking to Lone Star Geyser.

The two kiddos were so tired that they eventually gave in and took naps and let their daddies do all the hard work.

We took our picture with the Lone Star Geyser while it was doing one of it's minor eruptions.

Lone Star Geyser is an awesome geyser that has a couple of minor eruptions and then a major eruption. The major eruption happens about every 3 hours and after it is done it has a huge steam let off. It was an impressive sight watching it all!

On Saturday we went to Mammoth Hot Springs and wandered around. We did the lower and upper terraces area near there.

Mike and I got a kick out of watching other people's reactions when they saw Maddie pushing her baby around in her stroller. Maddie had to have her stroller since Natalie was in hers.

Natalie and Mike checking out the Artists Paintpots.

It was a fun trip and nice to get away for a bit. But it sure was nice coming home to our own bed! We enjoyed having the other Reading clan with us. Going to Yellowstone was a great way to begin our summer fun!

Water Babe

One thing about our little Natalie is that she LOVES water! She loves her bath time and hates getting out.

On Memorial Day she sat at the end of a slip-and-slide and had lots of fun. Even though the water was cold she didn't want to get out.

Then this last Saturday we pulled out a little pool and let her play. She had so much fun!

Just splashing around.

Can you tell that this girl loves water?

Check out her two cute little chompers!

On Friday Natalie and I went and hung out with my parents. We also hung out with Spencer, Natalie's cousin, since he's visiting my parents.

We went to Salem Pond and fed the ducks.

Then played on the playground at Salem Pond.

And wandered around the Bean Museum at BYU.
It was a fun day hanging out and being around family!

P.S. Natalie has had her first tooth come in last Wednesday and then another on Saturday. She's only been a little whiny, a little drooly, and kind of clingy.

9 Month Check-Up

Natalie had her 9 month check up last week. Her current stats are:

Weight: 16.2 lbs (approx. 12th percentile)
Length: 26.9 inches (45th percentile)
Head Circumference: 17.6 inches (70th percentile)

Everything is good with Natalie. Even though Natalie's weight is on the low end of the scale there isn't any reason to be concerned. And I'm sure not concerned because this little girl can sure eat and eat and eat just like a teenage boy!

(Don't worry, right after she learned to do this her crib was put down as far as it could go. Don't you just love the crazy nap hair too!)

A few things about Natalie:

- She loves to eat! She doesn't like commercialized baby food and only wants "big people" food and gums it since she doesn't have teeth. She likes to eat anything we do, but she really favors peas and strawberries and absolutely LOVES bread!

- learned how to drink out of sippy cup a little over a week ago. She prefers the sippy cups with straws.

- is crawling around more and faster. She still does her army/inchworm crawl if she wants to get somewhere faster. But she is learning to crawl using one knee and the other foot.

- learned to pull herself up standing about 2 weeks ago. She also learned to get from her stomach to a sitting position about a week and a half ago.

- is VERY social and loves looking and interacting with other children. She is also social with adults too.

- is a little jib-jabber and will babble all the time until she is around a group of people and then she is usually quiet and watches them.

- she is waving more now to others than just to Mike and I.

- is starting to throw tantrums when she doesn't get things her way.

- gives the best loves after waking up in the morning and after naps!

- loves being outside, swinging, and going for walks.

Spring

We have been loving the nicer weather that we've had off and on for the past few weeks. The thing that I have loved most is seeing my flowers blooming in my yard. It makes my little heart happy to see things growing in our yard other than weeds. After living in our house for almost 4 1/2 years it is nice to have the grass that we planted last year and other things growing as well. I may not be the best at landscaping, but my goal this year is to keep my plants alive!



Natalie was just so cute the other week for church that she just needed to have her picture taken.

Happy Easter!

Natalie had a little Easter egg "hunt/crawl" at Grandma and Grandpa Lewis'.

Natalie just started crawling/inching her way around this last Thursday. (On the day that she turned 8 months old.) I guess that soon she will be moving a lot faster than an inchworm and we will have to get the house child proofed.

Happy with the goods!

Is there anything else?

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!