9 months

These are her nine month pictures we had done at Target. I am so in love with them and love how they turned out. Her left cheek has a scratch on it from someone giving her a pen to play with on the drive up to Target (I promised Kirk I wouldn't point any fingers). But luckily you can't notice and she's adorable enough that it doesn't matter.

A few things you might not know about Kirsten:

• She loves animals (especially dogs). Every time she sees a dog she giggles and giggles. She wants to touch them and kiss them. It's pretty darn cute and I can't wait until we have a house to get her a dog.
• She loves people. Church, stores, and campus are a few of her favorite places because of all the people. She rarely cries for a stranger. We've had more than one person mention that they have never seen her cry because when she's around people it doesn't matter how hungry or tired she is, she's just happy to be there.
• She's a total tease. One of her favorite things to do is to keep a straight face when we are trying to get her to laugh. After we stop trying she busts up laughing and thinks she is pretty funny (we do too). She likes to crawl towards the stairs just because she knows it will freak us out.
• She loves the wii (or any gaming system), just like her dad. Whenever we play, she crawls and pulls a controller down for her self and pushes buttons and laughs, just like she is playing right along with us.
• She loves books. Books are her favorite toy and she loves to turn the pages. Often I give her a book to play with to watch her turn the pages and babble out loud, reading to herself.
• She loves music. She is always banging things together and singing. The only time she holds still during church is the songs. She loves music and we have great expectations of her becoming some sort of musician.
  

One thing you probably do know about her is how much we love her. We are so glad we get to be her parents!

Monday Mornings

The Problem:Keys locked in the car

(no, we don't have a spare key)

The cheering crowd
(we have the cutest personal cheerleader)

The locksmith
(who was incredibly hot and got paid extra)

Weekend Review

This weekend was full of Christmas fun.

Friday we took Kirsten to Target for her 9 month pictures. They turned out so cute, we stood there for 20 minutes trying to decide which picture to her Grandma's would like more. Who knew we would have such an adorable daughter? We then came home and while Kirk did some work on the computer, I hung Christmas lights in our windows (3 of the 4 strands are now on the ground) and Kirsten crawled around the house at full speed. She has been pretty good about leaving the Christmas tree alone, but she decided it was time for her and the tree to get acquainted. She pulled off an ornament and then spent the next couple minutes trying to figure out how to put it back on the tree. She also opened her first present.

Saturday we went up to Salt Lake for Christmas activities. We went to the festival of trees, which was just really cool. We also saw my aunt Phyllis and family there which was fun. We then headed to Gardner Village where I fell in love with the quilting store. Kirsten wanted to touch every blanket I touched (I have great ambitions of us sewing together now...I'm so glad I have a girl!). After walking through all the shops and taking some pictures by the elves
I asked Kirk "can you see why my sisters and I like it here so much?"
to which he replied "yep, and I can see why you leave me at home"
After a not so great experience at the restaurant there we decided to not let it ruin our day and headed up to see the lights on temple square. But after driving around for an hour looking for parking with a very tired whiney baby in the backseat we headed home.
But Brett, being the awesome brother he is, came down to Provo with his "friend" Andrea to hang out with us, despite our ditching out on plans to hang out in SLC. We had a great time visiting and playing all sorts of fun games.

Now we are headed to church. Don't you just love this time of year at church, when all the kids are dressed so cute? (I mean beside the extra spiritual enlightenment of course!)

Christmastime at our house

We decided to put up the Christmas tree today. I knew Kirsten would be thrilled. Kirk put together our fake tree while I got out ornaments and lights. Kirsten crawled back and forth between us soo excited!!!
Not 5 minutes later she broke her first ornament (the ornament from our first Christmas together). The joy of children. Who am I kidding, I can't blame her. What did I think would happen when I let her play with a snow globe made out of glass (I didn't realize it was made out of glass to my credit). It's so hard not to let her play with everything...she's so adorable, I just can't say no!
We are super excited for Christmas now...we even did a little Christmas shopping today and Christmas music is in the background...ahh
Merry Christmas everyone!

Day 6: Ferry and return to Utah

To get back into Seattle we rode the ferry.

It was really cool...don't be surprised if we move to Seattle in May.
The beach front property was amazing!
Kirsten and Karen on the ferry

The view of Seattle from the ferry
the space needle is clear to the left

The flight back to Utah was great. We are really glad to be home.
Kirsten was so happy she refused to go to bed and just crawled around our house over and over again.
Thanks Frank and Paulette, Tom and Karen, Liz and Derik. Aaron and Joriel for a great trip!

Day 5: Sole Duc Falls and Forks

The hike to Sole Duc Falls was beautiful! Washington definitely has a rain forest.

We hiked about a mile in

Kirk lived in Washington the fall after we graduated.
Ever since he lived there he kept telling me about this waterfall that was really important to him.
After he got home from his mission I told him I knew that he wanted to take me to the waterfall to propose...but I didn't want to wait for a trip to Washington to get engaged.
So three and a half years later...we made it to Kirk's original proposal place
(with Kirsten)

Sole Duc Falls. It was so beautiful. After the waterfall we went to Forks
(because we are a tiny bit twilight crazy)
How can you be that close and not want to go?They even had a truck like Bella's.
Kirk's Dad and Uncle made fun of us plenty...so you don't have to.

This is crescent lake. It is huge. It was a glacier that has melted into a lake. I guess they have not even been able to find the bottom in some places.
It was a really wet day...can you tell?

Day 4: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner was awesome!

We were all stuffed turkeys afterwards.

After clean up and a nap we went to the beach
Frank, Liz, Derik

Where they built a fire
(some thought it might be illegal...only encouraging the fire)

So the grandkids could roast marshmallows
(they were the only ones still hungry)

Karen and Tom
(Kirk's parents)

Kirk and Ben
(who spent most the time throwing rocks into the ocean)

The beach. Love the Washington coastline

Family picture at sunset
Kirsten, Dynelle, Kirk

That evening Kirk and I left Kirsten in the trusted hands of Karen and went and saw the movie Australia. We had so much fun. Thanks Karen!