Happy Fourth!

We hung out with Kipp and Kathleen on the Fourth. The city puts on a Freedom Festival every year so we hit up Colonial Days.

Rory being a colonial soldier.

Kipp and Kathleen being colonial delinquents.

Oh look! Rory being a colonial soldier again.

Messing around at Kipp and Kathleen's before the fireworks. They have a perfect view of the Stadium of Fire fireworks. We didn't even have to pay! Nice.

Happy Birthday Teeny Girl

Wow! I seriously can't believe I have a one year old. I know everyone says it goes so fast but I didn't really believe them. Especially during the up-all-nighters. But here she is, one year old! She's weened and sleeps through the night and is basically out of the  house. (har har)

We celebrated her birthday a few times. The first was at Heidi and Jared's. Heidi was awesome and built Madelyn her first ever cake! They also gave Teeny a really fun barn toy. 

The Cake... and Rory.

Sadly there was no smashing, only tears. All that attention was a little much I guess.

Then we celebrated at my parents house.... twice! Here's Madelyn pretending she's five.

Hanging out with Great-Grandma Johnson.

Oh yeah, it was also Super Sam Samchez's birthday. He accidentally missed his own birthday celebration and had to join Madelyn's.

He Is Iron Man

Enjoying a book with Great-Grandpa Johnson.

Trying to decide if Iron Man is really a good guy or not. 

She got so many cute and wonderful presents but her favorite to snuggle with was this sweet little chair from Uncle Kipp and Aunt Kathleen. Thanks!!

Lighting the final birthday cake. Madelyn didn't actually get to enjoy this one because she was in bed.

Mt. Timpanogos

We hiked Mt. Timpanogos this Saturday. It's almost the tallest mountain in the area... It was also a little over 13 miles. We're not doing that again. There were definitely some tears involved. But for the most part it was a great hike. The scenery was amazing! Tons of waterfalls.

Dropped her cheese stick. Bummer.

Rory's face after throwing snow down my pants.

Taking a rest and singing the Three Little Ducks song. It's her favorite and it seems to be constantly stuck in my head.

We saw at least fourteen mountain goats up there!

Scoping out even more mountain goats. This was the scariest part of the hike. The trail wasn't really there so we just slipped and slid over this massive snow field. Some parts of it were sort of sketchy. Good thing Rory has excellent balance.

Rory was so happy to have this handy walking stick his mom gave him. He called it his third leg.

Rory ascending the Stairway to Heaven. Up up up we went.

And we made it to the summit in one piece! Although we were a bit wind whipped.

Hanging out in the shelter up top trying to get out of the wind.

My thoughts exactly.

We had some fun on the way down sliding down the snow field. Rory wants me to say we glissaded down because it sounds cooler. I, however, glissaded on my bum (or buttocks) so I don't know if I really deserve the term.

More goats. I love the baby! Right after this (after I'd stowed away my camera) we came across another mama goat and her twin fuzzies! They were so squeezable. After my knee jerk squeeze reaction I realized they were probably parasite infested. Yick.

Pete's Owie

Poor Pete had a head on collision with a fellow soccer player last week. The results were a split eyebrow, a black eye, and a cool story. No stitches!

Baby Sees a Fish

We took Madelyn to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy, UT. She loved it and left grubby little hand prints all over the tanks. Job security for the wonderful workers.

Even though the fish were cool her favorite part was just running around the halls of this strange new place.

Lake Blanche

We hiked up to Lake Blanche this weekend with some friends.

The big waterfall that comes out of Lake Blanche. (ish... I think it might actually come out of some of the lower lakes.)

Self portrait 

Sundial Peak. We hear there's a trail that goes all the way to the top once the snow melts. We plan on going back some day.

We made it! Some nice guy offered to take our picture. It's funny hiking with a baby. Everyone wants to talk to you.

So this is Madelyn's new face. Haha. She does it when she's excited or hungry or anticipatory or surprised or.... basically all the time! It makes me laugh a lot.

Looking down from a waterfall that flows into Lake Blanche. Rory and I were trying to see if there was a lake further up that this waterfall flowed from but there was too much snow. Unsolved mystery.

Madelyn really enjoyed playing in the dirt. She got it all over in her hair.One of the little boys we hiked with decided she needed to be washed so he got his hands all wet and came and rubbed them all over in her hair. That made a glorious muddy mess. Rory ended up just holding her over the lake and swishing her hair through the water.

Happy Birthday Pete (and Mark)!

They're one year older and...well, one year older. Happy birthday guys!