Timpanogas Cave Tour

Steve and I have been wanting to do the Timpanogas cave tour since we moved out here 5 years ago. We had even bought tickets 2 times before, but decided at the last minute to not go because of bad weather (once it was snowing and once it was too hot). Despite waking up to an overcast sky and sprinkles on Sunday morning, we went to American Fork Canyon and did the hike and tour. Third time is the charm. Our group included Joshua, Nikki, Michelle, Josh, Max, Steve, Carolyn, and me.

The hike up to the cave, although paved and only a mile and a half long, is a pretty steep jaunt. Hangovers and all, we made it to the top of the trail, hearts racing, with a few minutes to spare before the tour started. Inside, we toured three interconnected caves. They were pretty cool to see, especially now that they have walkways and handrails and lights. I cannot imagine the people who found and initially explored these caves. I am pretty sure I would NOT have climbed through those tiny natural entrances in the pitch black to see what was there. No way!

The views from the trail were pretty spectacular, too.

After the hike and tour, we celebrated Nikki's birthday with a picnic lunch. The weather was not all that cooperative, so we moved our picnic to her house where we had cake and coffee (and of course, some "rock band"!)

An evening at the park

11 Months Old

The bird is 11 months old today. Her favorite things to do include:

Playing hide-and-seek with herself.

Escaping to the bathroom to eat toilet paper.

Playing with the baby in the mirror.

She had to go to the doctor last week because her ears were bothering her, again! She is up to 18 lbs, 6 oz. She has yet to take more than a step or two by herself (and those were by accident). I predict that she will be walking right around her first birthday. Maybe she will get another tooth or two by then, too. So far, the two that popped through last month are barely making their way past her gums. She will definitely not have a pigtails for her birthday, as she is still largely bald.

The Little Gym

When Steve was a stay-at-home dad, he started taking Carolyn to "The Little Gym." It is an hour-long class, where she gets to tumble and explore. More than for Carolyn, the class was an opportunity to get Steve out of the house. Plus, I think he got a lot of attention from all of the moms, since he was the only dad there. Here are a few pictures from her last class.

More videos of Carolyn and Leo playing

Carolyn - 10 months old
Originally uploaded by boo4172002

To our faithful blog readers,

I received the most comments from you on the last video I posted of Carolyn and Leo. So, here are three more. They are not as good as the last one, but they do show how their play has evolved. It also shows how Carolyn's crawl has evolved over the last month. Leo has become more tolerant of Carolyn, since he realizes that she always throws him food at mealtime.

Enjoy the videos. And, for those who may not have figured it out yourself, you can press thebutton with the four arrows on the lower right corner to make the video bigger.

Turn up the volume on this one and hear her laugh

More videos of Carolyn and Leo
Originally uploaded by boo4172002

And a third one

moving around and playing with Leo
Originally uploaded by boo4172002

My First Mother's Day

I have always enjoyed recognizing my mom on Mother's Day, but I did not fully realize how special the day is until this year, my first time to experience the day as a mother. First, I got the card with Carolyn's foot prints which made me cry. Then, I had a fabulous weekend-- thanks to Steve, who made a real effort to recognize and appreciate me as a mother. On Saturday night, we got dressed up and went out to dinner... a nice, long dinner with multiple courses and cocktails. It was so nice to have adult conversation and not worry about keeping Carolyn quiet and entertained. Carolyn was home with a babysitter. And, we were fortunate to spend the evening with Nikki and Joshua, who decided to blow off an event they were supposed to go to. On Sunday morning, Steve took us to brunch. Here, we had to take turns juggling Carolyn and making sure that we did not leave a mess of food on the floor around her, but it was fun to be out as a family. Carolyn's new thing is to give kisses. Again, my heart melted.

Another first

This afternoon when I picked up Carolyn from daycare, her teacher said that today was a big day in Carolyn's life. I thought she was going to tell me that she took her first steps or something exciting like that, but instead she handed me a formal looking document and said, "Today is the day Carolyn receives her first incident report." As I scanned Carolyn and saw nothing visibly wrong with her, I figured she must have been the bully and not the victim in the incident. However, it turns out that one of the other kids scratched Carolyn on the cheek while they were playing on the floor. Look as hard as you can in the picture below; you will not see the scratch. It is so tiny. I never would have noticed it, but I dutifully read the incident report and was happy to see that the "treatment administered" included "TLC" and that she was "happy and giggly" thereafter. Obviously, the incident did not traumatize her.

As I was reading and signing the incident report, Yumi (her teacher) took Carolyn to the kitchen area. When she brought her back, Carolyn had a special treat for me. The older kids in the center had been baking muffins for all of the moms, and Carolyn (obviously with A LOT of help from Elisa and Yumi) made a special mother's day card for me. It had a picture of her and a glittery stamp of her feet. I LOVE IT! I admit it, I got a tear in my eye when I looked at it again this evening when we got home.