Happy Fall

On Friday after work, Carolyn and I went apple picking. (I am hoping to make apple pies today.) On Saturday, we went to Park City with Michelle & Max for the Scarecrow Festival at McPolin Farms, where we made scarecrows, painted pumpkins, and drank apple cider. On Sunday, we are driving to Heber Valley with the Zimmers and Joshua for a dinner at Snake Creek Grill. The mountains are peppered with bright red trees. The air is crisp. The sky is blue. Fall is fantastic.

Steve's Blog Post

While it is an everyday occurence for the sun to set, it is something we treasure. Watching the colors of the sky from season to season and from day to day is one of the reasons why we like living out here so much.

Beatnik Party ...Like, Cool Man!

Cubes, Squares, and Clydes all came together for an evening of beatnik fun at the Staley pad.

Carolyn's Stats at 15 Months

The peanut is growing. At 15 months, she has finally broken the 20 pound mark.

BIRTH: 6 lbs, 10 oz & 19.5 inches
6 MONTHS: 14 lbs, 10 oz & 26.5 inches
12 MONTHS: 18 lbs, 8 oz & 28.75 inches
NOW, 15 MONTHS: 20 lbs, 6 oz & 30 inches. (45 cm head circumference).

15 months

Carolyn is just about 15 months. Hard to believe! To commemorate this milestone, I took several videos and photos of her doing the things she does best on a day-to-day basis. The first one is of her eating. She shows a lot of interest in using a fork and spoon, though she is not always so successful. Who cares if it is with fingers or silverware, she manages to get a lot of food into her belly. As much as she eats, I am surprised that she is still as small as she is.



She also knows what she wants and she gets mad when she doesn't have it, so thankfully she has caught on pretty well to sign language, allowing her to communicate some of her needs witout having very many spoken words yet. She can now communicate when she wants to "eat" - if she wants "more" of something -- and when she is "all done." The video below of her standing in the high chair waving her arms is her version of "all done." I am not sure why she insists on standing in her high chair.



Another favorite pasttime is playing in the water. Whether in the pool or in her bathtub or backyard pool, you can tell her to "swim" or "kick her feet" and she immediately flips over and swims as hard as she can. She is a real fish in the pool, and she tries hard in the bathtub too. She has absolutely no fear around the water, and likes to put her head under and to blow bubbles.



This one is of her trying to put on her shoes, and also showing you the scarlet letter that she now has to wear. She continues to bite her friends at day care, so she now wears an orange chew toy that attaches to her shirt. He is called, "Bite Man." Whenever she is going in for a bite, her teachers ask her, "Where is Bite Man?" and she has started to learn that she can bite that instead of gnawing on her friends' arms. Poor girl, there are at least four new teeth in the past few weeks, and possibly a few more.



The last video is a repeat/update of one that I belive was posted a few months ago; she still loves to push her stroller, except now her problem solving skills have gotten better, so she can maneuver it around more things. You can also see how she has learned to escape.



This girl, she's trouble! I swear, we do try to discipline her, but how can you not crumble when you see her giggle or smile. It is just too cute to see what new things she discovers how to do each day.

A Get Well Wish for Grandma Lynn

As my mom puts it, she had her other leg cut off. Fortunately, the surgery went well. And, yes they did physically cut her leg apart, remove the old knee, and replace it with a titanium joint. The recovery is long and hard, but she is already back home and slowly learning how to walk again. To help brighten her spirits and to speed the recovery, Carolyn and I made a video for her today. Enjoy, Mom. Now that you know there is a new video of Carolyn posted, you are going to have to walk over to the computer and check it out. Glad you made it!

Where she spends her days

Here are a few pictures of Carolyn at daycare. She enjoys her time there, especially when she gets to go outside. If the 'big red buggy' (the stroller for 6 kids) is sitting outside of her classroom, she will climb into it and wait, rather than going into the classroom.

Unfortunately, she has had a rash of 'incident reports' lately, but her teachers assure me that she is a kind and empathetic girl, and that I should not worry too much about it. They also tell me that she is always the first one to go over to a friend who is crying to comfort them.... but the truth of the matter is, she is probably also the one who is most likely to hurt her friends by gnawing on their arms! Who knows. With all things baby, I am sure this is just a phase. Two new teeth (number 5 & 6 for her) have popped through in the past week and I see another 4-6 teeth just under her gums. That still leaves quite a few more to make an appearance in her mouth, so I assume she will keep biting until the pain subsides. Ugh. (I cannot tell you how happy I was to find an incident report the other day, saying that someone else had bitten her!)