Family Pictures.

Ashley Huish was kind enough to shoot some family pictures for us and, as always, did a fantastic job! You can check out her work here, on Kennadi’s newborn pictures blog post, or by continuing to scroll down and admiring the great job she did on our family pictures! 

Second Apartment.

For those of you that don’t know, we bought a house! Our first house! A real house! Tender right? Since this blog is kept as a journal for me I have decided to include some pictures of our old apartment for memory keeping. Look for some posts of our new house coming soon!

Island Park.

We ventured up to beautiful Island Park, Idaho during the fourth of July. My grandparents have a cabin up there and I have been itching to take Austin up there for quite some time. My family was going to be up there that weekend so we decided we would crash the party and join in on the festivities. We got up there Thursday afternoon after a quick stop to see our adorable new niece Chloe. That afternoon we went into West Yellowstone and wandered the stores. Kennadi loved looking at all the gigantic stuffed animals. Friday morning Austin got brave and went fishing with my grandpa, dad, and brother-in-law Dillon. My family is way into fishing so I was worried it would be a bit overwhelming for Austin, the novice fisherman. Austin surprised me and was able to catch a handful of fish and as far as I could tell really enjoyed it. He enjoyed it enough to think he needs to buy all new fishing equipment and a cabin in Island Park. I don’t know which is less expensive: golf or fishing. After the guys’ fishing trip ended, we all headed into Yellowstone. Since this was Austin’s first time to the park we decided to hit all the tourist attractions like Old Faithful and some of the Hot Pots. The park was packed but we were still able to see some buffalo, elk, and even a moose. The next morning the guys did some more fishing and then we headed home. It was a quick trip but a fun trip. I think I will have no problem convincing Austin to take me up there again.

10 Months.

At 10 months Kennadi is…

-19 lbs 7 oz and 27.5 inches long.

-her hair is finally long enough to put it in a ponytail!

-mastering the concept of climbing up stairs. Going down stairs is a different story.

-must point at everything. She points where she wants to go, to who she wants to see, and to what she wants to eat or wear.

-gives kisses by putting her forehead on your lips. If I try to get her to kiss my lips I am usually greeted with a tongue inside my mouth.

-loves to talk on the phone. She will put the phone up to her ear or my ear and talk into it.

-loves to be outside. Her favorite thing is when I let her play in the sprinklers on the patio (she still absolutely hates the grass) or when she gets to play with grandpa and grandma’s owl. If she is inside I can always find her standing against the window and pointing outside.

-is way too social! Church is proving to be a real challenge because she just wants to go see and play with everyone. I am already counting down the months until she can go to nursery.

-can balance by herself and can take a few steps by herself as long as her ending destination is really close.

Cheese ball.

Stunna Shades.

Love this little girl.

First Ponytail.

Somebody got into the puffs.

Father's Day.

This good looking husband of mine got to celebrate his first Father’s Day. Queue the cheesy, sentimental Father’s Day blog post.

Austin is seriously the cutest dad to Miss Kennadi. Kennadi just adores him and lights up as soon as he walks into a room or she hears his voice. There have been some days when she has been moody all day yet as soon as Austin gets home from work she is happy and smiley. Most days she wants nothing to do with me once Austin is home. And every day she just points to Austin’s pictures on the wall and grins while he is at work. There is truly something special about the bond between a father and daughter. I hope Kennadi will always look up to Austin and appreciate all that he does for our little family. I for one appreciate how willing (and most of the times happy) Austin is to change poopy diapers, make Kennadi some oatmeal for breakfast, or take the middle of the night shift so that I can get some much needed beauty sleep. I also appreciate how hard Austin works to ensure Kennadi and I have everything we need plus some. Anyway, I guess the point I am trying to make is that Austin is one spectacular dad. Happy Father’s Day Aust!

American Fork Canyon Half Marathon.

This past Saturday I ran the American Fork Canyon Half Marathon, my very first half marathon. To say it was fun and exciting and thrilling would be straight out lying. Honestly, it was hard work, exhausting, and I was unable to move my body for days afterwards. Was it worth it? Absolutely! Will I do it again? You betcha. Actually I am registered for another one next month.  

Race day started out very early, “3:30 am” early to be exactly. I met up with my dad who was also running and we ventured onto American Fork High School. From there we loaded buses and headed up the canyon to the starting line. We had to sit at the starting line for about 45 minutes as we waited for the rest of the buses full of runners to arrive. It was freezing up there, the lines to use the restrooms were long, and anxiety was kicking in. I could not wait to get going.

The starting gun finally went off at 6 am sharp. It was chaos as 2,100 runners were trying to fit through a little opening to begin the race. The first couple of miles went by quick as we were running with a herd of people, trying to avoid being trampled, and trying to set a good pace as to not die before we made it to the finish line. Slowly the people were being weeded out but my dad and I stayed strong. My dad is seriously the best! I absolutely loved running with him. He was my motivator to keep going. Once I hit mile 9 or 10 my legs were starting to feel like jello, my knees were aching, and I felt like I hit a wall. My dad was my silent motivator to keep going. I didn’t want to slow him down any so I kept pushing through.

13.1 miles later I finally crossed the finish line!

There are very few feelings greater than crossing that line and putting the finisher’s medal around your neck. My dad and I both crossed the line at the same time at a time of 2 hours and 19 minutes. My goal time was 2 hours 30 minutes so I was thrilled we finished even faster than anticipated. In the end, I am happy that I can finally mark “Run a Half Marathon” off my bucket list. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time yet lacked the motivation or support to do it. One of the driving forces behind my desire to run this time around was to lose some of the baby weight I put on while I was pregnant with Kennadi which makes me happy to report that most of my pre-pregnancy clothes are a little baggy now! I consider all the training and the race a success!

Now the training begins for the next race…

9 Months.

At 9 Months Kennadi is…

-in 6 month and some 9 month clothes and still rocking the size 3 diapers.

-walking alongside furniture and if we hold her hands. She will stand by herself for a couple of seconds but once she realizes what she is doing she quickly falls down.

-absolutely hates grass. She refuses to touch it and if I sit her down on it she quickly tenses up and freezes like a statue.

-has mastered the waving hello/goodbye.

-always begging to eat more table food but she is still toothless so I have been pretty reluctant. Maybe once those darn teeth come in we can be a little more adventurous in the food category.

-can give high fives and constantly claps.

-loves getting her back rubbed and sometimes that is the only way she will go to sleep.

-has this strange obsession with the bathroom. She absolutely loves being in there and if the door is shut she will knock on the door until someone will open it. She also believes that whenever the tub is turned on it means that it is her turn for a bath. I have caught her crawling into the bathroom with her towel in hand multiple times.

-survived her first ear infection! I am confident it was tougher on me than it was on her.