Evelyn at 3 months

Evelyn laughed for the first time yesterday! She was cranky all day, she must have known she needed to do something to make up for it. Such a sweet sound.

  

Our little girl is getting bigger! She can't sleep through everything anymore, and the big kids are having to get used to keeping things quieter during her naptimes.

She hates her car seat and screams most of the time we are in the car. That doesn't make it easy to want to go anywhere! Since she doesn't like her car seat and she can't sit up yet, it make running errands hard. So she usually ends up in the front pack anytime we are out and about. The plus side is that I can have my hands free and with all the practice and I can get her in and out quickly now.

Evelyn is on a pretty good eating and sleeping schedule now, it's nice to have it more regular and know what to expect. She still takes a lot of naps throughout the day, and sleeps 10-3pm or so. On days she is fussy it seems like I spend most of the day trying to bounce or rock her to sleep. Usually her gas drops help a lot with that though. She loves cuddling in bed and will snuggle right up to a warm body.

She's only been pooping about every 4 days... which is completely normal for a breast-feeding infant, and has its perks, but I have to be prepared for that 4th day! Her baby hair is falling out a bit, but she won't get bald, it will just be nice to have that thicker hair come in soon.

If it's been longer than she'd like inbetween feedings, when I sit down to feed her she will take 30 seconds to keep on screaming before she latches on just to let me know she's angry about it. When she eats, she wants my full attention-- no books, no surfing the web, just direct eye contact and focused on her. And really, how could I not oblige?

This is in no way an eventful video, just a lot of me baby talking to Evelyn and her in action.

 

Swimming lessons

Cora and Violet took a week of swimming lessons from our favorite swim teacher Bobi again this year. They love her warm pool and her fun, patient personality. And I love the small class size and that they can work on  exactly what they need to learn. Cora gained a lot of confidence this year and is a great beginning swimmer! Violet is still more hesitant, but is doing well with her strokes in the shallow end where she knows she can put her feet down. She also doesn't like getting her face wet too much yet, so it's something to work on. All in all a successful swim session. Hopefully we'll have a bit more of an open schedule next summer to do 2 weeks of lessons, so I can feel more confident taking 4 kids to our neighborhood pool! 

Park City

The stars aligned and almost all of Kevin's family was able to be in Utah around the same time, right after Evelyn's blessing. Quite a feat considering that Kevin has family that live in Texas, Oregon, and North Carolina/Nevada (Kurt and Jen were able to come for a couple of days during their move between states). Brad and Dawn graciously got a condo in Park City for us all, it was a great week to hang out there!

We shopped, went to the Park City Fourth of July parade, visited the Olympic Park museum, went swimming, played at the park, went to Anna's bridal shower, spent a day at Jordanelle, and topped it off with attending Anna (Kevin's cousin) and Barry's wedding in Draper on Saturday. We had a bit of rain that derailed our hiking plans, but other than that, things went really well. 

Jordanelle was so much fun! The kids loved playing at the beach. I wasn't sure how Evelyn would do, but she actually slept through almost the whole time we were there, and stayed nice and comfy in the camper.

We found a sandy area to play and even got some wave action from the boats going by

Cora

 Luke-- all ready to play!

--and ready to nap

 Grandma and Violet

 

The kids really loved spending time with their cousins!

  

 

 Even these two little cousins... Evelyn and Kenny

 Cora and Kylee

 Dan and Evelyn 

 Grandma with all the kiddos in the hot tub

 Parade watching

Ice cream eating

 And a quick shot of us right before we left... Brad even photoshopped Spencer in so it's the whole family

And one shot from the wedding day... even if it wasn't of the beautiful bride and groom!

Evelyn's Blessing

Little Evelyn was blessed on July 1st. Brad, Dawn, Kristen, Kylee, Sorayah, Sydne and Keri drove down from Portland and got here Saturday night. Shad, Jen, Bailee, Layla, Kissie, and Pata came Sunday morning to join the celebration. It was so nice to have lots of our family here! With our church being late we were able to have a relaxing morning to visit and take some pictures too. 

Violet and Pata

 Evelyn and Brad

 Kylee and Cora

 One pretty good family picture before the kids got tired of it

 Luke got cranky first-- refusing to look

but that's just how it goes sometimes!

 

Then I made everyone go out to the backyard where I thought the pictures would be good because it was sunny, but really everyone was just hot and looking into the sun. Sigh.  

All of the men who were in the blessing circle: Shad, Dad, Kevin, and Brad

Our family with Brad and Dawn, minus a cranky Luke

My side of the family

 My mom and Dad with Kevin, Evelyn, and I

All of the cute cousins who came

  Phew, back inside! 

Evelyn and Layla

 Us with Kevin's side of the family

 Evelyn showing off her bubble blowing skills, with Violet

 Our little party decorations, which also doubled for Emily's bridle shower decorations and Cora's birthday decorations. Multi-purpose! 

Aunt Keri with Evelyn

 

And our lovely lady all by herself... 2 1/2 months old