simple joys of Summer

We have been busy enjoying our Summer...

Swimming:

 Hannah's first swim of the year--she had a blast with her cousins!

 Wienie/Marshmallow Roasting:

Good times!

 

 Bowling:

 Hannah loved moving the balls around.

And she was an adorable bowler!

Baseball:

 I finally skipped work to go see my nephews play little league, and I got to see Clay pitch. Cute!

 It was also fun to watch Cole hanging out in right field. :)

Hannah enjoyed the game and our family members that were there.

Nice shot of cutie Hannah's pretty hair and long eyelashes.

I love these boys!

 

 More baseball:

 Our first Owlz game of the season, and Hannah already acted like a pro.

She giggled hysterically every time she saw the pitcher throw the ball. So cute!

 Ice cream (though I prefer snow cones):

Hannah loved eating homemade ice cream while reading in the new camp chair we got her tonight.

Yay for Summer!!!

A year-and-a-half!

Yup, my baby is 18 months old today. Totally crazy! We had a pretty low-key day. Hannah was super tired this morning (either due to teething or allergies), so we missed singing time at the library (which Hannah absolutely loves). However, Hannah did get a rare treat at lunch...

A dum dum sucker. We're party animals, you know.

Tonight my cousin Saundra took some pics of cutie Hannah in an orchard in Santaquin. Can't wait to see how they turned out! We also got ice cream at the Red Barn. Yum!

And here are a few pics of Hannah enjoying her half-birthday presents that we gave her a week ago...

Since Hannah LOVES her baby doll, we got her a stroller, a play pen, and a bunch of plastic bottles and other stuff for her baby. When Hannah first saw the stroller, she walked around with it for several minutes (even though it's not sturdy enough to give her any support). Unfortunately, Hannah quickly realized it was a ploy to get her to walk and has only briefly walked with it once since then. Silly, stubborn sweetie.

 Hannah loves feeding her baby doll. So cute!

This is the look I got when I told Hannah to smile. I guess she was sick of having her pic taken. :)

But her daddy got her to smile again!

Scott and I sure love our sweet Hannah! I can't believe she is getting so old. Her talking has expanded greatly this past month. We especially love how she says grandpa--ga-pa-ga. She will try to repeat most of what we ask her to, but when she tires of it, everything is "wah-wah-wah." Hannah loves going to music time and laptime (story time) at the library. Lately she is pretty obsessed with singing tons of songs and doing all the actions to them all day. It's way cute and fun! Another of Hannah's favorite things to do is drop or throw something and then ask where'd it go (a-go?) with her hands up and out. Totally cute!

Happy 18 months to our Hannah baby!

Daddy's Day & Nursery

Due to the fact that Scott hasn't blogged in several years, I guess I will speak for him in saying that he had a good Father's Day. He was able to sleep in, and I even fried him some eggs (yes, I am amazing like that). He got a card and a candy thermometer from Hannah (gotta love Scott and his love of kitchen gadgets). He also got a card and some treats from me. Scott's combined Father's Day and birthday gift will be a full-sized grill to replace his puny one that he hates. He has yet to pick it out.

Anyway, this afternoon Scott took Hannah to Nursery (at church) for the first time (one day before she turns 18 months), and Hannah appeared to like it a lot. She didn't mind when Scott left after a few minutes, and every time we snuck out of Primary to peek at her through the large peep-holes she was just playing and watching all the other kids. Success. I guess we'll see how next week goes now that she knows how long she will be left in there.

This evening we had dinner and played games with Scott's fam. It was fun. We celebrated Father's Day with my fam last Wednesday.

Scott finished the day rocking his sweet baby girl to almost-sleep...

What a cute, tired happy baby with her adoring daddy!

I guess I won't go on and on like I usually do about what  great daddy Scott is to Hannah. Just know that he is one of the main reasons Hannah is such a happy, funny girl. She sure loves her daddy, and I love him too! Happy Father's Day, Daddy Scottie!

**Update on Hannah: She is stubborn. Plain and simple. Her physical therapist and developmental specialist agree that Hannah could walk on her own all the time if she wanted to, but she just doesn't really want to. And she is way too smart to be tricked into doing it. Hannah actually boycotted her walker 2 weeks ago, and has only used it briefly on 4 occasions since then. But Hannah has made up a game where she says "let go" (eh-go) and will stand on her own for several seconds and then clap for herself. I haven't tried to make Hannah walk on her own for a week now, and I think it is helping her be less resistant to standing/walking. I'm still trying to find the right balance of accepting Hannah's timetable for walking and encouraging her gross motor development. Good, good times. Please keep Hannah in your prayers. Thanks!

Fest o' Summer

This weekend we enjoyed the Orem Summerfest...

 I LOVE this pic of Hannah kickin' it in her stroller. :)

 We enjoyed sharing some fun treats.

It was a windy day, yo!

 

As you can see, Hannah really enjoyed eating some chocolate-drizzled bananas and strawberries.

Hannah was much happier to be there with her aunt Christina than this pic shows.

Hannah LOVED the carousel until right before it started. Silly girl.

Summer fun with the cousins!

We later enjoyed watching the fireworks with some friends. Even though Hannah appears not to be watching...

 

...she actually peaked at most of them and liked them. Funny!

We hope you are all enjoying your Summer so far!

Sweet & Sassy

Those are probably 2 of the best words to describe my Hannah. And I, of course, think she has the perfect balance of both--most of the time.

Those of you who know Hannah well know how sweet and friendly she usually is. She is always talking to and waving at people out in public--at church, in stores, at baseball games, at the library, etc. But as soon as a stranger tries to hold her, Hannah shows her sassy side with a purposeful head shake and "unh-uh!" She also uses this sass with the people she knows and loves if she is tired or grumpy or just needs a few minutes to warm up. Hannah will eventually warm up to most people she meets but only after some extensive observing to make sure they are safe.

I love this sweet & sassy balance that Hannah has in social situations. Part of me sometimes wishes she would just be friendly to everyone so that all would see her adorable social self and love her like I do. But another part of me hopes Hannah will stay sassy and distant to all strangers and especially members of the opposite sex for the rest of her life. In all actuality, I do think it's a good thing that she has already found some balance for herself. And Scott and I find Hannah rather adorable and humorous when she goes from her loving, cuddly self to her sassy, stubborn self in an instant. So, so cute and funny.

So, lately Hannah has been laying on the sass rather thick when it comes to walking. And I alternate between admiring it and finding it a bit frustrating. After she took her first steps 2 weeks ago, Hannah only took one more step the next day and another one a couple of days after that. Since then, she will walk just fine with her walker or holding onto one of our hands, But the instant she senses that we are trying to get her to walk on her own, she shakes her head defiantly with an "unh-uh!" while bending her knees and slumping to the ground. It's usually pretty funny but sometimes frustrating. We're not sure what in the world she has against walking on her own. We know that she is definitely capable of doing it, but apparently she doesn't want to just yet. Silly girl. I really think she would love it so much better than her walker. We're probably going to have to take away that walker soon...

Anyway, I am trying to be patient and just let Hannah walk when she is ready. It's hard to balance letting go with supporting her development. These past few days Hannah has actually finally been purposely letting go of furniture and standing on her own for a few seconds at a time. This is definite progress. I'm pretty sure Hannah would start walking all over the place if she sensed that we didn't give a rip about it. Cute little sassy, stubborn girl. Can't wait for those teenage years... :)

One pic of the cute little sassafrass...

I thought Hannah looked really cute eating her Cheerios this morning, with her bib and bow (to keep the hair out of her face) matching her jammies. Love that sweet face!