Hie to Kolob

We feel very fortunate to live so close to beautiful red rock country. This afternoon was a perfectly sunny day so we headed to Kolob (north end of Zion NP). We met up with our wonderful childhood friends from Colorado and enjoyed a pleasant walk. We had a great visit with them yesterday over lunch and got caught up on their lives. While growing up in Colorado both of our family's had kids at the same ages, so we have lots of fun memories with the Pyle's!

We hiked up the South Fork of Taylor Creek Trail.

Sara holding Sadie, Don & Dea Pyle, Kenny & Tanya Simler, Sawyer, Liz, & Kaden.

As usual Sawyer was on his best behavior. He enjoyed the hike and managed to get in a good nap too.

Enjoying this beautiful weather and gorgeous surroundings!

The cute Kaden & Sadie at the beginning of the trail.

I'm so happy Sawyer likes hiking :)

In the car Sara was getting Sawyer to laugh and then he surprised her with his own little trick.

Play Time!

Sawyer gets the fun started early around here!

And yes, fortunately it ends early too :)

Our Family in Washington

We spent a great week in the Seattle area visiting George's parents and two of his brother's and their families. It has been WAY too long since we've gotten together. In fact it was before George and I were married that we'd seen most of them. Thanks to all for taking off work, making long drives with lots of little people, and feeding and entertaining us. We got to meet a new nephew and niece and introduce Sawyer for the first time to everyone! It really was a fabulous visit.

Grandpa & Grandma Bates meeting Sawyer for the first time.

Cousins setting sail at ages 3, 14, and 15-months-old :)

Proud papas and their babies.

George & Sawyer, David & Heidi, Rodney & Owen

Amazing Grandma Bates has made quilts for all of her grandchildren! Above are the latest 3.

Grandpa reading to Owen and Elissa.

Bonding with our Canadian nieces and nephew.

We took Sawyer swimming for the first time. He wasn't sure what to think of the big cold bath tub, but I think he kind of enjoyed it.

Ashton loved to rock Sawyer to sleep :)

So did Natalia, but she also found time to be my resident hair dresser every day...gotta love the side pony tail. Thanks Natalia!

Owen has the cutest smile and doesn't hesitate to flash it around :)

Sawyer got lots of snuggles from his cousins.

Natalia and Elissa, such beauties!

Skipping rocks on the Skykomish River.

George claims that his brother, David, is his only legitimate rock skipping competitor, what a compliment :)

The cute little people.

Sawyer was a great little traveller - he got upset when we landed in Seattle, but the descent was rapid and I think his ears were bothering him. He continued to sleep through the night, although with the time change he woke up early each morning. We had fun taking pictures while dad wasn't even aware :) Just looking at his cute little face in this picture makes me want to sneak in to his crib and give him a smooch right now!

Grandma and Sawyer hanging out.

Grandma and the kiddies making ice cream in the ball!

The Wii was very popular. We played rockband and tennis and went golfing and bowling too. Grandpa wants to get one for their retirement years. I think he liked it :)

Heidi is motoring around like crazy. She looks so tiny, it's hard to believe such a little person can be such a whirlwind! You can tell she's a daddy's girl.

We celebrated Sammy's birthday with her on the 23rd. I made oatmeal spice cake with browned butter frosting. Sammy introduced us to a fun tradition...after she made a wish and blew out the candles, we relit one candle and each person got to say a wish for Sammy and then blow out that candle. I think I'll start doing that for birthdays from now on!

Sawyer also had his 3-month birthday while we were there...he now weighs 16 lbs 6 oz. and is 25.5 inches long. He has almost doubled his weight since birth!

Growing family one baby at a time - (left to right) Colleen, Elissa, David, Heidi, Natalia, Ashton, Rodney, Owen, Sammy, Liz, George, Sawyer, Natalie, & Bill Bates

It was a GREAT visit and I'm so happy we were able to take Sawyer and introduce him to his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. He loved it! There was talk about a Bates family reunion in 2012. Let's make it happen and get EVERYONE there. No doubt we are due for one, since the last one was over ten years ago. There are lots of new spouses and kids since then. Let's make it happen!

Makeover

Sara's niece (I claim her too!) goes to Evan's Beauty School. One of their recent assignments was to give someone a makeover. So Rachel gave Sara a makeover...she got highlights and a very cute hair cut, she looks gorgeous! And Rachel's friend, Bonnie, gave me a makeover. I've been contemplating dying my hair brown for a while, so this was just the push I needed to go to the dark side :) It still shocks me every time I look in the mirror, but it's growing on me. It's a fun change up from the ol' blonde I've had my whole life. We had to do 'Before' and 'After' pictures for their project, I wish I had those because I posed just like they do in magazines for the before photo, I'm sure it was super ugly!

Lizi as a brunette, woah!

Bonnie also cut some nice swoop bangs for me.

Tongues

Let me introduce Sawyer's new friend:

Mr. TONGUE!

Sawyer's latest obsession - he LOVES his tongue, well really any tongue will do just fine. He's very interactive and likes to stick out his tongue when you stick yours out. He's been doing this for about a month now. It's a very fun game :)

His favorite song 'Little Green Frog' is perfect because you have to stick out your tongue for different parts of the song :-P

I love this little guy and am SO happy I get to play with him full time!