Random August fun

How is it possible that August is almost over? Summer is basically over. Sad. Here are a few photos to chronicle our second half of August...

Claire's first time ever rockin the piggies...finally, I can do something new with her hair...

Playing at a local park one day. All she wanted to do was climb up and down this ramp.

She would climb up it...

Then run down giggling to herself and sit in the middle. Of course, she would never look at me when she was giggling so I could capture the moment. Instead, this is how she looked after I said her name about ten times and she finally decided to grace me with a quick glance before getting up again.

This is a few days later swimming with her cousin, Drew, in her new pool. Poor Drew didn't have a hat, so he got to wear one of Claire's. I think he can pull it off.

She loves to "splash, splash, splash" or as she says it, "spaa, spaa, spaa."

I've finally gotten a picture of how Claire sleeps. Almost every time I sneak into her room during her nap, this is what she looks like. Bum up.
Looks comfy, huh?

Good times. Yes, Nate and I still exist even though I haven't gotten any photos of us lately.

PS-We're headed to Boston for a fun-filled week with Nate's sister and fam. Woo hoo! Can't wait to see my nephew and niece again!

PPS-Lately my body has decided that sleep is not necessary and that's why this post was written at 4 AM. :(

Squawk, squawk, squawk

Claire loves to talk. Most of the time, it means nothing to people who speak English, but nonetheless, she loves to make sounds. Here are a few of her words:

Five Years

Yep, we are officially old. Nate and I just celebrated our five-year anniversary! It feels like I've always known him, yet sometimes it seems like we haven't been married long at all. Its been an awesome five years. Here's a little look back...

July 31, 2003...married in the Bountiful Temple. Open House in Seattle. Move into the most ghetto apartment in Logan.

2004...living in Logan, going to Utah State. Nate graduates. Live in Seattle for the summer. Back to Logan for Melissa to finish school.

2005...Melissa graduates. Move to Murray. Both get real jobs. Go on our favorite vacation yet...cruise in the Carribean.

2006...Buy our first house. Melissa gets her first digital SLR. Go on some great camping trips. Golf a lot. Melissa gets pregnant.

2007...Claire is born. She pretty much takes over our lives.

2008...Still figuring out how to be parents. Melissa quits working. Travel a lot. Still more traveling to come.

We celebrated by going to Park City for a few days. It was a much needed vacation. The first night we had dinner at my now favorite place to eat dinner, Ruth's Chris.

Nate discovered the best cheesecake of his life. Seriously. Blows Cheesecake Factory out of the water.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast at the yummy Eating Establishment, did a little shopping, golfed 18 holes at Wasatch Golf Course, (where, by the way, I got the first real birdie of my life...on a Par 5 no less) and had dinner at the world-famous Dairy Keen in Heber.

That night we did something we hadn't done since Claire was born...we went to a movie. In a theater.

The next morning we had breakfast at Morning Ray Cafe. YUM. My UW peeps-you know what I'm talking about.

Then took in the Park City Arts Festival.

What a great vacay. It was so fun to spend time just us. I love this guy! Here's to five million more years.

High School Musical!

Thanks to the awesome blog, Your Heart Out, I won tickets to see "High School Muscial on Tour". Woo hoo! It was so much fun! This was the conversation I had with Nate when I told him I won:

Me: "Nate, I just won tickets to High School Muscial!"

Nate: "Cool."

Me: "Aren't you excited?"

Nate: "Sure. Who are you going with while I watch Claire?"

Obviously he has no interests in the fine arts. So I took my friend Katie along and we had a great time! Her dad is even in HSM 3! He got to shake Zac Efron's hand and everything! How cool huh?

This was the opening scene. They did an amazing job with all the backdrops and props.

Katie and me during intermission.

Great play + Great friend = GREAT night

Bear Lake

We went up to Bear Lake last weekend for the annual family reunion on my mom's side. It was so fun, as usual. I wondered what Claire would think of the sand and water, but I didn't need to. Within minutes of being there, she looked like this...

She loved feeling the sand on her belly.

She held still for about three seconds so we could get this pic.

My cousins would say to her, "Claire, where's your nose? Where's your mouth?" and she would eat the sand and everyone would laugh. She thought she was hilarious.

I love this picture because it is SO Claire. Miss Independent, off doing her own thing, not looking back to see who's watching.

Nate and my brother Brandon playing frisbee.

Could I love this hot guy any more? I think not.

Then Claire's cousin Corgan came out to play.

My bro, Ryan, playing with Corgan.

Isn't he adorable?

"What's that on your face?"

Then Claire found this tube and that was it. No more playing in the sand. She just had to push this around everywhere.

A family photo right before we left. What a perfect day!

Swimming adventures

It seems like lately we've been swimming almost every day! That's what summer is all about I guess. (And yet another reason I'm glad I decided to quit my job...what's better than sitting by the pool everyday?) Claire and I just finished our third session of swim lessons and I'm kind of ready for a break. It'll be kind of nice not to have to go every Tues and Thurs...but I'm sure we'll miss it too.

Here are a few pics when we went swimming at my mom's neighbor's pool with Drew.

Love that belly.

Drew kept trying to kiss Claire and she did not like it. Finally, she caved.

Grandma and the kiddies.

The next day, we went swimming at my sis-in-law's house. They have a pool in their community that just opened up...so much fun! These are my nephews, Corgan and Drew, and Claire.

Then a few days later, I went swimming at my good friend, Katie's, parent's house. There were a bunch of my friends from high school there and it was a blast! Here are all the kiddos...

I've been watching Drew for a few days while his parents are out of town. So he came along and they were loving the pretzels.

Finally, that day Claire had the biggest meltdown in the history of Claire Meltdowns. She was obsessed with carrying this green chair everywhere with her. Well, someone tried to take it from her (me) and she freaked out and cried like this until we left. So, being the loving and caring mother I am, I had to document the tantrum.

Of course, within two minutes of being in the car, she was asleep.

Discovery Gateway

Have you been there? If you haven't, it is time for you to go. We went with some friends last week and had a blast! Claire loved playing with the water and balls.

Josiah was loving it too!

They went up and down this slide so many times. Hours of entertainment just from this slide.

We took a fun music class while we were there. Claire only stayed with the group for part of the time. The rest of the time she was obsessed with the magnet board.

In fact, we had so much fun that we took Nate back later that night!

Now I want to get a pass there! How great would that be during the winter when we can't go outside?