Yuck!

The winter has just begun and Molly has already had her first cold. Poor thing. She is over it now, but they last way too long. It amazes me how well kids do when they are sick.

Cup stacking machine

Molly has liked these cups for awhile. When she started sitting up and scooting around we would make a tower out of them and she would have fun knocking them over. Now she likes to stack the cups together. It's cute how she gets excited after she does it. She usually claps for herself, even if she doesn't stack them all together.

Molly and Daddy

Sorry Brady, but she just looks so cute! Brady closes his eyes in pictures 80 percent of the time. I cut Brady's hair for the first time ever. I was pretty nervous, but it really was super easy. He could have probably done it himself, but he was kind enough to let my give it a try. I'm excited about saving money.

Molly the Octopus!

Molly was an Octopus for Halloween. She did surprisingly well in her costume. We didn't think she'd be able to get around, but sure enough she didn't let those extra legs get in the way. Brady and I dressed up as well. Too bad we don't have any pictures because we looked awesome! Actually we looked pretty lame. We waited too long to plan our costumes and we ended up being fishermen who didn't really look like fishermen. We'll do better next year!

Molly continues to grow too fast!

I keep meaning to write the little things down that Molly does, but I keep thinking I'll have time later and then later comes and nothing is written and Molly is doing something else. As you can see from this picture, Molly loves to drink through a straw. This is the only way We've been able to get her to drink. Thanks Mom for teaching her that handy little trick. She has only recently started to take a sippy cup. Molly waves hi and bye. Her Grandpa Larson taught her that a few months ago when he was here. She can ask for more with her little hand. It has also come to mean 'want' 'food' and 'hungry'. She can also clap. Sometimes we watch Good Morning America and Molly will wave at all the people and clap when she hears cheering. My Great Grandma Smith's dog Clifford taught Molly how to bark like a dog. I think the experience scared her to death and imprinted that noise in her little head forever. Molly still army crawls like a champ and must think that is good enough because she won't crawl. She pulls herself up on things and cruises a little. It is so fun to be greeted in the morning with a happy Molly standing in her crib. We love her so much and can't believe how she has changed our lives. She brings us so much joy.

A day with the Witches!

We have been so lucky to have such nice weather so late in October. Molly loves to be outside. We love our little cutie.

Happy Birthday Brady! (yesterday)

Brady's birthday was yesterday and I just wanted to let him know how much I love him. I always wonder how I got so lucky to get him. He takes such good care of me and Molly. I hope you had a good birthday Brady! I love you!

Canning!

On my way to becoming domestic! You would think I would start with cooking or cleaning, but no I start with canning. I grew up with my mom canning, but she stopped many years ago and I never made her show me how. My dear neighbor was nice enough to show me the ropes and help me can the pears from our pear tree. The pears from our tree are hard and don't usually taste great, so I thought they might taste better canned. I guess we'll see. We also found apples for 39 cents a lb. (I should have told everyone about the deal... Sorry!) so we made applesauce. Molly loves it. It was so much fun to do and much easier than I expected!

Random pics of cute Molly!

Molly and her boyfriend Mac! You would not believe how hard it was to get them both sitting. They are so busy.

Molly enjoying the nice fall weather.

Out walking with Great Grandma Smith. Molly loves to visit Grandma.

What a cute naked girl. It is such a fight to change her. She hates to hold still. She has places to go.

Molly loves her toothbrush. Hopefully she doesn't get her mommy's teeth.

Yea for the California sun!

Brady and I spent our honeymoon in San Diego which was wonderful. San Diego is probably one of my favorite places I've ever been. We also went to Newport last year while I was pregnant with my family. It wasn't the best of experiences being pregnant and all, so we decided to go again this year while Molly could still fly for free. It was hot! Grandma and Grandpa came with us and they were a huge help. Vacationing with a baby is quite a different experience. I wouldn't change it for the world, but it does make things a lot harder.

Molly's first plane ride. She actually did pretty well. I was the one that was really uptight (surprise, surprise.) There were lots of other kids and babies so that made it a lot easier. I don't know how people do it on long flights!

Gotta keep the bright sun out of the eyes. Molly wouldn't keep these on for very long so we were lucky to get this picture.

Molly and her Tinkerbell umbrella. She wouldn't let go of it. Every time I would take it away she would scream. A little inconvenient considering the size of the thing.

Disneyland!

Disneyland really does have a magical feeling about it. I seriously got goosebumps as we were walking in. I've been there many times and it was fun to share with Molly, although she won't remember it. At least she was free!

Molly was not very happy to meet Minnie

Grandma with Molly. Disneyland was all decorated for Halloween. It was neat to see all the different things. The haunted mansion was converted into 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'. They changed everything including the music. It was really cool.

Grandpa with Molly. Grandma and Grandpa were a huge help. We got to take turns going on rides and it worked out perfectly with the parent pass thingy. Plus the lines were wonderful. Short lines make such a difference. Especially when it's hot.

Us on Dumbo. Probably the only ride Molly liked. She doesn't like loud noises or darkness so she got a little afraid on the other rides, including Winnie the Pooh. I really like the expression on her face. Some kid was taking the picture and she was probably wondering who the heck he was. She was such a little trooper and we really had a great time.

The Beach!

Us at the beach. Seriously, my favorite place on earth.

Molly liked the sand...

hated the cold water

holding on tightly. "Daddy, save me!"

safe in her Daddy's arms

The Angels

We got to go see a baseball game. Unfortunately it was right at Molly's bedtime. Fortunately it wasn't the Mariners or a good game. Molly has extra sensitive ears and so if she would have fallen asleep in the stadium she would have woken up at the slightest noise. We took turns walking around with her outside while the Angels let the Rangers beat up on them. We love baseball and it was fun to see the Angel's stadium despite Molly being a little grumpy.

Growing too fast!

Molly at 8 months

Molly at 3 months

Molly had her 9 month check up today. Her weight has changed a little, but everything else is still the same. She weighed 19 lb 5 oz (62nd percentile). She is 29.9 inches long (97th percentile). And her head is 46.5 cm (94th percentile). It is crazy to see how different she looks just months later. It is so fun to watch her grow.

A visit from Grandma & Grandpa

Molly had a busy week with Grandma and Grandpa when they came to drop Julie off for school. She helped Julie move in, went to the fair, ate lots of yummy food, and got lots of love and attention. We love it when Grandma and Grandpa come and stay with us. We get to sleep in, take naps, leave the house together after 8pm, and never have to worry about Molly getting enough attention. Grandpa even taught Molly how to wave hello/goodbye/I don't know what I'm doing, but I like the attention. Come back soon! We miss you!

We call it 'The Caterpillar'

A few weeks ago Molly started scooting around. We think she kinda looks like a caterpillar (a very noisy caterpillar, she wouldn't be able to sneak up on too many people).

Our little Ute

Molly was a good luck charm last Saturday for the University of Utah. She didn't really watch the game, but she wore this outfit and the Utes won. You do the math.

Go Bees!

Molly got to go to her first baseball game tonight. Brady would have preferred that her first baseball experience had been watching the Mariners, but I'm sure Molly won't remember and will be a die hard Mariners fan just like her daddy. They were showing fireworks after the game, but we thought we'd leave since Molly didn't appreciate them the first time she saw them. We were trying to get to our car, but they wouldn't let us because we would have had to walk too close to where they were setting the fireworks off. So...Molly got to watch the whole show. She did really well considering it was way past her bedtime and the fireworks were super loud.

One of the presents that Molly got when she was born was this ring that has a little net that holds fruit so that Molly can suck on the fruit without choking on it. She's super cute when she's sucking on it, so we thought we'd share the cuteness.

Our sweet Molly

Molly showing off her teeth. They are sharp little things.

Molly has the biggest smiles! We can't get enough of them.

Molly rolling around. She has gotten so good at getting around.

Taking after her Daddy

Molly is so grabby and can get to anything if we aren't careful. She can't suck on a staw yet, so she just chews on it. It's pretty cute.

My big sister

  I got to go see Little Women last week with my sister Paula. It was so fun for many reasons. Molly has been teething and has been miserable the last little while. I needed a break and Brady was so good to give up his ticket to the play, a huge sacrifice since Brady loves musicals. The play was really fun. I didn't know I would enjoy it so much. The theatre was filled with two huge bus loads of high school students. Obviously the drama club. Paula and I got a kick out of watching the boys especially. I think every boy on the front row was sobbing through the sad parts of the play. Not that I think anything is wrong with crying, but they seriously had no control at all. The girls weren't even crying as hard. They were seriously shaking and sniffling, the whole works. I felt really insensitive as Paula and I were trying to contain our laughter.

 I was planning on posting this last week, but while waiting for my picture to upload I checked out Paula's blog. She hasn't blogged in weeks, but when she decides to blog again she can only make fun of my near death experience. I almost didn't post this, but I couldn't let my precious time go to waste. ;)

 Anyway...back to Paula. We went tubing down the provo river a couple weeks ago and I ended up "falling" in the freezing water. They had said to stay away from the sides and as I was about to run into a tree I freaked out and ended up in the water. It was at one of the faster parts of the river and I could not get back on my tube. I seriously thought I was going to die. Paula tried to slow down as much as she could to encourage me that I would be okay. After finally getting back on the tube I was ready to be done and we still had more than an hour left. Paula was there to get me through it. It reminded me of how great she has always been to me. As young girls we used to share a bed and when I felt scared I would ask Paula to put her arm around me and she would. She would always share her chips with me which Paula considers to be one of the 5 food groups. She has always looked out for me and I feel so lucky to have her as a big sister.