Glacier Park

So our trip to Montana was great. Clara left with 2 teeth and came back with 5. However, she didn't act like she was teething. She was so excited about new things to look at, she was great.

Glacier Park was beautiful. We hiked to a place called Ptarmigan Falls. This is a view of our hike, along with some pictures of the falls.We then drove on the main road that goes across the park. It's called Going to the Sun Highway. At a place called Logan's Pass we stopped to look at the Mountain Goats that roam free. It's also a place where you can see a glacier up close. My sister, Emma, is the one in the picture with Jeremy.Notice the snow next to the water fall, it's part of a glacier.We then hiked to a place called Avalanche Lake. The hike itself was beautiful. It's my favorite hike at Glacier. It has trees all along the path, so it is shaded the whole way.Then at the end of the hike is a breath taking scene. The pictures just don't do it justice. Notice all the waterfalls coming down off the mountain. Glacier definitely has MANY waterfalls.This was on our way back to the car from Avalanche Lake. Clara was so tuckered out that she fell asleep on the way back, and she didn't even have to hike!

Growing Up

I'm writing on Wednesday of this week because we leave for Montana tomorrow morning, so I won't be able to post on Friday. I'm not sure how many of you look forward to reading my blog as much as I like writing, so I decided I would rather post early than not at all. I'll have to post early next week as well since we're headed to AZ next Thursday. (I'm sure that was way more information than any of you needed to know.)

Clara is growing up way too fast. It seems like every time I take her out of bed in the morning, she gets closer to being a little girl and no longer a baby. She learned 3 new things this week, even though it has only been 3 days. She has learned how to pick up very small objects. That means she can feed herself - yea! But that also means she can now put things in her mouth that she can choke on - boo! She has also learned how to use her sippy cup. She normally uses the handles, but since I had the camera out, I guess she wanted to show off. :)The last thing that Clara learned to do this week, is cruise along the furniture. That makes me realize how quickly my little baby is growing up. She can do so many things for herself now. She can happily play by herself too, which is the plus side to all this change. Her little personality is really starting to show now and I love watching her discover things for herself. She is so inquisitive, which gets her into trouble a lot, but that means she also figures things out too.

Her new noise for the week is breathing heavily through her nose. She loves that sound and I hear it often through out the day. It makes me laugh every time I hear it though. I sure do love our little girl.

Memories

So here is a "tag" I like. I was reading some friends blogs and they have this one on theirs. I like it because who doesn't like to reminisce? And, it's completely by choice if you participate so I don't get that panicky feeling I get when I list names off making people feel forced to participate when they don't want to.

If you don't have a blog, feel free to leave a memory any way. And don't feel obligated to do this on your blog if you leave a comment on mine.

1. Leave one memory that you and I had together, as a comment on my blog. Anything goes.

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll check to see if you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Hear No Evil

So I went in one night this week, and Clara was covering both her ears. I thought it was a little funny. It made me think that she was trying to be the "Hear No Evil" Monkey.Clara is feeling much better and has seemed to go from lying on the floor all day to moving so fast I can't keep up with her. Clara has turned into quite the little explorer. She is now not only crawling and pulling herself up to standing, but she is climbing on things. We put a portable crib (still all folded up) in front of our TV to make the buttons out of reach. However, yesterday, she climbed on top of the portable crib and could then very easily reach those buttons she loves to play with. So now it's back to telling her no, pulling her away from the TV and trying to distract her from it, which only works for about 30 seconds and then she's crawling right back over to the TV. I feel like it's a losing battle, but one day she will learn what "Please don't touch that means." Right?

Sick

Clara has been so sick this last week. It's the sickest I've ever seen her, and I called my pediatrician twice about it. It started with a fever last Thursday, which didn't break until Sunday. All weekend long, she either layed on Mom or Dad's chest or on the floor. She just wasn't herself as she didn't have any desire to go crawling or playing around. It was so sad.On Monday we took her to her 9 month Dr. appointment. She had lost 6 oz since her 6 month check up. That concerned me, but her pediatrician didn't seem worried. Her head circumference is still in the 80 percentile, but her weight dropped to 17% and her height dropped to 1%. At least her weight and height are starting to match. She definitely is starting to thin out. I'm just glad she still has rolls. It will be a sad day for me when all her baby fat is gone.

Also this week, I've started to watch my friend's baby. She had to start working again now that her maternity leave is up. Clara doesn't quite know how to react to baby Addi. Mostly she just goes and sits by her when she cries. Other times she will try to crawl over her if baby Addi is in her way.

4th of July

Happy Independence Day! I love the 4th of July. I love our country, and I am so proud to live here. I can't begin to express my gratitude for all the freedoms we have here. Thanks to all those who have lived and died to make my life better. I dressed Clara in red white and blue this morning, and had to post a picture of it.Today is also Clara's 9 month birthday. I can't believe how time flies. She is developing her own personality. She has started caring what happens to her. I love watching her become a little person. Sometimes I think she is growing up way too fast and that I have to capture everything now so that I don't forget.These last 2 were taken so that we could post some pictures of her to celebrate her 9 month birthday. However, she was far more interested in the camera than at sitting still for us. Most the pictures turned out like this.We did get a few good ones. I picked this one because you can see both teeth easily. I love how the two teeth she does have aren't next to each other. I like to call her my little Jack-O-Lantern. Hopefully she won't mind that too much. :)

Park City

Last weekend, our friends gave me a great birthday present. They let us use the part of their time share that they couldn't. So Jeremy and I headed up to Park City for a couple of days. Because of Jeremy's work schedule, we decided to drive up Thursday after he got off work. For those of you who know Jeremy's work schedule, that put us in Park City very late. It was slightly frustrating at first because we needed to park in the overflow parking lot. Once we figured out where we were going, we realized the overflow parking lot wasn't very far away at all. However, figuring it out with arms full of luggage and Clara was very frustrating for Jeremy and I. However, Clara was extremely happy at 2 am! Sorry the picture is blurry, but Jeremy and I were tired, frustrated, and wanted to quickly take a picture. But we had to get one of how happy she was, especially with the mood Jeremy and I were in.The next morning proved to be a much better day. We took Clara swimming for the first time. She loved it. It was hard to get a good picture of her swimming in her floaty because she was very distracted by the other swimmers in the pool. Clara loves to look at everything going on around her. But here are a few in her cute little swimming suit.Jeremy and I went back home on Friday, just to drive up again on Saturday after he got off work. Thanks Aubs and Aaron, we LOVED it!