Saturday, April 26

birthday beauty

since my mom and i weren't able to be in denver to celebrate johanna's 40th with her, we decided we needed to do something to ring in the birthday. we went down to the local salon and had manicures and pedicures. because my mom had foot surgery last week, she only got to partake in the manicure part - but her nails look great!here is johanna enjoying her foot massageand here i am soaking in all the relaxation - it was amazingthanks for the fabulous day, mom! it was a lot of fun.

Friday, April 25

shoes!

here is a picture of kate with my mom. she is such a cute baby :) weston got her dressed today and discovered she finally fits into these:

thanks to joe and kate for the pink vans :)

bikes

my sister, johanna, and her two youngest kids are in monroe for a visit this week. i guess my dad figured they would enjoy riding bikes around town, because he showed up this evening with 2 bikes he got at deseret iindustries. they were so excited to ride them! here they are before taking off.
he came back later that evening with 2 new helmets :) now they know there will be bikes waiting for them at grandma and grandpa's. what a good grandpa :)

mtv cribs

welcome to kate's crib. we started putting kate in the crib 2 nights ago. she kind of struggled, but she has slept fine both nights. each night when i would put her to bed, she acted really nervous and would look around and cry - she was just really apprehensive. it was so sad :) i fed her again and she got sleepy enough that she went down without a fight the second round. same thing night #2, but i know she'll get the hang of it. both nights i put her to bed where the blankets are (wrapped up in the yellow blanket) and this is what i found both mornings! she's already moving around in there!

Monday, April 21

new photos

i have posted new work on my photo blog. http://westoncoltonphoto.blogspot.com

if anyone is interested in looking . . .

kate is cute

enough said.

who knew hair could be such a big deal?

so if any of you know me, you'll know that i usually tend to have short hair. i have never had my hair longer than the upper-middle of my back, even as a little girl. i seemed to always have that shoulder length bob. when i was in my first semester of college, i had my upper-middle-of-my-back length hair chopped to an ultra short pixie cut. i LOVED it. it was so much fun to do that kind of a hair cut. my mom hated it, weston loved it, and other people would just ask me why i did it (or how i dared to do it.) anyway, for the past 10 years or so, i have gone back and forth between short-short and shoulder length. i guess i kind of stopped getting inspired by short cuts in the last couple of years, because i kept letting my hair get "long." people would comment on my "long" hair (i think because it was so out of the norm for me) and i would feel "the pressure" :) of having to keep growing it out to please these people (just kidding, of course). while i was pregnant i kept telling myself i had to wait until i had the baby to cut my hair - this decision came from advice of many pregnant women warning me against cutting it and ending up with a cut that accentuates the fat-pregnancy-face. i made it until 2 days after my due date. i decided i had waited long enough, that even if i got my hair cut BEFORE the baby came (going against all pregnancy rules), i had waited until after the due date and it would be okay :) here are a couple of pictures:

before (being very patient with my hair)during (this is still a before the baby picture and DURING my "i need to do something with my hair or i'm going to go nuts!" phase). i cut my bangs to satisfy my craving.during "continued" (hair cut at the 2 days past due date mark - even though this picture is obviously AFTER kate came) i cannot tell you how GOOD it felt to have a fresh haircut - and i'm not talking about a TRIM
after
i was at my mother-in-law's house and she was putting some color in my hair (a little red - very subtle) and as the color was processing, i started flipping through one of her books. i came across a picture that i fell in love with - hence this last haircut. it's funny how i feel "back to normal" - very comfortable in a conservative, grown-out pixie. i'm home - haha :) any comments? (kind of scared to ask . . . )

april girl's night out

we did it! :) it seems like once we try to plan one of these nights, it takes months for it to ever come to fruition. this only took about a week! we missed tressa, stacy, and emily, but maybe next time you girls can make it. emily, you're only excused because of being a newly returned missionary and we know how busy that can be :)

right to left: jen, erin g, michelle, me

we met for dinner at mimi's cafe and talked for a good couple of hours. girls, i apologize for the dominating topic of kids and delivery - although michelle, i'm including you in on my side of this :) thanks for the good food and great company ladies! until next time!

march and april happenings

just a bit late for some of these :) this last month, i have been thinking, "i missed so and so's birthday, so and so's anniversary, etc." here is a run down of all the special peeps i've been thinking about for march and april :)

michelle had a birthday!michelle had her birthday in march. michelle is one of my best girlfriends. we worked together for over 5 years and have kept in touch since leaving that job. michelle is such a genuine person and i love her cute sense of humor. she has 2 gorgeous kids - george and ruby. one of my favorite things i'll always remember about michelle is how she loves to abbreviate everything - "abbrev" for example :) i love it! michelle will graduate with her bachelor's degree in history education this friday! congrats :)

emily had a birthday!emily also had her birthday in march. emily is also one of my best girlfriends. she and the aforementioned michelle share the same birthday. we all worked together at wirthlin worldwide/harris interactive. emily joined the "group" in the last couple of years that we were all there. she is an AMAZING example of a positive person. emily just radiates happiness and i love being around her. she has been on a mission for the last 18 months and just came home this month. i will always FONDLY remember working side by side with emily and talking incessantly about boys and our myriad of other daily happenings. love you em!

jessica had a birthday!jessica is my sister-in-law (though i HATE the term "in-law") who also had a birthday in march. she is so much fun to hang out with. she is a science teacher to middle school students and i'm sure she loves her job. she is a good mother to ali and teaches her new things all the time. she does AMAZING work with flowers (she did all the flowers for my wedding, including my gorgeous bouquet) and is a crafty chick - can work wonders with a scrapbook-type project. i love having you for a sister, jess :)

cynthia had a birthday!cynthia is my sister-in-law. her birthday is in april. she is married to alex and is amazing. she has the most adorable little boy, alex jr., and is a fantastic mother. she is very creative and makes amazing scrapbooks, calendars, cards, etc. she is an example of independence and maturity and amazes me at how quickly she fit in with our family. i don't think i could move across the world, leave my family, not speak much of the new language, stay with my future-in-laws for 3 weeks, all to get married to some dirty boy :) i love you cynthia, i am so glad you are my sister!

trent had a birthday!trent is my brother-in-law, married to weston's sister jessica. he had a birthday this month as well. trent is hilarious. he hides it well, but he's hilarious. i love hanging out with trent and jess. in high school (we all went to school together), trent was kind of scary :) only because i didn't know him, i've found out. he has a great sense of humor, loves f.r.i.e.n.d.s. as much as i do, and plays hearts like a machine. i never thought we'd actually all be sharing christmas mornings together, trent, but i'm so glad we're family :) happy birthday!

mom and dad celebrated their anniversary!on april 15th (tax day) my parents marked their 42nd (?) wedding anniversary. i am so glad you are both my parents! i love my dad because he can do anything - literally. if i have ever had a request or a need, he has been able to make it happen for me - from building amazing pieces for my home to giving me comfort through a father's blessing. i love my mom because she's my best friend. she is a master seamstress, chef (whether she thinks so or not), and mother. thanks for being such amazing parents! i love you both!

johanna had a birthday!on april 19th johanna had her 40th birthday! now normally i wouldn't post a woman's age for public viewing, but we have to celebrate 40 years of awesomeness:) johanna is my older sister and i love her! we all joke that johanna got the rotten end of the stick sometimes because she was born first and had to do all the babysitting for the younger 3 kids - i'm sorry :) but it did provide me with a love for my big sister that i may not have had otherwise (johanna moved out for college when i went to kindergarten). since entering my 20's, johanna and i have gotten so much closer and i love having a more contemporary relationship. she is such a good mother who tries to better her family every day. i love you johanna!

alex and cynthia will celebrate their anniversary!on the 27th, alex and cynthia will have been married for 6 (?) years. they are such a perfect fit for one another. they made an ADORABLE child - we all asked for the recipe :) and are going to provide the world with another this fall. they will find out *TOMORROW* what they are having :) they are so much fun to be around and hang out with. i wish we lived closer to be able to see you guys more often! we love you and congrats!

maybe i can keep up and do this again next month to make up for missing all of your birthdays and special days :)

Saturday, April 19

quick trip

i have been in monroe with kate for a couple of days visiting family. we got here thursday evening and stopped to see weston's parents - luckily she was able to see her aunts and uncles and cousins because trent, jess, and ali were there along with chad, annie, and sophie. after a couple of hours there, we went to see my parents and aunt winnie. just as i drove into monroe, the car died - seriously. it acted like it was just running out of gas. i pulled over in front of someone's house and got the stroller out. i knew my parents were both at the church (about 5 blocks away) so i packed up kate and the diaper bag and we walked to the church. i borrowed my dad's car and got the stuff that i had left in my car and then went to my parent's house. once they got home from their meetings, we visited for a few hours. kate was amazing! she slept all night long - and then some. she went to sleep around 11pm, woke up to eat at 5:30am (not bad!). when i put her back down, i figured she'd sleep for another couple of hours (the usual routine). next thing i know, i woke up to her squeals and looked over at my clock. which read 11:15am! i was thrilled! i got so much sleep! :) my mom had some surgery done on her foot friday morning, so it's been nice to be able to help her or just visit with her while she's stuck in bed. meanwhile, my car got towed to the mechanic (thanks dad) and is awaiting the part (fuel pump) to come on monday. luckily, my mom won't be driving anywhere in the next few days so i can take her car home tonight. i'm meeting my girlfriends for our quarterly (seems that way) "girls night" where we do the usual - eat and talk :) what a weekend!

Wednesday, April 16

updated blog

in updating the blog, i lost everything! i think i recovered/remembered most everything. however, if you were once on our list and are now missing, PLEASE let us know so you can be put back where you belong :) man, it took a long time!

kate: 10 weeks

here are pictures of kate from last night - just a couple of snapshots. she started laughing last night! real laughter! she would kind of laugh or squeal before, but these were the beginnings of belly laughs. weston was bouncing her up and down and she just loved it. i tried to get some video of it, but 1) she had stopped full-out laughing by the time i grabbed the camera, and 2) the video i did get was so dark you could barely tell she was smiling. maybe we'll capture it again and post it for all to see. thanks to the andersons for this adorable outfit - we LOVE it :) she looks so cute in the hood!

another bit of great news - this week marks the close of another semester for weston! this month kicks off the official countdown of his last year of school. yes, by this time next year he'll be packing up (hopefully WE'LL be packing up) and heading out (to LA?) for his internship. once that's successfully completed, he'll be working with some big time, amazing photographer and loving life shooting fantastic campaigns :) here's hoping!

Saturday, April 12

tagged by danae

4 Jobs I have had:
Pizza delivery driver (go Lotsa Motsa!)
Ice cream dispenser
Human Resources (trainer)
Loan Processor

4 TV Shows I watch:
The Hills
America's Next Top Model
American Idol
The O.C. or Dawson's Creek (DVDs)

4 Places I have been:
(not a big traveler)
Mexico
Canada (too little to remember much more than a few images)
As far east as Kansas (other than living in Maine - again too little to remember more than a dozen things)
The routes between Utah and Denver and Utah and California

4 People that email me:
Erin (not me)
Michelle
Shireen
Family

4 of my favorite foods:
Cafe Rio Pork Salad
Chinese (South China's sesame chicken)
Restaurant salads (Cobb, Asian, Chicken)
Burger King french fries

4 Friends I Tag:
Sarah (she's probably the only one who will do this)
Cynthia
Margaret
Mom

4 things I am looking forward to in 2008:
Weston being down to ONE semester (at the end of 2008) :)
At least ONE trip this summer (it might just be once and to Denver)
Kate's first holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas)
Baby Isabella (it WILL be a girl! here's hoping anyway) being born this fall

kate in the morning

so this morning i went to get kate up from her nap and this is what i found when i opened the door. she was just playing and entertaining herself . . . what a good baby :) and no worries if you aren't interested in watching this video - i know it's like "now you have a baby, that's all you blog about . . . " haha.

Wednesday, April 9

the balancing baby act

this is kate showing off her fabulous balancing skills. weston's been doing this with her for the last 3-4 weeks. she's had really good muscle control since she was born - we hardly ever had to really support her head when she was new.



she's starting to pack on the pounds and developing quite nice thunder thighs :) we took her to the post office the other night to weigh her on the scale and she was at 9 lbs 11 oz (with clothes on) so we figured around 9.5 pounds at least - but that was 2 days ago . . . so she could be up another pound with the way she's eating :) jk.

Monday, April 7

you say to-may-to. i say to-mah-to

my sister in law, jen, gave kate this adorable outfit as a shower gift. i thought it was one of the cutest things i'd ever seen and we were both a little worried kate would only get to wear it once or twice. it turns out i wasn't even able to put her in it until last week! she looks so cute in this one - i just love it and had to share a few photos.

kate's blessing

so this post is a week late . . .


weston blessed kate in our ward sacrament meeting last week. he did such a wonderful job. he blessed her with health and strength and the desires to be a good example and to live worthy of temple blessings. he also blessed her to find a worthy mate to take her to the temple to be sealed and he blessed her to be good to her younger siblingS :) (plural . . . my mom was excited about that). i was so proud of him and feel so grateful to have such a GOOD husband who holds the priesthood and honors it as well.
here is a picture of her "gear."
my mom did the fantastic honors and made kate's blessing dress and bonnet. when i saw the picture of the pattern she was going to use, i said, "can you make the bonnet?! we have to have the bonnet!" she looked so adorable.

to take advantage of the "journaling" aspect of blogging, here are the people who came to support us: the coltons: [weston's parents], the jones: [trent, jess, & ali], the hunts: [chad, annie & sophie], the cottles: [my parents], the "original" cottles: [travis, jen, drew, kali, & megan], the "real" cottles: [alex, cynthia, & little alex], the great grandparents: [g & g carson], [g colton], the great aunts & uncles & cousins: [aunt winnie], [terry, lou, katie, sam, mckay, & adam gasser], [sean, lacey, & dustin carson], and a bunch of friends: [cory, danae, & zoey dunn], [rory & ashley taylor], [jeremiah & eva clark], & [mckay stevens].

after the meeting, we went to weston's grandparents' home in pleasant grove for a luncheon. (they were generous and kind enough to let us invade their house to eat!) kate was passed around from relative to relative that afternoon and took a catnap or two in their arms.

kate with great-grandpa carson
proud mama
proud papa - behind the lens, naturally
grandma & grandpa colton

Saturday, April 5

the daddy hearts the daughter

just logging some daddy*daughter time.
she's growing so much!


(sorry about the AWFUL flash on these pictures - that's what happens when weston's in front of the camera.

my hero

so we finally joined the rest of the cool kids and got ourselves a little of the guitar hero. i played this game for the first time over easter weekend - it's amazing how quickly you get hooked on it! i went out and bought the bundle and weston walked in on me that night "rocking out" as the box promises. i was busted. he was completely NON-interested and i had to beg him to play. i even offered to leave the room for his first few rounds (weston does NOT like not being good at things - he's kind of hesitant to try anything unless he knows he will succeed - jk). so he played a round or two and seemed to just be irritated. i left the room and bathed and fed kate to put her to bed and i could her him progressively getting better and better. kate went to bed around 11:30pm and weston and i went to bed around 4:00am :) we kept at the game for 4+ hours and had to make ourselves quit and get some zzz's. so, we've joined the ranks and now want to battle anyone who wants to take us on! haha

weston - keeping it coolerin - trying to get her rock on

no longer a newborn

okay, so kate hasn't been a "newborn" for awhile now *tear*. but she is now officially NOT a newborn . . . she has outgrown her newborn diapers. i never would have thought we would need to buy over 500 NEWBORN diapers for kate. i kind of thought we'd get by with the 2 packages the hospital sent with us the day we brought her home. WAY OFF :) although, there doesn't seem to be a HUGE difference between newborn and size 1 . . . just knowing she already needs bigger diapers is a little bittersweet :)

yep - kate's already rolling over . . . okay, not really :)
don't mind the sagging of her diaper in this last one ;)