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!

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.

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.

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

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 ;)