Halloween Lobster

I met Brock's parents and sisters, with the kids, at Gardner Village on Halloween.   It was fun to have all the cousins together dressed up.  

A lobster and a bumble bee 

Greta was so cute as our littlest lobster for Halloween.

We attempted to do the Martha Stewart polka dot pumpkins.  Greta's was the best, mine was pretty good, Brock's not so great-there's always next year!

First Birthday

Greta turned one on October 7th.  I can't believe she is already a year.  She continues such a sweet little girl.  She says mama, dada, baba, ni night and hi.  She is still crawling but wants to walk everywhere and is getting braver.  Here is the birthday girl.

We had a little party for her last Friday.  It was fun to see everyone.  Greta wasn't to sure about the cake, she took a couple tastes and was done.  She loved unwrapping presents though.  Thanks to our families for coming and supporting us.

Marathon Mania

My dad ran his 10th St. George Marathon this past Saturday.  To commemorate the occasion three of my sisters (Kayce, Reghan and Lauren) decided to run it with him.  I have been amazed at their dedication and hard work.   Kayce-  training with two small, active children was no easy task, Reghan- training in NYC had many challenges.  I cannot ever remember a year when it was raining and in fact someone said it had not rained at the St. George Marathon since 1983.  Well, it did rain and was freezing cold.  Lauren got very sick about mile 12 and had to drop out but Kayce, Reghan, my dad and Aunt Jody finished.  Congrats to all!  We had a great weekend together.

The runners

The whole group

All of us at the Holt's St. George house.

Bike Birthday

For my birthday this year, Brock got me the greatest bike.  He said that there are not a lot of bikes that he thought I would ride but I would  ride this one.  And he is right, it is wonderful!  Even the seat has tulips on it, oh and did I mention it has a basket and a bell...so cute!  He had it all set up with flowers in the basket.  He is by far and away the best.  Thank you dear, I love it.

Aunt Lindsey

Brock's sister Lindsey is a wonderful aunt and great photographer.  She took some beautiful pictures of Greta  for us last month (her website is lindseyhatch.com) 

She also became a mom on Wednesday.  She had a beautiful baby girl and we couldn't be happier for her and Chris.  Congratulations Lindsey, we love you.  Here is Brock, Greta and new baby, Halle Sue!

Super Century

Brock has been training all summer to do the Lotoja (A 200 mile bike ride from Logan to Jackson) but unfortunately, didn't get in to the race.  So he and his riding buddies did the Tour de Park City last Saturday instead.  It was only a mere 170 miles.  It took him 12 hours to finish.  We are so proud of him!!!  Good work Brock, Kyler  and Norm!

My Days of Summer are Numbered

As August approaches and the start of school (or the start of me getting ready for school), I start to get that sick feeling in my stomach.  So we headed to St. George for a few days.  It was great to relax and just spend some quality time together.  Greta loved the pool, here she is ready to go!

Swimming in the new floatie

And a lucky shot of the new tooth.

Cousins

Kayce was kind enough to come out from Los Angeles and help watch Greta while we were on our trip. The cousins had a ball together.  Here are the two girls, Greta and Louisa, about 3 months apart, in their matching dresses - by accident- Kayce and I actually bought the same dress unknowingly. Louisa looks just like Kayce as a baby.

Greta is getting so big, she continues to be such a sweet, fun baby.  She laughs all the time and thinks the funniest thing in the world is me.  Here she is waking up with the craziest post nap hair ever.

Her latest tricks include:  Waving bye-bye, clapping, playing peek-a-boo, saying da-da (her favorite) and nnnnnnn and sometimes mmmmm, which I assume means me. 

These are waving bye-bye.

And the old man face.

Here just pa-rousing the Tiffany's catalog.

June

We were so fortunate to take a trip with Brock's parents to China this June.  We had such an amazing experience.  We visited Beijing, Xian and Shanghai.  We saw so many incredible sights and learned so much.  We missed our little one like crazy but she was having a great time with her aunts and cousins.  Here we are, when we first arrived, at Tiananmen Square.

All of us standing on the Emporer's Bridge inside the Forbidden City.  Only 24 emperors ever passed over it. 

The Temple of Heaven, where the emperor prayed for crops.

The Great Wall, which extends the distance from LA to NYC.  The section we were at went straight up!  It was quite a climb and so hot, but we made it to the top.

This is the Summer Palace (Somer's favorite place). The emperors would spend the warm seasons here. We rented a little boat and drove it around the lake, it was so beautiful.

The Olympic Stadium (or Bird's Nest) in Beijing.

In Xian, we visited the Terra Cotta Warriors. The statues were buried to protect the First Emperor as he passed into the afterlife. It blew us both away. This is only one of 60 known tombs.

We also visited China's biggest and most industrialized city, Shanghai. Here is the Shanghai skyline at night. The world's tallest building is in the back, shrouded by the clouds.

We took a side trip to the beautiful water-town of Suzhou. Marco Polo called it the "Venice of the East". Here is a picture from our tour boat on the canal.

And our happy baby at home, well cared for by all our loved ones,  Thank you so much!! 

May

May was lots of fun, but busy, as Brock and I were trying to get finished with school. It started with Brock's birthday.  We celebrated by going to dinner and a movie, something we haven't done in a very long time, 7 months to be exact.  Here he is celebrating with nieces Chloe and Isabelle.

We love having our aunts close.  Here is Lauren who helped out with some babysitting while I was trying to get Kindergarten wrapped up.

 It was finally warm for a little bit.  Here we are at cousin Claire's birthday.  Our little Gigi is getting so big.  She is doing the army man crawl and is really starting to move.  It is so fun to see her do new things. 

I love this expression.

And here she is in the "flower as big as my face" picture. So  sweet.