Kathryn Hawley

WARNING: Cheesy post ahead.

So Kate has officially completed the first year of her life! I've been thinking about her a lot as we've crept up onto this date and I'm amazed with all the things she is able to do at this point.

For the past few weeks I have been keeping a running list of the things I love about her and that make me smile.

• She loves finding any opportunity when the gate for the stairs isn't up. She then treats it as a race to see how fast she can climb up the stairs. When I come racing up behind her, she giggles so much she can barely continue.
• She has an obsession with my cell phone and the remote. Holding it isn't enough, she HAS to push buttons.
• I have to be sneaky when I unload the dishwasher. If she is in the general vicinity, she makes a mad dash to start pulling things out of the utensil holder and the bottom rack.
• She can unroll the toilet paper with the best of them!
• I love seeing her excitement for new foods. In the beginning, she had the most delicate little fingers as she picked up foods carefully with her thumb and pointer finger. Now, who needs delicate!?! Kate's an eating champ and is currently in the lead over Danny.
• Her walking has improved a lot over the past couple weeks. She still isn't ready to take the plunge and give up crawling, but her cute little, not completely balanced steps are so fun to watch. You can tell she gets enjoyment and satisfaction out of her new found ability.
• I have enjoyed the summer because she has more skin showing than over the winter months and I love it! Her soft, snuggly skin just invites lots and lots of kisses!
• I love her piercing, blue eyes. She really looks at you. It almost feels like she's looking at your soul.
• And I can't get over her scrunchy nose when she smiles. It's one of my favorite things about her.

Kate is an absolute delight. I am so happy that we are lucky enough to have her in our home.

4th of July Weekend

I have kinda been ignoring my blog lately. While I have enjoyed reading up about all of you, I have not felt like posting something myself. (And I have been having fun with Facebook.) But with all the excitment of Dan getting home from his LONG business trip right before the 4th of July, we spent the next five consecutive days together with our family. And it was awesome.

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays and this year did not fail to disappoint. On the 3rd we had a fun ward activity. And Danny held perfectly still while getting his face painted. I could hardly believe it. He's never still.

The actual 4th of July was spent at a park for the community fireworks. The fireworks this year were less than spectacular, (possibly due to the recession??) but the kids had a great time. We met up with several of our neighbors and the kids were entertained with a beach ball for like two hours.

But THEY were amazed by the fireworks. So that's all the matters.

Lily plants

These are some of my enormous lily plants. They are in an unusual location for the size of the plants, so I'm gonna try to move them at the end of the season, but I am loving the color!

I'm trying to be a green thumb like my dad and grandma, but I have A LOT to learn.

Love Summer Time

Danny and his cousins playing at the park trying to catch fire flies.

They were really getting the hang of it.

This is Danny's "cheese" face. At least I got his eyes opened in this picture. Usually he squints them as he yells "cheese!"

How did this happen?

As I was getting ready this morning, this is what Danny did while I thought he was playing with Kate. As of now, the clothes remain in the middle of my closet floor, I just haven't wanted to deal with it yet.
Only a few hours later, as I was writing a quick email to my brother Austin, Danny, who was right next to me, found a Sharpie behind the computer desk and wrote all over himself. And I was right there! How could I have been so oblivious??!

Musician in Training

I found this as I was going through the pictures that were taken on my mom's birthday. I just loved it too much to not share it. Danny has loved this toy guitar since we got here and he is just too cute.

Surprise Party

My mom's birthday was on Tuesday. She can now state her age with the help of the word CENTURY!! And for the very special occasion, I decided that I just needed to be there. So with the help of my awesome family, I made arrangements to fly to Idaho to be there on my mom's birthday and planned a little surprise party for her. Nearly everyone except my mom knew about the plans and when she came home from mutual, she walked in the door and entered the kitchen and there we all were. But these pictures tell the story best.

I love this one. It is just so funny. This is raw, real emotion. She had no idea. I don't think her jaw could have been any lower. So fun!

It took her nearly a half a minute to move from her initial position. See picture #1. Once things sank in a bit, then she was able to move and being speaking in a somewhat coherent fashion.

Still in shock.

Josh made the lengthy trip down from BYU-I.

All the grandbabies were there. Danny had been practicing the Birthday song for a month for this very moment. But he of course wanted to help her blow out the candles.

My beautiful sister Alisha and her husband Ben.

Enjoying the pleasant evening out on the patio. We were only missing Kelsey who wasn't able to ditch her class midweek to join us. (She teaches a second grade special education class.) But she will be coming down this weekend. And of course Autie who is serving his mission in Vancouver. We missed him too!