April Recap and Big Sur

April was a fun month and we got to go camping in Big Sur (south of Monterey and Santa Cruz).  Big Sur is the coastline that is full of mountains and cliffs close to the ocean.  We camped up in the mountains because we didn't have to reserve the spot ahead of time.  The 2 hour drive was a little rough for Kaitlyn since she wasn't tired, but when we made it into the trees she was happy.  We set up the tent and she thought it was so awesome that we were outside.  She dragged her ducky all over in the dirt, but she was so happy.  We got her to sleep rocking her in our arms for a long time and putting her in her bouncy seat.  She slept pretty good and whenever she started making noise, we just bounced her back to sleep.  It's always nerve-wracking to take her because we are so worried about her making too much noise or our neighbors making too much noise.  Luckily the party down the trail never got too loud and Kaitlyn slept through it.

We woke up and went on a hike to view the McWay Waterfall.  It was incredibly beautiful and goes straight into the ocean when the tide is right.  Kaitlyn loved looking down into the water.  It was so blue.

Next we drove to Pfeiffer Beach (we just barely saw the turn off, it seemed hidden on purpose).  It was very windy and cold here, but absolutely beautiful.  Jeremy climbed all over the rocks and I was hoping the uncoordinated people watching wouldn't try to follow him.  Luckily they knew their limits.  The water came rushing into the caves and would crash around and spray up (3 pictures down).  We think the beaches here with the crashing waves on cliffs and rocks are so beautiful.

Kaitlyn wanted to chase the seagulls of course.

The drive home was wonderful because Kaitlyn slept (a late nap) almost the whole way.  It was a quick trip, but amazing.

One day I was trying to keep Kaitlyn busy while I took a shower, so I let her watch Baby Einstein on my phone.  I got out of the shower and here she was, innocently watching her show while all the evidence was surrounding her.  She sure had fun pulling out all the wipes, one by one.

Here we are playing in the fountains at Stanford.

We also had a great ward Luau with traditional food including the roast pig.  They cooked it in a pit behind the church.  It was delicious.

Here is Kaitlyn's first pig tail.  She finally let me do it.  I did cheat and use Baby Einstein to keep her distracted.

Catch up: March and our Utah trip

March was a great month with Kaitlyn's first birthday and our trip to Utah.  Here are some random pictures from in-between those two things.  Kaitlyn loves squatting because it's so much easier to stand up again if you don't sit down in the first place.  Plus, it gives you so much more leverage when pushing the ball through.

These two pictures were when Jeremy was letting her taste his caramel-apple pop.  She loved it!

Such a happy girl and such a good eater!  She loves zucchini, broccoli, rice, pears, yogurt, cottage cheese, and spaghetti with cheese melted on it.

March is not complete without lots of March Madness!  Kaitlyn loved watching all the games with her Daddy.

We went to Utah to spend time with family and go skiing since there are not many chances for me to go otherwise.  I went to Snowbird on Saturday and there was a storm the night before and there were about 8 inches of fresh snow.  I had a hard time skiing all the crud because I was just plain out of shape for it.  I was skiing with Daniel and Patrick and they were nice enough to wait for me.  The ski patrol were about to open Mineral Basin so we stayed with the crowd to wait.  Then someone yelled that they were opening the Road to Provo so we stampeded over that way as fast as we could.  It was a mad dash that ended very awkwardly...they weren't opening Road to Provo.  We were all stuck and tightly packed, so we couldn't go back to the other line.  We felt stupid and annoyed that we got tricked.  Then a miracle happened.  They opened both.  Daniel got his line first and I stayed on the cat track longer with Patrick till we dropped in.  It was the best powder run I have had since high school.  It was effortless and smooth.  It was thick enough powder that you didn't sink to the hard layer beneath, but light and fluffy enough that you still felt like you were floating.  It was uncut all the way down and amazing.  We got a few more awesome runs, but nothing beat that first one.  It was amazing.

On Monday, I went to Solitude with my parents and it was an absolutely beautiful day.  The snow was perfect.  Hero snow is so fun to ski on because everything feels like you are skiing your best.  Hero snow is firm and smooth, but not icy so you get good grip.  My back was super sore, but I was able to get in some awesome carves on Sunshine Bowl and the steep run up top I can't remember the name of.  I know most skiers would think I'm crazy for saying this, but having a full day of carving on hero snow is even better than the perfect powder run.  Jeremy and Shalane brought Kaityln, Alta and Ellie up and they got to go skiing too.  I took Kaitlyn up in the front-pack and did 2 runs with her.  I think the cold wind was not her favorite thing, but she liked the motions and the lift ride.  Her face got a little wind burned though, so she was done before the end of 2 runs.  Alta is a champ and skiing daredevil.  I couldn't believe how fast she went.  Ellie wanted to try the magic carpet, but they took too long and she lost her courage.  All in all, it was another wonderful day of skiing.

Kaitlyn loved playing with Alta and Ellie, and they loved her.  It was so fun watching these girls, they are going to be best friends as they get older.  We went to dinner and Kaitlyn just wanted to walk around, so Alta went with her.  Kaitlyn was so excited to have Alta follow her and she just laughed the whole time like it was the greatest thing in the world.

It was much harder than I thought it would be to get a good picture of all three girls playing together.

Kaitlyn loves Benni!  She has no fear and loved following him around and bugging him.  He was great with her and let her do whatever she wanted to him.  It probably helped that Benni got lots of her food.

Kaitlyn didn't really eat well this trip and would only eat for me even though I was skiing and Jeremy stayed with her.  She slept a ton though.  She got so exhausted and started taking 2 naps a day again. 

Kaitlyn had a hard trip and was super clingy to me.  We were lucky she had so much fun with Alta and Ellie, because she wasn't really friendly to anyone else.  We thought she was sick at one point, but it turned out that she was teething.  She got 2 molars on top.  It was pretty funny though because as soon as we got home, Kaitlyn couldn't stop grinning and was so happy to be home again.

After a few days of Kaitlyn getting back to normal, we still managed to go to the beach on a very hot day in Palo Alto.  It's too bad that the mist made the beach freezing.

Kaitlyn and Akachi at the Palo Alto children's zoo.  They loved watching the ducks.