Fall...

I love the fall. It is my favorite time of year. I love the colors and the smells and the activities. I love Halloween and Thanksgiving, and, of course, my birthday. It is so fun to see the leaves change and look forward to the holidays. It is also a time that I reflect more on what I have and am thankful for. I am so thankful for my family, both immediate and extended. We are very fortunate to have awesome siblings, parents, aunt, uncles...you get the picture. This is the time of year that I lost my Grandma Radford and Grandma Shumway and my Grandpa Radford. I think of them now, when it is cool outside and the season is changing and think how grateful I am that the made it possible for me to have the life I have. I am so thankful for my wonderful husband and beautiful daughter. They are the light of my life and make every day wonderful for me. This year we are cutting back on gifts and stepping up the Christ-centered activities for Christmas and I am looking forward to it. We are so fortunate to live in a time and place that we have the freedom to choose how to worship and celebrate and live. I have set a goal to be less worldly and more Christ-like. I am far from where I need to be, but the journey has been good for me.
Katie watching BYU football with daddy

Katie being silly

Summer Fun...

We are having fun so far this summer. Kate is getting so big and just talking all the time. She can say lots of words and she is starting to develop her own opinion and a little bit of an attitude. Right now it is more funny than anything, but I am willing to guarantee that the day will come that the attitude will no longer be funny. She is such a sweet baby and is so easy-going (mostly) and easy.


Fourth of July fun with cousins Hannah, Andrew, and Aaron Reading. Aaron is only 10 days old! We love cousins!


Cousin Kyle just home from his mission. Katie was born while he was gone so this is her first time meeting him.

Katie enjoying a radish.


Katie at Hogle Zoo with Daddy, Uncle Marty, and Grandma Dixie. Apparently all of the animals there say "moo" because that's what she told us!


Katie loves to swing!

Summer

We are waiting impatiently for summer around here. Not much has been going on. We are enjoying our baby girl and she is getting so big. We are still struggling with her reflux and trying to find a safe and effective treatment, but in the meantime, she is eating really well and getting big. She is thirteen months old now, and I don't know where the time has gone. We have no news, really, and we consider that a good thing!

Frankenstein

I am so excited. For those of you Harry Potter fans or Edward fans (I would be in both categories) compare this to waiting for the newest book to come out. You just can't wait for the next book and read it within the first day of buying it. Well, for me, this book is the same. It is the third and final in the trilogy. It was originally supposed to come out in December of 2007 and has been delayed...until now! WOO HOO! It will be out in July and I CAN'T WAIT!!! If you are not a Dean Koontz fan, I apologize for wasting your time. I have to say, though, you should try him out. He is AWESOME! If any of you out there want to read his books, I own every single one. Come on over...I promise it will be worth your time!!! Don't expect any conversation from me until I am done!

Birthday Girl!

Our baby girl turned one! She had a birthday yesterday, on Easter Sunday. I cannot believe she is a year old. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we were trying so hard to get pregnant and having no success, and now she is a year old! We had a fun birthday party for her on Saturday and another one on Sunday. Between the two sides of our family there are so many people, we decided to break it up. We had a ball with her. The day I had her, my nephew Mathew wanted to get in the bed with us. I have a picture that is so sweet of him and Katie (not so sweet of me...) I decided to make it a tradition to get a picture of the three of us on her birthday.

Brady's father passed away on Wednesday after a long battle with cancer. It has been a hard couple of days, and we are trying to settle in to being without him. He was such a great man, and I am eternally grateful to him for his son. I am also grateful for our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation.



With Katie the day she was born.

Teeth

My daughter thinks she is a beaver.