FAVORITE HANG OUT SPOT

 

Lately, Beth LOVES hanging out in sinks! She especially loves the bathroom sink with all the cool "toys" around it (toothbrushes, combs, soap, etc.).  Will y'all think I'm a terrible mom if I tell you she probably spends about an hour each day hanging out in one sink or another?

 

Hey, at least she's happy!

PLAYING IN THE RAIN

Beth was introduced to monsoons a few weeks ago: as we came out of the grocery store, a huge downpour started. Just between the door of the store and our car, we were completely drenched. So I decided to take advantage. We spent the next 1/2 hour splashing in puddles and dancing in the rain. Beth was really cute--cooing and holding her hands out to catch the rain.

  

 When it comes to rain, she's a girl after my own heart :)

Beth on Video

Beth had her first "solid" meal this week: Rice cereal. MmmmHmmmm! She LOVED it! Her only complaint was that Mom and Dad couldn't keep it coming fast enough. We finally started using two spoons to try and speed things along. Still, she wanted it faster!

We also caught her as she was fighting against sleep. It reminds me of my Geography days....

 

 This one is from a few weeks ago when she was really discovering her voice:

 

This one is cute because babies doing tummy-time are always cute. But wait for her cough at the end--she is SUCH a girl, a dainty girl!

And finally, this one is of her laughing. I just love her laugh! I find myself doing the most ridiculous things all day everyday, just trying to get her to laugh! Someday I'll have to thank her for humoring me so often :)

 

Social Butterfly! ...and picture dump

 

Already May! I can't believe it! We've had such a fun couple months. I swore I would be better about taking pictures once I had a baby, but I'm still struggling! So, I don't have pictures of all the fun things we did, but I'll post what I do have. (Warning...this will probably be a LONG post since I haven't posted in so long!)

First, we had a fun visit from Nana and Opa (Spencer's parents) the beginning of March, and another one from Nana beginning of April. They spoiled us with good food, fun games, great conversation, and--of course--tons of love on Beth. We love it when they visit!

 

 

Then, in the middle of March, Beth and I took a trip to Utah. I can't begin to say how fun it was to introduce Beth to family and friends!

  

Beth got to meet her newest cousin, Caleb (2 weeks here). It was the first time Beth ever looked big or coordinated to me...it's all very relative.

  

  

  

 

 

She also got to hang out with lots of other cousins. They were all so sweet with her! She is going to have SO much fun at family reunions! These are pictures of Mini, Lucy, Aunt Lindsay, Emmy and Mini, and Matthew (again, I'm sorry I didn't get pictures of all her cute cousins that she met! I promise we love you all!)

 

We also hung out with a bunch of my friends from high school, many of whom have had babies in the last year. It was really fun to sit around chatting with them again. Things seemed so much the same except instead of talking about the next dance and the cutest boys, it was all about houses, babies, husbands, etc....like we're grown-ups or something!

  

Beth also had her first date with her future husband, Mack Richards. He is the son of one of my best friends, Amanda. We betrothed the 2 of them as soon as we found out Beth was a girl...I'm sure they won't mind :) It was really fun to see Baby Mack and Amanda.

 

We also had fun putting Mini's "Merida" wig on Beth. Quite the little model, no?

It was such a fun trip! Thanks to everyone who made time to hang out with us and make it such a fun trip! And thanks to Mom and Dad for making it possible!

 Then, in the middle of April, we took another trip to Cincinnati, Ohio, to visit my sister, Carrie, and her family. It was SO fun to see them! They spoiled Beth like you wouldn't believe with all kinds of cute gifts, hugs, kisses, a trip to the zoo, and so much sweet attention. Here she is with Katie, then with Abby and Alex.

 

 

Thanks for such a fun trip, Linscotts! We miss you already!  

(I have to put in a plug for Beth here. She was an amazing traveler on both these trips! She never really cried on any of the flights or waiting in the airports. She just smiled and charmed the attendants and other passengers. Traveling was actually more fun than ever with her!...though we'll see how I feel about it a year from now).

 

In between and since those trips, we've been enjoying beautiful Albuquerque with its great hiking, restaurants, walks, shops, and--of course--wonderful people. We'll really miss this place when we move next month!

 

And I've just been eating up every minute with this cute girl of mine! Her little personality is growing so much with all her giggles, "coo"s, shrieks, smiles, and funny faces. She is constantly making me laugh and smile. I just love her!!!

 

A BIG Weekend

The first weekend in February was a big weekend for Beth. Spencer blessed her (and did a wonderful job!). That was a wonderful experience where I felt, yet again, just how blessed we are to have her here and how happy I am to be her mom.

 The weekend also brought lots of other excitement...

Pops (Anna's dad) visited from Salt Lake.  He and Beth took some good naps together :) But, we also went on some adventures...

We rode the Sandia Tram (supposedly the longest tram in the US).

 

The views were gorgeous! Beth was such an angel, pretty much just sleeping the through it all. And I couldn't get enough of the fresh air and huge space, after a month of our comfortable but tiny apartment!

 

We also visited the beautiful Albuquerque temple.

 

Thanks Pops for making these outings possible! And for the babysitting, advice, laughs, walks, food, encouragement and everything else you gave while you were here!

Then, Nana and Opa (Spencer's parents) and Jake (Spencer's brother, fresh off his mission in Peru) visited, too.  

We took Beth out for her first restaurant experience.

  

She, like her mom, is especially fond of dessert!

  

Again, she was an angel! She slept through the whole dinner, letting the adults chat about everything from Peru to Downton Abbey :)

The actual blessing went really well, too. Beth was wide awake through it all, but didn't make a peep! She just stared around the circle, then charmed the congregation with her huge eyes.

 

The whole weekend was a dream come true for Spencer and me. Thank you to Pops and the Hansens for traveling and for making it so fun! (Thanks also to Grannie who would have been there if she hadn't caught a bug at the last minute--we missed you!) 

And thanks to Beth for making it happen!

 

FACES

So I keep saying this, but it keeps getting more and more true...when I took anatomy, we studied a crazy amount of facial muscles and I couldn't believe that anyone uses all those. But then Beth came along, and now I believe it! She can make more faces than I though possible! Here are just a few:

 

The "I'm not so sure about this" face

 

The "wake up" face (actually this video takes you through a whole bunch of great faces! But I love this double-chin scowl she makes when she wakes up)

 

The worried face

 

And, of course, Mom's favorite: the smile!

I think she's really catching on to the whole social smile thing and it melts my heart! Here's a video of one (sorry it keeps drifting off her face...I was paying more attention to her than the camera, obviously!)

 Pretty adorable, huh?

Photoshoot

 

A girl in our ward was nice enough to come do a photo-shoot for Bethany. It was pretty hilarious! Bethany was an angel as long as we had the vacuum going. She would fuss as we set up (with good reason--making her go naked and putting her in all these funny poses, you can hardly blame her!), but once she was all set, we would turn on the vacuum and she'd be happy as a clam! We actually blew out circuit 3 times throughout the morning, between running the vacuum and all our space-heaters, lamps, etc. But it was SOOOOO worth it to get these darling shots of her!