The Beach

Derek was in the mood to go to the beach the Saturday his mom was in town. He especially wanted to go to a beach that is commonly frequented by Monarch Butterflies at this time of year. We drove to Natural Bridges Beach in Santa Cruz and spent a few hours there.

We started at the visitor center and then took a walk through a wooded area where the butterflies tend to go because of all the eucalyptus trees. We were told there were over a 1,000 there, but they were well hidden. The few we did see were up high. It turned into a nice nature walk anyway. Then we headed to the beach. The kids played in the sand and explored, and the older ones played in the water, getting quite soaked. (couldn't they tell the water was COLD?) It was pretty windy, so Grandma and I stayed in our chairs most of the time, trying not to be bothered by it.

Natural Bridges Beach

Cathy, Grandma Taylor, Samantha

Laurel playing in the sand

DerekAdam enjoying some book reading

At one point we watched a bird floating in the water. It was riding the waves and every now and then got tossed up high at the top of a bigger wave. What was funny was it's little kicking feet as it flew through the air. The bird seemed to be enjoying the ride, as it continued in this way for a long time.

Our growing baby

Katelyn has been such a sweet baby! She sleeps pretty well and eats well and is just plain cute! Here are some more pictures of her. (3 weeks old)

With sister Laurel

Katelyn 1 week old

Here are some more pictures of Katelyn at a week old.

Trying to suck her thumb?

Samantha's birthday

Just 3 days after Katelyn's "birth" day, Samantha turned 4 years old. We had a birthday dinner in the evening, followed by presents and cake and ice cream. She enjoyed all the attention!

Welcome to our Family

We are happy to announce that Katelyn Jane joined our family on October 3rd! Cathy's delivery went well and Katelyn came out a healthy 6 lbs and 12 oz. She is very calm so far and has a good appetite when she's not too sleepy. All her older sisters and brother are thrilled to have her home and hold her as often as we let them. It will be nice to have so many helpers!

Here are some pictures of her first few days in the world.

Cathy and Katelyn with midwife Lin who delivered

Derek holding Katelyn

Adam, the proud big brother

Mackenzie admiring her new sister

Samantha and Katelyn

Jamie holding Katelyn

Laurel is excited about the new baby

Hannah with Katelyn

all the kids with mom at the hospital

Katelyn peacefully sleeping at the hospital

Cathy and Derek with Katelyn at home

#7 from heaven

Katelyn 3 days old

Overalls or Nothing (literally)

Laurel loves to be naked (or maybe is ready to potty train at 2?) and so she takes off her clothes and diapers at any chance she gets. So,to try to prevent this, we only put her in overalls now (very snuggly too when we have to). However, she is learning to get even these off. What are we to do? It seems our only option is to duct tape her clothes on.

Yes, she thinks this is great fun!

Smiles

This is the latest smile that Laurel developed. I thought you would like to see it.

Love, Hannah

Seattle Trip

Dad went to teach a Constitution Seminar this past weekend(September 19) and I got to go with him. The seminar was in Tacoma, Washington which is really close to Seattle. We flew down on Friday night. We stayed with a really nice couple who have waterfront property. Their backyard is touching the Puget Sound(or Seattle Bay). It was so gorgeous. From their backyard you can see Vashon Island. Vashon Island has no bridge connecting it to the mainland. It is pretty big and lots of people live on it. The only way to get there is to swim or take the ferry. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture.

On Saturday, was the seminar. Dad did really great at presenting it. I worked the book table all by myself. At first it was intimidating, but I soon got the hang of it. We sold out most of the books fast. Sorry, I don't have pictures of that either.

After the seminar, we went to downtown Seattle. We went over to the Seattle Center, and took the elevator to the top of the Space Needle. The elevator scaled the 520 feet to the top in 42 seconds! We were there right at sunset so the view was spectacular.







After walking around the Needle a few times we walked down to McDonald's for dinner. In the Seattle Center there is also a Science Fiction Museum. The museum has the craziest shape! It looked like tons of crazy shaped brains! It was totally wacko.



After dinner, we went over to the piers to ride on the ferry. We almost didn't make it. We had to run to get on. The ferry went over to Bainbridge Island. It was a really nice ferry. It was pretty cold outside. After a half hour we landed at the island. We thought we would need to get new tickets but couldn't find any one, so we got back on to head back. We finally got home with the help of a GPS around 11pm.

On Sunday we flew home. We took a small plane from Seattle to Portland. As we got closer to Portland the pilot announced over the inter-com that Mt. St. Helens would be visible out the right side of the plane in a few minutes. Luckily, Dad and I were sitting by the window on the right. Mt. St. Helens was amazing, one side of the crater was blown away. We had a great view since we were almost on top of it. Little bits of steam were coming out to the crater. The Mountain was pretty much bare except for little bits of vegetation on one side. On the sides we could see the hardened mud/lava flows. It was breathtaking. Not something you see everyday. I wish I got a picture.

We had a great trip. Love, Hannah

Temple Trip

Hi! On Labor Day I got to go up to the temple with some friends and do Baptisms for the Dead, for the first time. It was really special. Though we did have to wait an hour to use the font because many people came that day, but it was worth it. I had a really fun time, and can't wait to do again!
Love, Hannah

Birthday

We celebrated Laurel's 2nd birthday yesterday. It was fun to say Happy Birthday to her all day and she would look at us strangely. She really didn't understand what it was all about. But she didn't mind the attention at her birthday dinner when she got some presents and ice cream.

at her birthday dinner

Getting help opening a present

Trying out her new cell phone (maybe she'll leave ours alone now! ha ha)

this ice cream is good!

this was fun to watch Laurel enjoy her musical birthday
card that she got from Grandpa and Grandma Taylor
(it's playing the Chicken Dance)

Odds and Ends

Most of our month was spent trying to get ready for the new school year. We managed to spend most of our time on these other things however--

--swimming on the really hot days
--going to numerous doctor and dentist appointments.
--Adam got his cast off, and still isn't walking normal yet, but is doing better. He's going to be wearing arch supports in his shoes from now on.
--attending a few more playdates at parks and BBQs.
--numerous church meetings
--playdates with friends
--family date night at the Tech Museum. We got to watch a preview of a new IMAX film, Under The Sea (which was really awesome, though Samantha and Laurel just cannot handle such a huge, loud movie experience) and then went out to have fried ice cream afterwards.
--Hannah enjoyed an afternoon at the beach with our Stake youth group
--Derek and Cathy enjoyed a visit to Oakland Temple when their friend's adopted son was sealed to them

It's been a good month! We are counting down the weeks until the next big event in our lives, the new baby!

New school year

We started school this week and it was fun to have everyone excited about the new year. Jamie was the most excited and couldn't wait to start 1st grade (though she has been a "first grader" ever since she turned 6 in April she says)

We're looking forward to all the new things we will learn this year!

Backpacking in beautiful country

Derek went with a group of Varsity Scouts to a wonderful part of the Sierra Nevadas south of
Yosemite. They went backpacking into an area where they camped near Lake Chittendon. Derek had a great time! He got quite a workout carrying a 40lb pack in and out(about 7 hours each way) He quickly learned that eating mostly hydrated foods sure made him hungry. But he just loved being out in the beautiful mountains and swimming in a crystal clear lake (with no chlorine!) During two days of camping the boys worked on merit badges, went on more hikes and did lots of swimming. Derek came home pretty tired, but he would love to go on a trip like this again with anyone who's interested!

Adam's exoskeleton

A couple of weeks ago Adam was running while being chased by a friend. As he turned a corner, he felt something not right and stopped and realized his ankle was hurting. We assumed he had sprained or twisted his ankle in the running. The ankle never swelled up however. He spent the next week trying to rest it and did a lot of limping. By the end of the week, we decided to take him to the doctor to find out why it wasn't improving. Being a Saturday, we had to go to Urgent Care. We prefer not to go there because as a general rule they operate very slowly. This time was no different. Every step of the way there was waiting. Anyway, after some discussion and Xrays, the Dr. thought it looked like there was a very small fracture in an ankle bone. She put a soft cast on and gave Adam crutches and referred us to the orthopedic department. Adam was not too thrilled about wearing a cast and using crutches. And mostly around home he scooted on the floor rather than use the crutches. We all tried to think of a fun way for Adam to respond to people's questions about his cast. One sister suggested that he say he wanted an exoskeleton!


A few days later we got in touch with the orthopedic department and the Dr. there had looked at the Xrays and said there was no fracture. An appointment was made for a few days later. We took off the soft cast and Adam still took it easy as best he could. When we met with the Ortho Dr., he determined that Adam had strained a tendon on the inside of his foot, one that connects to the bottom of the foot up to the ankle (and helps hold up the arch). He said the only way to really heal it was to give it a 100% rest, and for a child that means a real cast. Fortunately, it would be a walking cast, so Adam wouldn't have to use crutches. So off we were to the Cast Room and that was fun to see so many people in there at different stages of getting casts on. Adam had a choice of about 10 colors for his cast and he chose black. The girls were disappointed when he got home because they were hoping to sign and draw on it.

So Adam will wear this cast for two weeks and then go back to have it taken off. Hopefully there will be great improvement. The Dr. thinks he may want him to wear arch supports in his shoes for a while to make sure there is extra support. In the meantime Adam is sorry he will miss swimming opportunities, and he has found that taking a bath has gotten quite interesting.

12 Years Old

Hannah turned 12 years old! It's hard to believe we are embarking on a new phase of our family life, as Hannah begins entry into the teen years. It's an exciting time, for her and for us.

To celebrate we had a nice birthday dinner at home with her. Derek brought home 12 long stemmed white roses for her. We then had a favorite dinner of hers (homemade macaroni and cheese deluxe) and then banana splits. After singing Happy Birthday to her, she opened her presents.
Hannah was excited to attend her first Young Women's activity that night. Since she went to Girl's Camp this summer, she already knew many of the girls in the Stake. It's fun to see her finally enjoy the age she was so anxious for when she was 10. (she had said, "I can't wait until I'm 12...)