Grandma's

With the birth of Katelyn, we were blessed to have visits from both of our moms. My mom came first and stayed a week, and then later Derek's mom came and stayed for almost a week. We enjoyed both of them visiting and they provided some needed service. It was fun for the children to have extra play time with them as well.

Grandma O'Dwyer enjoying Katelyn

While Grandma O'Dwyer was in town, we had a big rain storm. The wind was quite strong and took off branches of many trees. Across the street a smaller tree was snapped in half (in picture above) The top part is lying on the ground and the trunk left in the ground. (behind the stop sign)


While Grandma Taylor was here, the girls were always asking to have their hair braided. Grandma was kind enough to accommodate their requests. Here they are showing their braids off.

Grandma Taylor with Katelyn

Grandma Taylor with Laurel, Adam, Mackenzie, Samantha,
Jamie, Hannah and Katelyn

Lots of Moms

With so many siblings, Katelyn has many "moms". Everyone wants to hold her and help with her. Samantha and Laurel go so far as to copy what Cathy does, and they nurse their baby dolls.

Katelyn, Samantha and Jamie

Mackenzie and Katelyn

Samantha and Katelyn

Laurel and her "baby"

Samantha and her "baby"

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