Utah visit, cont.

So I've finally decided to complete my post on our Utah trip. We had TONS and TONS of fun. We were so crazy busy the whole time. Poor Kate ate almost every meal and took almost every nap in the car. She was a trooper!

On Saturday, our last day in Utah, we drove up to Ogden after the Lavendar Run to visit Chris' grandparents. We didn't tell them we were coming at all so we decided to play a little prank on them. We made a sign & put it on Kate's carseat that said "Am I related to you?" and we left her on their doorstep! :) Ha ha! You should have seen Grandpa Carson's face when he opened the door! Chris was just around the corner and Stacey, Andy and I were hiding behind bushes trying to catch the moment on camera. It was hilarious!

Here's Kate meeting her Great-Grandma Carson. You can't tell very well in the picture, but they both have the same blue eyes. So cute! Also, the blanket Kate is holding is her favorite and it's also one of Great-Grandma Carson's famous blankets (she makes TONS of crocheted blankets). But this one was especially made just for Kate.

Here's Chris and Stacey planning the attack! Poor Kate has no clue what we're doing with her!
Oh! Here's a random picture that's not from our Utah trip, but it shows Kate's cute 4th of July outfit. This is also her "9 month" picture. I tried to get a good picture on her 9 month birthday, but she just didn't cooperate. This picture demonstrates what she's up to now. Not only is she crawling EVERYWHERE, she also pulls herself up and walks along our furniture. She's constantly on the move. On top of that, the past few days I've started noticing how incredible her verbal skills are. She's always been a jabberer (is that a word?) but recently I've noticed how much she really understands us. Plus, I think she's really trying to say words. The other day I was tickling her and I was saying "tickle, tickle, tickle!" and she started saying "ta, ta, ta!" It was so cute!!! Then, yesterday she was starting to get a little fussy and I said "Are you ready to take a nap? Do you want to go night-night?" and she immediately crawled over to her blanket and raised her arms for me to pick her up. She's so smart!! It's amazing how smart they are!
Ok, back to Utah. Sorry about the diversion there. We got to visit with lots of old roommates & friends. We had some good times and lots of good food! This first picture is with my roommate Lisa and her daughter Lydie. Kate and Lydie are like 2 days apart. It was so good to see Lisa and meet her little one. We ate at Cafe Rio, yum!!

Oh! So this post is really random....sorry! This is back at Stacey and Andy's home. Chris was playing the piano and Kate and I were just enjoying the down-time. It was so stinkin' hot in Utah so we stripped Kate down to her diaper and just let her do her thing. She was definately enjoying the beautiful music! (PS ~ I had no idea Chris knew how to play the piano until like 2 months after we were married!)
Back to roommates. From the left, me, Andrea, Elisa and Lori. It was so great to see them again and catch up on old times. At one point Elisa said "You guys look exactly the same!" It's funny how so much has changed since we lived together, but so much is still the same. We picked up just like it had only been a month since we last saw each other.
And the next picture is of Kate, Stephanie and I. Stephanie is one of my good friends from high school. I hadn't seen or talked to her since my wedding reception in Washington. She actually got home from her mission the same day as my reception. Her parents made a 3 hour drive (each way) to Seattle to pick her up just so she could make it to my reception. Thanks Jones'!! It was so great to see her. (I promise we did visit Chris' friends too, I just don't have any pictures of that visit. I need to get them from Stacey.)
Ok. One last picture to add to the randomness of this post. Back at the grandparent's home at the start of this long story. Kate met her second-cousin, Kailana. They were so cute playing together. This picture was right when Kailana got there and she wasn't quite sure what she thought of all those weird people around her so that's why she's making a funny face. Later on she warmed up and gave Kate TONS (I've said that a lot in this post) of kisses. It was so cute!
Believe it or not, I still have more pictures & stories to post from our trip, but they're about Chris' mission reunion so I'm going to wait until he's here so I can do them justice! Until then!!