Yellowstone Park Vacation

Our first vacation as a family was at Yellowstone National Park. We started our trip by stopping at Grandma and Grandpa Packer's house in Idaho to spend the night. Ashlee had a ton of fun playing with cousins. She actually crawled for the first time on all fours at their house. The next morning we headed to Yellowstone and stayed for three nights. We did tons of fun stuff, like hikes and watching Old Faithful. Even though it was fun, it was exhausting as well, and we are very glad to be home!

Here are some highlights from our trip:

Before we got into Yellowstone Park, we stopped for lunch at a diner. I love Ashlee's huge smile in this picture.

This close-up of Ashlee was taken in the tiny cabin where we spent our first night at the park. The worst part was the heat didn't work very well so we were pretty cold. Good thing it was only one night! The next two nights we spent at a much more comfortable hotel.

Here we are about to go on our first hike at Yellowstone Park. Ashlee got a great view during our hikes from the carrier on Scott's back.

We saw a lot of buffalo by the side of the road while driving through the park. This buffalo decided to cross the road and block traffic.

We took a fun hike of Mammoth Hot Springs.

We were able to get very close to the hot springs because of the walkways that were built right over them. It was pretty cool. I mean hot. : )

It was amazing to get so close to animals. I took this picture of a deer from the other side of a small stream.

This scene was so gorgeous, I just had to get a picture of it.

One of the hikes that we did was a beautiful hike to Mystic Falls. Here Scott took a picture from behind of me and Ashlee with the waterfall as a backdrop.

At the waterfall, we were able to get someone to take a family picture for us.

Here we are waiting for Old Faithful to erupt. Ashlee looks so cute in her hat!

More buffalo from the car on our way out of the park.

What a tiring vacation! Ashlee slept most of the way home in the car.

Six months old

Ashlee is about six months old and she is so much fun. She has been eating solids for weeks now and she just loves new food. She sits up on her own, rolls over from both sides, and pulls herself around in circles on her tummy. If a toy is out of reach, she will just roll to get to it!

Baths are fun but I think she is starting to grow out of the little tub.

She'll be crawling any time now!

She loves jumping in her Jumperoo! Definitely a smart purchase.

She loves her kitchen, especially when it plays music.

Christmas....2 months later

This post is way overdue. Christmas this year was a lot of fun. Ashlee got spoiled by everyone. She got a few new toys that she loves. One is a puppy that talks and sings when you press his paws, tummy, and ears. Another is a doll that laughs when you squeeze it. Both toys are guaranteed to make Ashlee giggle.

My parents were supposed to come out but they couldn't make it. I was disappointed because they still haven't met Ashlee in person. We did get to spend Christmas Eve with Scott's family. We stayed home Christmas Day and had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and spent the day opening presents in between Ashlee's naps. Scott got me an AWESOME gift: a Nook! He also got me hiking shoes. Now I don't have an excuse not to go hiking this summer. I gave Scott the Garmin he has been wanting since I've known him. It was a great time to spend together and enjoy our family!

Halloween

I was very excited about Ashlee's first Halloween. We had a very fun day planned: a neighborhood party and then time with family. We were quite discouraged, though, when it was cold and rainy all day. We decided to go to the party, which was outside, when the rain let up. But while we were there, it started to pour! We did have fun though. After, we went over to Scott's brother's house and saw our nieces and nephews dressed up. Ashlee even dressed up as the cutest bumblebee ever!

Smiles

Ashlee has grown so much. It's hard to believe she is already over two months old! It is very hard to catch her smiling with the camera. She smiles all the time but as soon as I pull out the camera and she sees it she stops smiling and stares at the camera like it is the most interesting thing in the world. I'm glad I was able to get these!

She hates being on her tummy unless it is on the Boppy. I think it is because she can't see everything when she is flat on the floor.
And here she is staring at the camera.

Baby Blessing

Ashlee's baby blessing was October 10. It was such a great experience. Here are some pictures of her in her beautiful dress given to her by Great Grandma Packer.

I just love her little shoes.

Playtime

Ashlee is now over seven weeks old. That means that she will be two months old next week. I can't believe how quickly she is growing. Today she weighs 10 lbs! We actually bought a scale so that we can weigh her whenever we want. Since we had so much trouble with her gaining weight in the early weeks, we stress about it so much still. I don't know why we do because she is gaining just fine. Some milestones are: smiling, cooing, holding her head up fairly well when held in an upright position, and lifting her head up when she is on her tummy. The following pictures I took today while we had some playtime. I tried to catch her smiling but by the time I grabbed the camera the smile had disappeared. Maybe next time.