Miss Kensley

Kensley is 18 months now.  She has really grown into her personality and definitely has her own opinions about things. She is getting really vocal and can say tons of words.  I think the cutest are waa-you (water), ah-tin (Austin) and errie-al (cereal).  Sometimes she tries to tell me something but I can't even decipher what she is saying and then she gets upset that I am not giving her what she wants.  She really loves animal sounds too.  Especially cow, horse, duck and donkey (we have a book about it). Her hee-haw is pretty darn cute! She also is really good at imitating different words or sounds people make.  She loves to try and copy anything Austin says.

I can't really name a favorite toy because what she loved to do best is doing daily things like trying on everyone's shoes, brushing her teeth, putting on necklaces and bracelets, pretending to clean, etc.  She also loves reading books and playing musical instruments.

She has become a really picky eater.  Sometimes it literally feels like she will only eat applesauce, cereal, cheese, fruit or crackers. But she has become really good with a spoon and fork and likes to eat just like Austin eats.  She has a huge sweet tooth though and begs for more if I bring out candy or cookies.

She loves to be involved with everyone but she also likes to go off and do her own thing. She is a mama's  girl and loves to be wherever I am.  She has just started nursery and loves it! However, I don't know how she would do without me because I am now the nursery leader :)    She can be a big tease sometimes but has this cute, little voice that is just so feminine and precious!

Her stats at 18 months are: 25 lbs (80th %) and 32 in. (65th %).

She loves playing with sand and water. She could scoop and pour all day.

We spent an evening in Salt Lake last weekend.  A random stranger took this picture of Kensley and was nice enough to email it to me. 

At the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake at their new splash pad.

Playing with play dough. She is so focused while playing sometimes. It's cute to see her concentrating so hard. 

We all just love this little girl so so much!

Road Trip

I am happy to report that I successfully completed a road trip with the kids by myself!  I feel pretty awesome about it.  Matthew is on the East Coast all summer but had a conference in Las Vegas at the end of July.  Since we are about 6 hours away, I felt like we were too close to not do anything about it. I was very scared about being by myself with kids needing things and I've never driven that far by myself.  I mean I have been on lots of road trip but I never really do much driving.

But with about 4 stops each way we made it happen.  It was only 6 hours of driving but with all the stops we made each trip took all day long.  I also underestimated how long packing and unpacking the car can take by yourself.  (That's another part of road trips I am usually not involved in)  Of course we had good and bad moments in the car.  Actually Austin did so good. He was such a trooper and helped out a lot.  Kensley on the other hand had a tough time. I would hand her something and about 10 seconds later she would drop it and want it back.  Not much I could do about that.  She also has had some bad diaper rash and sitting on it that long wasn't too comfortable for her either.  The best part of the drive was stopping both ways in St. George to visit my friend Emily.  She fed us lunch and our kids played and we were able to chat and catch up. I think we stayed a couple of hours both times. I'm so sad we didn't get a picture!

I am so glad we went.  The kids and I LOVED seeing Matthew and it felt so nice to spend time as a family. We didn't really do that much but just soaked in our time with Matthew. The kids hadn't seen their dad in almost 2 months.

For two of the days, Matthew had to attend his conference so the kids and I hung out at the hotel and found some things to do. We filled our time with visiting a splash pad, playing some miniature golf at the hotel, swimming, hanging out and building forts with hotel blankets.

I'm so glad I decided to brave the trip!