Cousin time in Iowa

Will, Erin, and Colin were going to visit Grammy Cindy in Iowa the last week Grant was in Florida so Kiana and I decided to visit for a few days as well. She sure got a lot of traveling in this month, mommy is worn out. Two benefits have come from all this traveling though. As soon as we got back to CO Kiana started taking two naps a day, for almost two hours each. She's also back to sleeping through the night again. For a little while she went back to waking up at 4am each morning. Kiana had a good time with Colin, when of course he'd sit still long enough to play with her. Below are a ton of pictures from our trip to Iowa.

The first day we were there we went to check out the pigs. Spencer and Garrett are sending some to the State Fair, so they have to get up every morning until the fair to "walk" them.


Spencer was Kiana's buddy the whole time we were there.




Cleaning up after playing at the farm!

It was so hot and humid that when it started down pouring I couldn't resist playing in it. Kiana was so happy she was jumping in my arms. We also don't get rain like this in Colorado that I figured it would be fun for her.

Snuggling with Spencer after playing in the rain!

Kiana loved Grammy's highchair, she can put her feet up. Someday we'll tell her it's not polite to put your feet on the table!

Hanging out with the guys!

The kids even got to go and see some baby pigs!

Playing with Great Grandma Lois! Colin loved to put the toy animals through the holes of the cabinet. He thought it was a shape sorter.

Kiana got used to being pushed around by her Great Grandma Wilma on her walker, so when Colin started pushing Great Grandpa Shorty's walker around Kiana got excited and wanted a ride like she gets back in Colorado.

We tried to have a mini birthday party for Colin, but he was pretty tired and wasn't too interested in the cake. He only took a couple clean bites, he didn't make the mess they were hoping for.

Tired out from all the festivities.

More Iowa fun!

They're breaking Kiana in early and teaching her how to play 500.




Colin got to take a fun ride on the 4-wheeler while we were at the farm! Kiana was busy taking a nap, maybe next time.


She did get to check out the tracker!

Thanks for the ride Garrett!

It was too hot and humid to spend another day inside so we took a trip to the local pool. They had a great kid/baby section perfect for the two kids.

Kiana had a great time swimming with Uncle Will! Once you put her on her stomach she just starts kicking her feet. She's a true water baby.

Kick Kiana Kick!

She seemed to enjoy the trip down the baby slide!

So she got to graduate to a trip down the big kid slide! Will did such a good job, she didn't even go under water.

Whenever Will would wear his glasses, and especially his hat, Kiana always looked at him funny. He looks too much like daddy, she was a little confused! Here she is giving him one of her looks!

A visit from Auntie Hanna!

Kiana got an unexpected visit from her Auntie Hanna when we came back. Hanna is getting ready to start college at the end of August that she came back for a week to visit us and some old friends before everyone leaves for school. Kiana always seems so happy with Hanna we know we'll have a great time when were all in Hawaii!

Trip back to MN

While Grant was in Florida I decided to take Kiana back to MN for a little while. Below are some pictures from our trip.

We took a trip back to the zoo with my mom and friend Heather. It was so miserably hot and humid we were only there probably two hours max. Kiana and I hadn't adjusted to the humidity yet, that we were both a little dehydrated after the trip to the zoo. I think the fish tanks were Kiana's favorite part. She was banging on the glass and talking to them.


Kiana got to go on her first ride as we were leaving the zoo.

After a few minutes of sitting in the car she stood up off the seat and was standing on her own.

Here you can better see her standing!

It was so hot that day we decided to hang out with my cousin Liz and her daughter Alex at their pool. This was the first time Kiana had been in a big pool so I wasn't sure how she would react, but she seemed to love it. I think she thought it was just a big bath tub, she kept slapping the water and splashing like she does in the tub.

Later that week we decided to go back to the pool so Kiana could try out a new swim suit we got her for our trip to Hawaii in December.

We went to visit her Great Grandma Verna for a couple days while we were back. The first night we took a trip to one of the nearby lakes to have dinner. I almost forgot how beautiful and big Minnesota lakes are!

The timing was actually pretty good since the weekend I was back was my Grandma's family reunion. Below are five of the six children still living out of a family of nine!

They had the family picture put on a cake, my grandma is sitting on the far left.

8 Months Old!

I haven't updated this in awhile because Kiana and I have been busy doing a little bit of traveling while Grant has been in Florida for training. He became a federal certified sniper a few months ago, but typically your supposed to go to training first. I guess they just wanted to wait until the most humid and hot time of the year to be doing outside training in Florida. Our little girl turned 8 months old earlier this month. She weighed 14 pounds 4 ounces, which means she doubled her birth weight exactly. FINALLY!!! She seems to be staying in the lower 5th percentile now in both length and weight. So she's very slowly growing out of her 3-6 month outfits, although she's close to growing out of her 6-9 month onesies. She still grows out of those first! She is starting to rock back and forth a lot, but hasn't yet figured out the forward crawling, just backwards! She's also able to stand a lot better on her own when holding onto the couch or coffee table, but she doesn't walk around on her own yet.