11 Month pictures

Here are some pics I took today of Amelia wearing a cute outfit I bought for her in Montana...I've been waiting until it was cool enough here to wear it.

Amelia's First Haircut

Before
After

Amelia's hair was getting pretty long, so I decided to give the bangs and sides a trim. Anybody who has a baby knows how hard it is to cut their hair, and Amelia was no exception. Unfortunately, I really didn't know what I was doing, and while it looks cute in the picture above, I probably cut her bangs too short and too blunt. When they are combed straight down, she looks like she has a bowl cut!

She's growing so fast!

Last week, Amelia had a Dr. appointment, and they measured her while she was there. She was 30 3/4 inches (95-97th percentile) and 20 lb, 9 oz (60-69th percentile). She is getting tall and lean!

Today when I picked her up from the babysitter's house, Colleen was all excited because Amelia had taken a step! Her first step!!!! I was excited too, but I wished I could have seen it...we were in luck, because after we got home, she was more than happy to show off, and several times, she took a single step. Hopefully, she will learn quick so we can put some video of her walking up for everybody to see.

My Friend Sandy

Cute and pregnant!
Me and Sandy (I'm a dork!)

I met my friend Sandy back in 1997 when we were both stationed at Kelly AFB in San Antonio. We both worked in the clinic and we used to hang out a lot. She and I and our friends Thu-Mai and Kiki even spent a long girls' 4th of July weekend in San Francisco about 5 years ago. When I stayed in San Antonio, Sandy transferred to Korea, then to Utah, got married, and last summer, she transferred to Great Falls, Montana. She came to Missoula for a day while we were there, so Amelia and I got to hang out with her for a while. She is now very pregnant, and is expecting a baby boy in October.

The Future Mrs. Noah Garrin???

First picture of Amelia and Noah
Getting a little help from Austin
The kids with the dads Noah and his dad Nate

Me, Amelia, Austin, Noah, Nate (hiding) and Kelly

The moms and their babies

Austin's class reunion was happening while we were in Montana, so he got to visit with a lot of his high school friends, including 2 of his best friends, Nate and Kelly Garrin. They live in Phoenix with their son Noah, who is about 3 months younger than Amelia, but is big for his age so he's about the same size as she is. He's a really, really cute little boy, and I joke that him and Amelia should get married in 25 years because they look so cute together.

Day trip up north

A lot of haze from the forest fires
Playing with the bears at the Vortex House
Aunt Jenny, Amelia and me...we shrunk!
We drove far enough to take pictures at the sign and buy tshirts!

Grizzly bear about 20 feet from our car

She slept through the whole bear adventure!

Austin, his sister Jenny, Amelia and I took a day trip north to go to the Great Bear Adventure near Glacier Park. It was a pretty drive, especially as we drove along Flathead Lake. On the way, we saw a Vortex House, which I had seen online, so we stopped to check it out. It's basically a house built on a slant, and you get dizzy inside. After we left, we drove to Glacier Park, but since we didn't have time to spend there, we drove far enough in to take a picture by the sign and buy some tshirts. Amelia got a really cute long sleeved tshirt..size 2-4...so she has to grow into it. Last, we we to the Great Bear Adventure, where you drive through a forested area right around bears, both black bears and grizzlies. It was pretty cool...we drove around about 6 times, and we were as close as 15 feet to the bears. They were well-fed and pretty lazy, so there wasn't any danger. On the way back, we stopped at a fruit stand to buy some Rainier and Flathead cherries and apricots...so good!

Riding in style!

While we were in Missoula, I went shopping at Target with my friend Sandy and I saw this really cool car seat. I went back the next day to show it to Austin, and we decided to buy it. Amelia was just about to exceed the weight limit on her infant seat, and I found out later she had outgrown it in height about 2 inches ago, so we got it just in time. It is bright pink with flowers, and it is girly and perfect for Amelia. She loves riding in it!

Visiting the Armstrongs on the Mountain

Amelia seeing her first horse with her Great-Aunt Kathy
Amelia was standing in horse poo about 5 seconds after this picture was taken

Amelia REALLY loves boys, especially her cousin Keanu

Keanu showing his Uncle Keith his Jeep

The view from their deck

We visited Austin's Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jerry in Missoula. They live in a cool house on the side of a mountain, so they have great views. They also have a great 5-year old son named Keanu, 2 dogs, and horses. We had a great time visiting them!

Swimming!

It seemed just as hot in Missoula as it was in Clovis, so we were really lucky that Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Dawn have a swimming pool at their apartment. We went over there one afternoon, and spent about 2 hours in the water. It was a great way to cool down. Amelia got so worn out swimming that she actually fell asleep standing up in Austin's lap, holding onto his face!

Amelia and Gunner

Here is Amelia with Gunner, her grandparents' yellow Lab. Gunner is a real outdoorsman, and he loves camping and hiking, but I think his favorite thing is to play catch with this disgusting smelly, slimy ball that he has. Gunner is a really big, active dog, but he was very gentle with Amelia, although sometimes he'd trot past her and knock her off balance, but he loved just being around her. Amelia loved to hang out with him in the backyard, either sitting in the grass, or watching him from the deck.

The Tripp Great-Grandparents

Here is Amelia with more great-grandparents, Jack and Glenda Tripp (Austin's stepfather's parents). We were really excited to see them because Grandpa Jack just had serious lung surgery and because I love hearing Grandma Glenda's stories (the last time we were in Montana, Glenda told me what it was like living on a farm, how they'd grow everything and raise their own animals, and she said she and I can kill some chickens together some day, which I found hilarious!!!) Anyway, Grandpa Jack seems to be recovering very well and he looks great. Grandma Glenda grows all kinds of stuff in her garden, cucumbers, carrots, onions, dill, lettuce, etc....she let me pick through her vegetable garden, and I took a bag of carrots and cucumbers with me, which I ate the next day.

The Armstrong Great-Grandparents

While we were in Missoula, we were able to see Amelia's Great-Grandparents, Jerry and Dawn Armstrong (Austin's mother's parents). We always look forward to visiting them, so it was really nice to see them again. We warmed Grandpa Dawn that Amelia seems to like men a lot more, so she might not go right up to her right away, and sure enough...Amelia went for Grandpa Jerry immediately, but later spent a lot of time on Grandma Dawn's lap.

Grandpa Jerry told us about a new bike that he is getting, and it is the coolest thing ever! It is one of the old-fashioned Schwinn bikes and I am so jealous! I looked through the catalog and picked out the one I'd want for myself.

Caras Park Carousel

Kathy suggested that we take Amelia to the Caras Park carousel, and I thought it was a great idea. I've always loved rides, even the scariest roller coasters, and I thought this would be a good introduction to rides for Amelia. We got our tickets, and while we were waiting for our turn, Kathy and I noticed that the carousel really moved...I mean, it was fast! We got on, selected our horses, and took a few pictures before the rides started. Amelia sat in front of me, and we were both secured with a leather strap around our waists. Then the carousel started moving, really fast, and I felt myself leaning out from the centrifugal force, and I was terrified! This was not the kind of carousel that I remembered from my childhood. I was so afraid that Amelia would fall off and they wouldn't be able to stop the ride. I spent the next few minutes with my arms wrapped around Amelia and my legs and ankles pressed tight to the horse, and my eyes were shut tight! After we got off, I was so wobbly, and Kathy said that when the ride started, Amelia's eyes got really wide, and she went pale because she was holding her breath, but she relaxed after a few seconds. For the next ride, we sat in one of the chariots, which was great because it didn't move at all! After the ride, Amelia and I shared the biggest shaved ice that I've ever seen.

Amelia and Aunt Jenny

Jenny will kill me when she sees this
That's some great hair!

Here is Amelia's *gorgeous* Aunt Jenny. (Sorry Jenny, but that picture of you is too beautiful not to share!) Amelia loves Jenny, and not just because she has great long hair that is perfect for pulling. We got to see a lot of Jenny and Amelia got to know her really well, since she went to Glacier and the Bear Adventure with us. She came over most nights and took 2 days of work off so she could hang out with us.

Uncle TJ

Amelia loooooves her Uncle TJ! TJ is the very first person, ever, that Amelia *wanted* to be held by within seconds. She saw him, and literally 5 seconds later she was holding her arms out and leaning towards him so he'd hold her. So I grabbed my camera and snapped these pictures. TJ gave Amelia her first taste of chocolate milk and she loved it, almost as much as she loves him.

Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Keith

With Grandma Kathy
Hanging out with Grandpa Keith by his dump truck

On the front steps

Zonked out after a walk through the neighborhood

So here is Amelia with Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Keith. They are just as crazy about Amelia as she is about them. It took Amelia about a half hour to get to know Kathy before she would allow herself to be held, but she went up to Keith right away and couldn't get enough of him. She loved to play a game with Grandpa Keith where she would shout at him and he'd jump and pretend to be scared. Amelia loved to hang out outside with Grandma Kathy and play toys together. It was really nice staying with them, because Keith and Kathy would practically kick us out of the house just so they could watch Amelia.

We're Back!

We got back from Missoula late last night, past midnight, and we've spent the day recuperating from the trip and unpacking and washing the car. We had a great time, and we came back with almost 300 pictures from our trip! We love going to Missoula, and even Amelia did great in the car (watching DVDs and sleeping most of the time) but we think we will fly next time. I'll be making posts over the next couple of days. Hope everybody enjoys the photos!