Time to play catch-up...

We have been so busy this summer.  We recently went to California.  It was so nice to visit with our family.  Lindsey and Danny let us crash with them at a condo near Redondo Beach.  We went to the beach with Ana almost everyday.  It was so fun and she just loved it.  She liked to run down to the ocean but wasn't too sure about actually getting in the water after sitting down accidentally in the cold water.  She did however love playing in the sand.  I think she would have been happy to just fill up buckets of sand with her little shovel all day. 

On our last day there we visited Disneyland with Ana.  The first ride we went on was Dumbo.  I wasn't sure what she would think.  She loved it!  She just sat there with the biggest grin and would giggle when Dumbo would go down.  The ride was a huge success....until she had to get off.  She didn't want to be done at all.  She pitched a huge tantrum as I hauled her away from Dumbo.  It was a little embarrassing...but hey...she had fun.  We went on pretty much all the rides in Fantasyland.  Ana was a little unsure of the rides where it was dark inside.  Her favorite rides were Dumbo and the Teacups which we rode many times with many tantrum exits.  She picked out a Ariel baby doll as a souvenir.  It was a fun day!
Then two days after getting home from California, Ana and I got on yet another plane and headed to Utah.  We went to visit my sister for her little baby boy's blessing day!  It was a lot of fun to get to see baby Noah again.  He is growing so fast and is super cute!  He looked so sweet all dressed up for his blessing day.  I was so grateful to get to be there.  We are so glad to have him here since my sister's pregnancy was touch and go for a while.  We had a fun visiting with our family for a few days.  We went up to Logan one day and visited Willow Park Zoo.  Ana got to feed some ducks.  She was a little nervous of them at first but warmed up pretty quick.  She had a great time throwing them food.
On the home front, Sean is going back to school to get a Masters in Business Administration.  It will be a really good thing but it is going to be a long two years.  He is going to school at night and taking some classes that are all day.  So school is going to eat up pretty much all his vacation days for the next couple of years.  So we wanted to do a little vacationing while we could.  He just started his first classes and the they seem to be going well.  He is so smart that I'm sure he'll do well. 
Ana is growing at a great rate.  She will be 18 months old in a couple of days here.  I just can't believe it. I wanted to write down some of the cute things she is doing. She is such a little character.  She is communicating a lot more these days.  One of her favorite new words is "No."  But she says is in such charming way.  If you ask if she wants a diaper change she will say "No" so sweetly.  It is adorable.  However, if you do attempt to change her after she has said no nicely you may expect a tantrum.  She will thrash about with limbs flying doing everything in her power to get away.  So I started telling her if she didn't hold still Frodo (our dog) would get her (lick her).  This actually worked wonders she would forget her tantrum and look around for him and laugh when he'd lick her.  So, the other day she had one of her baby dolls and was pretending to change her diaper.  She leaned over the baby and told the baby "No, no, no Frodo get you!"  I cracked up so hard.  I guess it's true that your kids imitate you.  Another favorite pastime of Ana's is to boss around Frodo.  If I tell him "No."  She will follow him around saying "NO, NO, NO," at the top of her lungs.  She also likes him to go in his kennel and she will then gather blankets and toys and sit in there with him.  It is cute...until Frodo gets out then Ana gets pretty upset.  Just now I heard all this giggling from the hall I peeked around the corner to see Ana laughing at Frodo with her blanket over his head.  She keeps putting the blanket over his head and laughing.  Apparently it is very funny to watch him try to get it off.  Good thing Frodo is a patient dog.

 She has conquered the art of climbing, her feats include; chairs, barstools, couches, beds, and her latest attempt is the shelves in the pantry.  You may wonder what she was after in the pantry.  One word sums it up: cereal.  She has discovered that there are other cereals besides Cheerios, namely Lucky Charms, and since we don't offer her them she has decided to take them by force.  So far her efforts have met with limited success but I foresee the cereal having to make a move for higher ground soon.  She loves the pantry and rearranges the shelves she can reach on a daily basis.  She sits on a large tin can that we use to store Frodo's food and is so serious about moving things about you'd think it was her job.
She loves to go outside and has learned to say "outside."  Since she has learned this word she will chant it all day long "outside, outside, outside, outside," until you ask her "Do you want to go outside?" to which the answer is always "ya, ya, ya, shoe!"  She will not only get her shoes for you but your shoes to.  The most amazing thing is that she will usually bring two matching sets of shoes. 

She has fallen in love with her blankets of late and carries them all around.  There isn't any one blanket in particular she just loves them all.  She gathers them up and brings them to you to wrap her in, sometimes four at a time!  She also loves her babies and always wants you to help her wrap them up to. 
She is getting pickier about what foods she will eat.  Things she used to like now she won't touch.  She will just push the plate away and say "No."  It gets a little frustrating at times.  She has developed a love of dipping things though.  So sometimes if a item is rejected you can offer her something to dip it in and she will change her mind and eat it.  She likes ketchup, ranch, sour cream, and my personal favorite fry sauce.  All in all I just love being her Mom.  She is so charming and just plain fun to be around. 

Oh yeah...and there might be a little something else I forgot to mention. Check out Ana's cute shirt.  Ana is going to be a BIG SISTER!