7 & 8 Months!

WOW, I'm not even going to give an excuse to why I am so late on posting everything.  I'm just going to go right ahead and post...
It is amazing how quickly Austin has started learning and accomplishing new things. After learning to get around by army-crawling, his world opened up to a whole new realm of adventure. It is amazing that at this young of age, he already knows what he shouldn't be playing with and of course those are the only things he wants. When he sits on your lap, you have to make sure that nothing is within his reach, or it will be in his mouth before you even have time to react.
He is a fantastic eater and I am still loving making all his babyfood! We haven't found a single thing he dislikes yet! He has also started drinking out of a sippy-cup by himself.
Some of Austin's favorite things recently are bath time and bath toys (mainly the faucet), saying "mamamama", walking while you hold his hands, army-crawling really fast, and his pacifier.

He LOVES bathtime.  The first thing he does is stick this rubber duckie in his mouth and then goes about playing with the other toys.

7 Months!

Daddy got kicked out of ESPN's filming of College Gameday, but he was quite the hit at the tailgate lot. Even the SL Tribune gave Austin some coverage!

Austin and I went out to Denver for a weekend and got to surprise Aunt Lindsay.

Austin and his Grandpas (my dad, above and Chris' dad below)

Austin's first Thanksgiving.  Next year, he'll actually get to participate in the whole food part ;)

8 Months!

Ready for Christmas!

Halloween & Colorado

Every other year, we have said that we really wanted to go to Colorado for the Utah vs. Air Force game. Well, since this is the last year we were playing out there, we had to make it work. Tyson and Helen came with us and we all stayed at my parents' house. Even though the game was freezing and Utah didn't play all that well, we still had a good time.

It also happened to be the same weekend as Halloween, so we missed all the festivities at home, but we were still able to get Austin dressed up a couple days before with his cousins and then again in Colorado with Mia.

Austin and his Kennedy cousins

Austin and Ava

Our little monster!

Austin and Mia. You can tell that they were both super pumped to be in their costumes!

Nothing but class here! We toured the Coors Plant on Friday before the game.

Headed to the game. Mia was a trooper braving the cold all night. I left Austin home with my mom.

Air Force puts on quite the production before the game starts. This is all students in their fatigues before the game presenting the flag. They also had parachuters (including the mascot) and some fighter jets fly over the stadium. It was very cool to see.

Chris and I

Half a Year!

In the middle of our craziness, our sweet little guy turned 6 months old! I can't believe it!

He is starting to sit up pretty good with his arms in front of him, but he gets too busy and forgets he needs them and falls over a lot. He is also turning into a rolling machine and has realized that it is a good way to travel from place to place. I will leave him on a blanket for a few minutes and by the time I return, he's halfway across the room. I love that he is starting to learn and grow up, it is so much fun to watch him master something new.

He is also grabbing at EVERYTHING!! I have a feeling we're going to be baby proofing sooner than later.

Another new thing this month is that he is starting to get pretty attached to me as well. He reaches and whines for me when he starts to get tired. Although I admit I love that he wants my attention, I'm foreseeing me getting NOTHING done if this keeps up.

We started giving him vegetables and fruits in addition to his cereal and he is an eating champ! He loves his sweet potatoes!

Here are a few pictures from the last month...

He loves playing with the spoon after he eats!

Hanging out at Snowbird for Octoberfest

Austin and I were lucky enough to go out to Denver to visit my family one weekend. I love this picture of Austin with Aunt Lindsay.

The Lankford cousins (minus one who had soccer practice ;) )

I took Austin to Gymboree for the first time this month and he loved it! It was so weird to go back with my own child but so much fun!

6 Months! Austin's monkey and giraffe are just getting smaller and smaller each month!

Yellowstone

We were invited to go to Yellowstone with Chris' brother, Mike, and his wife, Lauren, in the first of October. I hadn't been since I was really young and we thought it might be nice to get away on a relaxing trip for the weekend, so we were quick to accept!

We got there late Friday night, as we were traveling with 2 babies that were on completely different schedules, and stayed at Lauren's parent's cabin. We spent all of Saturday at Yellowstone National Park and then had dinner in west Yellowstone that night. On the way home Sunday, we stopped at this funny little drive-thru bear park and petting zoo in Rexburg called Bear World.

It was fun to get out of town for the weekend and we always have a good time with Mike & Lauren.

Mike & Lauren with sweet little baby Ava

Our little family in front of Old Faithful. This was after we totally got sprayed!

Note to self: don't sit downwind when the geyser erupts!

Cool guys in their shades

This was the car behind us at Bear World. They tell you, "Do not stop, even if a bear is in the middle of the road, or they will climb on your car." Sure enough, the car behind us stopped.

Papa, Mama and Baby Bear

Ava Sophia!

The last week of August, Chris' brother, Mike, and his wife, Lauren, welcomed sweet baby Ava Sophia to the world. She was born 6 pounds 12 ounces and measured 21 inches long. I'm pretty sure I am correct on those numbers, but not positive, ha!

We are so excited to have another little one in the family and can't wait to see what great friends Austin and Ava become as they grown up together. Here are a couple pictures of her.

Cute little family! Mike and Lauren are going to make the best parents! Lauren was such a trooper, she had quite the intensive labor and delivery (and recovery for that matter!)

Proud Daddy and Grandpa only hours after delivery.

Ava wasn't even 2 weeks old in this picture, but she makes Austin look like a giant.

Time Flies! 4 & 5 months old!

This is going to drive my OCD through the roof, but I'm going to post the last two months together so that I can get caught up. (And cause I can't specifically remember what he was doing at 4 months, ha!)

It is truly incredible how fast Austin is learning new things and changing every day. Chris had to go out of town for a week in August and when he got home, it was like Austin had changed so much! In the time Chris was gone, he started laughing a little more, making funny faces at me, sitting up with his hands in front of him and even rolling onto his tummy. I woke up one morning to him sleeping on his belly with his little legs tucked under him. Before this, I had no idea he could roll. Had it not been 6:00 a.m., I would have thought to take a picture!

The month between 4 and 5 was a little difficult on the sleeping front for us, but by 5 months, I think we got it back under control, minus the new 5:30 wake-up call that seemed to show up.

About a week before he turned 5 months, we started giving Austin cereal. He was totally confused and I think most of it ended up on his bib, but he has gotten better at it since.

Austin and his buddies. It is so fun to see all our friends become parents. These four were all born in the last year. I'm sure they'll figure out how to get into a lot of trouble together, just like their daddies.

We took Austin to his first Real soccer game on the 24th of July. He was so curious about everything. He even enjoyed the fireworks after the game.

Getting so big! 4 months!

I put a chunk of frozen milk in this teether and he was in heaven!

Austin has always loved the bath. He started sticking his hand out for me to pour water over it, then he would put his hand in his mouth to suck off all the water. So cute!

Football season!! Go Utes!!

We went to Chris' mom's cabin in Wyoming over Labor day.

This was having coffee with Grandma Hood at the cabin. He is starting to grab at EVERYTHING!

His first rice cereal...

Everynight before bed, either Chris or I read him a little story. I caught this picture one night during Chris' shift ;)

5 months!! Starting to learn how to sit all by himself. We still have lots of crashes cause he forgets he needs his hands to hold himself up and starts reaching for toys.

I just had to add this cause I love this picture of him. His big blue eyes are already my weakness!

Seattle and San Juan Islands

Yep, yet again, I am EXTREMELY late on posting, but I need to catch up before it gets to be too much.

In the beginning of August, we went to Seattle to visit our friends Matt and Heather then Austin and I went on to the San Juan Islands for a wedding while Chris joined up with my family in Vancouver for another fishing trip on the Charlotte Queen.

First, we met up with Matt and Heather and stayed a couple nights with them at their apartment in the adorable neighborhood of Queen Anne in Seattle. It was definitely a completely different trip with a little one, but so fun to drag him along with us.

He thought he was so cool in his own seat on the airplane.

I wish we would have taken Austin out of his seat for this picture, but at the time he was sleeping and I wasn't willing to give up a nap.

We went to lunch near the water and went out on the docks to take some pictures after.

We're so glad Matt and Heather moved back to Salt Lake!

I left the night before Chris did, so I have no idea the trouble he and matt got into after I left ;)

Next, one of my best friends, Cyndi, was getting married in the San Juan Islands and we had been planning on going for the whole summer. A week before we left, my uncle offered Chris a free spot on his fishing boat in the Queen Victoria Islands off British Columbia. Chris was going to decline in order to help me with Austin at the wedding, but I couldn't let him turn down such an amazing trip. So, his mom, Kim, offered to go with me. She kept saying that it was the best babysitting job ever ;) Although I was completely stressed out with traveling with Austin, being a bridesmaid and also doing all the flowers, we still found time to go on an awesome whale watching tour and saw a ton of orcas. Kim ended up being a lot of help and I ended up having LOTS of help with the flowers so it turned out to be a great trip. The wedding was beautiful and we had a really good time!!

Besides the ferry over to the islands, this was Austin's first boat ride.

One of the orcas we followed

My girlfriends and I at the rehearsal.

The bridesmaids after the rehearsal dinner

This picture is a little hard to see, but it is the only one I have of all of us the night of the wedding. Cydni made her own dress and it turned out beautiful!

I took Austin down to the reception for a little while to give Kim a break.

Chris isn't here, but I wanted to add a few pictures of his fishing trip. Sorry, I don't have much commentary on them, but I know they had a great time. I even got a "thank you" card in the mail from my mom for letting him go, ha!

All my family on the big boat

Chris and Lindsay with their fish.