Kenley's first birthday and BIG family news!

We had such a great week celebrating Kenley's birthday! She was spoiled by all of her grandparents and friends. Everybody was so generous, but her mommy and daddy had the best present of all - Kenley is going to be a big sister this spring!

Kenley breaks the news to the family!
Wearing her birthday tiara and examining her presents.
More serious present-opening...
Taking some pictures with her best friend Carli Combs, who came down from the Bay Area just for Kenley's party!
Kenley was very careful with eating her cake. She did not want to get the frosting on her fingers, but once she got started, she loved her special treat!
Opening presents from the Hampton grandparents! She thought she was sooo big opening them all by herself!

A trip to Utah!

Kenley was lucky enough to take a weekend daddy-daughter trip to Utah. Mommy was lucky enough to have a weekend to herself at home! :) James and Kenley went up to see Uncle Ian before he was deployed to Iraq. They had so much fun visiting with the Hamptons, and they also got to visit with the Hunts, some of our friends who now live in Utah. Kenley loved playing with her cousin Connor and all the dogs! She was so happy to see her Grandpa and Grandma and the rest of her Utah family!

Kenley and Connor playing in the tunnels
Discussing the finer points of literature

So excited to have a cousin to play with!

Long overdue Alaska pics

Thanks to everybody who was so welcoming and helpful during our trip to Alaska! Scott and I flew up together with Kenley, Dad and Joanie came the next day, and James joined us for the last weekend. We had such a great trip and got to spend time with everybody.
This is Kenley on the airplane. We were surrounded by men and she couldn't stop flirting long enough for a picture. She had about twelve of them wrapped around her little finger by the time we landed!
Visiting the cousins - Rita with Andrew, me with Kenley, and Lori with Avery.
Kenley LOVED playing with Kelsey and Anna, especially when they let her chew on their cell phones!

This is Kenley at Lucky Wishbone, making her a fourth-generation devotee of the restaurant!

Summer fun

We are having such a great summer. Kenley is learning so much and growing so big! She is a fast crawler, and loves to pull up and cruise along the furniture. She loves eating table food (thanks a lot, Brooke and Carli) and her best friend is her dog. Her favorite thing to do is read books, and she is talking up a storm of nonsense!

Visiting the Combs!

Kenley and I went to visit Brooke and Carli at their home in San Ramon. We stayed three days and had so much fun! The girls taught each other all their naughtiest tricks. They loved following each other all around the house and fighting over the toys. We miss the Combs so much!
Lots of leg chub!
Kenley is alarmed by Crazy Carli!
The girls were so excited watching this fountain outside the restaurant where we had dinner.
Playing in the tub after a trip to the pool.
We took a bike ride and put both girls in the trailer. The whole way to the park, they hit each other, fought over toys, and cried. So of course once we got there, we took pictures.

Happy Father's Day!

James is such a great daddy to Kenley. He loves her so much. This is a slideshow I made for him for Father's Day.

To the Best Daddy Ever

These are some pictures from Father's Day.

Oceanside beach with Mom, Dad, and Maren

When Aunt Maren came to visit, we took a trip to Oceanside beach. Even though it took all morning to get ready and we were only at the beach for an hour, we still had a great time! Kenley loved chasing the seagulls with her daddy, eating the sand, and chewing on Maren's keys. I can't wait until she's old enough to build a sandcastle instead.

Summer swimming

Now that the weather is getting warmer, we have taken Kenley swimming a few times. She loves to splash around and float in the pool!

Our first Mother's Day

We had a great first Mother's Day here at home. We had a barbeque and Kenley had her first meal of big-girl food. She loved the mashed potatoes!

Our little bookworm

Like mother, like daughter, I guess! Kenley is really into her books lately. As soon as I put her down in her room, she scoots right over to her bookshelf and pull out some books. She turns the pages and looks at the pictures. I'm pretty sure she is actually reading them - she's so brilliant. Even more brilliant, as you might note, is the fact that she can actually read UPSIDE DOWN!

A trip to the beach!

Last week we took our first family trip to the beach! As you can probably tell, the weather was not exactly optimal, but we had a great time anyway!

One of Kenley's favorite activities - chewing on sweatshirt strings.

A week of new tricks!

Kenley has had a big week around here! For one thing, she is finally starting to babble. It's so cute to hear her little voice. We can't wait until her "dadada" refers to James and isn't just her universal way of talking to us. Also, she is getting her first teeth! The bottom left one has just poked through, and the bottom right is on its way! Boy are they sharp! Kenley frequently runs her tongue over her gums with a confused look, like, "Um, are you going to get this sharp piece of rock outta my mouth or what?" But her MOST exciting new trick is that she has learned to sit up on her own from her belly! So now she can scoot over to a toy and sit up to play with it all by herself! I'm posting a video of this very exciting milestone, as well as just a funny one where she pulled her blanket out of her toybox and got all tangled up in it. Enjoy!