Cute Friends

What do you get when you try to get three 2 year olds to pose for a picture...





Natalie loves playing with her friends Kaitlin and Eliza they have so much fun together. We had all gotten together during the week before the 4th and made our girls matching bows, so we wanted a picture of them. They weren't so sure about it though! Thanks Marissa for sharing your pictures.

Visitors

Update

Sorry it's been so long. Following are slideshows of pictures summariing our busy summer. We've had lots of fun company with grandparents coming and going as well as fun times around Milwaukee as a family since Patrick has more time off. We have discovered the beach on Lake Michigan this summer, Natalie loves it. Also we had a great 4th of July here, parade, bbq, fireworks, a very busy day. Enjoy the pictures!

summer

One Year Down, Almost

So no excuse really as to why I haven't posted for awhile, just slacking. Here is an update from our last month.



This is a picture of Natalie at her first Brewers game. She loved it, I was worried about taking her, especially since the game was during nap time, but she did great. She ate licorice, played on the playgrounds they have in the stadium with Patrick and her favorite part was the mascot Bernie. Bernie has a huge slide that he goes down when a home run is hit. Natalie spent at least the last 4 innings of the game watching the slide and saying they have to hit the ball really far (arm motioning how far) then Bernie will go down the slide. She is so funny, I couldn't believe her attention span was that long, and have no fear the Brewers finally hit a home run and she got to see Bernie go down the slide and watch the fireworks go off.









The next weekend we decided we needed to get away and took a quick overnight trip to Chicago. Patrick and I got to take turns going to the temple and then we spent Saturday touring around Chicago. The first pictures are of Natalie's "room" in our hotel, we baricaded her behind the other matress in our room.









After a decent night's sleep Natalie and I enjoyed the Continental breakfast at our hotel while Patrick went to the early morning temple session. She loved being able to pick what she could eat for breakfast and went up and down the line saying I want this, and this and this... She was in heaven. After breakfast we drove down to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Natalie had been talking about seeing the big fish all week and was so excited. She really enjoyed the aquarium and watching the fish get fed and seeing the turtles up close. She was also fascinated by the otter, it kept doing flips off of the glass and she thought that was so cool.



Patrick and Natalie outside the Aquarium on Lake Michigan, it was a beautiful day.

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Watching the fish get fed.

After the aquarium we walked all around Chicago and Natalie eventually gave up and fell asleep, she kept twisting around in her stroller, I thought she was going to fall out cause she wasn't buckled in.
Natalie loves being in our backyard, everyday she asks to go outside. Her favorite thing to do is move her chair into the sun, sit down and relax.

Natalie has super sensitive eyes and hates the sun so the other day we finally got her sunglasses and she loves them and wears them all the time. She also loves it when its warm enough to wear summer clothes.

Well its finals and time for my projects again. I refinished an old closet organizer that my mom gave me to make a little book shelf for Natalie's room. I also figured out how to make storage baskets to help organize Natalie's toys.

Also last week Natalie found some old mascara that I had thrown away and decided to put it on, luckily she kept it to her own face, and I don't know why she is sticking her tongue out, just being silly I guess.

Well that's all for now, we're excited that summer is almost here and at the end of the week we will officially be done with our first year of medical school. I can't believe how fast it has gone by, we love it here in Wisconsin the school, the area we live in and our friends really make this experience enjoyable!

Easter, Birthday, Trips and More!

This past month has been crazy. Natalie and I have been back and forth to Utah twice, she is getting to be quite the experienced flier, and Patrick's mom and sister got to come and visit for Natalie's birthday. Here are some pictures and stories from our adventures.

So every month or so our zoo has a free day. We went with our neighbors at the end of March, of course it turned out to be a VERY cold day! We decided to save money by parking on the street (it costs $10 to park at the zoo). Anyways on our LONG walk to the zoo, Natalie got SOAKED and was crying because she was so cold, let me tell you I felt like mother of the year, luckily Bird had brought her daughter Myleigh and extra set of snow pants, just in case and was nice enough to share them with us! The zoo was pretty empty that day and the girls had a blast. On our way out Natalie and I liked it so much we decided to buy a zoo pass for the year, needless to say we got one that included parking.





Natalie pretending to be a gorilla by the gorillas.



Yes the cheetah's really are that close, their indoor exhbit lets you get up close and personal with the big cats. Natalie kept touching the glass and saying pet kitty.



Natalie has recently fallen in love with a website called starfall.com. It helps to teach kids their letters and sounds. My daughter who still won't watch TV EVER, will sit and play this game for at least a half an hour, too bad she can't figure out how to click the mouse by herself. It is a really cool website and she is always asking for her buh Bs as she calles it. (b was the first letter and sound she learned). In this picture she couldn't even wait to get dressed from her bath before she started playing.



A cute new dress she got from my mom for her birthday (early). Thanks, mom and dad!



We had all been home from our trips to Utah for a week and a half when we got a sad phone call, my grandma had passed away unexpectedly. Natalie and I got on a plane the next morning and spent a week in Utah with family reminiscing about my wonderful grandma and all of the things she had taught us and our favorite memories of her. It was a sad, but wonderful week full of new memories. My grandma was an amazing woman who will always be remembered for her love of cooking, selflessness and fun summers. The following pictures of are of Natalie and her cousin Josh, they are so cute.

A couple of days after returning from Utah we had Natalie's birthday party. We had it the day before Easter and had an easter egg hunt. The kids all loved it and really got into it, especially when they realized there was candy in the eggs. It was a very fun afternoon, thanks to all who came. When it came time to blow out candles we discovered Natalie is scared of candles, she was trying to get away from Patrick the whole time we were singing her Happy Birthday! By the end of the party Natalie was very tired and decided to chill out on the stairs (sorry the picture is sideways, I can't figure otu how to rotate it).

The next day was Easter and the Easter Bunny definitely spoiled Natalie and she enjoyed another easter egg hunt around our house. She loved the toys and looked so cute in her dress.

Natalie's Grandma Leiter and Aunt Lynsey came to see her and we had a fun-filled week of shopping, movies, the zoo, parks and eating out. It was a fun treat and Natalie had a great birthday, thanks for coming to visit. Natalie was so spoiled for her birthday thanks to great grandparents (both sides) she loves all of her presents. She spends hours building towers with her blocks and when we go on bike rides her favorite thing to do is sit on her bike and say "push-a-me". I can't believe Natalie is already 2, time flies so fast!

Tonight Natalie was going crazy and having so much fun jumpping on the couch. She was singing songs and having fun then saw the camera and pointed and said for grandma, so this is for the grandmas, Natalie wanted to share her fun with you guys, she misses you!

So our next goal with blogging is to not have such massive posts, we'll work on that, sorry if you got Natalie overload or got bored halfway thrlough.

Vacation

Patrick and I spent spring break separate, but not because we don't love each other. I flew down to St. George during Patrick's test week to see my sister's new baby "Anna." She is way cute. I have lots of pictures, of my trip to st. george but they are on our other computer I realized. So more to come. Anyway I spent a week in St. George and then met Patrick in Salt Lake where we spent a couple days together. We had some friends over to Patrick's house for dinner Sunday night. It was way good catching up with everyone. I then flew back to Monday, and my great husband was so excited to see me that he dropped me off at the airport early to get back for his tee time at Thanksgiving point with Jared and Tristan. I feel loved! He did, however, buy me a gift card to the cheesecake factory to eat avocado egg rolls. They are the yummiest if you haven't tried them. I had to fly to Milwaukee to work so my husband could play. He ended up going Golfing twice, Skiing three times, and Cafe Rio four times. I am glad he was so miserable being apart from me. He did say he is set on moving back to Northern Utah because "where else can you golf in the morning and ski in the afternoon?" We will see, its still a little too cold for me. Well anyway here are the pictures, mainly of Natalie with Patrick's parents I will try to interpret them the best I can.

Natalie drinking a slurpy with Grandma and Grandpa Leiter

Natalie playing with her Lion

This is Natalie playing at this really huge park by Patrick's parent's house called Discovery Park.

This is one picture of St. george, this was a way cool indoor water park we went to. Natalie wouldn't go in the water for 45 minutes, and anytime I came near her she told me to get back. Finally she entered when we put a life jacket on her. She then played for two hours.

Riding a pony at the petting zoo at thanksgiving point.

Grandma Leiter and Natalie

Natalie feeding the goats

Natalie was very brave, I was impressed when I saw these pictures

Natalie and Grandpa Leiter playing on their favorite bean bag

Grandma Leiter with her two favorite grandkids. Avery, actually, took his first steps yesterday.

This is a newer tunnel at snowbird, they blasted through the mountain to let you ski the back side. Apparently you ride on a conveyor belt.

This didn't load right, this is Natalie playing catch with Calli.

Natalie ate all of Patrick's pasta at the spaghetti factory. I am not joking, ALL of it. Patrick had to mooch off others for food.

Natalie with Mimi, her great grandma mele. Who flew out from denver to see her grandkids.

Natalie on the tire swing.

DONE