BUBBLE BATH!

Bethany loves bubble baths! Most days she has two, one in the late morning, and one before bed. It's a nice break for mommy because she will play in the bath while I can sit in the bathroom and read /relax.

BYU and Monkey Bag

Awwww.... Bethany loves auntie Cortny so much. Here she is wearing Scott's BYU hoodie. SO CUTE! We spent the day in Springville since Ben is gone. We had a really nice time going to church with Cortny/Dave, Sheri/David/Scott. We are really looking forward to December when Bethany can go to nursery! She is so ready. I know she will love it. And I will love being able to sit peacefully through sunday school and RS!

I bought Bethany this cute monkey backpack.... it also has a harness attached so when we are out in crowds I will be able to keep ahold of her easier. She has so much energy and loves to run away so she will get chased. Its her recent favorite game. She squeels with delight when I run after her. Its fun in a park, but not exactly the game I want to be playing in downtown SLC.

The monkey was a big hit, since she LOVES Curious George. She calls him "love u george" and carried him around the house all morning.

Bethany 16 months

This is Bethany's Frog Potty! She LOVES it! Everytime mom or dad is on the toilet, Bethany comes along and sits on her frog. She even puts her bears and dolls on the potty too. She has actually gone in there herself 4 times!

Here is Ben eating breakfast before his first day of work at KPMG! woo hooo! So proud of him. Its brilliant that he can be done work and get home in less than 5 minutes. I love being so close to his office. He is in Atlanta this week for training, so Bethany and I have missed him a lot. By the way, if you didn't hear, he passed all three CPA exams he took this summer. Now he just has one to go.

HAWAII

We've just spent the last week in Maui. It has been so wonderful. HUGE THANK YOU to mom for watching Bethany for us. You are SO AMAZING and SWEET to do that. Thanks to Sheri for helping out so much too, and giving up your house for a week. Thanks to everyone else who has helped (Cortny, Dave, Scott, David, KatiAnne). Bethany loves you all so much. It has meant the world to us to be able to go on this vacation together. It has been an INCREDIBLE trip. We've had very action-packed days. We snorkeled, boogie boarded, scuba dived, and swam. Luckily we are only minimally sunburned. Last night we ate at a delicious Chinese restaurant in south Maui and then walked along the beach at sunset. Maui is beautiful.

MAUI ADVENTURES

This is exactly what we saw when we snorkeled. These turtles are AMAZING! They come really close to you as well. A few times we got scared because they swim right for you like they are going to attack! They are harmless, but because they're so big you just feel a little vulnerable. They're so beautiful! This was my favorite part of the trip.
We saw a lot of these bright yellow reef fishies. They are so bright, they really stand out even if the water is a bit murky.
This is a crater called Molokini. We took a boat out to here and snorkeled by the rock. There were a lot of tropical fishies out here and the visibility was at least 20ft in whatever direction you looked. Amazing snorkeling here.

We saw a lot of school of bright tropical fish. When we went diving we saw an octopus, shrimp, frog fish, baby shark, and turtles. It was incredible.

I thought this little guy was THE COOLEST fish ever. I saw him at the Ulua beach dive.

Magic Show

On the "Four Winds II"

This was a delicious raspberry cheesecake we had just before the magic show.

Here is the magician from the show "Warren and Anabelles" in Lahaina. The show was marvelous. He made a bowling ball appear out of nowhere. Twice. A must-see if you visit Maui.

More Maui

After the magic show, outside.

Chilling out at the beach.

Fun in Maui

Taking a break after a snorkeling hunt for turtles in the ferocious waves.

On the "Four Winds II" --a boat that took us to Molokini Crater to snorkel.

At the Nakalele Blowhole. Its more impressive in real life, the picture just doesn't capture it.

This was a path we had to walk through to get to Honolua Bay.

Maui

This was today at Po'olenalena beach in south Maui.

The black rock in West Maui. This is the first place we snorkeled, and one of the neatest. We saw all kinds of fabulous looking fish here, as well as 4 or 5 turtles.

This was at Honolua Bay. We also snorkeled here. We had to swim out to the boat you can see in the background. We also saw a sea turtle here. It was a little bit exhausting swimming all that way, it helped that we had a couple of floaty noodles.

I took this picture wednesday morning at 5.30AM from our balcony.

Getting ready for scuba lessons :) Doesn't he look adorable in his wetsuit.

Ballerina and monkey toy

The Contraption

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We designed a special contraption so that Bethany would be able to get the dummy back after she spits it out.. to prevent us having to go in the room during the night to put it back in! She loved staring at the strings. However, it didn't last too long, and it wasn't quite as effective as we'd hoped lol She couldn't quite suck strong enough to get it to stay in her mouth. It was very tricky trying to get the angle right. Now she is learning to put it back in herself -- I just don't know how to transition her to sleeping without being swaddled. Any ideas? xxx

Girls Lunch

Bethany had her first girls lunch out last week. She came with Cortny and I to eat at the CrackerBarrell. She wore her styling little Calvin Klein outfit that Cortny gave her, and she was so excited to leave the house and see a new environment. I need to take her out more! She was just staring and staring at the lights and the people at the restaurant. Although she fell asleep for half of it! We had a great time. Can you see Bethany's cute blond fuzzy hair coming in? Adorable.

Steele Helmet

We had some leftover tinfoil from dinner so dad made Bethany a 'stylin' steele hat. I think she liked it!

Hero Quest

Ben got this game for really cheap off of Ebay and we've had fun playing it in the evenings after Bethany goes to bed. I am always "the game master" so I try to prevent Ben from accomplishing his missions (I get to fight him with monsters). Its so fun. I haven't yet won, but I'm getting better at learning the strategy and the names of the different monsters (its pretty complex!).

"The Little Brute"

Bethany has taken a liking to this chewy heart ring.

After her bath the other night. She loves to chew on her towel while I'm trying to get her dressed.
Sitting on the couch