September in pictures

I gave myself a firm talking-to today (I got one from Megan too) and I made a goal to sit down and update the blog gosh darn it. It was long. (Really.) It was ugly. (Not really.) But it's done! (Really really.)

One morning Rayna decided it was high time we tried putting every bow we own in her hair at once. Good plan!

I seem to remember giving myself a similar hairstyle in 8th grade with butterfly clips. On purpose. And my dad called it "The Hive."

Ray and Bowman took a little father-daughter trip to Utah for Labor Day and they had a blast! Rayna got to visit all her long-lost cousins and be spoiled by Bowman and his laid-back, no-stress parenting :) He's a great dad!

Bips and wild hair! With Grandma and Hyrum

Hannah and Joanna! Ray loves her pictures of Joanna, who she constantly reminds me is a "beebee."

Some of the cousins

Rock climbing at the park!

They had to fly back from SLC to Newark where Bowman had his business training. I drove up to pick up Rayna and we stayed for a night with Bowman in his hotel. And what did we find but Carlo's Bake Shop! The truth is, I have seen probably 2 episodes of Cake Boss in my life, but I don't turn down world-class cannolis, ever. Yum!

Rayna and I came back home while Bowman stayed for another two weeks in NJ. But we were more than okay, because my wonderful and beautiful mom came to visit us! We had the time of our lives with her!

Rayna loved every second with Grandma, minus the occasional frustration. We showed her this picture of herself and asked, "Do you look happy or mad?" And of course, she told us, "Mad!" We were doing the bow thing again, haha.

We took Rayna to a bounce house type of place with all sorts of inflatable bouncy things. She took a few minutes to warm up, but then she loved it! And let me tell you, if you ever want to feel like you're about to go into labor without actually doing it, take your child to a place like this and jump around for 30 minutes.

The fun grandma who took over for me. :)

It's dark (and hard to get your flash to work right in there) but if you look closely you can see the look of pure delight on her face. She was loving it.

Riding the dino at the park

We visited PetCo for good measure, because why not, right? We love stopping in to check on the birds and ferrets. And this store even has little mini carts! Bonus! Rayna loved pushing around her "drollo" (stroller, aka the little cart).

Takin a break. The "kimchi squat" as Bowman describes it.

The weather cooled down and gave us a perfect day to visit Great Falls with my mom. Rayna was going through a week-long phase of not smiling for pictures, as I'm sure you can tell. But we had a great time and she loved picking up rocks and leaves. 

Squatting again.

On our last day we were graced with another day of perfect weather. We went to the National Zoo, which was awesome! (Again with the refusing to smile for the camera... haha)

She seriously would not smile or look at the camera, which is so odd for the little clown child who normally screams out "cheeeese!" whenever a camera is in sight. But after the camera was put away she was happy and smiling and making animals sounds every few seconds. :)

Bowman came back from NJ the night before my mom left, and good thing, because Rayna and I were in quite the fragile state after she was gone. We missed her-- bad! But Bowman returned with his usual zest for life and breathed some of it into us too. :) And he brought with him... safety glasses! Woo!

And that's been our September so far! Megan, this was for you. :)