Our Samoa Surprise

We are just thrilled that we were able to surprise Dave's mom with our arrival in Samoa last Wednesday! We've been trying to keep our plans quiet for a couple months now and the planning paid off. I'll try and post the video of our arrival in Pago Pago as soon as I can get it. It was priceless. We love being here and have had a wonderful time so far! It's so hot! We've had to pull out our summer clothes again and Katelyn is trying hard to adjust. She gets too warm and sticky sometimes which she doesn't like, but she's doing wonderful. She wore a cute little red dress and a onesie to church today, but even the 12 ceiling fans in the chapel didn't keep her cool enough so off went the dress. She was much happier in just the onesie.

This picture shows the Pago Pago Harbour where they hid 9 submaries during WWII. Crazy. It was really beautiful from this point.
We flew from Pago Pago in American Samoa to Apia in Western Samoa last Thursday morning. I thought it was going to be a pretty rough ride, but it was nice and smooth and only took about 30 minutes. Katelyn even loved it.
Here's the view as we left Pago Pago.

And here we are as we were flying on the little plane.


















On Friday, we made it to the beach! We went to the Materava Beach (something like that). You have to pay when you go to the beach, so luckily we just had one car. We all went snorkeling and saw some fish, a blue star fish and a big crazy looking worm. The water was so warm and as you can see in the pictures, it was just beautiful.

We wanted Katelyn to have her first experience in the ocean, so we first tested her out by dipping her feet in with her normal clothes on. She passed, so here she is in her swimsuit enjoying the ocean in Samoa. She did really well and we love this little picture of her smiling!


And today, Sunday, after dinner, we went for a little drive up to Papapapataitai Falls. The name might be hard to say, but it's worth the drive. It was beautiful!


It was so green and beautiful and actually falls quite a bit further than you can see here. We couldn't climb down to it because just behind us is an enormous drop off. We just got to enjoy it from this look out spot.

Today, we prepared some gifts for some of the member families for Christmas and tomorrow we get to go caroling and deliver them. This will definitely be a Christmas to remember!

Our Strawberry Shortcake

Our little Katelyn has been growing so much these past couple weeks! Last Friday (Dec. 12) we found out that she is in the 95% percentile for her height and 70% for her weight. Whoa. I'm not sure if she was just trying to stretch out when they measured her (she likes to do that) or what, but she has basically skipped right to 6 month old clothing. I have a feeling she'll grow out of this adorable jumper before I get the chance for her to wear it again! She just gets cuter every day and loves to look around and stand up (with our help) and her favorite new discovery is her tongue. She thinks it's the neatest thing ever. If she's not sticking it out, she's holding onto it. What a cutie!

Katelyn's Christmas Greeting

Katelyn wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone! Here she is, but you'll notice that she got distracted by the sweets we were giving to the neighbors. You know how kids and sugar go. At 3 1/2 months she's starting early, but I guess she learned to love it even before she was born. Just wait until we give her some ice cream. She's going to go nuts! :)

She's 3 months!!

Last Sunday, we dressed Katelyn up in a cute little red dress that my sister let us borrow. Thanks Shannon! We had so much fun taking pictures and she cooperated so well with her cute little smiles. Oh how fun it is to have little Katelyn with us!

Katelyn's New Trick

Yes, Katelyn is getting more and more talented every day. :) Dave and I just love to watch her, which is why this post is exclusively pictures of her. She's so cute, I can't help it. The little video shows her new trick that she's been working on. If I put a rattle in her mouth, she grabs on to it for a second. I've read about teaching babies cause and effect, so I put the rattle in her hand (she usually holds her hand in a fist so it works) and she waves her arms around and can hear the rattle. The point is so that she can figure out that she's the one making the noise. She's not there yet, but it's coming! :)

A 180 Barrel Roll!

We couldn't believe it! We just come home from a YW fireside and started changing little Katelyn into her PJs. I turned her over onto her belly so I could unsnap her buttons when all the sudden, she started twisting her little head and back like she was going to roll over. Check out the video. She's so cute because the top half of her goes first, and then we were so excited to see her little legs go over too. She can roll over! She hasn't tried to go from her back to her belly yet, but that can't be far behind. Could any parents be any prouder? :) Well, like any new parent I immediately got every camera I could find to document our baby's proud moment. She's 12 weeks old today and we are all smiles. According to BabyCenter, she's right on target, but we weren't expecting it so we were thrilled with the surprise.

Hanging out

Katelyn had a great time sitting on our camping chairs at the ward Halloween party. What a cute little pumpkin.

Time for Daddy's nap

Katelyn is such a good girl. Dave has been so tired with his busy schedule of homework, job searching, PhD researching and everything else that Katelyn put him down for a nap today. Good girl Katelyn. He looks so peaceful.

Happy Halloween!

Katelyn's cute new fall outfit!
Cousins Hannah, Jacob, and Matthew.
Our little carrot.
Cousins Sarah, Mary, Annie, and Tom.

While we were in Utah last weekend, we dressed Katelyn up as a little carrot for Halloween. She was just adorable!! I think she really loved it, even though she cried most of the time she was wearing it. :) She loves to kick her legs and the costume didn't really allow it, so you can imagine how happy she was to get it off! My sister came over with her kids as well for a little Halloween stew and to show off their awesome costumes. We also visited Dave's sister-in-law and got some cute pictures of our kids together. What a great trip!

Katelyn's Blessing

On October 18th, Dave, Katelyn and I flew home so that we could bless Katelyn in Utah, where our family could come to see her. She looked so beautiful in the blessing dress my mom made for her. Wow, maybe one of these days I can learn to sew as well as she does. She even did the beautiful embroidery. Katelyn was so good during church and woke up during the blessing just in time to look around to see who was there. She never cried, she was just curious. Here are some photos that we took of Katelyn as well as of our families. As you can see, we were having a great time. :)

She's a swimmer!

Today was Katelyn's first time in the pool and she loved it! Well, almost. She didn't cry and that's close to loving it. I don't think she quite knew what to do when she got wet, but as you can see below, Dave is a master teacher and taught her how to float on her back! Only 7 weeks old. What a quick learner.
Look, she floats!
All tuckered out. She has really slept well tonight after her day at the pool. I think we just found a new addition to her bedtime routine. What a cutie. :)

She's getting bigger!

Little Katelyn is 6 weeks old! She is just adorable and I love to hold her and kiss her! She made my day today when I walked over to her while she was in her bassinet and as I said hello to her, she gave me a big smile! I loved it! Hopefully I'll be able to catch one of her smiles with my camera so I can post it.

Getting Katelyn ready

Our cute little Katelyn was wiggling around before and after her bath. Don't let the distressed look in the second clip fool you... she loves to take a bath! Her cute little cry in the second clip is very characteristic of her. What a cute baby. :)

It's a girl!! Katelyn Ariel Price!

Yes, we are parents! Our cute little Katelyn Ariel was born on Sunday, August 26th. She was 7 lb 10 oz and cute as a button. We love every second of being parents. More pics to come. She is my new favorite subject to photograph. :)

New plans!

Plans have changed, or been solidified, this week as to where our baby will be born. I went to the doctor on Monday, the day before we had planned to drive, and because I had dilated so far, she didn't want us to drive and in fact, has scheduled me to be induced on Sunday. In two days!! So, our baby will be born on August 26th, which is actually my dad's birthday and Dave's parents anniversary. It must be a good day!

We're so excited and feel really blessed that so many things have fallen into place. I went to the doctor again on Wednesday and had dilated even further. This little baby is excited to be here! I'm officially not due until September 4th.

Dave and I have been enjoying this week of rest, requested by the doctor. It's even been a little cooler, which is nice. No more 100 degree days. We'll be moving to my parents house tomorrow (Centerville) so mom can help us out and make sure that we're doing everything right. :)

Back to Arizona!! (Sometime....)

Well, I sure haven't done a very good job of keeping up on this. Well, here's the latest. Yes, we're excited to get back to Arizona, though of course sad to be leaving our family and the beautiful mountains. It's been a wonderful summer and today is Dave's last day of his internship with NuSkin. Where did the summer go?

I'm due on September 4, so less than 3 weeks now! Both the baby and I keep getting bigger and bigger. Even bigger than you you can see in the picture, but that's the most recent picture. This morning my doctor told us she is nervous to let us drive to Arizona next week, but she didn't stop us. :) The plan is to drive on Tuesday, August 21st. For now. We're looking at all of our options before we make the final decision and that might not even be made until Monday night. We are really making a habit of this last minute decision making stuff!!

The picture is of Dave and I at a spring at his grandfather's cabin. We even got to hike to it! Let me just say that it's a different experience when your lung capacity is cut in half, but we really loved it. :)

I'll post the picture of Dave's recent 5k shortly. He got his personal best just a couple weeks ago! Go Dave!

Internship in Utah

On Wednesday, June 5th we jumped in our cars and made the drive to Utah for Dave's summer internship with NuSkin! He's very excited and we're excited to be around family and the mountains again. It's just beautiful up here. After living through 107 degrees in Glendale, the snowy mountaintops (in June?) are very welcome, though we had a hard time finding our jackets. Flip flops and shorts have been our wardrobe for the past 4 months so it's been an adjustment, but oh so nice.
We're living at Dave's parents home in Highland and have enjoyed being back and especially not having to bring up all the kitchen utensils and toasters and whatever else you just can't live without. It's great and Dave's brother Chrit has let us move right in, make messes and make ourselves right at home.
Yesterday we met Scott at Ikea and got the skinny on life and his trip with his ward this weekend, "Walk on the Rocks." How fun! Then we went to visit Mike and Tami who fed us dinner and we talked and talked.
And the fun begins!

Wigwam

Dave and I were lucky enough to be given a free stay at the Wigwam Golf and Spa Resort that's about 30 minutes from here. It was a beautiful place and we really enjoyed just relaxing, trying to stay out of the heat, and playing a little bit of chess in our spare time. What a nice break from school for Dave!!

Sedona

Here's our first blog! How exciting!

Just yesterday, we took our baby on a four mile hike in Sedona, which is about 2 hours from here. She loved it!! (Though next time we'll bring more water.) It was just a little reminder of some of our favorite places to visit in Utah... Zion, Moab, you get the drift.