March was a great month with Kaitlyn's first birthday and our trip to Utah. Here are some random pictures from in-between those two things. Kaitlyn loves squatting because it's so much easier to stand up again if you don't sit down in the first place. Plus, it gives you so much more leverage when pushing the ball through.
These two pictures were when Jeremy was letting her taste his caramel-apple pop. She loved it!
Such a happy girl and such a good eater! She loves zucchini, broccoli, rice, pears, yogurt, cottage cheese, and spaghetti with cheese melted on it.
March is not complete without lots of March Madness! Kaitlyn loved watching all the games with her Daddy.
We went to Utah to spend time with family and go skiing since there are not many chances for me to go otherwise. I went to Snowbird on Saturday and there was a storm the night before and there were about 8 inches of fresh snow. I had a hard time skiing all the crud because I was just plain out of shape for it. I was skiing with Daniel and Patrick and they were nice enough to wait for me. The ski patrol were about to open Mineral Basin so we stayed with the crowd to wait. Then someone yelled that they were opening the Road to Provo so we stampeded over that way as fast as we could. It was a mad dash that ended very awkwardly...they weren't opening Road to Provo. We were all stuck and tightly packed, so we couldn't go back to the other line. We felt stupid and annoyed that we got tricked. Then a miracle happened. They opened both. Daniel got his line first and I stayed on the cat track longer with Patrick till we dropped in. It was the best powder run I have had since high school. It was effortless and smooth. It was thick enough powder that you didn't sink to the hard layer beneath, but light and fluffy enough that you still felt like you were floating. It was uncut all the way down and amazing. We got a few more awesome runs, but nothing beat that first one. It was amazing.
On Monday, I went to Solitude with my parents and it was an absolutely beautiful day. The snow was perfect. Hero snow is so fun to ski on because everything feels like you are skiing your best. Hero snow is firm and smooth, but not icy so you get good grip. My back was super sore, but I was able to get in some awesome carves on Sunshine Bowl and the steep run up top I can't remember the name of. I know most skiers would think I'm crazy for saying this, but having a full day of carving on hero snow is even better than the perfect powder run. Jeremy and Shalane brought Kaityln, Alta and Ellie up and they got to go skiing too. I took Kaitlyn up in the front-pack and did 2 runs with her. I think the cold wind was not her favorite thing, but she liked the motions and the lift ride. Her face got a little wind burned though, so she was done before the end of 2 runs. Alta is a champ and skiing daredevil. I couldn't believe how fast she went. Ellie wanted to try the magic carpet, but they took too long and she lost her courage. All in all, it was another wonderful day of skiing.
On Monday, I went to Solitude with my parents and it was an absolutely beautiful day. The snow was perfect. Hero snow is so fun to ski on because everything feels like you are skiing your best. Hero snow is firm and smooth, but not icy so you get good grip. My back was super sore, but I was able to get in some awesome carves on Sunshine Bowl and the steep run up top I can't remember the name of. I know most skiers would think I'm crazy for saying this, but having a full day of carving on hero snow is even better than the perfect powder run. Jeremy and Shalane brought Kaityln, Alta and Ellie up and they got to go skiing too. I took Kaitlyn up in the front-pack and did 2 runs with her. I think the cold wind was not her favorite thing, but she liked the motions and the lift ride. Her face got a little wind burned though, so she was done before the end of 2 runs. Alta is a champ and skiing daredevil. I couldn't believe how fast she went. Ellie wanted to try the magic carpet, but they took too long and she lost her courage. All in all, it was another wonderful day of skiing.
Kaitlyn loved playing with Alta and Ellie, and they loved her. It was so fun watching these girls, they are going to be best friends as they get older. We went to dinner and Kaitlyn just wanted to walk around, so Alta went with her. Kaitlyn was so excited to have Alta follow her and she just laughed the whole time like it was the greatest thing in the world.
It was much harder than I thought it would be to get a good picture of all three girls playing together.
Kaitlyn loves Benni! She has no fear and loved following him around and bugging him. He was great with her and let her do whatever she wanted to him. It probably helped that Benni got lots of her food.
Kaitlyn didn't really eat well this trip and would only eat for me even though I was skiing and Jeremy stayed with her. She slept a ton though. She got so exhausted and started taking 2 naps a day again.
Kaitlyn had a hard trip and was super clingy to me. We were lucky she had so much fun with Alta and Ellie, because she wasn't really friendly to anyone else. We thought she was sick at one point, but it turned out that she was teething. She got 2 molars on top. It was pretty funny though because as soon as we got home, Kaitlyn couldn't stop grinning and was so happy to be home again.
After a few days of Kaitlyn getting back to normal, we still managed to go to the beach on a very hot day in Palo Alto. It's too bad that the mist made the beach freezing.
Kaitlyn and Akachi at the Palo Alto children's zoo. They loved watching the ducks.
