Colorado: Denver

We had such a great time in Colorado this past week. It was a great mix of time with friends, time sight seeing and time just as a family. It was our first family vacation since Evie was born and we loved it.

Evelyn was an amazing little traveler. I think she did better with the 2 hour time change than Nathan and I did. Thankfully we had a direct flight to Denver which cut down on the travel time. Now that can move she got a little antsy on the plane so we cleared out our leg room (what leg room you get!) and made a play area for her. She was delighted to crawl around for a while. Don't worry, much hand cleaning was done afterwards. :) And yes, she is still in her cow sleeper from our trip to Chic-fil-e earlier that day.

We stayed with our friends, the Strickenburgs the first two nights. On Saturday they took us on this beautiful hike in the mountains. There were a lot of different wild flowers, aspen and pine, mountains and excellent company. :) Evelyn and David loved riding in their backpacks. :)

The Mortiers


The Strickenburgs


Along the trail...


All that hiking wore the babies out! :)

After the hike we drove up a bit higher to get a great view of the mountains. We love mountains. Nathan misses the AK mountains and I miss mountains even though I've never lived near any Grammy always told me stories of growing up in the Colorado Rockies though so I've always especially wanted to see these mountains! (I'm sad the mountains don't show up super well in some of these :( Just know that they were even more magnificent in real life :))

It was such a fun hike. Definitely one of the trip highlights!

When we got back Evie and David had a great time playing together. They're both in the stage of where they know what they want and they know how to crawl and get it which means its time for the sharing lessons to begin. :) They did better with sharing as the week went on. :)

Eat Mor Chikin

Today was Chic-fil-e's if-you-dress-like-a-cow-you-get-free-food day! Evie and I went with our friends Stephanie and Calvin and Amy and Joshua. Unfortunately Amy and Joshua came after we took these pictures. You can see how delighted Evie was to be a little calf! :) I tried to get her to moo, but she'd only growl. Oh well, next year. :)

This one is for you, Nana - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! :)

After Chic-fil-e we went swimming with Miss Jan, which was also great fun. Thanks Miss Rachel for this cutest swimsuit EVER! Evie looks adorable in her ballet swim suit. :)
Now we're loading up our bags and heading out to visit Miss Beth, Mr Andrew, David, Miss Dawn and Mr David in Colorado!! We can't wait!!!!

Evelyn these days...

Evie is enjoying the new independence that has come along with her crawling. She can now explore when and where she'd like, she can pull up on all sorts of things to gain new perspectives and, as she has been testing out lately, she can also climb on top of things (such as her folded up pack-n-play and baskets). She doesn't seem to have too much fear.... :) Here are a few pictures we've taken in the last few weeks.
Pulling up: Evie loves to see what she can pull up on and she has been experimenting lately around our house. This first picture is a very common scene these days: two little eyes popping up above the coffee table and she struggles to get up. She likes to hold on with her mouth for support (or teething ;)).
Evelyn's fort. We turned her tummy time mat into the tunnel and she loves it. It is her little fort and she likes to crawl in with her toys and play. She also likes to play peek-a-boo with us through it. :)
Squinchy face. Evelyn has come up with this new face that she loves to make. We call it her squinchy face. She wrinkles up her nose and mouth and then breathes as loudly as she can through her nose. It is quite funny. Here are a few examples from after her diaper change the other day. :)
The toy basket. We used to have a basket of games under our coffee table. It is now a basket of toys. :) Evelyn loves it because she can pull it out any time, climb up on it, find the toy she would like. You can see this process below: delight at having all her toys there, the decision of which one to play with, and chewing on the final selections. :) I like it because it makes for easy clean up and storage.
Fountains. When we went to look at our new car we had some time to spare so we went to a park in Richmond. This park had a very thrilling fountain. You can see Evie's sheer delight and awe.
The Piano. Evie does like to play the piano, but she also likes to play *under* the piano. It's her second favorite fort. Here she is examining the pedals and peeking around one of the legs. :)
Balloons. Balloons are Evelyn's new passion. We were at a friend's birthday party the other week and they had a bouquet of balloons. Nothing more exciting could be imagined by Evie. She flipped out. I've never seen so much flapping and kicking and squeals of delight. :) Nathan's mom got a giant frog balloon from her work for her birthday and this is the highlight of their house, according to Evie. Here's Evelyn holding the whole bouquet (*quite* exciting).
 
As you can imagine, Evie both plays hard *and* sleeps hard. :)

Mortier Jr.

Last week during VBS each day had a theme... tacky day, hat day, patriotic day and jersey day. Poor Evelyn and I did not have jerseys and we weren't sure what to do. But, the d-group girls came through and made the whole d-group (Evie included ;)) matching d-group jerseys. :) Evelyn looked too cute in hers! The pictures of all of us weren't on my camera, but I took these of Evie later that day. :) You can see that Evelyn also learned how to pull her books off her shelf. :)

Cousins: II

Saturday evening in Baltimore we headed to a park near Kjerstin and Nick's apartment. It was quite the exciting park and Bridget and Lana had fun running all over it. Evelyn felt rather grown up as well, playing for the first time on things besides swings! The tunnel was her favorite as she could hold on through the holes. :)

The seesaw was another hit with the girls.

Dads are great!!
After getting warn out at the park we went back to the Kauffman's for ice cream (for everyone but Evie and Drew :)).