Kaitlyn walks

Kaitlyn took her 1st steps alone about a week and a half ago. Here's a video I took a few days back. When given the room and encouragement she can actually walk across a whole room. She still prefers to crawl everywhere.

Kaitlyn's 1

Kaitlyn turned one on Sunday. We celebrated by throwing her a party out at Balboa Park. Kaitlyn enjoyed the time outside and was exhausted by cake time. Once she got a taste of the frosting she lost all motivation of ripping into the cake (aka banana bread). Here are a few pictures from the day.

Kaitlyn and Grandma Marks hanging out before the party


A family shot before the guests arrived


A before shot of the cake


Kaitlyn testing out the frosting


Testing out her new stroller and doll



Taking a rest with Grandpa Marks

Things got a little out of hand at the after party


All of us together


Opening presents on her real birthday with Grandma Harper

5 years strong

Sam and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on Friday. We will be going to Paris in October to celebrate, but wanted to have a special time together on the actual day We had tried to get a babysitter for the night, but everyone was out of town or already busy. I worked all day and Sam surprised me with flowers and dinner when I got home. It was great and better than going out because of the time, thought, and effort involved. The absolute highlight was the chocolate lava cakes fresh from the oven. The were so good we ate them before taking a picture for the blog despite getting my camera out before with the intentions of a good blog pic. Oh well, web images are good too.