Oregon, Part 2

While in Oregon, we got to spend lots of time with (Great) Grandma and Grandpa Shelton. Sadie Beth enjoyed exploring around their home, which is filled with lots of interesting knick-knacks.
Grandma and Grandpa celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary during our trip! 59 years! Now that's something certainly worth celebrating. Sadie Beth thought their 59 roses were great. Sadie Beth discovered cats and dogs! This was huge...never having paid much attention to them before, she now thinks they are the greatest things in the world. She started "meowing" (sortof) at cats and "woofing" at "da's" (dogs). It's funny too because she just doesn't woof when she sees a dog but also when she starts thinking about dogs. She will all of a sudden get very excited and repeat over and over, "da da da oof oof da da oof."
We had a great time at Rood Bridge Park one particularly beautiful morning. Sadie Beth loved swinging...and all the attention she got from Daddy, Mommy, Grandma, and Grandpa.
We took a nice hike and looked at lots of flowers.
And tried taking some fun family pictures, but it didn't turn out quite like I hoped. And, had I known there would be so many photo opps, I might have not worn sweatpants...but here are a few that turned out pretty well...



She thinks she's big...really big.

Sadie Beth had lots of fun with her Aunt Darla. Here they are reading Olivia, a really fun book about a really fun little girl pig.
There was lots to stand up on at Grandma and Granpa Balzer's house, including Grandma!
Kisses for Aunt Darla? Probably not. :)
We headed to the beach for a good portion of our trip, which was delightful. Sadie Beth was not too helpful in trying to get ready for this excursion.
Here is the view from the house that we rented. It is the second year that we have stayed in this house and we love it! It is a great set up for a large group.

Sadie Beth slept in the alcove of our room and we blocked her view with the double rocking chair that they had. But she could still peak through.
This was our nicest visit to the beach. It was pretty chilly, about 60-65 degrees, but we loved the sunshine. Sadie Beth wasn't too sure about the sand, and it was really too cool to let her spend much time crawling around in it.
Isn't her Daddy a good-looking guy?

Here is Darla, Uncle Jim, and his girls (more to come soon) walking along the beach in the fog.

It was windy!
Brrr!!!!


Here is Sadie Beth with her (2nd) cousins, Lonnie, Shera, and Emily.

We enjoyed lots of meals together!
Mom and Dad B also celebrated there 35th wedding anniversary! We had a nice surprise party for them...thanks to the planning of Grandma Shelton. Snow on the mountain was on the menu for dinner that evening...always a treat!

Happy Birthday to My Sweet Sadie Beth!

Wow. That's really all I can say to describe the last year. The Lord has so richly blessed David and I through our amazing little girl. Sadie Beth brings us so much joy that it is impossible to describe. She is such a sweet, mischievious, loving, and rambunctious little girl...not to mention FUN and HILARIOUS. I laugh at her all day long. I love being Sadie Beth's mommy. Each day with her is so special...sure I have my moments where I'm ready to hand her off, but as soon as I do that I miss her! Here are some "Sadie Beth snippets"....

Nicknames:
Bug, Bugaboo, Bugaboo Bear, Sugar-bear, Girl-Bear, stink-bug, sweet potato pie, Sadie Beth bug, stinkerbutt

Sweet/Funny things she does:
- GROWLS...a lot...and we have no idea where she got this.
- Blows raspberries on whatever part of your body she can get to
- Greets her "friends" (stuffed toys) with "hi's" and hugs every morning.
- "Woofs" like a dog and "Meows" like a cat -- Gets excited whenever she thinks about dogs.
- Smells her feet when you ask her how they smell.
- Crawls around gripping her Sesame Street dolls by the neck...EVERYWHERE SHE GOES
- Takes aforementioned dolls the the store and throws them out of the cart near strangers just to get people to pick them up and pay attention to her.
- Greets everyone at the store with "HI!"
- Imitates "smelling" sound and laughs because she thinks she is funny.
- Pretends to throw her cup on the floor while looking at me mischieveously.
- Crawls away from the TV as fast as possible when she sees me coming to get her down from it.
- Does "So Big!" from her Elmo book.
- LOVES her bunny-bear
- Signs "please" with her own made up sign and points when she wants something.
- Folds her hands to pray or when you ask her to.
- Her Calvin face

Words she says:
Dada, Dadeee, mama, Do (dog), Hi!, ahduh (all done...though she stopped this awhile back)

And now for a few pictures....I limited myself to a newborn picture and then one from each month within a week of the 18th.

Newborn

One month
Two months
Three months
Four Months
Five Months
Six Months
Seven Months
Eight Months

Nine Months
Ten Months
Eleven Months
Almost 12 Months! (I'll update this one soon!)

Happy Birthday Sadie Beth! Your Mama and Daddy love you so much.

Oregon, Part #1 (...of probably many)

August was a very nice month for the Balzer family...though it certainly flew faster than we could imagine. We spent August 5-16th in Oregon with David's family and had a great time! It was really special for us to spend some extended time with them and I know they loved every minute with Sadie Beth. She certainly did not want for any attention while we were there...
The first day was VERY LONG, but Sadie Beth did beautifully during the air travel and won the hearts of practically everyone she encountered. We were thankful to have the longest leg of our trip in first class (thanks to frequent flier miles that were given to us), and even though we got many scowls and disdainful looks Sadie Beth behaved herself quite nicely. People thought she was funny because she growled a lot...at everyone...and anything. That's my girl!
We had been up for a LONG time, but we love Great Grandma Balzer and Elmer's breakfast so we decided to make a quick stop there for some lunch. Here we are looking tired...

For Sadie Beth and Grandma Balzer, it was like no time at all had gone by since her visit to Louisville in June. Sadie Beth was so excited to see her at the airport and didn't act shy at all!

A few hours and a good nap later, Sadie Beth was ready to go!

But it wasn't too long til bedtime! And a bath in the kitchen sink since all the family wanted to be with her. :)

She was a little slap happy at this point....She had been up from 4am KY time til 10:30pm KY time. Yikes.

Sadie Beth was in a patty-cake phase while we were in Oregon and she had plenty of willing participants to "mark it with a B!"

After checking him out for a little while, Sadie Beth decided Grandpa Balzer was alright too! :)


She slept pretty well while we were gone. She was up during the night more than usual but since we completely changed her schedule, that was to be expected. This was EARLY in the morning.

We had lunch with Great Grandma Balzer one afternoon and Sadie Beth really enjoyed exploring her pots and pans...and eating them.
The older Sadie Beth gets, the more dramatic she becomes....

Meeting the toy puppy that yipped and wagged its tail. While we were in Oregon, she just started taking notice of animals...and now she LOVES them (but more on that later I'm sure).

Great Grandma had some fun books for Sadie Beth to look at...
Three generations of Balzers...
We also spent lots of time with Sadie Beth's other Great Grandparents...Grandma and Grandpa Shelton. She loved exploring around their home since there was so much to look at.

Grandpa and Grandma Shelton celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary while we were out...hence the 59 roses. What a great example of love and faithfulness they set for their family. Sadie Beth is REALLY excited about something here. I'm not so sure it was the roses. :)
Here is Sadie Beth making friends with the cats that stayed in the backyard. While we were in Oregon, Sadie Beth started imitating the sound that cats make - without any prompting at all! Isn't that funny? One day I just said, "Sadie Beth what sound does a kitty-cat make?" And she meowed!
This is just a reminder that once upon a time, Sadie Beth did the sign for "more." Since then, she's stopped and I have no idea why. Now she does this sign that I think is a cross between "more" and "please" but I don't always know what she means by it. Most of the time we can figure it out though. Usually she means water or points to what she wants now...(9/10/08).
What fun we had during our afternoon at the zoo! We weren't too sure if Sadie Beth would be into it or not and she was enthralled. She watched the animals intently and would get excited when she saw something that she liked...especially the sea lions.

Behind us is a pregnant elephant...we could see the baby elephant moving around inside of her!

Sadie Beth's first trip to the zoo was really special. At the end of the day...we were pooped.

There is TONS more to post, but this is at least a start. Maybe I'll get to more tomorrow!