Photo Shoot with Aunt Jess

Last week, my sister-in-law Jess called and asked if she could come take some pictures of my kids. I'm definitely wasn't going to say no to that. When she arrived, I had to wake up Matthew from his nap. He's a bit shy when he wakes up from a nap, so we decided to have him take pictures with his teddy bear and blanket. It worked maybe a little too well - he wanted Teddy in all the rest of the pictures. Also, Hannah had her 2 month check-up. She weighs 11 pounds, 2 ounces (63rd percentile) and is 22.24 inches long (49th percentile). She's growing so fast.

7 weeks

Here are some cute pictures of Hannah at 7 weeks old. I have to admit, I think she is just the prettiest little baby. She is actually a really good baby. She sleeps through the night consistently. I tell Mark she's a rooster - she always wakes up with the sun about 5:30 or 6 a.m. Luckily for me, she really doesn't cry very loudly. She'll fuss a bit, but she has to be really upset to cry loudly. She has also started to smile. I caught a bit of it in the video I attached. No giggles yet, though. Her other accomplishments are being able to hold her head up some when on her stomach and being able to grasp some of the toys dangling from her playmat. She also loves to watch Matthew. She'll track him with her eyes whenever he is nearby, which seems to be pretty much always. Matthew just loves his baby sister.

 

 

Father's Day Weekend

For Father's Day, I suggested that Mark take Matthew for a father-son outing. I would have sent along Hannah, but having him take both kids seemed more appropriate for Mother's Day. Being a typical little boy, Matthew is all about vehicles. So Mark decided to take him to ride the train and then out for milkshakes. Needless to say, Matthew had a blast. I'm thinking the father's day father-son outing (and eventually father-daughter outings) will have to become a tradition. That same weekend, we went to a family outing with Mark's extended family. The special guest of honor was his Aunt Krista who was in town from Wisconsin. It was fun to see her again - we hadn't seen her since our wedding. Unfortunately, the photo I snapped did not turn out well. Oh well, I should really pay attention to the lighting when I take photos. 

 

Riding the train

Anna, Michael, Aunt Krista and Mark

I Love to See the Temple

The weekend of the 7th was not only Mark's weekend off but also Mark's dad was in town, literally. Usually he's here for work in Salt Lake, but this time he had a conference just down the street. While Elwin attended his conference, Mark and I decided to take the kids to the zoo. Matthew had such a fun time that for the last two weeks he has been saying "Like zoo," and then listing the animals from the zoo. I think he had the most fun with the polar bear. The new polar bear exhibit as a large number of viewing spots, and Matthew had fun racing back and forth to look through different windows to track the bear as it was pacing.

Elwin has interesting timing on his trips. Last time he was here, we had just gotten our grill and patio furniture, and this time he arrived just in time for our patio dining table. It was so nice to be able to sit and eat dinner outside. We are almost completely finished with our deck, so I'll post pictures soon. On Sunday, Elwin wanted to go take pictures of the Logan Temple, so we all took a little road trip. I'd never been to Logan before, though we'll hopefully be going up for a football game when my cousin makes the Utah State team. Logan is a really nice town - it has that old town feel without being rundown. We saw the Temple and the Tabernacle and then on our way back we stopped at the Brigham City Tabernacle and saw the Brigham City Temple as well. It was a perfect little road trip for a Sunday afternoon. Maybe we'll do it again, though maybe in the fall when it cools down a bit.

Where is that polar bear?

There he is.

Hannah hanging out on the deck.

Enjoying our new patio dining table.

Matthew at the Logan Temple

Hannah and Mark at the Logan Temple

The Logan Tabernacle

Hannah - 6 weeks

Boating ... Almost

For Memorial Day, my aunt and uncle invited us to go boating with them. Mark and I haven't gone in several years, so I was excited to go and take the kids to the lake. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate. It ended up being too windy to take the boat out, but we snapped some shots of Matthew at the lake. We tried to get him to go in the water, but he was too scared of the waves lapping at the shore. It took a lot of convincing to get him anywhere near the water.

 

However, the day turned out well. We visited Benjamin and Jess's apartment, and then stopped by to see Uncle Michael, Mark's brother. We then headed up to Trent and Christine's for the BBQ we were supposed to have at the lake. Lastly, Mark and I took the opportunity to stop at Scheel's, a newly opened sports department store here in Utah. The store was gigantic and had pretty much anything sports related you could want. Also, it had a bunch of fun activity spots to keep you entertained. The coolest being the gigantic indoor ferris wheel - which Matthew was not tall enough to ride. There was also a large fish tank, and a children's play ground - for which Matthew was also too young - and various arcade style games. I wonder how long it will take for Matthew to grow two more inches. I really want to ride a Ferris wheel with him.

 

Matthew and Aunt Jess

 

1 month old

As of Sunday, Hannah is one month old. She is just growing so fast. I think I'm going to start switching her to 0-3 month clothes. We took her to church for the first time on Sunday. She did remarkably well; she basically slept the whole time. I put her in her super pretty white dress, which is so puffy it makes it awkward to hold her. But I love it. Before the cookout on Saturday, my sister-in-law Jess took some pictures of Hannah. They turned out amazing! I love having a photographer in the family, particularly one that lives nearby.

 

 

Pingel Family Cookout

After having Mark's family over to show off our grill, I decided we next needed to have my siblings up for a cookout. I had already talked to Aaron and Benjamin about coming up when I found out that my Aunt Katherine was going to be in town with Tim. Thus, a large Pingel family cookout ensued. The weather ended up being perfect. We dragged our old kitchen table outside and then my grandparents brought their card table. Between those and the patio furniture, we actually had seating for 12 - not counting the couple of lawn chairs we have. We did a potluck style dinner, and everyone brought the most delicious foods. It was so nice to see Katherine and Tim again, and for Katherine to see baby Hannah. They were both so darling with her; I think they both forgot their jackets at the end of the night so as to have an excuse to come back the next day. I included pictures - you can definitely tell which pictures I took and which ones Jess took.

Katherine, Tim and Hannah

Ayden

 

Matthew

Aaron, Melissa, Grandma and Grandpa Pingel

 

Ayden Pingel

Matthew and Ayden

Aunt Melissa, Hannah and Great-Grandma Pingel