Tori Meets the Stairs...

So, our new house has stairs- something that is entirely new to Tori. I'm not sure how long I thought it would take for her to learn how to crawl up them, but I figured it would be more than one day. But here she is, our little girl crawling up her new stairs!!!

I just can't believe how grown up Tori is getting and how fast she learns new things!

Moving

The time has come once again for the Allen family to make our annual move. I really don't enjoy moving, it is just no fun. And moving with a baby has been even more interesting than usual. It's so hard to keep going and try to get everything done when all Tori wants is some time and attention. But just like usual, Tori has been such a trooper and made it much easier on us than she could have. And we really couldn't have made our move today if it hadn't been for all our amazing help. Thanks for being such a wonderful (and heavy lifting) support for us!!! The fun thing about our move is that we are now in a real live house!!! We are so excited to not share any walls, or doorways, or pretty much anything else (sorry, that sounds so selfish). And we are so spoiled with how much room we have. I promise to post more pictures of our new place once we are settled and it is all cute!

Tori was a big helper in packing - or unpacking I should say! She pulled things out almost as fast as I could get them in!!! I finally let her play with the recycling paper to keep her occupied - great toy, huh!!!

Luckily, Baby Einstein still has its magic - it kept her entertained for so long!

Now the fun part comes, getting all settled in our new (and first) house!!!

And I saw her standing there...

Even though Tori technically pulled herself up a few weeks ago, I don't think it really clicked. Until today, that is. Every time I turned around she was standing up somewhere else.

It all started when I found her like this after her nap!!!

And then I found her like this next to her bouncer chair....

by her high chair...

and by the tub!

I have a feeling that this is only the beginning!!!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Daddy!!! Thank you for being the best playmate ever- you can make me laugh better than anyone else!

I love cuddling up and taking naps with you!!!

Thank you for being my Daddy!!! I love you so much, love Tori!!!

Makin' a Big Splash

Today we took Tori swimming for the second time this afternoon. We thought she liked it the first time and that was nothing compared to today! She was much more adventurous and even sat on the step- with a little help from Daddy.

Tori had a great time cruising around with Daddy...

sitting on a floatie...

and we even got a few smiles!!!

My favorite was when she started splashing!

What a great day at the pool!!!

YW Pre-Camp

Every year the Young Women in our ward have an overnight camp out to get ready for girls' camp. I couldn't go last year, so I was very excited that Tori and I could attend the Friday night festivities this year. These young ladies are really fast at getting tents set up. They had their tent village ready in no time at all!

Tori just loves being one of the girls!!!

Sadly, it started to rain before dinner, but we were able to relocate and enjoyed a very tasty meal! You might think the rain would slow things down, nope. The girls had a great time playing in the rain and even showed us some of their sweet ninja moves!!! We also had time for a little - "down by the banks"...Tori and I had a great time tonight ladies, thanks for letting us come join in all the fun!!!

10 Months

I know this seems crazy, but our baby girl is now 10 months old. This past month has been full of firsts and fun things Tori has learned. One night as Tori was in the tub, she grabbed her bath cup and tried to drink out of it. It amazes me that she already knows what a cup is for.

Sadly, Tori had her first ear infection this past month. It was so scary seeing her in so much pain, and of course it hit one evening after her doctor's office was closed. We are so grateful that our home teacher was able to come over and help Jared give Tori her very first priesthood blessing. Before the blessing, Tori was screaming in pain. Immediately after the blessing, she was completely calm and fell asleep in my arms. I know that Heavenly Father blessed Tori - and she was completely fine until we were able to make it in to see her doctor the next day. This was definitely our miracle this past month!!!

Tori has always been a great "talker", but this month she topped it off by saying "da-daddy" (May 26th) and "ma-ah-m" (June 10th) for the first time. This month has also been a big one for Tori trying a whole bunch of new fruits- cantaloupe, pineapple, oranges, and strawberries. We are so glad that she has taken to real fruit faster and better than baby food! Last week Tori took a toy away from another kid for the first time. I just hope we don't end up having a bully on our hands! As far as developmental stuff, Tori is starting to wave and she finally rolled from her back to her front. And she got her 5th tooth in yesterday!!!

We didn't really plan it this way, but today turned out to be jam-packed with firsts and fun new things. This morning, Jared turned Tori into a little burrito...

I love how she is looking at her Daddy!

Tori got to use her new sippey cup and had apple juice for the first time today - she really did pretty good! Lately Tori has started playing with the most un-interesting things. Who would have thought that her puff container would be so fun...

It's definitely about the simple things!!!

Trying to get a good picture with Tori and her bear proved to be a little difficult this month- she is getting really wiggly. These were our two favorites!

I love how much joy she got out of playing with her dandelion...

As Tori was playing this afternoon she moved from her stomach to sitting up all by herself, which was awesome! Who would have thought she would have an encore all prepared. The biggest thing of today is that Tori started crawling - really crawling!!! I think she was just waiting for a big day to pull this one out...

We love her little gimp crawl!!!

This evening we decided to take Tori swimming for the first time. She looks absolutely adorable in her swimsuit!

She was a little hesitant at first, but, once she warmed up, she totally loved it!!!

Jared dunked Tori under once. I don't know how, but I captured this great look on her face. I thought she would be really upset, nope - she did just fine!

I think we have a little fish on our hands...

I love this picture of Jared and Tori- so stinkin' cute!!!

Happy 10 Month Birthday Tori!!!

Rising to the Occasion

This evening, Tori was playing with our DVDs. I know this may come back to haunt us, but she has such a great time pulling them off the shelves. After she cleared off the first row, she started reaching for the second, and ended up like this...

I must admit that I got a little teary-eyed. Tori just seems to be growing up so fast. Although, I was very excited that I caught her first pull-up on video!!!

Tower of Fun!!!

Tori loves, loves, loves it when Jared makes towers for her - to knock over!!! We don't really understand the fascination, but we love seeing her laugh and giggle. I think this is her favorite thing to play right now...

So much fun!!!

As a side note, we took Tori out to play again this afternoon and for the first time set her right in the grass. Her reaction was classic! She did okay if she was sitting up...

although she wouldn't put both legs down at the same time.

And she loved playing with the grass.

But she definitely did not like laying in the grass - we're pretty sure she isn't a fan yet!!!