Video

Here's a better version (and shorter) video of her first month:

Don't you love it? That end clip is the cutest thing ever. I could watch it a thousand times. She even grabbed that toy by herself! I had to cut out over 15 minutes of this video (but kept the long version for us). There are just so many cute things she does every day.


P.S. For you fellow bloggers 
Did you know? 

1) Go to Settings in your Dashboard

2) Under Basic, scroll to the bottom and click the "Updated editor" bubble.

3) Voilà! Your posting days will be happier.

Camping in the Uintahs

My family loves camping and wanted to get one more trip in before school started. We originally thought we would just go up for the day, but then decided to brave it out and try staying overnight. My parents have a tent-trailer, in between being in a nice trailer and a cold tent. We happened the choose the coldest night of the weekend to join them, it got down to 40 degrees outside and about 50 inside.

Here is Claire all bundled up in 3 outfits, swaddled, and this super thick pink 6 month old coat thing. She looked adorable. 

Amazingly, she slept all night. I, on the other hand, didn't sleep a wink. I was sooo cold and just kept worrying about Claire. I didn't need to though--she was a champ!

In the morning:

Her long tongue finally caught!

Our poor girl is going bald. Her hair is like 2 inches long all around back and top but nothign on top! She looks like a little old man. An adorable old man though.

It's so amazing up there.

That's me, my mom, and James:

See the big bull moose through the trees?

He hung around our lake all weekend.

We hiked around Provo River Falls:

And had fun in the trailer playing games and taking care of Claire:

Ben, James and Brooke hiked up to Baldy. It's 11,000 ft in elevation and a pretty intense hike.

Taking a snooze:

That night we made croissants and s'mores around the campfire. This time we bundled Claire in this little outfit that we kids used to wear when we were little. My mom saved everything!

It was super fun and we're so glad we went. I have the best memories growing up camping with my family and I'm excited to keep the tradition with our own family.

Meet the Family

Finally! We could not WAIT to get here to Utah so all our family could meet Claire. And of course, everyone just adores her. Ben and I barely get to hold her anymore with all her aunts, uncle, and grandmas around. It's been so fun.

Brooke is the best Aunt ever!

So is Raquely...

Meeting Grammy Lisa for the first time:

By the way, Claire is totally going bald on top, as you can see. It's hilarious.
Lisa made Claire this amazing "x's and o's" quilt:

And Great-Grandma Nan made her these adorable slippers:

Uncle James loves her and has gotten her to smile more than anyone has:

At my aunt Cathy's 50th birthday party:

Great-Grandma Gooney! (Yes, we really do call her Grandma Gooney, always have. She's the funniest Grandma you'll ever meet).

My cousin Kim with her 9-month old beauty Iylie:

She met Great-Grandma & Grandpa Johansen yesterday:

4 generations:

Exhausted. Always love her hand placements.

Claire also met her Grandpa Tommy & Janet before they head off to Texas! They're moving there permanently and we're so sad!



We will sure miss them!

Lots more fun posts to come. We took Claire on her first camping trip last weekend. It was FREEZING but she was a champ and slept through the night.  Hope you all don't get tired of pictures!!

Comin' home

Here are some recent pics of our little munchkin. We know these snuggling days won't last forever so we're soaking up all we can. She is the funniest little sleeper. We love the noises she makes; the whimpering, the random yells and cries, the smiling, frowning, kicking, sudden fast breathing... we love it. Although it does make it hard to actual sleep very long with her.

And we love bath time! She just loves when all the attention is on her. She just loves it when we change her diaper, and when we bathe her. She's the sweetest, happiest little thing.

And she is SO a Kendell in this bath picture. Overall, I think she's a really good mix of both of us, but sometimes she's all Ben and sometimes, like in this picture, she's the spittin' image of me, Anna, and James when we were younger.

The flaky, peely skin is finally past us and now we're on to some nice baby acne. She's rubbing a nice thin spot in the back of her hair too (But at least she's still got the long rat tail that we love (I need to get a picture of that)).

We leave this week to Utah! FINALLY. We can't wait to bring our babe home to finally meet all her aunts, uncles, and grandparents! It's about time!! We'll be there for a few weeks and we're stoked. 

{I will be doing limited photoshoots while I'm home, so contact me if you want some}

Claire's birth announcement:

{Click the picture to enlarge}

Thumb sucker

Claire found her thumb a couple days ago while bathing...

And she's found it 2 times since. She's way too smart for a 3-week old.

This baby...

She has our hearts.

We love

her little rat-tail.

Her smell. That baby smell. It's in her clothes. Her skin. Her bed.

We love her hairy back, thighs, ears, and sideburns.

I love her bed head after feeding or sleeping.

We laugh at how frantic she can act when she's hungry.

We also laugh at her pursed lips and disgusted look when she's done.

Ben loves to kiss her close to her mouth. 

When she's hungry she tries to latch on to his face.

All the nurses commented on her long tongue. She loves to stick it out.

When she's frustrated, she goes crazy grunting and kicking her legs and arms. And always manages to get her arms up to her face out of her swaddling.

I adore her "O" face before she yawns.

I adore her sneezes.

Everyone loves how alert she is. Always looking around. Following objects. Staring you in the eyes.

Staring at us sometimes, we think she wants to smile.

We crack up every time she has a bubbly blow-out or passes gas. And we've learned to wait for 3 blow-outs before changing her.

We love her skinny little legs and long fingers.

She gives us this confused look with an adorable furrowed brow.

She inherited Ben's dark hair and my front cowlick.

We tell her not to go cross-eyed, but we love it.

I love staring at her soft beautiful face.

I love tickling her back to keep her awake while feeding. She's ticklish on her ribs.

 I always run for the camera when she's milk drunk. Eyes open, fluttering, making faces and smiling lots.  I know she's dreaming of Heaven.

She loves her binkie and knows how to hold it in. And how to spit it out.
She also loves warm baths.

She had one today. It felt so good, she fell asleep. 

Claire turns 2 weeks old tomorrow. Wow it goes fast. We are enjoying every minute.

The beauty of having your own baby and being a photographer is that I can take pictures in small segments across several days. Over the last 2 days, Ben and I set up a studio in our living room and during her best times, we'd snap some pictures. 

Oh how I love them!!  We are so excited about them and wanted to share some of our favorites. There are SO many, and lots more on my photo blog. Head on over there to see them!

{camillegarrison.blogspot.com}

Isn't she adorable? She's the cutest thing we've ever seen.