Happy Half Birthday Claire

Claire had her half birthday on the 20th. She went to the doctor on Tuesday. She got two shots in her legs and is still quite the petite baby.
Height: 25.6 in. (30th percentile)
Weight: 13 lbs. 1 oz. (5th percentile)
Head: 16.2 in. (4th percentile)

 Here she is on her half birthday.

 My mom tied her to the stool so she could look around and see everyone. She loved it.

A few weeks ago Kristen braided her baby mullet. 

 We decided now that Claire is 6 months she should have some real food. This was her first experience with rice cereal.

Claire is still a great baby. She is lots of fun to have around and is starting to roll around and get into things. She is getting more stable at sitting on her own. Claire is an excellent sleeper at night and falls asleep fast, and she has a very cute laugh. People love to ask me, "Does she ever even cry?" Yes, she does in fact cry, but we're lucky because when she does it isn't super loud, and she usually calms down before too long. Claire is a mellow baby for the most part. We are quite fortunate and love her a lot! 

San Diego

This past weekend Rusty, Claire, and I went to San Diego to visit our friends the Baldwins. Rusty and Brad were mission companions, and they used to live in Logan when we did. They've invited us to come visit since they moved three years ago, but we finally made it happen. It was so much fun to spend time together. They were so nice to let us stay at their apartment and feed us food. We left early Thursday morning and drove back home on Monday.

Rusty and I visited the Mormon Battalion Friday morning.

Then we walked around Old Town.

Rusty liked this store.

After that we went and walked around Balboa Park. There was a peacock.

We went to Coronado Beach that afternoon. It was Claire first time in her swim suit. The water was quite cold, but we still wanted to go to the beach since we were in California.

Whitney, Brad, and Willow

Willow loved crawling in the sand.

We got to park by the fancy Hotel del Coronado because Brad had a parking pass from his work.

Claire loved Zach. She thought everything he did was hilarious. She laughed harder at him than I have ever heard her before.

On Saturday we went to La Jolla beach. It was a little chilly, but it was so pretty. There were a lot of seals there.

That afternoon we went and saw the San Diego Temple.

Claire likes her new friend Willow. They would smile at one other and try to grab each other.

On Sunday after church we went to Cabrillo. There was a submarine floating away that we saw sink under water. 

There was a neat lighthouse at Cabrillo.

The Baldwin Family

When I was posing for this picture a hugh wave came up behind me. My legs got soaked.

Rusty almost got a picture of me getting hit by the wave.

My wet pants. I tried to make a mad face, but it didn't really work out.

Here we all are at the beach. Whitney's sister, her husband, and dad came to visit Sunday afternoon. It was a party.

We had such a good time on our trip. Claire was a great traveler during all that time in the car. We are very glad we were able to go and spend time with our friends!

Jon & Crystal

Something really wonderful happened in our family last week. Rusty's brother Jon and his wife Crystal were sealed to each other and their kids, Kate and Breckin, on April 4th, which also happens to be Jon's birthday. What a great birthday present. Rusty and I were fortunate enough to be there for this special day. We are so happy for their family. This was only days before Crystal had their new baby. 

We got a few pictures of some of the people who were there.

Marv and Jane. They are now on a mission in Nauvoo. We will miss them!

Dan and Rusty's dad

On April 8th Crystal gave birth to Lyncoln May Mendenhall. Sadly I don't have any pictures of her yet, but she sure is cute! We're so happy to have a new member in the Mendenhall family.