Marley Jean - 13 months!!

How can one girl change so much in one month!! No, she did not miraculously change her sassy personality (not that we'd want that to go away!). She is learning so much everyday and is doing so much more every day. A few things about her...she loves gum! Blake and I have every flavor of gum in our cars and when she sees it she says, "gum!" We give in and give it to her about 75% of the time, when we don't give in she cries, "gum...gum". She is signing a few more things, although she seems to think it is a waste of her time. She will sign dog, please, bird, hot and tree. She only does these when SHE wants to, she is not a performer! She can say a few more things too. Her new word that she just started saying today is banana. She can also say mom, dad, Strat, dog, hi (oh my she says this word sooo cute! She says it in high pitch and drawls it out), gum, book, and um (is um a word?). She has learned to open all my cupboards, dang it... and she loves to play with Strat. They will play for hours everyday and they both adore each other. She is sooo sassy, I don't know another good word to describe her. If she doesn't get her way, watch out! She will bite or scratch you. Stratton gets bit a couple times a day and unfortunately he laughs, so it happens again and again. She is such a bright spot in our family and a joy to all of us!!!!

July 24th

I know, I know...everyone has told me that nobody remembers the 24th as a holiday unless they live in Utah. Well we celebrated with our friends and had some fun on the new swing set that is in their backyard. This is no regular swing set!! We had so much fun...thanks guys!

Bear Lake Reunion

We went to Bear Lake last weekend (yep, I'm a little late..) for a family reunion. It was so fun to see everyone and to watch Stratton play with his new 'friends'/cousins. I only saw Stratton when it was time to eat and sleep. The rest of the time I was chasing Marley who (as you can see) was not in a good mood most of the time. She was very whiney and the first night there she threw up. I don't think she felt good the whole time.

This family reunion has a tradition. Potato sack races. Blake as the athletic trainer prepped Stratton's legs for the big race. Just Joking, I really don't know what Blake is doing here, but it was a cute picture.

And here is the race...Stratton had a tough time, so he decided to bag the 'bag' and run on his own...

After the reunion we spent some time at the lake. Blake helped Strat with the body board and Strat loved it!

This is Marley at the beach after a much needed nap. She never falls asleep in my arms, but Sarah took her and cuddled her and she fell right to sleep. We all had a more enjoyable time at the beach after this nap!

My kids love sand! Marley loves it so much she eats it.

Stratton and Austin had a fun time in the sand too.

Marley wasn't too sure when she saw Stratton's head sticking out of the sand.

A cute story from the trip...

Blake's uncle makes bows made out of tree branches and Stratton saw this happening. He went up to a few of his cousins and said, "Where's uncle?" They looked at him funny because there are about 20 uncles there, great uncles + regular uncles. He said, "The one who makes the bows." They knew who that uncle was and took him to Uncle Lynn. Stratton said, "Hey, hey, will you make me a bow?" He played with that bow the whole time he wasn't at the beach.

July 4th Weekend...

This is the bear outside the window of our car at Bear World. We stopped on the way to Driggs and it was so much fun! Alyssa and Kaiya were able to drive with us...aren't they beautiful!

Stratton loved the petting zoo the best at Bear World and could have stayed there all day trying to catch a bird.
Marley thought everything was a dog, as she kept doing the sign for dog every time she saw an animal. She was quite fascinated with the whole experience.

This is Stratton's look of pure joy! He finally caught a bird-which was his ultimate goal! He actually ended up catching about five, and one even pecked him in the face. He was still smiling after that!

He also loved the train.

After Bear World we stopped at the coolest park in Rexburg, Idaho. It had a splash park and we let the kids get out and play while Blake rode his bike to the local Family Dollar to buy some towels.

Finally, Driggs! One of the days we were there a guy drove by with a horse and carriage and gave all the kids a ride around town. This is Stratton and Simon's happy dance!

The dreaded ladder! Marley found it and would not leave it alone.

Who doesn't find their favorite rock in Driggs?

And...what would an old farm be without an old orange truck in the yard?

We had a great time roasting hot dogs and smores, playing soccer, hanging out in Cedron and playing that game with the golf balls and pvc pipe - whatever it is called it, is fun!