Gracie is 11 months!

First let me just say that I can't really get my mind around this number yet. The fact that my baby that I feel like I should still be pregnant with is going to turn one next month is doing a number on me. I honestly am still at the place in my mind when I first found out I was pregnant with her. I was so dumbfounded and grateful and overwhelmed and excited all at the same time. Let's just say I still feel like I'm in that same place. However, lots has happened since then so I best catch up.

We missed Gracie's 9 month check up so we had an 11 month check up. She weighed in at 21 lbs, 4 ozs. and is 27 inches long. She's finally starting to grow longer than fatter for a change. She's still as chubby as ever though and we love her for it.

Her hair is finally long enough now that Mom can put ponytails in it so that is so fun. She is standing on her own for long periods of time and taking a few steps on her own her and there. I expect she'll probably be walking by the time she's one. She can find our noses when we ask and occasionally she can find Mom's eyes as well. We're still working on that one. She has started giggling and will giggle back at you if you laugh at her. She puts her little head on her shoulder and giggles like she's being shy. I love it. It's so cute.

She can also tell you the tractor says vroom vroom and the doggie says woof woof. We're working on the kitty and sheep. They say woof woof at this point as well. She is in the middle of getting her 7th tooth and has finally started eating people food.

For the longest time she would only drink her bottle or eat trash off the floor but she's finally starting to eat food and will eat off our plates or eat her own snacks. This is a relief as I like to have my kids off the bottle when they turn one. She's probably going to prove more difficult at this because she's more attached than Jackson was. We've begun weaning her slowly so it's only at nap time and bed time at this point.

She's happy and healthy and such a joy to have. We love her so much and don' t know what we ever did without her. Dad says it's time for another one but I'm not so sure yet. We'll see what the Lord brings.

First ever pigtails. Mom's got some learning to do.

4th of July

Our 4th of July tradition has become staying in town and going to the celebration that Graham County puts on at the Fair Grounds. We take blankets and go sit right in front of the stage and enjoy the concerts they put on and then enjoy a fabulous fireworks show. This year the concert was better than usual because they had a band called Savannah Jack perform. It's seriously one of the best shows in the state. We really enjoy doing this each year.

This year was so fun because I got to dress my baby girl from head to toe and match all the kids. My sister Heather and her boyfriend Brian and his two boys Kyle and Justin came to stay with us for the weekend and went with us to the fireworks show. They really enjoyed it as well and said it was one of the best they'd seen.

The boys had a great time playing together all weekend. Kyle is Joey's age and Justin will turn 9 next month. They played on the trampoline a lot with the sprinklers, went on 4-wheeler rides, played on nana's water slide, & played hide-and-seek among other things. My boys miss them already.

Can you stand how cute she is? I can't! I want to bite her.

Florida

June has flown by for us partly because I spent a little over a week traveling back and forth to Florida. Brandon & Lexi were able to come spend 3 weeks in Thatcher and play with their cousins with plans to return with Nana and Jackson for a week. However, a few days before they were supposed to leave Nana asked if I wanted a free trip to Florida if she watched my little boys. My initial reaction was ok, sure. Then, the more I thought about it, the more I didn't think I could make the trip.

I had to take Gracie on a 5 hour plane ride and go to Florida for a week leaving my work and my boys and leaving Scott to hold down the fort. I was going to miss Scott's and Jake's birthdays plus Father's Day. Plus I had just been put in the Primary Presidency the Sunday before I was to leave so I was going to leave before I even got started. But Nana was really in need of a break from Grandkids and really wanted me to be the one to make the trip so I agreed.

We celebrated birthdays and Father's Day before I left and then we were off. We had a good time it was just so blasted hot and humid there that it makes things hard to enjoy. We flew to Florida on Wed. the 17th and Cami & Ethan came and picked us up. We stayed in a hotel in Tampa that night because Cami bought us all tickets to Busch Gardens for Thursday.

So Thursday we spent the day at Busch Gardens where I rode my FIRST and LAST roller coaster. I am not a thrill seeker. I am not a ride person. I actually am pretty cowardly I guess. I agreed to go with Brandon & Jackson because I could only see a portion of the track and I didn't think it was that bad. More like one at Disneyland or something. But, oh no! It was an old rickety wooden roller coaster. I cried and kept my eyes closed the whole time. Jackson was so proud. Jackson and Brandon were much braver than I and went on lots of roller coasters together.

Lots of cool sculptures cut and grown out of foilage.

The morning time was pretty hot and miserable for us and the babies until we found this fun little water play area for the kids.

Gracie & Ethan had the best time in here. Gracie didn't want to leave.

It wore Ethan out though and he was ready to snooze.

Day two of our trip was spent at Adventure Island which is owned by Busch Gardens. It's a huge water park. This day was much more my speed and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. Even the babies loved it because they got to play in the water all day. Being wet all day made the heat much more bearable.

We didn't take our cameras with us so no pictures but Cami & I set up home base with the babies in a water play area just for them and then Brandon & Jackson went off and did all the slides on their own and then just kept checking in with us. Lexi went back and forth with them and taking turns going with Cami or myself. I hadn't been on a waterslide since I was a teenager and it was a blast. We even took the babies swimming down the lazy river.

Saturday and Sunday of our trip we just hung out at Cami's house since she had to work the night shift Sat. and go to church Sunday. Then Monday we tackled the beach. This beach trip was unlike my first experience with a Florida beach. I love the Florida beaches because the water is so warm and they have cool seashells and shark teeth to collect. However, this time it was sweltering hot and the wind was blowing hard so the waves were huge. Plus we had babies so we couldn't stay in the water to keep cool.

Jackson, Brandon & Lexi had a blast but after about 1/2 an hour the babies were done. Gracie loved it at first. I put her in the sand near the waters edge and she loved when the waves would come up and get her. But then she got hit with a big one and got seawater up her nose and it was all over after that. We spent about an hour in the car trying to keep cool while we let the big kids swim. At least I was able to capture a couple of pictures before her mood soured.

The next day we flew home and Scott and Jake and Joey picked us up and we stayed at the condo for the night and swam and then headed home Wed. It was a nice visit but there's no place like home. Thanks for putting us up Cami!