It's been a blurr...

9 months have been a blurr. She babbles, plays the piano, crawls all over the house, pulls herself to standing, and charms everyone around her. She really is a very content little person. But, seriously, I'm not ready for my little one to grow up.

Sigh.

Mia had her 9 month check-up - she is 5 % for weight (15 lbs) and 25 % for height. She is my tiniest baby so far. I even got the "you need to feed your child more food" speech.

So I am.

A Subtle Hint

Don't you wish these pictures were a little higher quality? Me too... Maybe Hans will read this post and "surprise" me with a new camera. Maybe.

Ashley's Birthday!

Ashley is 6! I can't believe it. For the morning we had pancakes with a candle on the red special plate. Hans bought her a balloon that was near her chair when she woke up and she opened her present from us - a Barbie that can swim and changes colors. She loves it. She got to be the reverence child in church, so that was exciting. And primary sang to her and gave her a nice picture of the Denver temple. I hope it was a special day. The Conley's came over for cookies, which is what she wanted since she doesn't like cake or ice cream. We did frost the cookies with white frosting. We went for a walk, played in the backyard, and she got to stay up late with Hans and play her favorite x-box game with him. I think it was a great way to turn 6! I will post more later about her Saturday birthday party and post some growing up pictures with why I love Ashley!

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July this year. We spent the morning at the pool playing. It was hot! Finally! Then we decorated bikes and participated in the neighborhood party. We had a great time. We're so lucky to have such wonderful neighbors. We ate burgers, hot dogs, and enough chips and cookies to make us kind of sick. Then we tagged along with Jenny and Luke, our backdoor neighbors, and the Petersons and enjoyed the fireworks at the Air Force Academy. The kids had a great time running up and down the hill and eating Jenny's delicious homemade ice cream. They all wanted the fireworks to keep going. We haven't seen fireworks in years, but now that we know about the ones at the Academy, I am sure we will keep doing that. They were fantastic. Following are pictures of the festivities. Notice Justin's blue crocs. His 3rd pair and 3rd color for the summer. Love the no-ask return policy at REI. They were worth every penny.

My New Smell

Now, along with my smell of baby spit-up and spray and wash, I have included the smell of Bengay. Ahhh.

Who wouldn't love to smell like an arthritic old man? It goes along with my physical therapist telling me I should go run in the pool. Yea, right. Along with the other 80 year old women. No way. Not there yet.

My Painful Psoas

This is a very small picture to show my very large pain that is apparently my psoas.

Trip to Bear Lake

Bear Lake is so beautiful. I didn't take a single picture of it. I think I was nervous to bring the camera down to the beach since one year I ruined a camera when it got too much sand in it. But I wish I had a picture of how beautiful the water is and the sand and the kids playing in the sand, riding the waverunner, and of Justin with a goatee of sand stuck to his lollipop drool. It was a great 4 days with my sisters. My parents stayed two of the days. We somehow fit all of us into that gross, old cabin. My parents slept in the bed of their truck and the boy cousins slept in tents. I somehow managed to get the only real bedroom, which I shared with all my kids. We slept great once the kids settled in. I ate 2 very delicious milkshakes. I also relaxed and watched the kids play. I love getting away from everything for a few days. It always makes me enjoy my life more. I am excited to go to Bear Lake again next year!

Bear Lake

I love this picture of Mia. She smiles with her eyes, her nose, and her tongue. She has grown so big. She can get anywhere she wants to now and is a hazard with small peices on the ground. Which is not so easy in the sand or in a gross, old cabin. But she kept herself occupied.
The kids LOVED the waverunner. Mindy would drive them down (not Mia or Justin) to the beach like this. The girls both rode on the waverunner and in the tube behind it.
The girls. Abby is the oldest girl cousin amongst boys. She does a great job entertaining my girls when they are there.
Decorating Bear Lake shirts is a highlight. I forgot shirts this year, but luckily my sisters were much more prepared and even had extras.
Justin is loved by by his older boy cousins. They love to follow him around and talk to him until he repeats what they say. He loved the attention. I rarely saw him. Joshua especially took care of Justin and played trucks and such with him for hours. In this picture, if you look up by his head you can see him holding one of Will's cars. Every night and naptime he needed something to cuddle with. His cousins thought this was SO funny.

Utah Trip

We had a lot of fun on our trip to Utah. The drive out was as good as expected considering Justin had diarrhea. We made it and I got to cleanse his whole carseat since the whole car stunk. The girls kept saying, "ew...why does it smell in here?" But they were so great. They watched movies and giggled together and Ashley fed Mia her pears. Mia did amazingly well. It was nice to have Melanie to caravan out there with. I'm not a fan of I-80 through Wyoming. It's remote and the places you do stop have yucky old men. It still surprises me when I make it there in 9 hours including stops. It's just not that far away, and for that I am grateful. The kids had a great time being spoiled by grandparents and playing with their cousins. My parents house is so great for kids. The backyard is huge and backs a creek. There's a wooded area with a fort and trampoline, a swing set, and then at the creek there's a beach area to play in the sand and throw rocks into the water. They could have stayed at my parents the entire time. Their favorite thing to do was collect bugs. The bugs are different in Utah then in our backyard. We made bug habitats and my mom was a good sport about having a million bug habitats placed throughout her home.

The kids loved being there. On our way to Bear Lake I told them to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa's house since we were going to see Daddy in Colorado after Bear Lake and Justin started screaming in his most angry voice, "I NOT go see Daddy, I go to Bear Lake." He had such a great time that he didn't care to see his most favorite person ever.

I had a great time watching the kids have a great time. I was so tired I could hardly see straight.