Morning

Here's what our mornings look like:

Sweet hair, eh? I'm grateful that it's at least growing slowly but surely.
That's just what it looks like in the morning. I had nothing to do with this mohawk.

Grace and Marge (our sweet upstairs neighbor) chat every other morning while Marge waters the yard. I'm pretty sure this is one of Grace's favorite parts of the day.

Monticello Anniversary

Rob and I had a lovely weekend to get away and celebrate our anniversary. When we got married we decided that we were going to go to all the temples in Utah before leave. We thought that the best way to celebrate our anniversary was to go to the temple, so we chose the one farthest from us that we hadn't yet been to and made a mini vacation of it. Grace stayed with Grandma and Grandpa (thank you!!!!) and we headed down to Monticello.

Us at the tiny, beautiful Monticello Temple.

The only arch we saw on the side of the road.

It was so fun to take a little road trip with my huny.

Me taking pictures out the car window as we drove.

The scenery was beautiful. I was sad that the trip was so short and we couldn't spend any time enjoying the amazing national parks we drove right past.

So many amazing rock formations.

Babies Are Gross: Example #10,239

This morning as we were headed down to Springville to drop Grace off to play with Kira and Kylee Grace decided she'd had enough of being in the car so she decided to protest and stuck her fingers down her throat and gagged herself. Gross. Then again. Gross. Then again, this time with a little bit of stomach contents coming up with the gag. Grosser still. She kept on gagging herself and making this horrible sound. Then two minutes before we got there she gagged herself for the billionth time. This time with an awful retching sound breakfast chunks came pouring forth. Yeah. I was happy to be a mom. And seriously, Grace, why?! Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross! The kids playing soccer before school across the street probably thought it was odd when I would stick my head in the car (to clean up a little of the mess) and then come up for air and gag a little myself. It was a great start to the day. Just another reminder that babies are gross. Let's hope this doesn't become a habit.

***I would like to thank Kira who was the hero of the day and cleaned my baby and car seat for me while I was at work so my car didn't smell sour at the end of the day. Seriously, she is my hero today! Thank you, Kira!!!!***

In nicer news, spending the day with a walking baby has apparently motivated Grace since now she's walking. Finally, maybe her cast won't be so nasty dirty (haha, yeah right).

Timp Caves

This morning we hiked Timp Caves with Brian, Kira, Kylee, Colleen and Ranger Andrew. Andrew works at the Caves so he was able to be on trail patrol and hike with us and answer all our questions (thanks Andrew!).

This picture is funny because we look like a badly placed family photo :)

To prove we actually went inside. The formations in the cave were incredible! Grace, however was not. It's really hard not to touch everything when you're 1.

Waiting to start the tour.

Grace kept leaning over to see around Rob, it was so cute!

Little Adventure Family

The crew. Rob and Kira were amazing to do that hike with babies on their backs!

Good Use for a Cast

Holding "bracelets" on (of course)!

Yuba Lake

We had such a fun time last weekend camping with Brian, Kira, Stew and Kylee. Kira and Stew brought their jet skis along and we had such a blast playing on them.

The boys made a geocache that they were planning on dropping into Yuba.

Here they are working hard on the finishing touches.

When they went to actually drop it in, the wire to the anchor snapped. Back to the drawing board...

The Pope's had this awesome tent with a screened in porch that was perfect for letting the girls play in.

The girls were hilarious on the trip. They got along really well and are actually starting to play with each other (or really acknowledge the others' presence). Whenever one was getting fed the other would come up and expect to eat too. It was kind of like feeding the ducks at a pond...lots of squawking and vying for the best feeding position. I love that they're so close in age!

How sweet are these little girls?

More proof that Gracie loves her Uncle Brian. I'm pretty sure she saves all her cuddles for when he's around (and we're so lucky to have him close enough to be around a lot!).

14 Months and a Broken Arm

Poor baby broke her arm on Sunday night. She was climbing on the couch and did a little daredevil move and walked out to the edge of the couch and fell off. When she wouldn't put pressure on her arm and crawl we decided to take her to InstaCare. She fought really, really hard, but we finally got the x-ray done and sure enough she'd broken both bones in her arm (the radius and ulna). So we got a splint on and went home.

On Monday we went to the Orthopod who didn't think that a cast would stay on her arm because it's so chubby and there's no wrist definition :) hehe so we're staying with the splint which acts pretty much like a cast but we can take it off to wash her arm so it doesn't get too stinky.

Her boo boo hasn't stopped her or dampened her spirit. She's still crawling and climbing onto couches.

She has a cute little Snoopy sling that is supposed to help to immobilize her arm (yeah right!).

The hardest thing of all has been the frustration of not being able to pick stuff up in both hands.

What a sweet trooper baby. I don't know what's with the faces - she really is developing her funny little personality. I'm looking on the bright side that maybe this will teach her to walk on her own...hopefully! She is such a joy in our life. Happy 14 months!

Bees Game

We spent a beautiful Labor Day with the Salt Lake Bees. It was so fun to get to spend the afternoon out for free (thanks, Katie!).

State Fair

I love going to the fair. Since we took our brand new little baby last year, it's pretty much become a tradition :)Grace loved seeing all the animals.

Look at those udders! Ouch! I feel your pain, sista!

Sheep! Not sure what this face is about...but I promise she's not picking her nose! (I'm pretty sure she hasn't figured that delightful habit out yet...)

Are you ready for a funny fact about (and embarrassing picture of) me? I love the seeing the pigs (especially the babies and the Big Pig) at the fair.Here's my best piggy face (apparently...there wasn't a mirror...)

Here's my best "I'm so excited to see the Big Pig" face. (again...no mirror...)

The Big Pig (sorry it's not a great picture). He must weigh a ton!

So cute! And I'm so glad I'm not open for lunch 24/7...how annoying would it be to have babies trying to suck at you while you're walking around?

Not sure what this face is about, but since there are plenty far-from-awesome pictures of me I thought I'd throw it in :)

My very favorite part of the fair is going to the RODEO! Pretty much, it's just not summer without a rodeo. Here's my cute little family watching the broncs.

Mutton Busting! Sorry for the bad picture, but if you look closely you can see a 4 year old riding a sheep bareback and holding on with all her might until she falls off. This is another of my favorite events. Grace was taking notes...the youngest one out there was 3!

Me and my sweet baby.

We had such a great time at the fair! The only sad part was that I couldn't justify spending $7 on a funnel cake when we only spent $4 for us to get in! But nevertheless we had a blast!

All Girl

Grace is all girl. She loves jewelry. She always wants to put my jewelry on. When she can't get real jewelry, she'll wear anything that has holes that she can wear like a bracelet like...

...a chicken from one of her toys...

...rings from another toy...

...Mommy's sandals...

Pretty much anything! She loves to be told how pretty she is when she wears jewelry. The funniest part is that she has to hold her arms up high to keep them on. It's pretty entertaining watching her try to do something and keep her pretties on. I just love this little girl!

Sorry for the less-than-stellar pictures. As soon as I get the camera out, she stops posing cute!