Swimming

One fun thing about our apartment is having access to a pool all summer right in our backyard. We love to go to the pool! These girls sure are little fish!



Ruby loves to float and hang out and lap up the water like a little doggy in her pink floaty. While she's floating around her tongue is always hanging out of her mouth trying to reach the water.





Grace loves to play in the water, but is very cautious about being too far from the edge and I am just fine with that! Our pool has a nice big ledge for sitting on that is perfect for Grace to walk back and forth on and play on.

Sometimes Daddy is a little more adventurous than Grace likes. In the above pictures he threw her in and she was surprised and didn't so much love it :)

We sure do love Summertime!

The Best Daddy in the World!

Rob is most definitely, hands down, the best daddy in the world to Grace and Ruby.
He gets up with them when Mommy is really tired (almost every day! ha!). Here's proof:

He is so loving and kind to our girls. They absolutely adore him. Grace can't ever wait for him to get home from work. He is always up for an adventure, whether it be camping, swimming or a trip to the grocery store or Target, even after a long day at work. He makes time every day to make sure that each one of his girls (including me) feel special and know how much he loves us. We couldn't ask for a better Daddy!

Note the "Grace" tie that Gracie made for him in nursery. It says "so lucky to be 'tied' to you forever!" I think we all feel that way!

Happy Father's Day!

Ruby at 6 Months: The Tongue

Ruby is 6 months old already! I can't believe how fast time has flown by with our sweet baby. She is the happiest little squishy girl and we totally love her! The funniest thing about her is that her tongue is always out. Here is some pictorial proof:








She also has awesome rolls. They are so fluffy and I love to squish them!



I'm sad though, because she is very close to crawling, so she'll probably be losing them soon with more movement and muscle development. I'm enjoying every minute of her squishyness while I have it!

Here's a sequence of her little crawl:

Lamp Re-vamp

The lighting in our apartment here in Louisville is awful (in case you can't tell by the awful pictures). The bedrooms only have side table lamps to light them. While we were in California, Rob stopped at the Goodwill and found this nice little floor lamp. Finding a good looking shade without breaking the bank was a whole other problem. While browsing Pinterest, I saw some awesome shades and thought, hey, why can't I paint a shade to be what I want? So with a cheap Wal-Mart shade and a stencil and white paint pen, I came up with this:

I love a good cheap DIY!

Mikey Love

Mikey, Rob's not-so-little brother, just graduated from High School, so we put his announcement picture up on the fridge. Grace promptly decorated a little shrine for him with all of our magnets.

He also just got called on a mission to Concepcion, Chile where he will serve for the next two years for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He will leave the end of August. We are so excited for him!

California Trip

I had the opportunity at the end of May to fly out to California with the girls, alone. After the flights out there, I vowed that I would never do it again. It's just so difficult to manage two little ones. I was fine when I had my stroller with everything strapped on it, but actually getting on the plane after I'd dropped the stroller at the gate was impossible without help. I found that the tactic that worked best was to look pathetically at the people walking by until one asked if I needed help and was then surprised when I emphatically said "YES!!!! Thank you!" Despite my fears, we made it in one piece and had delightful time while we were there!

My sister, Emily, came over to visit and brought some spoilage for the kiddos. (Thanks!!)

Grace got a new pair of princess (of course!) sunglasses. Grace and Emily modeling their sweeeeeet sunglasses.




Ruby loved Emily's cute and tasty necklace!


Grace helped Grandma and Grandpa make peppermint ice cream by smashing the peppermints with a mallet. What a great way for a toddler to work off some destructive energy!

One of the main reasons we came out this weekend was for one of my very best friend's wedding. It was fun to meet Corey and to be there for their big day. Tara looked gorgeous and it was so fun to be with them on their beautiful day.



Brian was able to drive out from Utah. The girls loved having him to play with too! (Plus he was an amazing help!)


The 3-hour time difference threw us all for a loop. Most days I was up with the girls from 4 or 5 am until 7 or so when one of my sweet parents would get up and take over and let me get a few more hours of sleep. Ruby rarely falls asleep on anyone anymore, so it was sweet that she loved cuddling with her Grandpa so much!

Emily and Jack had us over to her house on Memorial Day for a delicious meal and some swimming fun.



Ruby even got in on the pool action.


Grace hanging with her cousin Ryan.

We even got to check out their awesome garage full of toys.





Tuesday was my Mama's birthday (another reason for going this weekend). We headed to the beach to enjoy the sun, sand and waves.


It was a little chilly, but Ruby had the best spot for a nap.


Uncle Bri was awesome and took Grace into the (freezing) water.


And then carried her back in when she wanted to be in the water without actually touching it. :) Did I mention it was cold?










After the beach, we headed across the street to the harbor shops for a little fun carousel action. Grace was so excited to get to ride. Every time we see one she begs to ride and never gets to, it was a very special treat to actually get to ride one!




The whole time (5 min maybe?) Grace said "wheeeeeee, wheeeeeee, wheeeeeeeee" again and again as we rode around and around.

She was a little sad when it was over:








Ruby even got in on the photo taking fun.

Wednesday we were supposed to fly home, but we missed our flight (grrrr...who does that?!) and had to be re-booked Thursday (I so could have done without carefully packing and hauling the girls and all the stuff through nasty LA traffic two days in a row!). The flights home went really smoothly and everyone was so nice to us.

What a fun trip to California. Now Grace keeps asking to go back!