Front yard fun!

We have a very large yard and so when I grabbed the camera, the baby looked so far away.  He wasn't too sure he liked me walking away from him but look at that cutie enjoying being outside and chewing on leaves and sticks.

The weather was hot and humid and after just ten minutes outside, we were both sweating and hot.  We hope that the fall comes soon so that we can enjoy more outside time.  The mosquitoes have stopped being so aggressive and haven't chased us into the house.  We love our awesome front yard!

Six months old and showing my chubbiness off

Six months old and so HAPPY!

This little boy has so much personality.  I loved putting him in a hat to add some charm to these photos.

Spending time with extended family

This summer we had a great time visiting with family and letting them play with baby L and get to know his little personality. 

Some of baby L's cousins are...crazy cute!

And of course we had to spend some time with Grandma!

Have you ever heard the story of Rose Red and Snow White?  These two sisters remind me a little bit of that fairy tale.

Baby L has a photo shoot...sort of

I didn't take any of those popular newborn pictures of baby L when he was a newborn.  Part of the reason was that I just felt terrible...you know, hormones, lack of sleep, healing, anxiety, etc. AND my baby was super collicky and so I wasn't going to disturb him after he had fallen asleep.  So, L gets his pictures when he is older.  Here's when he was five months.  I took them in my in-laws backyard one evening.  I think they are super cute!

L likes to be outside on the grass.  He didn't mind laying in it at the time of the photos. Now that he is older, he just sits up in the grass.

I can't believe how fast this little boy is growing up.  He doesn't even look like this to me anymore.  I guess that means I'll have to pull out the camera and try to get some more cute photos of him.

Family Photos taken this summer

I love this man...even if he struggles to keep his eyes open if the sun is out.  Most of the summer he is wearing sunglasses when he's outdoors and the sun is shining.

Here's the whole family together!  Aren't we a handsome bunch?!

Here I am with my siblings and parents.

Here's grandma with the granddaughters!  Aren't they cute...and they are such good friends too!

And the grandsons with grandpa.  Each of my siblings has one son so each of these boys represent  one family.  Can't wait till my son joins the gang!!

Mesa Verde

On our way home from visiting family this summer we stopped in Mesa Verde to check out the ruins.  We were so impressed.  We only had a couple hours to spend and we loved it. 

We took a tour of the Balcony House.  We had to climb down a pathway to get to these ladders and then climb up the ladders to get into the cliff dwellings.  I was a little freaked out by the heights but tried to not let it affect the tour.

Here's a photo of part of the Balcony House with a couple kiva's in the floor.  Isn't it cool?!

To get out of the dwellings we had to crawl through a small area...which was actually the only way in or out while the people dwelling actually lived there.  Sorry all you get is a photo of my behind.

We were told to shimmy out or duck walk out of the area because there was a large step down at the end and it was easier to do if you had your feet in front of you.

And then another ladder to get out...and finally...

...this steep path.  I'm so glad they had the steal railing to hang onto since this was the scariest part of the whole tour.  And this was how the people entered their town. 

Timpanogus Half Marathon

SM and I signed up for the Timpanogus Half Marathon before we became pregnant and so in the end SM was the only member of our family to run the half marathon.

The half marathon started seven miles up AF Canyon and then continued out of the canyon to AF High school. 

SM got another personal record for this half marathon.  He ran it in one hour, thirty-three minutes, and some seconds.  He was very excited even though in this photo he just looks hot and tired.

Here are all the runners.  Crystal (a family friend), Tiffani (SM's sister), SM, Stacie (our sister-in-law) and Dawn (Stacie's sister).  Congrats to all the runners!  I was a little jealous but super excited for all the runners.

SM's brother holding up some of the signs.  When I've ran some previous half marathons, I enjoyed reading all the signs along the route.

After the race we went to find our beautiful red car...a stress on the red.  Apparently at three thirty in the morning, the freeway construction splashed cement water all over the car.  We stopped at a car wash on our way away from the race and they got most of it off but not all.  I ended up hand washing the car.  But that was the excitement for that day.  Way to go SM on a great run!!!!

Family Reunion in July Part 1

My sister-in-law organized a family reunion and we had such a great time.  One of my brother's brought some games for us to play...Minute to Win It games.  Here we had one minute to put up a pyrimid and take it down.  SM did it...barely.  I wasn't quite so talented.  I am not very fast under pressure.

Soon the kiddos joined us and began stacking the cups.  It was so much fun!

As you can see, we stopped timing once the kids joined us and just let them have fun and be creative.

We had a lot of fun.  The reunion started on a Thursday evening and went until Saturday afternoon.