Spray Park!

This morning we went to the spray park for our ward's playgroup. Julia loved it. She was having so much fun running around that I could hardly get a picture of her face because she wouldn't stop long enough for me to take a picture! The spray park is great, because I can basically just let her have free reign, and she can run around and there's nothing for her to hurt herself on. My child has no fear. She plays with the big kids like the best of them, and kept running right back into the water. It's a great activity, and one of the few ways to be outside without melting!

These are some great pictures that Teresa got of Julia and Boston. These two need to get married, simply so we can put these pictures in their wedding video! :) They were walking around holding hands, and it was probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. Teresa and I both bolting for our cameras was probably fairly amusing too!

Yay for having something to keep us busy. I'm grateful that our ward has lots of young moms and that we get our kids together to do fun things. It's good interaction for Julia, and I think it's even better interaction for me! :)

Also, I need to cite Teresa's blog for the good idea of using my Memory Mixer pages to put the pictures on my blog. I'm totally stealing her brilliance, but this is me trying to give credit where credit is due! Thanks for the good idea Teresa, and thanks (in advance) for not hating me for stealing it from you! :)

They Grow Up So Fast!!!

I can't even believe this is the same child that runs around my house and talks to me! Two of our really good friends just had brand new babies a few weeks ago, and there is nothing like holding a brand new baby to make you feel like your child is growing old, not to mention huge!!

I was looking at old pictures of Julia and I just can't believe how grown up she is getting! Imagine what I am going to say at her wedding... But for now, I will just admire how far she has come in the last 14 months. In this picture she is 5 days old, and that seems like a lifetime ago. It is just fun to look at these pictures next to each other and admire the changes.

In this picture she is 8 months old. Ok, I still think that Julia is my chubby little baby, but looking at these older pictures, I am realizing how much she has thinned out! She was such a chunk! Her neck, her cheeks, her wrists... there used to be so much chub!!

My big little girl!! She has officially made the leap from baby to toddler. A transition complete with wanting, pointing, talking, finicky eating and even the occasional tantrum. But even though I feel like she is growing up, she is still my baby, and she still wants me when she is sad or hurt, and she gives the best hugs ever! I love you Julia!

Minnesota...May all of our trips there be taken in July!

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!

We had just pulled in to Woodbury after a 15 hour car trip, so please forgive the glazed look in our eyes, but we got there in time for Julia to see some little fireworks. We had planned on getting there the day before to enjoy the 4th, but our little bout with the Swine Flu (Yes, you read that right...) backed our plans up by a day. Regardless, we were still able to join in a little festive 4th of July fun!

She thought the sparklers looked really neat, but she was afraid to get too close, which is good because we wouldn't have let her anyway!

Chasing minnows was just WAY too much fun (and a little gross to mommy... this is where Devin made fun of me for making a comment about preferring to swim in chlorinated water...what can I say... cleanliness is next to godliness!)

Just playing with the seaweed...
This day was absolutely beautiful, and the lake was gorgeous. Maybe this is why Minnesota is inhabited... that's still a pretty big mystery to me!! :)

Julia's main reaction to having to wear a life jacket.

She came around after riding on the boat for a while. She fell asleep, it was cute!

Summer fun with the Williams Family!

Yay for cousins!!

We had a great time in Minnesota. We got to tour the children's hospital that Russ is building, we spent time with Linda and Peter, Julia learned what it's like to live with other children, and we got to leave after Julia went to sleep and actually go on a date!! It was a fun trip, although I think next time we'll fly! :)

I Got a New Toy!

I feel like I always start my posts with an apology for how long it has been! :) This time I won't apologize... I've been busy, but now I'm back! So here are some updates...

First, I got a new camera. Yay! I was in need, and I saved up my piano lesson money and we bought one. It's really, really fun to get things when you've been wanting them and working for them for a long time... that's something I need to always remember...:) Anyway, we went to Costco (I love Costco, the cameras were all $40-$50 cheaper than at Best Buy) and Devin was kind enough to walk Julia around the store for 2 1/2 hours while I played with the cameras and decided which one I wanted. I chose one and I love it!! But the string attached to the purchase was that if I didn't post a picture to the blog every day for the next 89 days, the camera was going back to Costco on the last day of the 90 day return policy!! :) We'll see if I manage! hehe...

This is my daughter... I can hardly believe it! She's such a little grown-up now! I feel like she's getting so big! I think I am going to post about that in a minute, so hang on for more on that...

Julia thinks it's hilarious to say "cheese" for the camera, so we get a lot of pictures that look like this! She was pretty good about humoring me so I could have a before church photo shoot to play with my new toy.

Another reason for the photo shoot was to get some pictures of Julia in her new church dress. My mom made this for Julia for her birthday, and it's taken her a couple of months to grow into it, but now it fits! My mom used to make all of our church dresses for me and my sister, so I love that she made a couple for her granddaughter too! Thanks mom! (she made the matching bows too!)

Playing with the stool that has to hide in mom and dad's closet, because otherwise I climb up on it and get into things I'm not supposed to!!

This little girl is going to give me a run for my money... probably literally. She LOVES shoes. Not matter who they belong to. When she gets a new pair of shoes she runs around in them staring at her own feet for hours. She also loves to play with and wear my shoes, and she always goes for the red ones first. She has good taste. Not only that, but when we were playing at the Chik fil a playplace with our ward, she was stealing other girls' shoes out of the cubby holes. This would be one thing, but now she has also learned to open my wallet, and, of course, she goes straight for the credit cards...EVERY time... This is going to be a deadly combination.

Again with the shoes...

And again...

And again... I'm telling you, this is the only thing I can get a picture of her doing, because she spends a great deal of time doing it.

This is just a great picture. :) This is what the cute pigtails from before church look like after three hours of running around and refusing to sit, stand, or hold still. 15 weeks till NURSERY!! Yes, I am counting!!! :)
P.S. No, no... that is not soot on my daughters cheek. I do not, no matter what she tells you, make her clean the cinders out of the fire place. She has a nice black bruise from tripping and falling right into the corner on the wall. She loves to run around without really taking her lack of body control into consideration. She'll learn... (unless she's related to my mom... hehe... just kidding mom, I love you!!)