Patriotic Pancakes

Gracie woke up early with the sun and promptly threw up on me. William then got up and we got a fire going so we could have some hot chocolate. A little while later we had biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Here are my two jammie babies in the play pin.
I was taking William to go to the bathroom and we walked passed Connie laying on her bed and he said, "hi Connie, I am going to the bathroom. When I am all done can I come lay with you?" And that is exactly what he did.
Here he is flashing the whole camp.
Gracie is sad because Russ stole her bow. Just kidding, I could hardly get her to keep this thing on.
William can say the whole Pledge of Allegiance almost all by himself. I am very proud of him.
I made Gracie's bow in the car on the way there and one for me (only a pin) yesterday on the way to church. I also made these as favors and did a lot of them in the car on the way tot he valley. I may have to start calling this car bows.
Here is Mark doing his amazing trick.
We went back down to the creek so I could wash out more puke cloths and play in the water.
Gracie really enjoyed everything. You never would have guessed that she was sick the whole time.

We just had a nice time getting our feet wet.



Then we came back and had patriotic pancakes for lunch.
Gracie threw them up.

Here she is getting wash up while I washed up the high chair.Then a couple of Williams cousins came to join the fun and he was so glad to have some other kids around.

Then Connie watched Gracie and my mom and Dad watched William while we went swimming. Swimming consisted of jumping all the way in once for me and several times for Russ.
This is my brother Eric right before he landed right on his bum. Ouch.
It was a very fun couple of days and a wonderful way to spend celebrating our wonderful country. We live in a beautiful country besides all the other wonderful aspects that come along with the "home of the free and the land of the brave".

Into the Canyon

For the 4th of July weekend my parents went and got us a camping site in the Oak Creek Canyon. The drive there is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l! Here are some snap shots as we drove down there on Thursday the 3rd. Not even five minutes after we got there, I was seated comfortably in my camping chair and Gracie puked all over me. AND I only brought 2 outfits since I was only going to be there 2 days. Thank goodness Connie brought extra clothes.
My mom took us down to the creek so I could wash out my clothes and so William could explore. Here William is leading the way, even though he does not know it.
and here is Gracie with a saltine cracker we gave her hoping to settle her stomach, "look mom, no hands!"Grandma and William after they crossed the creek. Gracie actually liked putting her feet in the water even though it was FREEZING.
And William, of coarse, loved throwing rocks in the water.

We went exploring down the creek looking for some good spots.
We found one. Russ actually hiked up and around and came down through that natural door you can see behind him. This is where he was later jumping into the water, and I did too if you can believe that.

When we came back Gracie was asleep in my mom's arms, but woke up promptly when I started to take the picture.
When we came back I convinced Connie to go down to the creek with me to read. I sat in the water and she sat on the edge. That was such a beautiful and relaxing place to read. When we got back Gracie wanted to play with Connie.
and so did William
Connie let my Dad listen to some of the Golden Oldies that she has on her ipod. I noticed him getting teary eyed and told Connie. When she asked him about it he said he was listening to -Save the Last Dance for Me- and was thinking of when he and my mom were dating and she was still in High School and he had graduated and had to work out of town. He said that when she was going to go to a dance with someone else in school he said, "you can dance with Wade, but don't forget to save the last dance for me." He got all choked up saying it again, it was very sweet.
Not too much later my brother Mark showed up with his lovely wife Ashley and the kids were pretty happy. Look how much Gracie likes him.
YOU!

Then when the sun went down we roasted marshmallows. This is something that Russ loves doing and has perfected it and made it an art. After William watched Russ put a marshmallow on a stick and start roasting it he came over to show me the stick he found.

Good thing he was not interested in roasting it, just eating it.

Here is Russ admiring his work. His marshmallows really are the best.
In fact, here is Mark enjoying a smore made with two of Russ' marshmallows and Mark doesn't even really like smores.

As I leaned in to take a picture with William he leaned away and I said, "don't lean away, you can touch my head." Then he put his hand on my chin. Oh funny William.
It was a great first day. Gracie and William both slept okay but William just moves A LOT! I don't sleep that well away from my bed so I was happy when the sun was starting to come up.

More on the trip tomorrow!

My Little Ben Folds'

Their fingers were really flying
She loves the low notes
I love it when she puts her shoulder to her cheek
Getting really into it.

William kept picking up a piece of paper and "reading" it. It said something like, "da da da the inertation, the things I do." Followed by a head nod.

You run, you slide

...you hit the bump and take a dive! Anyone remember that commercial. I could not get the song out of my head while the played the day away on the slip n' slide.

The are actually sliding in this picture even though it looks like they are laying out.

Sliding, jumping, all sorts of fun.


I love watching them play together. They love each other so much.

If you look closely you can catch a peek of his little cheek sneaking out of his shorts, they are a little too big for him.


Drinking the water. Gracie's mouth was probably open half the time hoping to catch some water in it.

I can't get over how cute kids are when the kneel. Isn't her little body just adorable?


Drinking the water some more

Drying off in Grandmas vintage towel.

A week @ the Christensen's

We just got back from a week at the Christensen home and it was fun we read stories and William LOVED playing games and doing puzzles with Grandma...

Russ made himself a triple decker sandwich.
We slept soundly and peacefully
Played the piano (more pics of this tomorrow)

William learned to wink (cute stuff!)

We played at the "froggy pool" down the street and on the slip n' slide (more pics of this tomorrow)

And William and Russ ate lots of Nutella...

Grandpa even had to go to the store to get more and came back with three jars. Notice the labels. Williams was definitely gone first but that was with the help of his dad. Lots of help:)

It was a very fun trip, thanks for letting us come and take over your house. We love you guys!