Rolling Over!

Violet surprised us all by rolling over this weekend! From her back to her tummy! It was pretty fun to have all the family around to witness one of her major milestones. She's rolled from her tummy to her back for a while now, but Cora didn't do the back to front roll until 4 and a half months, so I wasn't expecting it for a while yet. Looks like little Violet might just have inherited her father's athletic genes instead of mine totally uncoordinated ones-- I still am such a klutz at step aerobics, and I've been doing it twice a week for 2 months now. Hurray for Violet!

Here's the video footage-- it's the fourth video in the lineup. I decided to spare you all the first three where it looked like she almost had it, and then just didn't quite make it. Now Violet's a pro though, and we have to strap her into her bouncer and swing or she wriggles out!

Family Weekend at Our House

It was great to hang out and relax on Saturday (July 5th). We also did a lot of preparations for the baby blessing luncheon, it was so nice to have help and have it pretty much all done before Sunday.

We also took Cora swimming at the hotel my mom and dad stayed at. She had a lot of fun!

Kicking with Grandpa
Wow! Kevin got her up high!
Too bad I always forget that you shouldn't take the video sideways!

We celebrated Shad's birthday too! He turned 25. Cora loved helping him open his presents!

Shad, Jen, Butterscotch, and Oreo. Happy birthday! And, Cora loved playing with the dogs. She thinks they are the greatest! They were very patient with her too. She was asking were they were after Shad and Jen left, and when she sees pictures of them, she still says 'oo-ee-oo' (r's are hard), so they made a lasting impression.
We took Cora to the park Sunday afternoon. She wasn't as interested in the slides as last time, but loved steering.

Fourth of July

We had a great Fourth of July with lots of family in town for Violet's baby blessing. Brad and Dawn came on Thursday and my parents and Shad and Jen (and puppies!) came on Friday afternoon. Brad, Dawn, and Kevin golfed in the morning, Cora swam in the backyard in the afternoon, and we all had some nice relaxing time to hang out together. My aunt and uncle, and my cousin Katrina's family came over for hamburgers and fireworks, so it was a really fun time! We also did Cora's birthday cake after hamburgers, and she opened a few presents.
Violet dressed up for the holiday too!
My first attempt at making an icecream cake! It was too windy to keep the candles lit, oh well, maybe next year.
Cora liked the fireworks for the most part, except the loud whistling petes! She was pretty apprehensive about the sparklers, but loved the pop-its. When she sees the pictures of fireworks now, she says pop-pop! We still have a few pop-its left I'm saving for sometime this week when she needs a fun activity.

Happy Birthday Dear Cora!

We left on our trip to Southern Utah on Cora's birthday, so we had a morning celebration. When Cora woke up we took her downstairs to see her presents. I think she didn't get all the way what was going on, but had fun!

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed that she went for the princess wrapping paper package before my carefully planned Curious George and bouncy horse presents! She has been starting to be interested in princesses the last week or two. But since then, she's warmed up to the George pillow I made and the stuffed animal too. It's pretty cute to see her watch George or read books about Curious George with her new accessories!

Cora had so much fun on the bouncy horse in Portland, we decided to get her one of her own, since there's plenty of room in the basement now! She could get on and off by herself with the other model, this one is a bit higher. She's pretty close to getting the hang of it though!

Cora will also have some birthday celebrating this weekend with her grandparents-- both sets! We'll have some cake and candle pics later.

Service

We got a flier in the mail a few weeks ago about a youth group wanting to do service for people in our neighborhood. I kind of forgot about it, but my friend mentioned that the group was coming to her house on Monday, so I called to see if they had any more openings. Luckily they did! About 20 high schoolers came for a hour Tuesday afternoon and cleared our all the weeds in our 'garden', stained our flower growboxes, and washed our windows. It was like a whirlwind! They seemed like nice kids, and were from a national religious conference taking place in Salt Lake that week. They did a great job, and were just interested in serving, no strings attached. We sure appreciated the help--they accomplished in one hour what would have taken us MUCH longer by ourselves, and we had wanted to get those things done before our guests came this weekend. It was so helpful, and a great reminder of what service truly is.

Weekend Out

We had a great time in Southern Utah last weekend! A friend invited our family and a few other families in the neighborhood for a weekend at her dad's cabin. We had so much fun! Cora loved playing with the other kids, we got to do a few kid-friendly hikes, saw beautiful scenery, played games, ate good food, and laughed and laughed as we got to hang out and know each other even better. Thanks so much!

These pics are really in any order, and there's a bunch of them-- I just couldn't narrow it down. So it's a little long and random :). Bryce Canyon. We were staying in a little town called Alton, inbetween Bryce and Zions. It was at a higher altitude, so it wasn't too hot at all. Bryce was a little warmer, but still pretty comfortable, even with a 3 month old strapped to my front! Kevin hadn't seen Bryce before, so it was especially fun. We left our house Thursday afternoon and spent the better part of Friday at Bryce eating lunch, checking out the stuffed animals in the museum (Cora was so excited to see the jackrabbit and cougar!), seeing the views, and doing some walks.
Cora was a little cross on this walk and refused to sit in the backpack. Luckily she liked it better the next day!

Cora and Cole, one of her favorite friends. Cole and his mom rode down to the cabin with us, and it made the drive go by much faster for both kids. They were giggling in the back seat throwing goldfish at each other (messy, but at least it occupied some time!), sharing books, and looking at the cows and horses out the window. We stopped at a rest stop so I could feed Violet and Cora and Cole had fun looking at all the big trucks and playing with the beach ball. Friday night, Kevin asked Cora if she wanted a bath and Cole decided he wanted to get in too! These two have so much fun together! Cora has been asking about playing with Cole every day since.
Splash!

At the museum at Bryce Canyon National Park.
Another great thing about vacationing with friends is that there is always someone around to take your picture! I think we got more family pictures taken on this trip than the last 6 months.
On Saturday we went to Cedar Mountain. Here are a few of us inside Mammoth Cave (courtesy of the camera flash). Cora was a brave spelunker and went in even when we got to a part that was completely dark. We only had one dim flashlight for all of us, so Kirsten and I took the girls back and the boys came out the other end of the cave.
Our whole group at the cabin--12 adults, 11 kids (9 of which were 3 and under). It is a beautiful cabin, we were so lucky to stay there.
The group at Bryce.
On our little hike on Cedar Mountain, you can see Kevin and I in the background.
After exploring Cedar Mountain, we found a great park at Brianhead to play at and eat lunch. Here's Kevin and I and the girls, with Samantha and baby Ella in the middle.

Cora and her friend Alyssa... they must have found something interesting to look at! They are only 6 weeks apart in age, and had a lot of fun playing together too.
The kitchen area.

All the little kiddos. We had about 15 pictures of this scene, and I don't think there is one with ALL of them looking!
Violet fell asleep, and stayed asleep, almost everytime she was in the front pack. It was great! She got some good quality naps in that way, and it was nice not to have to deal with a stroller.
Cora and Kevin. Cora didn't seem to care for the views, I think her highlight of the day was watching the huge crows scavenge for food at the lunch spot. She and Cole followed the birds around for quite a while!
Kevin showing Cora how to work the toy at the park.
Cora kept saying 'my turn, my turn' so she got to try it out on her own.

What a fun trip and a lot of great memories. We feel lucky to have made some great friends in our neighborhood!