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I know one girl who thinks it is delicious!

Fourth of July Fun

We were able to spend a long weekend at home together to celebrate our nation's independence. We played in the water, grilled, watched lots of great fireworks, and enjoyed being together. Now we are on the countdown for our favorite guy to be home with us all the time!

Watching some fireworks. The girl was a huge fan of the fireworks and "wow'd" her way through most of the displays. (Think Joey from Blossom, if you can remember that long ago...)

It was really humid over the fourth. We spent a lot of time outside and the girl's hair was in the tightest curls I've ever seen!

I was determined that the husband and I would get some pictures together this trip, a rarity since the girl was born. I forgot to unzoom, but I'll take it.

Another picture of the two of us. If you hadn't noticed, we are still working on our self-portrait skills.

All dressed up to attend baby Sydney's blessing at church.

The girl throwing a fit because.....well, I can't remember, but it is pretty funny when she throws a fit.

And this is probably one minute after the above fit. Happy as a clam because her dad's holding her.

All three of us at the end of one of our nights of fireworks.

The girl showing how we felt come Monday afternoon. Always sad to see him go, but glad he'll be back sooner than later!

Summer so far...

I walked into the girl's room one night and found her quietly reading a book, so I snuck a picture. It's rare these days that she chooses to sit still for long.


Throwing a tantrum. She's still perfecting the art, but she's given me a few good ones, including this time when I dared to take her picture while she wanted to read on the run.


The spray park. The first time we went, the girl screamed in terror. We quickly left. Every time we've been since then, she has LOVED it. Especially on the days the lifeguards let her play in the water at the bottom of the slides.


Our first visit to Chuck-E-Cheese. The first fifteen minutes were spent dashing from game to game, in complete amazement. She loved it. I bought tokens for her to use, but really it could've been free. She just loved hitting the buttons and running around.


Playing in the fountains. She loves playing in the water and living it up. I love that we play and sometimes even have time for a little stop at a nearby store I enjoy.


Stuffing her face. She's become a much improved eater and LOVES filling her mouth to capacity, then chewing, chewing, and chewing some more.


We got to spend a morning at a Clifford the Big Red Dog exhibit for children. It was pretty awesome, and apparently many other people thought the same thing because it was PACKED.


(P.S. So, I just read this post. Apparently I need to find a thesaurus and look up the word love. It is just a little overused. My apologies for the lack of varied vocabulary.)

the AZ

We spent some time in Arizona. All together. The pictures below pretty much sum up how we all felt about it...




....you guessed it, ecstatic.

We went to the Tucson zoo. The girl is just a little obsessed with dogs and called nearly every animal in the zoo "doggy." Too bad there aren't any dogs in the zoo. Regardless, we still had a good time. The girl got around the zoo like this...

or like this...

she and her dad are best buds.

We took a little trip to Bisbee where tons of the homes had extreme sets of stairs like this up to them. The girl was tired just at the thought of walking up all of those stairs!

We had some amazing smoothies and the girl played around the little cafe.



We spent some time exploring the mountains around Sierra Vista.








We had such a great time thanks to our wonderful host!

Old Time

The husband and a few of his classmates had a little reprieve while out and about for school today and took the opportunity to take this photo. Don't you wish you were as tough as they are? Especially the one in the sombrero in the back? The girl and I sure love and are proud of him!

The girl and I have been spending some quality time at our local pool. In the family changing room where we suit up, they have some lockers to store your goods while you swim. They are a perfect fit for a certain little girl.





Did you happen to notice all the bruises on her forehead? One was courtesy of the cement at a garage sale last Friday. The second came from a little loving from the cement at the park yesterday. As you might have figured, she's still working on fine-tuning her walking skills.

When the sun is shining...

you can find us at the park. The girl can climb all over the toys at the park now, so it makes it such a good time!

Here she is preparing for her first solo trip down the slide this year. See the Concentration? Sliding is intense!


Another favorite past time--playing and eating the mulch. Who needs toys?


The girl has already discovered the joy that is dandelions. Especially when you blow the top part off. The proliferation of weeds in our yard continues.


We weren't supposed to play at the park on this day, but the girl started whining for it the second she saw the park and toys. Good thing the joy on her face made it worthwhile.


Bravery. That is what it takes to see-saw with your mom on the other side when you only weigh 20-some pounds and your mom weighs, well, a lot more than that.