Sparkle and Shine

Connie put her old dance costume on Gracie. I don't think she knew what it was, but she liked it. She danced and sang.
and danced some more (spun in circles).
It was very fun to watch. I can't wait until she is in a dance class, even if I have to teach her myself.

Ring around the Rosies

Plumber StyleI watched her stick her thumbs in her diaper and scoot it down and then just leave it like that! Is it comfortable?

Besides the awesome fashion we have going on here I love that they will play ring around the rosies together.

When friends come to play

Some good friends of ours that we met in Flagstaff and will probably live here (yea!) came over for some lunch and Settlers of Catan. They have these two cute little boys and I got a few picture here of their youngest. This is Myles. And he smiles...a lot.Gracie adores him (who wouldn't)and tried to ride him like a horse. She also played peek-a-boo with him which sound like "beek-a-you" and it so cute. I love how she puts her tiny little hands on her face.

We are looking forward to many more games with this family:)

Boots and bitty braids

We got a package in the mail full of cloths from Gracie's cousin. They were badly needed, lots of sweet summer dresses and all of them ADORABLE! Especially her new UGG boots. And because she wasn't feeling good after camping she and I stayed home from church. We were watching a video and I decided to try something - BRAIDS!
and it actually worked. They didn't stay so nice for so long, but they stayed in. And she sat while I did it without complaining. This is her showing me her new way of sitting on the couch and chair.

Lemon Anyone?

Gracie found a lemon and helped herself to it.

She didn't seem to think it was too bad (she didn't eat the rind though).

Camp Out

The Elders Quorum in our ward had a camp out and we decided we needed some fresh mountain air. I don't know if it was the air, the drive, or some unseen bug but Gracie got sick while we were there. We borrowed my parents truck with a camper shell on it and slept in the back - all on us:) It was cramped but okay. I never sleep well when I camp (starting to wonder why I think it is fun). Gracie threw up in the night, but swallowed it and went right back to sleep, it was sad. The next day she slept and would throw up everything she ate (which wasn't much).

William had a great time running around with the other kids there.

These guys made some awesome breakfast. I am used to having breakfast burritos when camping so it was really nice for me.

We were going to head home pretty early and decided to stop at the creek first. It was full of nice cold water. Here is William tip-toeing through it.

It wasn't long before he was really playing in it.Here I am telling him how slippery moss can be... Here he is figuring it out for himself.He got pretty wet:)Gracie enjoyed getting her feet wet, but still was not feeling well.
Here is Russ carrying his wet bum to the car when he wouldn't come himself.
When we drove back threw camp someone informed us that we had a flat tire. Nice. So luckily someone had a compressor and we made it home, but not without Gracie throwing up. And lucky for us she gives quite a bit of warning before she does. We eventually had to stop feeding her which was really hard because she was soooo hungry, but after we let her stomach settle she was able to keep stuff down. This is my last pic from the camp out. Michelle with just a few of the kids that are going to miss her when she moves:(

It was a really fun time and we love being in this ward.

And then...

...Russ' class had a party that we went to. It was nice except for the fact that Gracie was beyond tired and had to be in the hall most of the time, so we missed a lot of it. Here is a picture of Russ after going up to get his certificate.This is the picture of the class as a group, I had to take two pictures because the group was too big and I swear he is in there somewhere.

Here are the guys. They made this experience really fun for Russ which made it nice for me, so I am really glad they were there. And they came with package deal wife and kids that made my time there way more fun. I am so glad I met all of these people (and more that aren't pictured) and I wish I had gotten closer with some of them sooner.

So after we took these pictures we started to leave because Gracie was sooo fussy and as we were getting ready to walk out she laid her head down on Russ' shoulder and fell asleep. That means she was the most tired she has ever been because she has NEVER done that since she was like 2 months old. She has fallen asleep in the car but never in the middle of an event.

(I stole these pictures off Steve and Jenny's blog because I didn't like the way mine turned out)

Why we were in Flagstaff

The Ceremony

Here we are -

Spotting Daddy
there he is clapping for Daddy
Playing in places we are not supposed toJust trying to keep the little ones happy while these guys receive their diplomas.Here is Gracie saying, "cheese". I can't see the picture without smiling.Here we are taking a not-so-great family picture. (doesn't it look like William has no teeth?)
Russ with his wonderful parents who inspired Russ to always do his best and have supported him in all his hard work. We love them so much.Some of Russ' friends that we saw Mike and Ethan. We saw everyone else later at the PT party and I will post about that...tomorrow.