Cousin Time

One great thing about living in Kaysville is that I am an hour closer to my sister. Unfortunately, we are still about an hour away but it cut the time in half. We have been able to get together more, and I love it. She has already come up to visit me several times, and I am SO, SO grateful. It's hard living in a new place where I know practically no one. I can't just go out and visit people or go hang out somewhere when I'm feeling a bit trapped by my house. So Cindy has definitely saved me a few times and given me someone to hang out with. LIFE SAVER.

Last week we were going to go to Seven Peaks, but I was worried about the weather. We ended up just going to Clearfield aquatic center instead. They have most of the pool and slides indoors, with little kiddie pool outside.

Luckily, my nieces Aspen and Joshlyn were also there to help play with the older boys while we watched the girls.

Lexi and Blake are about 5 months apart. Though Lexi definitely acts older and is more advanced (sitting up, scooting, etc.) she isn't that much bigger. I wouldn't be surprised if Blake passes her up in a few months, size wise. It's fun putting them side by side and comparing.

                                                                  They sure are cute.

                           And already acting like little divas. Blake just chatting on the phone...

                          Lexi stealing Blake's headband while making sure she can't take it back.

 Blake smiling triumphantly as she gets the headband back.

 Enjoying some time in the cool water.

 And finally, Blake passed out after a few hours at the pool. While I was taking pictures, Will was off playing and having a good time, so unfortunately, I didn't get any of him or the other boys this time.

We'll definitely have to go back when Lance can go with. Will was begging to go down the big slide and I was only able to take him once. He laughed the whole way and absolutely loved it.

Until next time...

 



5 Months

Blake is now five months old. It's crazy how much difference a month can make. She is really starting to fill out and gets stronger every day.

Blake officially rolled over this month. She rolled from her back onto her stomach, then continued rolling from her stomach onto her back. I have made the mistake of leaving her on the couch while doing dishes and she rolled off.

Will loves to make loud noises and startle her. I don't think she appreciates it as much.

I have started feeding her some cereal this month hoping that it would help her start sleeping for longer. It didn't take her long at all to figure out what she was doing, and she gobbles it right now.

We have a specific blanket that we use to swaddle Blake when she sleeps. It is stretchy and the easiest one to wrap her in. She has definitely gained a preference for that blanket. If she is fussy, I can simply throw the blanket near her and it can calm her down for a minute. She loves to hold it and feel the fabric.



Also, in the past few days I have noticed she likes this other blanket that I have in her crib. I was originally using it to prop against her back to keep her rolled slightly on her side, but she loves it touching her face. If I put it on her back side, she will roll and adjust until she can feel it against her face, then she goes right to sleep.

She also loves doing "super Blake", where you hold her up above your head.

Her legs are getting much stronger and she likes to stand while someone is holding her hands. She is still wobbly at times, but she is improving.



Blake is always full of smiles and wont hesitate to share one. She is also very ticklish around her neck, and it is becoming easier and easier to make her laugh.



And her smiles are usually super big, mouth open, tongue out.



For some reason, she doesn't like to sit straight in her bumbo. She always leans over so she can chew on the side or grab her feet.

Blake always has to be chewing on something, whether it's her hands, her feet, the bumbo, someone else's fingers, etc. She loves something in her mouth. I've wondered if she is teething, but I don't think so yet.



While she is pretty content doing whatever most of the time, she does like to be held and walked around. She likes to see the world and everything that is going on.

Lance has found a special way that she loves to be held. He sits her up in the crook of his arm, then holds her feet with his hand. She loves it, but especially when he is the one holding her. He must be the only one who can truly do it right.

She is also very fond of bath time. She freaks out for a moment during the first initial shock of being put in the water, but is kicking and splashing in no time. She loves it.



Blake is getting much more coordinated and is able to grab things. If you hold a toy in front of her, she will reach for it and grab it.



She has the brightest blue eyes and is one of the first thing people notice.





She still refuses to hold her bottle on her own. Sometimes she will hold it for a few seconds, then she gets distracted and lets go.
 

 

 This picture made me chuckle. She is definitely getting chunky and can make some goofy faces.

 

 

 This picture reminds me a lot of my baby pictures. I can see a good mix of both of us in her.

Isn't she just a doll?

 

 

She looks more and more like Will all of the time, only a girl version.

She is a beautiful little girl and we sure are lucky to have her.

She is growing so fast, and while I miss her being a newborn, it is exciting to watch her grow and change.

 



God Bless America!

 Happy Independence Day! 

 We are so blessed to live in such a great country. And even though our country is far from perfect, I am proud to be an American. 

 



The 4th of July has never been my favorite holiday, but each year I grow more fond of it. As with many holidays, they are simply more fun and exciting when you have kids. (Though kids also make it more stressful.)

This was the first year that we haven't spent with the Hinton family in Logan. We definitely missed that tradition, yet it was fun to do our own thing with our little family and explore the new area we are in.

We slept in as late as the kids allowed us, which was about 6:45am, then hung around the house for the morning, slowing getting ready to go to the parade. My original plan was to get the kids ready, then take them to a park to get some pictures. But Blake decided that she would rather take a nap, so that didn't happen.

We didn't go and claim a spot the day before so we knew it would be difficult, though we did manage to squeeze in between two people and get a decent seat.

That's the best picture I got with both of them the entire day. Kind of sad about that.





Will was interested for all of 30 seconds. He couldn't beat the older kids to the candy, so he gave up on that pretty quick.

Plus it was about 100 degrees outside. I was sweating well before the parade even started. Will mostly wanted to go for a walk, which wasn't a good idea with so many people. I finally gave in and let him walk around for a little bit. But once I told him it was time to turn around, he took off running through the crowd. I heard a few people chuckling as I was chasing after him.

He ended up spending the majority of the parade playing with his stroller.


Towards the end, we had all had about enough and we made an attempt to get back to our car. We dashed between two parts of the parade...then noticed that it was the last one. Oh well, at least we got a good start to our car and we didn't get trapped in any traffic.

We hurried home to have a quick lunch and get the kids down for a nap. Boy do we love nap time :)

After the kids woke up, we went over to Tom and Savannah's apartments to go swimming. We know them from up in Logan, and they happened to move within a few miles of us the same week we moved. (Yay for knowing at least one person in a brand new city!)

Anyways, we spent a few hours watching Will go crazy at the pool. Thank you random person for letting us borrow the arm floaties. He's definitely rocking the pink.

He liked to jump in, chase the ball, and run on the wet concrete...which always ended up with him face planting.


Despite that, he wasn't too thrilled when we had to leave, at least not until Savannah told him she had a cookie at her apartment. He wasted no time after that.

You guys coming, or what?



Thanks for the backpack, Grandma. He loves it.

Once we were changed out of our swim clothes, we headed back to our place for a BBQ. Very traditional, with hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, pasta salad, etc. Afterwards, we relaxed while our food settled and tried to decide which fireworks to go see.

We left early for fireworks so we could stop at DQ and get a blizzard. Closed. So we found a Cold Stone somewhat nearby and drove there. Closed. Giving up, we finally went to Wal-Mart, grabbed some ice cream and a few spoons and booked it to the firework show. Having never been to this area, we really had no idea where we were going or where the "best seats" in town were. So we just followed the masses and found a nice spot on the grass surrounded by large trees. I was worried the trees would block the view, but turns out they didn't.

We were much closer than I thought we would be and the noise was incredibly loud. Will typically HATES loud noises, so I was shocked how unaffected he seemed to be. Before the show started, we were playing with sparklers. Will had one in his hand when the first firework went off. It startled him, and he dropped his sparkler. It burned his finger pretty good, plus it happened to land on the grocery bag and started a super mini fire. (No worries, it was barely a small flame.) He screamed for a good while because of his finger, then he calmed down for the rest of the show.

We didn't get home until about 11pm, and we were all exhausted. I didn't even have to tell Will to get into bed. Once we got home, he went right upstairs and climbed into his bed. Wish every night was that easy!

The worse part was that even though the kids were up way past their bedtime (they usually go to sleep around 8pm), they were still up the next morning at 6am. That morning sure was rough and Will was grumpy about everything. If you looked at him the wrong way, he acted like his world was ending. Let's just say nap time came early that day.