Swimming

 

We visited a family friend who had a pool when we got to Michigan. The kids had a great time. Jackson still loves to swim and still has no fear. Now I understand why he has two former lifeguards as parents...... we have had to save him so many times it's ridiculous. We really need to teach this kid to swim. Maggie has a little more respect for the water after having to be saved another time but she did get in and play despite being nervous. She even had to be pulled out of this pool by me which shook her up a little again but didn't stop her. Hailey is almmost the worst - she loves the water and has absolutely no respect for the danger. She wants to swim on her own, she doesn't want to be held all the time and she doesn't want to wear a lifejacket. She definitely has to be within arms reach at all times. These kiddos keep us busy but we love it. I will post more MI/reunion pics when we get back from Washington DC - this has been an incredibly busy summer....

Hailey

 

A few days after Hailey's first birthday we turned her carseat forward facing. It was the same day we were leaving for a family reunion in Michigan...... on the drive to the airport Hailey threw up a couple of times. Yuck. We were worried that maybe she was carsick from the new feel of being forward facing but she has done fine ever since so either she was just getting used to it or she had some short lived bug. We had to change her and wipe down the carseat as best we could at the airport before rushing in to get checked in with a smelly carseat :)

Happy Birthday Hailey!!

 

Hailey's bday was on Saturday so we had a party with some family and friends. I can't believe that she is 1 already. This past year has gone by so fast. She loved eating her cupcake and opening presents. She walks all over the place and gets into everything. She loves dogs - so we decided to do a dog cake and even get her a toy dog for a present. She woofs and takes off for it whenever she sees a dog. It's a little nerve wracking since some dogs don't like to be loved on so much.
It always amazes me how so much personality is packed into such a little body. She has wants and opinions that she is not against sharing. It's also neat how perfectly she fits into our family. She is right there in the thick of things with her siblings. They are going to be quite the handful as they get older - although they are definitely a handful now.....
Hailey only has very slight stranger anxiety - much like Jackson - so she wanders and takes off whenever we go somewhere. She loves to be on the go and doesn't stay close to me at all. She will let most people pick her up for a little while then she wants down to be off exploring again. As much as I love the independence and trust that they show I wouldn't mind her having a comfort bubble of say, 15 ft or so! :)She loves to be outside - whenever she is grumpy in the house all we need to do is go outside and she will be happy for hours. Sandbox, swings, slide, trampoline - she loves it all and wanders back and forth doing everything in our backyard. She will climb the ladder for our playset and go down the slide by herself. She screams when Maggie or Jackson take something away from her or won't give her something that she wants. She can climb up onto the couch on her sometimes - which has led to another level of babyproofing.... She is finally sleeping fairly well in her crib but is still mostly a night owl - prefering to go to bed around 9 or 10 pm. This last week she has finally started to fit in some earlier bedtimes which I greatly appreciate. She loves to eat pineapple and string cheese but doesn't like pancakes or bananas. She loves shoes and will bring different ones to me to try on until she has on a pair that she likes - then she will wear those ones around. She doesn't really talk at all but knows how to get her needs met quite well. I will have to add more as I remember what this cute 1 yr old is up too!

Sand Dunes

 

On our way up to Yellowstone we stopped off at the sand dunes in St. Anthony, ID. It's very cool. There are huge dunes of sand for miles. The sand is really soft. A lot of people go there with their ATV's. The kids had a blast sliding down the dunes and burying each other... until it was time to go and there was sand EVERYWHERE - in their hair, eyes, underwear :) I'm glad we stopped though. It's pretty amazing to see all that sand in the middle of nowhere. We used to go play at the dunes when I was in college at Rick's (BYU-Idaho).

Yellowstone

 

We had fun in Yellowstone last weekend (before the stiches incident of course :)) We went up Friday and camped that night. Then we toured the park the next day while we waited for Becca's family. We saw Old Faithful, and some of the hot pot pools. Pretty amazing things out in the middle of nowhere..... The kids liked it but got tired of getting in and out of the car. We saw a few bison and a whole lot of mule deer.

First time for everything.....

and this is our first time dealing with STITCHES!(July 11th) We took my niece up to Yellowstone to meet up with her family last weekend - we met them at their campsite and within just a few minutes Jackson has climbed up on the firering. He tried to jump off, I think, and it wasn't set in the ground so it came up and hit his leg. It was obvious right away that he was going to need stiches. Matt set off with him for West Yellowstone (the nearest town) only to find that there was only a clinic there, and it had closed at 5. So he came back for the rest of us and we set out for home. We stopped off at the Rexburg ER for stiches along the way :) I had wanted to tour Rexburg since my first two years of college were there but the ER wasn't in the plans..... Oh well. We have managed. Now we just have to make it through the really hot days without playing in the water until he gets his stiches out. He was fine at the hospital until they started to do the stiches - he kept screaming bloody murder and yelling things like "I know you have a needle. What are you doing to me?", "I'm scared." "That's really scary. Stop what you're doing!!" They had mostly covered up his leg so he couldn't see what they were doing.

 

 

A memorable trip to the zoo!

 

We went to the zoo this month. We haven't been there since Jackson was about 18 months I think. It was great fun. The kids loved seeing all the animals and riding on the train. The zoo playground was a big hit too. It's funny how the simple things are the ones that the kids love the most. Hailey learned to make monkey sounds. There was also a huge downpour of rain while we were there. Luckily we happened to be at one of the ampitheaters so we had some cover - but we still got fairly soaked. We waited for it to let up a little, then headed out. Hailey loved splashing in the puddles. She is such a water girl. We saw tigers, elephants, rhinos, giraffes...... no lions or bears though :)