Pops and Rachel

We loaded up the car Friday and headed off to see Wes' parents. We had a great time seeing family and friends. Wes' parents gave us our anniversary present... free babysitting and a night on the town. We went to dinner, got ice cream, and went to a movie. We stayed out until 12:00! Wow, we haven't done that in a while.
Rachel spent a lot of time with her Nana and Pops and her aunt Kim and cousin Alyssa. I think everyone had a great time.

Rachel and Pops

Swimming

Last night between thunderstorms we ran to the pool for a quick swim. This was Rachel's first time in our neighborhood pool. She seemed to like it. The water was great, very warm. The thunderstorms cooled everything off so getting out was pretty chilly. Rachel's teeth/gums were chattering. We wrapped her up in a towel and dried her off and headed home for a bath.

Wes and Rachel

Smile, pretty girl!

Rachel laughed and smiled a lot in the water.

Rachel and Lizzie

This is daddy holding me while mommy is praying I'm not dropped.

Check out our strong girl!

Video of Wes and Rachel swimming.

Fun and Games

After dinner we are always looking for fun activities to do with Rachel to pass the time before her bedtime. The 7:00 hour can be tough! Watch the video to see what we did tonight.

In case you're wondering....yes that is a plastic jug that Wes and Rachel are playing with. We laughed and said, "one day we'll tell Rachel that when she was born we were so poor that instead of buying her toys we would play with old plastic jugs." Se how much fun you can have a 6th month old (not to mention Wes). All in all we met our goal and were able to keep Rachel happy until bedtime.

Running in Circles

Rachel has this toy that she sits and and can push herself around a play table. It's kind of like a stationary walker. Well, this week she has started to run in circles around her little table. She loves it! I think it's been great for her leg strength and balance. We're expecting to see her dragging the table behind her soon.

Rachel standing in her toy. She's ready to take off.

Just finished a lap around the table.

I'm tired!

Watch the video and see how fast she goes!

Happy Birthday Aunt Doris

Saturday we celebrated my Aunt Doris's birthday. She will turn 74 on Monday. She is the most inspirational person. My aunt had a major stroke about 3 years ago and has made a good recovery. She always is so happy to see her family and has never gotten upset about her situation. What an example. My uncle Graham (her husband) has also been such an example of a loving husband. He cares for my aunt on his own and make sure she is well taken care of. What a beautiful example of marriage. They've been married about 54 years. We ate Bar-B-Q and hotdogs and of course birthday cake.

Uncle Graham and Aunt Doris with there new digital picture frame.

Rachel and Aunt Doris

My mom and her sisters and brother.

Steal beam 1 : Wes 0

Yesterday Wes called me to tell me that a steal beam fell on his head. He was bleeding pretty badly and went to urgent care to have it looked at. When he got there they told him he needed staples put in. He had 5 stables put in his head. He said and continues to say, "it doesn't hurt." The staples will be removed in 7 to 10 days. Wes continued to work the rest of the day. I was hoping this would knock some since into him but I think it might be a lost cause. :) For everyone sake I will not be taking a picture of this and putting it on the blog...yuck!

Lunch atop a skyscraper

A couple of years ago when I was visiting San Fransisco, I saw these great black and white photographs of construction workers. I thought they would look great in our house especially since that is Wes' life. I framed and hung all the pictures and I love to look at them. One day as I was studying the picture below I was shocked to see a man that looked just like my dad. My dad is in this picture! Well, not really but he must have had a twin. Please don't think I'm crazy! Whenever my family comes over I tell them to pick out the man that looks like dad and within seconds everyone picks the same guy. Crazy ugh! If you knew my dad take a guess at which man is him.......give up? He's the third man from the left in the overalls.

Just another day

Rachel and I have started Weeday school this week at church. We go two days a week. School starts at 9:00 and ends at 1:30. Rachel has 3 other classmates in her room. While she is in her room, I help with the 4 and 5 year olds. We're studying countries around the world and this week we are learning about Mexico. It has been a great first week, Rachel has done great. Let's cross our fingers and hope that it continues.

Rachel and I hanging out before bed time!

Rachel is SITTING UP! WOW, look at her go!

Rachel and Tyke love each other. Especially now that Rachel is sitting.

"Gentle Rachel, Gentle. Tyke STAY STILL!"

"Sit Tyke and Rachel, Sit! Good boy and girl!"

Happy 4th of July!

The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. It has always been a tradition in my family to got downtown and see the fireworks. I love our city's fireworks. We usually get downtown around 6:00 and have a picnic dinner, hang out and wait for the fireworks. This year was Rachel's first time seeing fireworks. We didn't know how she would do with staying up late and all the loud noises. Check out the pictures to see how our night went.

Rachel is ready to head downtown to start the evening.

Right when we get there it starts to rain. We ate our picnic dinner in the car. Why is it that always rains on July 4th?
Trying to keep Rachel entertained.
I think she's in a trance!
Rachel and I never take pictures together. Dad was on camera duty so we made sure we got some.

Wes and I took a moment to have a family photo. We didn't plan it but we're Red, White, and Blue!
Rain, Rain, go away! We all sought shelter in the back of our car. (L-R) My sister Carol and her daughter Catherine, Me and Rachel, and my Mom.
Wes and our niece Catherine
Mom, Rachel, and I smiled at Wes as he took our picture in the back of our car.
The rain finally cleared out and can you believe it was a chilly 77 degrees! IT WAS PERFECT!

The video on the left is Rachel seeing her first fireworks! Sorry if it's a little dark. She did great! The fireworks didn't seem to bother her to much. In fact she fell asleep in the middle of them. And in case you missed seeing fireworks the video on the right is for you. The grand finally of the fireworks is my absolute favorite. I love to hear them all go off at the same time. Your heart just booms with everyone. What makes it so great now is the city has grown so much that there is the loudest echo off the buildings when the fireworks go off. It really is quiet a show! I just love it!! Sorry if the tree is in the way.

Nail Salon comedian

Penny A. told me about this comedian that makes fun of nail salons. She's really fun and is pretty accurate. I hope you enjoy her as much as I did. Click on the link below.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsWrY77o77o

That's my girl!

I was on the phone talking to Grammy today. Here's what Rachel was doing when I was talking to her! She's starting to grab for everything. Rachel was smiling great in the last two and I just had to share.

SMILE!