More Pinetop Pics

Can you believe this is only a few hours from the desert? Arizona is the most bizarre state!

Gone Fishin'

Pinetop, AZ

A few weeks ago we escaped to the mountains! We checked out Pinetop, AZ. It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive into the mountains for us. It's very beautiful and lots of pine trees (go figure!) We had a great time on our short escape. We decided to take the trip, made the reservation one night and left the next morning! The girls loved being able to be outside (and so did we!) There was a beautiful lake about 1/2 mile from us with a paved walking path (pics coming soon) so we went there twice and hiked around the lake....and Avery was very adament to go fishing. So we headed to the local Walmart and bought the pink princess fishing pole and she tried it out! It was a fun little trip for our family...and it did wonders for us being able to be in 70-75 degree weather!!

The cabin we stayed in. Super cute! Living room, kitchen, bedroom....my kind of camping! ;-)

Katelyn's happy to be able to be outside!

Checking out the playground (our cabin in the distance)

Some Random Summer Fun Pictures

Bowling with our friend Nathan!


Water fun day in our neighborhood...what's more fun than water and cheetos!?



Smart GiGi...we sailed boats in the fountain at their hotel...good indoor (a.k.a. air conditioned fun!)


Avery on the slip-n-slide for the 1st time!



Meeting Callie - my friend Anne's new baby!


Katelyn discovering the joy of balloons! Good thing she was in the car seat...she might have floated away!

GiGi and PaPa come to visit!

My parents came to visit a few weeks ago! They were able to come out for about a week and 1/2, and it was awesome! We love having them here! I can't tell you how much Avery loves having family around! (as do we of course!)

It was super hot during there visit (imagine that!) so we couldnt' really do any outdoor activites, but we had lots of fun indoors! Nice meals, quality time and my parents got to see Avery at preschool and meet her teacher. My mom also got to attend music class with us, which was so much fun! Avery enjoying singing and dancing with GiGi and Katelyn always enjoying clapping and crawling around! We also went to the Rainforest Cafe, road the carousel at the mall & baked cookies!

A big thank you to both of them for all they things they did for us while they were out here! (including watching the girls so we could go to a movie!) Saying goodbye to them wasn't nearly as hard this time, since me and the girls will be home in Sept. We love you GiGi and PaPa!

Katelyn Reese is 9 Months!

Ohhh I wanna squeeze those checks!!



Our little clapper!


Our baby sweet cakes is 9 months Old! I can't believe it! She now weighs 17 lbs (50%) and is 27 3/4 inches tall (25%-50%). And she is quite the handful! Here are some things she's now doing:

--- crawling everywhere (which I realized is unfortunately very annoying when you have a preschooler running around and can't really put up gates!) Luckily during our weekly music class, she can crawl until her heart's content. The entire floor is covered in mats, so she can just go, go, go!

--- she's pulling herself up to standing and can hold herself up unassisted for just a second or two...and then tumble. Which isn't that bad, except we have hard tile floors, so we've already had some ouchies!

--- she's tried all the different kinds of baby foods and has started table foods. She's definitely got her southern genes b/c her favorite food is probably homemade biscuits! She also seems to like most fruits and vegetables. Avery of course loves trying all her baby food too (not the jarred stuff...but the teething biscuits, puffs, wagon wheels, etc.) If it looks like snack food...Avery just has to try it!


--- Katelyn is very moody! :-) She can be very happy go lucky a lot and she can be very fussy! I'm hoping this is just due to teething and eventually she'll go back to just happy! She's a great sleeper, but she's also realized that she doesn't like bedtime. Bedtime means she's separated from us and Avery , and she does not like that! So although, she'll still go to bed fairly well...she puts up way more of a fuss than I'd like (which is nothing at all!) ;-)


--- She's a face grabber! I really have to watch her around other kids b/c she loves to grab every one's nose, mouth and hair! If you are holding her...watch out!


---Katelyn is babbling a lot and likes to imitate simple sounds. She has definitely said "mama" (which she said first!) and "dada". but it's hard to get too excited b/c we know it's more of the babbling than actually knowing what it means...but that's okay...the few times we've heard it, it was very exciting. Of course, except for the very first time she said what sounded like "mama" She was mad! So maybe she did know what it meant b/c she was looking right at me!


---Avery loves her little sister. They have somewhat starting playing together. Avery will get out all her toys, sprinkle them around Katelyn and Katelyn will chew on them. I guess it works for now! Even though I'm already seeing the beginning signs of rivalry, when they first see each other in the morning and squeal with delight, it makes it all okay!


---I could just go on and on about her! When I think about what I love about her, it has to be her awesome laugh and smile. When one of us elicits that great belly laugh, we feel like we won a prize! There is nothing better than a hearty baby laugh! She also loves when others hold her and play with her, so it's nice that so far (knock on wood) we haven't had any separation anxiety!


---One things she definitely inheirted from both me and Steven is .... she's a hard head! But I guess we just have to love her (and Avery for it!) since they got it from us!


We feel very lucky to have two amazing and wonderful girls!!

Hanging with my friends

Just a couple of pics of Avery having fun with friends!

4th of July!

Dancing away to the bowling alley tunes!

Okay, so this is a few weeks late, but that's okay! My parents are in town, so we are keeping busy! But I figured I could go ahead and get some pics up from one of our favorite holidays!! We had a really fun weekend! We started off bowling with the Irias Family. Of course we had a blast, and anytime Avery is with Diego and Mateo, she's in heaven! They are best buds for sure!! We also did some swimming at their house.

(Avery obviously thinks she is part of the family! She was happy to pose with them for their family picture!!)

On the evening of the 4th, we headed to our friends Kurt and Jill's house. They live near a park where the city of Chandler was doing their fireworks. We sat on the side of the road and had a perfect view!! We were right by where they were shooting them off, but it wasn't too loud. It was great...the only downfall...it was HOT! It was over 100 degrees at 10 pm!! By the end, Katelyn was just in a diaper with Steven pouring bottled water on her, and Avery was in a t-shirt and underwear! Avery had a blast though watching her first 4th fireworks!! So glad we kept her up to watch them!!

On that Sunday, we went to Canyon Lake. Any of you that have visited us here have probably been there. It's about an hour to the east of us in the mountains and it's absolutely gorgeous. Kurt and Jill just recently bought 2 3-seater jet skis and they invited us out for a day on the lake. I had not been on a jet ski in some time...and let me tell you...the best way to try them again is not with a teenager at the wheel!! I hopped on the back with our friends daughter and her boyfriend driving. They took off at about a million miles an hour....I was holding on for dear life (my elbows ached for days after this b/c I was holding on so hard)...I was screaming obscenities and kept my eyes closed the whole time! Good Times!! After that, Jill suggested that I drive to get more comfortable with the ski...so we hoped on...I couldn't get the jet skit started and we were headed for another boat. Next thing I know, we both lean the same way, and boom! We flip the thing and we're in the lake!! So...as you can imagine....this is an interesting morning so far to say the least!! I do finally get on again while Steven is driving and it went much better and then I finally drove .... I like jet skiing when I'M driving! Otherwise I don't like being at the mercy of others as they wave jump and fly across the lake!!! ha! ha! I will definitely try it again....sometime! ;-)