Swings

I took Addison to the park the other day and she insisted that I swing on the swing next to her. I decided this could count as my workout for the day, combined with the walk to the park (have you ever swung for a long time and then felt sore in your thighs the next day?) Well, as I was pumping pretty hard I noticed that every down swing forward, my stomach was in my throat, and I hate that feeling. Who gets that feeling when swinging at a childrens park? Boy did that make me feel old. I honestly had to stop swinging because I felt sick. Do you think that means we shouldn't go to 6 Flags in September? It' like I'm an old woman who doesn't enjoy thrill rides anymore. Or does it mean I just need to do them more often to toughen me up?

Finally a Vacation

We finally got away for a much needed vacation over the 4th of July. We drove up to Utah to visit my family for a week. Dave was able to go golfing twice, once with some former classmates and once with my dad and brother-in-laws. My awesome cousin Abby cut my hair and then my sisters and I took my dad out to dinner and a play for his birthday/Father's Day. To see a picture of us with my dad, see my sister Rachel's blog: http://drlabrumfamily.blogspot.com It's a terrible picture of me, but I don't know that I've ever seen a better smile from my dad in a picture. The girls were all laughing trying to get my dad to smile like he meant it, not like he had gas.
On the 4th of July while the guys went golfing, we took the kids to my aunts house and set up a big tarp to slide down. The kids had a blast. It didn't hurt that my cousin Melissa's HUGE husband tossed the kids down the hill to make them go faster.

After all the fun in the sun the kids were tired so we took them home to watch a movie while we prepared a barbeque. I found all of the girls in grandma's bed watching The Little Mermaid.
Addison missed the fireworks, both the ones we did on the street and the professional shows. She was so tired we put her to bed at her normal time and just watched from my parents yard.

The next day we went on a hike with my parents to this waterfall. Addison had a blast throwing rocks in the stream.

On Sunday my grandparents came over for dinner. They've been married for 67 years. Can you believe it? They are both incredible people.

This was the main source of entertainment for Addison at my parents house. I've never really wanted a dog except when I see how much she is entertained by one. She followed Dolly everywhere. She also insisted on putting all of Dolly's toys, brush, shearers, collars etc. around her. If Dolly moved, Addison moved the stuff. It kept her busy, so I loved it.

On our last night we celebrated Addison's birthday with my parents and then Dave and my mom played volleyball with my cousins.

The next day we picked up my niece Savannah and drove down to Dave's parents new house near Provo. They both recently retired and moved to Utah to be closer to grandkids. That night Dave's mom and dad prepared a huge dinner and had Dave's brother and his family over for dinner and more birthday cake and ice cream. Technically Addison's birthday was the next day, but since we were driving home that day and we'd already celebrated twice, we didn't bother celebrating on her birthday. Does that make me a bad mom?

We can't believe that our baby is already 2 years old. She is learning and growing so fast and we are so grateful to have her in our family. She brings such joy to our family.

Family Pictures

My friend Brandi agreed to take our family pictures last weekend. Unfortunately Addison slept poorly the night before and was super grumpy that morning. We had several individual pictures of her turn out really cute, but she was grumpy for a lot of the family ones. We had to be creative to get her to smile. Brandi must be a great photographer because even through the grumpiness, we got quite a few good pictures. Thanks so much Brandi, we love them.

...Just to prove that she really was grumpy. I only put the good ones on.