A houseful of firsts

Sorry, but this post is going to be long and have a lot of pictures. This weekend has been very eventful for us and I had to document all of it. First, our neighbor was getting rid of his swing set and asked if we wanted it. I, of course, jumped at the idea. Annabelle loves playing with the neighbors on it. Michael, however, was more realistic about how the swing set would affect our new grass. But after much persuasion, we moved it over to our yard. It has been a huge hit. Annabelle loves it. Another new activity Annabelle did was paint. I can't believe I've gone this long without ever having Annabelle paint. What a poor deprived child. Anyway, we are involved in a summer reading program at the library where you get prizes for reading. Her prize last week was a picture with paints on it. Annabelle was so excited to paint it even though she had no idea what it meant to paint. Here's her working on her masterpiece. Michael had a first this weekend, too. We bought a new lawn mower, equipped with a Honda motor. Michael enjoyed his first time mowing his own lawn. As you can see from the picture, it was made even more enjoyable by the use of his beloved iPhone, as he listened to music on it with his headphones while he mowed. Our grass looks so good now that it has had its first hair cut.









Lastly, we took Annabelle to the county fair, where we enjoyed listening to some chareoke, seeing (and smelling) lots of different animals, and watching a rodeo, where kids would ride (hang on for dear life is more like it) sheep and calves as they were released from their pens and go galloping across the arena. It was pretty entertaining. We got some video of the rodeo, but it wasn't very clear.

Another tennis video

This video is from a few weeks ago, but Annabelle does so well hitting the tennis ball and looks so promising, it had to go on the blog.

Fun at Bear Lake

This weekend, we were invited to spend some time with Michael's sister and her family at Bear Lake. It was so nice to get away for a weekend, even though the weather was not conducive to the kinds of activities you would typically do at the lake. That said, it didn't stop us from being outside or enjoying the water. Michael's sister's husband was kind enough to bring up some jet skis that his family owns and we enjoyed some time on the water, Annabelle included. Although her first ride on the jet ski was not all that fun (it was really windy and the water was choppy, so we were just boucing up and down and freezing from the wind), she went out with Michael the next day and things went a little better. But I think her favorite water activity was relaxing in the hot tub. She got in several times and would even go underwater for a few seconds. If you can't tell, this is of Annabelle on Michael's shoulders on their way out to the jet ski.

It was so fun to see our little niece who is not so little anymore. She is getting older and bigger ans is still so smiley. She loved watching Annabelle and Annabelle was very fond of trying to get her to laugh. The company was wonderful, the weekend was relaxing, and we had a great time. Thanks Lauren and Dallas!

New friends

Last week, I dropped Annabelle off at a neighbor's house while I went to the doctor and she had a blast playing with the 5 kids. I know the parents, but had never met the kids, which meant Annabelle didn't know them either. Anyway, after the hour and a half she spent with them, she only referred to them as "friends" and couldn't stop talking about them. She'd see them outside riding their bikes and get excited and scream, "My friends, my friends!". A few days later, I pulled out a little inflatable kiddie sprinkler for Annabelle, but she didn't want to play in it without her friends. So, we ran across the street and invited them all over. It was so fun to see Annabelle playing with other kids. She doesn't get enough of that.

Family Pictures

This weekend, we had Michael's parents come and visit us and they were kind enough to take some family pictures. Currently, we have a family photo hanging in our wall that was taken Dec. 2007 when Annabelle wasn't even a year old. So you can see we were in serious need of updated pictures. Here are a few of my favorites. (And yes, I did get a drastic hair cut the day before these were taken.)After pictures, we traveled to historic Mesa Falls and saw some awesome waterfalls and then Michael and Annabelle spent some time swimming in the nearby river. As you can imagine, it was pretty cold, but although Annabelle was shivering, through chattering teeth, she said she wasn't ready to get out. Finally, we forced her out for hear of her contracting hypothermia. We had to do some quick thinking when we got to the river. Annabelle's swim bottoms are too big for her and I have to put a rubber band around them to keep them from falling off. Well, I messed up and forgot the rubber band and there was nothing in the car we could use as a substitute. So, after a moment, a light bulb went off in my head and I grabbed a long weed growing along the bank of the river and asked Michael's dad if he could use some of his amazing boy scout skills and tie it around her swim bottoms. I didn't think the weed would actually hold, but it stayed knotted around the fabric the entire time. Here's a picture.