Grace's 1st Birthday

Grace's first birthday was celebrated with a week of parties!  The weekend before her birthday, her Grandma Terry, Grandpa Jim, Aunt Kym, Uncle Jimmy and cousins Austin, Carter, and Byron came to visit.  We went to the Zoo and the Discovery Center, swam in her Grandpa Tom's pool, and had a fun joint birthday party.  Grace and her cousin Byron (5) share July 1st as their birthday!

At the Zoo

Grace, Carter (3), Byron (5), and Austin (11)

Mom & Dad. Can you find the giraffe?

At the Rose Garden

We left this one with a few less petals...She puts flowers to her nose like she is "smelling" them now.  :)

Kym, Mom, Me & Grace

Birthday Pool Party

Byron, Austin, & CarterBirthday cupcakes!Austin shows us how it's done.

On Tuesday, they celebrated her birthday at Bible study.  She really likes singing along with her new pink guitar which she can pack in her new pink backpack!

On Wednesday, Aunt Evie came in from Portland to visit and spend her birthday with us, and we had a wonderful time.   

 

Her actual birthday was Thursday, and her Daddy got to take the day off from work. We spent the afternoon swimming in the pool at Grandpa Tom's and had a fun BBQ pool party with Aunt Evie, Uncle Dan, Aunt Jody, Uncle Terry, Joe and Lilah, and her 2nd cousins Bryce, Cole, Natalie, Katharine, Courtney, and Raechel. 

  

This was a really special gift from Aunt Jody and Uncle Terry - a sundress made from a pillowcase that Grace's great-great Grandma Lilah embroidered. 

Apparently, birthdays are a hair-raising experience!

Before

After

Taken at 8:04pm, exactly one year to the minute since she was born and made us parents.  :)

On Saturday the 4th, we went downtown for the Liberty Parade and the Farmer's Market. 

 

Later that day we had a backyard BBQ birthday party with friends here in Boise.
 
Thank you to everyone who shared in celebrating Grace's first year! 
We can't wait to see what the next one will bring our beautiful girl. 
She is such a joy to us, and we are so grateful to be her Mom & Dad.

June Catch-Up

Where did June go??  We got so busy this past month that we hadn't posted any new pics (although we took lots!).  A few highlights from the month....

Had a graduation party for Tom's completion of POST academy training over the Memorial Day weekend while Matt, Sarah, Anna and Mila were in town.

We did lots of yardwork this month - planted the garden and flowers (they are so fun to pick!! Grace says).

Tom graduated from POST academy.

Chris cooked a yummy 3-course dinner for my birthday - Steak Diane with shrimp pasta, potatoes, peas, and tiramisu - yum!  Here, he demonstrates his flambe-ing skills!!  What a chef and hubby!

Happy 1st Father's Day, Chris!

Here, Kitty!  Ed does not look pleased.

And she started "walking" with a little help... (click on the link below in red)
Grace "walking"

Vacation!!!

We had a wonderful reunion vacation on the sunny beaches of Florida last week.  We had so much fun with family staying at the great beachhouse they rented for the week, and enjoyed playing in the pool and playing in the ocean.  Thank you to Katey and Mary for putting this great reunion trip together!

 Getting packed and ready to go.  Is my swimsuit in here??

Ready for take-off!

She crawled for the 1st time on her hands & knees, in the Houston airport.

Grace Crawling

Pool time with her Daddy.

All tuckered out.

Grace, Chris, Matt, Mila, and Elizabeth.

Mila, Grace, and Anna.

Grace snuggling with Aunt Jody.

Beach baby, beach baby...

The view from the deck outside our room.

Anna gets launched in the pool!

And a couple of videos from the beach:

Grace at the Beach for the 1st Time

Grace in the Ocean

Catching Up Again

We were so busy getting ready for our Florida vacation last week that we got behind on posting pics & video, so here are a few things from before we left...

You may have seen that Sun Chips bags are now compostable.  Additionally, they are very crackly and lots of fun to play with (probably better to do this when they are empty, though).  The underlined title is the link: 
Grace & The Sun Chips Bag

She really surprised us one day with this...
Grace & The Toy Piano