dang genetics

So Alaina's front teeth are coming in. I was able to get a better look at them today and was somewhat disappointed to find that it looks like she inherited the dreaded diastema. I am almost 100% positive that she has one. What is a diastema, you may ask? Well, for me it was a source of insecurity and embarrassment. I hated mine. Some people may refer to it as a giant, gaping hole in between your two front teeth. "Big enough to drive a truck through" kind of gap. I had it and I HATED it! Perhaps (for your viewing pleasure/amusement) I can find a picture...

Ah, yes...here we go...Go ahead and laugh. I do.

Now this is a slight exaggeration because I had just had upper jaw surgery to expand my palate, so the gap was opened even more. You get the idea though.



Thankfully, after braces, jaw surgery and some lovely porcelain veneers, I am no longer insecure about my smile. I guess we better start saving now for Alaina :)

work and play

Isn't it amazing how good you feel after you clean out your fridge? Ahhhhh. I did have a little helper though.


Sometimes you just have to put your whole self into the task.


enjoying the fruits of her labor




Swim time in Mexico...wait, I mean Finley.

Alaina took her first steps yesterday. She is trying so hard to walk!

more milestones

Alaina started saying: "mama" yesterday. And she can now climb stairs. Really well.

I better write this down before I forget. Alaina sprouted two more teeth-finally! #'s D and G. E and F are following close behind. I have to say that Alaina is a champion teether. The only thing she really displayed was a disinterest in food for a few days (very unusual for our big eater). I wouldn't have even known teeth were coming through had I not managed to get a peek at her gums one day.

Other things to note: She is on the way toward walking. She loves to stand and is getting better and better at standing without holding onto anything. As mentioned before, this girl LOVES to eat. She has her Dad's appetite. Alaina has a bit of a temper. On occasion, she has taken to letting out a loud shriek...for no good reason. She loves to talk and is quite loud actually. She loves the water. Oh yeah, she can wave bye-bye. We love this spunky little girl.

I love blogging...but

sometimes I feel like it is just another vehicle for driving that ugly thing called comparing ourself to others. I really hope I am not the only one who has ever felt this way. It makes me wonder why this whole blogging thing is such a big deal anyway. Why do we want to put our personal lives out there for the whole world to see? Sometimes I don't want to do it anymore, but it is sort of like a journal, for me, so that's why I continue...I guess.

4th of July

Sunday we invited a few friends over for a BBQ. I am thankful to have nice friends to share our home and really yummy food with.


Tayson, Campbelle, Katelyn and Claire


I love this. They are all holding hands- so sweet!


Fun with Sparklers


Claire. I get such a kick out of this little girl. So sweet and so spunky.


MMM, S'more time!


Sweet baby Avalon


Triple (ok, double) berry lemon trifle. Isn't it festive!


Jory was the "man" with his endless supply of arsenal.




playing with those things you throw and they pop


There was a rousing game of volleyball. We all have some mad skills, that's for sure!


The Parish's


The Bullock's


Jaycee -Alaina's almost birth twin- One day apart, but she has way, way more teeth than Alaina.


Police Squad BBQ - Saturday night. I love this yard! Wish it were mine, but not all the work that would go into it.




It was a great weekend! I am so thankful to live in this wonderful country.

Mt Baker

Last week we took a little trip over to Mt Baker to do some camping. We met up with Corey, Sarah, Ezra and Audrey.


It was a little rainy the day we got there and then rained pretty hard early in the morning which had me a bit worried, but it passed and the weather was really nice.


The campsites were great!


It was Alaina's first time camping and we think she did really well. We ended up forgetting our air mattress and the first night was not a good night's sleep for mommy. Alaina woke up once at 4am, then went back to bed, but THEN Katelyn decided she was hungry at 4:30am and...we never went back to sleep...(yawn)


We brought the pack n' play and that helped a ton with the sleeping arrangements. Here is Alaina attacking Katelyn.


She had a good time, but it's tough camping at almost 10 months old when you can't get down and crawl around outside.


Saw some of the biggest slugs I personally have ever seen. Not a big fan.




This one Justin saw on a little hike he and they boys went on.




The whole gang



Of course, the day we left had to be the nicest out of all the days we were there. All in all, it was a good camping trip. Bake Lake is really beautiful too! I highly recommend it. After camping we went to my Dad's house in Mt. Vernon for a couple of night's.

The Joneses

I have been fully and completely converted to Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. There are about 12 audio CD's in the Financial Peace University set that we were loaned and I have listened to all of them once and half of them multiple times. EVERYONE needs this!!! To quote Dave: "forget about keeping up with the Joneses. The Joneses are BROKE!"

I had to cringe a little when my nice neighbor commented on our new (7 year old) mini van, saying that they were going to have to keep up with the Joneses (us) pretty soon as they have another child on the way. I thought to myself, "please, oh please not the Joneses! I don't want to be them!"

How I love Dave Ramsey! And to keep my spirits up, he reminds us that if we are being made fun of...then we are on the right track. I totally believe this works and I have already experienced more peace in my life from getting on board and changing my way of thinking.