The deck

While my parents were in town in August we spontaneously decided to expand our deck (with some prompting from my dad). My dad, Scot's dad, and Scot quickly went to work and before we even had time to think about it, we had a deck. Scot has been working to build the stairs and railing and to finish the deck. We are thrilled with how it has turned out.



Ashley is a great worker and enjoys helping her dad.

Kelsey got going on her own little project of sanding some wood.

Justin is walking!

Justin has been taking steps for awhile now, but just this week he has taken off with walking.

He often has a huge smile as he goes walking across the kitchen floor.

Walking opens up the doors for all kinds of activities. Hopefully he will continue to enjoy the piano as he gets older.

Princess Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn got to dress up and go with her two cousins and her grandparents to a Princess Festival.

Ashley and Kelsey decided to make it a fun day for her. They gave her a menu and fixed her French toast, fruit, and hot chocolate for breakfast. They are very sweet to their sister.

Oregon

We were able to take a trip this summer with the Morrisons to the Oregon coast. The views were beautiful and the cool weather was a welcome relief from the summer heat of Utah.

The girls didn't seem to mind the cold water. They spent several hours playing on the beach and in the water. Ashley convinced me one day that the water didn't feel very cold, so I ventured out a little further in the water. It just so happened that a big wave came rolling in at that very moment and managed to drench me. The water was definitely cold!

The beach house we stayed in is in the distance. Even though Scot and I didn't play in the water as much as the kids, we still enjoyed the beach.

Our growing boy

Justin seems to be all smiles these days, especially when he is eating. He must have gotten a little overly excited during this feeding.

Becoming more mobile has opened up an ex iting new world for him, which apparently brings even more smiles.

His excitement also seems to be growing about the prospects of being a pharmacist one day like his daddy. Can you picture our future pharmacist?

Birthdays

One of the fun things about having birthdays in the summer is that you get to play in water! During the past couple of months, each one of our girls have had a birthday.

All of the girls had fun in the water at Kaitlyn's birthday party.

Minnesota

We recently took a trip to Minnesota to visit my parents. Every year we seem to make it to the Mall of America, despite my dislike of shopping. We mainly go on a few rides and wander around for awhile. This year, however, we also visited Como Zoo and Minnehaha falls.

Justin had fun swinging at the park with Grandma ( I think Grandma was having fun swinging too.)

Of course we had several bonfires in the backyard. If the girls had it their way, we would have had a bonfire every night. As it was, I think they consumed enough smores to last them for awhile. Here is Ashley very carefully building the perfect smore.


And Kaitlyn very carefully eating one of her smores.

And Kelsey very content after eating all of her smores.

Justin missed out on the smores, but was equally happy with entertainment from daddy.