H2O

My siblings and I were all Pool Rats when we were little.  My dad was the town pool manager and we were at the pool pretty much constantly!  We took big family trips to Lake Powell every summer from the time we were old enough to float.   My sister and I were on swim teams and taught swimming lessons and life-guarded in high school.  I feel like the love of water is in my blood!  I wholeheartedly agree with Steve Miller Band "Everything's better when wet".  (Come to think of it, I think I'm going to make a sign that says that for my bathroom) I've always looked forward to being able to teach my kids to love the water and swim.

Our friend Jordan lives at a place that has a pool so we got our first chance to take little G-man swimmin'! Thanks to the guys for letting Grant and I (well just me I guess 'cause Grant's a guy) crash what would've been 'Guy's Night'.

Don't make fun of me for being fully clothed-still can't quite fit comfortably into a swimsuit :)

Grant was the manliest of all the men there and didn't complain about the COLD water once and even went ALL THE WAY UNDER TWICE!!

I don't really know what Grant thought of the whole ordeal...probably just confused abut why we were making him do this but he didn't cry or whine at all so at least he didn't hate it.  He did more in a half hour than some kids I've taught will do in three summers so I'm pretty proud! :)

He was just so sad to have to leave! Isn't he cute in his little trunks??

I can't wait to take him again!! 

P.S. The Steve Miller Band quote was taken out of context.  The song has nothing to do with teaching your kids to love water...it's actually kind of suggestive but I think it's a great quote all the same! :)

3 is the Magic Number

Only one of our cars has AC so Mike usually takes that one unless I have errands to run.  I completely spaced out and didn't realize until Mike was already gone and Grant had blown his last diaper that we were out!  Right around his 3 month mark he moved up to a size 3!  However, the only thing we had in the house were a few leftover 1s. So here he is in his diaper two sizes too small.  I changed him like every hour!

It looks a lot bigger in the pic. than it actually was.  I REALLY had to stretch the tabs to get them around his little belly. I love how he's looking at me like 'do you actually think this is going to work?'

When Mike got home, he said he looked like he was wearing a loin cloth.

In other news, look what this 3 month old can do!  Tummy time is much more fun now!  He's starting to turn on his side so I'm wondering if maybe he'll make the full circle sometime soon.

Also, I FINALLY cut and colored my hair.  I've been wanting to do it since Spring/Summer fever hit me a few months ago.  You can't see it very well in this pic but you get the basic idea...we'll see if I can keep up with maintaining it now.

I've learned that if you have a CUTE baby to pose with you, you're much more confident about taking pictures.

Just Go With It

It's been GORGEOUS outside lately!  I've been feeling super Springy so, much to Mike's dismay, I've been dressing Grant light and bright. (Mike thinks anything other than brown or gray is girly.)

Anyone who's anyone knows you can't walk down to the mail box in just anything (that's pretty much the only time Grant and I go out during the day) so I chose this shirt that reminds me of Spring but still has some blue and green for Mike's sake.  It's getting too small for him so I figured this would be his last time wearing it and I wanted to top it off with some well-groomed hair.  (Grant's the only one who ever gets dressed around here so I try to make up for myself by making him look cute!) We all know it's usually crazy but I was exceptionally frustrated because I REALLY tried to get it to lay down in the back.

It was not working.

So I decided what the heck.  I'll put him in his rock t-shirt and just go with it.

Who cares about dressing for the season.  He is the CUTEST little punk ever!

Quarter of a Year!

I can't believe it's already been another month!  Right now I'm just trying to get all my pictures organized so I'm just gonna post the basics of what we've been up to until they're organized enough to get caught up.

Here's our little 3 month old!  He gets cuter every day and his hair is still CRAZY!

*We kicked off this last month the best way possible, with a visit from Sal.  It was SOOO good to see her and WAY too short!  We miss her already and can't wait for her to come back again!

Grant's shirt pretty much says it all!

*We also got to hang out with these two crazy clowns and were super jealous of their Suns experience!

Uncle Dal and Robyn

*Next, we made a trip to Utah to meet some of Grant's cousins for the first time! (See below post)

*Grant's soul mate was born this month!!

*Grant was also (FINALLY) blessed this month!  This will be another post!

Grant and Uncle Chase after Grant was welcomed to the 'records of the church' as Grandma Velda says

 *We also spent time with the best friend a baby or mom could ask for, Heidi.

This last month consisted of a lot of family time (which we love!).  Grant laughed for the first time and has been talking up a storm!  He's almost strong enough to hold his head up on his own and is interested in everything!!

This last picture is the most recent one, I took it yesterday.  Remember the stuffed zebra pic from last month?  Well, apparently Grant really does like zebras.  This little toy zebra is on his swing and he just stares intently at it every time he's in his swing.  It's so cute!

He is growing so much so fast, we can't keep up!

UTAH!

This last month, Grant was finally able to meet every member of his family! (Mike has 7 siblings, I have 5...it took a while!)  We made a trip to see some of Mike's siblings and Grant's cousins there and had a great time! 

We were worried about taking Grant on such a long trip.  It's a ten hour drive and due to a snowstorm, it took us about three extra hours to get to Flagstaff.  That plus stops made it a miserable fourteen hour trip.  Grant coped better than Mike and me and basically slept the whole time.  We're SO lucky!  He's such a good baby!!

First stop was Aunt Emily and Uncle Nate's house.  Their baby Trace is almost exactly 6 months older than Grant.  This was their first meeting.  Trace was SO cute with Grant and was pretty much by his side constantly from that moment on.  Emily has a really cute picture of Grant smiling at Trace at this first encounter.

They loved each others' company but since Trace is the only one that's mobile, he had to do all the work!

 It was so much fun getting to see them interact.  We think Grant's gonna look up to Trace and try to follow him around and be like him.  If Trace is as interested in him as he was on this trip, it just might work out.

Trace and Mike were a fun pair too.  Mike would start dancing and Trace would get a big grin and start dancing like a wild man.  Trace is SO much fun!  He lights up when you come into the room and can bright anyone's day.

 Meeting Uncle M Jay

I hope I have written down somewhere how excited Emily was for him to get here so Grant can read it someday.  Telling her we were pregnant while she was pregnant with Trace, then getting to tell her we were having a boy too was so much fun!  Mike and Emily went on missions and then got married within a week of each other so it seems pretty fitting that our little guys are so close in age.

Grant also got to meet the kid who will inevitably be his partner in crime-Cord's little guy Gage.  They don't understand who they're sitting next to right now but I'm sure they'll give us plenty of grief!

They are adorable but don't they already look like a couple of trouble-makers?

 Of course, having the three boys together, we had to attempt to get a picture of them all.

This kills me...Trace tries to eat Gage...not working out

So he goes for Grant...Emily has to intervene

Finally...there are some happy guys

But then we do a position change which throws everyone into a frenzy

Gage is trying to figure out what Trace is up to...Grant's been bored for a while

Oh well...we'll get one next time.  At least they like each other!

 Grant and his Uncle Nate became pretty good pals pretty quick.  Nate taught him some life lessons about how to be cool.  Nate dressed Grant in the following picture to show us what is considered dorky:

I couldn't stop laughing

Grant also met Mike's cousin Josh and his fiancee' Kt this trip.

We're told a lot that Grant looks like Josh's dad

Josh has some mad Guesstures skills

As does Mike...

 Could you tell what they're acting out?  ...Neither could their team which was why the girls dominated!! ;)

The whole group at Costa Vida

 Sunday morning, we got to go for a walk with Cord and Whit before we had to leave town.  It was so pretty and nice to get to spend some time with them!  We miss them being close to us!

Grant and Gage in Whit's awesome double stroller!

 Ave decided to turn the double stroller into a triple stroller.  It actually worked out pretty well!

Mike's REALLY been missing Ave!

It's always hard for these two to say goodbye.  Ave asked  me if I could just leave Mike there :)

Finally home and bathed and feelin' good.

 Then Grant got to help me unpack :)

Thanks to all those of you who put up with us and our mess!  It was SOO good to see you all!  We miss you already!!