Where has the summer gone?

Is it really the end of August?!?! I thought I better sit down and get a recap on the summer for history's sake (since this is my journal)....WARNING: VERY LONG POST, LOTS OF WRITING. Feel free to skim through. :) Also, I am so bad at taking pictures...most of the pictures are ones that Lindsey took. Thanks Lindsey!!

JuNe:

We went to the zoo one wonderful afternoon with my sister, Katie and my Mom. We had a great time with minimal people there (thanks Jeanette for the advice). Taylor was just barely walking and it was fun to just sit on the park bench by the Flamingos and watch Taylor wobble around and fall several times. Her hands were VERY dirty!!

Lindsey was in her 2nd round of gymnastics in the earlier part of June and then in her 1st round of swim lessons during the last few weeks of June. She really liked gymnastics, but had a hard time following the directions at times (they would give several steps at once and she could never follow anything they told her to do). She was known to pick her nose and come and get her mom during most of the classes, but overall really liked having something fun to do. Swim lessons were really fun, she was in the same class as Nick (her cousin). She learned a lot, but wasn't ready to pass on to the next level.

Taylor started walking!! (As I mentioned earlier) She was about a week away from 13 months, but she finally started to walk and she hasn't stopped since!! Oh and she learned how to climb even better and she gets into all sorts of trouble!! Taylor loves to smile, but also gives really good dirty looks.

Caption for the next picture: Ethan got my attention one morning and said that Taylor had made a mess....I came downstairs and she was sitting on the chair eating a banana. This was just the start, she soon after started climbing on the counter too and getting her bananas. The chairs are no longer kept there. :)

We celebrated Russ' 29th birthday on the 28th! Nothing too exciting, but I did make his favorite dessert (his Mom's cheesecake) and we had Katie, Brian and kids over to help celebrate!

JuLy:

I worked on the 4th of July, but we had a really fun family get-together before I had to leave. We enjoyed my parent's awesome backyard and had a BBQ. The kids played with the water table and had tons of fun running wild.

We had a fun family reunion with my Mom's side of the family. My Aunt and Uncle from Georgia came into town and so we all got together at a Park in Broomfield and really enjoyed one another's company. It was great to see my cousin and her baby, Tanner (he was born on the same day as Makenna (Katie's baby) and I had never met him before). What a cutie!!

My friend April was in town from Texas and we got to meet up again! We have kids that are pretty close in age and it was really fun to catch up while they played. We spent a fun afternoon at Monkey Bizness and then went to the mall to check-out Down East Basics. It was fun to spend the afternoon together.

Then, we went to Grand Junction for Russ' family reunion on his dad's side of the family. It was fun to catch-up with Aunt's and Uncle's we don't get to see very often and introduce our little girls to them. Of course, no picture's from any of this! Lindsey discovered Great Grandma and Grandpa's swings that turn in a circle (hard to describe) and she LOVED being able to go to her "other grandma and grandpa's" anytime she pleased. This would scare us just a bit, when we couldn't find her, but realized that is where she was alway's going. Then when we would come home, she thought she could go out the front door anytime she pleased. WRONG!! I also got the girl's pictures taken while we were there, they turned out so cute, but I am still waiting on the CD. As soon as they get here, I will post pictures!!

Lindsey also did her 2nd session of swim lessons with her cousin Nick again and she passed to the next level! She gets to be with Alli next time and she is soo excited! That is going to be a difficult class next time with Alli, Nick and Lindsey!! Poor teacher!!!

Russ and I celebrated our 7th Anniversary on the 24th! We were in Grand Junction this weekend, so we had a free babysitter! We went to dinner at Pantuso's (so yummy!). Nothing incredibly exciting, but nice to have some time together.

Our BIG project for the month was that we got new windows in our entire house (except for 2...)!! They are so wonderful, I can actually see through them. We are really hoping for cheaper Xcel Energy bills coming up!! (Oh and the basement got almost completely finished at the beginning of the month, sooo close!!)

Picture of Lindsey "helping" her dad paint the basement doors.

AuGuSt:

At the beginning of the month, we got a new roof. Loving the color so much more than the nasty tannish color that was there before!! This is the before picture. Still haven't taken an after picture, but I really just want to get this post posted.

Then things got REALLY busy and crazy!! Ethan (Russ' brother that lived with us for the past year) got married to Rayann on the 13th! My mother-in-law and I did a majority of the food for the reception. It was a lot of work, but it turned out really good and yummy. After everyone left on Sunday, I did my best to get my house back to normal, before I left for Grand Junction on Tuesday night, so that we could start the next round of food preparation. Life was pretty much on hold for these 2 weeks, but it was all worth it! Things turned out so well and Ray and Ethan are a happy married couple!

I got a new calling, I am now the Young Women's secretary. I am so excited to have this new calling. My sister took my old calling of Mia Maids advisor. (I am also excited to work with my sister. :))

We also got to watch Katie and Brian's dog "Gracie" and the girls were in absolute dog heaven!! We got her in the morning before church and when we got to church Lindsey was telling everyone that she had a dog. For the next few days we had to keep reminding her that Gracie was Alli and Nick's dog, not her's. We will have to get her a dog in the future. Taylor loved her too!! She would just smile and smile when Gracie would come by her. Taylor did torture her just a little and Lindsey insisted that Gracie be hooked up to her leash in the house. So, I am sure that Gracie was ready to go home on Tuesday. This is a picture that Lindsey took of Gracie.

And some random pictures that were taken by the family photographer, Lindsey....