Animal Lover?

Yes, it has been a busy summer. We just returned from yet another family reunion and had yet another great time. Though we haven't been seeing much of the folks in our new ward, we have been seeing a lot of family and old friends. All in all Adelyn and I were gone two weeks and put almost 3000 miles on the car (her longest trip yet) and she handled it pretty nicely.

Aaron's reunion was centered around the Cassia County Fair & Rodeo, which is apparently a big deal in Burley. No one in his family could believe that I, being from Texas, had never been to a Rodeo so they were all pretty excited for me to go. I will admit that it was a lot of fun and wish I would have gone to one sooner. I didn't get any pics of the actual show, but I just had to share these of Adelyn.

Aaron's mom was really excited to see Adelyn with the animals and truth be told, her reactions were indeed priceless. If you can't see the look on her face, please click on it and zoom in!

But then again...maybe it isn't just the animals that have her concerned after all...

More pics and stories soon, just had to share these first because I got such a kick out of them.

Baria Vacation

To start things off, I have to share the latest in our attempt to catch the little squirt laughing on film. This one showcases quite a few of her favorite way to try to stifle her laughter when the camera comes out.



We started out our family "vacation" locally because Liz wasn't able to join us adventuring down the Oregon Coast due to work. We had our first family pictures in SIX years (Yikes!) taken, which will hopefully produce good results soon. Then what we thought would be a "lazy" float down the Deschutes River turned into Survivor: Pacific Northwest, with two of the rafts collapsing mid-float. Only Ben & Jadyn managed to float completely unscathed, while Jenn & Michelle had the worst of it, having to swim/walk half the way to the park at the end (unfortunately no cell phones to reach the rescue party).

It was an adventure I am sure NONE of us will forget!



Here we are, having made it safely to Oregon, with the little one having the time of her life!!



One evening we sat and watched a bunch of Seals and Cormorants hang out while the tide brought their food in.



Aren't they so cute??!!



This is on the way heading down to Florence, at Seal Rock...I know, it was a Seal-Filled Vacation. We visited the Sea Lion Caves as well, boy were they smelly!!!

Ben's biggest request for vacation was to go four wheeling at the sand dunes. Since he is leaving on his mission this Tuesday, my mom obliged his desires. Here we are on our sweet rides.

Last but not least, here is the view from the house we rented. It was right on the beach and was so peaceful and beautiful. Just what the doctor ordered--until we were on our way home and hit 90 degree weather in Portland. It's been gross ever since! Idaho, Utah, and central A/C here we come!!

Back to the Cuteness

So now that I have posted about something other than Adelyn, we're going to get right back to it...that's what we all love anyway right?? Babies!! Aaron's mom did wonder why we hadn't posted anything of her in awhile, so I'd better take care of that.

We'll start things out with a video of Aaron trying to get her to laugh and then I'll share some of my recent faves.



Unfortunately, so far this summer Aaron has had to work quite a few Saturday mornings. But Adelyn was not about to let that affect her time enjoying the sun!



So we had a picnic with Michelle and Jenn (and Cooper of course, though he wasn't cooperating when I wanted them to smile together for the camera).



Aaron was excited to see that she finally fits into her Seahawks clothes, though it looks like the hat may be a bit small!! Hopefully she can still pass for a girl with a Seahawks beanie in the place of her flower bows!!



And last but not least, my sister snapped this at our pre-fourth of July picnic (yes, once the weather starts getting nice up here, I just can't stay away from the picnicking!!). It's so cute that I had to steal it from her.



Looks like it could be a nice little tribute to the late MJ. :) I think I'll post a few more pics on my facebook, so if you are still hungry for more, go ahead and try there!

Nerd Alert

How about a post about something other than our trips or Adelyn?!?! Many of you know that I majored in Linguistics at BYU. While there I bought this book about the origin of certain words and never really read it. Well I was flipping through it this morning (after putting it the bathroom for some potentially dull moments) and came across "OK." Since I have heard the word OK in every country I have travelled to, I got curious. And just in case you all are curious, I thought I would share the entry.

America's greatest contribution to the English language and indeed to languages all over the world is a joke. Or at least that's how it began. In the summer of 1838 newspaper columnists in Boston thought nothing funnier than to reduce a phrase to its initials (with an explanation in parentheses). To add to the humor, columnists sometimes misspelled the abbreviations. One 1838 example was O.W., meaning "all right," with blatant misspellings of both initial letters. That set the stage for an even more outrageous misspelling in March 1839: O.K. translated as "all correct." The joke was that neither O nor K was correct.

O.K. might have died out if "Old Kinderhook," President Martin Van Buren (born in Kinderhook, New York), hadn't been running for reelection in 1840. "O.K. clubs" supporting him were established throughout the country. Old Kinderhook lost, but O.K. won a permanent place in American English. Until about 1900, however, O.K. remained obscure. But the twentieth century turned out to be an OK century, perhaps encouraged by scholarly President Woodrow Wilson's use of "okeh" on official documents. (He spelled it "okeh" because he mistakenly thought it came from the Choctaw Indian language.)

So there you have it! Then I got online and did a little more research and it turns out that Ok's origin is actually still debated by scholars. Crazy. Could it be America's greatest contribution to worldwide linguistics?? It's certainly a popular one. The Chinese use it (in Chinese) all the time. Have you heard it in other countries where you have been?

Family Reunion

We just got back this week from a nice week long visit to Idaho for Aaron's family reunion. Even though I joke about there not being much to do in Idaho, we always have such a great time when we go there. We wish they all lived closer...especially now that we have a kid to brave the drive with. Even though it took us two hours longer than usual so she could eat, it was worth it.

I realized though that I didn't take too many pics of reunion festivities, but many of the papoose. I guess no matter where I am I am baby obsessed. It seemed someone was always taking pics, but I think it was Hillary, so you'd have to ask her if you want more! Here are a few pics that I uploaded, but I will post more on Facebook (better join if you haven't yet!!) so those of you who are in them can have them if you want them.

Here is a great one of Aaron with his grandpa at the at the cool reunion place they rented for the weekend. He is definitely one of my favorite of Aaron's relatives and I really appreciate the love and welcome he shows for all of us "in-laws." But everyone in Aaron's family has treated me like family right from the very beginning and always make me feel right at home when we visit.

We didn't take Adelyn's tub with us, so I had to bathe her in the deep sink in the great room. It was amazing the crowd of ladies that swarmed the area with the cameras and their cooing once I started the washing. Can you blame them?!?!

And here he is...one of the highlights of the weekend...the infamous Ned Bowen just happened to show up in Aaron's parents ward while we were there (even though he is in a different ward) and sit right in the middle of the clan. What are the odds???? It sounds like Aaron has great plans for this little photo shoot, so don't worry.

We got back from the reunion and what did Aaron spot in our backyard??? My favorite flowers, in full bloom. Did we plant them?? No. Did we do anything to help them?? No. We weren't even aware of their existence.

That's been a fun thing about this house. Even though the backyard was a jungle when we moved in because the house was vacant for so long, you can tell they put a lot of effort into things when they lived here. New flowers pop up all the time...like these.



Now if we only knew anything about gardening so that we can keep everything alive and beautiful....

Happy Memorial Day

Hey! This last weekend we actually had perfect weather for the holiday traditionally marking the first of summer. Sometimes in Washington that isn't quite the case--last year we had hail on our Memorial Celebrating!!! This year though it was gorgeous and we took the opportunity to hike up to Lena Lake in the Olympics. Gorgeous!!!



On the way back down Aaron wanted to wander off the trail for a little bit of relaxation next to the flowing stream and mossy rocks. He and the little one were having a nice rest here....until he felt the warmth and knew her diaper had leaked all over him!!!



This last pic I had to throw in for fun. On the way home I looked back at Adelyn and she was just sitting happily in her carseat sucking her foot...so limber!

I hope you guys all had a great Memorial Day too!!!

Rollin with her Homies

We are happy to report that last Monday, just shy of her 4-month birthday, Adelyn learned how to roll over. We didn't get the very first one on film, but here is the second.

And as a bonus, here is a super cheesy picture that we snapped trying to catch her new favorite trick--sucking on one or two fingers from each hand simultaneously.