My sweet, adorable, wonderful Raine

We had such a good time with everyone in Colorado. I think Raine loved being able to play outside so much. I am so grateful for my Raine Bug, she is the cutest, most wonderful thing ever. Dan and I are just so head over heels for her it's ridiculous.

Aahh, Family

Sand Dunes

For Aunt Cyndi

When you loose someone it seems you find them in many aspects of your life. I have been finding Cyndi a lot lately. At first I am a little sad, then I realize this is only the begining, she is where we are all striving to be and I am happy for the time I did have to get to know her and share a family with her. I see her emails in my inbox, gifts that she sent to Raine (Raine's book d'jour is one that Aunt Cyndi sent for her birthday), and even when I do my blog or sign with Raine (Cyndi gave us a baby sign language book for our baby shower). I know how much she enjoyed seeing Raine and reading about her adventures, she seemed to always be the first to see a new post and I loved getting to talk to her about it. I loved getting her emails to read a story about Dan or Trey. Raine has started babbling like crazy recently, the other day she was going through her animal book that Cyndi sent her and telling me an hour long story (in a very animated fashion) - very little of which did I understand - and it reminded me of a story about Dan speaking in his own language that Cyndi told me. I am greatful for getting to hear such wonderful stories about his childhood. I am just so thankful for having her in my life. Please enjoy this slide show in her memory and know that she is loved, happy and peaceful.

Summer Fun

This slide is a compilation of all the fun we had when my family was visiting us. We went to the Flagstaff Highland games - which was pretty fun and a little cooler than Phoenix. We hung out in the kiddie corner most of the time, but Diana Gabaldon and the Wicked Tinkers were there. They had an oatmeal toss (too cute) and a yummy smelling archaeological dig (I think little bones and rocks were buried in cocoa shells). We also took some pictures at the Chinese cultural center in the garden and went to a few different libraries, pools and museums. The other "main event" was Mighty Mud Mania. It was not as laid back and fun as last year, but everyone still got pretty muddy and had a good time. Raine thought there were entirely too many people there and there were big muddy holes in the ground that she did not appreciate. Jaiden as you can see was swimming and wallering in the mud, I think he had a good time. Poor Kieran was stuck watching the strollers - we tried to get him muddy. I also got a chance to do some yoga with the kids and Raine showed off a few of her moves for the camera.

Snow in Phoenix?!?!

This slide is from Winter in July at the Phoenix Zoo. The zoo had tons of snow delivered for the enjoyment of the animals and visitors. The snow was not really as fun as I thought it would be. It was sooooo hot outside and the snow was soooo cold. Raine and I tried to walk around in the snow, but it was just too cold and she didn't like it much. She did love playing in the water and at the splash pad they have. We also got a chance to see some little monkeys (lemurs I think) playing and jumping through the trees right over our heads. The monkeys were pretty exciting, usually it is so hot they just sleep the whole time so it was really neat to see them playing. Raine was so excited she just kept giggling and signing "monkey" at them.

Happy 4th of July!