Pictures finally!

No, my computer isn't fixed but Brice took the camera to school and made a disk for me so now I can share all our news properly. Yay! Now where to start... I think I'll just get some pictures up and write what goes along with them.

I mentioned earlier that Alaina is crawling...

...and getting stuck..

...and sitting...

...and has a tooth (you might have to click on the picture to make it big enough to see the tooth--spit is shiny in pictures! Her second one is just breaking through the gums but I don't have a picture of that yet)...

...and eating solids...Alaina likes baby cereal but she's not so sure about fruits and veggies!

My Grammy Quinn sent me this cool puree thingy that I LOVE! I made a bunch of baby food with it: apple, pear, apple and pear mixed, and butternut squash. I was going to make yams too, but I forgot the thing was in the oven after I pulled out the squash and turned the oven off. I didn't realize the sweet potato was still in there until the next day!

Alaina's tongue is extraordinarily long. At least she got something from me!

Her brother sure loves her and Raelin can make her laugh like no one else can. Alaina thinks Raelin is hilarious!

Alaina is always full of smiles. Even when she's tired and grumpy she smiles.

Look at her go! I'm not sure what happened to the picture quality of this one, but this is one muscly girl! She's about 5 months and one week here. Maybe 5 months and two weeks. I'll have to check.

Ryker's birthday was on July 7th; he wanted a helicopter birthday. Here's his cake:

He got lots of nice things for his birthday and we had lots of family around: Mimi and Papa were in town and so were William and Angel and Liam. Uncle Jesse came back from Canada just in time, too. And Grammy and Granddad came, of course. So we had a fun get together with dinner and yummy cake (I thought the cake was a bit disproportionate and goofy-looking, but it had lots of pudding in it and it was tasty!) and presents and helicopter toys.

This is the gift Brice and I put together for him--his own work bench, complete with real tools and everything. The tools capable of doing the most damage are chained to the bench so he can't destroy the house. He's really enjoyed it and spent a lot of time out there hammering away. We thought an outlet might help him learn to control himself (thanks, Grandma, for the idea).

Birthday kisses

Granddad trimmed this tree just for Raelin. She loves to climb trees so Granddad cut the limbs leaving 8 inches or so for Raelin to climb to the top with. She got scared/stuck and Brice had to go up and coach her down. She fell out of a tree yesterday (don't worry, she's fine. Just a couple scrapes). That's the first time that's happened but probably not the last.

Uncle Jesse was only in town for a few days before he was off to Alaska for his next great adventure. We're taking care of his dog while he's gone. Lady and Cooper are having a blast together!

So, we had a (fortunately) short-lived problem with Ryker peeing in inappropriate places like his room and his sister's back. So after the third time it happened, Brice and I were trying to figure out what to do. In a fit of frustration I said, "If we can't trust him not to pee in his room, maybe he should just sleep in the bathroom!" So here he is asleep in the bathtub.

We went to Scofield the other day to collect some things and my dad and I were sitting in the yard making dinner and watching the kids when Brice came walking out with this:

My dad said, "Whoa, no way! Now that's impressive!" For any of you who don't know my dad, that's a big reaction! But apparently they usually move these things with a crane...

Pretty Raelin

Ryker has come down with a case of geeby smiles for pictures to match Raelin's.

And last but not least! I got a puppy! I wanted one for my graduation present/birthday present (back in April), but never got one. Until now. Brice's mom got her for me (I helped a little with graduation money I'd been given. Thanks Jack and Sue and Grammy Quinn!) when she was out for the Fourth and Ryker's birthday. The puppy was 8 weeks old when I got her and she's 10 weeks old now. She's a strange mix: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel mixed with Rat Terrier. Kind of an odd combination, but she's been great. She's got the short hair and the spunk of the rat terrier, and the features and cuddliness of the spaniel. Her name is Zuma and we love her! I never thought I'd be one to like a little dog, but I'm really enjoying it! Easier to train, take places, control, catch, and clean up after, and lots cheaper to feed. And she doesn't take up the whole bed. But she's got some sharp little teeth!

I didn't catch any pictures of this, but when we were in Scofield, she went with the kids and my mom to walk around a little and she found a patch of cactus! My mom (who's allergic to dogs) carried her back to us with big chunks of cactus stuck to her whole belly from chest to tail. She was so good about it (and my mom was a trooper for carrying her despite her allergies). She held as still as she could as we plucked out all the spines. She didn't like it when we had to get the ones out of her armpit and she yelped and squirmed. But then she slept for the rest of the day and now she's as good as new.

Raelin loves her to death and I often have to fight her to hold my own puppy!

The first time Alaina saw Zuma she laughed and laughed!

I don't know if I can move this video to the crawling part of this post without losing it, so I'll just leave it here. Alaina's got her own way of crawling, but it's effective! She's just started to alternate hands in the past two days instead of doing the fish flop.