Diving, anyone?

Logan and Austin made up a "diving" game (neither could really dive) while swimming that kept them entertained for hours. Here's Logan running to the pool. Tyler's in the background sleeping on a lawn chair.Katie loved her pretty swimsuit almost as much as smiling at Austin! He and Carter were so sweet to her!
Here's no-fear Logan jumping in the deep end. (The no-fear part didn't exist until he and Austin swam together- the two of them kept encouraging each other to be braver and braver!)

Both boys jumping in.
Me with sweet baby Katie!

Bienvenidos a Mexico!!

The day after the party with friends, we headed off to MEXICO!!! Rich & Lacee found a fab deal on a two bedroom condo, so the next five days of our vacation were spent with this gorgeous view. It was simply HEAVEN! :-) Every day went about like this: walk on the beach, come back for breakfast, go down to swim, come up to the room for lunch and naps, head back down to swim some more, grab dinner, put the kiddies down for bed, and hang out with the adults until we all headed to bed. Three days into the trip, we got a call from Micah and Laura and they came down as well! It was SUCH a great time- here are the first of many pics of Mexico.

Isn't Katie cute in her swimsuit?! Logan has his floaties on in this pic, but he actually spent the last few days without them and swam on his own! :-) Way to go, Logey! Tyler wasn't much for getting in the water, but he loved floating on the lazy river and napping on the lawn chair by Katie! Here's Logan the first day checking out the water- it was SO warm! Logan had a ball running from the waves.
Tyler liked running away from the water as long as it never reached him!
Logan sure enjoyed the hammock- if only he'd remembered his sunglasses...Tyler could have slept here- he was thrilled to try out the hammock, and relaxed as soon as he was in it. He loved it so much, I can imagine we'll see pics similar to this in Tyler's future as well...

I'll post more pics later- I'm taking blogging our awesome three week vacation nice and easy. :-)

Arizona Friends!!

Here's Katie on her first plane ride ever! She was a dream and spent the flight sleeping with a short break to get in a snack. We were SO lucky to have a long break, and had to make the most of it! We drove home from the lake and spent a total of 13 hours at home before we headed off to the airport to fly to Phoenix! We have such wonderful friends there, and were thrilled to be going back!
Our first full day there, we got to see lots of friends at a dessert party- here's Spiderman (aka Austin), Logan, Madison, Carter, and Ty. The boys were thrilled to get to have sleepovers for LOTS of nights with Austin and Carter!! Logan will tell you it was for 100 days, but that's slightly an exaggeration...thanks for letting us stay, Rich & Lacee!!
Here's Logan with Joy- he was absolutely infatuated with her before we moved, and it seems nothing has changed- he was very excited/slightly embarrassed to see Joy again- here he is with a really goofy smile when she hugged him. :-)
It was so fun to go back after a year and see all these babies that were either not born or not even thought of when we left! And many of the "babies" are now all grown up and responding when you talk to them! Here's Brooke with her new baby- you have to see this boy's lips!! Talk about cute!
Here's Katie happy as a clam in her crib. She's cooing more and more- it's SO sweet!
Tyler found this bouncing ball and spent much of the evening on it. Here he is showing James.

This is Laura and 2 week old Cole! I couldn't believe how well Laura was up and around after just 2 weeks!! And my teeny Katie looked so grown up next to Cole- it's amazing how quickly they grow.
Brianna and Valerie smiled for me as well- Val is the wonderful seamstress who made Katie's gorgeous blessing gown! (Katie's blessing is next month, so I'll be sure to post pics.)
Katie loved Sonda right from the start. She was cooing and smiling- it was so cute!!!
Here are almost all the ladies- Cami, me, Sherree, Laura, Brooke, Val, Jessica, and front row: Lacee, Sonda, Brooke, and Lori. Next year we'll have to get a picture of the guys as well. It was SO fun to see all of you!!!!

The Dock

Just wanted to show off the romantic side of my honey. For part 2 of our 'Anniversary Celebration,' we sat on this beautiful dock and chatted. I don't know exactly what we said, but I can tell you that I'll never forget how peaceful it was sitting there next to James. :-)
Here's another view of the dock. Isn't this lake gorgeous? We've been coming here since I was a baby, and in my opinion, there's nowhere on Earth that's closer to Heaven. I'm so glad my kiddies are getting to experience it as well!

Lake Pics Take 2

James and Logan got up bright and early one morning to go check the lines they'd left out the night before- unfortunately there weren't any fish on any of them, but they seemed to have fun riding through the early morning fog! :-)
Here's Katie with Papa and Logan. Logan is wearing his night vision goggles I mentioned in the other post. Cool, huh? That part sticking out can be moved in front of your eye to magnify what you're looking at.
Here's my beautiful Baby Girl! She's a dream- I love everything about her!
Logan and Lucy had such a good time in the squirt boats!
Nonna, Katie, and Rach & Marsh's oldest little girl, Lucy. (Aren't Lucy's eyes beautiful?!) She's such a sweet girl. She and Tyler had the cutest conversations- my favorite was about going potty in the toilet. Lucy's already potty trained and she's only 3 months older than Tyler. Hopefully he's taken note and will follow in her example soon!
How cute is Gracie? This is Rach & Marsh's little girl- she was born in Feb, and is already pulling herself up! It's amazing to see how well she moves around- the cutest was when she pulled up using the back of the bouncy seat Katie was in. She was trying to balance, which ended up gently bouncing Katie up and down- they both seemed extremely happy with the arrangement! :-) And her big happy smile never left her face. What a sweet baby!!
Here's Rach after she finished the zipline- Dad was helping her down, and ended up walking all the way up the incline with her on his shoulders. Dad can do anything, "he's wonderful!" :-)
Lucy, Marsh, Logan, Papa/Dad, James, and Tyler after a fun but slightly chilly dip in the lake. They're standing on the raft they built. :-)
Can't get happier than Logan and Tyler in their Rome shirts...unless perhaps they were IN Rome wearing them! :-)
And to start off the most amazing three week vacation ever... James and I got to celebrate our 7th Anniversary sharing a shake at a fabulous candy store. I can't remember life without James- we've been through quite a bit, regardless of the single digit number in years together. I'm so grateful to say we're closer because of the trials, and I look forward to spending many many more years sipping chocolate shakes with him while looking into his beautiful brown eyes! :-) Love ya, Honey!

Love the Lake

Logan was a little "lervous" to go on the zipline, but LOVED it!
Tyler loves his lake bed- it's a bunk bed!
Logan helping Papa on the 'big boy toys.'
Katie loved wearing Papa's fishing hat!
A highlight of our trip was when this ship landed and an adorable little boy came out. Evidently he's from Krypton. It's a bird.....it's a plane......it's Super Ty! :-) (Doesn't he look just like the little guy from the very first Superman movie?!)

What could be better than a fam game of Ring Around the Rosy?! :-) It's so much fun being with family!!

Go USA!

Here's Katie all dressed up in honor of the closing ceremonies of the Olympics. She was a loyal fan and spent most evenings watching with James and I. Her top three events were:

Bronze: Gymnastics....Go Shawn Johnson!

Silver: Synchronized Swimming...who knew they could propel people out of the water??

Gold: Women's Sand Volleyball- we LOVED watching these ladies- they were truly amazing!

We also enjoyed watching Phelps win again and again- talk about a superstar among superstars!!

Go USA!! Now we can finally start going to bed before midnight...