Multiple post alert!

Make sure you scroll down and catch all the posts...wouldn't want you to miss all the fun!

4 Months!

Milly's 4 month stats

13.4 lbs (45%)

24 1/4" (50%)

Head 16 cm (50%)

At 4 months, Milly is smiling, giggling, ticklish, rolls over from tummy to back, is still sleeping pretty well, spending more time awake during the day, trying to get back to a normal routine after our extended vacation, is such a cute, little, chunky monkey and is still bringing joy to her family.

I wanted to take her 4 month pictures with no clothes on so I could capture her cute little chunkiness!  I know she isn't the chubbiest baby around, but I think she might be my chubbiest.  We love those chunky legs and enjoy squishing them all the time.  She doesn't seem to mind!  Love our sweet Milly-moo!

Brace-face Grace!

Grace got braces on Monday.  She has been so excited about this for a while and we were all glad that the day had finally come...we were a little tired of hearing about it!

Before

During

After

The excitement waned just a little bit when the discomfort set in, but she still loves them. This is just a first phase...she doesn't have enough room for her lateral incisors to come in.  She'll wear these for about a year, then she'll get another phase when all her permanent teeth come in.

She looks pretty cute with her tin grin!

Some 3000 miles + 5 states = one fun trip...

and one long post!  I'll try to keep to the highlights.

We began our journey with a siblings' reunion for Danny's family at a beautiful cabin in Heber, UT.

 

We had fun hanging out, paddle boating, taking walks, finding deer and moose and just being together.  It's so much fun to see all the cousins together.  We have age ranges from 3 months to 17 and they all played together and enjoyed one another's company.  It was a fun weekend...we wish we lived closer to everyone!

On the way back down the mountain, we stopped at Deer Creek Reservoir for a little wave running!

 

So much fun!  It had been a looong time since I had done that and we had a blast!

Next, we were off to visit my mom in Elk, WA at her and her husband's horse ranch.  We stopped to see the Idaho Falls on our way up to WA.  It was a fun little detour.

 

After a long, beautiful drive through eastern Idaho and Montana, we arrived at the ranch.  

 

We enjoyed the beautiful countryside.  Dylan and James loved to sit on the steps, eat chips and watch the neighbor's cows migrate from pasture to pasture.  Mom and Larry have 14 horses.  They raise and breed thoroughbred race horses.  It was fun to be around all the horses and the kids enjoyed helping feed them, riding on the quad and playing on the swing in the yard.

We also got to do some other fun things away from the ranch.

Danny stayed with us through the 4th of July and then he flew home from Spokane.  We were then on our own for the remainder of the trip.

We rode the carousel and played in the fountain at Riverfront Park in Spokane, picked our own delicious strawberries at Green Bluff in Mead, played in a private lake, did a little horseback riding, petted some goats and watched a few pigs wallow in the mud.  It was such a fun week.  And, of course, the best part was spending time with Grandma Christie and Grandpa Larry.  Thanks for having us, Mom and Larry, and thanks to all your wonderful friends for making it a terrific week.

From Elk, we were off to Marsing, ID to visit my childhood friend, Jessica, whom I had not seen in many, many moons!   

 

Jessica and her family took us to a funky place called Cleo's Ferry Museum.  It was part botanic garden, museum and christian icon garden.  It was a fun walk through plastic, wood and bronze garden art.  There was even a replica of Christ's tomb (the picture of Grace and Dylan playing dead!)  That evening we had a campfire in their yard, roasted marshmallows and ate s'mores.  What a fun time catching up and meeting her two cute girls, Audrey and Sophia, and her hubby, Rex.  It's so great to meet up with old friends and be able to pick up where you left off...even if it has been almost 20 years!

Next up was a stopover with the Kears, some friends from NM that moved to Twin Falls, ID.  I am bummed that I did not get any pictures, but we sure had fun hanging out and playing with you guys!

Last stop on the trip was back to UT where we spent an afternoon at the park with Umpy (my dad).

 

We went swinging, climbing and spinning!  A fun time was had by all.

A visit to see our good friends, the Widdisons is always a highlight.  They were our awesome neighbors at BYU...we practically lived together for those two years.  

  

The rest of the week was spent hanging out, swimming and playing with more of our favorite friends, the Joneses.  They so kindly housed us for a week and we had a great time.  Thanks, Aubs!

 

We had such a fun few weeks and were sad when it was time to say goodbye to all our family and friends.  But we missed our daddy and the comforts of our own home.  So, after almost four weeks, we started the trek down south to home and Daddy (and the heat, ugh!)  Thanks to all our family and friends that made it such a fun and memorable trip.  We had a blast.

Phew!  And there you have it!  Kudos to you if you made it to the end!