A Day at the Park

The more independent Grace gets, the more fun we get to have. Our recent favorite is going to the park. Grace is a fan of the swings.

A BIG fan of the swings

She's finally able to venture to the big kid part of the playground

And what's a day at the park with some unexpected snacking on gravel, mmm...

I Can't Resist

I had to post more pictures of Lily. I can't get enough of her.

Lets be honest though, how cute is this baby.

I wish my stupid car hadn't sucked up all our money or I would be devising a plan right now to fly out there and snuggle big time with Lily.

Thanks again Ryan for the pictures.

New Niece

I have a new niece!

Lillian Marie Hatch

7lbs 6oz

20.5 inches

1:43pm

Mom and baby are both doing well. Props to Ryan for taking/sending pictures in an efficient manner. :)

I can't wait to snuggle with this little bundle.

I wish I lived closer so I could snuggle her right now.

Congratulations Ryan, Ashby, Brooklyn, and Emma!!

Priceless or Sad

Replacing 4 brake pads and 2 rotors: $350.00

Epically failing the Smog Check: $24.95

Diagnosing the problem that causes high levels of gas emission: $75.00

Replacing sensor that tells the car how much gas to give: $277.00

Retaking the Smog Check (and passing): $35.20

Registering two cars in the state of California: $310.00

Watching your savings account dwindle before your very eyes causing a slight mental breakdown: Priceless

Houston, We Have Pigtails

She may be bald-ish in the front but the girl officially has enough hair for pig-tails. The process was a little traumatizing for Grace but we pulled it off.

And I'm pretty sure she wasn't a big fan of the picture taking either. All in all it was a good experience...

After many attempts I finally got Grace to show off her front teeth aka her "David Lettermans." I can fit a macaroni noodle between those bad boys.
She has 4 teeth on the top and 2 on the bottom. Throw that in with walking and pigtails... I'm pretty sure toddlerhood is knocking at the door. I'm only going to answer it if I don't have to do the potty training thing.

11 months

I may or may not be 11 days late on posting about Grace's 11 month. But she was sick with roseola when she hit the 11 month mark and we were busy so it just slipped through the cracks.

Gracie at 11 Months

I can't get enough of her. She recently learned how to snuggle and I feel like I died and went to heaven. She also doesn't look like a baby anymore.

She learned to reach and point when she wants certain things, like the camera for instance.

She does all sorts of funny things with her hands: "Oh My!," blowing kisses, clapping, Hi/Bye, search for the bow, etc. But no one will ever know because she tends to get shy in public

Her hair is slowly (really slowly) turning a honey brown/blond color. And it also refuses to grow on the front section of her head.

She loves this rocking chair that my Grandmother gave to her. She'll climb in, sit down, climb out, repeat. With a few Stand ups mixed in there.

When she is playing on her own she wants to do her own thing, but she wants me to be around so she can check in periodically. She crawls into my lap and hugs me then is off to do something else.

I love this girl. I love spending time with her and watching her grow. One more month until she is a toddler, and then its a whole new world that we're walking into.

Happy 11th Months Gracie Kate

"If You're Going...

...to San Fransisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair."

Last weekend the Clarks came to visit. It had been a while since we had seen each other so we were really excited when they told us they were driving out.

Grace and Jude getting aquainted

Day One: Let the Clarks relax and recover from their drive

Lounging

Jude "The Bruter" Clark

Dutch ovening

Game Playing

Day 2: All things San Fransisco.

We played the "If you're going to San Fransisco song" no less than 300 times

Waiting to drive down the switchbacks on Lombard street

Aaron and Trey were mission companions back in the day. They love being reunited and reliving the glory days.

We tried our best to hit as many tourists spots as we could in one day. Its pretty impressive considering that there were 4 adults, 1 toddler, and 2 babies.

Boudin's

Fisherman's Wharf

Lunch at said Wharf

Stinky seals at Pier 39

Ghiradelli Square

Paige crossed the road when the cars she was walking in front of clearly had a green light. She made it across without a scratch. We were dying laughing.

The last stop of the day: Chinatown.

Trey, Aaron, and Paige all served their missions in Taiwan and as part of reliving the glory days they wanted authentic/legit Chinese food. They were specifically looking for these boiled potsticker things.

We trekked everywhere in China Town to find these things. All three of them were busting out their Chinese skills and we even split up into search parties. This would all have been fine and good but it was freezing cold outside and we couldn't find the potstickers anywhere.

Finally Trey found the one place in China Town that had them. We ordered 50 of them. After hours of searching, you'd want 50 of them too.

The boys ate their share, Paige and I had some, but the biggest surprise was Brooklyn who downed 10 potstickers

It was an awesome visit, we miss the Clarks already. Come again soon. Very soon.

Roseola

Three days of high fevers

Rash

Runny nose

Irritability

Roseola is the pits

Wish Granted

Dreams really do come true

I'll be seeing you on opening day

Junior cheeseburger with lettuce, ketchup, green peppers, and a large order of fries, please.

Soldier Homecoming Surprise

This is one of the best videos I've ever seen. I've never cried so hard, in a good way. Its long but definitely worth it. Thank you to all of the soldiers serving throughout the world.

Busy Busy

Double A Ron and I have been doing our best to stay busy and bask in the gloriousness that can only arise from the summer season. We've invented new games with the Sagers like Midnight Bocce:

Complete with sassy looking headlamps

And we've been pushing ourselves to the limits. Sariah was out of town and we took it upon ourselves to keep Brett (her husband) entertained for the weekend. Apparently our interpretation of "Keeping Brett entertained" was "Spend every waking moment together." I only have pictures from a few of the activities but it was jammed packed. Costco pizza (of course), gathering baseball gear, playing baseball, late night chats, playing Patterns, and the men playing some Tiger Woods golf game.

We went for a walk on Saturday morning at Vasona Lake Park. It was just Me, the Gracers, and the three Boys.

We had a lovely time.

There was talk Saturday night of a possible sleep over. The boys wanted to play their Tiger Woods game all night long. We got to about 1:30am when everyone hit a wall and we were becoming delirious with exhaustion, thus pictures like this:
After a long long weekend it felt like we needed a vacation from the weekend. We don't bounce back as quickly from late nights like we did back in college, it makes me feel old. At least we tried though.

The System

Aaron and I stumbled upon the best system ever. We have friends in our ward who have a baby girl that is a week younger than Grace. After a last minute "Can you watch Aubrey? I have to work." and "Can you watch Grace, its our Anniversary?" the system was set in place. If they want a date night then Aubrey comes over, and then we get to have a date night with free babysitting. What makes the system even better is the fact that Aubrey and Grace are so cute together. I can't decide whether date night, or hanging out with the babies is more fun. They're at the same stage and going through the same things, they are wildly entertaining. I doesn't hurt that Aubrey is this delicious:

Bless the system.