I love Rexburg.

And Rexburg must love me, because the weather has been perfect, the views fantastic, and the company more than pleasant. I just love it here. We've been having a blast with Dave's family. We spent most of last week at their cabin in Island Park. Audrey experienced her first boat ride. She looked so cute with her hair blown back by the wind, a huge grin on her face, yelling WEEEEEEE! and FASTER!!! So fun.

The bad news is that she woke up this morning with yet another serious injury. She has a severe ingrown toenail. Can you believe this? It's pretty bad. We're taking her to the doctor tomorrow. Today we had to lance it and have her soak it in epsom salts. Lucky for us we still have some antibiotic cream from when she had the spider bites to put on it. Poor thing. And yet again she doesn't even seem to notice she's hurt.

Other than that, she and Janey have been cute as can be and can't get enough of all the attention from their aunts and uncles. :) We've still got a while here so I'll post more fun things soon.

Hanging out with Eric and Rosanne's family at Brent and Cheryl's house

Misc Texas

Oh no!  :S

What a cute baby!

 Playing with my new camera--Audrey playing with her new toy.

Janey playing with Daddy.

Another HUGE post because i've been a slacker . . .

Well, there's lots to write about, so I'll get started.

Audrey is so funny. And here are several reasons why:

1. The other day I turned around to see her holding the end of the paper towel tube she'd been playing with up to Janey's little eye saying, "See, Janey? Twy it!" Jane was frantically trying to squirm her way away from her tormentor.

2. Most days Audrey askes to wear a "beauful 'rella dwess."

3. She goes around singing things like "Twinkle, twinkle, heart . . .dinosaur in the sky!" and "I'n a child agod . . . sent me here . . . and dear . . . lea me, gui me, side me . . . waaaay . . . son day!" (The end note being nice and low) and "biwy booooy, biwy boooooy!" (Billy boy, Billy Boy).

4. She chases Dave's 13 year old cousin Daniel around the house saying "Hug Dan'l!!" She also loves to mimick every word he says and do everything he does, much to his dismay and annoyance. :)

5. She likes to point out things that are "BIG!" with her lips pursed out and her voice very low. As well as every airplane she hears or sees (in which cases she yells, airplane, naturally).

6. She says things like, "why not?" "super!" "try it!" "dweams come true!" and "woah, tricky!" at random times.

7. She sings really loud all the time.

8. She always comes up to us and asks if we will "read a book?" or "pay with (something)?" (play with . . .) or "help you?" (which means she needs help herself), or "watch bovie Eintime?" (Watch the Baby Einstein movie).

9. She always wants hugs and kisses and likes to wave goodbye to people, animals, things, and places.

10. She says things like barbles (marbles) and bovies (movies), fwim (swim) and fweep (sleep).

Jane is no less entertaining. She's always trying to sit up when we put her down. She's very smily and cheerful as long as someone is holding her, paying attention to her, or packing her around in the baby bjorn. Her favorite people around here is Uncle Brent and Audrey. She likes to blow raspberries and spit in her spare time. She coos all the time, and has a melt-your-heart squicky giggle that she uses frequently. Oh, yes, and she's growing out of her tiny baby clothes. :( She loves to have you put the rattle in her hand so she can watch herself shake it.)

High School Musical:

Dave and I were treated by the firm to go see High School Musical (as you may have gathered from the pictures). We went with one of Dave's mentors and his wife. We had a blast! I was surprised at how good it was. The dancing, amazing. The music, perfect. Not a single sour note. The set, very cool. I especially liked how they blew confetti at the audience during the finale. The acting, pretty crappy, but that's ok. It was overall very good.

Personal trainer:

I splurged this summer on a gym membership and a personal trainer. It's been great! I'm a little bit sore most of the time, but I do feel pretty good about myself and my pants are getting loser. That's always a plus. It's also nice to have time alone for myself.

Galleria:

Last week the girls and I met some friends at the Galleria, a really great mall in the city. It has a fun play area just perfect for kids Audrey's age. I can just let her go and expore and climb and know she's not going to fall and break her neck. Her and her little friend Renard got to watch a puppet show (The Little Mermaid) while Kathryn took the two youngest babies for a stroll. A good time was had by all. Except Audrey lost a new headband about 10 minutes after we bought it--she tossed it off the stroller and it was never seen again--and Jane lost a couple binkies. But we made it, and it was a fun day.

Camera:

I got a new camera finally. It was a significant upgrade. I went from a little point-and-shoot camera to a nice Nikon D40. I don't know how to use it yet, but I picked up a great book (Photographing Your Family) that gives me tons of tips and instructions for taking pictures of your family--which is the main reason I take pictures to begin with.

Puerto Vallarta, here we come!

We finally booked our trip to Puerto Vallarta in January. We picked up a book on the area and not only am I getting ready for my swimming suit with the help of my personal trainer, but I've been brushing up on my spanish. I can hardly wait!

Getting Ready:

We leave Dallas on Saturday. It's sad to see it all end. We've made good friends and have bonded considerably with Brent and Cheryl and their family. We love them so much. I'm a little nervous about the drive from here to Rexburg (where we will see Dave's family and our friends) and then back to Missouri (where we will hang out with my family for a few days and get our pictures taken) and then on to Ithaca (where we will get back to life as usual and see all of our great friends there). Lots to do in the next few days.

Well, that's about all for now. I'm sure I'm missing lots of things. But I'll be able to post more soon I hope. :)

July 4th

The girls in their sweet new ride.

This was probably unnecessary, but oh well.  We were pretty close after all.

Jane loved to watch the fireworks the whooooooole time!

So did Audrey . . . she kept yelling out "coo daaars!!"  Which means "cool stars!"

Dave and I . . . still in love.

There was a picnic at some of Brent and Cheryl's friends' house.  We swam and hand watermelon lemonade and hot dogs.  So fun and soooo delicious.

Pictures!

The girls watching morning cartoons

"I seeeeee you!"

Holding the Colton's pet bird

Jane getting so strong during tummy time