Twinners

One of these pictures is blurry, but I thought you might enjoy a recent bath picture of Gunner and an older bath picture of Gracie. Maybe it isn't too hard to tell who is who, but they sure remind me of each other.

Wedding Bells

All week long I've been daydreaming about this cute couple's engagement. Justin's brother, Jeff, proposed last Thursday to Sara Holt (we get to meet her this weekend!). Jeff is becoming quite famous for his proposal ,which he mowed into a field (P.S. I heart Gardner lawn mowing). The story was on KSL news this last weekend and on the front page of the Spectrum (st. George newspaper) yesterday. Click HERE to read more about it.

I seriously love weddings, love, and romance in general. I am so giddy and so happy for them. Congrats to Jeff and Sara!

Food glorious food!

On Tuesday, we went to a pick your own farm that was somewhat nearby. The deal was that you could pick 10, 6lb bags of produce for $10. We had a great time. It originally started out as a field trip for Gracie's pre-school and then suddenly there were 12 women (most of them moms with kids in tow). Anyway, we are loving all of these fresh farm goodies.
Pumpkins, corn, eggplant, zucchini, green peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers, celery and green beans

Carrots, potatoes, and beets

They had these cars painted like the cars from the movie, "Cars". It was awesome. Too bad I didn't get a picture of mater.

Gracie with our food and our Gunner.

Gracie and Me with our friend, Jaylene

My friends Ashley, Amy, ME, and Jaylene. (I had more friends there and more pictures, but thought I was already on picture overload for this post).

Gracie and me on the "think pink" tractor. The sun was a little bright, can you tell?

Cruising

Gunner is getting crazy fast at crawling and is now proficient (and fast) at climbing stairs (although, he needs to work on coming down the stairs). The last few weeks, he has been pulling himself up to things- the bathtub, the couch, the bed, the toilet (yuck), the toy barn, the fireplace, doors, his highchair. It is so fun to watch him make progress and he is growing right up on us. He's still a subtle and slow cruiser, but he's pretty proud of himself for figuring it out and we are too.

This bottom picture is of Gracie pulling him by the foot of his jammies. Kind of hard to tell her not to do it when he laughs his head off. :)

My best helper

It has been a little while since I did an update on Gracie Maree. Like the title says, she really is my best helper. Gracie has been great help lately as she helps stop Gunner from going down the stairs head first and as she helps to coach Gunner. A few weeks ago I started hearing her say, "Sorry, babe, you can't play with that", "sorry, babe, you're too little" (which is funny because I don't say "sorry, babe" so I think she heard it from someone else and liked the sound of it). she also helps me clean the bathtub, mop the floor, and has been great at helping to clean her room with me.

Gracie is getting really good at praying because she won't let anyone else in the family take a turn (unless there is company, and then she is too shy). She loves learning about Jesus and the other day she chose the testaments to watch over any other movie and actually sat and watched it (she's so spiritual!:). We've talked about how Jesus loves her and how he is our friend. I love how little children take that to heart. Yesterday I heard her pretending to talk on the phone. She said, "Hi, Jesus? Yeah, I'm just playing", and continued on with the conversation. So sweet, and a good reminder for me that we should have our Savior in our thoughts more often.

Recently, I have loved to see Gracie pick up the books that we've been reading from the library and read them back to me or Gunner. She doesn't really read, but I'm surprised by how much she remembers of the story lines and sometimes the rhymes. She is also getting really good at singing along with primary songs. I love to hear her singing.

Miss Gracie is our bag lady and loves to find any kind of bags and use them to tote her stuff around the house. Usually, she finds a corner to start stacking bags (and bags, and bags) of stuff. She calls it her "car" (is she picking that up from me?). I should take a picture sometime because it really is pretty incredible how much stuff accumulates in these little areas. It usually happens while I'm fixing dinner or preoccupied with checking email or tending to Gunner's needs. At least we know she is a mover and a shaker and will find a way to haul every possession she owns out of her room.

We are loving pre-school this year and having a lot of fun. Gracie is also loving nursery and is getting excited to go into primary in January. On Sunday, our bishop held a fireside at his house for all the parents with children 8 and under. The parents met upstairs and the children met downstairs. Later, Gracie referred to something that happened there as "when I was playing with my NEW cousins". I love that every fun group of kids are cousins to her, because we sure miss our cousins.

We love you, Gracie.

Gardner Love

These are pictures we took this summer in Pine Valley before Justin's parents left (thanks Kim for letting me copy these from your blog). I should have posted them earlier, but life is crazy. :) We sure do miss our families.

I heart chocolate

For those who don't know, you can get free chocolate through the mars company each Friday. Just click here. happy chocolate eating. Oh, and if you don't get it on friday, they'll send you a reminder email. LOVE IT!

LeBaron Love

Back in July we had a super fun family reunion with all of my siblings and their families in Park City. Some of you have commented about the picture at the top of our blog (also taken on that retreat, thanks againto my brother, Tommy).We had some pictures taken by Busath Photography and these were the final pics. I love what a huge group we are becoming.

Me and the family of origin (sorry, I've just been dying to throw in that social work term somewhere:)

C'milk (smilk)

I heard a story once about somebody's roommate who kept an extra milk gallon around and poured the milk from his cereal back in the jug every day to reuse on his cereal. The guy called it c'milk (smilk). I laughed and thought it was a sick story, but didn't think much of it...until...
The last little while Gracie has been begging me every morning to drink the milk when I'm done with my cereal. I'm not sure if it was inspired by the cocoa pebbles and chocolaty milk at my mom's house or what. The entertaining thing to me is that it isn't just a casual request. We are talking a frantic, "WAIT, I want that and I'm going to be in tears if you drink that" kind of thing. She is a cutie. Now, be honest, how many of you drink the milk after you eat your cereal. I totally do (did, until now) and have ever since I was little. Do you make your kids drink it?

For the grandparents

All ready to go to the pool
Miss Gracie- the only minute she'd stand still long enough to get a picture Mischievous
I showed Justin this picture and commented about how skinny Gunner looks. He pointed out that Gunner still has baby bosoms but said "Now that you mention it, I do think I saw his neck this week":)
It begins again! Gunner got into the cupboard for the first time this week.
A big boy in his sister's seat

Little Gunner Baby

*The other day for pre-school we had a request for Gracie to bring a washable baby doll. This was the conversation that morning before we left.
Maggie: Gracie, we can't forget to take your baby doll with us to preschool
Gracie:What baby, Mommy? My little Gunner baby?
Maggie: (holds up the doll) Is that what you call this baby? Your little Gunner baby?
Gracie: Yeah

Gunner: Mom, stop taking embarrassing pictures of me holding dolls.