A few more photos from summer

Lars is getting so big. It's good to look back of these squishy baby photos of him! He's still plenty squishy, but just getting so much bigger.

 I took him swimming in the pool two or three times. He was just too young to have much tolerance for anything more than a few minutes, even if the water was quite warm. It was much funner just to leave him napping in his bed and to swim the girls alone. Perks of having our own pool; I love it so much!

 One day, we organized a hike up at Mt. Charleston and invited anyone in the ward who wanted to come. There was a really good turnout! Mt. Charleston is about a 30-40 minute drive from our house (depending on which part of the mountain you park). It's so refreshing up there. To give you an idea, when we pulled of the highway it was 105 degrees and when we parked it was 80ish. It was so invigorating to get out of the heat and do a nice outdoor activity with friends. We all promised that we would come back and do it again soon - but then everyone's schedules got busy and we never got around to another big group trip. This hike up to the waterfall was just right for kids. At one point we were surrounded by so many butterflies! They even landed on us! June had a ball trying to keep up with the bigger kids on the hike. Willa complained to me "What's that smell?!" It was the pine trees. Our poor city girl, ha ha!

 Lars was a trooper the whole time!

 I found this photo from our Utah trip. June is a huge Doc McStuffins fan. My mom got her this doc coat and medicine bag while we were there. She looked so adorable giving everyone check-ups and coming up with a diagnosis.

 I thought this photo was of the girls and their cute Red and Blue nail polish for the 4th, you can see the nails, but clearly this is a photo of them making rice krispie treats with my mom.

 We got haircuts in Utah. I'm fine with getting cuts in Vegas, but it's so much easier in Utah because I have my parents to help. Each girl got a trim and a blowout! They looked so pretty, I really wish I was better at doing their hair.

I came across these one year photos of June and Willa. Obviously, I'm just taking a photo of a photo or a screenshot, but I thought it was still fun to compare them with Lars. I can't tell who he looks like. Willa and June definitely looked different to me. Lars just looks like a mix, which makes them all look the same to me now.

June one year

Willa one year

Willa one year

Lars 4-5 months, looking adorable in Burberry

And who doesn't love a baby dressed up as a little man? This cute outfit came with a bow-tie, but I didn't have the heart to force it around his neck. The entire thing was a little tight.

 June loves experimenting with make-up. Her application skills are improving and she continues to push boundaries with her color choices! She's absolutely fabulous.

My Texas friend Maura came out to Vegas to see Britney Spears for her birthday! It was so great to see her and Robbie, her husband. They rented a cabana at The Wynn for the day and invited us. We left the kids with Ryan's parents and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was so beautiful inside there and peaceful and calm. It was like a time warp. We thought we'd been there about 45 minutes but two hours had passed by. I think the novel "Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann could have taken place here.

CABIN 2017

We had so much fun at the cabin this summer. My sister Carrie and her family were able to come up at the same time so there were more adults to do all the work and more kids to play with my kids. Win win win! There was something just so relaxing having Darcy there to just jump in the car and put the boat or the wave runners in the water. Plus, Carrie's kids are just a little bit older. They are really responsible and really fun and were so good to play with my kids. It was the most relaxing time I've had up there since I've been a mom.

Willa and Presley by the dock

My mom got stuff to tie-dye shirts. We wished we had done a onesie for Lars, but other than that the cousins looked great and had fun all deciding their special design. The one tragedy was that dye got on Carrie's 50th Anniversary Neil Diamond Tour hoodie, sniff RIP.

Marshmallows

The whole crew

This is a still photo of a video, but poor Lars in those baby life jackets. I hate those things! Luckily, there were enough adults that he hardly had to ride in the boat at all.

 June got to drive and she got to go for quite a while and even steer the boat. It was thrilling for her.

 

These little kid kayaks were perfect for Willa. She had a lot of fun hanging out around the dock learning to paddle. One day my dad and I took the big two person kayaks with Willa and June and floated down Big Springs. It's kind of a long trip, but it's super calm and easy. Perfect for kids. You could see fish in the clear water and we saw two different moose at different times standing in the water just 20 feet away from us! Poor Lars, the week earlier he had taken his first bottle of formula just fine. But when my mom stayed home with him and tried to give him a second bottle this time around he was not having it. Eeek. What a difference a week can make! Luckily, he didn't have to wait that long until we got back, but I felt bad for both of them. And for the record, can we agree that formula is disgusting and their spit-ups and everything else is just so much worse than with breast milk?

Willa swimming with Golden Retriever pup Maggie. The girls kept calling her "Raggie" and it cracked me up.

My uncle brought in some sand and dumped it near our dock one year. The HOA was pretty mad about it all, but it is a perfect place for kids to play as people go on and off the boat!

Swimming! Another great cabin adventure! We can't wait for next year and are hoping for an even longer visit.