cookie monster

lyla is done with her cookie...now she is begging from eli. she does the sign for "please," and he gives her a bite of his. i love that he shares his food (even the good stuff) with her.

cool lyla

my mom got lyla these sunglasses, which she loves to play with but usually does not keep on for more than one second. however the sun must have gotten the best of her because she wore them this day for a whole 2-3 minutes...progress!

thanks for the pics melinda!

fishing (again)

a few weeks ago jason and luke joined adam and eli for a fishing trip to lucky peek. they didn't catch anything, but still had fun. we have no real good shots of the boys, but they play so well together. eli is lucky to have such fun friends to play with (as are we!). here is jason an luke fishing...

and this is what lyla and i did all day...

the down side...

...of babies walking: you ask, "are ready to go to sleep?" they turn and hightail it away from you. but lyla didn't do that...she would never even think about it:)

yeah!

in the last few days lyla has decided that walking is more fun than crawling. she walks everywhere. it's strange to hear footsteps coming my way and see lyla, arms up in the balancing position, walking to me.

i also discovered two bottom teeth today:)

cooling off

there is a little spot on the river that is only about five minutes from our house. it's not deep, but it's enough to cool off in. here are some pictures from this afternoon...



i know i've said this before, but lyla LOVES water. every time i turn on the water while holding her (brushing my teeth, washing my hands, ect.) she leans and tries to hop in and take a soak. so going to the river is quite her thing.

eli and i catching little fish

on the right - eli is standing on his "royal rock" and flexing his muscles. on the left, he is making tea. i asked what kind and he said, "sand and rock with cherry and other flavors."

and last but not least, a little friend that went swimming with us...

needin' some weedin'

as we were driving past our neighbors ten foot tall sunflowers yesterday, our back seat commentator said, "look at those HUGE dandelions!"

hike

we have had such beautiful weather lately for august. taking advantage of that, we took a hike at camels back park. here's eli on a hill, wind in his hair, sand in his hand...a good moment for him. and lyla's feet. rather than relaxing them, she held them out in the wind the whole time.

today

this was beautiful. i was cleaning in the kitchen and hearing nothing from the living room where the kids were playing. i looked out and there they were entertaining themselves with eli's (extensive) animal collection. kids playing by themselves in the jennings house? what? yes, it happened, and i have proof...

lyla's favorite pose

she was walking SO GOOD this evening. she added turning and pivoting to her repertoire.

camping

we joined my parents for a camping trip to grand jean last weekend. it was a really beautiful area. the campground we stayed at was just a short walk to a beautiful river (too cold to swim in though) and had a hot spring pool. since we went up on Sunday, we were the only people in our area, which was really nice and peaceful. the bummer was that i was sick with the stomach flu for the first day and lyla was cranky from teething. so here's a rundown of our trip...

eli LOVES camping. he especially loves the campfire and marshmallows. in fact, he's a pusher. a marshmallow pusher. this is the problem: he loves to roast them, but likes to eat them uncooked. so what's a boy to do? push them on everyone else, that's what:)

our campsite. notice the beautiful mountain behind us. the picture does not come close to doing it justice. the rocks and trees were just amazing.

eli in a h2o fight with daddy. i love his crazy little face lit up with excitement over the 2oz of water he is about to unleash on his dad.

i don't remember what happened here...but thought the picture was funny. i think it was still part of the h2o fight.

my mom and dad. camping with my parents is really great. not only are they good company, but they take good care of us:) my mom brought most of our food and did all of the cooking. they both helped adam entertain the kids while i was not feeling well, which was really nice. thanks again mom and dad!

lyla did not like the tent or the motor home very much. she did enjoy (somewhat) crawling around in the dirt picking up and fake eating rocks. poor girl, she was really having a hard time.

she like the hot spring pool...but has no healthy fear of water. she went all the way under many times, often on purpose, and came up coughing and choking. then she would go right back to doing it again.

on the right, the crystal clear river...soooo pretty. on the left is a waterfall that adam, my dad and eli hiked to.

lyla with papa's hat lookin' cute. and on the left at some hot springs along the river.

the fam at the hot springs...

eli peeking in the tent...

me and lyla at the campfire

this was really cool. there was a dear right near our campsite. we saw him a few different times.
the other is eli enjoying a mini log chair

when we got home yesterday we could tell eli was sad. adam and i were remembering coming home from church retreats in high school and college and having a hard time coming down from the mountaintop experience. i imagine that is a bit of how he felt, poor guy. but at least he has the memories:)

we have a breakthrough!

well, two actually. lyla finally has her first two front teeth coming in! 1 year and 8 days old.

Where's your belly button?

lyla update: we had her one year appointment the other day. she is 30" long (75%) and 19lbs 8oz (24%). still long, lean and toothless. she is doing great, is a fabulous eater and is about as spunky as i originally expected:)

the mighty boise river

my parents found this great spot on the boise river where there are great shallows for lyla to play in, fish for eil to catch, a current that is great for adam to paddle his surfboard and lots of shade. it was beautiful.

it is rear to get a picture of eli smiling for real. he fakes it for photo opts, but it's very obvious. i love his little smirk in this picture, not a true smile, but still cute.

grandma and lyla

lyla feeding grandma watermelon. she loves to feed people:) she loves to feed herself...and feed herself...and feed herself....

lyla and me on the surfboard

adam has been going to the pond with a longboard to build surfing muscles. eli comes along and hitches a ride. the first time they were driving there eli was a little fearful, and so came questions...
eli - are there waves?
adam - no.
eli - thank you (with a sigh of relief).
eli - are there waterfalls?
adam - no.
eli - thank you.

papa and lyla enjoying the view

snuggin' on the couch

eli had just woken up from his nap (hence the missing pants...he does have underwear on though!) and was watching a cartoon. lyla does not usually watch tv, but the backyardigans must have been particularly interesting because she watched it for a whole minute. it was just enough time for me to get the camera and catch the "sunggin" on the couch.

8 years

we celebrated our 8 year anniversary yesterday. instead of going out to dinner or doing something anniversaryish, we decided to have some real fun instead:) a few months ago we went to roaring springs with the fam...i said to adam, "we have to come back without the kids!" so we did. it was a beautiful day. warm, sunny, perfect. we had a great time and enjoyed our 2920th day together.

to rewind, here are some pictures from our wedding. looking at them makes me happy:) my parents blessed us with a beautiful wedding...

on the left, my brother, jesse, walking my mom down the aisle. side note: i wish i inherited my mom's legs. on the right, my dad walking me down the aisle.

the lighting of the unity candle...

all the cousins...

me and my baby

so, take a look at my face here. we're walking the gauntlet, ready to ride off into the sunset in a ford bronco, when we see a limo. um, we didn't order a limo...but my very thoughtful brother and sister-in-law did.

so there you have it...our wedding in a (really small) nut shell.