Aspen!

John, Julia and I just returned from a wonderful trip to Aspen! We went to my cousin Scottie's wedding and had such a great time. I was a little nervous about flying with Julia, renting a car and being gone for 6 days, but our baby girl is a real trooper and we were so proud of her willingness to just roll with it! We decided that she was 95% good on the flight there and about 99% good on the flight back. That gives her a good 97% average!

Julia and I heading to a brunch for all the girls given by my Aunt Jane and cousins Scottie and Robin. Julia sat at the end of the table in a high chair placed there just for her. She ate jellybeans and blew her nose loudly with the Kleenexes that were sitting next to her on the table. Fortunately, the conversations were so lively at the other end of the table, I was the only one who noticed the obnoxious blowing sounds she made with her mouth!

Hanging out with blankie in her pretty smocked dress.

My glamorous cousins, Robin, Scottie, and Leslie!

Julia meets her second cousin Elliot for the first time! He is a precious little sweetheart and I miss him already!

Our welcome to Aspen tote bag from Scottie and Jason that was delivered to us after we arrived at the condo! What a treat!

Julia decided that she would have more fun hanging out with her mom and dad at the condo while everyone else was enjoying a party after the rehearsal dinner. It was my first time to understand why people take teenagers with them on trips to help with the kids! I was sad to miss it, but got over it quickly after seeing this sweet, happy face once we left the party.

Julia and Elliot

Elliot's Mom and Dad, Anna and Brian who live in Portland getting ready to head out for the wedding. Oh, I so love my cousins!

The three of us going up the mountain for the wedding in the glass gondola. Julia loved the ride.

This is Caroleena, the babysitter we hired to watch Julia and Elliot while we were at the wedding. She came up the mountain with us and got to hang out with the kids in the bridal suite. Caroleena was a sweetheart and after agonizing over the decision of whether to hire a stranger to babysit or for one of us to miss the wedding and keep the kids for all these months, we loved her and wanted to bring her back to Arkansas with us!

A perfect and breath taking ceremony on top of Aspen Mountain!

Pretty Aunt Jane, so happy seeing Scottie!

The beautiful place setting that was just for me after the wedding and after an hour of wonderful champagne and hors d oeuvres!

John's dinner!

My dinner!

My Aunt Amy and Uncle Jim from California all dressed up!

Mom and Dad all dressed up!

The stunning bride!

Happy couple's first dance

Look at this sunset!

John and I at dinner

Got in some good family time Sunday!

Family dinner with all the Bonady brothers and sisters.

John, Julia and I left Aspen to drive back to Denver and spend one night there. We drove the scenic route and loved every minute of it. This picture was taken just a few minutes outside of Aspen in the mountains and looks like a postcard!

I love it that Julia literally stops to smell the roses!

The reason we stayed the extra night in Denver was so that we could enjoy lunch at my all time favorite restaurant, Sushi Den. Julia chowed down on the edamame.

John's the true sushi eater in our family....here is his sashimi lunch! He even ate octopus. Keep in mind though, he still won't admit that he likes sushi, but he is the one who says lets go eat some sushi regularly!

Julia has been to Sushi Den before! This was two summers ago when I was about 5 months pregnant with her!

And here we are now!

Thank you Scottie and Jason for a very memorable trip! I wish you both the best and many happy years together!!!

Now That's My Girl!

Julia is 19 and a half months old! She keeps us laughing and I could just sit and watch her all day. She still loves to "read" books. Her reading skills have improved lately and she will name one or two objects on each page that she is reading. These names are usually jumbled between 10 Chinese phrases. Her favorite toy is her Weebleville, these little rolly people who live in a plastic house with slides and elevators. She is a good and healthy eater and will try just about anything we put in front of her. She loves watermelon and most fresh fruit. Her bedtime is usually a little after 9 and she wakes up around 7:45. Great timing.....she wakes up just as I am leaving for work and who can resist saying good morning to their baby girl? I am late everyday! Julia is talking and has made some good sentences lately. "Mup (Come up on the bed), Elmo, TV" "Airplane in the sky gone bye bye" Her brilliance amazes me!

Shawnie brought us a pineapple from Hawaii. I didn't know what I was missing out on by buying canned pineapples.

Julia has a new obsession----"coco's (colors)" She loves these markers and hoards them. She spends as much time taking the lids off and on as she does coloring.

Julia likes to sit on the air conditioning vent in her room and read books or color.

Sol and Julia enjoying a delicious summer meal. I asked her if she wanted to go see Sol. She thought I said "see saw." So now, whenever I show her a picture of Sol and ask her who is that, her first answer is Emmy and her second is see saw!

I am one proud momma watching Julia help with the evening chores. She even swept UNDER the chair!

A Week Gone By....

Meet sweet Joan Terhune. She was christened last Sunday in Memphis at St. Luke's Episcopalian Church. Since I am honored to be her Godmother, we all got to spend a great day with some of my favorites! Tracy (her mom) and I have known each other since we were little and became good friends in high school. She and Brad are two of the coolest people that I know and I am so happy to play such an important role in the life of little Joanie!

Lunch at Tracy and Brad's

Our next adventure was to lay some Bermuda sod at our house. My parents helped while Sarah kept Julia occupied inside. We worked hard but it looks GREAT! I can actually see some light at the end of the this landscaping project tunnel. We still have a lot to do, but green grass makes a huge difference! It's taken my body almost a week to recover, but I'm almost there. Many thanks to the family for their help!

Julia likes to sit on the kitchen counters while I am cooking. She picked up a raw onion and decided to try it.

Here's what she thought about it!

4th of July, Julia and I drove to Rogers to spend some time with the Vandiver's. They live in a really nice neighborhood where we were able to pull chairs into the front yard and watch an amazing firework show. Julia got to enjoy the show in her pajamas. She loved the fireworks for about ten minutes and asked, "What is that?" at least 200 times! She called them "crackers."

We went to the Fayetteville Botanical garden too and had a great time. I have never been to a botanical garden because I always thought it was what old people did....LOL! Now that I have my own project going, I have become much more interested in plants. There was a section of the garden that was designed especially for children and Julia loved it. I think we could have stayed there all day....if there wasn't such good shopping in the area....

Mattie looking in after Julia and Daniel. Mattie (who is 6) was so sweet to Julia while we were there. I think she is Julia's new idol!

When we got back, I got to have a girl's night out to see Wicked at the Orpheum in Memphis. We had a blast and Wicked was pretty incredible. I could have watched it again the very next night!