Summer is fun...especially at Grandma's house!

Here are some odd's and end's pictures of the fun things we did while at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Gracie is such a lucky girl to have so many people who love her! Thanks to my mom and dad for being such great grandparents to my baby and for such a great summer!

Gracie with her dog (which is also a leash and one of the BEST purchases we have ever made!)

This is a bit blurry, but a fun picture of the three of us girls. Notice Gracie's crazy hair!

Gracie giving us her new "stinky face." If you tell her something stinks she wrinkles her nose and sniffs!

We took a few hours out of our time in San Diego and went bowling! Gracie with Grandpa and Bubby.

Sitting in the toy basket.

Swimming

While we were in California, we took lots of opportunities to go swimming! Gracie became quite a little fish! The Relief Society President in my parents ward had a really nice swimming pool that my mom and I took Gracie to several times. These are all pictures in San Diego taking advantage of the hotel swimming pool.

Grandpa, Gracie and Daddy

Gracie and her Bubby

Gracie and Daddy. She was so glad to be with him again. Being apart from her Daddy for a month was really hard for her (and for me too!)

Getting ready to hit the pool!

Grace Howard come on down....

I hope some of you don't think I'm a horrible mom when I tell you this, but Gracie LOVES watching The Price is Right. It's kind of a tradition for the two of us to watch it together every morning. It's so funny to see how excited she gets when she hears the music come on. She claps for the contestants...win or loose! She also fell in LOVE with her Bubby (that's Grandma Carter). She loved sitting my Bubby and watching the Price is Right with her while we were in California. Here's a few fun pictures.

Gracie also loved this little chair. She'd sit in it and read herself a book or to watch the Price is Right if her Bubby wasn't available to sit with her! She's actually multi-tasking in this picture and doing both!

Dancing Queen

Gracie has learned how to dance. I wish I had a better video to show you, but this will have to do for now! She does this cute shoulder roll move. She has since added some additional dance moves which I will try and capture and share in the near future. Until then, I hope you find this as darling as we do! She was really entertaining us this particular night!

Our 10 1/2 month old doll!

While we were in Kuna, we got some cute pictures of Gracie. She's 10 1/2 months in these pictures. I can't believe how fast my baby has grown up! You'll see from the pictures that she's walking! She started walking at about 9 1/2 months.

Sporting one of the new bows Aunt Julia made!

This is Gracie chowing down on some pasta. Grandma Howard got a big kick out of it and had to snap a few pictures!

Chewing on a celery stick and playing with a shoe. Life doesn't get any better than this!

I thought this was such a cute picture of my two favorite people! This was Bryant's first day at his internship.

Gracie and Hinckley

Before Gracie and I headed down to California for most of the summer, the two of us took a quick trip to Rexburg to see Kristin, Troy, Bethany, Hinckley, Julia, Randy and Parker. It was a really quick trip so we missed seeing everyone else. We got a couple really cute pictures of Gracie and Hinckley, the only 2 grandkids so far for my mom and dad. They are so cute I just can't resist sharing them!

Gracie 10 months, Hinckley 3 years

Our 5K summer

Okay, I have put off telling about this because I have been so embarrassed about how slow I am...but for me it is an accomplishment! Back in May I decided I needed to finish nursing Gracie so I could try and loose all the baby weight that never came off. I know most people think nursing is supposed to help you loose weight, but not in my case! I also decided to start training for a 5K. I know, sad that I have to TRAIN for a measly 3.2 mile race, but it might as well have been a marathon for me! Bryant has been very dedicated to working out and being healthy since the beginning of the year (and has lost a good 35 pounds, not that he was ever really overweight) and was excited to do a 5K as well. I decided for me to stay "motivated" in my exercise endeavors I need a goal to work towards. So we found a 5K that was going on in Boise on July 11. So, we registered and continued our training program. I found this "couch to 5K in 8 weeks" program online I stuck to, and it was very helpful. I was nervous, but July 11 rolled around and Bryant and I completed our first 5K. He did it MUCH MUCH faster than I did of course, but I didn't do it to win, I did it for me!

Finishing this first 5K inspired us to continue on. Bryant decided he would do the Kuna Days 5K on August 8. I was in California with my family but found that the town my parents live in was doing a "moonlight 5K" on August 7! So, I registered for that as well. The best part was I talked both my Mom and my Dad into doing that one with me. It was great. I am so proud of them for doing this! In fact, my mom got 2nd place in her age category and my dad got 4th place in his age category! This 5K actually had a very hard course. A lot of it was up hill or on an incline, but we all finished it!

Finally, Bryant and I found a 5K in San Diego for August 16 that we registered for as well. My dad actually had meetings in San Diego so it worked out for us to do it. My dad was very helpful at keeping me on a good pace during the other 5K so I begged him to do it with me. Unfortunately it was sold out, so they wouldn't let him register. He found a way around that of course. We got to the start of the race and there was a table for people who registered but hadn't picked up their race number yet to get it at the last minute. He waited until a few minutes before it started and basically STOLE a race number off the table! It was so funny really. So my dad ran the race with me and I was able to knock about 90 seconds off my time. Bryant did his 5K in under 25 minutes! Again, he waited quite a while for me! But we did it, and I'm proud of myself. I hope to continue working on it so next time a 5K comes around I will be ready!

I didn't get pictures of all the races, but here is a picture of Bryant, my dad and I after the San Diego race.