Claire's Latest

The other day Claire said something we've never heard her say before. It made us both laugh. I asked Bryan where she learned it...He then reminded me I say it often. I had her tell my brother it and he laughed too. So here it is for all you to enjoy...hope you can understand her the best video of her saying it was with her chewing on a toy.

Porcupine Bay

As many of you know we go to Porcupine Bay each year with Bryan's family and friends. This past week was that week. We had a great time. Here are but a few of the pictures that were taken. I say a few pictures because after we compiled everyone's pictures there were over 600 taken.
Claire loved being in the water. She knows her life jacket will keep her safe. One of her favorite things to do was to sit on the back of the boat and kick.
We went to a waterfall one day. We've gone to see it before, but this year we hiked (walked) to it and the girls all got in and swam by the waterfall. It was so cold it took your breath away as you tried to swim. It felt like you were swimming in ice...
There was one day we docked at a beach and played. Claire loved building sand castles with Bryan. The girls had fun with the clay found at the beach. We decided to make that beach our own personal spa...Don't we look beautiful?
Of course we spent a lot of time this week on the boat having a good time. We did some wake boarding, but mostly we spent time on the tubes. Bryan of course was amazing on the wake board...jumping wake to wake. I however couldn't even get up this year. I'm going to blame it on tubing so much that my arms were to sore to grip onto the rope...
I am however quite proud of myself for being so brave while tubing. I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to tubing and other water activities. I'm not sure why...I'm not afraid of water. Here is my bravery caught in action.
Even Claire was brave when it came to the tubes. She rode on them a couple of times. She isn't quite sure she wants to ride, but she seems to like them once she is on them. I'm proud of her. I think she is braver than her mommy.

Bribery

We are all about using toys as motivation for Claire to want to go potty on the toilet. (Yes bribery works). She is doing well for the most part. We have more days that are accident free than we do days with accidents in a month. We are so proud of her. She truly is doing so well. This last prize she earned was a barbie kite. Look how happy she is.

Here is a little video of her with her kite. We are trying to teach her how to run with it to get the kite to fly.

Claire's Version

As we've posted before, we have a game called cornhole. We were playing it the other night and Claire wanted to have a turn. We let her. She was so fun to watch...we had to video tape her. She is a natural!!!

Finished Trip

We had a great time in Utah with all of my family. Claire absolutely loves being with her cousins. I seriously need to get her around more kids when we get back to Washington. So if you and or your kids want to hang out with Claire and I...call us. We'd love it.
On the Fourth of July we got to hang out with a lot of my family. My sister got out their slip n slide. Claire loved it. She doesn't understand the slide part, but she loved running through it...her cousins were all so good to help her and very patient with her when she'd run in front of them before they got to slide. She loved it so much we bought her one. (another reason to come to hang out with us).

Also on the Fourth, I was crazy. I randomly decided to run a 10K. I've never done one before...I hadn't been training; in fact I didn't have any of my workout clothes (no shoes, no clothes no nothing) so thanks to my sisters I had stuff to run in. The only problem was since I wasn't use to the shoes I wore my feet got blisters and I was really stiff for a couple of days. I know I'm crazy to do it...but you see my siblings all run and I wanted to do something to help me feel closer to them. I'm not sure it worked! Oh well I did it and I'm proud of myself. Thanks Peggy for being crazy with me.

After we ran the race, as we were walking back to the truck. We saw some ponies and a baby camel to pet. Claire had no fear...she walked right up to it and stuck her hand in and petted it.

We got to see the Riverton Fireworks and also was able to do some of our own. Thanks Cort for helping Claire do them. You're a great cousin to Claire.

We got to go to the Zoo while we were down there. Once again Claire cousins were so helpful in watching her and going around with her. We checked to see if the kids measured up to a gorilla.

We were able to see the bird show. I can't believe how close the birds fly over your heads. The Golden Eagle flew down close enough that one of the wings hit my sister in the head. We did get to get our picture with a Bald Eagle I loved that.

Last but not least. Claire loves to go bowling. We got to take her with my brother and his little girl. We had so much fun. Claire did really well and it was a blast.

I need to brag...

My family loves playing this game called cornhole. I have wanted the game for a few years. For Christmas my Brother gave me cornhole...the only thing is it wasn't painted yet. Brent (my brother) wanted to let Bryan paint it since he is a bit of an artist. I am just floored at what he did. (No these aren't decals put on the wood...Bryan painted these). Bryan you are so talented and I am lucky to have married such a dedicated and talented man. Thanks for finishing our cornhole game. LET'S PLAY!!!

Utah

After the family reunion, Claire and I drove down to Utah to spend time with my family. We wish Bryan could've come with us for the first week and a half, but we are happy he'll be down here for a bit of the trip. We have already done so many fun things. Thought I'd update what we've done so far this trip.

First off we went to the children's museum. It was Bode's (Claire cousin) birthday. He wanted to go to the museum. Here is Claire pretending to be a blacksmith.

This one is of Claire following in Grandpa Don's and Daddy's footsteps!! She said she is building a tower.

The next thing we did was to go to a petting zoo. Claire had so much fun. She loved seeing all of the animals. She got to pet sheep, goats, horses and a cow. She saw pigs, chickens, llamas, geese, ducks and rabbits. Here she is petting the baby cow.

There was also pony rides at the petting zoo. Claire absolutely loved riding the pony. Her pony was named Sparky. She loved it so much I allowed her to ride it twice. It was just too cute.

Claire, Cortney (my niece) and I went to The Living Planet aquarium. She loved to see all of the fish, but her favorite was seeing the turtles. It was a great time.
Yesterday we were able to attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open house. Claire loved it. She said the chandelier was "Jesus' Diamonds." It was so cute.
Then last night we went to a carnival. It was family night so all of the rides were only one ticket which was 50 cents. Claire loved all of the rides. She went on the Ferris Wheel, Giant Slide, Roller Coasters, and some of the fun simple little kiddie rides. Here she is in her little dragon.

Claire is enjoying riding in her little duck boat. She had a lot of fun with this ride.

Here we are at the bottom of the giant slide. Claire giggled the entire way down. It was fun. We loved the carnival and also spending time with the cousins.