Super Century

Brock has been training all summer to do the Lotoja (A 200 mile bike ride from Logan to Jackson) but unfortunately, didn't get in to the race.  So he and his riding buddies did the Tour de Park City last Saturday instead.  It was only a mere 170 miles.  It took him 12 hours to finish.  We are so proud of him!!!  Good work Brock, Kyler  and Norm!

My Days of Summer are Numbered

As August approaches and the start of school (or the start of me getting ready for school), I start to get that sick feeling in my stomach.  So we headed to St. George for a few days.  It was great to relax and just spend some quality time together.  Greta loved the pool, here she is ready to go!

Swimming in the new floatie

And a lucky shot of the new tooth.

Cousins

Kayce was kind enough to come out from Los Angeles and help watch Greta while we were on our trip. The cousins had a ball together.  Here are the two girls, Greta and Louisa, about 3 months apart, in their matching dresses - by accident- Kayce and I actually bought the same dress unknowingly. Louisa looks just like Kayce as a baby.

Greta is getting so big, she continues to be such a sweet, fun baby.  She laughs all the time and thinks the funniest thing in the world is me.  Here she is waking up with the craziest post nap hair ever.

Her latest tricks include:  Waving bye-bye, clapping, playing peek-a-boo, saying da-da (her favorite) and nnnnnnn and sometimes mmmmm, which I assume means me. 

These are waving bye-bye.

And the old man face.

Here just pa-rousing the Tiffany's catalog.

June

We were so fortunate to take a trip with Brock's parents to China this June.  We had such an amazing experience.  We visited Beijing, Xian and Shanghai.  We saw so many incredible sights and learned so much.  We missed our little one like crazy but she was having a great time with her aunts and cousins.  Here we are, when we first arrived, at Tiananmen Square.

All of us standing on the Emporer's Bridge inside the Forbidden City.  Only 24 emperors ever passed over it. 

The Temple of Heaven, where the emperor prayed for crops.

The Great Wall, which extends the distance from LA to NYC.  The section we were at went straight up!  It was quite a climb and so hot, but we made it to the top.

This is the Summer Palace (Somer's favorite place). The emperors would spend the warm seasons here. We rented a little boat and drove it around the lake, it was so beautiful.

The Olympic Stadium (or Bird's Nest) in Beijing.

In Xian, we visited the Terra Cotta Warriors. The statues were buried to protect the First Emperor as he passed into the afterlife. It blew us both away. This is only one of 60 known tombs.

We also visited China's biggest and most industrialized city, Shanghai. Here is the Shanghai skyline at night. The world's tallest building is in the back, shrouded by the clouds.

We took a side trip to the beautiful water-town of Suzhou. Marco Polo called it the "Venice of the East". Here is a picture from our tour boat on the canal.

And our happy baby at home, well cared for by all our loved ones,  Thank you so much!! 

May

May was lots of fun, but busy, as Brock and I were trying to get finished with school. It started with Brock's birthday.  We celebrated by going to dinner and a movie, something we haven't done in a very long time, 7 months to be exact.  Here he is celebrating with nieces Chloe and Isabelle.

We love having our aunts close.  Here is Lauren who helped out with some babysitting while I was trying to get Kindergarten wrapped up.

 It was finally warm for a little bit.  Here we are at cousin Claire's birthday.  Our little Gigi is getting so big.  She is doing the army man crawl and is really starting to move.  It is so fun to see her do new things. 

I love this expression.

And here she is in the "flower as big as my face" picture. So  sweet.

New house

We have been in our new house about 3 months now.  It has been great.  We love having more room and its nice to be somewhere we will stay for awhile.  We still have the yard to do and many other projects.  But we're happy to be here.

Some views from inside.

Baby Gigi loves the new house.

Sunday Pictures

As I was looking for a picture of all of us together, I realized we don't have any recent ones.  So after church I decided we needed to take some.  Brock loves taking pictures, especially when I tell him closer, more to the right, no down more.  But I think the hard work paid off.

Our little Gigi is getting so big!  Six months old here -  she has changed so much.  She is sitting up, babbles like crazy and is so happy. 

Here is another one in the cute new flower from good friend Lynette.