Elephants on Parade

The circus came to town last week and they had an elephant parade right by Christian's work. We headed down there and met him on his lunch break. Jack thought the elephants were pretty cool until he smelled them and that is all he had to talk about the rest of the afternoon. He kept saying, "Elephants stinky!"

We headed over to the Gateway fountain after the parade since it only lasted about two minutes. Jack snuck out of the stroller and got a little wet. I should have have known that two year olds don't understand the concept of look but don't touch.

These Crazy Kids!

Seems like Jack and Anna are growing like crazy these days and so here are some updates on their new tricks and habits....

Jack's really started talking these last few months which has been both helpful and entertaining. Here are some words which he gets wrong every time, even with a little pronunciation coaching:

cheese: keen
motorcycle: mogercycle
helicopter: helcopit
soda: fabuoy (not sure where that came from but that is how he says it!)



He loves helping Christian out in the garage. He picks up tools and pretends to fix the bikes. If only he would put those tools back! We're missing a few...

He also loves to wear Christian's ties. He steals them out of the closet all the time and puts together some rather strange outfits. The one with the hard hat Carly caught while she was out visiting.

Here is Anna standing which is one of her new tricks. She also loves to clap, wave, and show everyone how big she is.

Ever since she has been able to crawl she has been so much happier. Jack doesn't love it so much because Anna sneaks over and tries to steal his snacks and toys. It has been a real adjustment for him, but we're working on it. He looks so big standing next to Anna, I have to remind myself he's still two and that she is old enough to be walking. They get big so fast!

While We've Been Away...

We've had a pretty busy month. Not that that is an excuse for not posting for so long, but it has been busy. First, we had a visit from Carly at the end of August. She came out for a week and we had a lot of fun just relaxing and enjoying the nice weather. We can't wait till she comes hopefully comes back for Christmas. Here is a couple of pictures we took while visiting Grandma Hancock.

Right after Carly left, Lisa came down for a couple of weeks. Jack loved having Grandma around and has been asking for her since she left. We went up to Swiss Days in Midway while she was here and had a really wonderful time. It is probably the best festival/fair that I have been to in Utah. Can't wait to go next year.

This was a cool looking old gas station up in Midway that someone turned into a preschool!

Here is Jack testing his strength at the park! Don't worry, Grandma Lisa was standing right off camera.

Finally, we also hit the Utah State Fair last weekend. It was around 90 degrees that day and so we spent a lot of time indoors looking at the animals. Here is my favorite- the baby pigs!

One of the shows at the fair was this guy wrangling a crocodile. He is holding the croc's mouth shut with his chin. Nuts huh!

Watch Out World...Anna is on the Move!

Today was a big day for Anna. She started crawling this morning and has been getting faster and more daring as the day has gone on. Here is a little video that I got pretty soon after she started. I used my Fruit by the Foot wrapper as bait and she went for it. That is Jack banging on the table in the background.

Jack was very sweet and encouraging



Not too long after she started crawling, Anna pulled herself up on the couch for the first time as well. She then proceeded to side step down the couch which is a little scary. Crawling is one thing, but I am not ready for this baby to be walking! Hopefully crawling will satisfy her for a few more months.




It is crazy, but now that Anna is moving about, Jack looks so much bigger to me now. Man they grow fast!

Helpful Big Brother

I was feeding Anna dinner last night and I got up to get a paper towel. I turned around and found this:

Here is the action caught on video. Sorry it is a little back-lit and Jack is under dressed. I didn't want to miss the action by leaving to close the window or getting him a shirt!

This is how Anna looked afterwards...

These Bouncy Kids

Fun Pictures of Anna

We had a little photo shoot for Anna over at our friend Kattrina's this morning. I made Anna a tulle skirt and she got to wear her baby high heals from Grandma. If only she had enjoyed it as much as we did. She only lasted a few minutes but we got a couple of smiles and some good pouty model faces! Click here to see more cute shots over at Sassafrass Photography! Thanks so much Kattrina!

Nice Shades

Jack and Uncle Dave in some sweet aviators

(Good thing we got a picture...Jack already broke his!)

Oregon Coast Vacation!

We had an awesome time with everyone! This is the first in what will be a few more posts of the trip, once we get more pictures from everyone else's cameras. Enjoy!

Dave made a cool water bottle rocket. This is the first attempt to launch it.

The tide pools!

It was a windy day. I don't normally have hair that bad!!

Playing at the house

This crazy raccoon kept trying to come in and join the party. Jack thought he was pretty cool.

Two of Jack's favorite things: cake and candles!

Hanging out with the twins

Playing at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry

The torpedo room of the sub


Christian, John, and Dave got to go to a Portland Timbers soccer game. The fans got pretty crazy.


This kids loves pianos. He set these books up by himself and pretended to play.