The Lewis Family

Since we were out of town on Grace's birthday last week, we had her party last night. Our little girl is three!

She helped with much of the planning, baking, and decorating...and thoroughly enjoyed herself! Her Grandma and Grandpa Lewis were there along with several of her aunts and uncles that live in the area. We also let her invite her friends Morgan and Sydney (they're sisters) and their mommy and daddy. Grace had so much fun with her little friends that she could hardly stay focused on eating her pizza (which she normally gobbles up.)

Besides the general fun of running around and being silly, we also took turns whacking a pinata, played "Pin the Bee on the Flower," watched Grace open presents, sang Happy Birthday, and ate pink cake (the actual cake was pink...a request from our little girly girl.) It was great because most of the adults participated in the games as well.


Grace had just about as much fun a little kid can have in a day. She was bouncing around like a little happy ball...and of course she loved the fact that everyone was at the party for her.

Three of my brothers and I with our babies. Shawn (Cameron), Jeremy (Ty), Me (Eve), Jonathan (Chloee):

Ty:

The babies playing:

I just love being near the ocean! We just spent the past five days there and it was great. A couple of weeks ago Aaron's parents asked us if we would be interested in using their time-share in Newport Beach because they would only be able to use it for part of the week. It was great timing because Aaron has been working so much lately, was very stressed-out, and in need of a break. So we of course said yes! We left last Friday and returned last night. Our time there overlapped a few days with his family so we also had fun hanging out with them. We even got to see Aaron's sister and her kids from San Diego.


When we arrived Friday (around 9 p.m.) Grace saw the pool and got so excited. She started declaring "I want to swim just like that" as she pointed out of the big window in the check-in area. Even though it was already past the girl's bedtime, we immediately changed into our suits and all four of us took a little swim (after all, we were on a vacation!) The next day was Grace's birthday. We swam some more, spent a little time at the beach, and brought Grace to The rainforest Cafe to celebrate. She loved the fun atmosphere of moving rainforest animals, fish tanks, simulated rain, a huge water fountain, and even a talking tree! She also loved that they brought her her own bowl of ice cream with a candle in it and sang "Happy Birthday." How important she must have felt!


The rest of the time we spent in Newport included much relaxing and tons of fun at the beach(including splashing in the waves, playing in the sand, exploring tidepools, and making smores in a fire pit.) It was wonderful to be able to spend so much time together as a family. These kinds of things are always over too fast!

On our way home we stopped to see a good friend of ours that we hadn't seen since I was pregnant with Grace. We knew Lisa from when we were first married and lived in Southern California for a summer. It was nice to have a visit with her.


Overall we had a great time and the girls really traveled well. Although they had fun, they are happy to be home and to be sleeping in their own beds (as are their parents.) Good-night!

Wow, have things been busy. First, Eve and I were in Utah for a quick visit. I made the trip so I could be there for my brother Jeremy and sister-in-law Miriam's sealing in the Temple to their sweet baby Ty. It was so special to be there with them to witness it. I also got to see a lot of family (including my parents and several siblings) during the visit. It was nice. I had a lot of fun staying with my sister Tausha at her house in Layton. I didn't bring my camera on this trip because it broke right before I left, but I will post some pictures later (after I receive copies from family members.)

I was home for less than a week before Aaron, the girls, and I left for Newport Beach. We were there about five days and just returned last night. I'll tell more about that trip in my next post...

Last week the girls and I were in the newspaper! We had attended an "art class" called Baby Gets Messy. Basically the babies used colored yogurt, frosting, and other fun foods to make a picture. Needless to say the girls got very messy!

Anyway, a photographer from the paper was there to do a feature on the fun little class, and what do you know...we were in one of the photos! It was fun for Grace to see herself in the newspaper. I was able to copy these pictures from the newspaper's website, but not as a very big images. If you want to see them bigger, click here:
http://modbee.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?userphoto=&image=12712225

and here:

http://modbee.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?userphoto=&image=12744341

Today the girls and I drove down to visit my brother Jason, his wife Becky, and their three kids (Olivia, Chandler and Davis.) They only live about an hour and half away from us, so it was not a bad drive at all. We spent the afternoon swimming and visiting together. When Jason got home from work we BBQed and had dinner. We stayed until bedtime and then I drove home while the girls slept. It was a fun day. I love to see Grace interact with her cousins, and I love that they get to grow up living so close to each other.

Last night we went to the county fair. The girls really enjoyed looking at the rows and rows of different farm animals. We saw blue ribbon pigs and that sort of thing. We also caught a little part of some kind of cow competition and another one with goats. Our favorite attraction was the petting zoo, where the girls actually got to pet baby goats, cows, ducks and sheep.

Another highlight was the fun music. There was a dance floor and Grace wanted to have her daddy get up and dance with her. So the two of them danced for a while. Eve and I joined them for part of it as well.


It was the perfect night to be outdoors. The temperature was so mild and there was even a cool breeze! What a nice break from the awful heat we've been experiencing lately.