W E L S C H

Pictures are all at the bottom...

LAKE POWELL:

This weekend we returned from Lake Powell. We went with my parents, my siblings, and 7 of the grandkids. We only missed Steve, Wendy and Naomi, and believe me, they were missed!

Some memories to remember this year: we didn't lose anyone on a waverunner, no one was seriously injured from the potato gun war, Jenesee didn't get attacked or eaten by any fish at all, no significant others were left behind on the drive down, Tom may or may not have stolen the heart of a cute girl out there in the rock wilderness, Jillian "survived" being babysat while Rachelle and Nate took jet ski rides (despite her objecting loudly) and Grandma managed a new love affair- a.k.a (Quincey). Did she even need her mother at all that week? I remember Grandma at one point saying, "Wow. If that was a kiss, Quincey, then we just went parking."

During the week, we stayed on a houseboat and also took the malibu out daily for wakeboarding, water skiing and tubing. Jace tried wakeboarding for the first time and got up for a moment several times! I was so impressed! Avery had a full-time shadow by the name of Ella. Ella didn't really care what she did at Lake Powell, as long as it was with Avery. Avery and Ella spent most of their time at Powell swimming in the lake. While Ella didn't quite get the courage to go down the slide this year, she wasn't scared to swim in the water all around the houseboat and she even did the kayak with Mom and the jet skis with Dad. One of our favorite things about Powell was sleeping on the deck under the stars. I was worried about how Quincey would do, but she was totally fine sleeping on the deck in her pack n play. All we needed was a little white noise in there with her. Those battery powered white noise makers are just genius! :)

This year the wind was lonely and decided to come hang out with us every day, but amidst the bumps and rocks, we had a great time. We also learned a thing or two about fixing small houseboat problems. We're excited to go again next year! Thank you Grandma Janna and Grandpa Dan for taking our family on such an awesome vacation!

STADIUM OF FIRE:

Stadium of Fire was by far the coolest fireworks show that Nick or I have ever seen. They did some stuff that I have never seen before. Some of the fireworks exploded in the air like sand. It's hard to describe. Everything went off to the beat and style of the music. It was so amazing. It was the kind of show that leaves you with chills.

They also had a moment at the beginning where there were dozens of HUGE beach balls bouncing amongst the crowd. Quincey about went crazy pointing to all of them and saying "Ba! Ba! Ba!"

It was great to hear Brad Paisley and David Archuleta sing also. I've always been a fan of both. But I think I like Brad Paisley even more now after the concert, than i did before the concert. He's a great entertainer.

There's a picture below of Quincey at the show...hmmm... breaking the honor code already. Oops. :) We all got dressed up for the show in our red, white and blue. But Quincey was the only one who didn't have anything in the color scheme. So on our way we stopped by Walmart to run in and grab something for her to wear. This was the ONLY shirt they had in her size. But, you have to admit she looks pretty cute in it. No Ella, I won't be buying you a halter top as well. LOL

Ella made me laugh last night on our way to the stadium. She was complaining about me not bringing more things for her to do while we waited for the show to start. She said she would be bored because "Jace is not going to be playing with me, Quincey is just going to be crawling around, and you and Dad are just going to sit there and talk about calories!" HA! Some day you'll do it too, Ella!

Thanks SO MUCH Nick, for taking us last night!

QUINCEY:

Gosh, it's about time that I write something about Quincey turning one. It's only been 7 weeks now since her birthday! Man, she's already just shy of 14 months now.

Quincey is our funny little girl. She first learned to roll over at barely 2 months old. By 4 months, she was a rolling pro and apparently decided that she had arrived in life. She clearly needed nothing more for mobility. Because at 12 months, she was still JUST rolling. No crawling, no walking. Well... she did start walking around the furniture and walls at about 12 months. But it wasn't until 12 1/2 months that she actually learned to crawl. So now we're wondering when she'll realize that walking is still another option.??? For now if you let go of her while she's standing she immediately sits down. And there's been no unassisted steps for her.

While her gross motor skills seem to NOT be her forte, she has other talents. She says "Mom, (as of last week finally!, and Da (dad). Jace sounds like Js. And sometimes she says E for Ella. She calls Grandma Mam mam. (Ummm, is there a problem here? ha ha). Her first word was Dah which means dog. She also sometimes says "go go go", cheese, shoes, ba (ball), this, that, and most recently, Jesus.

Quincey follows the growth pattern that Jace and Ella followed. At 12 months, she was 24 lbs. Goodness! My kids aren't the chubbiest ones around, but they are TALL! and so solid! I noticed the other day while dosing her for tylenol that she's grown out of the infant tylenol and actually needs the children's tylenol dose for a 2 year old! Sheesh! But all the more for me to kiss and love!!

One thing that is especially unique about Quincey is that she is sooooooooooooooooooo loving. Hence the love affair with Grandma. lol. She demands to give us loves and kisses all day long. She often will suddenly lie down on our shoulder, hide both her arms under her torso, and just stay there for a long time, totally still. Then of course she wants a kiss which she declares by simply opening her mouth wide and putting her face up to ours. We're going to have to work on this! ha! She also picks certain people outside of her immediate family to share her love with. Basically it's whoever takes a lot of interest in her. She demands attention from Sr Levi (Ella's dance teacher), Amanda (Jace's friends' mom), Heather Ellison (another one of Jace's friends' moms), and of course, Grandma. There are others as well.

One thing that's different with the 3rd child is that she doesn't look only to me for entertainment. It's so nice that she follows her older siblings around and plays with whatever they play with. Sometimes I can go a really long time without even saying a word to her because she's so engrossed in whatever is going on around her! I really don't take this for granted.

Well, there's lots more to say about Quincey, but for now that's it. She's our cute little girl!!!

Pictures of Lake Powell: