Lexi

Last weekend Ally and I headed to Oroville to visit with Steve's family.  Unfortunately Steve couldn't come, he had to go back to work.   

Steve's Aunt Judy and her daughter Kim all came into town.  Judy and Lori drove up from San Diego and Kim and her family flew down from Seattle.  It was fun to see everyone again and it was fun to watch Allyson and Lexie meet each other. 

I know this picture isn't that great, but they look so cute.

I've always been confused about first cousins second cousins etc, especially since on my mom's side of the family my first cousins are my mom's age and their children are my age, I never knew exactly how we were related so I always just stuck with "we are cousins".

Thanks to The Pioneer Woman, who was as confused as I was, she explained it in a way I could understand!

Basically, it’s like this:

If you share a grandfather, you’re first cousins.
If you share a great-grandfather, you’re second cousins.
If you share a great-great grandfather, you’re third cousins.

Then there’s the whole once-removed thing.

If you share a grandfather, you’re first cousins. If your first cousin has a child, that child is your first cousin once-removed.
If you share a great-grandfather, you’re second cousins. If your second cousin has a child, that child is your second cousin once-removed.

All of this to figure out Lexie and Allyson are second cousins (they share the same great-grandparents).

These two girls had so much fun together.  From the minute they met Allyson took it upon herself to lead Lexie all around, this continued all weekend.  They were so cute together, and Lexie was a good a good sport to put up with it.

Cousin Bath Time

Ally woke up on Sunday and asked "Where's my cousin?" because she wasn't up yet.  She missed her. Then she couldn't remember Lexie's name, when I told her she said "oh yeah yeah Wexie".

All dressed up ready to go to Lexie's birthday party (she turned 2!).

The birthday party was at my favorite park, River Bend Park.  The girls were more than happy to run and play in the splash pad.  I didn't bring a swimsuit for Ally but we had extra clothes.

These two had so much fun running around like crazy until Ally slipped and skinned her knee.  There were some major tears and the water fun was over.

The three second cousins Lexi, Ally and Addison.  Don't you love the kid sized picnic table? 

Allyson even lead Addison around.  Addison was so sweet to go along with her, she is 4 and wasn't sure about it.

After a delicious BBQ lunch it was time for cake and presents.  

These girls partied hard and were worn out by the end of the party.  It was fun to visit and catch up with  family and watch the kids have fun together.  

Tomatoes!

This year we kept our garden small, planting tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, basil and green beans.  The green beans were quickly choked out by our massive cucumber plants.  I love having fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from our garden.

I have to be careful when I let Allyson help me pick the tomatoes (she won't pick the cucumbers because they are "pokey").  She eats almost each one she picks!  Even the big tomatoes aren't safe, she would take at least one big bite out of each one.  She now only "helps" me pick the cherry tomatoes.

She loves her tomatoes.  Can you tell she has a few stashed in her cheeks?

I used all these lovely tomatoes and some basil from our garden to make some delicious homemade spaghetti sauce.  

Sadly I totally forgot to take a picture of the sauce.  I will miss our fresh tomatoes when they are done, but at least we will have some spaghetti sauce and homemade salsa this winter!

Evolution of Ally's Prayers

7/15/12
This last week Allyson has started to pray on her own without any promptings.  In true Allyson fashion she just decided she wanted to do it on her own and will often request to say the prayer "by self".  It is funny she will say the prayers for breakfast, lunch or dinner (or often all three) but she will not say it for our evening prayer.  Funny girl tells me "i do it at dinner (meaning any meal)" or "I do it soon" which means I don't want to do it now I will do it another time far in the future.

8/3/12
Dear Heavenly Father
Thank you for the sunshine
Thank you mommy and Ally be safe
Bless Grandma and Papa
Bless mommy and Ally to see the monster when driving (a funny sculpture we see on our way to town)
bless daddy on fire engine be safe
Bless nana and papa in their house
Name Jesus Christ Amen

Then she realized she forgot to bless Uncle Brandon so we had to have another prayer

Bless Uncle Brandon on mission
Name Jesus Christ Amen

8/20/12
Ally most often prays with her eyes open, she looks around for "inspiration" for her prayers.  She blesses anyone sitting at the table and every item of food on her plate (and sometimes anything in the room).  So cute.  "Bless the burrito, bless the tomatoes, bless the sauce, bless the juice"

9/14/12
Allyson now tries to shorten her prayers by saying "please bless everything" and ending her prayer. When I told her she forgot to bless the food she said "no I not, I bless everything".  I was too surprised to protest.  Now we are working on adding a few more specific things back into her prayers.

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home

We were so happy daddy came home on Sunday.  He had been gone for 39 days, that was a long time and we missed him.  He got home Sunday morning before Allyson was awake.  He went in to wake her up and she said "hi" shyly.  When I peeked in the door she saw me and excitedly told me "look mommy! It's Daddy!".  She was so excited.

Now whenever Steve goes anywhere she has to know where he is going and when he will be back.  She certainly missed her daddy!

Last Swim

Labor Day we went for our last swim in Grandma's pool.  It was a very hot day and we were excited to cool off in the pool.  Little did we know just how cool the water was.  Even though the temperature was over 100* that day the cool nights made the pool water cold.

Allyson didn't care and she didn't want to admit she was cold.  We have come a long way from the girl who was scared to get in the pool.

She spent the majority of her time grabbing her toes while floating.

She was so cute.

We had a fun last swim! It only took a few minutes in the warm sun to warm up afterwards.  We can't wait for more pool fun next year!

Fair Time

Last weekend was the Lake County Fair in Lakeport.  We (Allyson, my parents and I) decided to take advantage of the canned food promotion and paid our entry fee with 4 cans of food.  We also met up with the Allred's and had some fair fun!

We headed up to the Livestock Barns to see all the animals and we were not disappointed.  There were lots of different animals to see and pet.  

This girl was in heaven with all the animals.  

We spotted a Fire Engine and had to take a picture since it is just like Daddy's.  Unfortunately it was not Daddy's he has been gone for almost 30 days.  We miss him, he is working hard on all those fires.

Daddy loved this picture we sent to him.

Ally dancing to the music as always.  I love how she just dances around to the music.

After enjoying some delicious over priced fair food we enjoyed a little fair entertainment.  We watched the motorcycle jumping and the beginning of the mud bogging.  Allyson loved the crazy motorcycle jumpers, so much fun to watch. 

We had a great time and enjoyed the fair.

Fort Bragg Part II

Sunday evening I had to head home so I could go to work on Monday.  Allyson got to stay with Grandma and Papa for another day.

Ally loved sleeping in the trailer.  Her bed was in the dining area, she kept asking where the table went.  

Good Morning!

She slept really well in the trailer and woke up a happy girl.

After packing up the trailer the headed out to the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse.  

Allyson had so much fun.  She told me the lighthouse was noisy and you couldn't see the light because the sun was out.  She loved seeing the sea lions once she realized they weren't actual lions!   Grandma and Papa bought her a present at the gift shop.  She chose a Ferret who she appropriately named Savvy, my Uncle Harrison would be proud.