Happy Birthday Little Angel

Our little Angel, Claire, turned one year old!  How did that happen!   Claire is a happy, smiling, and very bright baby. She is walking, starting to say a few words, mimic animal sounds, and loves "performing" when she has an audience.  She watches people very carefully, and studies what they are doing.  She loves to hold little toys in her hands, and has recently become more generous in giving "loves" and kisses when asked.  She is full of personality and is delightful to play with, read to, and snuggle with.  We love our little Claire!

Claire at her "Minnie Mouse" birthday party, enjoying a bit of cake.

Claire hesitated at first, but once she got eating that cake, she had no qualms about making a bit of a mess!

Mom, dad and Claire...

Lily is eyeing the Minnie cookies and balloons, hoping for one of each.

Even the veggies had a Minnie theme.....

Lauren prepared an adorable party, hosted by her MIL, Becky.

Independence Day Darling...

Since the kids have been driving down from Logan so much lately for family events, we decided to make the trek north on July 4th to see if we could escape the heat and spend some one on one with little Claire.  We spent the night up there so we could enjoy the whole holiday.

Lauren and I did a little shopping, a quick sewing project, went out to breakfast, played card games (Richie won...I know....big surprise), and barbeque burgers on the grill.

Funny, with all that going on, it's interesting that this little Angel is the only thing I managed to take a picture of.

Scrub A Dub Dub

Two girls in a tub!  Its so fun to have these cousins old enough to take bubble baths together....

A Quick Fix

It's like an addiction, this grandparenting thing.  I can't make it more than a few weeks without need a quick fix.  The California kids are coming in June for a couple of weeks, but when Scott said he was going to fly out over Memorial weekend to meet Brynn and see the boys, I jumped right on board.  Pretty soon, Lauren called up and asked if there was room for her and Claire to tag along.

Um, yeah.  Twist my arm.

We had a great visit just hanging out, eating out, and getting out.

Grandpa got to meet Brynn.  I think he was a good influence on her.  Well, and she on him.  Brynn loved grandpa...

Griffin loved Claire...

And this grandma loved every single moment!

 The tech museum craziness....

 Brynn slept through most of it...

 Jim and Kathie danced their way through it

 Griffin crawled through it...

 Jim practiced his space maneuvers

 And Brynn came home happy as could be!

 There's nothing as sweet as cuddling a sweet sleeping baby....

 Unless it's being surrounded by a whole bunch of sweet awake ones...

 Tuesday, we went to Happy Hollow--the perfect sized zoo and amusement area for little ones.

 The boys found plenty to keep them entertained

 Brynn was happy to have grandpa haul him all over the place.

 ...and grandpa got a double work out some times.

 Here's 4/5th of heaven!

 Look at the adorable dress Lauren sewed and brough to Brynn.  She wore it to church on Sunday.

 Okay.  This is seriously one of my favorite pictures ever.  Get the feeling these two are going to grow up to be much like their grandpa?

 Four beauties!

 Happy Hollow

 Happy girl!

 Gavin got a little adventurous as the day went on, and even went on this ride without anyone sitting right next to him.

 They don't get much cuter than Griffin!

 After a long day, the boys gave grandpa a nice swing ride in the shade!

Thanks, Jim, Kathie and kids for letting me and Grandpa and Lauren and Claire enjoy such a fun weekend!

An Angelic Visitation

Claire (and her parents) came to visit this weekend.    Our sweet little Angel is becoming so happy and content all the time.  Couldn't you just snuggle and kiss that cute little face all day long?  This weekend, I  discovered that I could turn my head and look at her from across the room, and she'd start grinning and laughing before I would even speak a word to her.  

 And honestly, the little smarty sits on my lap while I show her a book, and she actually reaches out and helps turn the pages!   She's very dexterous, picking up small toys and moving them from one hand to another.

 When I give her kisses, she pushes her little face against mine, and will just leave it there for a few minutes, leaning her little face against mine.  I close my eyes to savor the moment......

and she quickly reaches out and grabs a handful of my hair.  From the nape of my neck.  Sneaky little thing, isn't she?

 Her beautiful eyes and darling wide-mouth smiles just melt my heart.

 And those laughs!  Several times, she was laughing so hard she was snorting!

 We love you Claire Juline!

Claire's Blessing

Sweet little Claire was blessed yesterday, October 27th, 2012.  They blessed her at our house, with family and friends there to share in her happy day!

 Claire fit perfectly into the dress Lauren wore when she was blessed!  Lauren's blessing dress is 21 years old, but looked as sweet on little Claire as it did on her mother!

Lauren added some lacy, beaded shoes and a pearly necklace--Claire looked like an absolute angel!

 Richie's family, Lauren's family, and her best friends all came to support Lauren! (Note how fabulous Lauren looks in her skinny little pencil skirt, just 6 weeks after giving birth!)

Here's the group of men who assisted with the blessing: L-R: Claire's great uncle Clint, Uncle Tyler, Grandpa Gwilliam, Dad, Uncle Landon, Grandpa Preece, Bishop Tibbitts, Uncle Matt and Uncle Danny.  That's a lot of Priesthood!

Richie gave her a beautiful blessing....here are some of the things she was blessed with:

• She was blessed that as she grows, she will have a sound mind and a strong body.
• She was blessed to feel the Spirit of the Lord, to develop a testimony, and to be strong in the gospel.
• She was blessed to know she came to a loving mother and father, and she has brought them so much joy already.
• She was blessed to have a positive impact on people she comes in contact with, that they will know of her spirit.
• She was blessed to grow and gain secular knowledge as well as spiritual knowledge, that she will become useful in God's Kingdom.

We couldn't be more pleased with those special blessings, and are so excited to watch little Claire grow and develop.

Lauren and Richie, thanks for sharing Claire's special day with all of us!