4th of July Weekend

Well, let’s start at the beginning.  Friday night we went over to Cleveland and spent the night with the Southward/Gustin clan.  All the girls went to watch Eclipse while the guys watched the kids.  It was fun and I think I’m team Jacob now.  Then Saturday morning we drove to Henryetta for the rest of the weekend.  Aunt Mary had a fish fry on Saturday with lots of yummy food.  We were supposed to go to the lake in the evening, but it rained so we went bowling and played games instead.  The whole fam was at Mom & Dad’s plus David & Joey had girls with them (Gracie & Bethany).  I placed third in bag game, which was pretty fun.  Nick won and Joey got 2nd, but Kira was the most graceful.  Sunday we went to church and the farm.  Then Monday we all went to Gentry Creek.  It was lots of fun.  My brothers even convinced Derek and I to get on the tube.  Apparently we were having too much fun to take many pictures.

Derek’s Birthday etc.

The pancakes say Happy 30th in case you can’t read it.  Derek is a great Husband and Dad and we love him.  We didn’t do much on his birthday cause it was in the middle of the week, but we saved up our fun for the 4th of July weekend.

   

Eli got a smiley face.  He liked it, but he kept wanting more chocolate chip eyes.

Cori is growing up fast.  She can sit in her Bumbo chair now, she sleeps through the night pretty much always, and she laughs a lot, which we love.

Summer is Here

Memorial Day weekend we went to Gentry Creek (at Lake Eufaula) with my family and it was lots of fun. There were too many of us to fit on Dad’s boat all at one time, so we took our inflatable kayak. My brothers ended up standing on the thing and trying to knock each other off. Eli played in the water a lot, but in this pic he is taking a break for a snack. Cori loved looking up at the trees.

One night for FHE we played church and Eli had to help the animals be reverent. There was a little animal family and the pink hippo was Bishop.

On June 12th, my Dad, three brothers and I ran in the DHS state games 5k. It was lots of fun. There was a loop, so Eli handed us cups of water when we went by. He loved that. Doug had the best time out of our clan. I hadn’t trained a ton, but I finished in 29 min 40 sec and felt great, so I was pretty happy. After the run we all went to Frontier City.

Eli wanted to drive the classic cars, so we decided that the four of us would go. When we got close to the front of the line, the kid running the ride said Cori wouldn’t be able to ride without shoes. I was like are you kidding me, but I left the line and went down by my brothers cause I didn’t have any shoes for her with me (none of them fit). Well, my brothers decided that they could fasten her some shoes. Joey zipped our camera bag on one foot (it actually stayed on), and gave her one of his shoes for the other foot. I was laughing so hard I was in tears, but they insisted that I go get back in line, so I did. The kid just looked at us and said, “Whatever.” I guess the best way to handle ridiculous is with more ridiculous.

Of course, with summer comes "rice cream" (I’m not going to lie, we eat ice cream year round). Eli comes by his love of "rice cream" honestly.

Cori’s blessing

 

On May 30th, Derek gave Cori a name and a blessing at church.  Also standing in the circle were her Papa, Uncle Nick, Uncle Joey, and Uncle Doug.  He blessed her with health and that she would be a good example to those around her and feel the love of her family.   When Derek finished the blessing and held Cori up, Eli yelled, “Good job Daddy!”  The whole congregation laughed.

 

Cori is a very sweet baby and we love her lots.  She smiles and coos a lot these days.  We just love it when she gives us big full face smiles with her mouth open and eyes twinkling.  She also likes to stick her tongue out and get us to do the same.

 

We took a big family pic at our house after church right before we chowed down on lupper (lunch/supper).

Family Fun

May was a busy month for our family, here are some of the highlights:

Aunt Perina turned 90 on May 6th.  My Mom and Aunts put on a big shin-dig for her.  I don’t have any good pics from the party, but here’s a recent one of her holding Cori.

On May 11th my brother Doug got home from his mission in Argentina.  We are super proud of him and glad to have him home.

My cousin Cody graduated from high school, so all the Hardgrave side of the family got together at Jenny & Brian’s house.  It was the first time we had all been together in a really long time.  It was lots of fun and yummy food.

This is just a cute pic we took of the kids in their pj’s looking at each other.

Easter

Since Easter fell on General Conf. weekend, we watched conference and then went to the farm for an egg hunt and family dinner with Aunt Perina, the rest of the Hardgrave’s, and the Warden’s.  We didn’t get all dressed up, but we did get this family pic at the farm.

On Good Friday Eli and my Mom and I colored and dyed Easter eggs.  Easter morning Eli had a huge basket full of Bible videos, bath letters & numbers, a Reese's chocolate bunny, fruit snacks, and eggs.  I made a small basket for Cori too, just for the heck of it.  I told Eli I got to eat all her treats since she gets her food from me : )

Eli eating his chocolate bunny and Eli & Marcus getting ready to hunt eggs at the farm.

 

The hunt is on!

Derek helping Eli count his eggs.

The farm is the perfect place to hunt eggs.  Aunt Perina has so many pretty flowers.

Eli & Marcus with their loot.

Cori’s uncles put her in the Easter basket.

After the egg hunt and the yummy food, Eli had a blast playing outside with his Dad, Papa, uncles, and cousins.  We had a great Easter and are very thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Our Big Boy

Eli is getting to be such a big boy!  He has been sleeping in his “big boy bed” (toddler bed) since March 29th.  It was a pretty smooth transition.  He also used the potty by choice on the 31st, but I think that was kind of a fluke.  He knows all the basic colors and shapes, he can count to 10, say his ABC’s, and almost recite the 1st Article of Faith.  He also plays pretend by himself, speaks in paragraphs, and has learned the art of bargaining.  His favorite color is green, favorite shape is oval, and favorite number is 38 (no idea why).  He is very independent, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad.  He has become more of a two-year-old lately, complete with fits and all.  A lot of the time he is very good with Cori, but he has also thrown things at her a few times.  Aaaa, the ups and downs of a toddler!