Lauren's blessing....

Thursday evening Rev. Wes came to Brownsville and baptized Lauren Elizabeth in the Calapooia River. Lauren wore a baptismal gown that Nana Julie made for her. It was so cute! Aunt (and Godmother) Bethany gave her a bracelet she had made especially for her at Jailhouse Rocks in Bandon. Since it is Oregon Jamboree weekend, the Groves clan is up which made it extremely convenient for everyone. She thought it was absolutely amazing at everyone who was here, she couldn't stay focused for long!


Lauren saying hi to Gram Gram before heading to the river.


Rev. Wes, mommy and daddy with Lauren at the river. Lauren is obviously watching the little kids swimming nearby!




Cousin Sydney was allowed to assist in the baptism. She was very helpful. It will definitely be something that she and Lauren will share for life.


Lauren with her baptized hair....it's a new look!


Lauren welcomed as a child of God.


Rev. Wes, Daddy, Lauren and Mommy after the ceremony.


After the ceremony we headed back to the house for lasagna! Lauren got lots of kisses, including her Daddy! She makes the smacking sound now! She is so mobile and it was so warm, Lauren needed to change out of her gown so it can be saved.

Lauren was bear crawling with Cousin Sydney is the backyard.

Uncle Kyle (aka "The Godfather") with his daughter Noni Jo at almost 7 weeks and Daddy with Lauren. It was so nice of them to make the trip from The Point for the evening.

Mama Franki with Miss Noni Jo.


Miss Noni Jo....don't worry kiddo you'll be running around before we no it!

Family Reunion

Last weekend was the Family Reunion for both Nana and Papa's families, so we spent the weekend at the ranch. It was a busy....exhausting....weekend!

Here is Lauren trying to catch a nap Saturday morning before all of the excitement! She fell asleep playing in the crib while mommy grabbed a shower.

Lauren playing in the backyard.

Lauren in her Dale Earnhardt Sr. hat.

Playing with a balloon that the cousins were running around with. She loved the pokey things!

Lauren in the same pose as Dale Sr. on her hat! Daddy likes this pic.

This is Great Uncle Duce and Great Aunt Laura's puppy Oscar. He is a cute little thing. Funny!

Nana got the sprinkler out for the kids. This is Daddy's cousin Sarah's daughter Sydney. It was quite confusing having 2 Sydney's, but this was Little Sydney by day #2.

Lauren had to join the water fun. Nana found an old pool that needed some scrubbing, but it worked. But all the kids wanted to join her and Little Sydney. So by the time it was all said and done, there was lots of floating grass that Lauren wanted to eat in the pool.

Daddy's cousin Holly's son Shawn. Lauren loved Shawn! The little kids were really drawn to him.

On Saturday evening, there was a round robin tournament with each person being paired randomly with another. Mommy got photography duty. Daddy was paired with Luke...and they dominated as they predicted! The games were badminton, horseshoes and darts.

Lauren in her play pen during the tournament. She liked to watch the dart throwing standing up.

Lauren had lots of on-lookers during the fun. Great Uncle Jeff stopped by to say hi and see what Lauren was up too in between the tourney!

I have lots of other pics of the tournament, so if family wants a copy on a disc....please let us know. Until next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New swimsuit!

I just had to share some cute pics from this weekend (on Saturday before the thunderstorms hit on Sunday) with Lauren in her new swimsuit that I picked up on clearance at The Children's Place. It is so cute! I wanted one in my size, but then I thought that with that much material....it wouldn't look cute at all!

I just had to share this pic even though the face isn't cute. When she's crawling, she does this heavy breathing thing with her gums clenched and the drool is making a weird gurgle noise. And this is the face she does when she's doing that!

Lauren trying to pull herself up to stand and wave at the same time!

Brushing teeth!

Lauren has always been infatuated with mommy brushing her teeth. So since she has teeth we know its important that they get brushed from the start! She always seems to be a little disappointed when we are done. I hope she's this way when she gets older!

Look out world....Lauren's crawling!

Yes, it's true. The day has finally come that our Little Miss Lauren has figured out how to crawl! It was quite an impressive feat for her last night and mommy and daddy were very proud. She has had all of the mechanics...but just hasn't put them together until now. Dr. Davis said we shouldn't be worried and look....the very next day she did it! Mommy worked today and Lauren crawled all over for Carley our babysitter, which was fine since Daddy and Mommy witnessed it first! (Mommy had been telling Carley NOT to tell us if she crawled!) And since we can't figure out how to download the video with daddy building the tower and Lauren crawling to it for the first time....here are a couple of instant replays that will have to do!

9 months old!

Boy time has flown by! Lauren is 9 months old as of Monday. We had an appointment to see Dr. Davis yesterday for her check-up. She weighs 20lbs 6oz (75 percentile) and 27.75" tall (little less than 50 percentile, Dr. Davis just thinks we didn't get a good stretch....she was a big time wiggle worm). Dr. Davis thinks she looks great and healthy. We have had a few sleepless nights, but she thought it was most likely due to teething, which Little Miss Lauren has a SECOND bottom front tooth!

Here's Lauren waiting for Dr. Davis......the table paper was destroyed before Dr. Davis even made it in the room! She's definitely going to be a rip and tear girl for her birthday!


Mommy bought the smallest helmet she could find since we are looking at getting a trailer for the bikes. Poor Lauren, it's still way to big!


Lauren with that mischievous grin. What are you up to?


Not so funny any more huh Lauren?! She got stuck and couldn't figure how to get out without banging her head on the table.


Lauren has learned how to use a sippy cup, but it is a little hit or miss. On the boat, mommy forgot a sippy cup and she was drinking water out of the cap of the bottle. I think it was the novelty of it all more than anything.

Happy 4th of July....from Lauren!

Little Miss Lauren is taking a nap getting ready to go to the neighbors for lamb BBQ tonight and fireworks in the park. However we got in a few pics in the backyard today to post to wish every a Happy Fourth of July!

This is her model pose! Really....I have no idea what she was doing.

Foster Lake

Late Friday afternoon we took the boat up to Foster Lake to cool off! The water was 72 degrees. It was very refreshing. Even Miss Lauren loved it! She back floated for quite awhile until Mama took her out, which she wasn't very thrilled about. The little strap on her life jacket acted as a leash as she floated all over the lake.


Then we cruised into Sunnyside and picked up some friends that were camping for the weekend; Spencer with his mommy Carley and Conner with his daddy Ryan. Spencer thought we were going really fast at first....it was 5 mph no wake zone. But once we started going REALLY fast, he couldn't take his eyes off the water.




I had asked the boys if they wanted to go swimming while we were cruising around the lake and they didn't want too. Then right before we got to the no wake zone on the way back to the dock, Conner decided he wanted to do a little tubing. I think he had fun! The captain didn't get to crazy!




On the way back to their campsite, Jake taught Conner how to view fish on the fish finder. And Conner showed Jake where he caught his first fish last year. It was a fun, yet educational trip for all!


Lauren was perfectly content on the floor of the boat playing with the cooler handle! It was one of the only shaded places on the boat!