Lauren's first boat ride!

On Memorial Day, Lauren experienced her first boat ride. She was mesmerized by the water spraying out behind the boat. She's supposed to have her life jacket on 24/7 in the boat but she wasn't into it when the boat was stopped. And since she isn't toddling yet, we thought it was safe to have a few minutes of "freedom"!



Daddy and Biscuit fishing. Biscuit would whine and whine and whine thinking that at any minute we were going to catch a fish. She'd bite Grandpa's fly rod! She jumped in once and fell in another! Lauren would just watch Biscuit run from the front to the back of the boat and back again.


Here's Miss Lauren playing first mate to Captain Daddy!


She loves to stand and loved to watch the water. This was when we were trolling (less than 0.5 MPH) around fishing in one of the fingers of Green Peter. She loved the water with supervision of Grandma. Daddy finally caught a tiny rainbow.....but what can we say, we were fishing in the middle of the day!

Fun in the Sun

Sunday, since it was going to be 85 degrees, mommy ran to Wal-Mart and picked up a kiddie pool. Daddy filled it with warm water. We found a rubber ducky that LaRee had given Lauren. We didn't know that when you set it in water it is a fountain that quacks! Lauren thought it was funny. Biscuit hated it and thought it was attacking Lauren. So Biscuit would try to get it away and finally got in the pool with Lauren. Next we know Biscuit's running across the yard with it!












After pool time, Lauren got on her big girl summer outfit to lounge in the yard.


Our little cowgirl was exhausted!




Here's a pic after her nap "patiently" waiting for dinner!

Bandon trip

Yesterday we woke up early...actually Lauren woke up at 5 a.m. like normal and we got ready to leave for Bandon. We made it to Uncle Kevin's at 9 to drop some stuff off and Emmy's at 9:30 to say hi. Then to Bandon by 10:30 for a late breakfast at the rental beach house Aunt Bethany rented. Papa, Nana, Beth, Cousins Sydney and Sam were there. We had missed the cousins birthdays so we celebrated that morning. Then Papa and Daddy went golfing at Bandon Dunes.

The rest of the family and mommy took Lauren on her first beach trip! It was such a gorgeous day, who could resist!

It was windy but BEAUTIFUL and we found a little cove that was warm for the kids to play.

Lauren discovered sand and then proceeded to put her fingers in her mouth! So mommy had to put the camera down and figure out how to rinse/wipe her mouth out!

We were close enough in our little cove to the ocean to go on excursions.

We found quite a few sea lions and even a baby one! The kids thought they were pretty neat!

The wind was good for kite flying! Nana jumped right in as soon as we stepped foot on the beach.

We also had an another motive to go to Bandon for the day. Sydney has her year end dance recital. Their first dance was to the "Elephant Dance" hence the elephant ears and tails. The second dance was the "Grandfather's Dance" from the Nutcracker. She did wonderful and you could tell she really enjoyed herself! Too bad they didn't allow flash photography, because that's always been a handicap of Auntie E's!

She's to the left of the little boy.

There's our girl in a blur!

She's in the middle in the very back!

Sydney looked very grown-up in make-up....I have to admit it was a bit weird. Here she is after the performance with flowers from Papa and Uncle Jake. She did great!

It made for a long day but it was a great trip. We got home at 12:15 which daddy hit the hay but since Lauren slept the entire way home, she thought it was time to get up. So her and I stayed up until 1 a.m. and she actually slept until 6 a.m. this morning. Not bad!

Water Babies

Grandma took today off and went to water babies with Lauren and I today. We put her to work taking video and pictures for us. Next week we will hopefully have underwater pics from the class to share!

Ronda said that it would be good to get them use to goggles. I guess kids like it better to go underwater even though we don't have any problems there. She thought they were funny so grandma picked out some stylin' pink ones that smell like "tutti frutti" to wear! Here she is testing them out...she is one cool chick!

Lauren swimming frogger style. We had a lot of free time today while Ronda took underwater pics of each of the kids.

With the goggles on, Lauren kept dropping her head under water, but then she'd forget that she still had to hold her breath! So here we are working on bubbles. I don't think she understands the concept....but she will blow bubbles in her water cup for daddy! So maybe she gets it. But in the pool, I think she drinks more than anything else!

Here's mommy with Miss Lauren in her stylin' goggles and swim shirt! Everyone thought she looked so cute. Ronda commented how well she was doing with them because typically the little ones cry and pull at them and want them off!

Mommy's first Mother's Day

Miss Lauren is 7 months old now as of a week ago and mommy celebrated her first Mother's Day on Sunday. Its crazy how quickly she's growing. She's still not crawling, however she thinks she should be able to swim on the carpet. Instead of lifting her belly off of the carpet, it stays down and her legs and feet come up and she starts to do the froggie swim. It's pretty funny.

She's sitting on her own, but we still have some webble wobble moments. Water babies is going well. She wore a life jacket for the first time and she didn't like getting it on, but thought it was pretty cool that mommy could let go and she could still float. Her taste buds are developing. We've been eating nana's homemade applesauce that she made for Lauren. And she's starting to like squash. Bananas are fine, but better if mixed with plain oatmeal. Same with pears, but we still haven't started to like peaches.

She seems to like the outdoors more than indoors, which is good in this family. We walked to the mailbox on Monday and as soon as we came inside, she screamed! So I set up her blanket outside and she sat in the backyard just watching the day go by.

She has obviously outgrown this swing, but she wasn't going to take a nap at grandma and grandpa's...so we had to get something out of storage. She took about a half hour nap the ENTIRE day!


Here's our pretty girl enjoying the outdoors! She's a ham when she sees the camera come out! This super cute dress was a gift from Aaron and Anna Aasen. Perfect mom's day outfit!


She was so serious watching Luke. He's the grandparents big black lab, 108 pounds...definitely bigger than her Biscuit! And definitely one to keep your eye on. He's very grouchy in his old age.


Since the sun was out, we needed to make some artificial shade. Lauren thought it was a toy!


Lauren liked to take the umbrella and put it between her and the family. But then it defeated the purpose. This is her peaking around the corner at Gram Gram.

Lauren's first football game!

Today, mommy, daddy and papa took Lauren to the Oregon State Beavers Spring football scrimmage. It was raining on and off, however papa had spoke to Mr. Ken Maurer who invited us to sit in his employer's skybox! That was the only reason why mommy and Lauren went!

Daddy with Lauren in the backpack....boy was that handy to have! With the spring showers, we definitely had to break out the jacket that finally fits!

It was pretty plush in the skybox....especially for one special little girl's first football game! I think it took her awhile to realize that there was a football game being played since all of the people in the skybox were ooooing and awwwwwing over her. Plus they were all new people that she hadn't met except for Ken!

Here's Lauren sitting on the leather couches. These pics crack me up because she looks like she's crying but she's actually giggling REALLY hard!

Here's Lauren in her #1 OSU pink jersey. Aunt Jane, Uncle Jeff and Cousin Joe got it for her before she was born! Who would have thought that the top would fit her at almost 7 months, when it's a 12m outfit! The pants are a little long yet, so we opted with a different pair!

New Swing!

Last week Mommy found a Little Tikes swing and slide on Craigslist. The kicker was it was in Coos Bay. But imagine that, we have family really close to there! So Nana went and checked it out and paid for it. Then we had it delivered by Aunt Bethany and Cousin Sam on Monday! Wow, did Lauren feel special. It hasn't been very nice until yesterday, so we hadn't been able to check it out. Obviously Lauren loves it. Now, Mommy just needs to have some pea gravel delivered for the play area and we'll be all set!

Cousin Sam and Lauren....we weighed them both and there is only 10 pounds difference, but 2.5 years! Maybe Lauren will start stretching up and not out soon!


Definitely need to have her buckled in on this swing!




This one is for 1 to 3 year olds and up to 45 pounds. So hopefully it will last a few years!