The 4th of July

All while growing up, I lived for the 4th of July. It was easily one of my favorite holidays! It's was a whole days worth of events, starting at 0700 with breakfast at evergreen park, then after that we would make our way up to my grandma's to watch the evergreen parade! Most years we would watch the parade and hop on at the end and throw candy, usually salt water taffy provided by Mark Lambert. Then we were off to the Country Club swimming pool, where they put on many activities such as; coin toss, gold fish in the pool, water melon catch...Then we would shower and put our Old Navy 4th of July tees back on and head out to watch fire works, we went to various places for fire works, on our way there we picked up our bucket of KFC and waited what seemed like an eternity for that first firework that would start the magical show!

I miss that exhausted feeling at the end of the fireworks when you can barley make it to the car and then falling to sleep on the car ride home, with my glowing necklace around my neck. Then pulling into the driveway thinking "there is no way we can be home already", (even though we sat in traffic for 45 mins, while everyone was leaving at once). Then falling to sleep before my head hit the pillow!

Those truly are some of my greatest memories of my childhood! Since we've grown a little, one big change is, no more Country Club since my grandma sold her membership. I told Tory that he has a few years til Gordon is old enough to remember his 4th of July's, to make enough money to get a membership! I don't foresee that ever happening, but I do hope that I can make my kids 4th as memorable as mine were to me!

This year no one was going to the breakfast, but I decided I didn't want to let that tradition die, so Tory, Gordon and I went! Then Tory Had to go to work, since this is usually a busy day at the Park. Gordon and I walked up to my grandma and grandpa's house and watched the parade. Then we went up to visit Tory at work, then went to a BBQ at my parents house and did the little fire works there. We went and picked up Isabelle because Trygg and Emmy were in no shape to take her to fireworks, Emmy recovering from a baby and Trygg recovering from knee surgery! Over all it was a fun day! We did catch some real fireworks on our way home and pulled over rolled down the windows and watched them! Watching them took me back to my childhood for just a moment. I love fire works, and I love the 4th of July! I am so thankful for this great country we live in and so very thankful for the men and women who fight for us to keep all of our freedoms and liberties! I hope we can all have them in our thoughts and prayers! Gordon and Tory at the evergreen park for breakfast
Gordon with great grandma Annie watching the parade
Us with Cacia and her cute new baby Adel about 2 months old. Cacia and her family grew up with us and our 4th of July traditions! Now we will start the next generation

Gord playing with a stick while waiting for dad to get finished with work

Gordon with uncle Carl at the cafe. Carl just got his mission call to Columbus, Ohio!
waiting for the firworks outside my moms house

My poor dad hurt his back. He spent the week flat on his back. Maggie is keeping him company while he eats!
Charly and Maggie
Tory showing Isabelle how to make the perfect smore
Gordons first sparkler! What a fun day!

Didn't Think I Had it in Me / Welcome Baby Henry

So I've always want to quilt, but really didn't think I could! I failed the sewing part of home economics! I decided to give it a try, and my sister in law was pregnant at the time so I decided to make her baby boy one, then after I made his I was so proud of myself and had so much fun doing it, that I decided to make her little girls one too! Then I thought it would be cute to buy them a baby of there own and with the left over material, make a matching doll blanket to go with them! It was so much fun making them, and giving them their blankets! They were so cute and excited when I gave them their blankets and dolls! I'm going to go for a higher degree of difficulty in my next quilt so we'll see how that goes!

In other more exciting news Emmy had her baby! He came a couple of weeks early, but he is healthy and doing well! And way tiny! My mom made the final production, so cute right?
Henry's blanket had sock monkey material, thus the giant sock monkey on top
Mia and Izzi's blankets were very similar, however there were a few differences in material to make them their own
Here's cute little Henry!

Mia loved her dolls blanket. It was more her size! (it was so cute to see her curled up on the floor except I couldn't handle that it was the hospital floor)




Mia and Isabelle, two proud sisters

Mothers Day

For Mothers day we went to Adair's apartment for dinner it was a lot of fun I didn't get a picture of my cute mom though! She was the one taking all the pictures! Happy Mothers Day MOM! I love you!

Charlie

Maggie

My newest nephew Holland David Watts

Gordie, just enjoying the nice weather and his roll

Will and Tory spent most the time on the swings

Look at how cute this guys is! I love him so much!

I think you are too old for that...

"I'm not too old for that! Give me a year or two"

Who is this Kid?

We had a family party on May 30th 2009. We went to the park and played kick ball! I was not planning on being able to play because Gordon was having a rough day and running on one nap! I put him in his stroller and positioned him so that he could watch. Well he sat there content for about 2 hrs! I could not believe it!

He's Going to be a Runner

Just before Gordon turned 9 months he would take one or two steps and fall. Then at about 9 and 1/2 months he started taking a lot of steps! Now he can walk (still a little wobbly) but if he want's to really get something he "runs", falls, and then crawls the rest of the way! I am so ready for the crawling days to be done! His harnds and knees are always dirty and he finds the tiniest things on the floor to put into his mouth!

The Indy 500

Last year, May 25th 2008 we were able to attended the Indianapolis 500, (which is the most coveted race to win in the Indy Car racing series) thanks to Tory's uncle, Roger Penske. He has 2 drivers in the Indy! I'm not going to lie, I did not want to go! I was about 6 months pregnant, watching a bunch of cars go around for 500 miles did not sound like fun! However, it was actually a blast, those cars are so fast and so loud that all I did for the first 30 mins was laugh! (No. I don't know why my reaction was to laugh!) We both had such a great time, and feel very lucky to have been able to attend the INDY 500! When we went, Roger's drivers took 4th (Helio) and 23rd (Brisco), but this year 2009 his driver Helio Castroneves,(You might know him better from dancing with the stars) won the race, making it his third win for the indy 500, and Roger's 15th win! When we were in Indianapolis last year, we got to meet Helio and he was such a nice guy! We are so happy for him! Here are some pictures from last years race...


We went to a fun parade they had down town the day before the race



We got to attend the dinner they held for all the drivers and the sponsers. We were able meet all of Roger's old drivers, including the famous Rick Mears!!!

Car number 3, driver Helio Castroneves

Car number 6, driver is Ryan Brisco

Tory's cousin, Jay Penske's car, driver Tomas Scheckter

Tory and me with are cool head phones, we could hear whatever the drivers and thier pit crew were saying and they also helped us from going deaf with how loud the cars were!

Rogers two cars and Jay's in the middle




Carl, Mikey, Trygg, and Tory in the pits before the race.

9 Months Already!

Gordon turned 9 months on May 8th, I can't believe how fast the time has gone! At his 9 month apt he weighed 18 lbs and was 28 inches long! Some of the things he started doing between 6 and 9 months:

He climbs up on everything
He throws golf balls and then chases after them! (it is his favorite thing to do)
His first word is uh oh! He says it after he throws his golf ball
He has found his pointer finger and loves to use it! He points at everything he sees!
He stands up on his own
He has taken a couple steps
He can clap his hands
He has this high pitched scream that he does when he is happy
He has already learned to steel things from his cousins Mia and Maggie
The best thing of all he is finally sleeping through the night! Most nights at least!

I am so in love with this kid! He is so much fun, he makes me laugh every day. He has the funniest little personality!

Rangers beat Devils 3-0

Tory and his brothers got to go to New York and watch the New York Rangers play the New Jersey Devils! It was a fun game for everyone except Carl, he was cheering for the Devils! (Poor Carl!) They had a really good time! I was so glad that Tory got this opportunity! GO RANGERS!!!

Hole in One!

I never have been golfing with Tory, but on March 18th I decided to go with him after Katie talked me into it! Turns out I am Tory's lucky charm because he got his first hole in one that day on a par 4! Hole in ones are rare for anyone but even more rare is a hole in one on a par 4! It was so exciting. I was so happy I got to be there to share in all the excitement!

It was at River Oaks Golf Course hole number 14, using a driver, 285 yards. witnessed by Katie, Russ, and me!






Gordon came along with us to get pictures!

Why We Were Late for Church

Gordon started to crawl around 7 months, it's this cute army crawl, but he can get anywhere fast! On Sunday I had him all ready for church, but I needed to finish getting ready so I put him on the ground with some toys, well he wanted to play with my make up! He got my eyeliner and somehow got the lid off and well you can see what happened...

Gordon and Gordie!

Gordon with his grandpa Gordon on his birthday!

Gordon with both grandpa Gordon and Nana Nade!

Maggie and Gordon

Isn't that so cute! What you don't see however, is right after the second picture was taken Gordon bent over to get his toes and face planted right onto the ground! I handled my first fall very well Adair said!

6 Month Appointment

Gordon turned 6 months on Febuary 8th, and his weight was 16 lbs and 27 inches long!

Another Big Mile Stone

A couple days after getting home from Hawaii, Gordon started sitting by himself! Just a little over 5 months! He would fall back after a a couple of minuets, but by 6 months he had it down!