8:13

Yesterday morning Addison pointed to the numbers on the digital clock on her dresser and said "B, I, E".  It was 8:13 :)  So I added to my "to do" list for the day to print big numbers on paper that she could color and then we would hang them on the wall so she could learn to recognize numbers.  She knows most, if not all, her letters.  She sometimes mixes up letters and numbers though.  So far we've hung up 0-3 on the wall.  She got excited to use "sticky tape" to hang up the papers (one of the episodes of Dora is all about using "sticky tape" so that's what she calls it now).

Family pictures

I started planning family pictures months ago, before Lexi was born. It's been a couple of years since our last family pictures so I knew it was time.  I found matching dresses for the girls before Lexi was born kind of by accident and I think that's when I started to plan these pictures.  The week leading up to it I was stressing about them and then the morning of I was stressing big time. So the few things that went wrong the morning of pictures did not help my stress level!  While I was doing my makeup I noticed one of my eyes was red.  Luckily I wasn't running behind and I had time to go to the store to get eye drops, and luckily the eye drops worked.  Once we got to the studio and got Lexi out of her car seat we saw she had a blow out and the back of her dress was all dirty!  I dressed her before we left the house because I thought, "What are the chances she'll have a blow out right now?"  Well, my chances were not good, apparently.  We cleaned her up as best we could and still managed to get pictures in her dress.  Addison cooperated for about 10 minutes and then she was running all around, not holding the poses, not smiling, etc.  The photographer put her in a pose and told Addy to stay there and Addy would say "I can't" in a pouty voice and the photographer would ask "Why not?" and Addy said "Cuz I can't.  I need my mommy and daddy".  Lol. About halfway through the photo shoot the photographer told us she would be right back and came back with another employee to help with Addison.  They should have started with two people.  We learned from my sister's wedding in May to bring treats to bribe her in order to get a good picture so Steve kept fruit snacks in his pocket but even that only worked part of the time.  The rest of the day I was de-stressing.  It may be another two years before we do this again.   Despite all that I'm happy with a lot of the pictures and I love love love my little family!  Here are my favorites: (they took 89 pictures so even though this may seem like a lot, it's only a fraction of what was taken)

Lexi holds her head up so well.  I don't think Addy did this well at this age

Look at that chub!

Lexi with her friend Nora.  Nora is 3 weeks younger.  We laid them next to each other and they stared at each other like this for the longest time. It was cute

Lexi and cousin Miriam

Cousins!

Addy with her friend Austin.  We went up American Fork canyon to do a bonfire. These two are inseparable :)

Roasted marshmallows.  Addy didn't want to hold the stick over the fire because it was too hot.

She's crying because she didn't want to take a picture

My two couch potatoes!  Lexi likes to watch tv too.

My mom got these matching dresses. We had to dress them up and take pictures before they outgrew them

Since Lexi was born I've made a big deal about Addison helping.  When she brings me a diaper or a pacifier I'll tell her what a good helper she is.  Sometimes she helps me pat Lexi's back when I'm burping her and says "I'm helping".  She has even put her hand on the back of Lexi's head while I'm nursing and says "I'm helping" lol.  Last month the maintenance guy was here fixing things and at one point he was squatting to fix something and Addison put her hand on his shoulder and said "I'm helping" lol.

Grandma and Grandpa Reed came for a visit

Lexi's blessing day

Summer in a nutshell

Lexi with her cousin Miriam.  Lexi was 4 weeks and Miriam was 6 weeks here.  Lexi has longer legs, arms and torso than Miriam.  She also weighs more than Miriam :) 

For the 4th of July we bought a wall map of the world and the U.S. so we could teach Addison where everyone lives (Grandparents in CO and AZ and Uncle Damon in Chile).  We watched fireworks in Pleasant Grove with my sisters.  It was the first time Addison has seen fireworks and she wasn't scared of them like I thought she would be.  She doesn't like loud noises.  Steve said she called the fireworks "cute" lol.  She plugged her ears sometimes and I saw her once completely turned around and not watching them - that's the attention span of a two year old.

4th of July.  

Lexi watching the fireworks before she fell asleep :)

What a sweetie! I love her!

Addison likes to lie down with Lexi.  She's such a good big sister. 

Visit to Great Grandma and Grandpa Reed's house in West Valley.

Great Grandpa Reed doing "Tree traw" (I don't know how to spell it).  At the very start of the video you can hear Grandpa asking Addison if she liked that and you can hear her say "no" :)

Grandma and Grandpa Luke came for a visit in July

Addy doing a monkey face (Steve taught her).  This is her trying to blow up her cheeks and pulling her ears out.

We went boating with some friends.  It was so hot for me and Lexi who didn't get in the water.

Steve is surfing - notice his feet aren't strapped to the board