.:Sunriver 2012:.

I think it’s safe to say that we all look forward to Sunriver all year long. Every year comes and goes, and as our numbers grow, so do the houses!

We headed first to Klamath this year, to spend a few days there before we all ventured to Sunriver. We got there on the 4th of July, just in time for fireworks and a s’mores bar around the campfire.

Great picture of Mom at least!

Harper and Evie hanging out in their strollers.

“Helping” Grandpa

Sparklers! We loved this solo cup trick we found on Pinterest to protect little hands!

Watching the show

The rest of our time in Klamath was spent playing with toys, hanging out, and swimming of course!

If you couldn’t find a spoon, then you knew Remi had been around!

Reece loves swimming around the pool in her life jacket.

Remi preferred the safety of the beachfront entry.

Heelllloooooo cute baby!

Then it was time to head up to Sunriver! We scored a great house this year! Every family had their own room and bathroom, and there was an extra room for some of the older kids. It is of course, a huge generous gesture on my parents’ part to provide this for us. I think we all appreciate having our own little space!

We were sure to do all of our usual things. We spent some time down in the village.

Three littlest grandbabies!

Walking with Gramzee

The village has been re-vamped, and they have this little train that Gramzee treated all the kids to.

Oh yeah, the mommies all got to go, too! I pretty much forced Remi to go.

And no trip to Sunriver is complete without one (or more!) trips to Goodies for ice cream.

One day we visited the high desert museum. There are some of the local wild animals to look at, as well as a fun play area for the kiddos.

The “twins” – Remi and Hudson

Daddy even got in on the playing!

The three two year olds aka troublemakers

My dad is the president of OAHHS and they had a big banquet one nite while we were there. It was impressive! Delicious food, goodie bags for all of the kids, free caricature drawings, s’mores and ice cream bar, live band, and a little speech from this good looking guy!

It’s always neat to see my dad in these settings. We all know how hard he works and how amazing and wonderful he is, but to see the respect that others have for him makes me feel pretty proud!

While the band was on, Reece was doing some serious (and a bit seductive, thanks Zumba!) dancing for all of us. They decided to bring her up on stage and dress her up. She got a bit of stage fright while she was up there, but started to loosen up a bit towards the end.

Since the last time we were there, Sunriver has opened up a huge new rec center. It has water slides, splash pad, kiddie pool, indoor and outdoor swimming, and a lazy river. We spent one day there, and the girls loved playing in the water!

And biking! The biking is one of the best parts! We went for rides down to the lodge to get cokes, and even ventured to the village (for more Goodies!) and enjoyed a lovely ride back to the house in the dark. We were following cell phone flashlight apps and it turned into a pretty fun little adventure!

The house also had a hot tub, so that was a nice alternative to dragging everyone to the pool.

The boys did a little golfing.

And the girls did pedicures and our annual favorite things exchange.

Also thrown in the mix was board games, my Dad’s annual marriage FHE, and lots of great meals. It’s such a wonderful time for us to all be together, and for our kids to be together. We sure appreciate my parents making it possible for us to do this each year. I hope it never ends! I think we’re all counting down the days until next year already!

.:Harper–Nine Months:.

Ahhh! I don’t understand how another month has come and gone.

What can I say about the Harpster? She continues to be such a joy!

Harper is a crawling fool! This baby is everywhere! She loves to explore our house, and especially loves to follow the older girls around. She is starting to get pretty quick, too! When Harper is on regular carpet, she’ll usually just crawl normally (unless she is working around a dress). But on any other surface, she does a Mogli walk – and is getting quite proficient at that as well! Within a couple of weeks of her crawling, Harper started pulling up on her knees to things, and occasionally on to her feet. She can pull up to the couch or other furniture, but doesn’t do it very often. But things that are slightly lower, like the trundle bed, saucer, or baby chair, she can more easily get up on her feet to those things. She’s just very curious and very busy and wants to be everywhere that we all are! I can’t even begin to imagine how fun it will be for all the girls once she is running around with them!

We finally have some teeth! Harper’s two bottom teeth broke through right when she started crawling. She’s definitely been our best teether so far. She is still happy and sleeping well. I hope we luck out for the rest of her teeth!

Harper started doing this little face where she opens her mouth really wide. It reminds me of a monkey for some reason, and looks like she is just trying to show off her teeth. I don’t know why, but I just love it. I think it’s super cute and super funny!

Eating continues to go well for Harper. I think she is getting to the point where she’s not loving the baby food anymore. She will still eat it, but it’s a push to get her to finish an entire jar. She much prefers to have whatever we’re having, and to be able to feed it to herself. She does a great job most of the time picking up small pieces and eating them. Cheese, fruit, and bread seem to be favorites!

Harper is noisy! She loves to yell, shout, talk, and squeal. She reminds me of her cousin Bobo. Even in Sunday School yesterday, I’m sure people were trying to will us out of there with her; she doesn’t make fussy sounds, but she is just very vocal! She must know that she is going to have to be loud to be heard in this house!

Sleeping is back on track, thank goodness! I still feed her when I go to bed, but then she will often sleep until eight or nine. It’s nice not having that 6 a.m. feeding! Now I just need to wean her off the feeding before I go to bed and I can start catching up on some sleep!

Reece and Remi love to play with Harper. They love to try to make her smile and laugh. Often, Remi and Harper will be off playing together somewhere. I think Remi likes being older than someone for a change! It’s really sweet, and I just hope that they will always want to spend time together!

We just love this baby and can’t believe how fast she is growing up!

At nine months, Harper likes:

- nursing

- eating

- squealing

- laughing

- talking

- shouting

- crawling

- kneeling

- standing

- playing with toys

- playing with Reece and Remi

- putting things in her mouth

- exploring

- Baby Einstein

- Mommy’s singing

- grabbing

- jumping

- drinking from a sippy

At nine months, Harper does not like:

- being left alone

- being in her car seat

- waiting to be fed