Fun to see Family

As you can imagine, becoming a stay-at-home Mom has been WONderful. But I was geting stir-crazy occasionally, and really missed seeing our family members. In July we had painted and rearranged our loft, hoping it would inspire our wonderful family to come and visit us! It has totally paid off. Phil's brother, Brian came for a bit, followed by Phil's parents. Then at the beginning of September Phil and I decided on a whim to take a plane to Las Vegas to celebrate my Mom's 60th birthday! It was a surprise, totally awesome!

This was not a pose shot, my sis in law just has good timing...
Even though our plane was delayed an hour and a half, we made it just in time for the party. We had a super fun time see my side of the family, and for them all to meet Gracie, most for the first time.

These are my parents and all my siblings minus one with their spouses. We spent our time wisely... having an old-time Spoon challenge! No major injuries this time...

Gracie took her first "sink" bath, she loved it. She won't drink anything from a bottle, but she loves slurping bath water off her fingers...

My brother bought one of those amazing Edible Creations, it was a bouquet of fruit. We tried a little cantaloupe on Gracie, she gummed it pretty good. She broke off a piece in her mouth (scared me to death!) but we got it out. Check cantaloupe as a favorite. It's been so fun trying different fruits and veggies with her lately. I've got a book about making homemade baby food, it's so simple, of course, but I'm so glad to know she's getting only the good stuff. Tonight we fed her some broccoli, and she ate it much faster than it normally takes her. We gave her some bananas too, and she gulped those down. She's really getting the hang of it! My big girl...

This is her with Grandma Ellsworth. She was so tired and her 10 cousins were making it hard to fall asleep. Poor thing. But as hard as it was, I realized I'd been babying her a bit too much when it came to sleeping. Since our trip, Gracie has learned to put herself to sleep for naps and at night and I am a whole new Mom. It's amazing! The crying at first nearly broke my heart, but I know it's better for both of us now. Thanks, Emily, for the great help-book!

After we got back from Vegas, Phil's brother, Matthew, visited us from Salt Lake. It was really fun to see him again. We know our cat Charlie had a lot of fun with Matt. Nice to have someone else risk their hands for Charlie's sake. Good to see you, Matt!

Since Gracie just barely turned 6 months, we went for more pictures. It's funny how you can get a few good shots in just 10 minutes even with a cranky baby. Here's a few of our favorites.

So cute!!

And this one is so serious...

Happy Family

Her smiles melt my heart. She's such a precious girl, I love being her Mama. It has been a fun month, we're so grateful to have seen so many of our family members. Family is so important, we feel lucky to have such good ones. =)