48 Pictures for Your Enjoyment

We've had a number of fun events in the last couple of weeks. I'll have to bullet point them, otherwise you'll only look at the pictures! :D

• Joshua's 2nd birthday--went downtown (the 1st picture is the Buckingham Fountain), fed the ducks, had the Tates and the Corotans over for cake
  

(I'm SO PROUD of this cake!! Josh is a huge Mickey Mouse fan!)

(Emily on the left with Kelsey, me with Brimley, Mandie on the floor)

• Father's Day--ate very good steaks, corn-on-the-cob, mashed potatoes, watermelon

• Lots of splash-pad-fun with Emily. Our boys love that water!
  

• The Mosbackers and Brian Monson came to visit! We enjoyed the Brookfield Zoo, a downtown excursion, Lou Malnati's deep-dish pizza, a few splash pads and lots of fun!
  

Brian met our 2 kids for the first time (he just came home from his mission to Tulsa, Oklahoma) and Josh LOVES him! He kept calling him "Eric? Scott?" until we corrected him with Brian's name.

(The tiger is in the background.)

• I've been working on camera angles, so you'll probably see a few random pictures.
  

Josh says: "Hugs?" while reaching his arms out to you. Lately, he's wanted to hold Kelsey and its really sweet. In the park the other day, Josh reached out for a squirrel and said "Hugs?"

• The Doug and Marilyn Monson family had their first reunion over the July 4th weekend. We had lots of talk time, some games and got to go through a ton of really great growing-up pictures. Here Kelsey is meeting her Monson grandparents for the first time.
  

1st time in a swimsuit

No matter what I did, every time I turned around, Josh was out splashing in the pool. You know how much water those diapers can hold? Its a lot.

They matched. It was SO CUTE!!

• July 9--the long-awaited Mallory Morse and Tyler Whitmore wedding! My parents and siblings were SO great to watch our kids so we could enjoy the ceremony and celebrations!
  

When we got there, we were taken from our car to the ceremony in a horse-drawn carriage.

The quartet was perfect and very nice to listen to.

Tyler and Mallory

Meredith (their sister) and Monica

Everything was gorgeous! Mom Morse did so much in preparation and I think it turned out beautifully!

Steve, Tyler, Mallory, Monica and me.

Probably the most entertaining picture I've ever taken of Mal. When she went to throw the bouquet, there were probably 50 single girls out there trying to catch it!

• Steve turned 26! Happy birthday to him! I tried to make the candles into a 26, but its hard to tell. By the way, (for whoever is around at that time...) if Steve lives to be 100, he wants 100 candles on his cake. ...just for the record...
  

(Kelsey helped me with the cake.)

Last week, I had to take both kids in for check-ups: Josh for his 2-year and Kelsey for her 2-month. Since she had to get shots, I held her arms and did my best to soothe her. Of course she's like her mom and HATES getting shots, so she was wailing and making herself heard! As I was doing my best to put her into her carseat, Josh comes over and says:
"Selsey! STOOOOOPPP!!!"

Such a little helper.

On Steve's birthday, we also started sleep-training Joshua on a toddler bed. He's been terrific and generally goes right to sleep without any problems.

Best. Sleep-training. Ever!!!

Well, that's about it. I hope you enjoyed and I hope that I never put off posting that many pictures ever again!