Gianna Rose - 6 months

I just love this little munckin so much! She is so much fun right now. I love this stage because she's full of smiles, everything's delightful to her, when she's fussy she's easily distracted with a shake of a rattle, she can sit up yet she's not mobile yet, she loves being on her tummy, and she can be fully entertained for half an hour in her exersaucer, swing, or jumperoo. I fully appreciate this age because when I wake her up in the morning she has the biggest smile for me and she's so happy to see me, like she hasn't seen me in years. On the other side of the house, there are two other little girls who don't usually wear such a big smile at 7 am. Instead of a ear-to-ear grin, I may get "Uggh, I wanted to wake up by myself" or "Where's Daddy?". For now, I'll enjoy this time with her and try to engrave all her smiles in my memory to pull out when she doesn't have such cheery mornings. Gianna Rose, we love you too much! And stop growing up so fast. I nearly cried when your first tooth popped out. I will never have a toothless baby again....boo hoo hoo!

The happiest 'horn around!

I could just squeeze her and kiss her all day...because she's the only one that lets me.

Adorable!

If you look closely, you can see her teeth coming in!  Nooooooo...she's growing up too fast!

Seven Years Strong

How did we celebrate our seven year anniversary?  Camping of course! I know, most people thought I was crazy, but I thought it would be romantic to hike in three miles, be so secluded, spending such quality time with each other without our usual distractions...cell phone, computer, kids, work, etc...  Our first night there, I thought "What was I thinking?"  No, don't get me wrong.  It was so much fun to pack, hike in, pitch our tent, eat simply, and sleep in bags.  It was fun until I heard footsteps and someone fiddling with my backpack right by our tent at 1am.  Dang raccoons!  And I really began to second guess my wonderful idea to camp the second night when we heard gun shots at 1am, 3am, and 5am.  All I could think of was a serial camper killer on the loose!  Turns out it was just pig hunters on neighboring ranches.  Pig hunting in the middle of the night does NOT sound like a good time to me.  And how rude!  Don't they know there are campers trying to catch some much needed shut-eye?

Needless to say, we were both happy to pack up and head down the mountain first thing Saturday morning and head to our bed and breakfast that was waiting for us for the next two nights.  And we got there just before it began to pour!  We had a great time wine tasting the next two days, well, maybe we had a bit too much fun wine tasting and relaxing.

The entire trip was such a blast!  There's no one else I would rather have been with to protect me...from a gang of racoons.   And there's no one else I would rather have been with to get sloshed on wine.  What a couple of light weights!  I love my hubby so much and thank God for him each and every day!

Proud of his JetBoil

Another proud moment, just in time for sunset....phew!

Showing off

Exploring caves

Demonstrating his bouldering skills