In The Daisies, AGAIN

Last year we captured some fun moments with our baby Clara in the daisy field behind my parents' place. This year we lucked out and were passing through town when the daisies were in bloom. We were also fortunate that Grandma Jan had this sweet little dress for Clara. It was something cousin Taylor around this time last year. Here are some of the shots from our impromptu photo session. Thanks Mom for playing photographer AGAIN!

Clara LOVES Manzanita!!

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Last weekend we met up with Kevin's parents at the beach house in Manzanita. We had wonderful weather and Clara was tickled to be down on the beach playing in the sand. We really lucked out as the sun was out during our whole stay. We had some windy spells but Saturday morning was some of the best weather we have ever had on Manzanita beach. While we were there, the coast was experiencing some great low tides and so we went several times to Hug Point to go explore the wonderful tide pools. Clara was most impressed with splashing and playing in the sand. She also became obsessed with throwing rocks in the water and would get so excited after each throw. After such a fun, yet short trip we will be looking forward to heading back in early August.

Grandma's Visit

Scout and her "Ga Ga" Grandma Jan. She helped us out so much last week and we really appreciate her taking care of Clara while we focused on the garage sale and got to have a fun night out with friends.

Father's Day

We enjoyed a nice Father's Day together as a family. We had Grandma Jan in town visiting and went out for a tasty brunch. During one of the breaks from the many down pours on Sunday we snuck over to the duck pond by our house and tried to get some family photos. Clara was so happy to be outside, it was hard to keep her in a frame long enough to get a shot. She is such a busy little gal these days and loves exploring outdoors.

Clara and her Daddy
Happy Father's Day, Kevin!

Family Fun

Arizona

Our little family just returned from Clara's first trip to Arizona as well as her first plane ride. All in all, this adventure went pretty well! We traveled to the town of Maricopa last Saturday to enjoy some sun and golf with friends Tyson, Brooke, Adam & Elaine. We stayed at Brooke's parents vacation home and had a wonderful time! The weather was PERFECT for lots of time in the pool and morning golf for Ty, Adam and Daddy.

Clara loved dangling her little feetsies in the pool and looked so adorable in her bathing suit.

Clara & Adam show off their AWESOME shades!

Mama & Scout

Family fun in the pool! Clara took to being in the pool fairly well, but it took us most of the trip to get her to ride in the baby floaty and she never really loved it.

What she did love was being pulled around by Brooke!

And blowing bubbles with Tyson!

* Fun * Fun * Fun *

We feel so lucky to get such a long run of summertime weather this early in the year. We have been trying to take advantage of it by spending lots of time outside. Clara is loving this! She gets out her sandals and insists on putting on a jacket (we try and get it off her once we are out) and then stands by the back door and waits to go outside. She is content just playing with rocks and looking at things in the backyard.

One of her other favorite things right now is reading a handful of her favorite books, naming the animals in them and making their sounds. She says quite a few of them really! We are impressed with how much she is talking. She FINALLY uses "Mama" correctly - after weeks of being called "Dada," it feels so nice!

Great Grandpa & Grandma Swanson were up over the weekend and Papa Bob bought Clara this easel at a consignment sale we went to. She has been having fun painting and using her chalk with it!
Scout is all sacked out after a weekend of playing and having fun. It is not a common sight since she typically only will sleep in her own crib or car seat. Kevin savored every moment of having her asleep on his shoulder.

Clara Goes to 3rd Grade

Last Friday, Clara got to spend the afternoon in Auntie Michele's 3rd grade classroom at Mt. View Elementary. The students had earned a pizza party. Their special treat was a visit from Clara and Vertigo since the students have been learning about rabbits. Clara loved the children and they were all so good with her. Verti, or Go-Go, which Clara calls her, was also on her best behavior which was a relief since she had not been in public in years.