Liliane at 9 Months

 Isn't she beautiful! This dress was a gift from a good friend and it is just perfect for Lili!

 

 Lili is a fantastic eater. She eats every vegetable we have given her, beans, quinoa, brown rice etc. Dallin is a fantastic eater too. I'm glad that at least two of my kids eat well because then there is Gavin who is the pickiest boy I know. 

We were really excited one night because for the first time our whole family ate the same food and liked it. The winner...guacamole. Lili chowed down apparently really liking onion and garlic!

 Shocking us all, Gavin ate it too. Zane and I almost fainted.

He didn't eat it with as much enthusiasm as Lili but we found one food our whole family likes.

Lili eating beets!

My sister-in-law did a photo shoot with Lili while we were on vacation. This outfit was another gift from a good friend.  Isn't is so cute!

Lili still isn't into swings. I think she is just too small.

We moved during Lili's 9 months and she was such a trooper through it all. I'm so grateful for a sweet, easy going baby!

Family Reunion: Lots of Swimming

 We would usually start our day and end the day swimming in the lake. We jumped off the dock, threw the kids off, launched Dallin and then Zane started doing tricks off the dock.

We had a lot of fun playing in this lake!

Family Reunion: Boating

 We vacation a lot on the lake and my parents usually rent a boat for the day. Since our house was on the lake with a dock, it was really easy to drop people off and add more to the boat.

 Dallin loves tubing. Gavin isn't quite sure how he feels.

I'm not much of a water skiier so I had to document that I did it. Zane loves it much more than me so I usually take a turn and then give him the rest of the time.

My dad

Clayton and Dallin

Zane and his boys

Just Dallin and Zane

We learned on this trip that Gavin can take a nap anywhere. Grandma was the lucky one again!

Family Reunion: Caves

 Another activity we did on our reunion was checking out a cave (think nice and cool.) Grandma and I had our work out from the start. Gavin fell asleep in the car on the way and we both took turns carrying him while he slept.

  

Getting ready to go in.

How Lili enjoyed the cave

Zane is a pro!

Seriously, one amazing dad!

Gavin helping Ellery along

The boy who loves to climb

Group shot

Family Reunion in Austin

I look forward to our family reunion every year. It is crazy with so many grandchildren under one roof and by the end, we definitely have gotten on each other's nerves. But there is also lots of memories made, tons of yummy food eaten (we all take turns making meals), lots of games and late night laughter, and lots and lots of swimming. We have to keep cool somehow. This vacation was interesting because my sister showed up with pink eye. It was soon passed around to at least one person in each family. Luckily my little family had already had pink eye and so we didn't get it. Grandpa caught it and he was pretty miserable (and probably cursing some kids who just can't help touching their eye and spreading the virus.

We stayed in one big house on a lake. There was one large room where we could all eat together with two sitting areas around it. The four master suites were off of the kitchen area. Like most years, my parents slept on the fold out couch in the main area so as soon as the kids start waking up, my parents are forced awake with grand kids who just can't leave them alone. It totally isn't fair to them.

Here are some highlights: 

Gavin and Ellery are starting to play now. Ellery is in between Gavin and Lili's age. They also fight over toys more!

Dallin still wrestles anyone he thinks wants to wrestle. If you are laying down, he thinks you definitely want to get jumped on. I'm sure this gets on some of the uncles' nerves but for the most part, everyone is a good sport about his energy. They also take him down when he needs it!

Dallin and Uncle Clayton (Dallin looooves to play with Clayton.)

Gavin and Ellery

Being silly

Male bonding time over the grill

Relaxing together (Carter may have had pink eye at this point.)

Cooking together

Lili spending a little time with Grandma before bed time.

Being silly with Grandpa

Feeding time

Besides swimming and boating, we went to a living farm and explored.

All outings are better with ice cream at the end.

Lindsey brought one of her dogs with her. My boys love her dogs! Lindsey needs to move closer to us so we can visit her dogs any time (then we wouldn't have to have one of our own!)

On the way home, we decided to stop off at a river to play and have lunch. Zane found some rocks to jump off of.

Dallin tried out the rope.

Along with Zane

The vacation didn't disappoint. We always have so much fun when we are together.