Beach Boys!

After camp was over, we went down the mountain and to the beach!!! We had never been to the beach or ocean before. The last time Daddy and Mommy were there, Mommy was pregnant with us.

Here is one of the very first times we caught a glimpse of the beach from our car. As you can see, Josiah has a stick. One of the things we liked to do at camp was collect sticks. We even smuggled some into the car when Daddy and Mommy were packing things in to leave. :) Here are Mommy and Elijah getting their feet in the sand:
Here is Daddy taking us into the water:

The waves got our toes!

This is one of Mommy's favorite pictures...us running away from the incoming wave!

Here we are going back for more. It's a good thing we had all our clothes in the van...we got soaked!

And here is Elijah with funny beach hair!

Camp Fun, CA Style

Every day there were new and different things to try out. On one day, we went up to where there was a skate park! Can you believe it?? Mommy said camp was not like that at all when she was a kid. This camp not only had a skate park, but had a little archery range, shooting range, rock wall, mud bowl, ropes challenge course, zip lines, and all sorts of other things! Mommy did the archery and she hit the target each time (three arrows). She even got a bullseye! Even Mr. Brian only got one bullseye. :) We aren't big enough for a lot of it yet, but we did get to try one thing that we were SO excited about - Skateboarding!!! Here are a couple of pictures of us on the skate board:

After we finished at the skate park we were so sad to leave. So one of the boys (Dylan) brought his skateboard down to another flat area and helped us try a little more. That was SO cool! We weres so, so happy!!!

Even though Elijah is a baby, he really liked camp, too. Well, the first night he didn't really like it, but after that he did great! Here he is enjoying some time outside in his stroller. He's 9 months old in this picture!

Here is a view from the central meeting area where the elementary kids met. It is hard to get a picture that really captured the beauty of the area.

At Camp...

We did some of the things the big kids did at camp, but we weren't big enough for everything. One thing we really enoyed was listening to Mr. Andy and the band (who we now call our "Rock Star" friends) when they played before the sessions. Here we are doing our part to be in the band.

Jonathan as a drummer: Josiah playing guitar:

During free time at camp there were all sort of fun things to do. One thing that we got to try was mini-golf! We got to play quite a few holes before Daddy and Mommy got called to do work. :) Don't think they worked too hard...mostly they put band aids on kids and gave their medicines. We really enjoyed being in the mountains!

We're Campers!

All summer we have been looking forward to one thing: Camp! Well, Camp, the beach, and Legoland. :) Camp/Vacation time finally came and we were SO excited to tell everyone we were campers. Daddy and Mommy agreed to go along with the elementar and jr. high kids from our church to camp to be their nurses. It was way better than we thought it would be! We got to sleep in a cabin in the upper bunks of bunk beds! We played with the big kids, listened to Mr. Andy and the band, and got to do all sorts of fun things.

At camp the gave us a golf cart to ride around between the elementary and jr. high camps. That was definitely a HUGE highlight for us. We LOVE riding in the golf cart! We got to help Daddy and Mommy do their work there and ride in the golf cart with them. One morning we went with Mommy to the big kids' camp to help give their medicines. As Mommy was getting us loaded into the golf cart some of the counselors saw a bear behind us. Luckily Mommy was busy and didn't hear it. She got in the cart and started down the mountain. When she reached some of our friends a little way down they told her there was a bear behind us. We wish we would've seen it, but Mommy said she's glad that she didn't. Mommy kept calling us her little bear snacks that week. :)

We had so much fun at camp and we are already talking about when we get to go back. One of the neatest things is that our camp friends are here in Arizona! When we go to church we almost always get to see some of them. We love that!!!

Jonathan sleeping in the top bunk:
Josiah in the other top bunk:

Singing and dancing with Daddy and the elementary kids:

Sadie and Austin

This spring our friend Miss Michelle told us about two litters of puppies that her mom had. Our Daddy and Mommy decided that we could have one! We waited and waited, and finally the day came that we could go and meet our puppy. We knew we were getting a girl puppy, so Daddy and Mommy tried to get us to pick out a name. We really wanted to name her Kitty, but instead Mommy brought up the name Sadie. We like that name, too, so we decided her name is Sadie! Here are our first pictures of us together! Sadie is a poodle and Bichon mix puppy. We love her very much!

Josiah holding Sadie: Jonathan holding Sadie:

Sadie sitting out in the grass:

Sadie's brother Austin:

Sadie's brother Austin was adopted by our friend Adie and her Daddy and Mommy. He is a little black puppy from the same litter. He's so cute, too! Our Daddy and Mommy originally thought about giving Chloe to one of our family or friends, because Daddy is allergic to her. However, everytime they would say something about it, I (Josiah) would immediately burst into tears. So now we have two doggies!! :)

Elijah Can Float!

Elijah did so good at swimming this year! Here is a picture of him floating fully clothed, without any help from Miss Heather. He almost looks like he's sleeping! Here he is the following day in his regular swimming outfit. :) Daddy and Momm love that he can turn over and float!! It's pretty amazing to see!

Swimming in our Clothes?!

At the end of our lessons, we always have a lesson where we swim in our winter clothes. Well, this year we thought that idea was pretty funny! Here are some pictures of us on our 'test' day. Mommy has videos of our swimming, too, but she thinks she's doing good to get pictures up (since these are from May and it's already August!).

Here we are before - all decked out in our long pants, shoes, and hoodies: Here I (Josiah) am swimming. I refused to take my hood off. :)
And here is Jonathan swimming:
Daddy and Mommy are so proud of us. We love that we can swim, and next year will do the lessons with Miss Heather and then do stroke lessons. We love the water and Daddy and Mommy love that we are safe in the water!

Swimming Time!!!!

Well, the weather warmed up, so that meant one thing for us...Swimming Time! We got to get back in the water with our favorite swimming teacher, Miss Heather. We did great this year! We were unsure when we started (like always). We did great in the water and remembered everything we were supposed to, but we were just shy getting in. One day Mommy asked who was going first. We decided neither of us wanted to go, so we made Elijah go first! Ha! Mommy put a stop to that real quick, though, and we all had to take turns. By the end we were begging to go first! Here are some pictures from the beginning lessons this summer.

Josiah getting ready to go to the bar:
Josiah jumping off the stairs to swim to Miss Heather (can you tell he was excited?!):

Jonathan after one of his first swims that day:

Jonathan getting ready to swim to the bar:
Elijah floating! He learned how to turn over so his face was up and how to float on his back. He did a great job. You can see in this picture he would get on his back and then stiffen his legs. By the end of his lessons he was floating like a pro - all relaxed!

A Good Day

One day in early May we got to run errands with Nanny and Papa, and then we all went to one of our favorite places to eat...Red Robin! Here are some pictures of our little outing with Papa, Nanny, and Mommy:

Elijah was happy to sit in his carseat. If you look closely, you can see that he has one little tooth coming in on the bottom! Here is Jonathan and Nanny:

Here I (Josiah) am with Papa!
We love that we live so close to Nanny and Papa and can do these spur of the moment little 'dates' with them!

More Birthday?!?!

Over a week after Mommy's birthday she decided to go and celebrate some more with her friends. We don't know why we weren't invited to go along...we like all of Mommy's friends, and we like to eat. Anyway, they went to a place called Ah-So, where they cook in front of you. They also ate sushi - Mommy said she actually liked it! We would have LOVED to go with to a restaurant like that. We think you should all tell Mommy and Daddy to take us there next time...

Here are Mommy's friends Miss Heather, Miss Donna, and Miss Amanda: And here are Miss Sheri and Miss Paula:
And this is the YUMMY looking dessert that the gave Mommy for her birthday. Really, someone needs to tell Daddy that we need to go there, too!!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!!

For Mommy's birthday we had a party! We helped to decorate Mommy's cake - can you tell which part we did?? We love having parties and especially having birthday parties! Mommy had a great day, and loved her cake!

Open Wide

We had dentist appointments on Mommy's birthday ... and as a surprise gift to her we didn't cry at all! We did a great job sitting in the big chairs and letting them clean our teeth. Then the dentist came in and counted our teeth. He said they all look great! They did both of our cleanings at the same time - in chairs 'next door' to each other. Mommy went back and forth between us and we did great even without her. Here I (Josiah) am in the chair: And here is Jonathan...looking like he's not quite sure if he's ready for it... :)

Buzz Cuts, Please!

Here begins a story of one rite of passage...our first haircuts like Daddy's! Mommy cuts Daddy's hair (most of the time she does a good job), and finally got up the courage to cut our hair, too. We were so excited to have haircuts like Daddy's. We talked about it for a few days, and then one afternoon we decided we we ready. Josiah went first. Here is his 'before' shot: Here is a 'during' shot - we even got lollipops, just like at the other hair cut place!
Here is Josiah after - but before he had saw the final result:
Here is Josiah looking at his new hair cut, and me watching and waiting for my turn!

Here is Mommy taking Josiah's picture as he checks out his new 'haircut like Daddy's!'

This is all of Josiah's hair on the floor:

Here is my 'before' shot:

And my 'during' shot...do you think Mommy should have left us with mohawks?!

And here is my 'after' shot before I saw it. You can see Josiah's hand as he's feeling my newly shaved head!

And here is Mommy taking my picture as I see my new haircut for the first time, with Josiah watching:

Here I am admiring myself and my new look:

Here is all of our hair on the floor - it was a LOT!

Of course, Mommy had to get a couple more pictures of us....

Do you think we liked it???

And one with Baby Elijah:

Mommy and Daddy say we look really differnt now. As you can see, Josiah has a little bald spot on the side of his head, so it's easier (or at least faster) for them to tell us apart now. We don't mind - we love our cool haircuts for the summer!