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We did some exploring today--went to an area about 20 minutes away called Hidden Springs--a master planned community in the foothills (originally a big farm area) with cute homes in all different styles. Interesting... We also went up to Bogus Basin ski area about an hour away--we tried out a ski lift chair (not running, of course). Gavin wanted to know where all the snow was!

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This guy is my little buddy, big helper & PLAYMATE! He had me busy today playing Connect Four, playing Demolition Derby, playing with his Star Wars guys, reading library books & a trip to the park! Love him!

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Gavin continues to practice riding his bike just about every day. He's getting much better! He has a handle on using the brakes on the downhills, but I've been trying to get him to stand up & pedal on the uphills. Today on the way home from the park, when I'd tell him to stand up, he kept telling me he wasn't Gavin--he was "the neighbor kid..." he was 6 years old... he didn't need to stand up--he could get uphill sitting down, so he could teach my "kid," Gavin, how to ride a bike if I wanted him to.

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We are now loyal Scentsy people. After almost 2 weeks on the job, Darin put in an employee order, and last Friday he brought home our 2 warmers & 1 plug-in, along with 6 Scentsy bars. We love them! Gavin has claimed the plug-in as his, since it's in "his" bathroom, and when we return home after being gone from the house, he'll often say, "I smell SCENTSY!"

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Our Ellie is 39 weeks old today--exactly 9 months--so she's been "on the outside" for as long as she was "in the oven." Lots has changed since then--she said her first word last week: "uh oh." She loves to smile, blow raspberries, walk with her walker, take baths, and she's really good at playing with her toys (with Gavin or by herself). She can put away the Gerber Puffs, and if you don't keep them coming fast enough, she'll let out a very loud, throaty YELL! (Sometimes we call her Yellie Ellie)

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Today we checked out "Monkey Bizness"--a place with a bunch of jumpers/bouncers, things to climb through, swing on, slide down and a really tall climbing wall. Gavin had a great time, and Ellie had fun in the toddler area. I'd gotten a Groupon for 5 passes (kids under 2 & parents are free), so we can go 5 times with it. I think we'll save the other 4 for winter time, when it's too cold to run around outside.

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Sunday picture in the backyard. Much better day at church--Ellie fell asleep in Sunday School & stayed asleep all through RS. She has what seems like an endless supply of cute dresses, thanks to the Williams' baby girl clothes we have on loan. Now, if we could just get her to stop eating the grass!

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Darin had been watching Craigslist for a bike and bike trailer to "tow" the kids, and he found great deals on both during the last week! I also got a great deal on a bike online, delivered Friday. Now we can go on a family bike ride, and as soon as Gavin is able to hold his own, he'll ride his own bike!

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Gavin had quad trouble today... He was about to take a look under the hood,

when Ellie volunteered to get out and push.

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Taking pictures of the kids swimming in our new blow-up pool in the backyard, and playing around
in Aperture mode. Thanks to Leo for being a willing (and stationary) subject.

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Shrimp & Grits--one of the things we loved about the South. We've made different versions of it,

but this one came from "The Deen Bros. take it easy" cookbook (Paula Deen's sons), which I

checked out from the library last week, and it's possibly my favorite. We halved the recipe, and

it still made a lot (this was Gavin's portion in the yellow bowl, of course). Mom & Dad, have

you had any shrimp & grits yet in Charleston? Let me know if you want this recipe!

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She can scale walls Spiderman style (sort of)... she's SUPER Ellie! Really, she gets around quickly,
using a variety of methods to get practically anywhere she wants to go.

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Here we are! We came back from the park tonight, & Darin decided to mow the grass... at 9:00pm. As you can see, it's still plenty light. Ellie's overseeing the work from her stroller just inside the garage, and Gavin was playing around the tree, steering clear of the mower. The two upstairs windows are Gavin's room (right) and Ellie's room (left). I'll be working on a picture tour of the house for our other blog.

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Church today! We're getting used to the 9am schedule. For some reason, it's tough on Ellie! Today she was happy in Sacrament Meeting, fought sleep all through Sunday School, and finally fell asleep for RS.  It is nice to be home just after noon though... we had a nice relaxing family day at home. I made a new recipe for coconut ice cream using coconut milk, and I mixed in mini chocolate chips & sliced almonds. Yum!

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Ellie was the first one to sleep (around 10:30 last night) & the last one to wake up, at 8:15 in the morning! We enjoyed a pancake breakfast, cooked by the Bishopric, then packed up & went home to shower around 9:45 am. Boy, did that feel good! Darin has decreed that we need a bigger tent, since he wants to camp more/regularly. Ours is a "4-man" tent, but it barely fits a queen size air mattress with an extra 2 feet of space on the side. Later today, we went and saw the movie, Despicable Me... very cute.

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Ward Campout--we did it! It was pretty fun, actually. We set up our tent when we got there, around 6:30. We met & got to chat with quite a few people from the ward, and even discovered a relation to the Bishop side! We'd made tin foil dinners, there were 5 different dutch oven cobblers, the Bishop recited some Cowboy Poetry around the campfire, another guy sang with a guitar, a girl played violin, and suddenly it was 10:00 pm and practically dark. We got ready for bed & tucked in. 

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Gavin rode his bike again to the park (notice his helmet hair), and this time we remembered to bring some bread to feed the ducks & geese! 

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Gavin, on the other hand, has been practicing riding his bike! It was his birthday present when he turned 3, but that may have been a bit premature. He's now starting to get the hang of it, with a lot of hard work and perseverance. We went to the park (Gavin on his bike, Ellie in the stroller & Darin & I walking). Gavin's a little slow still, so he said, "You guys go ahead, & I'll catch up..." then, about

30 seconds later, as the gap between us widened, he called out, "I'll make you proud, Dad!" 

We cracked up... and he said, "That's from Robots." (the movie which he's seen at least 20 times)

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Ellie has been practicing walking with this walker toy & around furniture. She's getting pretty good!

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Today was Darin's first day of work at Scentsy. He drove his Land Cruiser the 3.26 miles to work--gotta love it! He had half a day of company orientation, then was with his department for the afternoon. Meanwhile, Gavin, Ellie & I checked out storytime at one of the many local libraries--FUN! The Meridian & Boise libraries are all on the same system, so we got our library card and checked out some books.

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We went to the full block of our new ward for the first time today, so Gavin got to go to his new Sunbeam class--there are actually 2 Sunbeam classes, so lots of kids his age. Speaking of sunbeams, one of the hardest things for us to get used to here is how late the sun goes down! This picture was taken at 9:30 pm, and the sun was just starting to set! As a result, Gavin's bedtime has been a little later than usual. We've gotten back to around 9:00 bedtime now, but he'll always say, "but it's not even dark!"

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Another Hipstamatic shot from the iPhone... almost looks like it's from the 70's or so.

Ellie & Gavin are loving the park--and we're all loving this weather!
Ask us again in 6 months, once the reality check of winter has set in.

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Darin discovered a new iPhone app called, "Hipstamatic." It puts different "lenses" & "flashes" on your photos in the phone... it's been fun to play around with & see some different looks. This one was taken at Souper Salad... which will have to replace Sweet Tomatoes as Gavin's favorite restaurant, since there are no Sweet Tomatoes in Idaho. Notice that Ellie has two teeth now on the bottom!

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Ellie's been waving for a couple days... and we finally snapped a picture! In other news, we got cable and internet installed today. Luckily we'd been able to "borrow" someone else's unsecured wireless connection in the neighborhood before today... now we're official.

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As we were unpacking Gavin's toys, he came across these 3-D glasses from when we saw "UP."

He put them on & said, "Mom, I needed to put my glasses on... my eyes are trashed!"

I burst out laughing--Gavin picks up on everything! During all the driving over the past couple of weeks, Darin would usually take his contacts out & put on his glasses once it got dark, because his eyes were tired. And yes, many times, he said, "...my eyes are trashed." And now you know... the rest of the story.

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We moved most of the rest of our things into the house today from the garage and put them in the right rooms. Darin pretty much single handedly carried all the boxes in, and I helped him with the furniture. Gavin helped me unpack boxes in the kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, etc., and Darin reassembled Gavin's bed, Ellie's crib, the dining room table, etc., and hooked up all the electronics. Teamwork!
We also worked in a trip to the park! Here's Gavin at the end of the day, ready for bed.

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We've arrived! We left Delta mid-morning & met Bec & Ben & girls for lunch in Orem, then headed
back up & went straight to our new house. We started moving a few things in from the garage,
most importantly, our beds so we'd have a place to sleep!

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A Happy Independence Day! We went to church with Grandma & Grandpa Bishop today & relaxed and visited. There are 5 beautiful horses staying in the field next to their house right now, and Gavin got to feed them some apples. Gavin has inherited a love for animals from his dad & Grandpa Bishop, no doubt. He wasn't afraid at all--he was gentle with them (& they were gentle back), he'd talk to them
as he fed them slice after slice, making sure they all got some. It was precious to witness...
and what better backdrop for the 4th of July?

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Yet another Williams family get-together--these guys like to party! This one was a 4th of July BBQ (on the 3rd of July, Bree's actual birthday). Pictured: giant bubbles around the kids... what fun! In Vegas, we loaded up our trailer and Suburban with as much as we could fit, then drove to Delta for our second ever Demolition Derby, where we met the Williams and were reunited with Gavin & Ellie. We sure missed them! The Derby did not disappoint, and the fireworks at 10:00 went over 20 minutes! The Williams drove home from there with sleepy girls, and we went back to Grandma & Grandpa Bishop's to sleep.

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It's all thanks to Bec & Ben that we even have photos for these couple days. We didn't snap a single picture yesterday while unloading the truck, or while driving 6 hours. We didn't even get one of the storage units, or the house in Vegas. We'd arrived at the house after 1:00 am last night, slept, went to the storage units in the morning, transported things to the house, cleaned out the refrigerator, packed food, etc. Meanwhile, the kids had a good time with the Williams playing & celebrating Bree's birthday. Apparently they didn't miss us a bit! Again, a huge thanks to Bec & Ben!!!

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By the time we unloaded everything from the truck into the garage and returned the truck, it was after noon. We went back to our hotel to shower (had gotten a late check-out), grabbed a bite to eat, then headed for Orem. Becky & Ben had graciously offered to keep Gavin & Ellie with them while we wrapped things up in Las Vegas. We arrived about 8:00 pm, just in time to change Ellie into pajamas, review her feeding/sleeping schedule with Bec & let the kids play awhile before bed.