Help! I have the cutest baby!

Wanted: Photos of cute babies

My Dad and my Grandma both forwarded me that article from The Times. The Lake County Right to Life is having a contest at the Lake County Fair for the cutest baby photo. Trouble is, you're only allowed to submit one photo and I'm the most indecisive person you've ever met! These are a few of my favorites.

Please vote to the right.

#1 Sweet Slumber 2 days old

#2 Made You Smile 4 months old

#3 Hat & Hosta 7 1/2 months old

#4 Julia Rocks! 8 1/2 months old

#5 Beauty in Bubbles 8 1/2 months old

#6 Sandy Slide 8 1/2 months old

#7 Beach Babe 9 months old

Strawberry Candy

This post actually has nothing to do with candy. The name of the daylily is "Strawberry Candy". My Aunt Kathy gave it to me a couple years ago. As soon as it started blooming a couple weeks ago, I let Julia explore. The minute it got to her mouth, though, the photo shoot was over!

Highland Festival

Yes, I'm behind. The Highland Festival was the weekend of the fourth. We went on Sunday afternoon. We walked from Mola's house & Julia loved her backpack. She had her first taste of an elephant ear, Mmmm. She missed nap time that afternoon, and she actually fell asleep in the backpack on the walk back. Poor baby.

Nine Month Portraits

Need I say more?

Beach Babe

On Saturday of the holiday weekend, Julia saw the beach for the first time. Christie and I spent a couple hours at Wset Beach and Amber and Autumn met us there to play for a while. The water was cold, so we only put her feet in. We ate snacks and played on the beach blanket for a couple hours. She couldn't have lasted all day, but a short trip was perfect and I'd call it a success.

1st 4th

Julia's first fourth of July, that is. We went to the Griffith parade Friday morning. I knew Highland's twilight parade would be too late for her and she'd be crabby. So we got up early on the fourth and walked with Nana to Broad St.

Nana, Kristen & Julia

I was so glad, one of the first groups in the parade was handing out flags so Julia got one to wave. And she loved waving it!

She also got a popsicle from Karla on our church's VBS float. We didn't open it, but she could've cared less. That popsicle didn't know what hit it! She kept at it until it was completely melted and I finally confiscated it for fear that she would destroy it with her new sharp teeth.

Julia & Papa. Is that not precious?

Mesmerized by the parade.

This was the face she made for the fire trucks. She never cried.

Kristen took this one herself. Love it!

The bib says, "My Papa's a Policeman"

My Grandpa Gulley met us at Cracker Barrel where we sit to watch Highland's fireworks. Julia got her first "ride", which was actually only a "sit", on Grandpa's bike.

John came from work and met us there. Finally, a family photo for the 4th.

Shhh... it's a secret!

Game Day

A couple weeks ago, the Sandoval's invited us over for a cook out/outdoor game day. And John was actually off! We played cornhole, hillbilly golf, and raquetball. Fun day! I didn't take too many pictures. Too busy, I guess!

They have a hammock swing in a tree in their back yard. You know how Julia loves swings!

Stephanie gave Julia her first taste of ice cream. Mmmm...

Messy mouth!

I'm proud of this action shot. Good job John!

Game Night

We get together a lot with friends to play games at our house. Mola owns a billion games (and I'm not exaggerating!), and I prefer our house because of the baby, so we always volunteer. We play any Sunday night after church that everyone can make it and John's not working. Someone brought it up (I think Brandon?), that we should have some pictures of game nights, as often as we have them. So I took some.

John, Jess, Brian, Julia, Christie, Missy & Brandon

They crack me up together. Julia gets to hang out with Mola in the sound room when we practice for worship team. She loves him. Truthfully, I think it's because he lets her eat the remotes. :)

Christie & Julia

Missy & Brandon

Christie was playing some game with Julia that she thought was hilarious, I can't even remember exactly. Julia was giggling like crazy, though.

John's in the position. Hovering over the board is what he does best. :) Just kidding, I love you honey! While the object of most games is to win, our secondary objective is usually just to make sure John doesn't win. I don't know how how got targeted like that. It's probably because of the way he reacts to it. He pouts the whole game about everybody ganging up on him, or how it's not fair, or something like that, and then he ends up winning anyway. Poor John. :)

Finally!

Kick back and relax because you're going to be here for a while! There are actually 58 pictures in this series of 8 posts, all about our trip to Kentucky. I didn't realize I was being so excessive until it was too late. But at least it's done. You can read them as is, or start at the bottom because they appear in reverse order from the way I typed them. Either way, enjoy!

Jeeping & Camping: On the Trail

Friday and Saturday were the two full days we spent in the off road park. We belong to a local club called Northwest Indiana Jeepers, and we took this trip with them. We really only spent the two days in the park together, and did our own thing the rest of the trip. It was nice because there was another family with two older kids that came, so I had a woman to talk to. The sad thing about Jeeping is that you usually get the best pictures of Jeeps other than your own, particularly the one in front of you. For some obstacles we would all stop and go through one at a time, and then I could get out and take some of our own Jeep. We plan to post them on the NWIJ site, and then we can all swap, and hopefully someone got some good ones of us. But here are the ones I do have. John should really caption these, as this is not my area of expertise. You'll have to ask him, he'll give you an earful.

"Mud Terrain" tires, did you notice? :)