Barbecues & Bandanas and Dancing & Drawers!

JAKE GOT A GRILL!!!! It was an early Father's Day gift! I really wanted to doing some bbqing, and so did Jake...and whaa-la! We now are the proud owners of our very own grill! We had a really fun time putting it together....NOT!!! It was aweful and we had to use some of our own parts, but it's up and running!!! We made some flank steaks the other day and they were yummy!

 Here is step by step pictures of what went on...The precooked picture...the cooking picture...the half way off picture...the fully done picture (He was a little sick of my pictures by then)...and finally the cleaning picture. I was a little picture happy!!! I was just so excited to barbecue!!!

 Even Mary thought it was good!!!

If you didn't know Mary LOVES to walk around with towels and stuff on her head. Well the other day she found my Buff. Yes that's what it is called. It is a tube of fabric without seams. It's SUPER comfy and I love it!!! I really, really want another one, but haven't gotten enough guts to do it - They're not Jake's favorite (he says I look like a Babushka in it) and are kind of expensive for the amount of fabric. But they are comfy and you can wear them so many different ways. There are even videos about it. ANYway, back to Mary...she found it and wanted to wear it. So I put it on her and she'd wear it for a little while before she'd take it off and want me to put it back on again. She looked so cute! 

The other day Jake was dancing with me and Mary wanted in. So we all danced together for a while, which she thought was really funny. And then I let Jake and Mary dance. It was really cute and she thought it was fun.

So our old microwaved died and had been sitting in the living room - Jake finally got rid of it. Well, while it was there Mary thought it was a play place for her. She would sit on it, stand on and even dance on it. It was her first table dancing routine. Do you see the dish towel by her foot? Yeah, she stole that from the kitchen and was wearing it around on her head...silly girl!

Mary has learned the art of opening drawers and climbing. And now she has managed to combine them. I use to have papers in the drawer until she figured out how to open it. Now I just need to teach her how to stay OUT of the drawer!!!

Fun in the Sun!

This last week has been pretty fun! Jake's Grandma was in town for a week and so we went and had some fun. She, Mary and I went to Ikea, The Container Store and the Mall. It was really fun just looking and talking. Mary loved being out with Grandma Barton and was a really good sport about everything. Then on Friday we went to a play called Rocket Fizz. It's a store that has over 400 kinds of candy and over 100 (or something like that) different kinds of soda. So we decided it would be fun to go downtown in Denver on a FRIDAY night...I'm really not sure what we were thinking. So an hour and a half later we make it to the store. Which was good because Mary just about had had it with the car seat. It was a cool store, not what I expected - it was kind of small, but still fun to go into. We bought some really good pop there - Blood Orange soda was my favorite! It was super yummy! Even Mary liked some of the pop we got...

Ha ha ha! Don't worry it was empty.

Jake told his brother to get a Sweet Corn soda. Jake lied to him and told him it was really good. He got home and just about threw-up! It was pretty funny! We all had a pretty good time - even Mary.

 This was on the way there, she was happy and eating in the car. She received a lot of compliments on how cute she looked. I agreed with all of them! She looks so big with pigtails!

I thought this was an awesome picture of her. This is what happens to her hair the day after pigtails!

Jake was playing music for her on his phone and she loved it!!!

He would play piano music and she would stop doing whatever she was doing and be completely mesmerized by it. I hope she continues to like music!

Having fun!

And more fun! Her hair is a mess....again!

On Saturday Jake and I (yes, even me) went out and did A LOT of yard work. This yard needs a lot of help!!! So we raked, and raked and raked. Then mowed, fertilized, set the sprinklers, etc. It was a lot to do. We filled about 8-10 garbage bags full of dead grass and leafs and stuff. It was a mess. We're working on bring it back to life.

We went out to our backyard to play for the first time. She had a good time!

I'm trying to brainwash her into liking frisbee early...so far, so good! ;)

And last, but not least! Drum roll please!!!!!!!!!! Jake got a grill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!! Barbecuing here we come!!! I'm so excited to grill this summer. We're going to have a good time! Well, that's about it for us. Hope you have having a great start to your summer!!!

Puppy!

My mom makes all the grandkids stuffed animal puppies. They are very cute and greatly loved! Mary loves to drag hers around and lay on it. As you can see...

This was a just a funny close up of my little girl. She was looking at my phone.

Have a great day!!!

Easter Fun!

After the cruise I went to my parents to get Mary and Jake went home :( I had quite the ordeal getting to my parents. I missed one flight and almost missed another. I was done with travelling by the end!!! Mary did take a few minutes to warm up to me, but after that she was glued to me. It was great seeing my little girl again! I missed her!!!

She loved playing with eggs and all the toys at my parents. She also loved playing with her cousins!

We are about to start the Easter egg hunt. She's very excited!

Her are some of her cousins to come on the hunt too!

She found her first egg!

She learned that there were treats in the eggs! (Not that she got to eat any... I know I'm such a mean mom!)

Checking out her loot!

Hanging out with Papa while we tried to get dinner on.

When we got home Mary's Great-Grandmother Sharron sent her some presents and some were bath toys! AWESOME!!! You can barely see it, but she's looking at the bubbles coming from a bubble machine. It was so fun!!!!

CRUISE!!!

For Jake's graduation from BYU-Idaho his parents told him they wanted to take a trip. So Jake said he wanted to go on a cruise, but not just any cruise. He wanted to go on the biggest cruise ship you can find - The Oasis of the Seas. So we started looking and found a 7-day Caribbean cruise. It was great because Jake and I had never been to the Caribbean and thought it would be fun. It went to Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Martin. It was really fun! There was a ton to do onboard and we had great excursions at the ports! Here are some of our pictures from the trip!

Here is our crazy huge boat!!!

On Nassau near Atlantis. It was really cool, but they wouldn't really let you walk around.

Rock climbing on the ship. Fun!

Relaxing! Loved it!!!

In port! (I think the way our hands are positioned make Jake look pregnant...sorry sweetie!)

Going snorkeling in St. Thomas. This was one of our favorite stops. I've never been snorkeling and I LOVED IT!!!

Jake eating an apple pie with cheese on top. It was weird, but he said it was good.

On St. Martin they have this crazy airport where the planes come right up agains the fence, but on their brakes, get the engines to full power and then take off. The runway is too short to do it any other way.

So the run way is about 30 yards from the beach. So people stand behind the planes to feel the jet power. It's cool to watch but I wouldn't want to do it. There is a couple in this picture holding their 5-7 year old son in the jet blast. Not the brightest idea they've ever had.

Here is the warning sign. One of about 5!

Gorgeous view!

At the same airport the planes have to fly in super low to catch the runway. See the beach? See how low the plane is? It's really cool. Jake was in HEAVEN!!!

Playing at the beach (a quarter of this beach was a nude beach, needless to say we didn't wander around the beach - AT ALL!). This was on the French side of St. Martin.

We took a jeep tour around St. Martin. It was really fun. This was a protected area. It was really pretty.

A parade on the boat.

The dinning room.

Eating at the dinning room. (Can you tell I was sunburned??? Jake was too, but you can't see it)

The Carousel, it was really fun!!!

Just hanging out.

Watching the diving show.

The outdoor theatre. This is where they had the diving shows and other stuff.

The Italian Restaurant. It was really yummy!

Central Park level. This is the level we stayed on. I loved it!

Back in Florida Jake and I had time to go to the Everglades before our planes left. It was really fun. I'd never been on an airboat before and had never seen crocs in the wild. It was a good end to a great trip!!!

Here was the kids swimming area.

At the airport I got a donut. I love donuts and love dunkin' donuts! It was very yummy!!!

Thank you Mom and Dad Beckstead for taking us on this amazing trip!!! It was soooooo fun!!!!