Elitch Gardens on Labor Day.

Amelia made an amazing recovery from the previous problem only to lose her very first tooth. She was consoled by 50 cents from the tooth fairy, which she knows is pretend because she asks too many questions and I can't tell a bold-faced lie about it.

The top is my birthday cake that Chris made all by himself (he's very proud). It is called "Almost better than sex" cake, however I think there are several with that name. This one was a german chocolate cake base with a caramel sauce and then whip cream and then heath bar crumbles on top. It tasted very good and I am not a fan of cake, but I liked this one.

The next pic is Lauren's rite of passage self application of lipstick. The last is Amelia's sudden teeth problem. Thankfully we were able to get it fixed :)

The top pic is Chris' sister Katie with Amelia's cousins Tristin, and Timmy. The middle one is Amy and Amelia.

That same night Grandpa did a bonfire. Or rather maybe Uncle Tommy did a fair share of the stoking so it was quite a flame. The middle picture is Chris' sister Amy and her husband Nick and Amelia's cousin Ethan.

Lauren loved Grandma Willford's wooden city that she painted. She would push the cars around for quite some time. The last two pictures are of all their Willford cousins on the back fence of the Willford Plantation.

Grandpa Willford flood irrigates and the girls and their cousins, Ethan and Isaac couldn't resist the amazing fun in the huge puddle in the front yard. I was hoping it didn't hurt the lawn too much, but after the water soaked in the grass looked completely fine. I have tons more pictures of this fun, so Jenny I think I'll be sending you some.

Picnic at the park near Holt Arena. One of the few pictures where I'm in it so I thought I'd post it as evidence that I am pregnant. Below Lauren was really enjoying Grandma and Grandpa Archibald's piano.

Amelia hugging cousin Natalie and then chasing Wesley. They both had such a great time with cousins and were devastated to have to leave. And by devastated I mean DRAMA.

Above with Aunt Katie and below with Grandpa. Our girls are suckers for guitars. Sadly the studio I called to find out about lessons for Amelia said that they don't begin lessons for kids until they are 7. She took the news well. In the meantime I think we'll focus on music theory....if she has any patience.

At the Willford's. Above with Uncle Tommy and below are Grandma and Lauren telling stories.

The dragon boat races were interesting. This was one team from Iowa.

Waking up the dragon. These performers were really outstanding and worked up a lot of sweat. (We were next to one of them).

Here we are at the dragon boat festival in Lakewood.

Amelia's 5th birthday cake and party with friends on Sat. Then that night they wanted to sleep together or rather Amelia wanted ot sleep with Lauren. Lauren is sort of a solo sleeper...likes her space. Anyway they were too cute.

Amelia and Lauren with their cousins at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival.

The Cherry Creek arts festival this year. The last pic is of the kids learning to do the hula. Really cute.

What great sisters!

Chris' birthday and his precious ice cream cake that he requested. We made it out of cookie dough, cookie dough ice cream, vanilla ice cream and whip cream. He liked it, which was great. I guess I'm not really a big fan of ice cream.

Fun pictures of Lauren. The last one is Lauren on Father's Day.