Mamaw & Papa Mortenson come for a visit!

This is going to be a long post...sorry!!! Last Saturday, the 2nd, Kevin's parents arrived for a visit...their last since they'll be leaving on their mission to Mexico in October. Alexa warmed right up to "mamaw" as Grandma was smart to bring cookies with her in her purse!

As you can see, Alexa enjoyed having more attention!!

And she loved giving more attention too...here she's doing Grandpa's hair! (Not sure what Kevin was doing!!!)

PURE JOY!!

On Sunday after church, Alexa was hangin out with Grams and Gramps in their room and was being rather quiet and good, so Kevin and I went to investigate....and this is what we found, Alexa having her very first sucker! She took to it like she'd had one a thousand times before and she wouldn't let go of it! I think Grandma had fun spoiling her while they were here!!!

On Monday morning, we went to the splashpark and there was hardly anyone there. Alexa finally got her turn on the merry-go-round since it's usually overrun by older kids and too dangerous. She absolutely loved it! She loves anything that goes "weeeee"! We had a great day down by the river, enjoying the beautiful weather!

Weeeeeee!

Again with the shoes! The entire time grandma and grandpa were here, Alexa was fixated with their shoes, whether they were wearing them, where they were, that they needed them on, etc., etc.! Here she is trying on grandpa's flip-flops!

While Kevin's parents were here, we decided to take advantage of having a free babysitter so that we could go on a date! We went and saw The Dark Night and thoroughly enjoyed it AND our night out! Thanks Dale & Marial for giving us a nice break!

On Tuesday morning, we headed to Cherokee Park to have a barbecue and to play at the park. Alexa always loves the opportunity to be outside playing, especially the swings...those are her favorite!

The weather forecast said partly cloudy with a 10% chance of rain. Well, this is what we saw within minutes of unloading our gear and picnic items!! It moved in soooo quickly, we had to take shelter in the pavilion (we should have started there in the first place)...however, Kevin had already started the coals and so, like a trooper, her tried to shelter them from the rain so our picnic wouldn't be ruined!

Alexa had so much fun with grams and gramps sitting in the back seat with her, that's a rare treat to have company back there and they did a great job of entertaining her!

That night, we went to dinner at the Tumbleweed down by the river. Our meal was okay but it took forever, we were a little worried Alexa wouldn't make it through the meal. But she did great and then we took her out on the patio to give her a break while we waited for the check.

PEEK!!!

She was thoroughly enthralled by the ducks who were desperately hoping some of the restaurant patrons would through food over to them...sorry to disappoint!!

Ready, Set, Go! Alexa really enjoyed having Grandma & Grandpa Mortenson come for a visit. And we enjoyed the extra hands to entertain and help out...thanks so much! We miss you already!

Pioneer Day

Our Bishop held a ward party for Pioneer Day at his house. They have a beautiful pool area and a huge yard so everyone was able to enjoy a wonderful evening doing whatever they wanted...swimming, volleyball, eating...and in Alexa's case, swinging. She fell in love with this swing hanging from a big tree in their front yard. She's still a little too small to swing on it by herself but she enjoyed just playing with it and then swinging with mommy and one of her many admirers from our ward, Victoria McAuley (all the young women love her!!).

Friends

These are Alexa's new buddies, Quincy & Olan Carter, my friend Taffney's boys. Alexa LOVES them. She gets so excited whenever she sees them and they keep her entertained! This picture was taken sometime earlier this month I think, Taffney took it and emailed it to me, so I had to add it to the blog. She doesn't look too happy in the picture but she really does love them!

Having some fun...

I'm just playin around with the picture program on Picasa....what beautiful eyes Alexa has!!

Alexa is now 20 months old and talking non-stop...some of it understandable and some not! Her favorite thing right now is saying "da-da bye-bye busth" since she knows her daddy goes bye-bye on the bus each morning. She even knows how to say school "coohl" but whenever I ask her where daddy goes on the bus, she just says "busth"...it's pretty cute. She's running around all over the place and amazes me every day with new things she can do. She's starting to play really well with other kids and loves to be outside. I really wish we had a yard to play in at our townhouse but since we don't, we enjoy venturing out to the pool, the splashparks, the zoo, other friends' houses...you name it, we'll do it!! We're not sure what we're going to do once the warm summer days are behind us, but we're trying not to think about that too much right now! She's back to napping only 1/2 an hour each day so we have a lot of hours to fill. It is tiring for her mama...but she is such a huge blessing in my life and brings me (and her daddy too) so much joy, that I can't complain too much!! ;-) Although, if anyone has any tips on how to get a toddler to sleep longer...PLEEEEEAAAASE let me know! Both sets of Grandparents are coming for a visit in August so it will be fun for them to get to know Alexa at this stage where she's so much more interactive and independent. Hopefully she won't play shy too long. Happy 20 Months Alexa!!

More Summer Days

We really do enjoy being outside (as evidenced by all the posts dedicated to our outdoor adventures)...and therefore take advantage of the sunny days to play outside in the water, wherever we can find water!! Today was with Amanda and Karter Graves. Karter graciously shared his little pool and Alexa had sooo much fun with the hose!

It really did keep her entertained the majority of the time...Karter too...for awhile they were fighting over it and Alexa and I had to have a little "discussion" about sharing!! :-)

I absolutely LOVE this picture! Amanda took it on her wonderful camera, thanks lady...for both of the last 2 pictures! One day I too will have a fun camera to play with!

Summer Days

We LOVE the downtown splashpark and thus go there quite often. Today was with Rachael and her little guy, Nathan. Alexa loves Nathan...and they play so well together.

If you look really closely, you can see Nathan peeking at Alexa through the tube!

Found you!

Oh what fun you can have when you add water to the equation!!

I love the pure joy on their faces!

Thanks Rach for taking the last two pics (I copied them from her blog!!).

Our little baller...

I don't remember where we got these little shorts, but I do remember thinking...they would be so cute for Alexa to wear since her daddy has several similar type basketball shorts. And I was right, she does look so cute and she enjoyed being just like her daddy.

OH HAPPY DAY!!

After a loooooooooong three weeks and 1 day of anticipating the arrival of Kevin's National Dental Boards Examination score....we can breathe a sigh of relief! HE DID IT! He passed! Yay!!!! I am so proud of him. He worked so hard and studied many long hours and now we can put this part of dental school behind us and move onward and upward!! :-) Congrats babe, you're the best!

More Pretties Please!

As I was trying to do Alexa's hair, she kept finding more barrettes and saying "more" so we ended up with 5 barrettes in her hair this day and she wouldn't let me take them out. So that's how we went to the splashpark...pretties and all!!

A little something on the side...

I am taking a stab at my own little home business venture and making these cute little "binky buddies". Check out my link to the right to see more. If you're interested, I'm selling them for $6 a piece or 2 for $10. Let me know what you think!

A Bountiful Harvest...:-)

Okay...maybe NOT so bountiful!! We have once again tried growing tomato plants this year. Last year, if you remember, the squirrels got away with most of the fruits of our labors! This year, we decided to outsmart them and put the plants on the FRONT porch away from their home, aka the huge pine tree next to our balcony out back. Well, we immediately got ONE tomato which turned out beautifully...but then nothing. About a bazillion blossoms (yes, I counted them!!!) but no more fruit. We enjoyed some tasty sandwiches the night (July 8th) we picked this lone specimen. Anyways, I am happy to announce though that after a couple more weeks of just blossoms, we now have 3, yes THREE itty bitty tomatoes starting. We are quite thrilled...just call us Farmer Kevin and Farmer Collette!

What a cheesy girl...

This is what happens when you give your child something to eat while they are just wandering around. And here I had thought she had actually EATEN the cheese! Silly me! Instead, this is what I found when I was cleaning up after putting her to bed, her cheese...INSIDE a purse of mine. What a funny little girl we have!

Girls' Shopping Trip...

Yesterday, I got up bright and early to travel to Cincinnati to the Gap Clearance Center. I was joined by Heidi Annison (thanks Heidi for getting this going!), Rachael Ice and Brittany Curfew. We all got some good deals (I scored 6 shirts, a cardigan, two pairs of pants and a pair of shoes for me, two polo shirts for Kevin, two shirts and a pair of shoes for Alexa...ALL for $36!!!!) and then had a yummy lunch at Abuelos, a Mexican Food Embassy. It was rather enjoyable. We had a great time and I am so grateful for the fun friendships I've made here in Kentucky...you girls are awesome!