Fun Pics

Ethan playing with his friend Abby at the Supermall.








Ethan climbing to the top of Mt. Rainier. He's such an accomplished climber, and at such a young age!







Julia playing with the water snake at the Supermall.









Both Ethan and Julia have so much fun playing in the playground Shawn & Grandpa Gifford made last summer. Ethan mastered the climbing wall right away, but he just now starting to be brave enough to go down the slide by himself. (It is surprisingly fast for such short slide.)






Julia's favorite part of the toy is the swing. She smiles and laughs for as long as you are willing to push her. She's even more adorable with her cast on because she just pumps that one leg as fast as she can as she swings.





Julia is just too cute!






Ethan loves to work outside in the garden. He's all boy, meaning it's just not fun if you don't get dirty.










Julia enjoyed hanging out in her exersaucer watching the rest of us work.

Easter 2010

Grandma & Grandpa Gifford's Annual Easter Egg Hunt - April 10, 2010

Ethan knew what to do this year. He figures out real that there were yummy treats inside each egg and that he wanted to find as many as possible. He had a lot of fun searching for eggs.

Julia, of course was a little young to really find the eggs, but if you set her down near one, she was quick to pick it up and try to chew on it. Mostly, she was quite content with watching everyone else.

Here is Ethan showing off all of the eggs he found.









Ali made a fun Easter Bunny Cake.













Easter Morning at the Sharp's House - April 11, 2010
Ethan showing off some Easter Eggs that he found around the house. Julia found some too.













Coloring Easter Eggs

We decided that coloring eggs with Ethan might be a very messy activity, so we stripped him down to just his diaper and let him go to town. He had a lot of fun and most of the eggs actually turned out looking pretty good.
















Ethan and Julia hunting eggs in our own backyard.

Ethan's New Toy

Our neighbors are moving and trying to clear out a bunch of their things. Here is a toy that they bought at an antique shop, for their grandkids to play with, but they aren't going to take it with them. So, they offered it to us, thinking that Ethan was about the right size for it. It's a little rusty and needs just a little work for it to work properly, but Ethan loves it.

Julia Broke Her Leg

Julia has been getting very adventurous. She is crawling all over and getting into everything! On Friday, April 23rd, Shawn had her sitting in her exersaucer while he was working on homework. Julia, little miss smartie pants, figured out how to climb out of it. The only problem was that when she came down the other side, her foot got caught and twisted, breaking her leg. The break is what is called a spiral fracture, which goes most of the length from her ankle to her knee. As sad as this all is, she looks darn cute in that little pink cast. And honestly, it really hasn't slown her down much. She is now figuring out stairs and walking along while holding onto things, etc. I'm a little nervous for what she'll be able to do once that cast comes off (it's supposed to come off May 20th.)

Summer Recap

Okay, so I have been a horrible blogger lately. Life has been so crazy that I decided that I needed to just do a summer recap to catch up on everything that has happened this summer, but now it's taken me so long that I need to give a fall/winter recap too, but this is what I've been able to get done so far.

Ethan's First Campout
June 25-27, 2009


Ethan had so much fun on his first family campout. We went to Ohanapecosh at Mt. Rainier, a favorite camping place of the Gifford family since my dad was young. Ethan has gone camping where he stayed one night in a cabin, but this was his first honest to goodness, sleep in a tent camping trip. The trip was a lot fun, but interesting in so many ways. First of all sleeping on the ground and being 35 weeks pregnant and having to hike through the woods 5 times a night to go to the bathroom was lovely! You could tell that we hadn't gone camping for quite awhile because we forgot some rather important things like a camp stove, salt, and some other things that would have made things easier. But, we just had to be a little more creative and I have to say I was very impressed with how well my dad cooked over the fire. We also hiked to Silver falls (my Grandma Gifford's favorite spot), grove of the patriarchs, and Steven's Canyon. It really was fun.

Grandma Gifford's Birthday
July 1, 2009




Zion's Camp
July 4, 2009

We went to Zion's Camp with Shawn's family for the fourth of July. Ethan and Shawn had a lot of fun taking a canoe out on the lake that is there.

A Great Big Toy


Shawn and my dad built this big toy for our kids. Ethan, of course, had a blast helping his dad and Grandpa and then even more fun playing with it when it was done.


Point Defiance Zoo
August 7, 2009


We went to the zoo on my birthday, so Jennifer bought tickets for the two of us to go on a camel ride. It was pretty fun.

Ethan had a lot of fun seeing all of the animals. I think his favorite was the fish; we could hardly get him to leave, so we could see the rest of the zoo.
Just Some Fun Pics

Ethan has some new friends to play with at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Glen & Diane got two cats that wander next door frequently and Ethan loves to play with them.

This next picture was just too cute to not share.

What can I say? This picture was too cute not to share. Ethan has learned to get up to the piano, open it, and turn it on all by himself. He loves to play around on it





I was packing for the hospital just before Julia was born. Ethan had been sitting on the bed while I packed, then once I went to my closet to get something and when I turned back around, he was inside the suitcase.

We picked lots of berries this summer and on this night we made smoothies after a long day of canning. Ethan thought his smoothie was incredible and couldn't get enough of it.


Ethan loves to play with Julia and takes great delight in making her laugh.

Ethan brought out our foot stool and sat on it next to Julia. He was playing with her laugh, but by the time I got my camera, he just turned around and smiled for his picture and Julia fell asleep. Oh the life of a newborn!


This is one of the first times that Ethan held Julia nicely. At first we had to be really careful about letting him even touch her, because he was anything but gentle.

Big brother kisses, how sweet.

Puyallup Fair
September 12, 2009

Dad and Ethan looking cool in their shades.

Great Grandma needed a break from her wheel chair, so she gave Ethan a ride. Earlier, Ethan had been pushing her. I wasn't able to get a good picture, but it was really cute.

Ethan riding the toy truck at the John Deer Tent.

Grandpa spoiled Ethan with his very first ice cream cone

Doesn't Julia just look so cute! Her shirt says "Miss Marvelous" which totally describes her. She's such a good baby.



First Day of Preschool
September 15, 2009

Ethan has been attending school in his Grandma Gifford's toddler class. He has been having lots of fun and learning so much. He's just growing up so fast!

Last Days with Uncle Lynn

Lynn decided to move to Utah, so we went to Belfair for one last weekend with him. Above: Ethan was "helping" Lynn pack and decided to try on his boot.


Julia and Lynn are taking a nap together.