August Happenings

August has been a busy month in the Leslie household. Besides the trip to San Jose, we have had plenty of fun things going on. One of the fun events was when Ross's cousin, Tyler, got married. With the bridal shower, reception, wedding, luncheon and just general hanging out, that meant three fun filled days with the Miller family (who just happen to be some of our favorite people to hang out with!). It was especially fun with some of the Millers from Nevada who came out to join in the festivities.

Here's Tyler and his beautiful bride, Katie, and the nieces and nephew-plus Leah and Ryan (Michelle's son).

Their reception was held on the 6th floor of the Wilkinson's Student Center at BYU in what's called the Skyroom. It was our first time going there. It is a great place for a reception with a beautiful view of the mountains and valley. When we first arrived at the reception, Leah was of course very shy and clingy. But before long she was running a muck all around the place...

She even thought she needed to join all the single girls in trying to catch the bouquet. She's the little one on the right. (I don't know what we would have done if she had actually got it!)

The Sealing was at the Manti temple the next day. Here's Leah with two of her buddies. She is especially fond of Madison (the red-head on the left). Madi is one of the very few people that I've seen Leah walk up to and want them to hold her.

 

One of the many faces of Leah...This girl is full of personality these days.

One of the other fun things that happened in August I didn't get any pictures of...we went back to Heber Valley Camp and spent a night there with my mom's family for a Putnam family reunion. Some of the highlights were playing "Minute to Win It" games, watching "Tangled" after dark projected on a big screen, riding the zipline, team-building activities, rowing in a canoe, answering family trivia questions, eating yummy food and especially all the time spent with my family whom I love to be with so much. I just wish that it could have lasted longer. It seemed like we had just got there and then it was time to pack up and go home.
On Tuesday it was my sister, Melyssa's birthday. So I invited her to go out to lunch for her birthday. She wanted to come down to Los Hermano's (which I was fine with because it meant less driving for me). And as it turned out, Lyndsee and Baby J were able to come down too. It's not often that the three of us get to do something together, so this was a fun treat. Here's some fun pictures from that day...

Happy birthday Aunt MoMo!

They came back to our house afterwards to drop us off and let Leah and Baby J play together before loading her back up in the car again. Here's the five of us together...

 Aunt MoMo and the cute baby girls...And kisses from Aunt MoMo.

 

I wanted to add with this post some updates about Leah. So for those still reading, here's what she's up to lately...

All through July, the raspberry bushes in our back yard were producing like crazy. And Leah LOVES the raspberries. It got to where I couldn't go out and pick them with her because I couldn't keep her from picking and eating them herself (whether they were ripe or not). So here she is one day when I gave her a bowl of raspberries right after I had picked and cleaned them...she wasted no time on them.

 

 

She looked like a war casualty afterward, but she loved every bite! I decided to add this video I took too. The only problem is that I filmed it sideways and can't turn it. So you'll have to turn your head a little to see it. But it is still a great insight into how this girl eats...

As I said before, this girl is full of personality lately. The only problem is that you don't see it until you've been with her for a while. She's always really shy when she's in a new situation, but before long she is on the go and leaving havoc in her wake.

She's not really talking yet, but she does have a few words she says pretty well, they include: Daddy (not mommy), cheese, chips, grapes (are you seeing a trend here?) and teeth. I'm telling you, this girl loves to eat. First thing in the morning she points to her mouth (meaning she's ready for breakfast) and proceeds to head down the stairs whether I'm with her or not.

She also likes to brush her teeth. Mostly I think she likes to play with the stuff around the sink and look at herself in the mirror, but whatever works. Here's a cute picture of her brushing her teeth.

One of Leah's favorite foods is macaroni and cheese or shells and cheese. Here she is after having shells and cheese for lunch. Her face was covered in cheese sauce afterwards, but once again, she loved every bite.

One day I took her to the store when she was really tired. She needed a nap, but we needed groceries more. She did pretty good at first, but it wasn't long before she was really cranky and fussy. So I got her an ice cream cone to help keep her entertained. She went to town on it. She had ice cream everywhere, but she was happy. Her poor face all around her mouth was all red and cold from the ice cream. But she got upset whenever I took the cone and tried to clean some of it off.

Her hair is getting pretty long, but you can't really tell because it is so curly in the back (which I love). Most of the time, she just has crazy looking hair. But when I actually do it, it looks really cute. She held still long enough for me to do it in pigtails for church one Sunday. I looked so cute, I had to get a picture.

She is FINALLY sleeping much better these days, including sleeping all night and some naps in her crib. This makes me want to sing praises! She even goes to sleep earlier, but then again she's also waking up earlier (that part I don't like). One day I let her sleep on the couch for her nap. She usually wakes up when she moves around on the couch so I wasn't too worried. But I slid the ottoman up next to the couch just in case. I was glad I did. I left the room for a minute and came back in to find her sleeping like this...

 She was sleeping so soundly that I didn't want to wake her up. But I couldn't resist getting a picture.

One of Leah's favorite things lately is stairs. She is getting pretty good at going down them on her stomach. But I know she really wants to go down them on her feet. It makes me really nervous when she stands at the top of the stairs for a long time. I just know she's debating about whether or not she should try to just step down them.

When she goes outside, she loves to sit on the bottom step of our porch. She's turns around and backs up until she can sit down (sometimes she misses, that's cute too).

One of Leah's other favorite things is music. One day I'll have to get a video of her reaction to some of her favorite music. She points her finger and waves her arm in the air and shakes her head all over. And when she's really excited, she'll even march her feet. This girl is a bottle of energy and she keeps us on our toes. But she is so fun and we love her very much!