Birthday - Family Shin Dig

Soon it was time to think of the birthday that was coming up. Really...was our baby girl turning 3??

So Clara Jo is a little obsessed with ice cream thanks to the swim days at Grandma Rushing's house this past summer. She had many bowls of ice cream after she swam. So we thought it would be fun to have a family celebration with the grandparents at Leatherby's the weekend before her birthday. My friend Juli came along for the celebration as well. Clara Jo was in absolute heaven. The gifts...the attention....the ice cream. She loved it all! Don't worry...just because she is getting older doesn't mean she is getting more cooperative in taking pictures.

I went Rocky Mountain Climbin!

All of you country music fans will appreciate my blog title! Eric and I dropped the girls off at Eric's sister's house in Orem and did our usual trek up Y mountain! This is our 3 time doing it together and it is always a bonding experience for us both. Eric like always, loves to wear his U of U apparel which usually gets him funny looks and comments from the other hikers!

Animals

All summer we had been talking about how we wanted to take Clara to the zoo. We hadn't been since her first birthday and we were pretty sure she would like it a lot more now that she was older. We picked a Friday in September that wasn't so hot and took the fam. Grandma and Grandpa Young and Uncle Shane met us there and we had a great time. Clara talked about seeing all the animals for days after. Her favorites were the monkeys and the giraffes.

I go swimmin!

Grandma's pool was the place to be this summer. At the beginning of the summer, Clara Jo would play on the steps with her toys. At the end of the summer, that girl was all over that pool! Thanks to a great pair of arm floaties! We went over to Grandma's and swam quite a bit this summer. Especially when family would come into town. Clara would swim for an hour or so while Gracie hung out in the shade. To get Clara out of the pool, we would bribe her with ice cream. It didn't take long for her to learn and appreciate that tactic! Here are some pictures of our little fish.