The Dinwiddie Family: John, Rebecca, and Jaclyn
Yeah!!! She finally smiled for Professional Pictures!!!
We had to get one goofy one!
Ok, so I swear those last three weren't quite so similar when we purchased them!
Here she is on the way to the pool smiling... the hat and sunglasses didn't last very long though.
Here's Jaclyn; her first time in a real swimming pool.
She wasn't too sure about it. The pool was a little cold!
Here she is with Grandma
She really doesn't like when her feet can't touch anything. She threw a fit any time we tried to have her swim like this.
I loved this idea! Cathy had her daughters walk her down the aisle wearing matching dresses to hers, only shorter!
The happy Bride and Groom!
The view from the reception at Eagle's nest. We had great seats outside, overlooking Tahoe!
Mommy, Grandma, and Jaclyn went for a walk down the mountain. This is the view of Carson city from our hotel.
I loved that there was a Bear Crossing sign up there!
Here's Jaclyn and Grandpa
On the way home we stopped back by Regan Beach to get some pictures
Jaclyn was very curious about the sand in her toes on the shore of Lake Tahoe; we couldn't get her to look up from them!
She's been doing this for awhile, but we just now caught it on camera. She sucks her big toe even better than she sucks her thumb!The doctor told us that we should start slowly introducting solids to Jaclyn, starting with rice cereal. We were going to wait until 6 months, but he suggested starting her slowly on the rice cereal so she can learn how to eat off of a spoon and swallow. Here's her first try; totally cute!!! (We'll probably wait another week before we try again, we don't think she's quite ready!) What do you think?
So...this is the only BEFORE picture we have of our yard. It's hard to see, but the whole yard is all weeds and we've got a couple of gophers crawling around. I HATED how our yard looked, but we hadn't found time until now to try to landscape. John had his dad, brother, mom, and a couple of friends come over and get started this last week. Although not finished, it already looks a million times better!!!
Jaclyn got some time to hang out with Grandpa while the boys were working. She pretty much watched them in amazement the entire day!
The first task was chopping down the tree. John started with simply trimming branches, but was not happy with how it looked, so went to Home Depot and bought a chainsaw, deciding to just get rid of the tree and start from scratch; the roots were all raised up and in the way anyway, we were worried they might eventually grow under our driveway and start cracking it.
Jaclyn slept through all of the chainsaw noise as Daddy, Grandpa, and Mike worked hard to get rid of the tree. We're pretty sure she can sleep through anything now!
WOW! Look how different our front yard looks now! After the tree was cut down and the base of the trunk was pulled out of the ground, they pulled out the hedges that were in front of our house and roto-tilled the entire yard...
... unfortunately, the roots of the tree did not come out very easily.
They tried several methods to attempt to pull the roots out of the ground...
Here's Jaclyn watching as Brian, Mike, Uncle Jake, Grandpa, and Dad all try to figure out how to get rid of the roots.
Uncle Jake tried to cut them apart with a chainsaw, but that just burned up over a dozen blades...
...see the smoke?
So, this is the result of their last resort to pulling the roots out themselves. They decided to teather the roots to the back of the truck and pull them out that way. Unfortunately, while trying this, a pretty big piece of the roots broke off, flew over the truck, and then (because it was still attached to the rope which was attached to the truck) slingshot back towards the truck and busted the front windshield! We're just thankful no one got hurt!
Here's another angle of the damage.
After the windshield incident (as well as other smaller "issues") they decided they were done trying to pull the roots out themselves for the day. Here's a big piece of the base of the trunk that they did get pulled out.
We ended the day by finishing tilling and raking the yard. Next week, hopefully we'll be able to finish pulling the roots out (maybe Daddy will hire someone else to do it this time who has the propper equipment ;o)) and then lay some sod. I can't wait to see what the final product ends up looking like!!! Needless to say, for one day's work, I can't believe how much they accomplished! Daddy is lucky to have such wonderful friends and family to be willing to come over and be put to work like this!
Our first Fourth of July as a family was great, even though it was a lot different than usual! Usually we have a pretty big party in Yountville and then go watch the fireworks at the Vet's home and stay up, playing games, until early in the morning. We've been doing this for the last 6 years. This year, however, was a little more tame, but just as much fun. We had a BBQ with some friends and family, went to fireworks, came back and put Jaclyn to bed, and then hung out in the backyard by the firepit as a couple more friends stopped by. Although less eventfull than usual, we really enjoyed ourselves.
Jaclyn's Fourth of July outfit. This was the best picture we could get; she was really quite cranky before we left to go watch the fireworks. I was worried we might not even make it out to see them this year...
...but she fell asleep as soon as she got in her stroller, and stayed that way until the fireworks actually started.
Ok, this has got to be one of the cutest pictures ever!!! I'd love to say this was her reactiong to the fireworks, but it was actually her playing with Daddy!
This was more her reaction to the fireworks. She liked them at first, but as they got louder, she wasn't a fan!
Again, her reaction to the fireworks.
Here's one good one of her watching them. This is when they first started and weren't too loud.
The next morning with Daddy
