Bath Time!

Now that I am back in school Alma gets to spend a lot of time with her Daddy. Every night around 9 Dan takes off her shoes, does her physical therapy, gives her a bath, puts on her jammies, reads her a story, and puts her to bed. They both love the bedtime ritual! Now that Alma is getting used to taking real baths she has decided it is the best place to sleep. She loves laying down in the tub, snuggling in, and taking a nap!

In Search of the Perfect Headband

So I was having a long conversation with my sister the other day about one of our favorite baby gifts - the sock monster. Her sister-in-law was the one who sent it to us. It is this awesome mesh bag that looks like a monster for kids to put their dirty socks in, and then you can just zip it and throw the whole bag in the wash so that you never lose any of your socks. We love it. Especially now that Alma has to have her socks changed four times a day. Anyways, I was asking her where it came from and she told me about this website - www.etsy.com which is like e-bay, but the prices are fixed and everything is homemade. I am now addicted, and spent the better part of three days spending all my free time in search of the perfect giant flower headband for Alma's baby pictures. I ended up buying three different awesome baby picture items - and one of them arrived in the mail yesterday. Since I am an instant gratification kind of girl I had to put it on Alma last night after her bath and take some pictures. Don't worry, we will still use it in her official baby pictures, but here is a sneak preview. And let me just say, you should all be VERY excited about her baby pictures because the other items we ordered are even more adorable!

County Fair

My sister just blogged about her families trip to the county fair - in Hawaii. She was sad because they didn't get to eat any elephant ears or hand dipped corn dogs. Well score one for living in Idaho cuz we had all of the above at our county fair this weekend! Since it was Alma's first trip to the fair we took along the camera and we all had a really great time. Recently we began volunteering for the Latah County Historical Society. Alma and I spend one afternoon each week as docents at the McConnell Mansion Museum. During the fair we volunteered to sit at the society's booth and answer questions. It was a lot of fun, but Dan was most excited because he got to meet a lady who works on the trian display. She invited him to join the train club after hearing about his passionate love of model trains, but since they meet on Thursdays from 9 - 12 he is probably going to have to wait until retirement. Alma and Mommy waiting in line for fair food.

Alma and Daddy chowing down on a deep fat fried onion ring. Great for babies digestive systems! I am sure she is thinking "if only I had teeth!"

The infamous "train room." I am pretty sure this is the only reason Dan goes to the fair.

Alma all tuckered out from a night of fun.

Visiting Aunt Wendy at her camper. Aunt Wendy tried really hard to steal her for the night, but we had too many things to see.

Dutch Oven Biscuits

Every year Dan's Aunt Wendy and Uncle Brian host a trap shoot / dutch oven pot luck at their place on Paradise Ridge. We go every year, because Dan has to make his famous sweet potato/carrot dish. This year he decided to make a second dish - sourdough biscuits. Dan is obsessed with sourdough ever since his Grandma gave him a sourdough starter that is extremely old - it's been in the family for generations and is over 100 years old. So every week he refreshes his starter and it takes up a large chunk of refrigerator space. For any of you who have actually seen our fridge you will know that this is a big deal. They turned out really well and were certainly the hit of the party!

Alma Meets the Graves Cousins!

I promised in an earlier post that I would eventually get around to posting pictures from Alma's first trip to GG and G-Pa's house. Alma and I flew down to Pocatello at the end of August, and since my older sister and her kids were visiting Alma got to meet all of her cousins for the first time. It was a very exciting trip. Since everybody was there, my mom wanted to get some good pictures of all her grandkids together. This is a very challenging task - trying to photograph five kids all smiling at the same time!!! Impossible!!! Our cousin John came over to take pictures, and ended up shooting over 600 pictures in about an hours time. A lot of excellent pictures came out of the session, and I really feel like they captured the kids at their finest. So, without further ado, please meet the Graves cousins! Name: Alma Julius Graves-Funke
Nicknames: Alma J, Cutest Grandbaby Ever, The Favorite :)
Parents: Dan and Darci
Age: 3 months
Name: Kyleigh Dawn Cook
Nicknames: KyKy, Kykadoodledoo
Parents: Mandie and Rusty
Age: 6


Name: Tucker Allen Olsen
Nicknames: Tuck Bo, Hoot
Parents: Rissie and Tyler
Age: 3




Name: Katelyn Dion Cook
Nicknames: KateKate, Katie, Katie Pants
Parents: Mandie and Rusty
Age: 2 1/2

Name: Payton Arron Olsen
Nicknames: P Bo, PaytPayt
Parents: Rissie and Tyler
Age: 1 1/2


Yeah, we know, this family makes the cutest babies you will ever see!

Other highlights of the trip included going to the 24th annual Chuck and DeAnne Memorial Golf Tournament. My brother Nate actually won for the fourth time! Not bad, considering he is only 24 years old. Alma also got to meet her Great Grandma and Grandpa Hurley. They live in Idaho Falls, so they popped over to Pocatello to meet the baby. All in all it was a great trip!

.

Alma's New Shoes

As most of you already know, Alma had surgery three weeks ago. The doctors cut her achiles tendon in order to allower her feet to come upwards into the "normal" foot position. The doctors then put her feet in casts to keep them still and allow the incisions to heal. The next phase of the process involves Alma wearing corrective shoes 23 1/2 hours a day for the next three months, and then at night and during naps until she is about 5. Today the doctors removed the casts and unfortunately the surgery was not as successful as we hoped. It is possible that she may have to go back into casts to prevent her feet from moving back to their original position. To try and combat this, I have to go back to Spokane tommorow so that the Physcial Therapist can train me to work with her feet every day. We will see how that goes. In the meantime, we are just excited to see her pretty little legs and feet! Alma already had her first real bath (she hated it) and she is wearing her first pair of pants! Hopefully we will prevent more castings, but right now we are trying to stay focused on the positives! Alma's last night in her casts!

Look at those beautiful feet!

Alma's new shoes!

We think she will grow up to be a spectacular snowboarder - since she will be used to having both feet strapped to a board!

What an adorable outfit! Her first ever pair of pants!

An Alma Fix

So my Mom has been yelling at me for not updating my blog often enough - it's true, I haven't been very diligent about it lately. That is because I have started school again, and three nights a week I make the trek down to Lewiston for class. I am taking some interesting courses this year, including a very complicated one in which I am learning how to diagnose and treat mental illness. This is a bit daunting, as I am expected to know and understand about a jillion different medications used to treat mental illness. Hence, my blogging time has declined significantly. Luckily for my Mom it's a three day weekend so I have found some time to update my blog. I will try and put up a few posts - but this one is just some random pictures for you Alma junkies out there who need a fix. This picture is a shout out to Granny Annie - Alma say's thanks for the adorable outfit! I like this picture because it looks like she is about to giggle about something. Perhaps she is laughing at her Daddy, who forgot (as usual) to button up the back of her onesie while dressing her.

Last night I went out for the first time in about a year to see a good friend of mine who was in town from Seattle. Whilst I was out, Dan took this adorable picture and texted it to me. If this was his way of trying to get me home, well it was both sneaky and effective. Who can resist this kind of cuteness? We think she is channeling the recently deceased Michael Jackson a la the "thriller" dance. Lately Alma has been really into her boppy pillow, and likes to sit and sleep in it. This picture was taken while Alma was a little bit dressed up. Once again, thanks to Granny Annie for the fun hair ribbon! Alma looks a little miffed about it . . . but oh well.

Cuteness!

Alma rolls over! (for the camera)

Alma rolled over for the first time when she was about 6 weeks old. I have been trying to get it on video ever since, and at last, here you go! I promise she started all the way on her back, we didn't push her, I just didn't get the camera on fast enough!