Michael & Brenna Sitting in a Tree...

The Sages & us joke around that one day Brenna & Michael will get married. :) We sat them next to each other on the couch the other night and Brenna started making the moves.... holding Michael's hand and playing footsie! I'm going to have to teach her to not be so forward with guys. :)

Family Reunion

Last Saturday we drove to Humboldt, IA for a family reunion for Jared's mom's side of the family (Jacobson). It was a beautiful day and it was fun to see extended family. We met at a park and had a potluck. The Jacobson's are great cooks. Jared couldn't stop ranting and raving about all the food, especially the ham balls! :) As you can see from the pictures, Brenna's favorite part was playing with every one's necklace.

Brenna & Jared's Grandma

Brenna & Jared's Aunt Becky

So You Think You Can Dance

My favorite tv show in the summer is "So You Think You Can Dance". I guess it's the only show I regularly watch in the summer. Anyway.....I love this show!!! The finale was on tonight. Katie & Joshua were my fav's, but if I had to choose I would have picked Katie to win. America voted, and Joshua was the winner. Did anyone else watch SYTYCD this summer? Who was your favorite dancer?

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

We went to Lake Holiday on Saturday with Caleb, Maranda & Easton to celebrate Caleb's birthday. Caleb is Jared's younger brother. Chris & Kris and their little girl Kaylee joined us too. Maranda's parents have a house on the lake, so they let us hang out there for the day. We set up a kiddie pool on the dock for the little kids to play in. Once Brenna figured out how to climb out of the pool, which only took about 5 minutes, she was in and out of it about 20 times :) She was keeping mom very active putting her back into the pool so she wouldn't crawl off the dock. The rest of the day we swam off the dock, jet skiied, took a boat ride, grilled out, and played cards. We had an awesome time together celebrating Caleb's birthday!

Special Visitors

Brenna's grandma & grandpa Bohlen came to visit last Wednesday on their way up to Minnesota. They are some of Brenna's greatest fans. They check the blog daily to see if there are any new pictures of Brenna. My mom said she watched the crawling video on the blog over 20 times :) Anyway...we had a lot of fun together. They made it in time to watch Brenna's last swimming lesson. After the lesson we ate awesome inside out burgers that Jared made. Thursday morning we went on a long walk together and then had a great play time on the floor. We had a lot of fun with my parents and can't wait until thier next visit (hint, hint).

For the cooks who are interested in the inside out burgers:
Make two thin patties. Put whatever you'd like in the middle of the patties and then pinch around the edges so the stuffing doesn't fall out . Jared put sauted mushrooms & onions, motzerella cheese, & seasonings. Then grill them like a normal burger. They are yummy!

Brenna and grandpa cuddling Thursday morning.

A picture my mom took on our walk. She takes the best flower pictures!

I'm Gonna Get You

Jared's mom, Patty, came to visit one day last week. Brenna had a lot of fun playing with her grandma all day. She loved it when Patty was chasing her (see video).

Saturday at the Park

I love parks. I love having picnics in parks. I love walking in parks. I love playing boccie in parks. Did I mention that I love parks? :) So Jared, Brenna & I decided to take a picnic lunch to Moore Memorial Park on Saturday afternoon. We had a great time and the weather was great. Brenna enjoyed playing on a blanket while Jared and I ate our sub sandwiches, which seems to be our standard Saturday lunch. (Side note: We use day old bread from Jimmy John's and it's cheap and tastes great. It's less than $0.50 per loaf and makes at least 3 sandwiches...if anyone is interested.) Brenna enjoyed the swings too. One new thing she likes to do is reach up and touch the leaves on trees. She gets so excited when she actually touches one. After the swings, we enjoyed a walk together. It was a fun afternoon!

Brenna is Crawling!

Brenna turns 9 months on Wednesday and she is getting very mobile!!! About two weeks ago she started to go from the "laying down belly position" to sitting up on her own. A couple times this week when I got her up from her nap, she was standing in her crib with a big smile on her face. And to top off the week, she started crawling. She hasn't perfected it yet, but she's getting close. It's amazing what babies learn in such a short amount of time. Our baby girl is growing up so fast!!! We are trying to enjoy every minute of it.

Below is a video of her crawling and a few other cute pictures.

Brenna in a jumper. She loves it!

Brenna's 1st Swimming Lesson

Brenna had her first swim lesson yesterday. It was more like a playtime in the pool with a bunch of other babies and their parents.....I'm not exactly sure what they will teach a 9 month old :) Either way, it was a lot of fun and Brenna did great. She even let me hold her on her belly in the water (see picture below). I think she enjoyed watching the people more than swimming. Brenna's friend Audrey is in the swimming class as well (Tim & Christy McCollough's daughter), which is fun. We have the lessons two times a week for the month of July. I'll write another post when we are done with the lessons and share all the things Brenna learned. :)

Thank you Christy for taking the pictures!

Ozarks for the 4th

We celebrated the 4th of July at the Lake of the Ozarks with our friends Dylan & Jen and Heath & Shaylyn. We had a great time boating, hanging out at the pool, talking, grilling out, eating at Outback (one of my faves) and watching fire works. Josiah, Heath & Shaylyn's 2 year old, made up his own word for firework....."wawa". After every firework he'd point and say, "Big wawa!" It was so cute. Besides being a little crabby on the car ride, Brenna was a trooper and seemed to enjoy the boat rides and the different scenery. She got in the pool for the first time and seemed to enjoy it......she had her perplexed look on most of the time.

Brenna taking a snooze on the boat with her daddy.