Trip to California

 It had been 6 years since I last visited my family in California. My dad came to visit us while we lived in Houston a couple years back. Since we knew we would have a new addition we decided it was just the right time to make a visit. My grandma is getting old and I really felt I needed to see her soon. So we made the road trip down. 

As you can see above one of the ways Summer stayed entertained was to watch a movie. Most of the time she was bored out of her mind, but she did really good. Brayden did really well too since he slept most of the time. It was horrible when he was sick of the seat and cried as loud as he could. I think he developed a bad taste for his car seat. 

Once we finally arrived it was late, but we enjoyed seeing family and snapping some photos. 

 Here you can see my dad. I look a bit like him, however, he looks kind of intimidating in this picture. I remember when I was little and I would go visit him he wore button up shirts without the buttons done up, along with huge gold chains, and large gold rings the kind that you put three fingers into. My sister and I use to say he looked like Mr. T

 This is my abuelita or my grandma. She is such a wonderful woman and I love her so much. She just loved the kids. She didn't want to stop holding Brayden. It was so hot there and they didn't have a/c so it was like an oven in the house. This also caused Brayden to sleep. 

 Summer found a tree outside in the yard and brought me these. I thought they were limes only to realize they are oranges. Citrus season is not for a few more months. 

 My dad helping her pick the fruit. 

 Summer was roasting to death. She said to me, "I think all the people in Houston must be asking for lots of drinks of water." I think she forgot what it was like to live in the heat. Really I guess I have too. I  don't know how we survived living in Houston's weather but you just do. It is actually funny because since we got home it has been in the low 80's which is the highest so far this summer. We are entering fall and we are still wondering where the summer went. 

 Abuelita loving Brayden

 Summer and my cousin Giselle. 

 Some of the super yummy Mexican food we enjoyed thanks to their hard work and hospitality. 

 Philip enjoying the food. 

 This is my uncle Chaba cooking my favorite ever Carne Asada. Yum

 Summer helping my cousin Stephanie make gorditas.

 The finished product. I might have to try these myself. They might not work out. 

 On the last night there we drove to the temple to see it. It was beautiful of course. It is nice to visit and see all the different temples. 

 My uncle Chaba and his family minus one son who is in college. 

 My uncle Tonio and his family. 

 My dad and our family. 

 My Abuelita and our family. 

 Yummy Mexican pan/bread we got for the way home. 

Once of the nice things about traveling was the scenery. I didn't take many photos, but this one will do I guess. It was so interesting to see the different crops go on for miles and miles almost until we were out of California. We also enjoyed looking at Shasta Lake and wished we could stop for a swim. 

It was so nice to finally see my family again. We hope that we can go more often and that one day they might be able to come visit us as well. We love them and miss them all. 

Toothless

For the last year and a half Summer has continuously asked when her teeth would fall out. She was so anxious for this to happen. She even tried making her teeth come loose even though she knew it would not work.

Well, yesterday she was eating some chips and she said I think I might have a loose tooth. She showed me and sure enough her tooth was quite loose.

Forgive the dirty mouth picture, but she had been eating chips. She was so excited. I tried to get her to wait and wiggle it after Philip came home but she could not resist.

Once her dad came home she asked me for an apple because I told her that might help her tooth come out. Well that didn't work. She then went upstairs to look in the mirror. About ten minutes later she said it came out. I didn't believe her so she came to show me that the tooth was hanging by a thread. So, now you see my daughter has surely lost her first tooth.

Here is the classic missing tooth smile. I can't believe she is growing up. I am so happy for her to have lost her tooth. She was happy in the morning to find that the tooth fairy had come to leave her a surprise. She then smiled and said I like having a missing tooth.

6 Weeks

I really can't believe it has been six weeks already. Brayden is growing and time is flying. I am not sure how much he weighs now, but he has grown. Although he is small he no longer looks like a newborn. He has started holding his head up quite nicely. He enjoys tummy time but only for a few minutes and then he gets tired and starts fussing.

Brayden is a good baby for the most part. He is a good sleeper now and lets me get at least three hours sleep at once. To me that is way better than wanting to eat every hour like he did in the beginning.

It has been interesting having a boy. We are so use to our little girl and not all the things that come along with a boy. Mainly we have only really noticed how frequently he pees on the wall, Phil, or himself. The goal now is to get him changed as quickly as possible to avoid old faithful.

Here are several pictures of some of the things we have enjoyed with him over the last six weeks.

We decided to take him on his first walk. Summer was so excited and insisted on pushing the stroller.
There have been a few times when his fingers have found their way into his mouth and he gladly sucks. I think if they made there way there more often we would have ourselves a thumb sucker.
Summer playing with him while I got ready. She is such a good big sister. We like to think there are two moms in the house because she is always trying to take care of her brother.
Brayden and his three month old cousin. It will be fun to see the two of them grow older together and have a playmate.
Philip thinks he looks like he has a mushroom on his head, but I like the hat. I made this as I was teaching myself to crochet.
One day I came in Summer's room to find that she was rocking the baby in her own little rocking chair. He was fussy and she needed to sooth him so this is what came to her mind.
Philip thinks he needs driving lessons already. F.Y.I. we were in our parked car eating. We were not driving with him in Phil's lap incase you were wondering.
Yoga time. My sister brought me a bunch of hand me down clothes. This is one of my favorites. He really has a little boy yoga outfit.
This was taken at about four weeks old. He looks like Philip in this picture to me.
Brayden was blessed on July 24, 2011 which happens to be my birthday. My family was in town so we felt is was appropriate to do it then. I need to snap a picture of the baby alone in his outfit.
Brayden sleeping in on his 6 week mark which was yesterday.
Not so happy I was trying to snap photos of him when he was hungry. I love the frown face.

It has been a blast so far. I look forward to every day I get to spend with my kids. I hope to soak in as much baby time as I can before he gets older and is no longer in baby stage.

Visit With Family

My family has planned to come visit us for a while now. Finally the day came that they traveled the 15 hours by car to get here. We were so happy to see them. It is nice to be within driving distance as it makes it easier for them to visit me too. Right away we could tell we had a house full of kids. It was a good sound to hear kids playing and Summer being entertained.

Summer skate boarding with her cousin Dakota. This is her version of skate boarding I guess because it feels safe.

We took my family to Lynn Canyon to see one of the suspension bridges and to walk around in the woods/rainforest.

We came across this huge slug. Summer thought it was great.

Friday while Philip took Summer and the boys to the aquarium we headed over to Vancouver Island. This is the line for the ferry on the way home. It was actually really fun to ride the ferry because none of us had ever experienced it before. Plus it was really pretty.

Once on the island we headed over to Buchart Gardens which are so fabulous. It was so beautiful and nice to see. I am sure my mom was in heaven. She absolutely loves gardening and planting flowers.

Just one small view of some of the many flower gardens there. I love the bright colored ones.

When I saw these flowers the first thing that popped into my head was that they reminded me of the huge roaches we see in the South. A much prettier roach, but still a roach to me.

My mom and sister Kody. Neither of them wanted their picture taken, but I made them anyways.

This pictures is pure motivation for me to start exercising now that I can. I nice background, and I love my family. We are just missing my older sister Kori. Maybe next time she can make it.

The kids were anxious to head to the beach. It was a really nice day that day, however, by the time we made it to the beach it turned windy and overcast. The kids were still determined to play in the water.

Kiowa enjoying the cold water. He really spent a lot of his time shooting the seagulls with water.

Enjoying the sun covered by the clouds.

After the boys buried each other this is what they looked like. I am sure they both had sand in their nose and mouth.

Sandy kids.

On their last night here Summer decided to play salon. My mom and sister were the guinea pigs.

Aren't they beautiful.

I can't thank them enough for coming. It was so good to see them and also to have so much help with the baby. Summer already misses having kids to play with non stop. I look forward to going there sometime hopefully soon.