Girl's Weekend

Clare and I just got back a few days ago from our California Girl's Weekend. We went out for a wedding of one of my good friends and a friend for 22 years. Clare was the flower girl in the wedding. I was the flower girl carrier since she didn't decide to up and walk at 9 months. During our trip we found some time to visit Huntington Beach which was just down Pacific Coast Highway from where we were staying. It was the first time Clare will have seen the ocean officially. I think we'll have to go back to refresh her memory however. I had to visit the water (which I miss so much and I love the ocean) and we had a leisurely breakfast down on Main Street. So fun! But so tiring.

When back at the hotel it was all that I could do to get the girl off the phone. Text, text, text. I mean, come on!

At the wedding itself with my pretty little flower girl.

With a group of friends from high school at the wedding and the bride herself

Dancing in the fountain or at least trying to convince Clare to cool off her little feet that way.

July of Visits!

Our July has been bustling and we had the joy of accepting many visitors. We created many more cherished memories over a two week span!

Visit #1 Grandma B:

Learning a little chopsticks with Grandma B

A second little peanut interested in learning

The whole crew tinkling the ivories

Visit #2 Grandma and Grandpa K:

Making ice cream with Grandpa and even getting to pour in the rock salt

Catching some of the backyard view with Grandma

At the zoo, watching the zebras

A taller view from the shoulders of Grandma

Feeding the ducks and geese with Grandpa

A better view from Grandpa's arms

Catching some reads with Grandma

Daddy - daughter photo

Getting their spicy fix at their favorite New Mexican restaurant on the last night

Visit #3 Aunt Rachael:

Sharing some organic plums at a small lavender farm

Checking out the goats, sheep and chickens

The silo at the ranch

We had so much fun and it was super busy! Thanks for all the visits! It means a lot to everyone!

3/4 down! Clare at 9 Months

I can't believe I have to start thinking about a 1st birthday party for my baby girl. This year is going at lightning speed. She is a blast at this age. She is a great crawler as she has been doing this for a couple of months now. She cruises on furniture and walls and will walk and push anything she can get her hands on that slides (and by that I mean cereal boxes and even books.) She loves to feed herself and will eat pretty much anything. She's drinking from a sippy cup by herself. She'll give you a high five and clap her hands to "If you're happy and you know it." She is quick to let you know she does not agree with what you are asking her to do or in her brother's case taking a toy from her by letting out an ear piercing scream. Sometimes those screams are just for fun. Either way, I'm sure the neighbors think I'm killing her. She loves loves loves her brother and wants to do what he does. They have fun diving on his double bed into the pillows and stuffed animals together and he rocks at playing peek-a-boo with her. He can get her laughing harder than anybody. She actually is liking to draw and has taken to Hayden's etch-a-sketch and sidewalk chalk, though you may notice a chalky residue around her mouth in these pictures. She sticks EVERYTHING into her mouth. I can't take my eyes off of her for a minute. She listens though when I tell her not to. She still knows how to lay her head on your shoulder and cock it to the side to melt you. She is a master at throwing fits (thank you big brother for your demonstrations). She often points to things with her pointer finger and says "this." I would say it is a coincidence but she does it all the time, so we tell her the name of objects. She dances to music and loves to reach her little hand up and press the keys on the piano. She is bursting with personality and you can't help but love her to pieces. She still has deliciously chubby cheeks and legs even though she is low on the weight scale (high on height). Guess I serve highly nutritive skim milk here. She's looking more and more like her brother. Anyway, I can't wait to see what she does in the next month. The girl amazes me all the time! Below are some sweet pictures of them playing together that shows a little of their sweet little relationship.

3!0!

I had a great 30th birthday! So admittedly there was more in the build up of it than the actual day proved to be (as I was dreading this change of decade), but it did get me goal setting for the next decade. There is much you can accomplish in a decade or not so I decided to pen my own personal goals. They are the following:

1. Make bookshelves for my house from scratch
2. Read enough books to fill them
3. Memorize one book of the Bible
4. Travel to Europe (for the 3rd time)
5. Travel to a new continent (Australia or South America most likely)
6. Learn how to take more artistic pictures (through a class and practice of course)
7. Use them to decorate my walls
8. Maintain my health and physical fitness (specifically measured by by body weight at BMI)
9. Publish a book (most likely an food allergy cookbook unless I am inspired otherwise)
10. Learn to change the oil in my car

That is it for now, but I will add to it if I am just blowing through the list :).


As for the celebrations, Derrick treated me to my favorite Einsteins Bros. bagel for breakfast, followed by an hour long Swedish massage while he watched the kids. He booked a babysitter and took me out for dinner to a lovely restaurant and even arranged for them to bring out a plate of chocolate truffles with a candle to blow out. It was a great and relaxing day. The next day we celebrated with many friends, though I wish there could have been more family there, I am so blessed to have so many to celebrate with me here. It was a fun little pool party with food and family fun.

Lazy Days of Summer & The Fourth

We had a happy 4th of July over at a friends house for a cookout! Here are Daddy and baby girl rocking her patriotic ensembles. The whole fam did but I'm always the one behind the camera so if I get myself in there it is generally not a flattering picture or it is done by a professional photographer. So no family photo unfortunately. That and Hayden saw the baby pool and doused himself with water 5 minutes after we arrived. So Hayden had a blast with the other kids that were there including his going on 8 year old buddy.

Here we are taking rides in the Radio flyer wagon in the back yard. Little missy got quite upset when we stopped pulling it and took her out. Pure fit! Amazing coming from a little 8 month old. But watching their daddy pull them around, I told him, I wish I could bottle this memory and get in out later in life. It was just a simple summer evening as a family. I love it. To me its almost too good to be true on days like these I can't but help go to sleep at night a very grateful woman.