Beach Time

I love love love beach trips. I was so ready for it this year also after being so home bound all summer long. We met up with the Hunsaker's at a Hotel after leaving my Grandma's and the headed to the Beach to visit Brooke and Tyson Homec (who left good old AZ and recently moved back to Palm Desert...) We spent a couple days in the amazing beach weather, and we loved every second of it. Two nights in a row we headed inland and went to dinner at the Irvine Spectrum Mall, and that too was a blast. On our way home we stopped in the Desert to say hi to my Dad and let the kids see his furniture store and so they could see why Grandpa travels to California each week. It was a good break and we are glad to be home sweet home...5 days til school starts!! Here are some favorites from the trip...

Blake is a baby that basically "never" cries......but of course he's screaming in our only family shot of the trip! Little cutie...

Brooke, Lalani, Kristy

Kamryn and her good Buddy Jackson

What it'll be like to have 5 kids in the car (not anytime soon)....w/ 4 in car seats...

Some beach shots:

Grandma Abuela's

I made the tough decision and decided to skip my 10 (actually 11) year High School reunion so I could spend some time visiting family in CA. On our way to Newport we stopped by Ita's house (my Aunt Laura) Her kids are close in age to my kids, so they were so ready to get out of the car and go play! Believe it or not, they even have 3 dogs, and my scaredy cats did a great job...You should see the size of Toby....he weights like 160 if I remember right....I'm talking a HUGE dog! And my kids are still talking about cute little Poshy (Posh is like 4 lbs). They had a blast and it was fun to catch up with Ita and Guy for a couple hours.

We then headed to my Grandma's in Newport. I grew up calling her Grandma Abuela (grandma grandma- hah) We put the kids right to bed and stayed up until after 11 talking about the old days...I wish I had a tape recorder with me that night so I could always remember the stories they told us. They talked about when they first came to the US from Argentina with three young boys(my Dad was 9 I think) and stories about "life" once they were here. They actually came to Mesa Arizona first and he was selling door to door in Guadalupe. He said while doing that, he though, WHAT? I didn't come to all this way to be in a place like this! (those weren't his exact words, but close enough) He then hopped on a grey hound to head to CALIFORNIA to sweep floors in a factory for a while... Fast forward 45 years or so to a beautiful home on the Balboa Peninsula. I loved it-I can't believe I hadn't heard any of it before!

She always prepped her pantry when we'd come visit for a week as kids, and she did the same for my kids! She called and asked what kind of cereal she should buy for them and they were SO happy to have fruit loops for breakfast that morning. They knew she had bought them special just for them.


Every summer Tia Juanita (my grandma's sister) comes up from Argentina and stays with them while it's wintertime down there. As a child I remember Nonno and Nonna(my great-grandparents) doing the same thing. Anyway, it's always nice to see her also, even though she doesn't speak one word of English and my Spanish is HORRIBLE as I've gotten older. She isn't fooled by the usual smile and nod that I would respond with. She knew I was clueless! Here she is with Blake. She held him all morning while we got everyone ready for church. It was a great night and I'm glad they let us stay with them.

Blake's First Haircut...

Some may think it's too early, but I think there is nothing better than a little boy and a new haircut! I would wash his hair each day and 10 mins after it dried he looked like a bum with messy hair going in every direction. It definitely changed his whole look, and I think he looks chubbier in the face now. He was so good for it, and I think I did a pretty good job for my first time!



Now, this last picture is totally gross looking, but I loved the comparison, so I wanted to share!! Tanner had almost twice as much hair as Blake and it was tons darker also. Sometime I'll whip out my 2002 CD of pictures and I'll post some of the boys at the same ages...they look a lot alike-that's for sure!


Check previous post to see his hair the night before I cut it....

Blake and Halle

My sister Heidi had her baby while we were gone! July 5th. She was a whopping 8 lbs 12 oz! (9 days early) We went by Wednesday night to see her. She is so cute! Here's some pictures we got of the two on the couch. (Blake got sunburned a little in the SHADE while we were camping-that's the mountain sun for you-so strong! You couldn't tell in real life as much as you can see it under his eyes in these pictures. At least it didn't seem to hurt or bother him...he even started smiling for SURE the day after he got the sunburned cheeks) The two babies are 5 weeks and one day apart! Close, but not as close as Payton and her cousin Hailey that are 9 days apart!

4th of July Weekend

We took the kids bowling then had a BBQ and did some fireworks before bedtime. (in daylight since it stays light til almost 10 pm in Utah) The we put the kids down and watched some fireworks while playing canasta out on the deck of Brian's brothers house. They live up on the hill on the north side of Utah county, so we were able to see a few different shows at once!









The Fifth was BRIAN'S BIRTHDAY!! He tuned the big 3-0! His parents were there for the weekend and watched all the kids(even the baby) for us and we went out to a nice dinner, and then we went and played arcade games at boondocks. We even got the boys to do the dance revolution game. Believe it or not, Jared scored way better than all three of us! Who would have guessed that one!


On Saturday Papa took the boys (and Kamryn went to hang out with them too!) fishing up the canyon! They didn't end up catching anything, but they had a great time, and Kamryn only fell into the pond one time.

Utah...

We got to Utah just in time for Lucy's Birthday Party. The kids were excited to go swimming and play after the long drive. Poor Lucy's face reaccted to the sunscreen and her eyes were killing her, but beside that she had a great time.

One Month

10 lbs 4 oz (60%)
22 1/2 inches (80%)
His head was around the 30%

I just love this little guy! He has been so much fun to have around. I probably hold him too much, but he just loves it and is so content. Plus, if he's in my arms then I don't have to worry about Payton picking him up like a puppy and carrying him to me...or her laying on the ground with him on her belly as she rolls back and forth singing rock-a-baby, rock-a-baby....over and over. She has good intentions of helping, but she's two and she's Payton...that should explain it all.

Kamryn is my go getter and she loves helping me out in anyway, any chance she gets.

Tanner has to be in the mood, but when he is, he'll come to me and ask if he can rock him or I'll find him just hanging out chatting with him. One time he came out of his room at night and asked "how much longer until Blake can sleep in my room??" And he was rocking him in the nursery the other day and then came out empty handed and told me, "Mom, I rocked him to SLEEP!" He had then laid him down on the ottoman-that rocks (not the best choice) but he was pretty proud of himself!

He doesn't smile all the time yet, but each one of us has been able to get him to so far-even the kids! But of course he won't do it for the camera yet.

Here's some of my favorite pictures from the past few weeks...

He's finally starting to grow out of the cross-eyed stage and is able to focus better.

He hasn't gotton all the way in the water yet. He still doesn't like the bath even, and kinda freaks out when I'd dip his feet in the pool.

Here's his bedroom....I decided to not even try and finish the bedding until school starts back up, and the walls are pretty bare other than what you see, but he doesn't complain-so I'm good with the empty walls!

Scottsdale...

The kids and I headed up to Scottsdale this morning to meet up with Thea and her girls for some swimming. We had a fun time trying to beat the heat and summertime boredom.

Thea-did you get a better picture than I did??

Blake, Jamie
Kamryn, Tanner, Payton, Nicole, Maya

The poor cute babies zonked in the 110 degree heat...

Time is flying by!

Well, these past few weeks have gone by so fast that I have not been able to keep up on my posts! I did try and do a birthday/anniversary(June 22) post for myself last Sunday, but blogger decided to go offline JUST as I clicked publish....and yeah, it was gone! It was a long one too! I had decided to journal the story of how Brian and I met, etc...oh well, maybe next year I'll attempt it again!! I did have a GREAT day though. Thanks to everyone that made it special!

So, I do have a quick story for you....Are your kids going nuts inside these days?? MINE ARE. They are just bored, and trying to find new things to do. Well, almost EVERY day last week I was going into our (empty) formal living room and straightening up the curtains. And each time I'd tell the kids (mostly Kamryn) to STAY out and to leave the drapes alone. Well, obviously she didn't get the message. Sunday I was taking a nap and woke to a loud noise. I laid there for a few mins racking my brain as to what the noise could have been! No kids were crying, I didn't even hear anyone talking out there....then it hit me. My precious silk velvet drapes! Then the word "KAMRYN!!!!" came out of my mouth as I realized what the noise had been. I really didn't want to see the result so I went back to sleep and decided I'd pretend it didn't happen for a little while longer.

Here's an old picture of the room....

Here is what it looks like now...

Some of the wood rings even broke to pieces in the fall!....

After she got her time out and lecture, she reminded me what was most important...she said, "Mom, good thing only the soft part landed on top of me right??"

Blake is one month old today!! I want to take time and post some pics from this month, so I will try and work on that tomorrow!

Officially Introducing....

THANKS for your help! And, the winner is the combination of the two! It is actually what it looked like the first time I made it, so I just went back to the original and I'm going with it!

Random thoughts....

He's gotta have Brian's skin....the little cutie is SO pink all the time! Just like his Dad!

What color will his eyes be?? Will I have brown eyed kid #4? I forget what the others looked like at first?!?

His hair always looks so much darker on top than it is because it gets so greasy from being touched all day long. This picture shows the lightness in the back a little better.

Do Payton and Blake have the same nose or what??

Blake slept in his crib for the first time last night (no, the bedding and room have not been finished yet...I really am going to try and accomplish that this week!) because cousin Lucy was sleeping in the pack n play in the basement. (yes, I a wimp and as soon as I started stressing about being home alone last night, my brother and sister in law packed up their kids and came to sleep over here!) I thought I'd be fine, but after being awake most the night between Payton throwing up every 2 hours, feeding the baby every three hours, and Blake being wide awake....it was SO nice to not have the anxiety of being scared to keep me awake during the few quiet times we had last night. SO THANKS GUYS!! I owe you big time! Maybe someday I'll grow up and be a brave Mom! And I'm not sure why Blake was awake-he hasn't done that yet, so it was unexpected. He got his PKU yesterday and maybe it made him sleep more during the day than he usually does....?? I hope it was a one time thing! Also he used to go 5 and a half hours at night not 3!....hhmmm...fun times! I deserve a nap today, and when Brian gets home from the scout campout I might just need to go for a quiet drive.