First Day of First Grade

Tanner was SO ready and excited to go back to school. I had all the kids with me as I took him and so I didn't want to park like three blocks away and walk him to the playground to find his teacher's cone. I mentioned dropping him off and he was ALL for it. He hopped right out and I drove away (feeling so guilty! but seriously-girls had no shoes, bed head, and no stroller for the baby and we literally would have had to park SO far away from the school itself) Anyway, I passed a friend walking and asked her to check on him. She called me later and said he was right where he should be and was have a great time! He's come far from the shy scared little kindergartner. Anyway, his first day of school turned out perfect!

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!