Jack...my little fireman

Jack finally had his first birthday party. After having to postpone it for a week because he got the stomach flu, we finally got to have it. It went great! There were quite a few people that couldn't make it because of the date change, but we did have a good turnout. My big surprise was that I had a fire engine from our city come out for the kids. They got to climb all over the engine, touch everything, sit in all the seats, pretend they were driving it and push all the buttons. It was awesome that they came out and a great treat for the kids (and I think the adults too). The firemen were super nice and even took pictures with us. After that we had a pinata, Jack smashed the cake in his face, presents, and more games. Everyone seemed to enjoy it but most importantly Jack had a ball. He LOVED the fire engine. He just had a great time for the entire party.

I can't believe my little guy is 1 years old already. Time has flown by with him. He is such a blessing to this family and has brought a countless number of smiles to our face. He has a sweet heart and he is all boy. It always makes me sad to see my kids grow up because I know that I'll never have this time back. That is why I feel so blessed to get to stay home and care for my kids and watch them grow and share every experience with them. I am truly grateful to Matt for allowing me the opportunity to do this and thankful that he is such a hard worker. God has blessed our family so much. He has taken care of us all and held our hands through many difficult situations.


The kids (minus a couple) in front of the fire engine with the firemen


Family photo (Emily was a little scared and wasn't in the mood to have her picture taken)


Jack and Emily in the backyard


Jack and his best friend Joe


Kids scrambling to get the candy after Blake smashed it open


Jack and me

Emilys birthday party at Chuck-e-cheese

After a long battle with the stomach flu in our house we finally had some good birthday parties. Emily had her 3rd birthday party at Chuck-e-cheese. We wanted to do something for her this year but nothing too big. So we had her cousins and a few friends attend the party, along with grandparents, aunts and uncles, and her friends parents. Emily had a blast playing on the toys and games, meeting chuck-e-cheese, opening her presents, having pizza and birthday cake. I thought it was well worth the money and I think that everyone had a good time.

Amanda, Blake and Emily


Emily and Maggie eating pizza


Grandma and Jack

3 years old and we finally got a haircut

I can't believe it's been 3 years and no haircut. I have dreaded the day I would have to cut her hair because I thought that she would freak out and make a scene. But she didn't. She was actually great and I think she even enjoyed the pampering. She sat there like an angel watching her Little Einsteins video. The hair dresser did her hair cute after she cut it and Emily thought she looked like a princess. She was great and I actually can't wait to take her back again.

We finally made it to the beach......

We might possibly be the last family in Orange County to hit the beach this summer. But I can proudly say that we finally did and it was a blast. People often wonder why we live in the most expensive part of the country and sometimes I find myself thinking the same thing. But then you go to the beach and remember why. It was a gorgeous afternoon and Matt had the day off so we decided to take a trip down there and play for a couple of hours. This was Jacks first time to the beach and he loved everything about it. The sand, the water, the birds, the people, and the open space to crawl all over. Just likes he eats the dirt in our backyard, he found the sand very scrumptious. He had many handfuls that ended up in his mouth. It took Emily a while to warm up but once she did, she was running in the water with Matt and building sandcastles. It was a wonderful family outing.

Our Suite time at the Circus

Wow, were we ever spoiled this Friday at the circus. Some friends at my sisters church have a box at the Anaheim Pond and gave it to my sister and her family to use for the circus. Emily and I joined them along with our friends, the Billingsleys. The circus was awesome. I hadn't been since I was a little kid so it was super exciting for me too. Emily came down with the stomach flu early last week so I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to go but luckily she was better and we were able to have some circus fun.

When we first arrived, we walked around outside and got to get close to the animals and watch the tigers dig in to some grub (huge bones with meat on them). Then we went inside and walked around on the ground floor. They had clowns, jugglers, acrobats, and all sorts of people in the show down there performing and signing autographs. It would have been great but Emily was a little nervous. It was all a little too much for her. It took her about 30 minutes to warm up but as soon as she did, she really started to get in to the show and enjoy it. The suite was great. I have only been in a suite a couple of times before so this was a rare treat.

The show itself was spectacular. It is amazing to see what people and animals are capable of doing. I was bummed that Matt had to miss it because of work but he's definitely going to try to make it next year. Jack stayed home with my mom and grandma and I'm really glad he did because it gave Emily and I some really good one on one time. I don't get to do that very often so it was nice to focus all of my attention on her. Emily and I really enjoyed the elephants and tigers. It is crazy to see what the elephants are trained to do and they are SO cute! The show was great, the suite was great, and the company was great. All around, a wonderful day at the circus!


A guy on stilts before the show started


Part of the elephant show


My sister, Mike, Becky, and Ava


Blake, Van, Emily, and Lauren

Matt takes on Mt. Langley

On top of Mt. Langley (Jason, Jordan, and Matt)
Mt. Whitney in the background


Last weekend Matt went on, what I call, his 'senior trip.' Before he graduated from SC he planned a trip with a couple of buddies from his class. They decided to take on Mt. Langley which is in the high sierras (a few miles south of Mt. Whitney). Mt Langley is 14,042 feet. They left last Thursday and drove up to Cottonwood Lakes campground (which was about 10,000 feet up). They camped there one night and then started on there 22 mile (roundtrip) hike up to the top of the mountain. He had a really great time but said that it was the most physically challenging adventure he's ever taken on. The hike itself took 3 days to complete. When he got to the top of the mountain the air was very thin and made it difficult to breath. But he said that the view from the top of the mountain was breath-taking. I know that he felt a great sense of accomplishment when he completed the hike. I'm very proud of him. I myself would rather have spent the time and money at a day spa. :-) But that's just me.

When he got home I counted his mosquito bites and he had 111. Yes, you read that right. He was miserable all last week from the itching. The craziest part was that they bit him through his clothes. He wore a sweatshirt and pants most of the time because it was very cold up there. Here are some pictures of his first 'big' hiking experience.


Climbing down Old Army pass


On top of Old Army pass. Looking down on Cottonwood basin.


Mt Langley from base camp

My little man loves the beauty parlor

Jack got his first haircut last week. Well, I actually tried to cut it, just in the front, a couple of times before but I kept making it worse. I looked like I was trying to give my son bangs :-). So I decided it was time to take him to the beauty parlor to make him beautiful. He sat in the little race car and absolutely loved it. He was infatuated with the hairdresser and with the shaver and clippers. He thought he was big stuff sitting in his big boy seat. When they spiked it up at the end, he looked like such a little boy. He didn't look as much like a baby and that was sort of sad. He's such a little doll. I love his little haircut!

Emily has started preschool

Emily started preschool about 5 weeks ago. I would have blogged about it sooner but I actually just got the pictures yesterday. My sister was so kind to take pictures of her on her first day so that I could see all of the stuff she did. My sister actually works at the preschool part time as an assistant director so she was working that day. It is comforting to know that she is there and that Emily will be taken good care of.

Anyways, Emily sort of likes preschool. Her first day went pretty good. You could tell that she had never been in a structured preschool/ classroom setting because when they sat on the floor to read a book, all of the kids faced the teacher except Emily. She sat with her back towards the teacher until someone told her otherwise. When I came to pick her up at the end of the day (which was around noon) she was sitting there eating her lunch and she looked like a deer in the headlights. She didn't know what was going on at all. It's kind of a fight every time it's time to go to school but she does seem to enjoy it once she's there. They have tons of fun summer activities going on at school (like water slides, bounce houses, squirt gun days, and many more things). I'm hoping that the more she goes, they more comfortable she'll get. I've been taking her once a week but I'm going to start taking her two times a week and see how she does. Since Emily likes to give me a hard time about pretty much everything, this is fitting for her to make it so difficult to start preschool. She is my little controller who really doesn't like to be told what to do. Hmm..... I wonder were she got that trait :-). She's such a sweet girl with so much personality. She makes me smile thinking about her.

4th of July weekend fun!

Happy Fourth of July to everyone! We had a wonderful, fun filled weekend with family and friends. On the 4th we went over to my grandparents house in Santa Ana with the whole family for a BBQ. We had an excellent time. We played lots of outside games, had a fierce water gun fight, and did some fireworks. The kids had a blast but I think that us parents really had the fun. Emily and Jack were not big fans of the fireworks. They got scared every time they heard one go off.







Jack lookin cute



Before the water gun fight got out of control :-)

My parents with all of their grandkids

On Saturday we went to the La Habra Childrens Museum with my sister and her family. That place is so much fun for kids. There is tons of things for kids to do and lots of hands on activities. I love that my sister lives so close and that my kids can grow up around their cousins. I think that family is so important and I feel so blessed that I have the family I do (my family and my in-laws). All of them are wonderful people that I genuinely enjoy being around and spending time with.


The girl cousins



Matt and Jack



Me (making my lions face) and the kids



Emily and her cousins



Farmer Emily has a new passion....milking cows. Turns out she's a natural.



Our future In-N-Out workers

On Saturday evening we had some friends over for a BBQ. Here is a picture of Caydee and Jack playing. They were so cute with each other. She's a petite little thing and Jack is huge (only 4 weeks apart and he's got a good 8 lbs on her).



We had a very busy weekend but it was a lot of fun. We're ready to start another week full of swimming lessons, doctors appointment, preschool and more summer fun activities. Matt is leaving for the majority of the week and going to New York for a little business and a little pleasure. Hope that everyone has a great week and I'll try to post again in a week or so. Take care!

Emily started swimming lessons

Emily started swimming lessons this week and she absolutely loves it. Monday was her first lesson and she was a little nervous when she first got in but warmed up to it very quickly. It wasn't long before she started pushing her limits. I guess that it's good that she isn't scared of the water but I wish she had a little more fear. She gets excited to go every morning (at 8:30am) but I think a big part of that is getting to see her cousin Amanda, who is also taking swimming lessons at the same place and same time.



This past weekend Matt and I also went to a friends wedding. My long time friend Laura got married and had a beautiful wedding. Her wedding brought back a lot of memories. Memories of us when we were younger and also memories of my own wedding. Laura was a very special friend of mine throughout the years. I met Laura in Kindergarden. She walked up to me the first day of school and said, 'I'll be your friend.' She ended up being a neighbor living right down the street from me. Laura and Jill (another neighbor and great friend) were the best childhood friends that anyone could wish for. The 3 of us spent everyday and many nights playing together. Our moms took us to the beach, took us swimming, hosted many sleepovers and really made our summers a blast. Laura and Jill are both great Christian women and were always a good example to me throughout life. I am so glad that we are still friends after all of these years and only wish that we had more time to spend together.
Here are a few pictures from the wedding. There is also a picture of Laura, Jill, and myself.