Growing Up!

I can’t believe Eliza is almost 6 months old! What a cute little chunk she is. She is officially rolling over both ways now…but only when it is convenient to her. She has also mastered sitting up by herself for short periods of time. She is doing much better at night and sleeping between 8 and 9 hours! She’s mastered rice cereal and oatmeal and wishes we’d feed her more. She’s swiped food from our plate several times. And recently (THANK YOU AUNTIE EM!) she's become very girly. Em sent her the adorable headband you see in the pictures plus like 15 more clips to go on the headband...all homemade. And then we found a dress up box to play with and take more pictures...more to follow. (It inspired me to the point of throwing a sheet down and seeing if I could be artistic--where are you Jen & Joy when I need you??? :)

Anyways, Eliza is truly a joy in our family and brings smiles to lots of faces. We love you Monkey!

Old Friends, New Friends

I'm sure I've mentioned it before but I'll mention it again--I love the fact that since I always seem to be in the Sacramento area, I love that I always get to see my friends when they come to see their families. This was no exception! Tiana and her two cuties (Ches & Ellie) came for a 3 week visit this week and we had so much fun! Tiana was so kind to take Xander for me when I went to the dentist and from what I hear, Xander & Ches had a fantastic time together! How couldn't they--they both love trains, Lightening McQueen and lots of things that are boy, boy, boy. The last time that Ches & Xander hung out--they were Ellie & Eliza's current age so it was fun to watch them explore. After the dentist appointment, I brought Eliza over and she and Ellie got to play for a little bit. We also had a play date at the park, went to the Temple to see the grounds and went to the water intake in Sacramento to play with the fountains and have a picnic. It was so fun to see Tiana too--she's been on the East coast for about 4 or 5 years now and so I rarely, if ever, get to see her. But, she's been my pal since the first grade and we grew up having lots of fun together in Orchestra and French class. She's always been taller and smarter than me but she still finds time to be my friend and I'm glad that she does!

Our First Family Camping Trip

It is so sad to admit but this is truly our first time camping as a married couple and especially with kids. We did go camping with Ben's ward in Provo but we were in seperate camps. We decided to take it easy on the first round and stay close to home so we found a site at Folsom Lake for one night. It turned out to be fantastic! We invited both our parents and Ben's siblings to join us for S'Mores since we were so close and our friends from Thunderbird, the Svetz's joined us for dinner and treats! Which was a good thing because with my hands full of kids, Joe was indispensable to Ben while he was putting up the tent. We made steak kabobs for the fire for dinner and Grandma Bonnie brought fruit salad--yummy! And then we made popcorn and marshmellows over the fire. Xander's favorite part was cooking marshmellows & breakfast (oatmeal) and taking a walk around the lake. The kids slept well--Eliza slept her longest time ever...from 7:30-5AM!! Maybe we should just pitch a tent in the backyard for her? :) Unfortunatly, I didn't sleep well because the sleeping bag we brough for Ben & I (under the assumption that it was a 2 person bag) didn't have the piece that made it for 2 people and so I froze. Oh well...I at least got to take a great nap the next day! All in all we had a fantastic time and Xander asks if we can go camping again everyday. We have a trip to the ocean planned for July and maybe one last trip in August depending on site availability. Yeah for beautiful California!!

Our Summer Home

We moved in on Saturday to our "Summer Home." And boy it has been like Christmas here! First, Xander inherited a dog for the summer. Thank goodness it is a kind, patient dog because Xander just hasn't figured out how to treat dogs yet. Her name is Sky and she is an Australian Shepherd dog. Second, Xander inherited a yard with lots of toys--a rocking horse, sand, castles and fortresses, cars to drive, bikes to ride and a garden! Lastly, he inherited 3 little kids toys. With one toy a day I think we can have a new toy for each week. It has been lots of fun. Some days he's running around with the cowboy gear and other days he is pushing the baby doll in the stroller and making dinner in the PlaySkool kitchen. The last picture is our trip to the zoo--the coolest part being that the bear climbed the tree and tried to get out--good thing it was netted in! Did I mention we can walk to the zoo, the city park and the library? Talk about a great location! Oh, and an ice cream shop where a scoop is only $1--dangerous!!! But if I walk there, does that count? Oh, and do they serve soy ice cream? I guess we'll have to find out!

Having a house is nice. It is good to be around family again and it really feels like we never left. However, now that we have moved into our home for the summer, I really have started to miss the student apartment living that I've become accustomed to! There's no one close enough to drop by when we go get the mail or to just stop and chat with. It's kinda sad. Oh, and spontaneous activities don't happen nearly as much here. And although I'm looking forward to having a home of our own someday--I am definitely not looking forward to cleaning it. :)

And the heat is on...

No, I'm not talking about the weather. It is actually suppose to be in the low 80's for the next week. I'm talking about our family weight challenge...see side bar for a link to our site. If you are interested...let me know and we'll get you signed up! Basically it is "The Biggest Loser" Challenge. Watch out cause here we go!

So Busy!

It has been just about a month since the kids and I ventured to our "summer home." And boy has it been crazy! We arrived to stay at Ben's folks just after the family dog, Laney, delivered 12 puppies! They were barely opening their eyes then--see previous post for more details about the puppies. Eliza started rice cereal when we arrived and has already moved to oatmeal--which she definitely prefers. She has been doing much better since I stopped eating dairy--she's happy and sleeping better. Except for last night when at 3 am I heard her laughing and went in to find out that she had rolled over and was just laughing at herself! But she is doing very well--still growing like a weed and amazing everyone with her thunder thighs. She loved playing with all the dogs and being outside so much. Xander has become my very helpful boy. I guess with Ben gone he decided he needed to be the little man of the house. My favorite thing is when he tried to help Grumpy (my dad) in his wheelchair--he will push him around or pick his feet up or whatever. He also wants to to help Uncle Jake "fix" things. We're still working on the swimming thing but he's been more receptive to Mom's teaching methods from years ago. And potty training has practically gone out the window...we'll see what happens...I'm actually reading a book for some help.

I managed with Ben being gone for 3 weeks but was very glad when he returned home to me/us. The week we had between Ben coming home and his job starting was lots of fun and included trips to the county fair, berry picking, tractor riding, lots of play time outside and for mom and dad--lots of dates to sushi and Indiana Jones among others.