Going back to Cali

What a week! On Friday Sean gave me a late mothers day present & we went to California for the weekend. We also wanted to celebrate Sean's semester being over.


Friday I made some cupcakes to take to our friend Josh Duffy's graduation party. We are lucky enough to have found such amazing friends as the Duffy's... & unlucky enough that they moved back to California this weekend :( So we got to hang out one last time with them. Seriously, they have the nicest families in the entire world!!! We had a ton of fun with them!!! and everyone just LOVED Sammy & I pretty much didn't get to hold him all night.


Everyone was getting in the pool & so I had Sean take Sam in too....

you can see by his reaction just how much he loved it! The water was just a little bit on the cool side.

We are just so sad to see good friends leave us... once again. It seems like every time we make friends, they leave AZ :(!!!!

So Saturday VERY early morning we headed out to California. We ended up beach bumming around that day cause we were sooo tired. Sean's younger brother Justin came with us on our trip.

We went to Crystal Cove State park & just relaxed for awhile. It was a little overcast, but just right . I LOVED just laying on the jean blanket & watching the waves- & Sammy! He absolutely loved the beach! He played in the sand & was just amazed with it. He did not like how cold the ocean was!

We got these super cute board shorts for him at Target

Sammy & mommy :)

Justin & Sean out with the boogy boards

the beach took its toll on Sam & he layed down for a minute.

Sand in the face... yuck!

Sean burying Sam in the sand.

What California trip would be complete without Disneyland??!! & California Adventure? We had tons of fun.. even though it was a tad crowded. Thank goodness for switch passes!! Two of us would go on a ride & get a switch pass for the third person who was watching the baby. Then we'd switch & two of us would go back on the ride through the fast pass line... fabulous for people with babies!!! Sam did enjoy Disneyland though!! He met Winnie the Pooh & grabbed his nose & also met Mickey.

Here we are waiting for Sean & Justin to get off Splash Mountain so I could enjoy it too :)

the Jungle Cruise... a classic!

I love this picture so much!! Sean looks so happy. He was showing Sam the pirhannas that were tryin to attack our jungle boat

It was a fun day. We switched between Cali Adventure & Disneyland alot. Sean's brother Justin really liked the roller coasters, & wanted to stay on all the fast rides. I forgot how much I loved Soaring Over California & California Screamin. Sam got to ride the Buzz Lightyear ride, It's a Small world, the Jungle Cruise, the Haunted Mansion, Pirates & the Tikki Room. He did really well all day long.

& we even got to be part of an earthquake!!! There was a 4.7 in L.A. & we felt it while we were siting in a restaurant talking to my sister & brother in law who happened to be in Disneyland too. At first I was thinking it was a rumble from a ride or something & then realized there wasn't a ride underneath the restaurant. Crazy! It didn't last long, but all the rides closed after that to make sure they were fit to ride. It happened right before the fireworks, so we just left after that. What a day!!!!!!


We did catch Mickey on our way out thought :)

We stopped in one last store before we left & Sam was getting a little restless. I put him in front of the window display where Sleeping Beauty & Prince Philip were moving back & forth like they were dancing & he was mesmorized by it. He even started talking to them.

So the next day we made on more trip to the beach. My friend Meredith grew up in the OC & knows of all the good beaches & great places to be, so she so nicely agreed to come hang out with us for awhile. She took us to the Thousand Steps Beach near Laguna Beach. WOW!!! SOOOOO beautiful! One of the prettiest beaches I've been on! The sand is almost like powder, it was so nice. & the water was a little clearer & it was just so nice :)

They call it the thousand steps beach cause it takes that to get there....

that picture dosn't even show all the steep steps it takes to get there. There were alot more after you get to the bottom of this. It wasn't too bad going down...but coming back up!!!!!! with a 20lb baby!!!!!! Sean asked me if I wanted him to take him when we were going up & I said I could carry him. Yeah, about half way up we switched. My legs felt like jello!! & my calves were a tad sore the next day. If I did that every day a couple of times I'd be so in shape!!! Now I know why we only saw pretty thin people on the beach down there- cause those steps would definitely deter any out of shaper!! I've even been excercising more the past month & a half & I had a hard time towards the end!! It was definitely worth it though!!!



Sean & Sam

Sam being cute

the Johnsons on thousand steps beach

Meredith & me.

meredith was nice enough to come let us rinse off at her house before we headed back... which made for a much more comfortable ride home!
Meredith was such a prepared beach goer- we were lucky to have her with us! She brought waters & sadwhiches. She, and I walked with Sam along the beach while Sean & Justin caught some waves. There was a n awesome cave along the beach & I'm sad I didn't have my camera to take some more pictures. Hopefully we can go back next time we're there.

We did not get a last glimpse of the other half of the Duffy couple, cause Josh had started his bar exam class. Good luck Josh :)

Great trip! Much needed!! Glad to be home!!!!

yay yay yay!!!

I want everyone to know that Sean got an A!!!!!!!! in his math class. He's been working so hard & it's not his strongest class. I'm sooooooooo proud of him :)!! Me & Sam danced around the kitchen tonight- yay yay yay ... daddy got an A!!!! What a smartie :) Now onto the next math class :(

We love moms :)

Mother we love you!!!!! Here is me as an extremely cute baby with my beautiful mother. Dosn't she look happy, even though I was her 7th daughter? You'd think she might have been a little discouraged that she didnt' yet have a son...so I think she was pretty happy under the circumstance!
just kidding... I mean, look at me! I was adorable! I never really knew what an amazing mom I had until I had a baby of my own, & realized my mom did that 8 times and she did alot of it without her mom around. I was lucky enough to have been blessed with basically 7 moms. My mom raised 6 girls ahead of me & so its like I have 7 moms. 7 amazing women to turn to for advise & help whenever I need them. I thank God every day for a mother who raised such amazing children & who as I'm typing is serving the Lord because she has so much love to give. I could never really express how much love I have for her... & I know I've never even remotely been able to show it to her.


Saturday night Sean & I were able to go on an actual date without a baby thanx to my amazing sister Nancie who played with Sam while Sean & I spent some time together. I got some new shirts & went to my favorite restaurant the Cheesecake Factory. mMMM!!!!

Then yesterday was nice. Sean woke up with Sam Saturday night so I could sleep in (wonderful present!!!) & I woke up & just vegged around the house & ate a nice bowl of Pops. Then Sean & Sam both gave me a mothers day card...

Sean's mom gave me a little plate that says "Home is where your mom is" & a card too. The card Sam gave to me had Michael Scott from the office with a talking quote about how kids are easy to raise cause you just give them pizza & candy... it was funny :)
Then I had some meetings in the morning & we didn't want to come back home so we hung out at the church for an hour til church started & then were at church til 4.
While we were waiting at church I took some pictures of the reason I'm a mom...

that kid is tooooo cute!!!!!!

It's a good thing he's cute- cause he decided to treat me like an official mom by not sitting through any of the meetings without fussing. I didn't even get to hear the young womens lesson.


After church we came home & changed & got our stuff together to go to Sean's mom's house. She makes the most amazing homemade spaghetti sauce & meatballs & invited us all to enjoy them with her. So we spent the night visiting with his siblings & mom

Here's Uncle Ben with Sam

I now know that Sam will LOVE his birthday & Christmas cause after I opened the present Sean's mom gave me he played with the tissue & wrapping paper for a good 10 minutes!
Against Sean's wishes I let Sam continue in my tradition of keeping the bow from my package in my hair :)

Here's Sean with his mom & Sammy with his grandma

she was tickling his foot

Sean's sister was there too with her little 4 week baby. Here's Sean & Sammy & Tiffany & David

Sam thought David was very interesting & stared at him when he cried

Uncle Caio loves being a new dad & I know he can't wait til his baby is big enough to do fun stuff with...

Sean's Aunt Elaine & cousin Elyse are here visiting for a few days & Sam thinks that Elys tastes really great apparently!

The only thing that would have made yesterday better.. ok 2 thing... my mom here & me getting a massage. That would have been perfection!

However... I did have a Mother's Day miracle yesterday! I didn't gain ANY weight from the weekend!!! Yay!!!!

bouncing baby

tooth number 2 made its appearance on Thursday! & only after getting up every hour the night before! Yay!& Johnny Jumper came to join our family yesterday! Sam LOVES it!

busy bees

I kinda slacked off this week in the blogging department... but we've been pretty busy around here!!!!
Sam's chicken pox turned out to be a pretty ridiculously mild case. He only had about 12 on his face & neck & just a few on his arms & legs. A few more showed up on Monday & then a few more on Tuesday, but since then it's been tapering off & they are slowly fading. He was never really fussy, so according to everyone- this wasn't really chicken pox & he will most likely get them again! Hurray! Oh well... we've still been trying to keep him away from people this week.

Here's me & Sam vegging on the bed. I'm pretty sure he's the cutest baby in the world!

and my wicked awesome find at a yard sale on Saturday-

a backpack hiker baby carrier thingy! Yippee!!! One of our favorite hikes is Fossil Springs near Strawberry. It's so pretty & great exercise! My only problem is that I'm "training" to be able to do it with Sam on my back. I thought it wouldn't be too big a deal til we did that Montezuma's trip with the youth & that 20 extra pounds in the snuggly on my front really took its toll on me. I figured the weight needs to be put somewhere else if we're really gonna try that hike this summer. So I found this at a yard sale for $5!! Go me! However... the hike is 9 miles round trip. The first 4 1/2 are a breeze- straight down. coming back... thats the challenge! We'll see if it happens!

Here are 2 new additions to the family.

our garden is going insane!! We have a TON of tomatoes & squash!!! & I think we even have a pumpkin. We are loving cooking up our squash & eating our cherry tomatoes :)

Yesterday I had my 2 year review at work. Every year my bosses give us a self evalution & then they fill out the same evaluation & they give us constructive criticism & praise for good work too. They took me to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch, where I enjoyed a small salad while I watched pieces of cheesecake pass me by. ANYWAYS! I was actually suppose to have the review in January, but kept forgetting to remind them I was due- it went very well & I even got a raise :) So I celebrated by making myself a shake with nonfat yogurt & fruit & put it in my fun red robin crazy glass!

We've been trying to get Sam & Red more aquainted & let them play together the other night. Sam just loves Red!!!

I love this picture because the amount of roll son Sams' arm is ridiculously cute :)

It looks like he's trying to tell Red a secret

I'm sure that I'll get some laughs out of some moms for saying this- but I'm really ready for Sam to understand the word NO! He's really starting to bring out some stinker attitude lately. I mean, my dog understands the word no... now we just need to work on the baby!!!

We've been letting him roam in his diaper at home more lately because its easier to clean him after baby food without clothes, & its getting freaking hot!!! However... he has decided that he wants to roam completely free & that his diaper is horribly restricting because he's always playing with this velcro diaper strap & the other night managed to take it off & use his bed as the diaper. Just the beginning of many wonderful stories of raising a baby :)

I know this baby can roll over in every way possible, but he REFUSES!! If he's playing with his toys & falls over or somehow ends up on his stomach or back, WATCH OUT!! I thought if I just let him cry it out one time he'd figure out how to sit himself back up, or roll over cause he needed to... but NO! He just makes himself compeltely hysterical til someone sits him back up. Stinker!!!

So I've done 3 loads of laundry, the dishes, watered the gardens, fed the baby & am on my way to some serious turbo jammin... busy busy :)

chicken pox

11 days ago Sammy was playing with his cousins who just happened to break out in chicken pox the next day :( Well, we thought... 11 days, he seems to be just fine, right? Wrong!
I gave him a bath this morning & didn't really notice anything & then went to a meeting. Sean met me with Sam at church & when I got him out of his seat & started looking at him, noticed he had several red spots on his face & neck. Now I'm not 100% sure at this moment, but I'm pretty sure that he's got the chicken pox.. he definitely didn't have those red spots before & his temperature is a little elevated. I guess we'll have to see...
needless to say.. we left after Sacrament meeting!

more smiles

Today Sam & I walked around the temple & I thought since the grass was so pretty, it would be a nice place to take a few pictures.. here are some of my favorites :)

I only wish I had a decent camera!