raegan turns one!

we have had another eventful week! on wednesday, i took the girls to the beach with some friends. we went to mother's beach in long beach. there are no waves, so its like playing in a lake. at first i was afraid that grace might want to jump in and swim around, so i told her that she couldn't put her head or face in the water. she had a blast. raegs also loved it there. she stayed on the sand, mostly. she doesn't really like the cold water, so she didn't go near it. she played with some toys and walked around while eating the sand. i hope she didn't eat anything too yucky!


on thursday, it was raegan's actual birthday. in the morning, the girls went and played with jaxson and nik, and then that evening we sang happy birthday to raegs again and had some cupcakes. i tried to take some pictures of them, but raegan didn't want to smile too much. she mostly tries to chase the camera!



on saturday, bryan and i went to some soccer games at the home depot center. the gold cup is going on and we saw el salvador play guatemala, then when that game ended we saw the u.s. men's team play trinidad and tobago. it was awesome. we got a video of the second goal the u.s. scored. landon donovan assisted to eddie johnson who scored to make it 2 - 0. it was pretty cool. we had a blast!

raegs is mobile! or more mobile than she was!

this is the latest video of raegan walking. this is how she gets around now. pretty much walking the whole time! near the end of the video you can hear her say 'uh oh' after bryan says it. and then she waves bye-bye. she is getting to be such a big girl!

happy birthday to raegan

we spent memorial day weekend with bryan's family in yucaipa. we had a ton of fun swimming and bbq-ing. grace has become quite the little fish. she loves to swim and jump in the water. saturday, she spent the day helping grandpa clean the pool. they were out there for hours, then she went swimming for about 3 hours. what a good time! monday, they had a big extended family bbq. grace again went swimming all afternoon. here are a couple of videos of her in the water!





on saturday (02 june) we had raegan's birthday party. her actual birthday isn't until the 7th. i can't believe that she is going to be one! we decided to have a polka dot party for her. rachel gave us the idea when aurora turned one, and it was a success. we loved setting up the decorations (especially grace). she was so thrilled with all the pink, blue, and green dots. bryan's family came down and we also had a few friends from church and our neighbors over. there were so many kids! but, we had a blast. raegan got many presents, lots of clothes and toys to keep her busy for the next year. she has really started walking a ton and is getting to be such a big girl. here are a few pictures of the decorations and the girls. the last picture is of all the people wearing their polka dot clothes!








after the party, bryan and i headed up to hollywood to see wicked at the pantages theater. it was a really great show. bryan's mom and heather took the girls back to yucaipa for the night and we joined them in the morning for baby andrew's blessing.

a family invasion! auntie pam, hannah, and sarah come for a visit.

ok, so, we have been very busy lately. on saturday, we got a new air conditioner put in. dwayne cut a big hole in the wall, so here is grace standing in it!

on sunday night auntie pam (or as grace calls her, 'auntie ham'), hannah, and sarah came to visit. monday, we headed out to crescent bay for a day at the beach. unfortunately it was pretty overcast and a bit cold. we still had a ton of fun and the kids loved the water. one time grace, hannah, and sarah were playing by the water. they were trying to run away as the waves came in. well, a huge one came and took grace away. she lost her footing and went right down. she got tumbled around quite a bit before we got to her and she lost her hat to the ocean. we looked for a long time and couldn't find it. (it must run in our family to lose items of clothing to the ocean when you are little). after she got warmed up, she headed right back out.


right before we were about to leave we saw the marine rescue workers bringing some sea lions back to the ocean. it was very interesting and very smelly. well, we had a great time. after several hours, we headed home for a bbq.



on tuesday, we went to california adventure. that was a blast. hannah and sarah loved it. one of the first things we did was play on the brother bear treehouse. grace had tons of fun running around the treehouse.





we rode tons of rides, and hannah and sarah were big enough to ride the big rides. bryan took a videos of us (me, him, hannah, and sarah) on the maliboomer. sarah looks like her head is about to fall off... but she loved it. we rode rides until it closed.



wednesday we went to disneyland. bryan had to go to school, so it was just auntie pam, hannah, sarah, me, grace, and raegs. we still had fun. the day was very packed. we rode as many rides as we could, ate, rode some more, then sat to watch the parade. i think that was grace's favorite part. she kept saying.... 'look mommy, there's ariel'... or some other disney character. she loved it. when disneyland closed at 8, we headed to pam's hotel so we could swim for a bit. grace was having a blast. auntie pam was helping her learn to swim. grace has braved the underwater world. she now loves to be pushed under water and try to swim. she is becoming quite the little fish!



on thursday, pam, hannah, and sarah had to leave, so they came over to eat a pancake breakfast, then headed out. after they left, grace and i went to the la habra children's museum. grace had fun hanging out there with jaxson, nik, ashley, and kyle. i think grace's favorite part was performing with jaxson on the stage as they sang songs (in some language only known to them) and danced around.



today was our relax day. we are packing up and getting ready to head out to yucaipa for the memorial day weekend. we will be celebrating ryan's birthday tomorrow and having a bbq on monday! we can't wait!

ok, here is the latest of raegan learning to walk. she is getting much better. i think she will be walking before we know it. yikes!

discovering science

on monday, we went with anne and simon to the discovery science center. we had a blast. they have so much cool stuff there. grace loved the 'shake shack' which simulates what an earthquake feels like... and apparently a doorway is not the safest place to be in an earthquake. back when people built adobe homes the doorway was one of the only things left standing after an earthquake, but unless you live in an adobe home, under a table is safest. (who knew, right... i only learned about how to survive in a tornado growing up!) speaking of tornadoes...


anyway, we learned about lots of stuff. in one section they had a rock wall that we let grace climb on.


ok, just kidding, we just stuck her arms up there and told her to hang on... and she did for a while!


they have a whole section dedicated to the body. it is all sesame street oriented. grace had a blast hanging out in there and learning new stuff, like...


after we discovered the body, we traveled upstairs. they had a large obstacle course that grace and raegan played on for quite a while.



anne, simon, and i had fun learning new stuff about ourselves. i learned that my reaction time on average is 0.18 seconds... i can throw a whiffle ball about 29 mph, and my grip strength on both hands is almost exactly the same! oh, and i guess i'm only 5'2"... but the machine measured anne an inch shorter too... maybe it was off.

then on tuesday we had our midweek activity at the beach. it was freezing and overcast, but the kids had a ton of fun. at one time, ashley jamison took off her swimsuit and was running around naked... when we looked over and saw her, grace was in the process of taking hers off too! those stinkers!


raegan's front tooth finally came in on sunday! yippee! no more runny nose, and she is getting very close to walking. she can walk back and forth between bryan and me, and occasionally will take a step or two away from the couch. a video will follow shortly.


i will leave you with one last photo... bryan... at the science center... he pushed himself onto one of those pin thingys... can you guess who he is?

the beach! again! we love the beach!

ok, so long time no post. my goal of everyday has turned into once a week. i must try to do better. things have been very busy, so, i suppose that is my excuse.

so, grace has recently been interested in hiding herself (in the blanket on the floor, on the bed under a pillow, etc) and waiting for us to realize that we can't 'find' her. she thinks it is so funny when we call her and say, 'where are you, grace?' she giggles and waits. what a silly!


so, we had a very full week that ended with a day off for bryan on friday. the clinic was closed, so him and mike got up early for a dive at laguna. i had an errand to run before we headed to the beach, so i took grace and raegs over to chelsea's for a few minutes. as we were getting out of the car, grace was standing by the door and i started to shut it. as i was in the process of closing the side door, grace fell back a little and got the fatty part of her forearm pinched in the door. yikes! she has a huge bruise. :( we took her inside and put some ice on it and after about 2 minutes, she said... 'i want to play outside'. she was all better, i guess. so, gracie, raegan, and i met up with bryan at the beach at about noon. we stayed and played until about 4, then headed home to get ready for bunco at our house. we had a great time!


today was a mother/daughter primary luncheon and craft day for the stake. grace and i went and made a lot of very cute things. grace had a blast. she made a bracelet, decorated a picture frame, made a purse and much more. just us girls! tomorrow is mother's day, so i am looking forward to nice day of relaxation (maybe)!

and another congratulations to aaron. today at districts he took first in shot put (with another pr - 50' 6 3/4") and first in discus as well! next weekend is sectionals! go aaron!

beach, basketball, and disneyland

raegan has been getting more and more brave with her walking around. she still cannot walk on her own, but she loves to walk around with her little push toy!

we have had a very busy weekend. on friday, bryan was able to come home early at about 1:00. we had a great day hanging out and relaxing. on friday night, anne and simon came over to have bryan make some bleaching trays for them. after they were done, they decided to stay for a bit. bryan and simon played halo 2 all night while me and anne watched a girlie movie, just like old times.

on saturday, bryan needed to go down to lake forest to make some bleaching trays for len (the guy who scuba certified him). after he was done, we decided to go to the beach. we went down to laguna beach and played for a while. it was quite overcast and the water was freezing, but we still had a ton of fun.

raegan is no longer afraid of the sand. she really loves it, in fact, i think she loves it too much. she was eating it constantly. yuk! grace still loves the water. she would ask us to take her 'swimming'. which translates to... getting her feet wet. she loves to stand at the edge of the water and let the waves get her feet and legs wet. the waves were pretty big, so a couple of times she got splashed up to her neck. despite the cold, she had a great time and didn't want to leave.

on saturday night, bryan decided it was time to shave his beard.

after 'the shave', he went to play basketball in the stake semifinals. they won, so this saturday, they will play in the championship against one of the singles ward teams. unfortunately, we have a date with the thompsons, so we will not be able to make it. good luck cypress 2nd ward.

on monday, bryan had off again, so we went to disneyland. the weather was perfect. grace had so much fun. we rode the monorail from downtown disney and that dropped us off in tomorrowland. we headed for buzz lightyear. the ride would stop periodically for a few minutes, so we were able to score major points. i finally broke 100,000 and bryan was almost to 600,000. yeah, i know, i stink, but it was a lot of fun. after buzz lightyear, we made it over to dumbo, the carousel, the teacups, and small world.

grace was having so much fun, she didn't want to leave. but by the time we got home, it was almost 6 and those kids were tired. with bryan's extended weekend, the girls were able to spend a lot of time with dad and they had a blast!