Three Little Words

I. Love. You.

What Is Better...

Than getting to hang out with your best friend?

Harper & Mazie are best little pals.  Sawyer is part of the best friend club too, she is just not pictured ;)

The Cousins

For my Dad's birthday my sister and I wanted to send him pictures of his granddaughters together.  It was a challenge to say the least.  

I hope my dad can find the humor in these...my sister and I thought it was hilarious (Notice that Harper has little to no expression in these pictures...she spends a lot of time just hanging out and being mellow)

Our Trip to Washington

So all the way back in July, my little family took a trip up to Seattle and we met my parents there, as well as my sister and her family.  The reason for the trip was for my cousin's wedding in Gig Harbor, but we did a little site seeing along the way.  I was so happy we made the trip; lots of good memories.  Flying to Washington was Harper's first time on an airplane (she was about 6 weeks old), Sawyer's first time with her own seat on an airplane, and mine and Marc's first time flying with two kids.  It was also our first time renting a car as a family.  Lots of firsts! 

(packing was a little stressful)

After a long day of traveling and no napping, Sawyer started to get a little loopy...so into the fountain she went with all of our clothes on.

Harper had a crib in the hotel room, but Sawyer slept with us.  I moved Harper into our bed in the morning...do you see that little smile on her face? :) 

Me, and mis padres, baby brother Bryce & Sawyer...it was a COLD morning

(I am glad I can say that I have been to the top of the Space Needle now, but honestly, it wasn't really that cool)

We checked out Pike's Place Public Market....loved that.

This was in Gig Harbor.  There was a sidewalk chalk festival going on.  My mom borrowed some chalk and wrote our last names on the walkway.

(My oldest babe, her Uncle Bryce, and her Tutu & Bubba)

This was before my cousin's rehearsal dinner.  There aren't any pictures from the dinner really because my sister and I spent most of the evening in a room by ourselves trying to soothe our sleepy babies.

This was at the wedding.  It was at a bed & breakfast with a great view.  Sawyer was a wild child at the event, but at least she was having fun, right?

This trip seems like it was oh so long ago, but I wanted to post some pictures before any more time got away from me.

I had such a great time with my family - I savor every second with them :)

Once Upon a Vacation

Just last Saturday we got home from a week vacation in Kauai for Marc's family reunion.  We had so much fun and we were so grateful we got to go on such an amazing trip.  Sawyer loved running around with her cousins and Harper was happy just hanging out :)  It got a little hectic at times with so many kids (12 kids, 7 adults) but I wouldn't have changed any of it.  

One of my most favorite experiences was taking a helicopter tour of the island.  Grandma & Grandpa watched our kids, and Marc and I went with our oldest nieces (Matisse & Aubrie) on the tour.

It was incredible seeing the island from up above.  We even flew into a volcanic crater, that was a first.

Harper was spoiled with lots of love (and Sawyer was too).

Sawyer liked the beach, but I think the highlight for her was the shower.  

We visited one of the wettest places on Earth (which happened to be breathtaking).

We drove to Princeville and enjoyed the beach there.  Marc and his brother-in-law played a little game to see who could get washed up onto shore the furthest...

I love my family.

One of my most favorite parts about vacation is having Marc with me and not working.  Blissful.  Wouldn't it be nice if we could retire at the ripe old age of 25/26 and move to Hawaii and bask in the sunshine all day everyday?

Grandma & Grandpa were kind enough to watch our little rascals for us again so that we could go on a boat tour of the Na'Pali Coast and do a little snorkeling.  We saw SO many dolphins it was ridiculous.  There were literally groups of like 10 dolphins at a time swimming.  I got a picture of one of the dolphins that was dancing in the water next to our boat.  I wouldn't mind being a dolphin.  

Harper slept through most of her Hawaii beach experience, but she did get to stick her feet in the ocean :)

We caught some pretty sweet sunsets.  There really was something heavenly about the pink sky.

I have a new food obsession...too bad I have to take a 6 hour plane ride to satisfy my craving.  Jo Jo's Hawaiian shaved ice was divine.  The Jo Jo's special comes highly recommended by me (and by like a million other people)!

We went to a luau.  The food was delish.  Sawyer was intrigued by the dancers.  She would watch them and try to imitate their hand/arm movements, so cute.

And the people that made all of this possible...

Grandma & Grandpa :) Thank you!

The Fam

We don't end up with too many pictures of the whole family together, but when we do, I get excited. This was in Laguna Beach on Sunday, we were headed to dinner.  Love my peeps.

What's Up?

As I suspected, life has been really busy this last month.  Harper is now a month old and Sawyer is a big two year old!! My parents and little brother came to visit from Virginia and my Grams is in town visiting from Indiana.  Marc's parents are also here from Idaho and Marc's sister is here from New Mexico.  I say all family members should just move to Southern California to make things simpler, what do you say?

Anyways...just in the last week we have...

1.) Gone to Wild Rivers.  I consider this a brave moment on my part...I was a little nervous with an almost two year old and a 3 1/2 week old (and Marc was at work) but decided to give it a shot because my sister and her hubs would be there (with their 2 month old!) and my parents and brother (who is 14 and actually a total help).  It ended up being a really fun day and I forgot how fun water slides are (although the bandaids in the water gross me out, and seriously, can't they heat their H2O up a little bit more? brrr!)...pictures to come...

2.) Tackled a ridiculously huge pile of laundry.  Not only did I wash & dry all of it...but I even put it away.  I am giving myself a high-five right now....sorry, no pictures of this, don't be too sad...

3.) Took a trip to Los Angeles to go to the Flower Market...and I am even the one that drove! (I don't typically like driving unless it is in a 30 mile radius of my home...I know, I am a dork).  Super fun day and totally worth the drive.  Not only was it fun seeing all the flowers but I loved spending the day with Momma and Bryt (and Harper and Mazie and Bryce...lets not forget)...pictures to come...

4.) Had breakfast at The Beachcomber in Crystal Cove.  If you have never been there I highly recommend their breakfast, yum!...perhaps some pictures to come...not sure yet...

4.) Celebrated Sawyer's big #2 birthday with a small family party.  Although small, it still took some brain power for me to get myself organized and ready for this little event...pictures to come...

5.) Celebrated Harper's homecoming with a party/shower thrown by my mom and sister...complete with catering from Pinkberry :) Harper may have slept during the entire thing, but I am pretty sure she had a good time, and I know that I did.  I loved seeing my friends (something I haven't done much of since having two little kidlets, I am working on it though) and I loved having family here too!...pictures to come....

So clearly I have some pictures that need to be uploaded and I eventually plan on posting them, but for now I leave you with my two little munchkins...

 Sawyer is all about giving her baby sister Har-poo (that is how Sawyer says it) kisses :)

Sawyer trying to hold Har-poo's hand

Awkward Family Photo and a Happy Father's Day

Today we celebrated Marc's second Father's Day...we hung out with my sister and her family and played in the pool and in the sun.  If you ask me, it was a pretty great day! I think Marc thought it was fun too :)  Before we left the pool I asked my sister to take a picture of our family...I am not sure but I think this might be one of the most awkward pictures of the four of us...

Marc was holding Sawyer's head hoping she would look at the camera and Harper's hat is covering her face and she was totally crying.

And on a more serious note...

I love my husband and I don't think I could have picked a better father for my kids.  He is an awesome daddy and he does everything he can to take care of our little family - we love him sooooo much!!! He works crazy hours but still somehow finds the energy to play with Sawyer and swim with her and chase her at the park.  As soon as Harps gets a little bigger I am sure she will be joining them on their play dates.

Not only are my kids lucky to have a great dad, but I am lucky to have an awesome dad too!  Bubba, I love you! Thank you for everything you have ever done for us kids, and I love all of the memories we share...my kids are lucky to have you as their grandpa :)  

And Happy Father's Day to my father-in-law, he is also a wonderful grandpa and a great father-in-law.  I know not everyone is lucky enough to have in-laws that they really love, but I totally scored.

All in all I have an amazing family and for that I am forever grateful.  

Cousins & Sisters

My girls are so lucky to have a cousin living close by, and I am lucky to have my sister close by.  I didn't grow up living close to family, but it is such a blessing to have relatives around to play with.  Nothing is better than family :) Sawyer will be 2 in a couple of weeks and Mazie is about 7 weeks old and Harper is 2 weeks old.  I can only imagine what kind of mischief these three will get into together in the future.

p.s This picture makes me smile...someday it will be pretty funny to look back at

So Much Family Time

I thought that once I had a new baby I would be taking pictures and blogging like crazy, but instead, I have just been soaking up and loving all of the family time instead.  Marc has two weeks off of work so we have been getting in a lot of play time.  Is 26 too early to retire? I wish Marc was home with me every single day! One of the things we have been doing is spending a lot of time at the pool.  Here are some pictures from last weekend.  Sawyer kills me in her Roxy hat, and Harper is so cute just being cozy in the shade.  I love my little family!

She's Here!

A Stinky Blogger

I admit it, I have been a stinky blogger.  I started off with so much potential, I had great hopes of keeping our family blog constantly updated, but something has happened, and I have been busy, and blogging has been in the back of my mind...or well, not really even on my mind at all.  I promise I will get better (because, hello, I know you are waiting on the edge of your seat for me to post an update).  I am about to go on "maternity leave" (it seems so cheesy for me to even call it that, but what else should I title it?) and then I will have nothing but time to photograph my cute and growing family and post updates about all of the exciting things in our lives; diaper changes, feedings, sleep deprivation, you know, the usual newborn type stuff. Oh ya, and I can write about some of the funny toddler things that happen day to day too.

There isn't a whole lot to report as of now.  Sawyer is great, less than a month away from being two! That little girl is just the best...and all this crap about the "terrible twos" seems to be a big fat lie, because so far (well, I guess she isn't even 2 yet!) I love love the stage she is in.  As for myself, I am doing pretty good considering I am walking around with a watermelon tucked under my shirt (or hanging out the bottom of my shirt...I never really bought any real maternity clothes, so I am starting to outgrow everything) and hopefully that little watermelon will present itself as a baby in the next week or so, and of course, Marc is busy working away and being a pretty rad dad.  Was that entire paragraph one sentence? I am too lazy to go back and check...so excuse my punctuation errors...

Life really is pretty good (but don't you hate it when people only blog about how perfect their lives are?) and I have very little to complain about (well I am always complaining about something...to Marc...but unfortunately that is just in my nature and there is little we can do about it) and I am just excited for the things that are soon to come.  Anyways, check back, one of these days I will have awesome pictures to post and fun and exciting stories to tell, but until then...adios mis amigos :)

p.s Marc asked me to never do a post with just a lot of writing because that is "sooooo boring"...so consider this my apology in advance :)

splish, splash

I am very very excited about this.  I was always afraid to dunk Sawyer in the water...so Marc did it...and Sawyer survived, and she wasn't scared, and she even asked to be dunked again.  Yay for summer coming and pool days :)

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my favorite Momma! I love you so much and I am so lucky to have you as my mom :) You are the best!

I also scored an awesome mother-in-law too...I really lucked out in the mom department!

xoxo

Trying to Catch Up

Life has been really busy - lots of good things have been happening, but now I am feeling a little behind on my family photos, and that drives me nuts.  I probably won't be able to get all caught up until the end of the week, but here is a little bit of what has been going on.

There has definitely been a lot of park going...

And then my mom was here to meet her newest granddaughter (my sister's baby Mazie)...

And there was a little crafting with my mom and my friend Sheri...

And of course we have squished in some beach time.  Last Saturday we went to the beach to watch our friend Scott in a surf competition...

We took a family bike ride to Panera Bread for dinner (of course, safety first)...

And the bike ride was complete with a snake encounter! (Notice the skid marks...Marc almost went right over the snake, yikes)

I have been busy watching my daughter be cute (and stuff her face with snacks)...

And tonight we hung out with friends and played and had a BBQ...

We also had friends over to watch the Lakers, and I went to a baby shower, and I have been keeping busy with my photography. 

All in all I would say things are pretty good these days.  The countdown for Harper's arrival is down to 45 days, and we are so excited for her to get here and come play with us! I am trying to soak up this last month & a half of being a mom of just one child.  Sawyer is growing and getting bigger and smarter and funnier every day, and we are so lucky to live in our little world filled with lots of happiness (and love...but I don't want to sound too cheesy).