CA Part 1

We just returned from a delightful 12 days in beautiful, (not-so-sunny in june) California. Our trip started and ended with a stay at my sister's in west LA. She & Taylor (plus their 3 kids) recently moved and it was great to see their new place.

Out back the swings were a huge hit, the kids just lived outside. The woman that lived there before planted a ton of beautiful plants, everything from calla lillies & roses to this interesting passion fruit vine. Their garden is amazing, really everything grows in California.

The 2 little ones

3 kids in a tub

First swing

Tacos and Paper and String

I have been trying to capture a few of the cute things Greta says incorrectly before she grows out of them. She was so adamant about telling me it was Sleeping Beauty on her movie and not Aurora that I quickly grabbed the camera. I was also lucky enough to get her singing "Let's Go Fly a Kite", her current favorite song. When we were in St. George, we let her sleep in the same room with her cousins, like a big girl. But we had to remove her because she would lie in her sleeping bag singing that song and keeping the other girls up. After mastering the chorus, she has moved onto the verses, "With tacos for paper and string..."

Elsa Helen

My baby turned 9 months old this week, Tuesday to be exact. It has flown by, I'm not sure if it is because she is the 2nd and I don't have undivided attention for her but it seems like yesterday she was sleeping in my arms. She still gives her mom snuggles and gives everyone big smiles. Really people ask me if she is always this happy and yes, she is - except when you stop feeding her. The girl likes to eat! She usually makes a big mmmm after each bite. The other comment we get a lot about her is her skin color. No I do not keep her out in the sun, spray tan her or feed her massive amounts of sweet potatoes and carrots. She is just tan, like her sister was at this age. She can thank her great grandma (after whom she is named) for her beautiful skin color. She is pure happiness and a joy. Here she is with her namesake, my Grandma Helen.

Eating a cupcake with Grandpa

Doing a little reading

How do they know a phone goes up to your ear?

Check out the mohawk

Crawling and clapping

Some Pictures Lately

I have been taking photos on my phone a lot lately and finally downloaded them. Here are some highlight from the last couple months. Elsa and Greta at Roberts. Greta loves it because they give her a balloon, the key to any child's heart. This was the first time I put Elsa in a cart by herself, minus the carseat. It was definitely time, she was so excited to be able to see everything, even though she was a little tippy. She looks so little.

Cousin Claire and Greta at the zoo.

After bath picture, such a happy little thing

Greta modeling her princess shoes from papa that she loves to wear.

After a Costco trip last week we had the stuff sitting in the hall waiting to be put away. It occured to me that in would make the perfect desk for Greta - since she is always wanting to type at the computer like mom, I knew she would love it. She sat and typed forever! She kept running over to tell me "Mommy I did 64!"

Working Girl, busy taking calls

Easter in St. George

We spent Easter this year in St. George with the Holt's. Brock was on Spring Break so we got to stay until Wednesday! With his busy schedule we really enjoyed spending some uninterrupted time together. Here is Greta dying eggs, you can see the excitement in her face.

Easter morning checking out the baskets - Grandpa made sure to write the Easter Bunny a note telling him we were in St. George and he found us!

Hunting for eggs

The girls

Cutest bunny ever!

Making bunny cupcakes

Grandma and Grandpa with the big girls. Greta adores just adores her cousins. They have so much fun running around and playing together.

Grandpa with all the girls.

And a rare picture of mom.

New York, New York!

My sister Reghan got married on March 27th and the whole family traveled to New York City for the wedding. I was worried about traveling with the kids but they actually did great. Here is Elsa on the plane, as soon as she saw the window she immediately leaned over to take a peek.

We all stayed at the same hotel and Kayce and her family were just a room away from us. It was nice to be so close. Here is my dad opening his birthday gift, we waited to all be together to give it to him.
The cousins in on the bed together.
As we walked around the city, we got quite the looks from people- dad's with babies I don't think are very common sights. One guy got out of his car to point out the 2 headed monster.
We hit the Moma first thing, one of my faves and a first for Brock. The first pic is Greta and Mondrian or "No mommy it's Rectangles" and then Greta with Papa and Starry Night. It's hard not to get emotional seeing this painting especially when listening to Starry Night while looking at Starry Night. Don McLean's Vincent is a family favorite (Kayce performs it beautifully) and it was a great moment.

We planned to meet the Mammen's (my sister Kayce's fam) afterward at the Shake Shack but alas we were too many for a cab. So what to do but take a limo?

The Wedding - Reghan + Kristian coming out of the Manhattan temple.

We took pictures in Central Park after the temple. There was a man playing the sax there an he got down on his knees and serenaded Reghan to"Here comes the bride".

Heading back on the subway

The Reception was at a great old building in the East Village not far from where Reghan has lived and worked for the past 6 years. It had a beautiful staircase that we took pictures on with the whole family. Later on I was lucky enough to get this cute shot of Greta.

Me and my cute cousin Jill who came all the way from Seattle!

Cutting the cake

&

Father and Bride Dance

The reception was a ton of fun. There was of course great music and lots of dancing. This little video shows two little girls who really hit the floor. At one point everyone makes a cirlce around these dancing girls.

The next day,

Brock in front of the Apple store &

all of us on 5th Avenue.

A trip to FAO Schwartz completed our trip!

Charlie and Lola

Elsa learned to wave on our trip and the first video is her waving to Lauren while waiting for the subway.