The Lovebird Wedding

My cousin Alison was married in March and had a theme for her wedding, lovebirds. Her wedding planner (Heather Balliet) did an excellent job. She is in my ward and was my sister in law's roommate in college. My sister, Tracy, made the wedding dress and did Alison's hair and makeup for the big day. We took baby James to the reception and he had a blast dancing with everyone!

The lovebirds, Eric and Alison


the table setting


Jimmy dancing!

Harry Potter

When Andrew was 4 he had two favorite movies, Harry Potter and Star Wars Episode I. Since then he has had nothing to do with Harry Potter. Then in February, out of nowhere, he started reading the Harry Potter books beginning with book 2. He couldn't get enough of it. He read constantly. I could only get him to stop to eat and barely to go to school. He read all 6 books in a month and a half. I am glad he loves to read.
Here he is reading...pretty much everywhere we went.

Cousins

At the last minute we decided to go to Arizona for the weekend to see Mike's sister and her family, his brother, and his mom who was there visiting from Utah. The kids were excited to meet their newest cousin, Oliver. (This was in March. Yes I am trying to catch up on my blogging.)
James and Oliver

the whole crew

CAKE

My favorite dessert is cake. I never realized how much fun I would have making creative cakes until I had kids. For the cub scout blue and gold banquet each scout had to make a cake to auction off. Andrew wanted to make a R2D2 cake. He did all of the mixing and baking. I helped with the decorating. We threw in some Ewok cupcakes at the last minute. Here are some more cakes I had fun making from the past.

New Year's Day

On New Year's Day we went to Newport Beach with our cousins the Sims. We ate at our favorite burger place, TK Burger. Then we relaxed and played on the beach. It was a very clear day. We could see Catalina Island. The lighting was amazing. The kids had a blast playing in the sand.

Sisters

William chased and chased the birds until ...

he dropped.

Kya was hilarious.

Finding Sea Shells.

Christmas 2007

Christmas Eve at Lego Land

Jim's First Christmas!

New Pajamas!

Homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast. mmmm... mouthwatering.

Christmas Dinner at Great Grandma's.

Visit to the Air museum at March Air Force Base. My grandpa flew this type of plane in WWII.

FREE Frozen Yogurt at Grandpa's Golden Spoon.

Cousins.

what we've been up to

Two weeks after the birth of James we had to evacuate our home in the middle of the night from one of the many San Diego fires. Mike was out of town and luckily my mother in law was with me and able to help. We evacuated to our church building. Later that day my mother in law flew back to Utah and I went up to Riverside and stayed with my parents until Mike returned home and things were safe. This photo is a view of the smoke from our church building.

Mike was out of town because he was setting up for his show at Plus Gallery in Denver, CO. Here he is on opening night and a view of the whole show.

James's first bath. He loved it. As soon as he got in the warm water he peed strait up in the air. His brothers thought it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen.

James's first smiles. William can't get enough of holding him.

Nate's first lost tooth. It was very loose and the new tooth was already coming through so Mike tied floss around it to pull it out, only it still wouldn't budge and the floss was stuck on the tooth. He called Uncle Ben (dentist) who advised us to grab it with a tissue, twist, and pull. It came right out with the floss still stuck tight.

Halloween. Andrew was a ghost, Nate a vampire, and Will a ninja.

Andrew won first place in his first raingutter regatta. He built a catamaran and named it carrot sticks.

We spent the week of Thanksgiving in Utah. The first half with my family, the second with Mike's. It was a great week!

The boys are adjusting well to the new baby. Andrew is very good at holding and rocking the baby to sleep and also cooking meals (cheese quesadillas are his specialty) for the family when I have to nurse. Nate and Will also love to help. What good big brothers to read to James while I make dinner.

"We saw Santa in his little house wearing his pajama shirt." --William

And what have I been up to? Nursing the baby mostly and taking care of all of my men!