Autumn Leaves

This last weekend we decided to take a trip up Little Cottonwood Canyon to enjoy the fall leaves before the snow came. We had lots of fun and even took a quick hike to take it all in. I love autumn!

So. Cal. = So Fun!

For our first summer vacation as a family ever, we decided to head to Southern California and enjoy a little bit of sand, sun and some Disney. We flew down with my sister, her husband and their little munchkin, Ayden. We survived the flight (barely) by feeding Cael little bits of Cinnabon almost the whole time. Fortunately for Shaun and I, we ran Cael ragged all week, so he decided to take advantage of the downtime and napped on the flight home (Hallelujah!).

The first couple days we decided to do the Disneyland thing. I felt like a ten year old kid again! What is it about that place that makes me feel so excited? Perhaps it's the memories, but as we walked to the park the first night, I was absolutely giddy with excitement.

What made Disneyland especially fun is that we were able to meet up with my brother and his cute family and enjoy some Disney magic all together. Avery was super excited to meet the princesses and Ayden thought he'd died and gone to heaven when he met Lightning McQueen and Mater! Mason was just rarin' to go each morning and Taylor was her gorgeous little self. We had so much fun, but all Cael wanted to do was crawl around on the ground. He was almost walking, but not quite, and wanted to be able to move around independently--which meant crawling. Clean as Disneyland is, it still isn't a place you'd want your child crawling around on the ground.

After Disneyland (and California Adventure), we visited Universal Studios. I think we could sum Universal Studios up by simply saying that it's not nearly as fun as I remembered.

The next day we drove down to San Diego and spent the last few days of our vacation at the San Diego Zoo, Seal Beach and Sea World.

By the end of the week, we were all so exhausted, we could hardly put one foot in front of another. However, we had so much fun and are looking forward to many more family vacations to come.

Here are some pics of our trip.

FIREWORKS!

We had a pretty mellow Fourth of July this year. We went to celebrate the Fourth with my parents and some of their neighbors and then came home to put our very sleepy baby to bed. Cael, however, had other plans. He wouldn't go to bed. He kept crying and crying. I guess he wanted to see the fireworks too. So Shaun and I grabbed him out of bed and took him out onto the patio to watch the show. We could see fireworks in Riverton, Sandy, West Jordan . . . all over the Salt Lake Valley.

Then last weekend, we went to Draper Days with some friends. It was HOT, HOT, HOT, but we had a great time! I brought some of those glow stick thingys that you hook together to make necklaces or bracelets or whatever. The kids loved them. I was surprised how long each of the kids were entertained.

And the main event, the fireworks, were awesome. I was so worried about how Cael would handle the noise of the fireworks, but he LOVED them! He sat still for a good five minutes--just watching. A rarity, to say the least.

Here are some pics to commemorate our Summer 2009.

Our First Family Photo Shoot

Thanks to a couple of my cute friends (thanks again, Adrienne and Nancy), we finally had our first official family pictures taken a few weeks back. Okay, it was the end of May, but I finally ordered the pictures and they came in the mail today! SO EXCITED! They turned out so cute and I'm so happy with the pictures she got of Cael. He was pretty tired when we got there but he really did a good job of hanging in there. He wasn't too keen on the idea of sitting on his own and, in his defense, was still a little unsteady. But overall, he did great and we ended up with some great shots.

Anyway, here are a few of my faves! Enjoy.

(This one is my very, very favorite!)

How cute is that face?

Don't you love the three in the background there?

The only way we could get him to smile the whole time was to throw him in the air and then he'd be laughing his head off. What a funny kid!

Don & Miya Got Sealed!

Yesterday Shaun and I saw some good friends get sealed in the Mount Timpanogos Temple.  

It was awesome! 

I love seeing families being sealed together for time and all eternity.  And I'm especially excited for Don and Miya!  Shaun and I both met Don when we were serving our missions in Tokyo, Japan and Shaun and I first met Miya when we went back to visit Japan during the summer of 2006.  Don and Miya were dating, but Miya wasn't a member and Don was worried that things with Miya were going to get difficult as a result.  Well, Shaun and I had the pleasure of going to dinner with Don and Miya while we were visiting, and later she emailed us to ask what makes us so happy.  I've never had anyone say that they saw something different about me like that.  I emailed her back and shared my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ with her.  It was a special experience for me and I was so excited to have had the opportunity to share in her conversion.  And then to see Don and Miya sealed with their darling daughter Lana, what an amazing experience!

Shaun's 30!

Last Friday, I threw Shaun a surprise party to celebrate his 30th birthday.  It was so much fun!  I surprised him big time!  He thought we were dropping Cael off at my parent's house so that we could celebrate our sixth anniversary by going to dinner and spending the night at a hotel.  I even went so far as to make a reservation (which I cancelled immediately after printing off the confirmation email) and pack an overnight bag.  He didn't have a clue!  We showed up at my parents house and as we approached the house, my dad opened the door and everyone jumped out yelling "SURPRISE!"  Shaun stood there for several seconds before he finally figured out that it was HIS surprise birthday party.  Priceless!  We had some super cute friends who came and missed several people who weren't able to make it.  

I think Shaun felt the love and enjoyed spending an early birthday with family and friends.  Love you all.

Cael's Latest Tricks!

We have a coffee table in our family room that has a shelf a couple of inches off of the floor.  Cael has discovered that he can crawl on top of that shelf and scoot across.  It's hilarious.  He scoots through and then turns right back around and scoots back through.  I just love it.  Here are a few shots of one of Cael's new favorite pastimes.

Cael has also started pulling himself up to standing all over the place.  This was the first morning we walked in to Cael's room to find him standing up and waiting for us to come and find him.  What a cute little turkey!

I wish I had a picture to illustrate Cael's next trick, but I'll have to post one later.  Cael LOVES Cheerios!  He's getting really good at picking them up and putting them into his mouth.  Every time he sees someone eating, he goes right up to them and tries to grab at what they're eating. This morning I was eating some cereal and he crawled right over and climbed up my leg.  He kept reaching for my bowl and got awfully frustrated when he couldn't get it.  He's a persistent little kiddo and we love him to pieces!