Mom's Visit & Mat's Birthday

We were spoiled by a visit from my mom. I hope she had as much fun with us as we did with her. It was such a treat for me to have company while doing the mundane every day things and seeing her enjoy it. Ahhh, gotta love grandmas. :) Lana and Jared miss her so much. She took them on walks, played trains/cars, read books, went to the movies (just Grandma and Lana), played at the park...and she was only here for a week! Mat and I were able to go to the temple, out to dinner and shopping. For us that was a big deal and he really had fun.

Mat turned 30!!! YIKES! It sounds old but I still feel like we're still in college sometimes. Don't be fooled by the picture- he loved his water gun present. We went on a hike as a family and if I remember correctly, it turned out to be great weather and we had a fun time together. Here's to many more!

Last day of our Zoo Pass

Well, unlike the awesome zoo in DC, we have to pay to get in the L.A. Zoo. We did have a great year with our zoo passes though and had fun watching all the neat animals. We saw some funny animal behavior (have you ever seen a hippo poop?), baby animals (komodo dragon babies) and even saw some interesting animals we had never heard of before. We'll miss our little excursions to the zoo, but I'm ready to get our Disneyland passes again! (Mat: hint, hint!)

Ummmm....

I ran into a friend I haven't seen in a while and she asked me what I had been up to (for the last few months). "Ummmmmm......" I couldn't think of anything out of the ordinary. I'm not complaining. It's a great ordinary and here are some pictures of my ordinary.

HOLLYWOOD

Yes, we've lived near L.A. for 3 years now and have not hiked up to the Hollywood sign until last week. Our awesome friends, the Barkers, got us motivated to do it. We had so much fun visiting, carrying the kids, checking out the view and working up an appetite. And yes, Mat and Stephen carried the little ones most of the way up and back down. Whew! Check out the cute picture of Lana and Mia.

Palm Springs

Has anyone else experienced running out of space on their google account for pictures? Well, I've had a few drafts that I've been meaning to post but couldn't until I purchased more space. Now I'm not in the mood to write about our trip so you'll have to just figure out on your own that we had a good time despite the KILLER HEAT! This was just after Jared's first hair cut. And Lana had a blast checking out the dinosaur museum. The next time we head to the desert it will be to visit our best buddies the BARKERS!!!

BEACH SUMMER

A Whole Year!!

Jared turned 1 the end of July and I'm still amazed at how fast that first year flew by. Having kids makes watching the years fly by more fun. We realized recently that when we first moved to L.A., Lana was the age that Jared is right now. And then I remembered her wobbling around the park that she now dominates.

So, what is Jared up to these days? EVERYTHING! He's such a cute, curious and happy little guy. We love having him in our family and he brings out the best in all of us. It's so interesting to observe the differences in raising a boy vs. a girl. Without persuasion,(or as much as you would think) Jared LOVES balls. All sizes, all colors, all kinds. One of Mat's proudest moments is watching Jared dunk his first basketball. Now it's a daily routine for him! Here are a few things he's been up to...

Jared's checklist:
ball fetish- check
unroll all the toilet paper in the bathroom- check
while in the bathroom throw things in the toilet- check
splash in mud puddles- check
head for the big waves at the beach- check
eat sand- check
climb in laundry basket whenever mom's folding clothes- check
pull out pots and pans in kitchen every day- check
dance to fun music- check
laugh hysterically at Lana's jokes- check
play ball with Daddy- check
go from wobbly to running- (almost there)
make everyone fall in love you- CHECK!


*the picture of him with the volleyball at the park: that was another family's blanket, ball and there was a pizza on that plate but Jared ate it and took their ball!