California Girl

So I keep putting off mentioning our California trip because I hate writing every detail of our trips so I'll just mention the important parts.  We actually flew out to Arizona to visit Justin's grandparents and aunt in Prescott for a couple days before we headed out to the reunion.  We spend some great time with aunt Patrice and with the grandparents even though Grandpa gave us all a scare and almost kicked the bucket with a SVT attack.  Thank heaven he recovered! We ate good food, went on some hikes, drove through the beautiful desert and caught up on each others' families.

Then we caught a flight out to San Diego and spend the next five nights in an old FEMA trailer on the beach at Camp Pendelton.  The location was perfect, but it was like we were back in a mission apartment with the worst government issue beds ever. You could feel every spring through the bed and we almost cut ourselves every time we rolled over.  No kidding. We spent a lot of time at the beach, drove around some really beautiful neighborhoods, ate fish tacos whenever possible, tried surfing and actually got up! Woo hoo! And visited with some friends we haven't seen in a while.  We spent a really nice evening with the Ohrn family and Justin and I couldn't believe that their two boys were more energetic and out of control than Henry.  We were shocked! He couldn't have had more fun with those adorable boys.  We ended up renting a boat for an hour or so and ate fish tacos in the boat as we went one mile per hour around the harbor.

The next day we invited Justin's other friend Alex to come surfing with us and it was fun to see him after the last time we got together when I was pregnant with Henry. I don't think he's ever seen me not pregnant or fat! We missed his wife and kids!  Hopefully we'll see them sometime in the near future.

We got our family photos taken by Justin's sister, which I can't wait to see and spend one really boring and painful day at Legoland.  This is the second time we've been so close to a Disney park and didn't go.  Argh.  Henry liked it, but we spent most of our time letting them play on what I would describe as a Lego playground with Lego building stations so I didn't think it was worth $50 each to play with Legos.  The lines for the good rides were 90 minutes long and what 4 and 2 year old can wait that long? Not mine!  I would have rather used that money to buy Henry a massive set of Legos(not that we could have taken them home with the baggage fees.  We only had one 50lb bag for all five of us.  Can you imagine? haha.)

The best part was watching the kids interact with each other and get to know one another.  I thought the dynamic was great because Henry liked being the oldest and in charge of things and when one of his younger cousins were napping, the other wasn't all alone ever because Henry doesn't nap anymore so everyone always had Henry to play with.  He enjoyed the company of his two boy cousins, Gabe and Colton who are both around 3 years old.

One of the most fun days was the day we spent the morning in La Jolla, which was real estate eye candy and then met the family to go to the Mormon Batallion Monument that was just opened in January.  Then we walked around the Old Town in the area and ate awesome tortillas and enjoyed the surroundings.  Oh, and I seriously love the trees in California.  I couldn't stop staring at them.

That's all I have to say about our trip. I wish we would have celebrated Bea's Birthday a little while we were there, but I guess no one thought of it.

First Joke

 Bea and her accessories

Bea made her first joke the other day and I just love that she's getting a great sense of humor.  We had Mexican food for dinner the other night and she didn't really love the food so when she finished what she wanted to eat, she asked for more food.  I offered to her what we had and she kept saying no to everything.  Then I said, "well what do you want?" and she said, "food" and I said, "what kind of food?" and she smiled, looked at us and said, "doggy food! He he he!(squinty underbite smile)".  It was so funny and she knew it was funny.  I appreciate a good sense of humor so much.  Keep it up Bea!

Happy Birthday Sweet Bea

Dear Daughter,

Today is your Birthday and I have to say that this past year has been nothing but delightful.  2010 has brought so many changes in you and we've watched you develop from a baby to a little girl which is definitely my favorite developmental stage so far.  Last year all you did was copy Henry in playing with cars and dinosaurs and now you are busy taking care of your baby dolls and pushing them around in your stroller with flip flops and sunglasses on.  You love accessories, especially shoes, but most of the time you only have one shoe on and it's on the wrong foot.  You get frustrated when they don't stay on and start to throw a tantrum but are quickly pacified when I tell you to just ask for help, which you do, and I fix whatever you're having problems with.  You are still a pretty obedient child and usually do what I ask you to do, however, when you don't want to do something you say "no" in such a cute way that we end up not even caring that you say no to us! Henry still has the habit of stealing things from you without asking which really makes you mad, but no matter what it is, as soon as he gives it back to you and asks nicely if he can have the item you are quick to share it with him.  You then remind him to say thank-you.  Thank-you is something you say all day long.  You really love giving things to me -- garbage, snotty tissues, anything of mine you find around the house, etc, and when you give it to me you say, "thank-you mommy" over and over again until I thank you.  You are still a very tidy child and always join in to help me clean up the house.  You particularly like to help sweep and run to get your broom and dustpan when I start sweeping the floor. You don't like that your tools don't work very well and get mad when the dirt doesn't go up into the dustpan like mine does, but with a little help you're overjoyed when you get to carry a load of kitchen gunk over to the garbage.  You love playing in the water and I frequently find you upstairs sitting on the counter top with a flood on the floor as you play in the water.  You don't mind getting water in your face and love to make Henry laugh as you put bubbles on your face and pour water over your head to rinse them off.  Your favorite word is "poopy" and you try to make everyone laugh by saying it over and over in different combinations like "poopy doggy" an "poopy, eeeeww".  You really don't like poop in your diaper either.  My biggest problem with you is that every morning I come to get you out of your crib you have completely stripped down and are naked in there just hanging out reading books.  I never know when you wake up because you never cry and are perfectly content to sit and play in your crib for hours.  Sometimes when you take your diaper off, you have poop in your diaper, or poop and pee in your crib which means that I'm constantly washing all your blankies and sheets.  You are famous for taking your diaper off anytime, anyplace and I'm always chasing you down to re-clothe you after you strip down.  You have a killer underbite and love to make it worse to make people laugh.  Bea, one thing you also love to do is sing, just like Henry.  You and Henry are always singing one song...the ABC's.  You don't know all the letters yet but you constantly sing "ABCB Baby B, Baby, Baby CBB" and so on.  One day all three of you were singing independently in the back seat of my car and it brought joy to my heart to hear all your little voices.  Your favorite food is probably tomatoes and you can be seen at any time of the day picking and eating tomatoes from the garden.  You love pasta with pesto and tomatoes, but still pick out the mozzarella saying, "mommy, no" to me.  Some day you will love it!  You are still my best sleeper and have continued to take super long naps and sleep for hours and hours at night.  Just the other day you slept 13.5 hours at night and took a four hour nap during the day.  Granted we just got back from California and are on a weird schedule but how many waking hours was that? 7? You are one sleepy girl!  The thing you love the most, though, is your baby sister.  You love her to death and spend your whole day trying to get access to her.  You always climb into her pack-n-play and try to bounce her, put her binkie in, pick her up or even gouge her eyeballs out.  Clementine usually smiles at you as you stick your face into hers, but always ends up crying as you squeeze the life out of her or smash your head against her head.  I can't wait for the day when you two can play together and I'm praying that you two become best friends!  Bea, you still have a really stylish haircut and everywhere we go you attract attention from people, young and old, saying how beautiful you are and how much they love your haircut or your eyes, or your smile.  You are super friendly and will let anyone hold you and don't hesitate to copy anything I tell you to say to people.  On our trip out to Utah a month ago, Henry poured apple juice on your head while I was getting my hair cut and it was a sticky mess but one of the stylists, with nothing else to do, ended up taking you back to get your hair washed in the washing room and brought your back to get your hair blow dried and styled.  You were a perfect angel and just did everything she wanted you to do.  By the time we left, the whole place was in love with you and made all the single girls want to get married and have kids so they could have a darling little girl just like you.  Bea, you are such a little angel and I am so blessed to be your mom.  You bring peace and love into our home and we love every moment we spend with you.  Thank you for being such an important part of our lives. 

Love,
Mommy