Happy Birthday, Auntie M!

Better late than never! Marin and I went out for her Birthday which was on the 16th. She has been wanting to go to Gardens of Taxco in Hollywood and I sure was happy make that happen for her the best Mexican food and the ambiance to boot! We sure had fun and ate a lot! Then we enjoyed a quick trip through the shoe and kids department at Ross. We ended the night off with a Slurpee. A girl could not ask for a better time!

Beach Season!

It has begun! YEA! Attending the beach with a group of toddlers is hard! It was our first outing of the season and to say the least, it took a lot out of us. We went with people from our ward and we all had little ones running around everywhere, making us nervous. Luckily, we were all able to keep eachothers kids off of PCH, run after the umbrellas, dodge most of the flying sand, and nicely share our snacks with everyone. I did not get a group picture, but I was able to get a couple of Noelle (of course!) Here she is sitting in her little camping/beach chair. She is currently undergoing a language explosion - one of her new words is SIT!, and she says it all day long. Especially when she wants into her chair to eat. One of her other favorites is OH, POOP! Maybe it is not the best word for a one year old, but it sure is dang cute! It Lastly, here is a picture of Noelle playing with her toys. It's her way of saying goodnight to you all!

Bye! Bye!

Noelle loves to climb into the bottom space of her book case and close the doors. A couple of days ago I was putting laundry away in her room. She comes up to me and gives me a kiss. Then she walks over to the shelf, turns around and starts waving and saying, "Bye! Bye!" Then she climbs in and closes the door. She is so stinking cute I want to chew on her. I know I am her Mommy but she is so adorable, it makes me crazy!

What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas

Well, we did go to Vegas but nothing really happened there that needs to stay. My BFF is moving home to Seattle. Melissa and her family have lived in Vegas for the past three years. Jeremiah got a new job in Seattle so they are moving back. This is bitter sweet because they will no longer be living within driving distance so visits will not be as easy. But, they do give me an excuse to go back to the Pacific Northwest, which I am so excited for! We did not do anything over the top, which was fine with me. The girls had fun playing together (when Noelle was not screaming and being totally unbearable!) We just wanted to spend time together and visit. We took a drive up to Mt. Charleston which was less than an hour away from their home and over 30 degrees cooler! It was a luscious 75 degrees. We packed a yummy picnic from Trader Joe's and just enjoyed the cool air. The girls went on a walk with their Daddy and the family Dog, MoJo and had fun talking to us on the Walkie-Talkies's. Before we knew it we had to pack up and go back to the scorching weather. We were there less than 4 days and the time went too fast! Melissa and Jeremiah celebrated their 9th wedding anniversary that week. CONGRATULATIONS! Wow how time goes by. We had fun renting movies and we even got to have a night out to dinner and a Movie (with just a little stop over at the GAP) with just the two Mommies. We cannot wait for them to buy a new home so that we can come visit and help them move in!

Happy Father's Day!

Aaron had a really nice second Father's Day (he told me he did!) We dined on a repeat birthday breakfast. It was just so yummy we had to do it again. I swear the Disney princess nightgown she has on is a hand me down. After breakfast we opened Father's Day gifts. Aaron did really well since TJ Maxx had some really great deals! It was a very nice Sunday that ended with a yummy dinner of Carne Asada and all the fixins'. He was able to just sit around, nap, and watch a couple movies. It was every Father's dream!

What a great Daddy you have been over the past 18 months! Here is your fist picture together, on the day when our adventure began!

Eatin' Cheese

Last weekend we were fortunate enough to go and eat some free burgers (Thank You Ecolab!) at Fuddruckers. I actually had a baked potato and salad while the other two members of my family had cheeseburgers. Aaron got cheese sauce to dip his fries in. Noelle finds dipping things SOOOOO exciting. She had a great time dipping everything she could get her hands on into the cheese. These items include but are not limited to french fries, watermelon, grapes, bread and her own fingers. French fries are not something we indulge in around here, so it was really a treat! I am sorry to also say that it seems to be that I am raising a double dipper! I guess there are worse things you can be in life. Her Auntie could not be prouder of her love for this dairy product and her ability to say the word, CHEEEEEEEEEESE!

An Afternoon of Mommies & Babies

Friday we had a lot of fun hanging out at the Meldrum's. Myself, Noelle, Kelsi and Jake, along with Melanie and Norah just hung out at the house and visited with each other. Noelle and Jakey had fun playing together. I believe there was only one tug of war with a telephone and one set of little fingers caught in the door. Not too bad in my opinion. Of course I did not get pictures of anyone but the toddlers. Sorry.

Here is Jakey on my lap play with my camera. It took me a few minutes to realize he was taping. CUTE! You can hear Melanie and I talking about Noelle who was walking around the house holding a real phone between her head and her shoulder talking to 'someone' while busily playing withe something.




Here are the two cute little ones playing with the blinds. I have another video that I think is cute with SOOOO many giggles from them but it taped sideways. That always happens with this stupid camera. But, hey, it was free from the Ellen show.

Aaron Turns 31

Sunday, June 3 Aaron turned 31. It did not compare to the hot air balloon ride and surprise party he got last year but it was still fun!

He was greeted in the morning by a funny little girl screaming, "Hi Dayeee!" as loud as she could.

Next she was downstairs doing the same thing to her cousin, Kelsey, luckily she sleeps like a rock and it did not disturb her. Kelsey would take a cat over a baby any day of the week! We then dined on a delicious breakfast of french toast made with yummy apple cinnamon bread, fried bacon, and fresh OJ.

After returning home from church we got started on the birthday dinner. We made homemade baked beans, potato salad, and bbq beef sandwiches. I am so glad Kelsey and Heather were here to help because there was so no way I would have been able to do it otherwise! We had our dear friends the Lindsays over to eat and celebrate with us. Lastly, was presents and cake. Here is Aaron with his birthday cake(homemade tres leches, of course!). And here are the boys with their ATU t-shirts on. People love to buy us things relating to 'Jones' and this was no exception! He got a pack fo 'Jones' breathmints. I really wish I had known about the 'Jones' like of beverages when we got married, they would have been so much fun at our wedding! All in all he had a good day and I was so grateful to be able to prepare a celebration for him.

Several Things!

Of course it has been a long time since our last post. I will spare you the apologies and get right down to business! We have been having lots of fun as usual but I am afraid I have not been too good and keeping the memories on film. So here is what I do have!

We went with our Mommy & Me group to pick berries and veggies at a local family farm. Unfortunately there really was not a lot to actually pick. But we did have a good time walking around the fields and seeing all of the animals at the petting zoo they had. I only got a picture of Noelle sitting on some bales of hay.

We bought Noelle a cute chair to use when we go camping. Memorial weekend we realized we did not have a chair for her. She loves her little Monkey chair, we put it up for her to try it out and we have not taken it down yet. She loves to climb in and out of it and while repeating "sit" over and over. Here she is in the morning after getting clean up from breakfast.

Noelle loves to play while having something in her mouth. Wether it be a stick of lip balm, a battery, anything. This day it was some dental floss she found. She would play all day with it in there if I let her. Of course, I do not let her run around with a AA battery hanging out of her mouth. Here is she is with it while I folded clothes

I don't think you can tell but she is running around in the flower beds with it.

And lastly pushing her toys around the backyard. I find it amusing I guess because she never took a pacifier or sucked her thumb (only a couple of weeks). So, why does she have this new oral fixation? Is this safe to be runnig around with dental floss? It definetly is safer than a battery.

Camping with the BIG trees

We have had the best Memorial Day Weekend. We went camping and were able to ride in the big Motor home with Auntie, Uncky, and Grandma Honey in the Sequoias. We were able to put up a tent on the same site with them. It was all our first time visiting there and it was very special. It is such a testimony to me that there is someone greater than us that created this earth. It is such a beautiful creation with so many wonders that it blows my mind.

Noelle LOVED the motor home and wanted very badly to drive it. Every time you turn around she is in the drivers seat! I could not get a better picture of her but she looked so stinkin' adorable!


Here is Aaron and myself at the first tree we saw. 'Sentinel,' it is just an example of an average sized sequoia. It is breathe taking beautiful.


Next we climbed up almost 400 steps (Aaron carried Noelle) up the side of 'Morro Rock.' The view was the most beautiful we have ever seen. Here are some pictures of the views up the rock.

Here is the largest living species on earth, 'General Sherman.' The stump of this tree would take up three lanes on a freeway in Los Angeles.

Here are just some other beautiful shots of these beautiful trees.

The last last hike we were able to do in the park was hike a trail to some beautiful waterfalls. We did not realize the rugged terrain of the hike and we not could get our stroller up which we did not realize until about twenty minutes of hiking, but we really wanted to see them. So, we decided to carry Noelle. We folded up the stroller and Aaron hiked up into some trees and stashed it so no one could see it. Noelle was quite happy on her Daddy's shoulders! We were moving along singing silly songs that Noelle likes the hand motions for (Popcorn Popping, Three Little Monkeys, Round & Round The Garden - to name a few!). Aaron decided to let her down and walk for a bit - what a mistake! From that point on she wanted to do it herself. I could not believe her stamina. She would make it up steep hills and rocks. Amazing for a little baby. We kept picking her up so that we could move faster and she would cry and scream the whole time. It was hard to keep her in line and still take in all the beauty! She was not exactly dressed for the occasion, either was her mom! I had on flip flops. I stubbed my toes and such but it was worth it. I am sure other hikers were wondering what these crazy people were doing carrying a baby all that way and me in flip flops was even worse. The views were gorgeous, the sound of the water was beautiful, and the smell of the pine trees were amazing. We were so glad that we squeezed that in even though we were ill for prepared it. Noelle was tired and so were we on the way back. We were so glad that she was willing to be carried on the way back - most of the time. When she would cry to be let down it just happened to be when the trees would give way to

views of the water rushing by and she would let out her very dramatic oooooooohhhhh. Unfortunately we did get to see any bears. The most out of the ordinary animal we saw was a family of these below. No one had any idea what they really were. Noelle love them - she must have said "Hi Doggie!" at least 50 times. There were so many other pictures that I wish I could have included from other areas of the park. This will have to do. We will definitely make it back to Sequoia National Park- we even checked out the best camp sites!