my addiction

I used Aveda shampoo last night for the first time in at least a year and wanted to start crying over how much I miss it! If I had to smell one thing for the rest of my life it would be an Aveda store. I worked in Aveda salons for many years and got great discounts on products, but I can no longer get them. I thought I was ok with using other products that I could get at a discount to save a few bucks, but I am feeling very week right now! I need some Aveda! 

new tricks

I guess she is officially growing up! I went in to check on Zoey while she was supposed to be taking her morning nap and she was doing this instead. She was laughing and having a great time. My house is nowhere near child proofed yet so I have a barricade of pillows for her to play in for now. She is currently trying to put herself into her car seat. Let the real work begin! 

favorite song of the month

first swing!

...and loved every minute of it! 

pure joy

I had to take this picture down. It was making me too sick

loving her stroller

hanging out

Yosemite

Mike has been planning a trip to Yosemite for about 6 months now and it finally happened! The sights were really impressive. We had a great time! And Zoey did really well sleeping in a new place and in a tent. We had friends join us with 3 other babies and they all were great! 

Dealing with a bear box was not so fun since Mike and I decided to bring our entire house along with us, but at least we did not see any bears. That is until we were leaving camp.  Ok.. I never saw one, but our friends Dan and Elise saw one in our camp area as we were leaving. 

It was great to go camping again after a long hiatus. 

Our next adventure will be to see the Sequoias.  

I love this girl

Growing up a little too fast!

Sitting up! 

and trying to crawl!

and jumping :)

Izzie's 1st birthday

Happy birthday Izzie! 

Zoey had a great time celebrating her cousins first birthday. Izzie loved her first cupcake and Zoey was laughing hysterically watching Izzie play with her purple ball. 

And Zoey got to sport her awesome new shoes from her Aunt Sasi... Thanks Sasi! 

funny day

So Zoey and I went to the grocery store today and I was so excited she was able to sit in the basket for the first time!!! It has been less enjoyable shopping in the past with her in the bjorn grabbing at everything. So we were walking around having a great time until Zoey kept leaning over to the left side only willing to sit on one leg. I was repositioning her when I noticed poop was ALL OVER the seat and she did not want to sit in it anymore. GREAT! I grabbed a wipe to get it off her leg and the seat and now had a big poopy wipe in my hand with no trash can in sight. I had to wrap it up in some paper and shove it in my bag. 

I just let her dangle to one side the rest of the trip while I finished shopping. All the while every lady over the age of 50 wanted to talk to her along the way. We finally made it out to the car and I was parked right next to this big yellow line. How was I supposed to know if I crossed the line the wheels on my cart would lock!!! So There I was, two feet from my car with a poopy baby, and a cart that would not move. Some guy saw me struggling so he was nice enough to drag my cart to my trunk for me. 

I got Zoey all cleaned up, loaded the car and drove home.  At home, I started unbuckling Zoey and noticed a little brown thing on her face. "IS THAT POOP??" She was laughing and sucking on her hands while, to my horror, I looked her over and there was poop on everything! She had gone all over the car seat before we even got the the store and I never noticed it. I was so grossed out and I am pretty sure she had her first taste of poop today! And she was as happy as could be. Funny day! 

weekend

Mike and I try to come up with fun activities for our Saturdays so we don't spend all of our time doing chores. This last Saturday we decided we needed to make our way to the Griffith observatory since we have been talking about (really Mike has been) for a year and a half now. Something has always sounded like a better option until last Saturday. I am glad we finally made the trip! It was a really cool building with all kinds of learning stuff inside. We were happy to have Chris, Sarah and Izzie make the trip as well. 

We took an out of the way detour to Kiss My Bunt to get mini bunt cakes. I will say that they were tasty and delicious (mikes two favorite descriptives), but I was sorely disappointed with the store. I think they have all the potential in the world to compete with a place like Sprinkles, but they have completely missed the mark. The store was clean (per-say), but it looked like it had been cleaned by high school kids who didn't really care. All of the displays were old and unfinished. The best word I can think of to describe it is haphazard, kind of like their website. I would go again if I were in the area, but I would not go out of my way again like I would for sprinkles.  (moving on)

It was a fun Saturday afternoon and Zoey had a good time checking out a new place. 

awesomeness

My friend Jill sent this link to me today and it is awesome. She said some dad made it for his daughter to help her learn the alphabet, and he used the daughters voice for the robot. It is really cute. 

crafts

Sarah and I made these today. Sarah found a bunch of great colors of felt and invited me over for a craft day.

zoey and i are enjoying this today....

holga

Mike got me a Holga camera for mothers day and we finally developed some film. This is my favorite one. I am excited to keep using it! 

personality

Zoey is starting to show some personality and it is so funny to watch. She is so much fun to have around! 

flowers

photo for the day

Is this the same baby!??

 

fun with photos

I'm married to this cute guy....

And he is awesome! 

she is cute! (5 months old)

Dodger night!

Last night we took Zoey to her first baseball game and she had a great time! We sat in the all you can eat section were we could eat hot dogs, nachos and popcorn to our hearts content. And we did!  Here is a fun video of Zoey and Mikey at the game.

Visiting Baby Madeline

Last weekend we got to go to Madeline's baby blessing and stay with Dan and Elise. We even got to see Megan and Joseph before they left for their new home in Philadelphia. We had a fun weekend relaxing and spending more time with some of our favorite people. Madeline is really cute and we hope Zoey will be able to spend a lot more time with her in the future. 

Hollywood

My Sisters, Kim and Lacee, along with Kim's 4 kids came into town for a fun weekend visit. We spent some time at the beach and decided to make a Hollywood trip as well. We stopped by Pinks Hot dogs because Tatum saw it on the food network and couldn't wait to try it. It was delicious! And we didn't even have to wait very long even though the line looked long. 

Next we made our way over to the wax museum and it turned out to be hilarious! The figures are barely recognizable. Here are a few for you to enjoy. 

By the way, these are Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Darth Vadar with Zoey 

Then we went to the Guinness world records museum which seemed to be a little out dated. 

We also bought a map to drive around and see stars homes. That was pretty awesome. When do you ever have a good enough excuse to do that? My nieces wanted to see the Jonas brothers house so we had fun driving around the Hollywood hills looking at famous peoples driveways and walls. Lucky for the girls, the Jonas brothers house was just a normal house out in the open. I was a little embarrassed sitting in the passenger seat of a  mini-van with a stars map spread out, but it was a lot of fun. I can now say I have done the star tour!  

Other fun things

Zoey enjoyed her first day at the pool with some friends. 

Zoey made it a whole 2 hours at the beach before having a meltdown

Went to Schooner or later in Long beach after seeing it on Diners Drive-ins and Dives and loved every bite

Summer Vacation!

I just got back from a fabulous vacation at the family cabin in Greer, Arizona. It was a nice break from the usual routine of life. We had a great 4th of July hanging out with cousins. I was lucky enough to be able to go for two weeks and Mike got to come for a long weekend due to the holiday. I hope to be able to continue the tradition! I got to spend one or two months in Mexico every year with my cousins growing up and loved it so I hope Zoey and our future children will get the same opportunity. I think the time frame will have to be modified, but I think it is so great. 

We had family olympics for the 4th

 Mike made a movie with the kids

 relaxed in the cabin some of the days

 hiked on Escadilla mountain a couple of days (which is a gorgeous mountain full of a thick aspen forest)

 rode around on the Rhino

 played it the river with all of the trout

 went to Tin Star everyday to get a treat

watched the annual cousins talent show

 and then came home to our favorite person

Happy Fathers Day!

We love our Mikey!