August

August was awesome! We had so many fun things to do and spent a lot of good quality family time together. 

Chase turned 29 this month so we celebrated with a small BBQ with some of his friends at our house.

Then the next morning we got up bright and early and took the Catalina Flyer over to the small island just for the day. We had fun on the boat, had a great seafood lunch on the water, walked around the boardwalk and pier, and played on the beach. Hunter slept on Chase's lap on the boat ride home and woke up just in time to see some Dolphins swimming along side of us. Such a fun day.

The next week Papa and Grancy took Hunter and his cousins, Riley and Braden to Legoland for their birthday presents, and Jessica and I got to tag along! The kids loved going on all the rides, and playing in the splash zone.

Skyler is doing great as always. She is such a sweet baby, and can now sit up by herself for up to 20 seconds! She smiles all the time and laughs when tickled or when Hunter jumps around in front of her. She is eating fruits and vegetables now along with her rice cereal and breastmilk and hasn't found anything she doesn't like yet. We introduced the sippy cup this month and she really enjoys chewing on the spout and letting the water fall back out of her mouth. I was looking back at some baby pictures of her and was amazed at how different she looks already. She has lost almost all of the thick black hair she was born with (definately still a brunette though ;) and is plumping up with the perfect amount of baby fat. She is rolling all around the room in every direction and creeping a little bit with just her legs. When she figures out how to pull herself with her arms she will be moving fast. She also likes to sit in her walkers and johnny jump up while she watches her brother play.

 What a blessed life I have to be able to spend every minute with these 2 miracles while they are still young. I am thankful every day.

July

Fourth of July was so much fun this year! We spent the afternoon with friends at Canyon Lake, BBQing and playing in the water. Then we headed home for dinner and to our community pool that overlooks Canyon Lake. We set up our lawn chairs and  played in the pool and spa until we watched the fireworks they set off over the lake. The really cool thing was that they set them off down below and since we are so high up, they explode at our level.  Such a great memory as a family.

We have been using our pool so much this summer. We have been going to a local church the past few Sundays, and Hunter loves his Sunday school class. We have turned Sundays into a family day, with Church, naps,  BBQing and swimmming in the backyard.

Skyler is now eating rice cereal!!! It took her a few days of funny faces and spitting everything back out, but now she eats happily 3 meals a day and luckily I am still able to nurse her so she is still on 100% breast milk.

 We had another family wedding this month, my cousin Jessie married Wilber in a beautiful ceremony on the beach in Malibu. He is a great addition to our family.

We have continued the Steak Sunday tradition at Monte and Nancy's house with Nancy's kids and grandkids. Its so cute to watch them together as they are getting older and the new babies being added to the group. Also, Monte finished fixing up his  VW "Thing" and gave the kids their first ride around the neighborhood. They loved it and screamed going around every turn.

 Skyler had her 4 month checkup and is doing great, she is still 75th% on height, 25th% on weight and 5th% on head circ. (same as when she was born) so she is right on track for growth and development. She started chewing on her toes lately, which is so cute. Hunter never did this when he was a baby so it's all new to me.

Hunter took 2 weeks of swimming lessons this month and did such an awesome job. He learned how to kick with paddle boards, paddle with noodles, back floating, dunking his head underwater, and decided he's not ready for jumping in yet. He loved it and was so excited to go every day.  He would yell "Mommy, I'm having so much fun!" to me on the bleachers. Love my little guy, he's growing up so fast.

We also started a new project this month... my salon! We are converting our one car garage into my own 1 station salon so I can start working from home, hopefully build a clientele of neighbors from our community. Monte, Nancy and Chase are helping make my dream a reality and I am so excited and thankful :)

June

Chase started at a new company this month. The job is the same but he was hired on at a higher position to an east coast based company that is just starting to expand to the west coast. It requires quite a bit of traveling but was assured he would be home most weekends. He just completed his second week and likes the job, the coworkers, and the management. So far so good, and we hope this company will stay busy enough to stay at long term, and the plans they have to expand make it look that way.

We had a great fathers day in Newport Beach this year with my family and Monte and Nancy. We all met a Danny and Cherlyn's house for a BBQ then took a boat ride around the harbor. Hunter even got to play captain and enjoyed driving the boat for a bit.

Skyler is rolling over now and talking quite a bit. She can imitate syllables sometimes and it almost sounds like she repeats "i love you". She is growing every day and still as sweet as can be. I am  absolutely in love with her and holding onto these last few baby months while I still have them.

May

The heat is back and we've been swimming every weekend this month. For Mother's Day, we spent the morning with Nana and Tom at their place and had a delicious breakfast.
 Then we headed to Corissa and Wayne's pool in Tustin and spent time with my family eating, swimming and having fun.
 
 We also got to spend a fun afternoon in May at Papa and Grancy's house where Hunter got to play with his cousin, Braden and Grandma MaryLou got to meet Skyler for the first time.

 Ending the month we had our annual Palm Springs trip with my family over Memorial Weekend. We all had a blast swimming, eating, going to the movies, playing a baseball game, shopping at the swap meet, playing a race car game for the kids, and just being together.

Skyler is 2 1/2 months old now and smiling nonstop. I've even heard one giggle. She is still a happy and easy baby so far. She sleeps 10-7 every night and eats every 3 hours. We all love her so much, she brings so much joy to our family.

Below is a pic of my 3 best girlfriends, Brandell, Michelle and Julie (my former bridesmaids) when they came out for a girls day at the pool.