California Vacation

We just recently enjoyed a vacation to California to spend time with our families, to spend time in the sunshine, and to eat at In-N-Out :) We flew out Sunday after church and landed in San Francisco. We promptly made a stop at In-N-Out to make sure we got the trip started off right :) Having been on our diet, however, we were diligent and we did order our burgers protein style!! Still tasty although messy :)

We spent the first few days with Nathan's family down in the Antelope Valley. We went to the beach our second day there and had a great time! School was still in session so the beach was VERY quiet which was so nice! It was pretty chilly which was also nice as we weren't exhausted from the sun when we left. It was too cold to go into the water though, so we did just a quick dip of the feet. Makaela did NOT like this at all. I can't blame her. It was pretty cold. She also wasn't a fan of the sand sticking to her. The sunscreen was a little sticky on her legs which made the sand stick to her which consequently made her stand with one leg up in the air trying to get the sand off :)

We stayed with our good friends the Ash's while in the AV. They have a son who just turned 1 at the end of May and he and Makaela had a mostly good time playing together. Most of the time they were together it was nearing time for them to go to bed, but the times they were awake they had fun. We also enjoyed our time with them being able to hang out a little almost every night.

We enjoyed time with everyone in Nathan's family and were thankful for the time we had with each of them. We even got to see Nathan's grandma on his dads side, and grandpa on his moms side--an added treat!!

Friday we got to have dinner with some dear friends from school and we treasured that time very much. We finished off the night heading down to my family in Granada Hills. We spent one full day with my entire family before we all had to go our separate ways for various commitments. Then we spent the last half of our trip with my parents and sister in Visalia. That was a great time of relaxing and chillin--doing very little which we absolutely loved! We got in a few (and by few, I really mean only a few) good hands of pinochle with my parents.

Our trip was such a refreshing time for us and we are so thankful for the time we had to go away. We came back prepared to hit the ground running and we did!! God has been so gracious to us in providing for us and allowing us this time with our families. As our family hopefully grows in the future, we know those trips will become a lot more effort so we are thankful for the ease of time we have with them now.

Now we are springing into the fall (and yes, I did mean fall. Our fall church things really start in the summer) and preparing for Christmas and for the choir year ahead. We're excited about the upcoming season of ministry and looking forward to how the Lord will teach and grow us through these next several months!!

waaazzzzzz uuuupppppppp!!!!!!!

While we were on vacation in CA (which I will put up pictures of and blog about next) grandma and grandpa taught Makaela how to say Wuz Up! Enough said.

Dancing Machine

These two videos have a few slow spots, but like most videos with kids, sometimes they've gotta get their second wind to continue entertaining :) Makaela has developed quite the repertoire of dance moves!! I think you will see just about all of them in these two videos. She seems to favor the break dancing moves, but seems to throw in some kind of ballroom move every now and then too. She loves music and starts dancing anytime she hears any kind of music. I'm sure you'll see that here :)

Don't mind the basketball game in the background :) Or the cheering or yelling

Fun in the Sun

On days with nice weather up here, I try to get us out for a walk to enjoy the sunshine while we have it. Those days seem to be happening more often now, however, as I look outside, today is the epitome of June Gloom as its cloudy and rainy and cold. But we spent some time outside yesterday.

These pictures are from an outing about a month ago. Just a walk to get out and so mamma could get a little exercise. I got her really souped up for this walk with sunglasses and everything!! She had such a fun time! :)

On a separate occasion, we enjoyed a little picnic on our front lawn complete with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Well, Makaela enjoyed that, I didn't. I had already eaten :) But dada came home for a voice lesson and got to join us for a few minutes in the sunshine too!!

Beginning of Walking

Here is the video I got not too long after she started walking. It's definitely not her "first steps" but its within a few days :)

Fun at the zoo

Back at the end of April, Nathan and I enjoyed a nice short time away for our anniversary. Our dear friends the Larsens graciously (yeah right! more like eagerly!) agreed to keep Makaela for us. They love her so much and she loves them too! They came and stayed at our house while we were gone and we both had a great time!

Nathan and I went to Leavenworth which is a little Bavarian town here in WA. A dear sweet friend from church offered us a night at their timeshare there which we gladly accepted as the rate was much cheaper for us that way! We enjoyed walking around little main street. We tasted some fudge which consequently lead to buying some fudge. I never knew fudge could come in so many flavors and kinds! We bought 6 quarter pound blocks each a different flavor and that wasn't even half of what was there!! We haven't gotten around to enjoying the fudge yet--it is still in our freezer as we have been on a diet and haven't been able to indulge yet :) But possibly more about that later. But our time was wonderful and refreshing and relaxing! It was a perfect time after having come off a busy busy Easter weekend!!

Makaela also enjoyed her time with the Larsens. Rosie took her to the zoo with her mother in law and a few other kids her mother in law watches. This was Makaela's first time to the zoo and from the pictures, it looks like she had such a fun time! Now that she is walking, I'm sure that she would have even more fun!! We're looking forward to going back sometime when we have a nice day and when we don't have something else scheduled!! Here are a few pictures from her time there. It's really hard to get Makaela to look at much less smile for the camera these days! She is much more interested on whats on the other side of the camera--usually a picture of herself. But in these pictures from the zoo, she is completely enamored with everything she is seeing! Such a fun time!!

Playing in the Toys

More playing in the Toys:)

Checking out the fishies

From what I hear, she was extremely distraught when the fishies swam away from her.

She tried to follow them along the glass until they swam away and then she cried :)

Wish I could have been there to see that!!

Fun on the Merry Go Round. First time!!

How Embarrassing!

As I looked back at our blog to see what the last thing I blogged about (because, no, I could not remember on my own it had been so long!!) I realized that I hadn't blogged since Makaela started walking!! I have a short little video of when she was just getting used to the idea. Most of you by now have seen her flying around!! She started walking about a week before Mother's Day, and has been cruising ever since! I think by now she has even figured out how to run! Or at least that's what it seems like :)

I obviously have a lot to catch up on, so I will work on all of that next, including the video of the beginnings of walking plus other videos of dancing and new phrases she's learned and of course, pictures!!

Lots coming your way so stay tuned!!