San Diego

We just got back from San Diego and we had an awesome time. It was a week full of firsts for Reese. We went to the beach. She did ok, but refused to take a nap. There was just too much to see and do.

Spence loves to boogie board. Unfortunately I am lame and won't get in the ocean if it's too cold. Luckily he had his boys to go with him. Josh (Kara's hubby), my cute brother Almen, and Boone (Megan's new husband)

We took Reese swimming. She loved it- we knew she would. She even put her face in the water! I'm pretty sure she did it on accident but she didn't mind. It was so fun.

We went to Sea World. Don't worry- no trainers were eaten while we were there. When I was a kid I wanted to be a whale trainer. I would check out books on Orcas at the library and take notes in a notebook. A lot of the trainers are actually psychologists who specialized in animal behavior, and I was a psych major. Oh well- we have to let some of our dreams go, right?

Reese loves the song Baby Beluga, so we had to get a picture of her with the Beluga whale. They became great friends. We also bought her a little plastic whale for the bath tub- 9 bucks!

We also went to Universal Studios. It was so crowded, but we really had a good time. We used the Single Rider lines so we wouldn't have to wait in line, so that really helped.

We took Reese on the Studio Tour and she did great. She made it through the King Kong part, the Subway crash and the flash flood. Unfortunately by the end she was tired and hungry, so when the water cannon went off and Jaws came up to the boat she started to cry. She didn't mind him so much here- I guess because he was dead.

Reese is loving to sit up, but of course we couldn't bring her chairs. So she spent a lot of the week in her pillow-throne. She is the queen baby!

But the best part of the weekend was hands-down when we played Minute to Win It. Spence and I had gotten on the website and picked a bunch of the challenges and brought all the supplies. If you want a good time with a group of friends or a really fun FHE, play this game. Watching my Mom try to move an Oreo from her forehead to her mouth without using her hands was hilarious. Seeing my sister Kara try to knock stuff over using a baseball in a leg of pantyhose attached to her head was so funny. It was awesome!

Sweet Giveaways

So I have become a little obsessed with the blog- Whippy Cake. The gal makes these super-cute headbands and stuff. She also does hair and make up tutorials. She is launching a new website and to celebrate is doing some great Giveaways, so be sure to check them out at:

http://whippycake.blogspot.com/

I heart blogs

So I have been berating myself lately about how I haven't been keeping a journal for Reese. I have all these notes "journal about baby showers," "journal about when she kicked the first time" etc. etc. but I never end up journaling about anything. And I  was getting discouraged because I was never going to be able to remember all the details when these things happened so long ago. But then I realized HELLO! you have been blogging about this stuff the whole time. I keep Reese's journal in a word doc on my computer so I pretty much just cut and pasted my whole blog in there and wahoo I'm done :)

Reese is 4 months old (plus a little bit)

 

So I'm a little behind, but on July 15th our little Reese turned 4 months old. She is now 15 pounds (90th percentile) and 26 inches long (off the charts!) We have a big girl. This has been a great month for her developmentally. She can roll over from her back to her tummy. The bad thing is she hasn't figured out how to get back yet, so after awhile she gets upset and we have to help her flip over. But she will get the hang of it. We didn't get to see her roll completely for the first time, but I went to check on her while she was napping and I found this...

She had her first full-out laugh the other day. Not for me, not for Spence but for my boss at the dentist office. I come in to help out every once in awhile. I was up at the front desk and Reese was in her play gym in the back room and all the sudden I hear her cracking up. It was awesome. She is such a happy kid anyway, I knew it was just a matter of time.

She loves her little gym. That flower thing is a mirror and she loves talking to her little buddy. She also likes sitting up in her BeBe Pod chair. She is such a good baby and likes to play with us or by herself, which is a huge blessing. I don't want to jinx myself, but I hope all our kids are this delightful.

We were in Utah for 10 days and Reese did great on both 12 hour car rides. We had a chance to bless her at Spencer's parents' home. She wore the dress that I was blessed in and we wrapped her in the blanket Spencer was blessed in. It was fun to have her a little bit older because she was super awake and happy. She talked and cooed through part of the blessing. She and I are so lucky to have Spencer as the head of our family!

Reese brings so much joy to our lives. I am so lucky that I get to stay home and play with her all day. She is really starting to show her little personality and I have seen so much love, humor, kindness and independence from her already. She is just awesome!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! It was fun to be able to celebrate Spencer's first official Father's Day. He is an amazing Daddy. Even though she is only 3 months old, Reese loves it when her Dad comes home. She will just watch him talk and walk around. Anytime he looks at her she smiles. He holds her facing out and plays with her in the mirror and she just goes crazy- it's so cute. I am so lucky to have such an awesome husband who is also an awesome father. Reese and I love you Spence!

I also want to say what amazing Dad's Spencer and I have. We were able to talk to Ed for a bit yesterday. I am so glad that Spencer had his example to grow up with. Ed is a hardworking man with a rock solid testimony. He is very practical and intelligent but also very kind and loving. I am lucky to have him as my father-in-law.

I love my Dad and let me tell you... he loves Reese! Being a Grandpa looks good on him. My Dad has taught me so much about how to live my life. He is also such a hard worker, but has always been able to prioritize and make time for our family. He has taught me the importance of education, how to love music, how to be patient and how to have fun. Lucky for me, Spencer has all the good qualities of both of our Dads. So again, Happy Father's Day to Spence, Ed and Dad. I love you!!!

Whoops!

So I recently did something dumb- unintentionally of course. When we landed in Utah we went to rent a car. I'm 25 now, so my Dad was going to put me on as a driver. Well, when the nice man at Enterprise went to check my license he kindly informed me that it had expired on my 25th birthday! I figured it would be no big deal, I would just go and get a new one. Well, since it was a Utah license and I now need a Washington license, I have to take the written and the drive test! Not only that, but because my license is now invalid my Mom has to drive me to the DMV. I had to borrow the Driver's Ed. book from my little brother so I could study last night. I had to review the hand signals, how far I can park from a fire station, and the legal Blood Alcohol Content- no one remembers all that stuff! So the moral of the story is- take out your license and check the date so you don't have to feel like a 16 year old all over again.

Ha Ha Ha!

Reese is such a happy baby. She hasn't really had a full-out giggle yet but she is getting so close. I took this video in Utah this weekend of her and her Uncle Josh playing together. It's a little long, but it is really cute. Seriously I think we all spent most of the weekend staring at Reese and waiting to see what cute thing she would do next. Enjoy!