Personality

Power Rangers!!!

Wisker Kisses

It's not earth shattering news that personality is big with William. He's always ready to make you laugh, be silly and just plain 'ol have fun. Recently, he is all about Power Rangers. He loves pretending that he is one and that he's out to defeat the "bad guys". Between being the red power ranger and Buzz Lightyear, we're constantly imagining, playing and creating a world full of bad guys vs. good guys.

Silly Will

In all the things that plague the world of evil, sickness and hurt today, William can make it fade away in an instant. We are incredibly blessed to be his parents. His personality and innocense is incredibly refreshing and needed in our world.
                   

Blowing Kisses to the Moon

This weekend I took Mat and William out on a photo shoot, to do test lighting for a wedding I'm shooting in two weeks. We had a lot of laughs and fun together. Here are some pix of Will and his daddy playing power rangers, and just being plain silly.

William 3.5 going on 5

Our beautiful and strong baby boy is definitely not a baby anymore. Though he continues to have me carry him to bed like one and sing "mommy's baby, mommy's baby." He is my cuddler, comedian and love bug.
William can sing the months of the year, knows how to count to 5 in Spanish, and 20 in English. This little guy is learning to read. With a knowledge of letter recognition and sounds he's well on his way. He is still our little artist and musician. We love to hear him sing on his guitar and draw us pictures for our fridge. He goes goes goes all day long. He is always wanting to help and be part of whatever it is we're doing.
This summer has been full of travels. We went hiking in Horseshoe Meadow, went to our first Padree's game as a family, have many trips to the beach, Disneyland and San Diego. He saw Gina and her family, Auntie Brianna and Uncle Club (Adam). Time with his cousins is always a highlight of any of our trips.
Medically, Will has been, and will have, had quite a bit of attention. He is having a cyst removed caused from his circumcision. It is definitely hard to not be nervous with him going under, but I know, to him, it won't be a big deal. Will also had a big visit to the dentist. This is his 3rd visit in a year. He had 5 cavities this time. Jeesh! Well thank goodness it's his baby teeth. Even though it's tough being a parent with a kid that has porous teeth in addition to his grinding them, we try to be too hard on ourselves. We know we do the best we can. We're just glad everything will be taken care of this weekend.
Will's current favorite things are to play baseball, sing,  play swords, talk to people in person or on the phone, go for walks to the park, play Candyland, play wii fit for kids and watch Blue's Clues or Thunder Cats with dady. He loves doing imaginative play as well. He pretends to be a Ninja, Spiderman, or Batman...daily.
We could not be more happy about how well Will's growing and shaping into the kind-hearted boy he is. We absolutely adore him.

Jennifer's 22nd Birthday

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Goodness, I can't believe it's been so long since I've written. Things have been busy. Mat and I had found out we were pregnant in March and then I had a miscarriage. It was heart breaking. I didn't deal with it very well. Mathew was a complete sweetheart though. He bought me my camera I've always wanted, and suddenly taking pictures began to heal my dispair. I have thoroughly enjoy capturing people's special moments and milestones.


At the Wave we played in the pool the whole time. At least it was heated.

 I turned 32 this May and we definitely had fun celebrating. I spent some time in Vegas with some friends. It was wonderful, sitting by the pool, sharing meals with friends and relaxing. We went to the Hotel Del Coronado with my family, and then Mathew and I had a weekend down in San Diego, just us. It was a very memorable birthday.



Mother's Day at Merry Go Round

Mother's Day at Disneyland's Rainforest Cafe

For Mother's Day (Saturday before) we went to Disneyland with my family. My sister Kelly, my mom, Vicky and all the kids went. It was a lot of fun. Mathew, Will and I stayed at a hotel near Disneyland so he could take a nap and we could stay late at the park. It was honestly the best decision ever. Sunday, on actual Mother's Day, Mathew, Will & I went back to Disneyland for the morning. It was really nice to relax and enjoy the characters and get on some rides right away. Will even rode his first rollercoaster that morning. He rode Thunder Mountain like a champ. He sat between Mathew and I and it was a blast.

Later on Mother's day we took Mathew's mom and his grandma (Ramona) to dinner at the Merry-Go-Round Chinese restaurant. We had a nice visit and were able to relax the rest of the evening.



Swimming at Cyndel's & Rick's

Cyndel & Kenzie, poolside

Mathew's birthday came full force in June. With his big 30th birthday on the brink, I made sure it was the best yet (per his words). He had not one, but two surprise parties, pilot's lessons, and a big trip to Hawaii. His birthday celebrations expanded over a 5 week period. For 15 days (2x a day, equally 30 items total) he was showered with all of his favorite things and fun moments. We played pool, he got his favorite coffee randomly in the morning, a love poem, a massage, a movie out, a dinner out, and lots of other things. Things have definitely been on the celebratory side over  the last few months.



Counsins!

July is here, and we were in Hawaii this time last week. Hawaii was beautiful and was an awesome vacation. Mathew's brother and his girfriend joined us in all the festivities of Hawaii. We went snorkeling, catamaran-ing, to a luau, drove around the island in a convertible mustang, swimming with turtles, and kayaking. It was perfect.

Birthday Celebration in Escondido

Today we're going on our first real hike as a family. We're super excited! I've never been to horseshoe meadows, and I'm thrilled to take pictures and enjoy a picnic with my boys.

Stay tuned....

Gina & Jeanna Fun

Life brings many people in and out of our lives. I have to say, one of my favorite friendships is with my friend Gina. I've known her for 13 years and we've really become close in the last 4 years. She has a beautiful, fun-loving daughter, Kylee. She is very close to Will's age. Gina also has a baby boy, Blake, that's about to turn 1 year old. Gina and her family are awesome! The only dilemma is that they live in Washington. This year we were fortunate enough to get to be part of their June Vacation.

      Gina and her family came out and we were fortunate to welcome them to LA. We all rode in the car together (all 7 of us) to Gina's parent's house in Marina Del rey. It was so fun to catch up. Nothing can quite describe how completely adorable it was to listen to Will and Kylee. They became the best of friends instantly. We had a wonderful dinner with her family. All of the kids played so well together. Her sister, Gwen, was there as well with her family from Colorado. It was a great way to start the weekend.

 

 When Saturday arrived we all traveled together to Santa Monica beach. This beach is our absolute favorite it because so many wonderful things happened there in our life. We watched and played with the kiddos as we soaked up the sun's rays and enjoyed great conversation. We spent many hours there. Gina was more than burned, but she didn't seem to mind, as long as we kept lathering on the aloe. I sincerely loved our time together. Gina and her family went out for dinner and we took William out to see Brave, the new Disney movie. Afterwards we picked Gina and the kids up and headed to Fullerton for a slumber party. We all crashed out pretty quickly.

First thing Sunday morning we headed to Disneyland!! What's more fun than taking 3 kids to Disneyland...NOTHING! I love how children get so bright eyed and joy-filled when they enter the park. We rode the train that was around the park, where we stopped at It's a Small World. We were able to get on quickly, which was great and the kids were in awe. Then we waited in line to see Marida from Brave.  Lunch was after than, then Toon Town. I think the greatest thing about this visit was that we weren't stressed or rushed to go on any particular ride or be anywhere. We just enjoyed the kids and let them be kids. There's no better way to do Disneyland.

It was truly a fun filled weekend with one of the greatest friends I have. I look forward to many more family adventures in the future.