Summertime!!!

"The days are long, but the years are short." Ashley brought this quote home from a moms and more group and it hits the nail on the head. Seems like every night we crash land into bed exhausted at the end of a seemingly endless day. But then we look back at pictures from just a few months ago and barely recognize the faces!

Luke turned 1 on May 5th, and Avery just turned 3 on July 26th. Yeah. Wow. We're getting old too, I suppose. With the weather being really hot, we have been spending lots of time in the pool -- hence Avery's green hair. Other than that, there's been some trips to the waterpark, library, zoo, and even a backyard camping trip. We did have a visit from Tina and Alexandria (Justice's mom and sister) in June, and we headed over to Yosemite for the day.

The rest of our days are spent cleaning up the house and picking up toys, only to repeat the process 20 minutes later.

Laundry time is always a hit with the kiddos. Who doesn't love a warm load of laundry dumped on top of them, knocking over a nicely stacked pile of clean clothes, and playing in the basket!


A little different celebratory style between 1 and 3 years old!



Swim Time!


Sleepy Time!


Exploring Time!


Mommy Time!


Patriotic Kiddos!

Well, it's about time!

So we've been a little busy since our last update - Christmas - so here's the most recent news... in reverse order. My (Justice) family came up to visit last week, including my mom - out from Boston, and my aunt Linda and uncle David (San Clemente). We jumped on the opportunity to have Luke dedicated while all the stars were aligned; and had a great time - thanks to our family and friends that came out and shared with us. For the rest of you that couldn't make it, we've posted the video on youtube. This is the picture that the church had up on the screens during the dedication. He's a little heart-breaker already.

Here's a picture of "Gramma TiTi" with Luke...

The little ones are growing like weeds, as usual. Avery has graduated into a "big girl bed" and her crib has been dismantled and stored. She spends much of her time rearranging the icons on our phones and computer. Luke is now fully mobile, having perfected his version of the army crawl/worm, and getting wherever he needs to go.

Avery is in the full-fleged "why?" stage, and still insists on a daily basis that she doesn't need a nap or to go to bed at night. Oddly enough, she is dead asleep within minutes. She has a tumbling class each week and enjoys exploring the property, especially feeding the neighbor's "horsies" ...

... and feeding ducks half naked in the frigid waters of Shaver Lake with her cousin Kinley ...

We just had a slew of birthdays, Ashley, Justice, and yes, Rudy turned 5. We were able to take a nice little vacation over to the Nystrom's "cabin" at Hume Lake back in the beginning of February, and had a great time with good friends. I use the term "cabin" loosely, it's more like the Ritz Carlton than a cabin. Here's Mommy teaching Avery how it's done...

We captured on the way in, from the side of the highway, just as the sun dipped behind the clouds. Really beautiful picture, absolutely majestic in person!

After Hume, we trekked over to the coast and spent a week in Avila Beach, hanging out and mooching meals from old friends and family! [thanks!] Here's Avery and Luke with Great-Grandma Theda...

Avery flying a kite with uncle Moe!

Clearly, Carey was more impressed with his skills than Avery...

And finally, a couple more beach-ish pics...

That's about all for now, I gotta go weed-whack. Expect our next blog update sometime this summer. Luke turns 1 on May 5th, Avery is 3 on July 26th... hmmm.