4th of July Celebration

Jackson was a little grumpy after our walk to the park. It was about a mile away and 100 degrees outside, so I don't blame the poor guy. He's also trying to get over an ear infection, so he was pretty uncomfortable.

Lanie and I have been having fun all weekend. It's nice to have an extra pair of hands around the house and with the kids and we've been having fun visiting and catching up.

Jackson perked up during the fireworks and enjoyed the bright lights

Tyler was so excited for the "pya woks!"

our little family

the finale was amazing- they coordinated the music to the fireworks- it was an amazing show and a really fun night!

Lots of SAND

Laguna Beach has always been my favorite place to vacation! We got to go for a day and enjoy the nice relaxing weather, warm waves and fun SAND!

building, and of course, destroying SAND castles

laying on the warm SAND after a dip in the ocean,

eating a yummy, but probably crunchy SANDwhich,

and even a visit from the SANDman!!

Jackson slept almost the whole time we were there- great idea mom to bring the packnplay to the beach!

More Beach Pictures

The best part of our beach day was the great company! Here is part of the Ingalls family, my cousins that I grew up with in Claremont. Andy, Alicia and my aunt Terri. I also got to see Sarah for the wedding and Micah comes home from his mission in August!

My mom and the matching cousins, Isaac and Tyler

Tyler loved the waves. He would scream everytime they came but wasn't really afraid of them. We had fun jumping over the waves!

Melonie and cute little Isaac

Grandma Nauna and my little Jackson

The funniest thing happened on the way home. We got the car all packed up and of course the kids are exhausted. Tyler looked at me with half opened eyes and said, "Mama, bappuice." (apple juice- his last request during naptime or bedtime to stall the inevitable.) I was about to tell him I didn't have any, when he blinked twice and fell asleep for good. It was so funny!

We had such a fun day!

Clark Family Fun

We were so blessed to see my family and Jeff's family during our California vacation. Jeff's family is from Pheonix and only about 5 hours away, so they drove in to get their Jeff fix. It was awesome to see both my dad and Jeff's dad, and both my grandparents on Father's Day. Especially since we don't get to see family very often, it made for a very special day.

Papa Ken (Jeff's dad) with Jeff and Jackson

Jeff's little sister Kendi came up with her two kids; Kloey and Kottan. Kloey and Jackson are about 3 weeks apart and Tyler and Kottan are about a year apart. The boys had tons of fun playing together.

Grandma Judy with Tyler and Kottan

It was so awesome to see Kaylynn and Chad, Kendi and Kevin and Ken and Judy! We even got to see Jeff's cousin Natalie for a couple hours. We love you guys!!

More posts coming soon!

Jeff and I have had an amazing time together in California! We celebrated Katie's big day on Saturday, and Father's Day on Sunday. Jeff's family even got to come so we've had tons of fun with family all weekend! Now Jeff is back to work and I'm still here playing with my family. Yesterday we went to the beach and tomorrow we are going to the lake. My grandma Lanie is coming back to Texas with me on Thursday so the fun will be extended another week as she visits us! More pictures coming soon!

...to the Happy Couple

CONGRATULATIONS Katie and Randy on your BEAUTIFUL wedding day!

Here they are after being sealed for time and all eternity in the Los Angeles temple.

Sister, I've never seen you look so beautiful

or so happy

What a perfect day!

It was so amazing to be together with my whole family.

Congratulations Katie and Randy. We love you and look forward to many fun times together!

Fun Pictures & Sneak Peek

Our Boys

Jackson can sit up for a few seconds, and then he tips over! He is rolling all over the place too.

We've been working hard on Jacksons room- I'll do a post later once I get all the finishing touches up on the walls. Here's his crib which I am totally in love with! Ever since I had him, I knew his color was Red. Not sure why, but he is my red baby. I love how the dark brown looks with red and it perfectly matches the guest bed that is also in his room. I love when things randomly work out like that!

Blog Archive: Tyler's New Words 18-26 months

• RRRRRice
• Baby Dakta: Baby Jackson
• coad: cold (with hands in fists and elbows in and wiggles his bum- I call it the chilly dance)
• ice ceem: ice cream (of course)
• yeyow: yellow
• dinky: binky (yes, binky is back)
• boon: spoon
• bubby: bunny (and runs down the street to chase it!)
• iiiiiice: ice
• tar: star
• haaaa: hat
• burpa: purple
• blue
• habbe: help me
• What does Santa say? "OH HO"
• oh man!
• butt-ball: football
• baby
• tkl tkl tkl: tickle, tickle, tickle (with a tongue sticking out and fingers ready to attack!)
• buh: bug (he loves them!)
• dak u: thank you
• baiper: diaper (after he poops!)
• did did: I did it!
• dum: jump
• dad (instead of dadda)
• mom (instead of momma)
• kkkkkkkkkkkk: cat
• wawer: water
• wower: flower or any plant

Our Tornado Adventure

Last night, as I was getting ready to leave for mutual, a storm headed our way. I started gathering all our emergency items (which really need to be better organized by the way) flashlights, water, extra batteries, snacks. Jeff and Tyler were on our front porch enjoying the lightning (or white-meat, as Tyler calls it) and thunder and funny looking clouds. We ooooed and aaaawed at the lightning strikes and rumbles of thunder. The power flickered a few times and then went out for good and I knew this was when our adventure would begin. The tornado sirens went off again and I walked outside to take a look. What I saw made me immediately panic- an eery looking green sky. I knew green meant tornado and just the sight of it turned my stomach. I yelled "Get in the bathroom NOW!" With a baby in my arms, I began my panic march through the house, grabbing everything from baby books and photo albums, to a portable DVD player and walky-talkies. My previously straightened house looked like a disaster zone and I remember thinking, oh well it will look much worse after the tornado hits!

Long story short, it didn't touch down in our city, though it was definitely in the air. Our power was out for about 9 hours, though I saw on the News tonight that there are 180,000 homes in North Texas that are still without power. We still had lightning and thunder off and on all day today, and last night we had 12,000 lightning strikes during the storm! It was crazy driving around today to see broken fences, trees down and trampolines upside down.

Best Birthday Ever!

Today I turned 25! I truly had the best birthday ever, I got to do everything on my list and I kept thinking about how I have everything I've ever wanted: a husband who works so hard for our family and loves me very much and two beautiful boys who are so sweet and fun and lots of people who love me. Thanks for all the calls, texts, emails and cards! I feel very loved.

Top of my bday list today was to see UP in 3-D with Jeff and Tyler. It was really good. Tyler did pretty well, it was his first time at the movie theater. After about 10 minutes of wearing his glasses, he took them off, handed them to me and said, "done!" Luckily it wasn't too blurry without them on.

One part in the movie, there was a big storm with thunder, lightning, and lots of loud music and sounds. The storm suddenly ended and it got all quiet. Tyler said, "Woah!" It was really cute!

Here we are with our 3-D glasses! So fun!

check!

don't do dishes...check

go to UP with Jeff and Tyler...check

have yummy birthday cake...check

open presents...check

relax...check

take nap...check

I did it all!

Should I cut my hair?

I've been arguing in my head about this for a couple weeks now. Jeff''s first reaction to that question was "No, you should dye it blond" (He has always wanted to be married to a woman with long blond hair. Sorry bud.) But now I have convinced him that he should want me to cut it. I just feel like I could have long hair that is up all the time or short hair and have the time to actually do it. And my favorite thing about summer is the excuse to chop my hair off! The last comment I got from him was, "You would look beautiful however you did your hair." He got a much happier response from me this time!!!

Anyways, sorry to blog about this, but I really want a wide range of opinions. Here is a picture of what my hair looked like last time I cut it. The first is at my baby shower for Tyler and then the day we blessed him. Then half of my hair (the other half pretty much looks the same:)) with Tyler taken just a couple weeks ago. It's gotten really long. What do you think?

Let me know what you think...Should I chop it? I'm thinking between chin and shoulders...

A walk to the wawie in the pool

This is how we walk to the park. Tyler leads the way on his bike and we follow behind. The pool is only a block away!

I remember when Tyler wore this outfit in Orlando. I love summer clothes on babies!

Just can't get enough of this reversible hat, I got it from Children's Place outlet for 1.99 a couple years ago!

And here's my big boy. I'm working on teaching him how to swim. Any pointers?

I found a suit with floaty inserts at kid to kid. He wore that the first day we went swimming. Then when Jackson fell asleep, I took it off so we could start practicing how to swim. He jumped in and practiced kicking and blew bubbles.

Then we played motor boat. (While spinning him in the water, faster with each phrase)

"motor boat, motor boat, go so slow.

motor boat, motor boat, go so fast.

motor boat, motor boat, step on the gas!"

He'd yell, "gas gas" After each round! A funny thing for a toddler to yell in the pool, but much better than the "poo poo" he was shouting as we were boarding the plane last week!!

A Much Needed Date Night

Since Jeff has been working so much and I was gone last weekend, we've been in serious need of a date! The last date we had was for Valentine's Day (too long ago!). We saw Night at the Museum and loved it! I loved how they used historical facts to make jokes- it was very clever. I did fall asleep in the middle for a few minutes and then asked Jeff- "wait, what just happened?" He looked at me like I was crazy, but if the lights are out, I can't help if I fall asleep!

**Family-- remember the question from wits and wagers (fun game, btw!) about how many Smithsonian Museums there are in D.C? (19) They mentioned that in the movie and I told Jeff- I knew that!! I was so excited!**

So, we end our night a little early b/c I called the sitter and Jackson was hungry. We get home to our other sitter watching Tyler and he's crying in bed. We bring him out and he's totally upset. I guess we're at the stage where we can't have babysitters at night- has anyone else had that problem? I am pretty much the only one who ever puts tyler to bed, so I'm actually not surprised that it was so hard on him. Oh well. Once every 4 months wont hurt him!!

p.s. this picture is for Jeff's family b/c they tell me he's never in the blog. oops sorry- here you go!