UT trip-day 1&2

We had such a great vacation visiting my sister and her family up in Utah for 11 days. We did so much that I'm not sure where to even start journaling/blogging. So as boring as it may be, I'm breaking it down in days.


On Sat, August 15th we said goodbye to Daddy (sniff, sniff) and then picked up Grandma at her house to begin our on-road adventure. Many thanks to my Mother for riding up in the van with me. Many thanks. Did I mention my Dad didn't have the guts to drive with us and flew up? Ya, men are wimps. lol


We stopped for lunch at Bob's Big Boy in Barstow. Grandma wanted to introduce the kids to something that she grew up with. The burgers were excellent.

No shots of the kids in the car, I was driving.

We stopped in Vegas at our favorite gas station and took another slurpee picture just like we did with Daddy back in May.



Once we arrived in St. George (our halfway point) we stayed at a hotel that had a great pool. The kids were HOT and it was so nice to get out and have some fun:









Leda is such a goof. I honestly don't know where my daughter gets her love of the camera and her love of POSING, but here she is. I swear these shots were not staged. She just kept insisting I take her picture like this...and like this....lol



And right about here is where my camera broke. And it stayed broke the entire trip to UT and remains broken. Lovely, eh? Which is why we have no pictures of the hotel room and the rest of our drive up to UT. Sigh. Stupid camera.

What a stud!

Spencer's learned to ride a bike!

I realize that most 6 year olds are riding bikes by now, but the reason this is such a big deal to us is because up until yesterday, Spencer was SO freaked out to ride his bike---even with training wheels on. He just isn't the most coordinated child and he felt very uneasy on a bike. His razor scooter was much more comfortable for him and so that's all he's been riding these last six months. Honestly, he hasn't touched his bike in about that long.

So now you can see why the fact that he learned to ride a bike completely on his own with no help from his parents is such a big deal to us!

He was out riding scooters with his friend Jose in the front yard (Jose's mom Gloria was out watching the kids while I was inside) and all of a sudden Spencer comes running in the house yelling, "MOM, MOM I learned to ride a bike, all by myself, come see!"

(Truth be told, I didn't believe him)

But here's the proof:




He just decided he'd give Jose's bike a try and took off on his very first try. Gloria then helped me find a tool so we could take off his training wheels so he could practice on his own bike, and that was that!




He's loving his new found freedom and riding with his friend Jose and we sure do love seeing him so happy and proud of himself.



Yay for milestones!

Now that's some patriotism!

I give her an A for effort and an A++ for cuteness.

Taking me back

Tonight I came across these really old pictures by chance and whoa did it ever take me back!


This was a trip to Disneyland when Spencer was just two and Leda was about 5 months old. It was 2005. In fact, this was the very day (the very outing) where Aaron kindly suggested to me that I may be pregnant again. And it was because of all the excessive bathroom trips I took while out walking around the park. I was so in denial. A few days after this was taken, I took a pregnancy test and confirmed that indeed, Chase was on his way...surprise!

Spencer was such a cute two year old. He's always had such big, inquisitive eyes!


And speaking of eyes, check out Leda's baby blues...


They were this bright and blue until she turned 15 months old. Maybe Chase's birth and subsequent screaming and colic at that time had something to do with Leda's eyes turning (kidding)...don't get me wrong, I love her hazel eyes, but truth be told I kinda miss these beautiful blues... I was hoping at least one child of ours would keep their Daddy's eyes.

Isn't she a doll? I miss her at this age. She was the best baby, so calm and so happy!



Wow, what a trip this was for me! More and more each day I'm realizing how fast my children are growing up. And while it's exciting to see them change and grow, I want it to stop at the same time. Does that make any sense?
Big Sigh.

Summer bikin'

When we moved to our neighborhood almost five years ago, we had no idea how much fun it'd be for our children once they were older.

There are so many fun friends to play with and our safe little culdesac with a slope that slants a bit downward is especially conducive for some good bikin'.

Spencer digs his razor scooter and is oh so fast!





Leda loves her Dora bike (and has proven to be our most coordinated child)






And then there's Chase. Those of you who know Chase know that he is quite the character. Notice here that there isn't a lot of riding going on...but he did find something to keep him entertained...




need a closer look? Yep, a snail. A dead one.




I told him it was dead and that he should put it down because it's yucky, so what'd he do? He threw it in the street and ran over it with his bike. Ewww. Boys can be so disgusting.

Oh and I'm sure Chase will just love me later for these pictures on a hot pink push bike, but that's kind of the price you pay for having an older sister right ahead of you in birth order, right?

I do promise though that I will not pass on to him the Dora bike. I'm not that mean of a mommy!