come what may, and love it

Update on my kids

2012-01-15T23:31:00.001-07:00

Since this blog is intended for our families to keep up on what we're doing, here is an update on the kiddos:

Amelia has started pre school and is loving it. She has blended in very well and has been making lots of new friends. She also takes dance class and dances her little heart out. Her imagination is as vibrant as a unicorn saving a princess from the jaws of a dragon and flying over the rainbow to safety. (Her favorite game.) She loves to ride her bike (a two wheeler, no training wheels), go swimming, run, jumps, and most of all dance and sing! She is constantly entertaining us with her performances.

Joel is the jokester of our family. He is constantly looking for new ways to make us laugh. This photos is a perfect depiction of just that. He is growing so quickly and loves everyone! He is quite the charmer with the ladies and Amelia is his favorite one, well, next to his mommy of course. He loves to ride his bike, run around wild and crazy, play hide and go seek, pretend to be a dinosaur, and is learning his ABC's as well as to count past 10. He is always amazing us and a joy to have around.

We feel very lucky to be the parents of these two kiddos. They keep like exciting and entertaining.

Follow me on my new blog!

2011-11-21T20:33:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! I've decided to start my own blog all about my discoveries in health and leave this one for my family (which I promise I'll be better at updating!) So please come follow me at:

kimthehealthnut.blogspot.com

I'll see you there!

The details: Stats

2011-11-20T22:14:00.001-07:00

Almost all of us like to know the nitty gritty details about people losing weight and so many of us don't talk about those details. So I'm going to lay it on the line; you'll know my starting place and where I'm currently at.

This is me today:

(I've never had definition in my biceps like this before!!)

Nov 2010 weight: 170lbs / 77.1kgs
Nov 2011 weight: 140.5lbs / 63.7kgs
(in high school, a bit over 10yrs ago, I hovered around 150lbs / 68kgs...so this is quite exciting)

Nov 2010 BMI: 30
Nov 2011 BMI: 24
(for more information on BMI - Body Mass Index, click here)

Nov 2010 clothing size: a tight size 12
Nov 2011 clothing size: I can fit into a 4! (and buy small or x-small in most things)

This is a lifelong journey. The process is still ongoing. I am still averaging about 1lb loss every 2 weeks. In the beginning it dropped quickly, now it's slower but my body is much stronger and I have much more energy (which is a really nice feeling).

I don't eat processed sugar anymore (stick to organic blue agave when needed). I don't eat refined flour or white bread of any kind. Everything is brown in our home. We consume a LOT of fresh veggies and fruit. I'd say roughly 70% of our grocery bill consists of fresh fruit and veggies. Mostly veggies. I'm learning to really love them like I never thought possible. I was a VERY picky eater as a child so this is especially surprising to me. :)

Next up, I'll chat about overcoming the S.A.D. diet...

A New Way of Life: One Year Anniversary

2011-11-19T12:03:00.001-07:00

I've had a lot of people ask me recently about making the switch to a whole food, plant based (vegan) diet and why I did it. Next week will mark my one year anniversary of making the switch, so I thought I'd make a few posts about my journey...and why I'm not looking back.

This is me a little over a year ago. Yikes right?! You know that pink flowered picture could be something out of a horror film!

I was in a place where I wasn't feeling well, I hurt all the time, I was dead tired by the end of the day, and could not keep up with my kids, so I went to go and see a doctor with the suspicion of Fibromyalgia, (runs in the family). Sure enough, he confirmed what I thought, gave me a prescription for a drug that sounded pretty scary, (side effect: feeling high most days. Yeah right! With 2 kids to look after? I don't think so!) and said, "Most of fibromyalgia can be controlled by diet and exercise." Right! That's all I needed! That was all I needed to hear! This was NOT going to be something that controlled my life. I was going to control it!

I had a friend who had talked to me about a book called, The China Study and about losing a ton of weight by switching to a whole food, plant based (vegan) diet. So I called her up and we sat down and she laid it all out for me. She gave me tons of recipes, work out plans, books to read, and the best thing of all, all the encouragement I needed. She was my rock! So I went home and ordered The China Study. When it arrived, I sat down and had a good read, loaded up my Netflix queue with all kinds of stuff to keep me motivated, and got to work. I walked through my kitchen with a garbage bag and threw out all kinds of junk food. And I wasn't looking back! (Good thing I'm married to a really supportive guy!!)

It's not easy to make the switch, the first week is certainly the hardest, but as soon as you make it past that, if you've got the support you need, you can do anything! You'll crave all kinds of stuff, you'll go hungry because you've got no idea what to eat, and you'll learn to love all kinds of vegetables that you never new existed!

So over the next few posts, I plan to lay out tips and tricks that helped me. I will give you resources to check out, websites to peruse, videos to watch, and hopefully a little bit of motivation to get you going.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned and tomorrow I'll show what I look like today!

Look what I made!!

2011-05-11T15:50:00.003-06:00

Amelia is very much into girlie dresses these days. She actually has a dress that we bought from Costco a while back that she tries to wear EVERY SINGLE DAY!! So I decided it might be a good idea to make a few more pink dresses to try and sway her from that dress. Here's how it turned out:

Perfect for adventures. Looking for turtles...

Spotting a turtle!

And perfect for plenty of twirling and dancing!

If this looks like something you'd like to try making, you can follow the tutorial HERE. It's pretty easy and a lot of fun to make! And just think how lovely your little one will look wearing a lovely pink dress. :)

Rango Premier!

2011-03-06T19:54:00.003-07:00

So, Brad has this awesome ability to get premiere passes. Like the proper red carpet premiere. It is LA after all. :) Usually they are R rated movies that we don't feel like getting a sitter to go and star gaze to not even stay ant watch the movie.

Anyway, this time the tickets were for RANGO! Little Joely was a little bit sick so I wasn't planning on staying but then decided to at the last minute. Because we brought the kids along we got the red carpet "stand by" treatment! Bleacher seats!!! So we got to sit in comfort and watch all the stars arrive. Brad gets a little to excited at these things, (yes, he's a total groupie) so when Johny Depp walked over to where we were seated (the crowd obviously went crazy) and Brad grabbed Amelia and ran up to him shoving Amelia into his arms. The security guard was understandably quite angry with Brad and sent him back to his seat. Amelia then jumped into my arms scared to death, crying, and yelling, "I don't like that man." (That man being Depp.) It was great!

Us waiting for the stars to arrive.

The photo that we took of Depp. Yes, he was that close to us.

Photo that the press took. We later found this on one of their websites. :) Don't believe those blurs are us? Well, just trust us. :)

Valentines Day

2011-03-06T19:49:00.003-07:00

A little late, but worth sharing. So, for Valentine's day this year I had a fun idea to completely embarrass Brad. :) The kids and I made a fun little sugar cookie bouquet (which somehow I didn't get a photo of. DARN!!) then I got the kiddos all dressed up. They were both going to be cupid's but Amelia wanted to be a super hero which I think turned out much better. Joel was a little cupid complete with bow and arrow and all. (I think Amelia is holding it in the photo.) And then we went and marched into Brad's work to deliver the cookies. He was mortified!! It was fantastic! All his co-workers came over to snap a photo because they said no one would believe them otherwise. AWESOME!! That was our goal.

Catch up post!

2011-02-22T16:33:00.007-07:00

Life has been crazy and yes, gotten away from me a little bit. I've thought about my blog on several occasions. I promise. But my children seem to sprout 8 arms all of the sudden whenever I attempt to use the computer. So, my blog has suffered. Right now my kiddos are distracted by the good ol' television so I'm just going to throw a huge barrage of photos at you, in no particular order as quickly as possible and let you figure it out for yourself. :) Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!!

2010-10-31T20:30:00.002-06:00

We had a fun little Halloween. I'll spare you all the boring details and just share with you the costumes. Because as we all know, halloween with kids is really all about the costumes. :) This is the first year that I can say that we had a "homemade" halloween. I made all of our costumes. Take a look:

Here is all of us at our Ward Halloween Carnival/Trunk-or-treat:

Ameliasaurus. She really wanted "dinosaur" feet as well, so she is the only one that got lucky enough to get the feet. :)

Joelasaurus

The "spike" view.

And here they are with our pumpkins too.

Happy Birthday!!!

2010-09-05T21:22:00.001-06:00

Guess who just turned 1?!

Does he look excited?

Joel's New Perch.

2010-08-22T17:58:00.004-06:00

So one day I was in the kitchen doing the dishes (as always) and Joel came in to join me (as always.) He loves to help. And he is very good and taking the silverware and throwing it on the floor. Best helper I've ever had. :)

But this particular day I was concentrating on the dishes and the next thing I new his little head was peering into the sink. He's discovered that he can now climb into the dishwasher and reach anything on the counter. He's learned that there is always water to play with in there (and makes a big mess with it). But as you can see, he's proud as can be of his new found talent.

More about the house...

2010-08-22T17:52:00.002-06:00

Just us as we live each day enjoying each other.

I feel like we have so many photos like this. These two are often on the couch "snugging" each other. (as Amelia would say.)

Joel recently discovered our swing on our little patio, and he LOVES it!!! He's learned to open the screen door and will crawl out there and I'll find him lounging like this. It cracks me up.

Amelia loves to swing with him too.

Playing the drums. (Amelia took this photo. I thought it was so good, I had to post it.)

Joel also recently learned to climb into the toy box. Amelia will climb in with him and sing "row row row your boat." They love it!

Natural History Museum

2010-08-22T17:48:00.002-06:00

We visited the Natural History Museum at the beginning of this month. The first Thursday of every month is free and it seems like EVERYONE in LA new this little secret! This place was packed. But Amelia still had fun with her two best friends from nursery!

Yes, we made them pose a lot so we could take photos.

Have you seen this??

2010-08-10T21:35:00.005-06:00

This is an absolute crack up! I've watched it so many times now...it'll never get old.

Our Sweet Girl!

2010-08-01T22:49:00.001-06:00

A few months back we had family photos taken. Amelia was not very cooperative. We didn't get any good ones of just her. I finally made it back there to take some of just her. Here are some of those shots that I took. Isn't she beautiful? (Oh yeah, and I made that dress. :))

I love moments like these!!

2010-08-01T22:40:00.002-06:00

Being a mom can be VERY overwhelming sometimes. Sometimes I feel like I am telling these kids the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over until I am blue in the face. (I also remember my mom saying the same thing about me.) :) Sometimes I get so frustrated that I can't keep this house clean because all they ever do is play and leave their toys everywhere. Then I get mad at them....

Then I see moments like these, and I'm over the madness. :)

She thought she was putting make-up on like mommy...but with markers. :)

This is a very typical sight at our house.

And one of these days Joel will get the upper hand. :)

This is the best. When I find them playing so nicely in their bedroom. Amelia bosses Joel around about everything and Joel eats everything Amelia gives him. Perfect combination!!

Aunt Stephanie!!!

2010-07-19T22:13:00.003-06:00

We had the fun opportunity of having Aunt Stephanie come and visit us for a few days. Unfortunately for her we happened to be having a cold spell sweep through that week. Temperatures didn't get above 75 degrees the whole time she was here. Poor girl! But we had fun anyway. Thanks for sharing these photos with us Steph!

Joel hanging out on the beach.

Who needs a leash when you've got this??

Is there one attached to this thing too??

Amelia LOVED Graumans Chinese Theater. She was running around putting her hands and feet in everyone else's. I love this shot with Steph.

If you look really close you can see the Hollywood sign through there. This is just outside of the Kodak Theater. Amelia played in the water fountain here while we took care of Joely business.

Santa Monica pier just happened to have this fun concert going on. Amelia loved dancing to the music...in her pajamas! :)

And the LA Temple. Always a beautiful sight.

Typical Amelia. Always loves to work it for the camera.

Happy 4th of July!!

2010-07-11T22:01:00.004-06:00

So, my sister-in-law put me onto this blog called Make it and Love it and I check it almost everyday. One day she had this tutorial on how to make your own flag shirts for the 4th. Since that is my favorite holiday, I figured I'd make some flag shirts for my kids. And here they are:

Amelia doing her grumpy face. Hers has the ruffled stripes and buttons for the stars.

Joels is just an applique. Well, I ironed on to heat and bond onto the fabric and then ironed/stitched it onto the shirt.

Oh yeah, that's is Joel standing all by himself. He's on the verge of walking, but not there yet. Yikes!!

These were both SUPER easy and SUPER fun!!! I'm gonna have to try it again with other designs.

Random Grandparents post

2010-07-11T21:50:00.004-06:00

So this is one of those post for you Grandma's and Grandpa's. Since we know you love the photos. Enjoy!

One day Joel discovered the crawl space behind our couch. Sweet little smile right?? No, he was screaming and I was laughing. :)

Since we have moved these two into their own bedroom this is a common sight. I love it!!

My sweet Joel. See that nice long hair? I somehow let Brad convince me to buzz it. So, it's much shorter now. :( He won't be getting another haircut for a long time.

His new talent: waving. He waves at everyone now. Love it!

And of course his killer smile.

I have very fond memories as a child of sitting at my moms feet while she put curlers or rags in my hair to curl it for Sunday. I always thought it was fun to feel really girly and have these bouncing beautiful curls, so I thought I'd try it with Amelia. So, here she is:

Wonder why there is no after photo?? Yeah, well, I think this is a tradition we won't be keeping. Let's just say MAJOR FRO!!!!

Ever the budding artist.

Amelia and a friend hang out after church.

Sleepy Kids

2010-07-11T21:47:00.003-06:00

Here is what my kids look like after a day at Disneyland:

And here is what they look like asleep at night:

We just moved the two of them into their own bedroom so this is now a common sight. We never put them to bed together, but Amelia almost always climbs in for a snuggle. So sweet!!

Awesome!!

2010-06-13T21:13:00.003-06:00

So I've had this itch lately to do something creative, like really creative. Something more than just an art easel. So I've been scouring good ole youtube.com to see what I could find. Check this out, it's so sweet!!

And the one that piqued my interested (thanks for sharing Brandon and Steph!):

Birthday Project

2010-05-29T18:44:00.003-06:00

Amelia has been very much getting into the arts lately. So loves to draw, loves to color, and especially loves to paint. So I figured she would love an art easel. I shopped around for a few, the ones I could afford were all out of stock, the ones I couldn't afford I didn't like quite so much, so I decided to make one. After scouring the web for a few ideas I finally settled on this one, and set off for Home Depot for supplies. I didn't quite follow the outline perfectly, I had to make a few alterations here and there, but after a few very late nights this is the result:

The wood of course was bought from Home Depot and luckily they cut the wood for you for a very small fee. The chalk board is an old picture frame that I had that I just painted the frame and then spray painted the plexi-glass with that chalk spray paint stuff. The art supplies are all from IKEA. There is a roll of paper on a dowel in the middle of the frame that we can just pull in front of the chalk board.

She loves it!! She's had quite a few hours of fun with it already, plus paint on the couch and carpet...we might need to set up some rules. :)

She's "free"!!

2010-05-29T18:33:00.003-06:00

Our sweet little girl is now 3 years old!!! Gosh, it's hard to believe. It's sure been a fun few years though. And to celebrate all our joy, we threw a party! Amelia said she wanted a dinosaur party, I wanted to do something more feminine, so we compromised with this:

Dinosaurs and pink frosting!!

Ring-around-the rosies...

The kids had a hard time bringing themselves to hit the pinata, after all, we do all try to teach our kids not to hit. But once the candy fell out, everything was cool again!

All the fun birthday guests. Thanks for coming and making her day pure bliss!

Good Morning Sunshine!

2010-05-28T23:46:00.002-06:00

You could probably ask any parent and they would tell you that when their kids wake up it's the best time of day. They are happy and excited to see you, all smiles! Well, that's my Joel. He loves it when Amelia and I barge in when we hear him squirming after his morning nap. This is how that usually goes:

Good morning sunshine!!

Love those red rosy cheeks!

Amelia gets so excited to see him, she's just gotta climb in with him.

And he loves it!

(I love this photo, classic in our house at the moment.) Amelia yelling a song and Joel blowing raspberries. Yep, that's my kids.

And then, this happens. You know the saying, "It's all fun and games until some one gets hurt."? Yeah, well, that usually happens about this time.

But Joel is a good sport.

Making a visit to John Rogers State Park

2010-05-28T23:24:00.005-06:00

A friend of mine told me about this great state park up near Santa Monica that had proper polo games. Well, anyone that knows my daughter knows that she is fascinated, no, obsessed with horses. She LOVES them. So, of course he had to go and check it out. My brother and sister-in-law came along to explore. Warning: To anyone that may come and visit us in the near future, we just might take you here. We thought it was awesome!!

Proper Polo Game!! This was pretty cool to watch.

After the game, we followed the hiking trail, and this is what we found. Isn't that view awesome?! And the trail was stroller friendly (thanks for being the muscles Brad! :))

This is how getting Amelia to take a picture goes:

"Amelia look at the camera."

"Come on honey, just smile."

"Don't make me count to three!!"

"Forget it, go play with Josh."

Joel was happy to be along for the ride.

"I think, if you squint real tight, you can almost see our house."

"I love my food!!"

2010-05-28T23:21:00.002-06:00

Now that Joel is into solid food, this is a common site around our house. He likes to spit/do raspberries and food ends up EVERYWHERE!!! I'm not kidding, EVERYWHERE!!! He's spit food on the wall, across the table, all over the person feeding him (Amelia tried to feed him once, he spit on her, now she won't even go near him when he eats. :))

Beach Fun

2010-05-28T23:15:00.002-06:00

This is how we spent Brad's birthday...way back in April!! He was home sick with a sinus infection and trying to sleep so i took the kids to the beach. Hey when you got kids, sometimes sleep is the best celebration of all. :)

Starving Experiment: Day 3 and beyond

2010-05-17T16:12:00.003-06:00

So, yes, I'm sorry I left so many of you hanging. I guess I didn't realize so many people read this blog. I'm glad you do. :) I also have two kids, a husband, and somewhat demanding calling...shall I go on?? I can't seem to make it to the computer as often. Oh wait, don't we all. :)

So the experiment has been going incredibly well. Day three found her having handful after handful of broccoli and watermelon for dinner. I was and still am so very excited about this!!!

We are not to sushi yet, but this little girls diet is getting better everyday. Little by little. Instead of crackers, we are switching to nuts and fruits, you know, the healthy stuff. Instead of just taking "snacks" when we go out, I now pack a proper lunch...with no snacks. And a dinner time, well, if she doesn't eat what we eat, she wakes us up extra early in the morning asking for breakfast...but that's OK! We're getting there.

I'm embarrassed to have admitted that we let it get this bad, however, I am so excited at where we are going. Doing the three day "starving" challenge really has been a turn around for us. I have found that you really have to PLAN for meals with kids!! I mean I always new this, but now I KNOW it. I guess it's just another one of those things that parenting drills into your head. You always hear the experts saying over and over, "if they don't like it at first, DON'T GIVE UP!!" I think I had given up on many things because of various situations in our life we just resorted to whatever was easiest. Well no more. From this "three day" on, IT'S ON!!

Starving Experiment: Day two

2010-05-11T21:43:00.002-06:00

So we are on day two of this "change your diet starving thing," and you know what? It's going pretty well actually. It was another day of not eating much. She had breakfast like usual, had some string cheese for lunch, and yet again, by dinner she was starving!

But you know what, we had a miracle at dinner. You wanna know what she ate? Broccoli!!! Yeah, that's right, she ate broccoli!! I'm not even kidding. I am so over the moon about this. Her entire dinner was broccoli, watermelon, and some buttered bread. I'm happy. No, I'm ecstatic!!! Things are going in the right direction. Bring on tomorrow!!

Starving Experiment: Day one

2010-05-10T21:40:00.002-06:00

So this is how today went. Amelia woke up and had her breakfast, like always, and I decided that I just wouldn't give in when she asked for fluff food. When she asked for juice I gave her water. She could earn her juice by having something nutritious.

Needless to say, she went all day on just water. Water! That is, until dinner time. By this time she was so hungry she was begging for a hot dog. I didn't give in, as hard as it was, I didn't give in. I put dinner on the table and you know what? She ate watermelon!!! That's right, SHE ATE WATERMELON!!! Whoo hoo!!

This was a good first day.

Starving Experiment

2010-05-09T21:27:00.001-06:00

Anyone who knows my daughter knows that she is an EXTREMELY picky eater! And I mean EXTREMELY picky!! We're talking like juice (diluted of course), hot dogs and gold fish...all day everyday! Yeah, I know, shame on me for letting her do it. I have had many a sleepless night worrying just about this. I worry that she's not getting the nutrients that she needs, I worry that she's not going to grow and develop like she should, I worry that maybe her diet is affecting her attitude.

So needless to say, I have spent lots of time on my knees praying about this. Well, today I think I've gotten my answer to all those prayers. 3 days!! 3 days!!

The first 3 days after getting rid of the pacifier are the worst. The first 3 days of sleep training are the worst. The first 3 days of a diet are the worst. So, this is it. My 3 days! I think we are taking the first step of rounding the corner. Here goes nothing.

One of those days...

2010-04-30T23:09:00.004-06:00

So, today has been one of those days. You know the kind where everything doesn't really go wrong, but doesn't really go right either? You know what I'm talking about?! Yeah. Dumb.

I woke up bright and early with Joel at 6:30 (which I actually kind of like, I feel like I get much more done when I wake up that early) got him fed and then went to throw a load of laundry in (we have coin operated machines around the corner from our apartment) all before Amelia even stirred. We then ate breakfast and got the morning routine taken care of and drove Brad to work. When I got home I went to go and switch our laundry and start another load only to discover that someone had beat me to it. They had put my wet clothes into the dryer and started their own. I noticed it was on the final spin so I waited. When it was done I went to go and remove the items only to discover that someone was washing horrible nasty falling apart rugs and shoes. There was bits and pieces EVERYWHERE!!!

...so I decided to hit the laundromat...

I came back inside and got the kiddies all dressed, loaded up the laundry and headed out. After a few hours at the laundromat we returned home and things were going great. I got Joel down for his nap, Amelia happily distracted watching a movie with her juice so that I could fold all this nice clean laundry. Just as I was almost done, I noticed that Brad didn't throw his jeans in to be washed, which kind of bothered me. And then I noticed...there were no jeans here. None of Brad's black work shirts, no dark clothes. Period. I forgot to bring them home!!!

I frantically woke Joel up from his nap threw the kids back in the car and headed back to the laundromat (a few hours had passed by now). I discovered my clothes still in the washing machine, thank goodness!!! I also was happy to find that they were all dry!! Someone had taken them out of the washing machine, put them in the dryer, and then put them right back in the very same machine I had put them in...........oh wait, I forgot to even START the machine!! They were still dirty.

The day goes on....

I showered at 4:30 PM. I forgot to put conditioner in my hair. (Who does that? Isn't that like second nature by the time you get to be my age?)

Then, it was time to feed Joel again. So I got nice and comfortable on the couch, Joel was happily eating (blowing raspberries is his new thing. milk goes everywhere. not cool.) and then I got a text from Brad. It was 5:00. I forgot to pick him up. I forgot to pick up my own husband. My husband!! The man I drive to pick up everyday! EVERY DAY!! Well, to be fair, he does have a bike now. So some days he does ride. But I had just tripped over that stupid bike and skinned up my shin before I sat down with Joel! Shouldn't that have alerted my memory?!

Oh well, life goes on.

Here's to tomorrow!!!

We've reached the CRAZY 8!!!

2010-04-26T12:49:00.002-06:00

Happy Anniversary to us!!

Can you believe it's been 8 years?? Yeah, we can't either...well, yes we can. We've had a lot of adventures and triumphs along the way! So what if we're a little softer around the middle, a little slower to score a touchdown, can't quite dunk the ball anymore (Brad anyway, I've never even been close to doing that one,) and our hot date nights now consist of passing out from pure exhaustion while watching a TV show. (We rarely attempt movies these days...two hours is MUCH to hard to stay awake through.) But boy, we've never been so in love! There is no one else I'd rather fall asleep with while watching a movie. Heres to the next 8 years!!!

Aw, it's been fun!! And just for fun, have a look back at where we were 8 years ago today! Enjoy!

Helping with the Laundry?

2010-04-17T22:33:00.002-06:00

Amelia wanted to help with the laundry...

Joel got stuck into it...

The toys? Yeah, Amelia wanted to cover him up. Don't worry we saved him before it got above his eye brows. :)

Easter Weekend

2010-04-11T22:00:00.003-06:00

What a fun weekend Easter was!! I always love it when it falls on Conference Sunday. It's like you get two amazing things all wrapped up in one little package. So great!!

To kick things off we went to our wards Easter Egg hunt. Amelia caught on very quickly. This was taken just as the elastic in her hair snapped. Dang things!

Brad and Amelia tried their hand, er, foot at the three legged race. Needless to say their height difference made it a bit tricky.

Joel made a new friend. These two are only two months apart and I think they'll be wreaking havoc in nursery before too long.

On the Saturday session of Conference Brad had to work and Joel slept...so Amelia and I pampered!!! I painted hers and she painted mine, whatya think?

Her nose kept itching and she kept scratching. We had to paint her hands a few different times. :) But look how grown up she's getting!! The baby is all but gone out of her face.

Tried our hand at some fancy cupcakes. I'd show you the ones Amelia decorated, but the frosting never lasted on them. :)

"Can I lick it now mom?"

Easter morning, and Joel found a ball!

Enjoying their spoils. (Joel had just had breakfast and he is VERY messy when he eats so we took his jammies off. Hence the buddha baby.)

And here is how we keep our baby the buddha baby. Candy!

Life is about moments.

2010-04-07T23:32:00.002-06:00

"Life isn't about how many breaths we take, it's about the moments that take our breath away." This day was one of those days. I loved this day!! This moment. I could live here every day for the rest of my life and be in heaven. Kids can be so much stress and drama, and yet when you get a face like this you realize, it's all worth it!

Gotta be flexible

2010-04-07T23:30:00.001-06:00

So this is what life is about really, isn't it? Being flexible? You gotta bend when the wind blows...I think Joel is gonna be just fine. :)

New Hat

2010-04-06T17:06:00.001-06:00

So I am working on loads of updates. Scroll down to see new stuff and watch this space for more. Joel just woke up. Gotta Run!

Isn't he cute?

Packaging is always better

2010-04-06T17:04:00.000-06:00

Why is it that kids have more fun with the box?

Look what I made!!

2010-04-06T17:02:00.000-06:00

I made this! Can you believe it?!

Beautiful moments...

2010-04-06T17:01:00.000-06:00

I love these moments!!

Getting Stuck

2010-04-06T16:58:00.000-06:00

New baby lamb

2010-04-06T16:52:00.002-06:00

While visiting my parents a few of the sheep gave birth to baby lambs. One of the moms was not doing so well so my dad had to do an emergency c-section to save the baby...isn't that heroic?? Very cool Dad!! So he had to bring the little baby inside to stay warm by the fire and Amelia LOVED it!! She was down there with it every second she could.

Heavy Weight

2010-04-06T16:51:00.001-06:00

My dad being the jokester that he is kidnapped Joel for a little while, when we realized they were both missing, we found Joel like this:

Heavy Package...what are you saying dad?!

Bald Eagles

2010-04-06T16:39:00.002-06:00

Way back in February we went to visit family in Utah and attend a friends wedding. While we were there my dad took us out to see the nesting (sleeping) grounds of about 30 bald eagles. Apparently they were enroute back to Alaska. It was very cool to see a real bald eagle in the wild.

And there was lots of wide open spaces for Amelia to run around.

Sweet little Joel

All snuggly and warm.

Being cool with Grandma.

Bald Eagle

They just kept coming.

Amelia wanted a closer look.

If we had a camera with a decent lens we could have done these eagles justice, just take my word for it, it was pretty darn cool!!

Too Much Fun!!!

2010-03-22T16:21:00.003-06:00

So, this is what we do in our spare time.

Double the trouble? Double the fun?

Our little ray of sunshine!!

This is what happens when you eat too much McDonalds...:)

My Two Handsome Boys!!

2010-02-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

I just love these two, don't they look hot?!

Bed time, Nap time, and Good Morning!!

2010-02-06T12:14:00.002-07:00

Here is a little snapshot into our sleeping stuff...like you haven't seen enough of that?!

Amelia loves to read stories to Joel.

All tucked in and snuggled in bed.

They both love this!

Joel is as cuddley as a teddy bear when he sleeps.

Bright and early in the morning, these kids are always good for a photo or two. And I just LOVE it!!

Sunday Best!

2010-02-06T12:05:00.002-07:00

I just love Sundays! I love seeing the kids dressed up in their best, I love the lazy afternoons (most of the time,) and I love making lots of food to eat! :)

Here is a snap shot of our Sundays...kind of, the beginning and the end anyway.

Joel in his new outfit from Grandma...couldn't quite get the top button buttoned.

Amelia in her new Christmas dress (which I later put through the dryer on a high heat and totally ruined!!!! I'm so mad at myself!!!)

And after church, we have the TAKE DOWN!!! Amelia loves to tackle Joel. Thank goodness he's so thick, I really don't worry too much about him.

Oh man! That was rough!!

Wanna see what else I can do to him?!

"I'm going down to hell"

2010-01-24T18:23:00.003-07:00

This is so funny to me that I think it bears repeating. This is a story about my little girl Amelia,

this one down below:

Last night was a rough night through dinner. She was throwing a fit over everything so needless to say was sent to time out...a few times. Later that night, just before bed she was "helping" me sort out the laundry. It has been so long since we've done laundry that we literally have mountains. After she finished doing her sorting she started climbing up the mountains saying, "I'm going down to hell, I'm going down to hell." (Now remember she had just come out of a series of time-outs, Brad and I were not happy with her.) I was so surprised! I couldn't figure out where so would have learned a phrase like that, let alone relate it to being in trouble. Then as I listened to her a little while longer I realized it was, "I'm going down THE HILL!!"

2010-01-20T16:48:00.000-07:00

Have I ever mentioned that we just LOVE this little guy?! He is so much fun to have around. He is so laid back and easy going. He can sleep through ANYTHING (which is a huge blessing considering how LOUD Amelia is.) He has just started rolling EVERYWHERE!!! And I am learning once again that our house is really not baby proofed anymore. Gotta work on that one again. He is so close to sitting up unassisted. He can sit on his own but only for a short periods at a time. He loves to laugh, ha ha ha ha, loud and long and clear! (Don't you love Mary Poppins?!) We are so happy to have him in our family, he makes everything so much better!

He's finally been blessed!!!

2010-01-20T16:29:00.003-07:00

So it took us only 4 months to get Joel blessed. That's all. We had planned to do it at Christmas when we went to visit family, but that didn't end up happening. So we ended up blessing him at the beginning of January. We were able to have some family there (it was great to catch up with you guys!!) and Brad did a great job!

Our happy little family.

All our sweet family after the blessing. Thanks for coming guys!!

Little Joel just hangin out before church. Doesn't he look handsome?! He takes after his daddy ;)

Christmas time fun!

2010-01-20T16:24:00.002-07:00

Finally getting around to posting these ones...sorry! These are our photos from Christmas. We didn't take as many as I thought, but here's what we've got.

After opening all the pressies, Amelia and Joel enjoyed a ride on their new horsie.

Look what Santa brought!

Amelia LOVES to help me in the kitchen. She loves to get her hands dirty...and everything else for that matter.

Bath Time!!

2010-01-20T16:20:00.002-07:00

So I got really REALLY annoyed and fed up with the baby bath tub. It was just much to much work to pull it out every night fill it up one bucket full at a time, break my back leaning over the table while Amelia "helped" me pour water on Joel, and then dump it out at the end to let it dry out for the next use. Too much work in my opinion. So we've given it up and now bathe both the kiddies in the big bath tub at the same time. Saves time and splashes! And another plus, THEY LOVE IT!!!

Random updates...since we're so far behind.

2010-01-18T15:11:00.003-07:00

I once had a friend tell me, "You just wait until you have two kids and then we'll see how often you update your blog." Well, I'm there. I've got the two kids and now I get it. I guess I don't have any room to hassle anyone about updates anymore. :)

Well, since I am so far behind here is a jumble of random bits we've been up to for the last few months...

Amelia's hair is now long enough to curl!! I can even pull it into a pony tail! She looks so cute and grown up. It's crazy.

Snuggle time! This is a common sight around our house. And yes, that's usually the face that Joel pulls. Someday he'll be able to get back at her.

Taking Joel for a spin. This always just cracks me up!

Amelia is always now well aware of the camera and often asks me to take a picture of her. She's a ham just like her mom!

Ward Christmas Party.

More sleep photos. She loves to read herself to sleep.

Yes, this really happened. We've got video, it's much funnier.

Some of you may not know Brad is becoming the 3-D expert at his work...and teaching his son along with him!

Amelia's favorite dinosaur at the park.

That's what we've been up to in a nut shell. Stay tuned there is more to come (but my kids are both crying right now. I have feeling Amelia is not completely innocent.)

Santa Monica

2009-12-04T16:47:00.005-07:00

We've been trying to get out and about a bit more to see some of the local sites and we discovered this local gem! People always talk about how great the Santa Monica Pier is, but we'd only ever seen it from a distance...down the coast line, so we decided to give it a go! We had the most beautiful weather/day while we were there. Temperature was in the 70's, blue skies, cool breeze! It was fantastic! Now we know where to bring all of you when you come to visit!

As you can see:

The historic end of Route 66.

Plenty of rides for the kiddies.

And exhaustion for the ride home! Nothin' beats two sleeping kiddies...(unless of course you have THREE sleeping kiddos.)

There was a little girl...

2009-12-03T23:14:00.003-07:00

My sweet mother-in-law just reminded me of this little poem and it fits Amelia to a T!!

There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead;
And when she was good,
She was very, very good
But when she was bad she was horrid.

That is Amelia all the way!! Thanks Mom for reminding us about that cute little poem.

Ameliaisms...

2009-11-30T22:32:00.002-07:00

So tonight while we were getting Amelia ready for bed all of the sudden she starts singing:

"Tinkerbell, tinkerbell, help me fall asleep."

Sung to the tune of Jingle Bells. We've been listening to a lot of Christmas music lately and she will just sporadically break into what she thinks the songs say. It's always a crack up.

Randomness...

2009-11-30T22:22:00.002-07:00

This is going to be a very random post, I'm a bit behind in posting so I've thrown quite a few in together. Here is some of the fun we've been having around our house...

I know these are blurry, they are from Brad's phone, but too cute not to post. These photos are so typical of our little Joely. He smiles all the time, you just have to look at him and his whole body smiles. It's the best!!

I went to a Relief Society Meeting a week or so ago and Brad stayed home to watch the kiddies. When I got home, this is what I found...all of them asleep ON MY PILLOW!!! I guess they really did miss me...awww, I feel loved.

More swing time. This is becoming a favorite pass time for all of us. The kids love to bounce and watch each other and I love it because I can get stuff done while they are trapped!! At the moment Joel doesn't last too long, but he's getting better in there. I know he'll really love it before too long.

Notice that little curl dangling down her forehead?! It's very cute, yes, BUT SO ANNOYING!!! no matter how you do her hair it pops right back down onto the forehead. And it's just one little chunk that's longer than the rest. Crazy hair growth!!

And me and my kiddies ALMOST ready for bed.

Beautiful sunsets...

2009-11-19T21:08:00.003-07:00

We met up with my brother Kacey and his family on Saturday and went to watch the sunset at the beach. It was beautiful and a much needed outing.

Did I mention it was freezing? Well, it wasn't freezing, but it was cold!!

Later that evening we rented "Up" and let Amelia stay up and watch it. She was so excited she ran and got Dug and her balloon and was all set!

Disneyland!

2009-11-19T21:06:00.003-07:00

Happiest place on earth! Amelia is diggin' it!

On the Carousel, or "horsies" as Amelia know's it.

Smiles all around

2009-11-19T21:00:00.003-07:00

Joel has been smiling for quite some time now and is a very smiley baby. We have so much fun with him. And we have finally captured some of his smiles in photos!

Oh and an update on him: At his two month check up a week and a half a go he weighed 16.2 pounds and was 24 inches long! Gotta love that chub around his face and the double chin!

Amelia likes to teach Joel how to smile properly.

Happy Halloween!!

2009-11-05T11:31:00.002-07:00

Our ward put on a "Trunk-or-treat" party this year so of course we took the kids along. This was Amelia's first real experience trick-or-treating and she caught on quickly!! Free candy! Who doesn't love that??

She hadn't had a nap that day...can you tell?

But then the free candy won her over!

See!

Come on Daddy!! Let's go get more!!

Earlier that day...

2009-11-04T23:49:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine told me about this pumpkin patch (in the parking lot of Albertson's) that has pony rides. Anyone that knows Amelia knows that she LOVES horses. It's a big time, full on, love affair!! She takes her toy horses with her everywhere she goes.

Anyway, so we took her along to the pony rides on Halloween and she loved it! (We'll talk to her about animal cruelty later. These ponies walk around and around and around in this little circle for hours on end. Poor things!! But thanks for the ride! :))

Sunday Afternoon Fun

2009-11-04T15:22:00.002-07:00

I just love these two little kiddies!! They are so cute and so fun. I feel so special to be able to be their mom. Yes it's challenging, but oh so worth every smile and laugh these two share together!

Later that day, we thought we'd try out the swings...since we have two and all. Yes, Joel is still a bit too small to put in there but he's strong as an ox so we figured he could handle it and he did and he loved it!!

She might be hard to get to sleep, but...

2009-11-04T15:19:00.002-07:00

Once you get her to sleep, there is no waking her up!

Yes, we've got more photos of Amelia sleeping. It's just so funny to us. She will fall asleep in the most unusual places. She's gonna hate us when she's older, what with all these blackmail photos and all. :)

How do you get your kids to sleep?

2009-10-18T15:04:00.002-06:00

I just love sleeping kids. There seriously is nothing better than that. However Amelia has been quite the challenge lately to get to nap. She just doesn't want to do it and will only give in to a nap every few days. Well, this was one of those few days. We had just gotten home from taking Brad back to work after lunch and I got Joel settled and down for a nap then I went in and read Amelia stories and got her settled in her room (hoping for the best) and then I went and laid down on the couch to be able to have my own nap. When I woke up, this is what I found on the floor in front of me:

Amelia had snuck into the living room and crawled into her box and fell asleep. Such a funny kid. I didn't even hear her come in.

Joel's nap time. He's a much better sleeper than Amelia has ever been. Let's hope it sticks!

And then later that night, the only way we could get Amelia to sleep was to allow her to sleep in her box again. I guess we're just preparing her for a life of homelessness. Funny!

First day at church and lounging around...

2009-10-18T14:55:00.002-06:00

Joel and I made it to church last week for the first time in a month and a half!! It was so nice to be back and Joel looked so handsome. This is a hand-me-down shirt from his cousin Joshie and it looks so stinking cute on him! I love it!!

I reckon this is the kind of tie that my dad needs. Nothin' around the neck. :)

Too cute!

And just loungin' around the house. Amelia LOVES being around Joel. She always wants to hold him and snuggle him. So we do a lot of this.

Amelia insisted that I take of photo of Joel with her baby.

And this is the first ALMOST smile that I've caught on camera. Joel is smiling and "Cooing" so much more these days. It's so fun. My favorite thing was yesterday Amelia was laying on the floor next to Joel singing "Mommy, Daddy married the temple." Over and over and over and Joel was cooing right along with her and smiling at her the whole time. It was too cute!

Aussies arrive!

2009-10-17T18:21:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of visiting with some good friends of ours from Australia. They came to the states on holiday and had some time to spare so they dropped in to say hello. It was so nice to see them again and catch up/hear the gossip from the ward.

All of us together. Yes, I'm in my pajamas. They surprised us just after I got out of the shower.

Heather admiring little Joel.

Sara did a great job of entertaining Amelia with her iPhone.

Thanks guys! It was so good to see you again!

Look Mommy!

2009-10-17T18:19:00.001-06:00

Amelia was so excited about this. I put Joel in her lap and he fell asleep. What a good big sister.

Daddy and his kiddies...

2009-10-17T18:16:00.001-06:00

What a great daddy!! Thanks for all you do Brad. We love you so much!

Siblings

2009-10-08T16:35:00.003-06:00

This is a common sight around our house in the mornings. Amelia always asks me to lay Joel on the couch next to her, she adores her little brother and always wants to be near him. Granted, when she is around him she screams in his ear or hits him or pokes his eyes, but she sure loves him!! And he seems to be getting quite used to her. He's started smiling and often smiles when she's around. It's so sweet!

She loves to sing to him...

And watch movies together...

And just snuggle!!

Roly Poly Joel-y

2009-10-08T16:29:00.003-06:00

Here are some more photos of our little guy. He is rounding out much faster than Amelia ever did so he has lovingly come to be known as "Roly poly Joely." He's a chunker that's for darn sure.

Beautiful round little face...

Double chin...

And strong as can be. He rolls over all the time, not sure if it's just a fluke or if he's consciously doing it, but, well, he's doing it.

Finally an update!!

2009-10-05T20:09:00.003-06:00

So here are just a bunch (OK so only 5) of random photos from the last month. I haven't quite been feeling up to taking photos lately so this poor kid doesn't have nearly as much as Amelia does, but he'll have to live with it. Now that things are looking up a bit more the camera is getting pulled out a bit more often so hopefully this blog won't suffer so long.

Joel is an excellent sleeper!! He eats and sleeps and poos simultaneously with both of those!! It's fantastic.

Grandma Blunck playing with her grand kiddies. Thank you SOOOOO much Mom for all your help over the last month! I really truly don't know what we would have done without you. Amelia sure misses you. Today she was telling me how Grandma came to play and then went to the airport and flew on an airplane...she misses you...we all do!!

I make no excuses for the way I look in this photo. It pretty much describes the way I've been feeling lately. But like I said things are looking up and getting better everyday!! And I've got two BEAUTIFUL babies to show for it!! I love these two!!

Joel at about 2 weeks of age.

The way we all slept for the first few weeks. Amelia has the terribly bad habit of sleeping in our bed and Brad (Yes Brad, not me!!) insisted that we just put Joel in our bed too for the first little while. Luckily we have a king size bed, so picture this, me on the side of Joel and Brad on the side of Amelia...yeah it was a tight squeeze and so not fun. I'm happy to say both kids are pretty much out of our bed by now. Family togetherness!!

Introducing...

2009-09-12T12:24:00.003-06:00

Joel Eloi Wilson

9 lbs. 4 oz. - 21 in. long

September 6, 2009 at 7:11 AM

Amelia is loving being a big sister!! She can't get enough of him!!

Siblings for sure!

Meeting the little guy.

Times up...AND new bike!!!

2009-09-04T17:02:00.003-06:00

So you notice that little count down there on the right? Notice how the numbers now say '0'? Yeah, well, the day has come and almost gone and we still have no baby Wilson. So I figure there is no better time than right now to update this blog. We are a bit back dated.

So Amelia got her very own BIKE!!! And she LOVES!! She rides it everywhere, even in the house. We got a great STEAL on it from our neighbor who was having a yard sale. It's the best!

Can't you tell she loves it?

Dad shows her the ropes...

And away she goes!! So much fun!

Lovely Neighbors!!

2009-09-02T16:53:00.000-06:00

One of the benefits of living where we do is that there are quite a few kids that like to play out front. So we have gotten to know quite a few of our neighbors. It's been really fun and Amelia LOVES it!!

Amelia and neighbor Rei.

Dekki (who is currently in the process of moving back to Serbia), Amelia, and Rei.

Amelia, Debra (Rei's mom), and Rei.

Debra and I.

Just chillin'. What they do best!

These two are just so cute together. They can't wait to play together.

Baby Shower

2009-09-01T16:48:00.000-06:00

So I was very lucky to be able to make some good friends in this ward and they decided to throw me a baby shower. Isn't that sweet? It was a very fun day and I was able to get to know a few more of the women in our ward a bit better. Thank you so much Frances!! You're the best!

Opening gifts...

Yummy, yummy, food!!

The guests...

Me and Shannon, she's due just after me. We're both hoping to blow on the same day, 9/9/09!!

Times up!

2009-08-30T16:41:00.000-06:00

First of all, we all went to our very first Major League Baseball game at Dodger stadium!! It was Mormon night and we got a great deal on tickets through our ward.

Oh and Elder Ballard threw the opening pitch! And Napolean Dynamite sat behind us. It was pretty sweet.

Amelia LOVED the popcorn.

View from our seats. Not the best, but definitely not the worst.

Amelia-isms

2009-08-10T18:40:00.005-06:00

So as many of you know, our daughter is quite unique (aren't all kids?) So we thought we'd share a few of the latest "Amelia-isms" with you for your enjoyment.

Amelia has always been a picky eater, but now if we let her take her food under the table she will usually eat the whole meal. No joke. She likes to pretend she's a dog and eat under the table at our feet. No complaints from us, Brad and I can actually have a decent conversation this way.

Amelia loves to "hide," especially from chickens! One day a long time ago Brad taught her to hide under the covers in our bed. And since our bed is so much bigger than hers she loves to make a big tent and hide from the chickens. She'll run through the house yelling, "The chickens are coming," as loud and as fast as she can she'll run into our bedroom jump on the bed and dive under the covers.

Amelia loves to say "Hi" to everyone she sees like a happy bubbly little girl. But if they respond, well, that's a whole different story. If anyone so much as dares to say hello back to her she turns into that lovely two year old and yells at them.

Amelia will repeat herself over and over and over and over and over and over until you acknowledge what she's saying to you. For example, tonight we had the missionaries over for dinner and she kept telling them about the dinosaur with the long neck-over and over and over and over (the elder was in the middle of telling us a story) and as soon as he acknowledged her she ran off to play happy as could be.

And because Brad and I just love it when she's asleep, here is yet another photo of her sleeping. Yes, that's her snuggled up the scriptures. She loves taking books to bed and reading herself to sleep. Glad she's choosing good books.

BREAKTHROUGH!!!

2009-08-09T17:43:00.002-06:00

Today we had a MAJOR breakthrough at church. This is seriously major!! Due to a Young Single Adult conference going on at our chapel we had to drive up to Malibu to attend church with another ward in another building. It was a beautiful drive up the Pacific Coast Highway and we had a lovely time visiting with the other ward. Oh, and by the way, Ricky Schroder and his family were the speakers. Don't know who that is? Well, he's a big actor on '24', and 'Silver Spoons'. Brad was very excited.

So what was this breakthrough you ask?? Amelia stayed the ENTIRE time in nursery today!!! That hasn't happened in, I don't know how long! Brad and I actually got to listen to the lessons, read the scriptures, and participate in the discussions!! WOW!! I had forgotten what it feels like to be an adult at church! They had to bring her to us once, which didn't surprise me. Someone opened the door and she was reminded that her parents weren't there, but really I think she just had to go to the bathroom. As soon as they brought her to us, she said she had to "wee wee" and then asked to go right back in there. I opened the door and she ran right in without me! COOL HUH?!! I am over the moon about it!!

Oh and here's some more photos. This was the other day when I went in to check on her during her nap. She fell asleep like this, no joke. Oh, and that little mullet she's sporting? It's gone now. I suppose I should take some photos of the new haircut.

Finally!!

2009-08-09T17:37:00.003-06:00

Wow, has it really been that long since I've last updated?? What happened? Sheesh. I don't think I've been in the picture taking mood lately. Which is a shame because we still have this cuter than ever daughter...she just happens to be two now and won't hold still for the camera and I seem to work up a sweat trying to get her to...maybe that's why?

Well, here are just a few photos that I have found from the 4th of July. We went to the local high school here for the fireworks. It was really quite fun and Amelia LOVED IT!! The only down side was the fact that they open up the entire grounds for parking (which you have to pay $5 for) and then they STACK you in!! That's right, they stack you in. So once you were in, you were there until everyone else decided to leave to. That meant, if I spontaneously went into labor (which obviously didn't happen) I would have had to have given birth right there under the fireworks...which would have made for an awesome story right?!

Anticipating the fireworks! Don't you love that genuine smile?! Brad's been workin' on that one for a while now! :)

Oh, I can hardly contain myself!!

This is the bump!

2009-07-10T11:19:00.004-06:00

I can't wait to sleep on my stomach again!!

Amelia has been LOVING all the new baby stuff. She has taken a special liking to all the burp rags and uses them as "gwankets" (blankets) for her babies. I think she really will be a great big sister! Can't wait to find out for sure.

Off to Malibu!

2009-07-05T20:51:00.003-06:00

Brad had this Friday off to kick off an early celebration for the 4th of July so we decided to go exploring. We headed up the coast towards Malibu and found ourselves at a beach called Surfrider Beach. We were slightly disappointed to find out that is a beach dedicated entirely to surfers. Two weeks ago there was a major surfing competition held here. And I mean big time competition with all the big names (not that I'd know who any of them are.) But we had a fun time anyway.

Amelia just loved soaking in the sun.

Keeping cool.

Off for more exploration...and I just love this shot.

We decided to bury Daddy...Amelia LOVED this!

A little sand here...

And a little more in there! Open up Daddy. It's empty in there!

Amelia LOVED walking up a down the water line collecting all the rocks. We told her that she had to carry all the ones she found and once her hands filled up she'd stop at every rock she saw and would cry because she didn't have the room to pick it up. Thinking about it now, we should have just given her her bucket, but it was packed away! Aren't we great parents?!

Hangin' with the fam!

2009-07-05T20:48:00.002-06:00

I noticed on this last trip that I am really very bad at taking photos with my family. I ALWAYS pull out my camera everywhere I go, except for at home...why? This is something I will never understand. I'm going to try harder to be better.

Here is just a two shots of hanging out at home.

Amelia turned into my dads little shadow and followed him everywhere!!

Just sitting around chatting.

Welcome Home Uncle Korbin!

2009-07-03T18:10:00.002-06:00

Amelia and I had the opportunity of hitching a ride with Grandma and Grandpa Wilson back to Utah, (THANK YOU!!!) for the homecoming of my younger brother Korbin. He just returned from serving a 2 year mission for our church in Oklahoma. It was so good to see him again. This was the first time our family was all together again in years!! So fun.

All the neices and nephew waiting to see/meet Uncle Korbin. Korbin hadn't met any of these little girls, so it was a fun reunion! (By the way, my mom made these dresses! Didn't she do a great job?!)

Mom with her oldest and youngest children. Still waiting...

Have you seen him yet?

I think I see him!

Get the signs ready!!

Yes there he is!!

Mom getting her long awaited hug!

Amelia finally gets to meet Uncle Korbin, whom she lovingly took to calling 'Uncle Mary', because he was a Mish-a-mary.

UP!

2009-07-03T18:06:00.003-06:00

We also went to go and see 'UP!' with Grandma and Grandpa Wilson. Since it was Amelia's first real time in a movie theater we had to snap a photo! Luckily they didn't kick us out.

Look how intent Grandma and Grandpa are! They totally loved the movie, it comes highly recommended from this Wilson clan!

And onto the Natural History

2009-07-03T18:02:00.003-06:00

After the butterflies...

"Look Amelia, these ones say, 'RRROOOAAARRR!'"

Amelia's favorite spot.

Trying to run off with part of the exhibit! (Just kidding, this was in the kids area, it was all hands on.)

Digging like a pro!

This was pretty cool, Amelia and Grandpa lifted that truck you can see in the left hand side of the picture. Isn't science cool?!

G & G Wilson arrive!!

2009-07-03T17:55:00.002-06:00

We were able to have the lovely opportunity of having Grandma & Grandpa Wilson come for a visit, even if it was a bit short. Amelia had such a blast! She LOVED spending time with them! I had been wanting to take Amelia to this butterfly exhibit at the Natural History Museum and what better opportunity than to go with the grandparents??

These butterflies/moths were everywhere! It was so cool!

Trying to catch one, (yeah right, if only she was that brave!)

There were so many. They just flew around everywhere.

The best group shot I could get. Amelia didn't want to stay still. Big surprise!

One of the natives.

I'm goin' to Disney Land

2009-07-03T17:46:00.004-06:00

Thanks to some of our friends we were able to take Amelia to Disney Land!! (Thanks Maginot's!) They had some 2fer tickets that they only used one side of so they passed the California Adventure passes on to us! Hooray!! Brad was able to finagle our way into Disney Land itself. We figured that be more fun for Amelia, and it was.

I just realized looking through these that a lot of them are the same but it's hard to take photos of yourself on the rides! You try it!

Brad and Amelia waiting to go on the Dumbo ride. (Disney Land= always waiting in line)

Waiting for the ride to go...

And off we go!!

This was on some ride, don't remember which one, but I just thought it was cute of Amelia.

Same ride, self portrait.

It's a small world...can't you tell. (Or maybe this was Roger Rabit?)

Final photo.

We got some great video of Amelia grooving, shakin' her groove thang if you know what I mean. If I can get around to editing it I'll post it for you all to see.

So behind...

2009-07-03T17:43:00.003-06:00

I have a LOT of catching up to do. So stay tuned over the next few days for all the updates.

Amelia's hair is slowly but surely growing. I am finally able to get it into a pony tail, it won't last all day, but at least I can get it up there. I can't wait for more hair to come in.

It's all gone so fast!!

2009-06-16T10:49:00.002-06:00

It's been two years of having the joy of Amelia in our home. I can remember waiting for so long, test after test after test, thinking that she would never come to join our family. And now we have had her vibrant personality around to entertain us for two whole years!! What a beautiful thing a child is! We love you Amelia. Thanks for all the laughs!

So hard to believe she's gone from this:

The day she was born,

To this:

The day after her 1st birthday.

And then to this:

2 years old!!

They change and grow so fast!!

Happy Be-lated Birthday to our little girlie!!

2009-06-16T10:33:00.004-06:00

Because our computer has been just so full of "stuff" we just haven't had any room for anymore photos. I finally decided that since Brad has backed up our photos like 10 billion times we could delete all the photos that were pre-Amelia. So now we have plenty of room and I finally have all her birthday photos available to show off! HOORAY!! So here she is in all her slendor.

Gearing up for all those pressies.

Yes, it's true! I'm 2!!

You mean I get to keep these?!

So you go like this to close her eyes...

And then just like that they pop back open!!

Happy Birthday to me!! (So this cake was supposed to look much better than it did. I accidentally made the mistake of trying to be creative with it before it had cooled all the way, so it doesn't quite look like it was supposed to, but it sure tasted just as good!!

Yes, she had her cake and ate it too!!

The Next Day

2009-05-30T18:04:00.004-06:00

After church on Sunday we decided to let the girls take their naps in the car and head out for a little "culture" that LA has to offer. Since we seem to live so close to everything we thought it wouldn't hurt anything if we decided to have a little "Sunday drive" to see the sights.

Amelia and "Banna" gearing up for the big ride ahead. They loved being able to see each other.

After a very long and windy drive we finally found a good viewing spot for the Hollywood sign. And I was able to discover that that lovely gene for car sickness that I inherited from my dad is still very much alive and well! Even made a little worse with pregnancy. So after we got this one photo, we headed back home to drop me off to see if I could sleep it off.

And hooray!! It's all better!! After dinner we decided to let the girls watch the sun go to bed over the beach. It was beautiful!!

Walking along the pier...

Enjoying the water. Don't worry we didn't let her go in!

Family photo. Thanks Alissa!! This is the most you'll be seeing of me and my baby bump, so enjoy!

Fun with Cousins

2009-05-30T17:38:00.002-06:00

Last weekend we were able to have some of our very first visitors while here in California. Kendal and Alissa decided to book a cruise and lucky for us we took off from Long Beach, which is just down the road, so we got the privilege of having them in our home for a few nights. It was so much fun. Amelia LOVED waking up to more people than just mom and dad. Savanna was so sweet and so cute. We had a blast! Thanks for coming guys!!

Visiting the local park. Aren't they such good daddies?!

And later that evening Kacey and Amy brought their two cuties on up for a pizza party and cousin madness! These kids definitely keep us all on our toes, but it was so much fun. We had to keep the tradition alive from the Brinkerhoff family and get a photo with all the grandkids. And actually, I think this was the very first time they were all together in one location. So here is the best of what we got. These kids just didn't want to stay put.

This is how it started...

Then Amelia decided she needed some space...

For some jumping!!

And this is what the cousin visits do to her. We'll do cousin visits anytime if this is the end result!

I love these sleeping shots!!

2009-05-22T16:57:00.002-06:00

So, I just absolutely love watching Amelia sleep. What parent doesn't enjoy watching their child sleep? I often sneak into her room before I head off to bed just to watch her a minute longer.

Last night was really just too funny. She doesn't like to put diapers on anymore, says they're for babies, so it's always a struggle to put them on at night...let alone to get her "pretty dress" off of her back. So we decided to not fight that fight last night and let her sleep in her dress. Then while we were reading scriptures she discovered her tutu laying on the ground and put it on. Brad and I were both just too tired to fight her, so she went to sleep in her tutu. What a funny little girl!!

Only too typical...

2009-05-22T16:54:00.002-06:00

This is how you will usually find Amelia these days. Food all over her face (which can actually be rare considering she doesn't eat a whole lot), hair a mess, bows everywhere, and usually no clothes except for undies. This was a good day when she actually kept her shirt on.

It's a crime to be this cute!

2009-05-22T16:51:00.003-06:00

This is how a lot of our days have been spent the last few weeks. I just couldn't help but snap a few. I'm so proud of this little girl.

Some BIG updates!!

2009-05-19T11:35:00.002-06:00

We really need to start taking more photos!! I'll work on that one this week.

I am very happy to announce that Amelia is now very much POTTY TRAINED!!! We've made it through 4 days with no accidents!! She still wears a diaper for her naps and bedtime but she always wakes up from her naps dry. We are very proud of her. She has been waiting for this for a long time!! Well done Mi-Moos!!

Also we found out that we are having a little BOY!!! (I am finding it hard to believe we haven't posted that one yet. Must have been overshadowed by the potty training. Man it stinks to be the second child!!) Needless to say we are very excited and Brad is counting down the days till his very first Father and Son outing as a father!!

Thanks for all the suggestions...

2009-05-19T11:30:00.003-06:00

Due to all your very helpful suggestions, (aside from the shot gun, although I would have tried that one had I the means. Thanks Uncle Jay!) I am now happy to report that the cookies have been delivered. We took them over to their door last night for Family Home Evening...unfortunately nobody answered so we didn't get the opportunity to talk with them face to face. So we just left the plate of cookies and a card explaining things and apologizing. Brad walked past an hour later and the cookies were gone, so let's hope that's a good sign! We'll see what happens from here.

Although, it has been very quiet on their end since I pounded back. :)