Brooklyn's Blessing
At the beginning of September our good friends Jess & Matt blessed their new baby girl, Brooklyn. It was such a fun day because we got to see a lot of friends and family that we haven't seen in awhile--particularly Aaron & Ashley & Finn from Utah! It was a beautiful blessing and a happening party back at the Parks house. We enjoyed the afternoon and evening eating, chatting, playing games (mafia of course), and watching the kids play. It's so fun now that everyone has babies.....and school age kids! We're getting old. I can't believe it. :)
Here are some pictures from our fun day. Unfortunately, I didn't get hardly any pics of Matt and Jess and their girls, darn! But here's what we came away with nonetheless.
Adorable Finn
Ash and Finn
The two boys....only about a week apart in age! It was so fun finally getting to see them together. They met when they were just a few weeks old but this is the only other time since then. We only wish they could play together more!
Pictures were a little hard to catch of the two of them with the point n shoot :)
I seriously can't get over his cuteness!
Two peas in a pod. What is it about this age and buttons?? Cal is obsessed.
Craziness with Ash & Liz. So fun being with these girls! We miss Ashley & Aaron so much!!
Jess & Brooklyn with Liz
This & That
Whenever I download pictures there are always those random ones from here or there that don't belong to a group, but are still keepers. Here are a few of those from mostly September.
One day I went to run an errand with Cal and when I parked and went to get him out of his carseat I found him exactly like this! I must have sat my purse right next to his seat and of course he grabbed my wallet out of there and went straight for the credit cards. Wait, I thought girls were supposed to be the ones that spent all your money??!! Uh oh.
Matt and Liz gave us this adorable little Radio Flyer push car when we were pregnant with Cal. He now loves it and has learned to get on and off all by himself all the time and even scoot himself around. It is so cute.
One day he wasn't feeling too good so I bundled him up by the couch with all his favorite things.
I always love pictures of my boys cuddling and hanging out together. This is one on a Sunday morning after a long Saturday at the beach. They look so sleepy and sunkissed--I love it.
Cal loves standing really close to the TV for some reason and will climb on anything these days.
My friend Liz and I about to take a swim at the beach one Saturday. I was so impressed with her 5 month pregnant boogie boarding skills!!! Seriously!
Walking and learning to walk has brought on a whole new set of battlewounds for the little man. Yes, I promise we love our child and we tried to prevent these from happening. But the little stinker loves to climb on the couch when I'm not looking, jump around, and then fall off onto a pile of toys. Crazy kiddo. :( Luckily he's getting more steady all the time.....and more cautious.
More cute cuddly boys.
One day I found him just chillin' in his toy box. Love it.
Eating dinner at Aunt Mel's house
Aunt Mel's cute porch at her cute new house. Only 7 minutes from us! Hooray!
Wouldn't it be nice to be a baby?
Big Bear
All summer long we threatened to go on a camping trip, but somehow the summer got away from us before we planned one. We had also wanted so badly to make it to the cabin in Colorado, but since gas prices were close to a whopping $4.50/gal we decided it just wouldn't work this year, sadly enough. However, once Labor Day arrived we had just had it and needed a little time away in the mountains, to get our small fix for the summer. As Southern California goes, all the campgrounds were full for the weekend and camping in the wilderness isn't exactly as easy as it is in Utah or Colorado. So we decided we wouldn't try roughing it and we found a steal of a last minute deal on a room at a lodge up in Big Bear Lake (the closest Ski Resort to SD). It was perfect-- It was a cute little suite with 2 fireplaces, 2 big rooms, a full kitchen, and 2 bathrooms. We went up for two days one night and had such a fun and needed getaway. We drove around the cute little town, made a delicious Italian dinner in our place, spent most of our time on a few beautiful and refreshing hikes, read books, wore our hooded sweatshirts, watched movies, and just enjoyed amazing & fresh mountain air, scenery, and the chilly nights we'd been longing for. It really was the perfect weekend away for us. We loved taking Cal to the mountains and taking him on some real hikes for the first time. He had so much fun riding in the Baby Backpack. We also just love the outdoors and can never get enough.
The one family shot we got the whole trip, towards the end of our long hike.
Cal was such a good sport through the hot afternoon sun in the backpack!
Come on Mom, I'm tough
I love that little man! He's my best little bud.
Dan always gets him laughing so cute
Our little picnic at the top of the mountain
First time eating PBJ--Probably not the smartest thing to do in the middle of nowhere miles up the mountain (in case of allergies...haha) but luckily it was a hit.
The rhythm of the hike put him right to sleep
Little hiker
The views of the lake were beautiful!
Proposition 8
Election time is nearing and although I am not the most "politically involved" person in the world, there is one issue that we are voting on that is particularly important and that Dan and I feel strongly about. I'm sure most of us living in California have heard about Proposition 8 --an original Proposition that was passed by 61% of California voters in 2000 but was then overturned by a Supreme Court ruling. So now Prop 8 is giving the voters another chance to make things right. Voting YES on Prop 8 will ensure that the State of California keeps the definition of marriage as only "between a man and a woman". I know this issue is complex and there are a lot of opinions out there, but I just want to encourage everyone to look into this more and learn about the consequences of changing this definition of marriage and what the implications will mean for our families, our children, our society, our schools, our religions, and so much more. Please make sure to vote YES on Proposition 8 on November 4th!
I got this great widget off my friend Ginny's blog as well as the two links below (hope you don't mind Gin :) ). I thought they were great. Take a few minutes and watch/read.
http://www.americanvalues.org/html/FUMA_steinfels.htm
First Birthday Party!
Cal's first birthday party was so much fun! We had it at the beach down in Del Mar so we could enjoy the nice grassy area for the kids. Of course, a first birthday party really is more for the adults so we had lots of great food and fun enjoying ourselves at the beach. :) Thank you to all our family and friends who were able to come and who made it such a fun and memorable day! Cal had a great time digging into the cake Uncle Andy and his friend Jacqui made for him--it was a "golf" theme in honor of Daddy's work. Then he loved opening his presents and playing in Dean's little blow up pool on the grass. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day and the company couldn't have been better. There are lots of pictures down below.....
I still can't believe we have a little one year old. I never thought it would be possible to keep loving this kiddo more and more each day but that is exactly what happens. He also gets more fun all the time and its a joy just watching him grow and learn things so quickly. A few little things about Calvin (around his 1 year birthday):
-He all of a sudden started doing tons of new baby signs around 12 months old which is fun and a relief to us so that he can finally tell us what he wants rather than just yelling all the time. :)
-He started walking all over the place around 12 1/2 months and he loves his independence. He has so much fun just wandering around and is quite the speedster these days. We love him being able to walk because he can play so much better now outside and at the park and with other kids. Walking really is wonderful!
-He still says Dada/Daddy all the time and his Daddy is one of his favorite people in the world. One of the best ways to cheer him up when he is sad is to talk to him about his Daddy. He can say Mama too but usually that is just reserved for times when he is either crying or just sad/mad. Haha....lovely. Either way it still melts my heart.
-He can say Dog and recently started saying Ball and Cat too. His favorite thing to read about in books are animals. He loves them. He also still loves his doggy Cruiser.
-He loves going to the beach and plays so cute in the waves. We have to watch him close so he doesn't get swept away, but he can't get enough of the water and the sand!
-He loves watching movies, or baby movies, as we call them. I try not to let him watch too much, but sometimes it is a nice break and it really makes him so happy. He even does a baby sign for them. Yikes. Oh well. :)His favorites are still Baby Einstein & most recently a Barney video. He doesn't love TV too much so I guess that is a good thing.
-He is WAY more cuddly than he used to be. I had no idea that would happen but I love it! He also has a blankie and a bear that he loves and is very attached to.
-He has 6 teeth now! 4 on top, 2 on bottom. The top 4 have come in since his birthday.
-He loves to play hide and seek
He is getting so big and we just love him so much! Here are the birthday pics.
The whole gang up on the grass
The perfect little cake
Cal was really excited about the cake
Yum Yum!--It looks like he squirted oil paint into his mouth
A nice big mess
Playing with cute little Dean in his pool
Opening presents
Just cute
Friends: Dan and Lukester
Maddie Lou--love the chocolate mouth
Dan and his brother Steven
Me and Liz
Alex ready to play in the sand
Mel and I had so much fun boogie boarding together . The ocean in late summer is my favorite--so warm, so refreshing, so wonderful. I seriously can't get enough of it!!! I'm so grateful to live by the beach!
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