Flower Girl

The flower is almost as big as her head . . . . .and I LOVE IT!!!

Disneyland Part II

John surprised us that next Friday by taking the day off AND taking us back up to Disneyland! It was so much fun! We had been wanting to go for a while as a family, but it had been just too hard for him to take a weekday off. It was a lot busier than when we were there on Wednesday, but it was just nice to walk around and get on a few rides. It is much easier with John with me because we can use the stroller pass to go on bigger rides. Brody is also 40 inches tall now which makes him able to go on most everything. John took Brody with him over to Soarin' Over California in California Adventure. John and I both love this ride. It is a hang gliding simulation ride that takes you all over California, like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the slopes in Lake Tahoe, Yosemite Falls, orange fields in Camarillo, Malibu coast, etc. I love it because it actually makes you feel like you are there with the wind in your face, and certain smells in the air, like pine or oranges. It is a great ride. So, I stayed outside with Piper and then we ended up switching so I could go on. John said that Brody's legs were stiff as a board and even shaking at times, when you take dips and all. He was a little worried of what Brody would do next. Once they got of the ride, he tells John, "That was fun!". I guess he did enjoy it. We didn't try and get on any other big rides that day. Maybe next year he will be old enough for them all. Here are some pictures from our day.

Love this picture of Piper! She loves to arch her back and especially when she is mad.

Disneyland Part 1

My sister Lindsey and brother-in-law Brandon were in town visiting his family and came down with Brandon's sister, Lori, to Disneyland for the day. It was my niece Brooklyn's first time and the kids and I were so lucky to meet up and hang out with them. It was a great day to be there too, not crowded, and perfect weather. Here are some pictures from our day.

Lindsey and Piper bonding.

Brooklyn, Brody, and Lindsey just getting off the Casey Jr. train. Aside from the Buzz and Dumbo rides, this is Brody's favorite. We race to try and sit in the cages.Riding on Dumbo.Brooklyn and Brody inside Pirates of the Caribbean. The kids didn't look to happy, and were even a little scared at times, but I am pretty sure they had fun. Brody said to me after we got off "That was fun mommy!" He said that after every ride we got off. Piper and I. What was pretty funny about these pictures was right after Lindsey took them, some guy behind us either in our boat or the one behind yelled at her to stop taking flash photography. I thought it was pretty funny. I mean come on, I have taken pictures in there before and the ride had just barely started. It really wasn't a big deal. Brooklyn, Brandon, Piper, me, Brody, and Lori on Jungle Cruise. My cute little niece Brooklyn. I had the hardest time trying to get a good picture of her. She wouldn't smile for me at all. Piper was a very happy girl that day. She is usually always great when there is a lot to look at. She only really cried once, when I put her in the stroller where she couldn't see out. How did I get so lucky! Finally Brooklyn was smiling, probably because she was with her daddy. She is quite the daddy's girl.

Now that is one cute kid waiting in line to go on Nemo!

Brooklyn and Brody loved the Nemo submarines and all the bubbles.

Thanks for the great day you guys! Anytime you want to go back (or anyone else) we will be here!

The Cutest Girl on the Block

The beginning of May, we drove up to spend Sunday visiting Tyler and Kristi and seeing the newest member of the Brown family, Lucas, be blessed. It was a beautiful blessing by Tyler. Afterward, we headed to John's parents' house to spend time with the family and have a nice dinner. Piper was just looking too cute that day, so I took a few shots of her.

Spending time with her Grandma Brown. Piper is the only granddaughter that lives close by, so she gets spoiled with lots of love and attention from her Grandma.

Piper laughing with her daddy and Brody in the background playing nerf guns with the boys.

Visiting Daddy at Work

Up until recently, John has been super busy at work. He's been putting in a lot of long hours with very little sleep, not having many home cooked meals, and not spending much time with the Piper and Brody. The kids and I were feeling pretty bad for him, so a few times we headed up to his work to visit for a bit and bring him some dinner. Brody absolutely loved seeing John, walking around the office, seeing all the city sights from the 7th flour windows, and playing in the fountains. You could tell from this picture how excited he was.

John's work recently moved office buildings about 10 miles closer to our house than before. It made me a little sad because I love his building (the most architecturally beautiful building I have ever seen and we have seen them film commercials in front of it) and it was in the heart of the city. I will definitely miss it. The new building, though, will be so much nicer because he won't even have to jump on the freeway to get there. It also means many more trips for the kids and me to visit! Hooray!

Uncle Denny and Aunt Taya

The end of April, my brother and sister in law were in town vacationing at a nearby beach house. We meet them at our outdoor mall, The Spectrum, had a little lunch/dinner at Javier's and walked around and did a little shopping. It was so fun to see them! It was their first time meeting Piper and she was all smiles for them. Brody was a bit more shy and took a while to warm up, but by the end, he was very excited to have Denny chasing him around. Thanks for the fun time you guys!

Emerald Bay

Towards the end of April, we had some really hot weather, in the high 90's, so we headed straight to the beach to escape the heat. My friend Lanay and I took our kids to Emerald Bay, a private beach community in Laguna Beach to which she had access. It was Piper's first beach experience and she loved it. Who wouldn't want to want to hang out under the shade of an umbrella and relax? The boys had fun making sand castles and the babies had fun just laying together. I only took a few shots of Piper, to document her first time.

Piper hanging out with her buddy Jonas. She was very interested in him, staring at him most of the time, but he didn't really reciprocate.

It was a beautiful, private beach with very few people there, only the nannies taking the kids, "Laguna Beach" type teenagers hanging out, and weathly wives taking private beach volleyball lessons. Yeah, I fit right in! ;) Anytime you want to go back, Lanay, I am totally in!

Piper's 1st Feeding

Last month, I started Piper on rice cereal. She was almost 5 months old at the time. With Brody, I started right at 4 months and he was loving it more or less from the start. With Piper, time flew by and since she wasn't demanding any more food, I kept putting it off. She wasn't so sure about it in the beginning, but did pretty good throughout the week. Then she got sick, I stopped it, and when we started back up she cried, cried, and cried and refused to take it. I thought for sure that was it and she would never end up liking it. I had always assumed that this would be the hardest transition for her since she refuses all bottles and only wants to nurse, but I guess I was wrong. It wasn't until lately that she has started to love it and eats it up in no time. Here is some pictures of her first experience with it.

All smiles before tasting it.

"Not so bad"Brody, John and I are all surrounding her trying to get her excited about it in this video.
Great commentary from all of us.

The Last of Our Easter Fun

For Easter Sunday, we drove up to John's parents house to attend church with his parents and enjoy Easter dinner with the family. Their ward had some really good talks and a wonderful Choir (Grandma Brown sang beautifully :). Brody loved their nursery for 2 reasons: the outdoor play area, and his friend Jack to play with. John went to pick him up from nursery and he didn't want to leave because he was having so much fun. After church, we went back to his parents house and tried to take some family pictures. This was probably the best one we could get. Brody just wanted to play and Piper wouldn't look up.

Piper and Mommy

John's brother Tyler and his family and Great Grandma and Grandpa Brown came over after their ward. We enjoyed a delicious dinner, the boys played, and dyed more eggs with Grandpa Brown. Piper was happy and content to play with her feet and dress. She loves grabbing and eating those feet of hers. After dinner, we had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard for the boys. Brody had a much easier time finding and collecting eggs with the help of daddy. "Humm. . . . .where should I look next. . . . ."Showing us their eggs."Daddy! Wook candy!"Eating candy with Grandma BrownAfterwords, we relaxed and chatted outside by the fireplace. It was a beautiful Easter Sunday and great time with family.

My mom's Easter package for the kids was delivered a few days after Easter due to slow mail (it was sent 2 weeks before). Brody was so excited to open it and even more excited when he saw what was inside. Thanks mom!

Easter Morning

After, of course, teaching Brody the real meaning of Easter and Christ's Eternal sacrifice for all of us, we added a little fun with the Easter Bunny, like most families do. It didn't seem like he understood too much of the concept, but he was still very excited to wake up to find he could have candy for breakfast and new books. Piper was just excited to be well rested and given lots of love and attention. Here are the kids baskets and John's and my eggs. The Easter Bunny was also pretty generous to both John and me, and gave John a "Inca Kola" shirt (it is a Peruvian soda that he had a ton of on his mission) and me a new top for Sunday .

Piper happily posing with her basket filled with her new ducky, swimsuit, and eggs for show.Brody loved his bunny. Confession: that is the same bunny I used last year in his basket and he had no idea.And loved his candy.