And I think to myself...what a wonderful world!!

July 29th--We celebrated our 10 year anniversary! I know, I know--crazy how time flies! Since Mark and I actually came to San Diego on our honeymoon, we thought it would be perfect to go out to eat at Seaport Village at the same restaurant we went to as newlyweds.

We watched the sunset over the ocean and watched the sailboats go by...

while we enjoyed some YUMMY food!

Will--our little stowaway--you couldn't ask for a better baby! He sat in his carseat for 90% of dinner (awake the whole time!) and the waitress and those around us didn't even know until the end!

Afterwards we walked around this neat little memorial to the soldiers

Someone had put a pair of sunglasses on one of the statutes and I thought it was funny, so I went to get a closer look, when I turned back around, Private Gomez had a special "treat" for me :) He's so nice isn't he?!

Beautiful roses from Mark

We were able to getaway up to dad's condo in Orange County for the weekend while our good friends watched the girls. We had to sneak in a visit to Crescent Bay in between all of our other fun activities of course!

Happy 10 year anniversary to the most amazing husband (and father) EVER!

Newport Beach

For a week in July, we had a wonderful family reunion with Mark's family in Newport Beach. This year we were there to celebrate Roy and Connie's 50th wedding anniversary. The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins, aunts and uncles, but also getting some special alone time in with grandma and grandpa--they were so spoiled with attention all week! Ellie and Mark went to Disneyland for a day, we spent lots of time at our favorite beach--Cresent Bay, we did some shopping, got in some pool time, had lots of good eats, and went on a fun train ride with grandma and grandpa. We also played lots of cards and games, watched movies, relaxed and we also got to spend the day at the OC Fair. Thanks for the fabulous memories--we had such a wonderful time!!

The past 3 months...

So Will turned 3 months old today!! I can't believe it! We have been so busy around here and yet having so much fun, that time has just flown by!! And I know that I have been really bad about keeping my blog updated lately and I really want to apologize to my 5 faithful blog followers out there (you know who you are!). So, this is a quick glimpse into what our family has been up to for the past 3 months...

P.S. To the five f.b.f., (and all of you other occasional followers) I have now updated my blog, so check out all the new old posts--I think there are 9 new ones in total! and some even date way back to February...

So after being crazy enough--or maybe it was stupidity?!--we decided last minute (um...I was one month away from giving birth to our 3rd child--you don't get any more last minute than that!!) to add a fourth bedroom to our house. Let's just say--definitely NOT something I would wish upon my worst enemy!! The thing about construction, is that even a small project (like adding an additional bedroom to your house--HAHA!! Did we really think it would be small?!) escalates into a HUGE project. So after 3 weeks, the construction crew left so that we could have our beautiful baby boy and then 2 weeks later, they were back ripping up our floors and laying down new ones. YIKES!!

So this first picture represents the way our house looked for about a month...construction messes everywhere you looked. A new floor/ceiling had to be built for the 4th bedroom, along with all that that contains (lighting, walls, etc...). We also put ceiling fans in our bedrooms and family room, added a drop down ladder for our attic, put in new surround sound speakers, new baseboards in every room, new paint in every room, new closet shelving for the bedrooms, and then the new floors in all rooms minus baths. Fun times!! And let's not mention the work we have done outside in the yard...or the 20 foot dumpster that sat in our driveway for 10 days....

You can't find ANYTHING when every room in your house looks like this!!!

But now the construction is done and we absolutely LOVE the new additions!! (I'll add new pics of our house later...) So the reason for not updating more often, (besides having a new baby, and having our house under construction you ask??) is mostly because...

~We have been to Utah twice (refer back to my new posts in May...)

~Maddy is now potty trained!! Yeah--only one in diapers now!!

~Ellie graduated preschool in June

And now that it is finally summertime, we can finally enjoy a little deserved R & R, like this....

Or this...

LOTS of cuddling with Will

And we get to stay in our pj's all morning... even if we don't want to (Get with the program Will!!)

We do occasionally get dressed (in our swimsuits) and head here about twice a week....

And here...

And about five days a week you can find us doing this....

And if we are not at those places or the park, or at a friends playing, or trying out some new museum, you will find us just hang out with this little stud all day!!

l

AHHHH!! We love the lazy, crazy days of summer!!

Happy Birthday, Mark!!

Today is Mark's birthday! (So get those well wishes out there!)

Mark, we just wanted to tell you how much we love and appreciate all that you do for us. We hope you have a wonderful day! Love, us

Mark's b-day celebration updated....

We got to spend the weekend in OC hanging out, relaxing, shopping, eating, watching "Up" with the family and just celebrating!

Lunch at the Cheesecake Factory

Daddy/daughters moment

South Coast Plaza for some b-day shopping at Nordstrom

With a few rides on the carousel

Grandpa even got in on the action!

All in all a great birthday celebration week!! However, I think Mark is still owed some golf...

Our Darling Kids

This pic was taken at my sister, Mandy's wedding back in May. Will was only 3 weeks old!

Preschool's out FOR-EV-ER!!

Well, for Ellie it is anyways--she is now officially a preschool graduate!! She had such a great time at school this year. The school's program is terrific, and they got to experience so many fun things. Ellie enjoyed being in Mrs. Turner's class and had some wonderful teacher's helpers and made some really great friends!

But now, she is off to bigger and better things! Ellie is so excited to go on to kindergarten next year and even more excited that we get to walk to school everyday!!

Now we are ready for an awesome summer!!!

This was Ellie on backwards day at school in April

Ellie at the preschool end-of-the-year Open House where they had 2 bounce houses, treats, activities and displayed some of the children's artwork and had a special surprise guest

Meeting Clifford the Big Red Dog

Ellie and her good friend Lily

Ellie with the girls from her class on the last day of school picnic (Allie, Jenna, Lilly, Ellie, Kierra)

Ellie and her teacher Mrs. Turner

This is my favorite shot! I love comparing Ellie's growth on the last day of school to her first day.
And of course we had to take it at the "rusty door"!

First Day of Preschool

Last day of preschool

Goodbye Preschool...Hello Kindergarten!!!

Not so little anymore!!

Believe it or not, Will is already 7 weeks old (and a little under 13 pounds!!!!) I'll post more pics soon--but, here is just a sneak peek...

Tom's graduation

My little brother Tommy ("little" meaning he is younger than me--this guy is not so "little"-he's 6 foot 4 inches!!!) graduated from high school in May. We foolishly thought--"hey we already survived a wedding with a 3 week old, why not do a road trip to St. George, UT with a 4 week old?!!" So we drove up for Memorial weekend and got to spend some time with him, my other brother Eddie, my mom (and her husband) and my dad (who was visiting from Palm Springs, CA). We were only there for a short trip, but we had a great time! We did some shopping, ate at a couple of yummy restaurants, and went to the movies. On the way back, we got to stop in Henderson, NV and have a bbq and pool party with Mark's oldest brother and his family. (Oh yeah--and the kids were angels in the car. All 3 of them slept most of the trip--thank goodness!!)

P.S. Did I also mention that Maddy was potty training that week?? And she can now proudly that there was not one single accident the entire road trip!! Yeah for Maddy!! Now we only have one kid in diapers ;)

Tom the newest SCHS graduate

The gang--when Tom's name was read, the girls were shaking their maracas and blowing their horns like crazy! His graduation was at 8 AM!! That's 7 am our time--and we pulled in to Mark's parents place at 2:30 am that morning. Needless to say, we were a bit sleepy!!!

On the way home we had to cool off in Vegas with Gary and his family

I'm glad we could make it to Tom's graduation and cheer him on! Yeah Tommy!!

Mandy's wedding/ Will's first trip to Utah

My oldest sister, Mandy got married on May 8th and we couldn't let anything get in our way of being there--even if it meant hopping on a plane with a 5 year old, a 2 1/2 half year old and a brand new 3 week old !

This was Will's first plane ride. He (and both his sisters) were amazing on the plane! As soon we got on, the stewardess ripped Will out of my arms and whisked him up to the cockpit to meet the pilot and crew. Everyone was oohing and ahhing. We are so lucky to have children who are such great little travelers!

Mandy and my new bro-in-law Bryan right outside the Salt Lake Temple--their sealing was beautiful. It was the perfect day for a wedding and Mandy looked so pretty!

This pic was taken at Mandy and Bryan's wedding reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (the same room we had our wedding breakfast in!!)

Me and my 4 sisters--right before Mandy left for her honeymoon

While we were in UT, we decided to go ahead and bless little Will. We figured that since we had the majority of our family in UT at the time, we might as well take advantage of it. We had 40 family members at the church where Mark grew up attending and was also blessed at (Ellie was also blessed there 5 years ago!).

It was so neat to have 10 male family members stand in the circle, and that was even missing many more!

We kept attempting a good family pic after the blessing, but I think everyone had had it!!

Attempt #563

These next 2 pics were some of my favorites. I was trying to snap a pic of the 3 kids together,
but one of them was always a little off, and then Maddy was getting all cheesy and then bonked Will in the head and he started crying, The 2nd pic is Ellie screaming at Maddy for hitting Will. So funny!!

Ellie: "MADDY!!! You just bonked Will's head!!!"

Maddy: "HUH?"

Will: WAHHHHHHHHH!!!

Grandma Connie's friend's dog and cat had just had new litters, so we got to visit and play with the new animals one afternoon on his farm. Here is their little pig that Maddy just loved petting.

As most of you know, my mother-in-law has a 13-acre "hobby farm" out in Harrisville (about 30 minutes from their house in So Ogden). She has sheep, goats, geese, a thousand cats/kittens, and even a "guard"alpaca! We always have to squeeze in a visit to see the animals and reminisce about the 4 months Mark and I lived there before moving to California.

We took a picnic out to the farm with our cousins and had a blast 4-wheeling!

Cute Cousins--Jessica, Ellie, Brooke, Emily and Maddy

Cute little farm girls

We asked Ellie if she wanted to trade in living near the beach for living at the farm and she said "Sorry--The beach still wins!!" But they love visiting.

After a crazy (yet very fun-filled!!) week of being with family and attending various wedding activities, we were able to sneak a visit in with my best friend from DHS, Erin and meet her new baby Cambree. Erin and her family are now living in London (how cool is that?!) and she had her first baby in February. They left for England a few days after we left and we are so glad that we got to visit with Erin and meet her beautiful baby Cambree!

How cute are these two?? I smell future romance!!

Ok--so PLEASE keep in mind that I had a THREE week old baby....

Me (aka chubby cheeks) with Will and Erin (aka glamour gal) with Cambree

As always, we had such a wonderful trip to Utah. I love springtime in Utah! We enjoyed spending lots of time with our fabulous families! Sorry to those of you we missed, but I promise--next time for sure!!!