A little striped parade

Hot, sunny and more fun than the slip n' slide soaked with dish soap. Okay, maybe the slip n' slide still wins, but it was a pretty great weekend. Master Q rode in the wagon with Miss Ellie in his very first 4th of July parade.

Would you believe me if I told you that he sat still for the entire ride? I know, I'm just as surprised as you are. I guess the throngs of people throwing candy and having a jolly time were just enough to keep the Q dude occupied.

Can you believe how much he looks like his daddy in the picture? I vote that he stop getting so big so fast!

Kelly

Belen turns 2!

My besty's baby, Belen,  turned two a few weekends ago, again, where has the time gone?!? She had a super cute garden fairy party complete with face painting, pinata smashing and a Tinkerbell bouncy house. Quinn was definitely intrigued by the bouncy house and all the kids flying about in it, but his favorite part by far was the cupcakes.

Personally, I loved the face painting. I can honestly say that was the first time I've ever had my face painted. Unless Halloween counts, and then I'm a big fat liar. ;)

Kelly

The birthday's have begun

This past year there 6 pregnant ladies in my ward, including myself. We were all due within 3-4 months of each other. Which now means that we have 6 first birthday's coming up! The very first of us to pop was Monica (Above: second from the right), who has the cutest little girl, Kim. Here's a photo of Kim and Q at Halloween last year:

Kim had her first birthday party last weekend. It was so much fun to see all the little ones running around and playing with each other. Their personalities have truly sprouted and it's just the best thing to witness!

This Photo of Quinn was taken at the party. He LOVED to balloons that were scattered all over the yard. He tried to eat quite a few of them. I'm pretty impressed that none of them popped in his face, with his razor sharp teeth and all.

Quinn's birthday is next! Boy oh boy, do I have a lot of work to do. And, my parents are coming down to celebrate this monumental event with us. I get to schedule his first hair cut, plan the cake and food for the family party and a trip to the Monterrey bay aquarium while they're here. It's going to be so much fun!

Yes, we're having two parties for him. It just wouldn't be right to not have a party with all of his friend's!

*Quick correction: The first of us to pop was Heidi, Far right. 

Kelly

Thanksgiving 2010

My boys on Thanksgiving day, aren't they handsome? Q-tip even has gel in his hair, for the very first time. I think I'm a hair-gel-aholic now. It just looks so much cuter all styled instead of poofed out mad scientist like. Although that is cute sometime too. :)

I seem to be the only one who remembers to take pictures, which is why there are hardly any of Q and me. *pout. But at least I get to stare at my handsome boys.

Cheers, Kelly

Ladies Night and then some...

While Eric and Quinn were in Utah this past weekend I had the opportunity to host Ladies Night! I haven't hosted much since we've moved into our new place for a few reasons: 1. It's tiny and 2. It's hard to figure out what to do with the boys.

It was so much fun having all the ladies over and figuring out how to seat everyone. Of course, I snapped a few photos of the living room before everyone got there, and forgot to get any of the actual event. Such is life.

I also managed to get one semi-good photo of Quinn this morning (with his awesome Wonka hair-do). He's almost 8 months already, can you believe it. He's LOVING solid foods (green beans, squash, bananas, strawberries, avocado, pears, peaches, prunes...) and his high-chair. He loves his sitters, Grandma & Ann, and still tells the best stories to me when I get home from work.

Kelly

The two minute blog entry

I have approximately two minutes to put something down, so here goes.

Eric took Quinn with him (all by himself) this weekend to Utah for Gavin's baby blessing. I know right?!? He said he got to the airport and was like 'what was I thinking?!?'. Luckily it all ended well, and if its possible I think he's an even better daddy because of it. ;)

Here's some pictures from the weekend.

Rylee in her pink dress and matching cowgirl boots

Gavin, chilling during the party.

Quinn, sweet snotty nose!

Quinn at the park, what a stud!

A little girl at church with the most amazing hairdo. 

Apparently her dad does her hair....enough said.

Kelly

Outfit Outwit

Do you ever have those mornings where you just can't pull together a cute outfit to save you life? I had one of those this morning, and finally after about 15 minutes and at least 10 outfits I had one that would pass. As karma would have it I went downstairs and picked up Q to put him in his car seat and he immediately started coughing and then ever so lovingly deposited the contents of his stomach down my shirt.

Great.

It took me all of 2 minutes to put together a desperation outfit and get out the door. Happy Tuesday!

The day got a million times better thought... when I got to work my sister brought me the new Hunger Games book and the tray attachment for the Bumbo. Plus, I just made reservations for our 4 year anniversary Dinner. Details to follow...

Kelly

Welcome Gavin!

If you haven't heard the great news my brother and sister-in law just had their little baby boy, Gavin. Yay for new baby boy cousins for Quinn. And the best part is they get to be GQ! hahahahahah

We totally have little model babies in the making.

{The proud older sister, and hot mama!}

Congratulations Chad & Amber!

Kelly

Coeur d'Alene in July

Q and I are up in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho visiting my family and friends and right now and loving every minute of it. (Minus the heat, the heat kinda sucks) Soaking up quality Nana & Papa and uncle Michael time.

{Q and Nana}

Q and I had dinner over at my best friend Emily's house on Friday and had a blast. I really miss Emily, I wish we lived closer. Her husband Derek makes me smile, he's such a good guy. They had fun playing with Q and in typical Quinn fashion he had fun flirting with Emily.

{Q and Emily}

The only unhappy part of Friday night was the phone call I got from my mom right at the end of dinner. She called to tell me she and dad were in the hospital. She thought dad might be having another stroke so they went in to get checked out. Luckily everything turned out to be okay, but it was still scary.

{Quinn and Papa in the hospital}

Q and I are sharing a bed right now and of course Quinn sleeps like this:

{yup, in the middle of the bed}

We sure do miss daddy though. Eric had to stay in California for school so we're making late night phone calls and constantly texting throughout the day. Any one who's been away from their significant other knows what I'm talking about. It really sucks, but we'll see him on Wednesday! :)

So... I entered Q in a photo contest

I know, I know... I HATE it when people ask me to vote for their kid. Why don't they do this the old school way and actually make the selection them selves instead of having the world do it for them (them being the people hosting the giveaway). But, in this wonderful world wide web age that we live in we must rely upon the masses to bring the people what they want, and the people want Quinn to WIN! hehehe

My new favorite photographer Jenice Ray is hosting a giveaway and cutest baby contest. The photos with the most 'likes' will win a free photo session along with an assortment of prints of said photos. You must be a fan of the Jenice Ray Photography fan site, so click on over and get ready to give a 'like' to Quinn's picture once it goes up (starting June 17th). I'll supply a direct link once she has posted the photos.

I just LOVE Jenice's work. You'll have seen one of her photos as my new profile picture on FB, and I just ordered a bunch more from her that will be here shortly. Please, Please help us win Quinn a six month photo shoot. :)

Back from the Ranch

There really is no place like home, and there's nothing like a 3 week vacation to help you realize that. We just returned from a 5 day stay at the Westover Ranch in Rexburg, Idaho.
Here are a few photos from the event:

Cousin Rylee covered in dirt & chocolate

My best friend's son Aiden

Eric's best friend Trevor and a few of his kids

Cousin Elle

Aunt Alison & cousin Katie

(Favorite) Cousin Kaeylynne (or Kaelin)

Cousin Andrea holding Q

Cousin Tyler playing ball

Amazingly enough it seems like everyone got sick the minute they showed up at the ranch. My mother in law had pneumonia, uncle Kim had a double ear infection and sinus infection, my brother in law had the flu (and very lovingly shared it with my mother in law), and Q and I came home with the sniffles and a possible cold. Oivey! Yet another reason why getting a million people in one place at one time isn't such a great idea.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed our time spent there and the opportunity to see family that we don't get to see that often. Thank you to all that made it possible, especially Layne and Kris :)

Home, Happy and Tired

Phew! That was a LONG adventure. Eric, Quinn and I just returned from our two week exploration of the great state of MINNESOTA. It was such a nice, long and relaxing trip. We stayed with Eric's sister Tamara in Apple Valley and had the pleasure of touring her husband, Mike's, office - also know as - The Target Corporate Office. It was certainly a treat for me to be able to walk around another corporation's stomping grounds. Clorox is the only other headquarters that I've been in so it was fun to see the differences and similarities between the building, cubicles, elevator banks, and overall use of space. (Mike, I'm pleased to announce that Target passed with flying colors!)

We stopped by the Mall of America for a day where we met our dear friend Morgan and her mum for lunch at dear old Bubba Gumps. Then it was off to the heart of the mall with all 12 explorers to see the craziness of it all. We explored the Build-A-Bear factory where Quinn's cousins Katie and Zack helped build 'Charlie' and outfit him in the coolest duds around. Eric checked out the log roller coaster with Zack in the middle of the mall, and got sufficiently soaked. And aunt Julie joined Eric in getting soaked, only her's was on accident (thank you crazy lady who doesn't know how to look before turning around in line with a very LARGE drink at McDonalds.)

Our journey took us 6 hours South-East to the beautifully remote Nauvoo, Illinois. A journey that Quinn did not enjoy AT ALL and was very vocal in queuing us into this bit of information. We enjoyed all that Nauvoo had to offer, especially the live performances and play places for the kids. We experienced the vast assortment of food options - McKee's (I'm all for local businesses but I just can't recommend this place) and The Nauvoo Inn's buffet (highly recommended!), along with the fudge shoppe (two thumbs up) and a stab at the custard shop (CLOSED! uggh!).

Vocal Point - BYU's male a Capella group - was performing and we just so happened to be able to nab tickets for it. It was a close one though, the place was packed! (also highly recommended)

And while we were in Nauvoo I got word that my dad had had a mild stroke. :( Talk about scary! Here we are in this super remote, itty bitty place with barely any cell phone service and this happens. Luckily, it was super mild and he is doing really well now, but seriously! My best friend just lost her dad and I was having serious panic attacks that I would be mourning the loss of my father right beside her. Its a sad thing to loose a parent, and I'm just not ready to deal with that yet. That's a warning to you dad, you better get all better, kay?!?

Three days later we repeated the very long, very noisy drive back to Minnesota where we three ventured out on our own to the Minnehaha falls located just past Minneapolis. The 'falls' were really just one 'fall' and a whimpy one at that, but still a welcome and beautiful adventure.

The last few days of our adventure were spent leisurely lulling about the house, attending Zack's baseball game and having Family Home Evening followed by some of the best desserts ever! Thank you Tamara for you amazing baking abilities!

A quick 6 hour flight back to OAK landed us exactly where we wanted to be and an even quicker 15 min. car ride brought us HOME. :)

Like I said, Phew! That was a whirlwind and a happy escape for the summer. I cannot say thank you enough to my super star sister-in-law and her family for putting us up and putting up with us for two whole weeks. Thank you , thank you!

And now, its time for a nap. Good night y'all!

No more Nauvoo

We spent our last day in Nauvoo yesterday followed by a trip to Carthage and a 6 hour car drive back to Minneapolis. This was certainly a once in a lifetime experience - no really, I won't be doing this again - ever! It was beautiful and worth the trip, but once is enough for me! :)

Here are the last of the photos from our travels. There are actually a few of me this time! (Thanks Eric & Julie!)

Brigham Young's House

Downtown Nauvoo at Night

Carthage Jail