Duke - 10 Months

 Weight - 17.11 lbs

• claps his hands
• waves "Hi"
• smiles at everyone
• loves to unroll the toilet paper
• patiently waits at the front door for Lilli & Hoss to get off the bus
• refuses to eat stage 3 baby food, he hates the chunks
• gives BIG kisses
• Mom is his favorite

When we got home from California Duke got sick.  Really sick.  He wouldn't eat, sleep, and all he did was cry and want to snuggle and he had a fever.  He wouldn't even sit up, he would scream if you set him down and then would just slump over on the floor like he didn't even have enough energy to hold himself up.  At first I thought it was just teething, but then he started tugging on his ears.  So, I took him to the doctor and he had lost weight since his 9 month check-up.  They said they weren't too concerned about that, saying he'll eat when he gets hungry.  After telling them what had been happening for the past 4 days, they did their exam and found nothing.  His ears were clear, mouth and nose were great and no fluid in his lunges.  I guess he just wanted to snuggle. 

After the appointment we went home and nothing really changed.  So, we snuggled, and snuggled, and snuggled.  I got nothing done the entire week.  I took the above picture during one of our snuggle sessions days.  But then he perked back up to his normal self and has been great ever since.  He's eating again and I can't seem to keep his tummy full.  He's happy, crawls around like crazy and is into everything.  We have our Duke back and it's WONDERFUL!

32 - Sexy Farmer's Turn

Since Shane got married on Sexy Farmer's birthday we really didn't get to celebrate.  When we got home, we just hustled back into routine and didn't give his birthday another thought.  Then it hit me, that we still need to honor him.  We haven't been able to do anything big in one day, so we have spaced it out over three days.

Day 1 - We picked up some chips and salsa from his favorite Mexican restaurant, Fiesta Guadalajara, and delivered them to him at work.  We tried taking him out to dinner, but he hasn't been able to fit it in his schedule yet.  Maybe that means 4 days of celebrating?

Day 2 - We made him a chocolate cake, per his request.  I didn't have 32 candles so I put 3 on one end of the cake and 2 on the other.

Day 3 - Presents!  Since Lilli and Hoss are both getting date nights every month now too, we decided to get gift certificates to where they want to go eat with Dad on their dates.  I let them each pick out a 3D container from my Cameo that we would cut out and assemble as the gift box for their certificate.  Lilli chose a slice of cake, Hoss picked a toolbox and they both picked a McDonald's box for Duke.

I didn't get him a gift certificate so my gift wouldn't fit in something that small, I had to use a bag.  We love him so much and wish we could spend more time with him.  We can't wait for winter to roll around when he will have more family time.

School is in Session

I took the kids school clothes shopping the other day.  (Well, really just Lilli, Sexy Farmer and I had already purchased Hoss' clothes when we went on the Zip Line.)  Anyway, Lilli remembered last years' clothes shopping trip and wanted to go get flavor blast ice cream again.  So, we stopped there first.

It was a good thing too, because as soon as we got to Kohls, Lilli mentioned that her head was starting to hurt.  She tried on a few shirts (do you know how hard it is to find modest clothing for 11 year olds?!?!  It's CRAZY hard!!) and pants and picked out her favorites.

We then headed over to Target, and as soon as we got to her section, she started sweating and needed to sit down.  So, we walked right back out to the car and drove home.  She went straight to bed and slept until the next morning.  I'm not sure if it was just jet lag from our trip, or what but she woke up feeling great!

The first day was Wednesday, and both kids were very excited.  Lilli is a big 6th grader this year with Mrs. Simpson, and Hoss is in Kindergarten with three teachers, Mrs. Chambers for reading and Math, Mrs. Williams for Speech, and Mrs. Mosley for everything else.

Sexy Farmer took them to school and they rode the bus home.  When they got home they were just as excited as when they left.  Hoss' biggest concern about this first week of school was who gets to play with the Dozer during recess.  It seems he thinks it should be him all the time.

No Cavities Club

 

 Our dentist office just started a "No Cavities Club".  If kids under 18 years old go in for a cleaning and end up with no cavities, they get entered into a drawing for weekly prizes, and have their pictures displayed in the waiting room.  Well, Lilli just went in for her check-up and came out with a clean set of teeth and is now the newest club member!  She actually has NEVER had a single cavity her entire life so far.  Hoss on the other hand, didn't end up in the club!

Ring Ceremony

After eating with Garet, we headed to the ring ceremony/wedding reception.

Here is Shane's Best Man performing a "toast". 

With their flower girl, Katie's little sister.

There wasn't enough tables to eat dinner on, so we hung out in the backyard and ate.  It was extremely hot, so we stripped Duke down to his shorts and soaked one of the napkins in water to cool him off.

More pictures while everyone was eating.

Duke enjoying some of the wedding cake.

And MEGAN!!!  Wonderful, wonderful Megan!!!  Her and Johnny came to the reception.  It was so nice to see them again!  They just purchased a home and will be moving in the first of September.  They had been out shopping for appliances all day, the lucky bums!

And another awkwardly cropped picture, but that's OK, it makes Megan center of attention!  And she's gorgeous, so it's a pretty sight.

Then everyone started decorating their car with post-it notes.  Katie's dad came out and made them take them all off.  California law is a minimum fine of $1000 for littering.  And there were a LOT of post-it notes on there.

Duplex on 3rd

After the wedding at the Temple we went to eat lunch with my best good friend from school, Garet.  He just helped open a new restaurant in L.A. called Duplex on Third.   I have never been to anything like this before.  It was gorgeous, they had valet parking, cool seats/tables, and no high chairs. HA!    As we were looking at the "brunch" menu, I decided to order the parfait, Garet said it wouldn't fill me, so he ordered me the fruit salad too, he knows me and my eating habits all too well!

When the fruit salad came, I was shocked.  My normal fruit salad consists of watermelon, cantaloupe, bananas, apples, etc.  But this one was all luxury fruit, figs, mango, cherries, and a scoop of sorbet.  HA!  Well, at least it felt luxury!  After losing 20 lbs, I did gain 5 back on this trip, and I think it was all because of this yummy parfait!  It was seriously heaven in my mouth!

I really wish I would have taken more pictures of the food because it was all so amazing.  Hoss had pancakes, Lilli had eggs, bacon and hash browns, Brandon ate some type of eggs Benedict sandwich or something, and Garet had some egg pie.  We really don't know what they were called, it was in French.  However, when Garet's plate came he had some ball looking things.  Brandon asked if they were calf fries, because they looked exactly like them.  But, it was chicken apple sausage.  We got a good laugh at that. He shared one with Brandon and now Brandon says he has officially eaten every part of the chicken!

The waitress came back with the bill and apparently Garet had already given her his card, because he was just signing his life away.  It was our turn to pay since he foot the bill on our last trip!  Crazy kid!  We have officially gone to visit him more than his own parents!  I'm suppose to rub that in their faces the next time I see them.

Newport Beach Temple

Friday night after we left Lego Land we figured we would go find the Temple, that way we knew how long it would take to get there from our hotel.  It was gorgeous.  Right after I snapped this picture with my phone, it died, and I didn't bring my car charger along, or else I would have taken more pictures.  But, since we would be there again the next morning, I wasn't too worried.

We woke up early, and everyone showered.  I think Duke liked how Lilli combed his hair so neat that he wanted to see it over and over in the mirror.

We got to the Temple and it was even more beautiful in the daytime.  It is made from Pink Granite from North Carolina.

We had to get our family picture taken after the ceremony while we waited for Shane and Katie to come out.

The ceremony was beautiful.  I had many pivotal moments on this trip and inside the sealing room was one of them.  Shane truly loves this woman.  There was no mistaking it.  I have never seen him this way and as I watched them kneel across the alter together, it was undeniable.  That feeling made the whole trip worth it for me.

They were both gorgeous. 

We walked around to the other side of the temple for more pictures.

Brandon let Duke play in the water while we waited.

Then it was time for the Groom's family pictures.  I apologize for the off-set cropped picture that makes Brandon center of attention instead of the newly married couple.

I had to take a sibling picture.  It was sad that only 3 of the 7 kids were there, but I guess that's what happens when you have a destination wedding.  I'm just glad that we went.

Brandon loved Shane's suit so much that he tried the jacket on for size.  I've been telling him forever that he needs to start wearing suits, but he hates them.  He owns two, but refuses to wear them.  Mostly because he says they are too hot, but also because he would rather wear his dress pants that he got in the Philippines.

If you notice in the picture, they are very loose fitting.  But he says they are so light weight and free feeling that he doesn't want to go back to a regular suit.  I say they look sloppy.  Oh well, at least he tried on Shane's.

Lego Land/Sea Life

Shane was getting married on Saturday, so we wanted to get there a day early so that it wouldn't be such a fast trip, and we would have a day to just play.  Since our flight landed at midnight and by the time we got our car and drove to the hotel it was around 2am, nobody was really excited to get up very early.

Megan had gotten us FREE hopper tickets to both Lego Land and the Sea Life Aquarium through her work.  So, I made everyone get up and get on the road.  We LOVED it!  THANK YOU MEGAN!!! 

We started off by casually walking around looking at everything and taking it all in. 

Hoss was super excited to see Bob the Builder.

Then we found New York City and a few other Lego replica cities.  Hoss loved all of them and spent forever looking at all the moving cars, buses, RV's and had to play with the bull in the Lego Rodeo.  Brandon finally put his foot down and said, OK, enough is enough, lets go. 

I guess he wanted to ride the rides or something.

Hoss didn't.  As soon as he saw the lines he said, "It's not worth it."  And would move on to the next thing.  But, Brandon dragged him on this one, and Hoss did end up enjoying himself.

While they were all enjoying the rides, Duke fell asleep.  I love how he always crosses his feet.

Once Brandon finally dragged Hoss on a ride, he was more willing to stand in line.  Maybe it was worth it after all.  But honestly, the lines were nothing compared to Disneyland.  

We found a spot to let the kids run and play while we fed Duke.  We were sitting next to this group that had a couple of kids that weren't very nice.  One of the moms kept making threats to leave if they didn't behave.  Finally, she grabbed the boy and started leaving.  As I witnessed this, I just kept thinking how WONDERFUL my kids truly are.  The boy was kicking and screaming and hitting his mom, yelling how much he hated her.  I felt really sorry for the mom.  Maybe it was the heat, or they missed lunch, or maybe it's lack of discipline.  But whatever it was, I am so glad that my kids know how to act in public, and that they know rules.  We were told two different times on this trip how well behaved our kids are.  I guess I'm just so used to it that I don't give them enough credit where credit is due.  So, right there, in the middle of Lego Land, I grabbed Lilli and gave her a massive hug and told her how amazing she is!

While that was all taking place, Hoss got a massive blister on his foot from his shoes.  So, we hunted all over Lego Land for a place that would sell socks, but wound up empty handed.  So, we let him ride in the stroller with Duke and figured we would call Lego Land quits and head over to Sea Life.

As we walked around we turned a corner and saw these massive Japanese Crabs.  They can grow to have a 10 foot leg span.  HUGE!

Then as we were leaving, we got off the elevator and found a Lego Spongebob!  Hoss' favorite. 

He was even willing to get out of the stroller to give him a great big hug!  The perfect ending to the perfect day!

California Trip

We just returned home from a trip to California for Brandon's brother's wedding.  We had mixed feelings about this trip from the time we first heard about it, but I finally put my foot down and said, we haven't been saving our money for things like this to not go when the time actually comes.  So, we buckled down and purchased plane tickets.  Hoss was super excited to fly as you can see by this picture of him getting on the first airplane of the trip.

We left Thursday night and got to L.A. around midnight.  We went straight to the hotel and as soon as Lilli got in bed she says, "the bed is all wet and sticky."  It hit us that we are now in the land of humidity.  When we got up the next morning, all of us had bad hair problems.  Duke's was pretty matted to his head, so we tried to dry it, but it got all crazy.

As we enjoyed our weekend and all the festivities, we looked and noticed that Hoss had crashed, hard.  I have never seen him sleep with his mouth open before.  But, this was right after Lego Land, so maybe that had something to do with the look.

After eating lunch with my best good friend, Garet, we headed for the reception.   As we were cruising along I looked out Brandon's window and noticed the HOLLYWOOD sign way back on the hill.  Can you see it?

How about now?

Maybe one of our futures trips we will get a closer look.

Then just a few minutes later Brandon just about lost control of the rental car when he saw this restaurant.  It took him back to his days in the mission field.  He said it's the McDonald's of the Philippines.  He really wanted to stop, but we were kind of on a time schedule.

Our kids have become avid SLUG BUG players.  We were driving and all the sudden we hear Lilli yell, "OUCH!".  We turn around and Hoss has a big grin on his face, then we ask what happened, and Lilli says, he saw a slug bug.  It's really hilarious because Lilli is the one who got Hoss hooked on the game, so she really can't get mad at him when he finds one.   

After our quick trip and feeling the heat, we were ready to go home.  Hoss loved each and every airport.  He would just sit and watch all the planes go in and out.

He even liked riding in the planes.  So much that he even fell out of his seat once.  He only cried for a second.

Duke did amazing on the entire trip.  Everyone was worried that he would scream because of the ear popping, but it didn't bother him at all.  All of the kids are excellent travelers.