Other California Highlights

There were plenty of highlights that went undocumented by photo in California but the ones that were taken are below. We miss our California family so much already! See you all at Christmas!

Meeting the Fernley cousins and getting a picture with Grandpa!

Meeting 2nd cousins and taking a great grandbaby picture with Grandma Gerry!

The 2 newest on Grandma Vicky's side, Jack (5 mo) & Taylor (9 mo)

Meeting all of the uncles!!

And getting to play video games with them!

The 2 newest on the Fernley side.

Baby Gwen is only 3 days older than Jack but about 50 lbs bigger.

Gwen is just as smiley as Jack and even more mellow!

They loved each other from the very start!

LIZARD ALERT!!

We went lizard hunting with Grandpa, Jake and Hallee.

We caught 4 lizards - one was a blue belly - and found a possum skull.

Here are a few more pictures of the week.

Being held by mom, dad and grandpa.

4 generations

The Fernley Family

Group family shots

Only 4 more months for another happy reunion!

The Big 90th Birthday Bash!!

I have lots of photos from California but the big 90th birthday party is a good place to start! My grandparents both turn 90 this year - my grandma on the 14th of August and my grandpa on the 5th of September. My aunt had a big party to celebrate both while we were there and it was so fun!

We took pictures, ate lots of good food, played games, had a fun question & answer session with the happy couple and then enjoyed a beautiful blessing given to all his posterity from my grandpa.

Here they are!

Here is a picture of the whole group... My grandparents, their 2 children - my dad and aunt - all 7 grandchildren and all 9 great grandchildren.

My cute little family.

All the grandkids

And all the great grandkiddies.

Plenty more pictures to come including more from the party, lizard hunting, and pictures with cousins!

Florida Grand Slam

A Florida Grand Slam consists of a buck, a boar, a turkey and a gator.

Check, check, check and finally.... check!

Daniel finally got his gator and it's a good one! 11 1/2 feet!

It's almost 9:00 am right now and I'm on my way to a celebratory (for me) breakfast at Mimi's Cafe with some of the moms in the ward who have just dropped their kids off for the first day of school. Jack is cooing in the back seat and I'm just giddy thinking that I'm not at school myself. That I'm finally doing what I've always wanted to do... be a mom. Life is good.

JD

We just got back from a wonderful visit with my family in California.

Before I post the plethora of pictures from our trip, I thought I'd throw in some of my favorites of Jack from the last couple months!

This is our latest family picture.

This was taken the day Jack turned 5 months!

I call it his "big boy" outfit because he's wearing just a tee - not a onesie!
Here Jack is keeping me company while I'm doing laundry.

Sadly, Jack is quickly growing out of his gym.

Just hanging out on the couch!

I've been wanting to post this video for awhile but just haven't. We've been giving Jack "real" food for about a month now - he loves it and eats it like a champ. But this was his first feeding and I though it was so cute. I have another clip of him rolling over when he was first doing it but he does it so quickly and so often now I feel like the clip is outdated. I'll try and get some of his more recent tricks and post them quickly

The Month of June

So I find myself quite behind in blogging these days. Now that it is mid July I thought I'd post a recap of all our June events.

Here they are:

Jordan and Shanda go to the temple!

Jordan and Shanda are sealed!

Munns Family fishing trip to Jupiter!

My mom comes to visit!

All Smiles!

This picture says it all about our little bud's personality.

He is one happy boy.

I am one lucky mom.

Mama's Baby...

That is the name of the made-up song little Jack and I were dancing to yesterday.

Can I just tell you, I love my new life as a mom!! There is really nothing better. And what also helps is that I have the best baby ever! Okay, I'm sure everyone thinks their baby is the best but you have to give Jack props for already sleeping through the night (going on 3 weeks now!).

These are just a few things he has been up to lately:

He sleeps through the night (already mentioned but worth repeating)

He smiles all the time

He rarely cries

He talks, talks, talks, talks, talks!

He is so good at his exercises that include holding up his head, standing up, sitting up, kicking and scooting on his tummy

(He spends a lot of time in his baby gym because he loves it!)

He loves bath time. He especially loves kicking in the bath - I'm soaked by the end.

He drools, a lot - yuck.

(Side note... anyone who knows Daniel will know he dry heaves at the sight of drool/spit up/vomit. Well just the other day, when Jack was drooling all over him, he utter the phrase "it's not so bad when it's your own" Can you believe it??? Made my day!)

He is losing his hair :(

He loves to be read to

He is just an absolute JOY to be around. There is no other person I'd rather spend my days with.

Here are a few pics so you can enjoy him, too!

Right after beloved bath time! During a photo shoot session.

His very first play date with cousin Porter.
Being read his favorite book (it really is his favorite... he smiles everytime I read it)

Working out in his gym was exhausting so he took a nap... and was smiling throughout it.

Tomorrow I go back to work for the last day of school.

I've been having serious anxiety over it, too.

I know Jackson and Daniel will be fine together, but I don't know if I will be!!

Thank goodness it's only a day!!

Jackson's Blessing

We blessed Jackson on Sunday.

We waited a little longer than usual to bless him to be able to bless him with his cousin, Porter, who arrived on May 6th!

It was such a nice day. I am so grateful for such a beautiful family.

It was a beautiful blessing and a moment I've been waiting for for a long time.

Here is our family picture before the blessing.

(My mom crocheted the beautiful blanket Jack is wrapped up in.)

Here are the men who were in the circle.

(Downfall to living in Florida... none of my family was there... sniff, sniff)

Here is all the family afterwards, minus Heather's family who had to scoot real quick after sacrament (Porter is still very young).

The 2 cousins and their proud dads.

And I was lucky enough to have Amelia drive down for the occasion!

It was so fun having her here!

(By the way... isn't Jack's outfit so so cute?)

The Brewers

I was able to meet Daniel best friend growing up, Aron Brewer, and his family. I had heard so much about this guy, it was nice to finally meet him! He has such a nice family and we enjoyed the visit tremendously. Can you believe it had been over 10 years? How nice to be reunited with old friends.

Here is Daniel with Aron, and below is Aron's cute family.