JOSH, HAYLEY, & JUNE

ONE

2012-02-15T14:59:00.000-08:00

I can't believe we have a one year old! June is becoming quite the spunky, sassy lady these days. As sensitive and needy to Mom as she is, she is also quite stubborn and loud too. If you get in her way she is not afraid to shout and shove, ha ha. We are working on taming it.

*Loves, and I mean LOVES, any and all sugary treats. If she even spots it in the room she is screaming until you give her some. We hide all sweets unless she is allowed some. And once she gets some, she is a happy little princess without a care in the world. Pesty.

*Loves Disneyland. We go at least once a week. Little Mermaid is her favorite.

*Loves being naked and playing in the bath

*June knows how to say ball and bubble. Says them all day long. And Da-Da.

*Not walking yet; but we are practicing

*Knows Jesus and points to him when we show her pictures

*Knows how to point to nose, eyes, ears, teeth, and hair when we ask

*Learned how to wash her hands (scrubbing them together once we put soap on them) and holds them in the water when we say to

*Loves being outside

*Doesn't cry much...but when she does...look out

*Loves watching her Elmo videos on Tv or the computer

*Loves playing in her room. Especially with her shoes. Which she will NEVER wear. We own them but cannot for the life of us get her to leave shoes or socks on. Gah! What do we do? Once she walks she is going to have to start wearing them.

*Loves making goofy faces. Love that silly girl and her teeth.

We love our little lady Juners. Such a big kid now! She gets funner every day.

You Know You're From Southern California When...

2012-02-07T12:10:00.000-08:00

The other week a good friend of mine was over to catch up on our fave TV shows. As much as we are ashamed of it, we love some good quality trashy Bachelor/ette on Monday nights (once kiddos are in bed). It's an awesome bond. We watch, indulging in the insane drama, and laugh. We talk almost the entire time; about anything and everything women like to talk about; our kids, our husbands, cooking dinners, keeping an organized home, church, sex (TMI? sorry), exercise, our latest drama...everything. It's pretty much the greatest night ever. As much as husbands rock our worlds, there is just something about girl to girl time that is irreplaceable.

Anyways, one particular Monday night we got to talking about growing up in Southern California. We didn't go to high school together, but after talking we found that our experiences were really similar, practically the same. We talked about how we have loved living and having grown up in Orange County. We talked about how over the years, being adults, hearing from others about California not being a good place to have a family or raise kids; or how the state is a terrible place to live, etc. Just random stuff. SOMEHOW, this lead us to getting on the Internet and reading those funny websites that post stuff like... "You know you're from ____ when ___". You know what I'm talking about? We found this hilarious website about Californians and couldn't stop laughing the rest of the night. Maybe it was the sugar and soda overload, maybe it was the 11 o'clock hour, either way we were cracking up. This website got it pretty good.

Here are some of our favorites we found to be particularly funny and/or true.

You Know You're From Southern California When:

walking around half naked is normal
you still have tan lines in december
you've never been in a walmart
rainbow sandals
you've slept through an earthquake
you preface all freeway numbers with "the"
you know how ghetto LA actually is
no one has a basement
you judge people based on their area code
there's a mexican restaurant on every street
you have fire days, not snow days
you get excited for thunder and lightning
you never wash bathing suits
you do whatever it takes to avoid the 91
you go to disneyland because you have no money to do anything else
owning a chicken makes you a farmer
everyone thinks long beach is ghetto
water polo is a big deal
you can hear the disneyland fireworks from your house
you go to the beach and don't get in the water
everywhere else in the US seems cheap
avocados for every meal
you know when the rose parade is starting cuz you hear the B-52s over your house
you don't trust the weatherman
you know IN-N-OUT's "secret" menu
you bring your bathing suit on vacation to a land-locked place
santa ana winds mean the death of all moisture in your body
you sleep in short pajamas in january
there is sand in everything you own
you go out of state for college and turn white
someone says 'let's get a burger' and you know they mean IN-N-OUT
no one uses their blinker
you take your picture with Santa in shorts and sandals
your high school is featured on tv shows
you've never had a white christmas
you went on a gold rush field trip in fourth grade
the 405 is a parking lot, not a freeway
you're used to smelling cow manure while driving down the freeway
you don't bother waiting in lines at disneyland that are more than 30 minutes long
the eighty minute wait at space mountain takes you about 10 minutes
you're a master at "the 55, to the 5, to the 57, to the..."
you always have an extra jacket, just in case the fog rolls in
you blame getting sick on "the change in the weather"
you don't know the proper name for LAX
you learned spanish on the playground
you've never actually seen an indoor school
you know that california adventure used to be parking lots
Red Hot Chili Peppers
your cows are happy
you meet someone from another state and instantly think you're cooler than them
the toll road costs as much as lunch
you're school floods when it rains
a cop gets on the freeway and everyone slams on their brakes
dude, broski, sketchy, stoked, trippy, holla, legit, dank, gnarly, dope
border patrol doesn't mean anything
you go camping at the beach
you live next to two major fault lines and your house is still worth over $500,oo0
every year is supposed to be "the big one"
you can learn everything you need know about driving by taking a few spins around LAX

Hilarious. Here are some old pictures I found just the other day that I had to post.

with my friends bree and brooke in hawaii (2006)

with bree and brooke again...and some crazy awesome, i think homeless hawaiian dude

my family and i in front of the newport beach temple (2005) when it was open for open house tours

random beach picture (2005)...thought it applicable to this post, ha ha

me and my bro -- to date, the worst sunburn i've ever had (2004). this picture quality is low because it's a scanned photo and didn't come out too good. but it's the only copy i have.

We had a fun time laughing. As busy as we all get, it was fun and relaxing to just take a break for an evening and waste time on something meaningless.

1st Birthday Party

2012-01-24T13:26:00.000-08:00

I'm way behind on this.

So our precious Juners turned ONE on the 12th of January! What a fun time this is. We loved celebrating. All day long I couldn't stop thinking about one year ago, being in the hospital and delivering my first child. CRAZY. I cannot say enough how time flies and I look at June and think so many things. 1) Where did this year go? 2) How are you ONE? 3) HOW ON EARTH will I survive giving birth again? Haha. Yes, dramatic, but true. 4) You're amazing and beautiful and tender and I love you to death. My list could go on forever. Basically I love this little girl and am not quite sure I will ever fully grasp time anymore especially as we grow in numbers. But I love my girl for all that she has and does teach me. Children are such a blessing even when they poop on you and make life crazy exhausting. Really there isn't anything more important than them and I'm grateful for that new perspective. I am such a lucky mother and all I have to do is look at her and see that smiling face to have constant reminders.

we think june is starting to get curly or wavy hair -- you can see it throughout all these pictures. only time will tell. for now the struggle is getting her to leave cute bows in her hair. always takes them out... darn it.

Anyways. So two days after June's real birthday we had some friends and family gather at a local park on a Saturday for some birthday fun. Isn't every mom super thrilled about throwing their kids 1st birthday?? I love a good theme to run with and go all out with. So this party was a much anticipated event in my mind.

My cool design friend made these awesome invites that I totally fell in love with and had to have. So I designed the whole party around the invites theme idea.

STRAWBERRIES. YAYY. It was a berry berry fun 1st birthday party with bright red, pink, and green colors to math our fun theme. Loved it all.

here was the party invite -- i printed an 8x10 of it and displayed it on the table

like i said, everything was pink, red, and green. and the theme was strawberries so of course we had to make strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (dyed pink).

we even had personalized cupcake toppers

delicious ham and cheese sliders. so easy and so yum.

the sauce on the top is so good. idea/recipe found on pinterest.

i also made a THREE LAYER strawberry cake for the adults. also with cream cheese frosting. it was all from scratch (made the night before) and tasted delicious. though it was a bit lop-sided. it's a cake that i've been wanting to make for months but never had an occasion. this party was perfect. the recipe asks for real strawberries in the batter so it was perfect for our theme.

matching party favors for the kids : strawberry airheads, bouncy balls, bubbles, etc.

strawberry bruschetta

and white chocolate dipped strawberries with pink sprinkles

a lil happy birthday banner

and finally...the birthday girl

we gave her cupcakes instead of a huge cake -- she ended up eating 2 or 3. i can't remember. june has a sugar addiction already. we try to maintain it, but she is vicious. as soon as she saw the cupcake in front of her she was all business trying to get that treat. she didn't even care about the singing or the lighted candle, she just wanted the cupcake. girl loves her dessert!

june digging into her cupcake

i saw this cute party dress at target on sale and thought it would be cute for her to wear at the party since pink was everywhere. i love my girl's dark eyes

daddy cleaning up the frosting mess after the cupcake mess. june hates nothing more than being wiped down. i dread cleaning her after meals ha ha, but you gotta do it

presents, wahoooo. spoiled girl got great stuff

Thanks to all that came, it was really fun! I was super excited to throw my girl her first birthday and am totally one of those moms that looks forward to making all her kid's birthdays such a fun day. nothing huge, but i love getting creative and doing things myself, and i look forward to picking fun themes with my kids in the future.

On June's actual birthday, we actually kept it pretty simple. I mean, she had no idea it was any other day anyways ha ha. Plus she still naps and we definitely need that nap. The two of us hung out and did some fun playing and then we had a surprise guest. GRANDMA. Who brought presents. Yayy.

this awesome little bike thing that she can ride around on and also push while walking behind it. it has buttons that play music and a seat that lifts up to store things in. june is so cute when she gets new things and is trying to figure out what to do with it. she loved this toy. thanks to my mom for surprising us!

she opens gifts very softly and slowly ha ha

these pictures of her on the bike make me tear...she is SO big now! so adorable.

When Josh came home from work, we decided to go out to dinner. June picked Olive Garden ( haha yaaa) and we had a lovely time with our baby.

she loves coloring now and gets very serious about her menu and crayons -- do not try and take them away or you'll get the temper of june, yikes

she's a great eater -- enjoying some kids ravioli

our waiter brought out a cute little treat with a candle and we all sang -- june just stares at the fire and of course tries to touch it. it was the cutest little dessert. a strawberry cheesecake that was big enough for all three of us to have just one bite. we were so full it was perfect.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUNERS! WE LOVE YOU.

Disneyland

2012-01-11T11:50:00.000-08:00

We got our passes! We are so excited to go with June all year. It's going to be great. We decided to go on January 3rd and my family decided to tag along too. We went in the evening and stayed until about 10pm after riding a bunch of rides and watching the show Fanstasmic -- the best one ever. June was passed out by that point so we headed home.

The nice thing about passes is that you don't have to do it all in one day. Especially with there being Disneyland AND California Adventure. Since we have passes and live so close we can just go for a few hours here and there and always come back another day to do more. Since June is a napper still, we only have so many hours she'll be happy anyways. And some nights we can just put her to bed at my parent's house and then Josh and I can just go on our own and ride the big rides :) Can't wait.

Here are some pics from our first time going with baby June.

joshie, dad, and june

main street

it was still decorated for christmas -- it was gorgeous! check out their huge tree

Princess castle looking awesome with christmas decor all over

Riding It's A Small World. Again, still decked out in christmas. Loved it. June was mesmerized.

the family in a teacup

rockets

We got an umbrella stroller for Disneyland so we don't have to truck our huge one around. They have awesome stroller parking all over the park so we don't have to take it in lines. Love that. Poor June was tuckered out by the nights end.

Burning Trees

2012-01-09T13:02:00.000-08:00

Back on New Years Day, we had our annual New Years Day burning of the Christmas Trees with the family at Newport Beach. Always looked forward to. Always so fun. Followed afterwards with dinner at BJ's off the pier.

Some of us went down earlier in the day to play around on the beach. June loved these boys playing on the lifeguard tower. She just watches kids like she's never seen them before.

Gorgeously breath taking. No editing done. I wanna marry California.

Classic June face these days. She is developing her vocal chords and temper.

It's been interesting to say the least.

my girl loves the sand

and her daddy

sister allyson

chang + brenna

Once the sunset, it was freezing. Let the fire burning begin ! June was so cute watching. I don't think she had a clue what we were doing but the fire was the coolest thing she'd ever seen. she just stares and processes. Such a little sponge.

This year was a record breaking year. We had more trees than we've ever had before. Thanks to the Hollands. I think we had... I can't remember, 10? 15? It was a lot. So awesome. This picture only was one area of trees. I couldn't get them all into one shot.

At first we did one tree at a time. Then we started doing a few at a time. Towards the end, the boys were just throwing them all on like crazy. The heat is sooo powerful. Soon, we couldn't stand anywhere near the pit and the entire beach was lit up. It was humongous.

Best shot of the night. Compare the size of the flames with the size of our stroller that got left behind as we all hurried away from the heat. I believe Josh Chang took this. Kudos dude.

Happy Belated New Year!

11 Months

2012-01-05T14:02:00.000-08:00

Can't believe this is my last post before June is a whole year old. How can I have a one year old!? I feel like she should still be 6 months or something. But nope...she is a growing little girl and she is getting very smart. I love her more and more each day.

Reading her favorite book Goodnight Moon

Getting into all the clothes I just finished folding. She does this alllll the time. She will play with clothes for 20 minutes without getting bored.

After a bath

Josh's parents sent us this awesome Christmas outfit. She looked like a little elf or something. She had a hard time crawling around in it because the jumper was so big, but she looked crazy cute. She wore this on Christmas Eve.

June loved getting into all the presents all month long. She also loved the lights on the tree. But she is pretty good about listening and stopping when we say so.

Random pictures while playing in the hallway. Check out her top teeth! Big girl!

Loves standing up on everything. Especially the stairs. She can crawl up to the top in 2 minutes. She looks down from here to see if we are watching.

June learned to clap. She loves clapping. If she ever hears someone say YAY, she immediately claps. Even if its on TV, haha. so cute.

cute shirt from her aunt demerry, thanks!

I love this little pink skirt. Dressing her each day is so fun, ha ha.

Christmas

2012-01-04T13:32:00.001-08:00

I am so behind on this blog. Lots of fun things to post about. I'm going to start with Christmas. This is pretty much a recap of all the festive fun things we did through out the month of December.

We had such a fun time this year with June. Kids just make everything so exciting. I just love how much they make you forget yourself and focus on them and showing them all the exciting things of Christmas. We had a great month and I'm sad it's gone so fast!

My family came out to Rancho in early December to see our Stake's Follow the Star program. They perform a live nativity outside with music, real animals, a manger, and all the characters of the Christmas story. It's an absolutely beautiful program. We sit outside where its freezing and cuddle in our blankets to watch it. Afterwards there is hot chocolate and cookies inside the church building. We took some family pictures too.

We walked around the lake one night to see our city's annual Christmas Tree Lighting. The tree is humongous. They have carolers out, hot chocolate, cookies, and roasted chestnuts.

Another night, we had a family night gathering at our favorite city in Long Beach. Naples is right on the harbor on the water. Tons of people come to this spot to walk around the harbor streets and admire the gorgeous homes and their light shows. Every single house does an amazing job of decorating with lights. I didn't have my camera this night, but my bro's boo Riely did. Visiting Naples at Christmas is one of my all time favorite things to do.

On Christmas Eve morning, we rode bikes around the lake with June. We grabbed some smoothies and then fed the ducks some bread we brought. June loves ducks. She always wants to pet them, ha ha. It was 70 degrees out and plenty sunny! A true OC Christmas!

Isn't Rancho Santa Margarita gorg?? We love it.

Christmas Eve night, my dad's side of the family all gathered at Grandma's house for our traditional evening of soup and cinnamon rolls for dinner, the family christmas program, new pj's and the cousin gift exchange. It was a lovely night with lots of family and lots of love. June was exhausted though, so we went to put her to bed at my parent's house where we were staying the night.

Christmas Day! We aren't crazy early morning risers around our house. Not our thing, ha ha. June slept in until 9 am, so we all got up around then. Since we had church at 11 we just did Santa gifts and then we went to church as a family. After church, we had our traditional eggs benedict breakfast (soo yumm) and then opened the rest of the gifts. We had such a great time doing all of this with June. I just adore her and watching her little face absorb all that we do. She is the best thing in our lives.

me and my sibs

Traditional Christmas morning stair picture

June got this fun farm toy from my parents -- it has animals and makes noises and all sorts of fun stuff

She was a champ at ripping open presents, ha ha. She loves playing with and ripping paper. This is her opening a cute white fluffy puppy. It's adorable. It barks and walks. June loves puppies and this was the closest we were to getting one.

My sister got Josh this weird but goofy game. Josh of course, loves it.

Everyone was spoiled with great gifts! Especially June. She has all sorts of fun things to play with. She has great grandparents. One of my exciting gifts to Josh was Disneyland Passes. I am beyond excited to go the three of us this year. I have such amazing memories going as a kid with my parents and can't wait to go with June.

Merry Christmas! (Belated)

Thirty

2011-12-23T19:00:00.000-08:00

You only turn 30 once...so for this special and monumental (maybe a slight exaggeration) birthday I wanted to do something really fun and unexpected for Josh. A SURPRISE PARTY.

I was so worried Josh would find out....but he had NO idea. I was so glad.

His birthday was Monday the 19th but I scheduled his party for the Saturday before. The 17th. I had been planning it for months to be honest. My awesome mom helped me a ton. We couldn't decide on a venue for the longest time: indoor or outdoor, day or night, kids or adults only, food or no food, blah blah blah. But we finally figured everything out and I have no regrets. It's turned out so great.

We chose the local skating rink that practically everyone in Orange grew up going to. I think most of us hadn't been there since we were in elementary school. But you can rent it out to just your party, they let you decorate, you can bring in all the food you want, they play music or music from your own ipod, they give you skates, they play games, they do it all. It was the perfect place. Who says adults don't like to skate around like kids once in awhile? ha ha. And it was perfect for everyone to bring their kids too. We also had everyone dress up. I love costume parties and something about a skate party just demanded costumes. We told everyone to dress up like something that started with a J...for Josh. Fun!

So on Saturday at like 4 pm, I turn to Josh and make up this story that my family wanted to take him out to dinner for his birthday and they wanted us to come over right now. It didn't take long before we were in the car heading north. I had given my mom all the decorations, food, drinks, and much much more to go and set up the skate rink. Everyone was to arrive before Josh did. On the way there, my sister called (this was planned ahead of time) and asked us to go and pick up my little sister Jordan at the skate rink. Mom would do it but she is busy getting ready for dinner. Clever, huh!? ha ha. So I told Josh where to go to get to the rink and we pull up just in time. At this point in the plan, I knew he would start to get suspicious. ALLLLL my family's cars were sitting there in the parking lot. So obvious. But I knew that would happen, so I said oh that's weird and ran inside with my camera. Josh looked at me weird but I just ran inside before he asked me more questions. Then I called him a few minutes later to come help me with something. Not very stealth anymore, but oh well. He figured something was up. He comes walking in with June and we all shouted SURPRISE!!! And blew our noise makers like crazy. As much as he was wondering what was going on, he still didn't know what and he was still very surprised. YAYY. It was so fun. I was super nervous (such a dork) on the drive over, and was so excited to throw Josh's first surprise party.

Welcome to your 30's Babe! Couldn't have you turning 30 without doing something big. Love you!

Okay sorry. I'll stop talking now.

when josh first walked in ( i wanted to be inside before him to take pictures of his face )

my brother alex loves a good crazy costume -- this jungle gorilla is so him

my sis jordan dressed up as a purple jellybean -- a lot of people that came actually had names that started with J.... i didn't realize we had so many, but i said they couldn't be themselves :)

the duffy's dressed as jellybeans too

sis brenna as a jogger and her boo josh is jacob from twilight. clever!

i made josh a t-shirt with a name tag on it -- he was the only one allowed to be himself.

he put it on after the big surprise shouting

mom is a jellybelly and my aunt in the background dresses as jello

it's hard to see and i forgot to put on the rest of my costume but i dressed up as the month of july. i wore my awesome red pants and a blue t-shirt. i had red, white, and blue necklaces and a flag bandana.

baby june was the month of june to match me.

sister allyson was a jailmate

a japanese person, a jock, and a jamaican (the awesome wig was taken off)

the group playing red light green light -- very hard to do in skates

june loved my necklaces; i ended up losing them somewhere so good thing they were only $1. between hosting and watching june, i didn't skate long but it was still really fun to skate with josh; i kept trying to skate and dance to the music and almost fell every 2 minutes. good times.

singing happy birthday

the 30 year old

they also had arcade games for everyone to use

june had a blast with all the food -- especially the cake

Other notable costumes:

Justin Beiber

precious jewels

a jolly elf

disc jockey

jack o lantern

jiu jitsu ninjas

Loved everyone's creative thinking! It was a great party and we were so grateful for all the help and for everyone coming. It was a fun change to get out and dress up and skate and act like kids. ha ha. We had a few hiccups and problems throughout the planning and that night, but nothing could stop the fun at the skate rink. Yay.

On Josh's actual birthday June and I decorated the house and put out his presents and goodies. Josh loves doughnuts so instead of doing another cake, we got him doughnuts. We opened more presents with my family that day too.

Treasure Hunt

2011-12-23T03:01:00.000-08:00

The Cowdell family had their annual Christmas Treasure Hunt last Saturday. It was slightly chilly out and drizzled a bit, but it was a very successful and fun day. We have been doing this treasure hunt since my cousin Robyn and I were little girls. I'm very nostalgic about it. This year I couldn't stop thinking how I'm not the little girl anymore but MY little girl IS. So crazy. Now there are all my little cousins running around with excitement at finding the next clue. That's not to say the adults aren't doing that too...cuz they definitely are. But we are a much bigger group now than when I was a little girl.

June loves the swings now. She used to be scared but now it's fun for her. She got pushed a lot. Check out her hands. She always does that. She likes clenches her fingers together and points outward. I have no idea what it is but she does it a lot. So funny.

June will absolutely not leave her socks on. She is such a goof. She pulls them off as soon as she can. She usually is sporting one like she is above.

june and aunt allyson

some of the group waiting to start

brenna with the girlies -- blake, june, and sophia

robyn and blake reading a clue

daddy keeping his baby warm

brenna thought the clue was up the tree

uncle chris and anna

josh and little christopher

john with christopher, cole, and anna

june and her grandpa swinging some more

At the end, the treasure is divided up by age group and each group has to go find their own treasure. It's sort of like my grandparents time to give us all our Christmas gifts. Everyone got great stuff! Our grandparents are amazing and so generous and loving. This treasure hunt is such a fun and dear memory ;)

Ugh...

2011-12-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

So I don't usually do this sort of thing...but right now it's necessary.

I'm just going to jump right in.

(1) My life is not perfect

(2) I do not think my life is perfect

(3) I am not trying to make any of you think that my life is perfect by what I say/post about on this blog

(4) I am not trying to portray perfection on this blog in any way

(5) I make many mistakes

(6) We have chaotic, messy, bad, unhappy, whatever-you-want-to-call-it days around our house

(7) I have many days where I feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and frumpy

(8) I also have many days where the house and myself are a mess

(sorry if any of those are repetitive or redundant but i am covering all my bases here)

That being said:

(0) Just because I have some bad days doesn't mean that they are often; it doesn't mean that they happen every day. Most days are great and happy. I love my life for the good and the bad. I enjoy imperfection even if it's frustrating at times, it's good for us!

(1) I do try to see the positive in everything I do and in every day

(2) I do not blog about everything that goes on -- the good things and the bad

(3) I would rather my blog NOT be a record of every last grumpy memory or terrible day BECAUSE most often I realize later how blessed I am and how silly it was to be upset in the first place -- so I most often choose not to share that with everyone

(4) I have journals where I prefer to vent and share my trying days. I also have a husband that I'd rather talk things over with instead.

(5) That isn't to say that I mind sharing occasional details of how some event or day turned out not-so-great, I'm fine with that, it's just a matter of me trying to be positive. I write out posts and share events the way I remember them. I share the things that matter most.

(6) If you have a blog where you occasionally spill all the good, the bad, the unhappy, the everything... I in NO WAY judge or care. I am happy to read whatever is posted on the blogs I read. I just prefer that people don't judge me for not following in the same degree they write. I can go back and read my bad days in my journals but I don't really want that here. I like my blog to be mostly a record of what we are up to that month.

(7) I also have a lot of good days. A lot of happy days. Most days are awesome days. Most every day I see how blessed I am. Most all days, I feel happy and lucky for all I have. Most days, I don't care about the mess because I know I'll get to it soon. Most days are just great -- plain and simple. I don't need a lot to be happy and I am enjoying raising my little girl. She fills me with SO much joy. And I enjoy sharing the happy things about our life because the bad things are not that bad and aren't important enough to document. Just because I don't share it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. But that doesn't mean I can't be happy. Just because yesterday was crappy, doesn't mean I can't blog today about something happy.

(8) I enjoy sharing the happy days with others. I enjoy being positive and I enjoy sharing those details of my life with you all. I like my blog to be a happy reminder.

(9) We all have different talents and abilities. We all have different means. Some of us are busier than others. For some of us, there is time for a delicious homemade meal consisting of 3 courses. That can be easy for some and harder for others. For others, a favorite casserole is just as much a happy thing. For others there is time/money for a vacation. For others there is only time to play with their children and go to work. For others, there is only time to get through the day. Some can run 10 miles everyday and some can run up and down the stairs 10 times a day. That's the beauty of it. We all have different abilities on different days. Let's not judge each other for that.

(10) Once again, I am happy to read whatever it is you want to write on your blogs. I read people's blogs to be happy for them and to be supportive. If you had a bad day and want to share, I am totally there for you. I don't mind at all! I'd love to help if possible. And I assume the favor is returned when the roles are reversed.

WHEW! Again, I am sorry you have to read this. But apparently I need to clarify my intentions, purposes, and motivations with my blog. It's annoying and petty if you ask me, but I want everyone to know. I love my friends and family and I want them to think the best of me. It's my blog. Everyone has their own blog and we all can put whatever we want on it. I have never judged my friends for their bad days and I never judge them for their good days. So please return the favor. I know it sucks when we are having a bad day and then we read someone's blog about how beautiful their designer Christmas decorations look in their perfectly clean home -- but c'mon! Let's be kind. We are all capable of those SuperMom/SuperWife days. Everyone knows that those days aren't everyday occurrences, so let's be happy for one another when it IS our day.For whatever our SuperWoman moment may be.

Please don't judge, ridicule, or mistake me falsely for the things I write on here. I mean no disrespect and I absolutely don't mean to portray a life that I don't have. But I do have a happy life and we do get to do a lot of fun things -- just like everyone else -- but that is not to say that yucky days never happen. They do. And I am not trying to hide that, it's just not my first choice to publish it on the internet. Josh and I talk a lot about this. We like to call it: Focusing on the Positive :)

Please understand. Love you all.

Christmas Story

2011-12-16T13:29:00.000-08:00

I read this story every Christmas. Sometimes more than once since it's short. I cry every time. I just love it. I have such a soft spot for elderly people. And I just love the people and details and lessons in this story. I've shared this on my blog before...but I thought what the heck, let's do it again.

Merry Christmas!

****

Hero at the Grocery Store
by Stephanie Meyer

Christmas stories happen in the most everyday places. I was part of one not long ago at the grocery store. I hope I never forget it, though the memory is bittersweet.

I had been shopping for almost an hour by the time I got to the checkout lines. My two youngest sons were with me, the four-year-old refusing to hold onto the cart, the two-year-old trying to climb out of the basket and jump down to play with his brother. Both got progressively whinier and louder as I tried to keep them under control, so I was looking for the fastest lane possible. I had two choices. In the first line were three customers, and they all had just a few purchases. In the second line was only one man, a harried young father with his own crying baby, but his cart was overflowing with groceries.

I quickly looked over the three-person line again. The woman in the front was very elderly, white haired and rail thin, and her hands were shaking as she tried unsuccessfully to unlatch her big purse. In the other line, the young father was throwing his food onto the conveyor belt with superhuman speed. I got in line behind him.

It was the right choice. I was able to start unloading my groceries before the elderly woman was even finished paying. My four-year-old was pulling candy from the shelf, and my little one was trying to help by lobbing cans of soup at me. I felt I couldn’t get out of the store fast enough.

And then, over the sound of the store’s cheery holiday music, I heard the checker in the other line talking loudly, too loudly. I glanced over as my hands kept working.

“No, I’m sorry,” the checker was almost shouting at the old woman, who didn’t seem to understand. “That card won’t work. You are past your limit. Do you have another way to pay?” The tiny old woman blinked at the checker with a confused expression. Not only were her hands shaking now, but her shoulders too. The teenage bagger rolled her eyes and sighed.

As I caught a soup can just before it hit my face, I thought to myself: “Boy, did I choose the right line! Those three are going to be there forever.” My mood was positively smug as my checker began scanning my food.

But the smiling woman directly in line behind the elderly lady had a different reaction. Quietly, with no fanfare, she moved to the older woman’s side and ran her own credit card through the reader.

“Merry Christmas,” she said softly, still smiling.

And then everyone was quiet. Even my rowdy children paused, feeling the change in the atmosphere.

It took a minute for the older woman to understand what had happened. The checker, her face thoughtful, hesitated with the receipt in her hand, not sure whom to give it to. The smiling woman took it and tucked it into the elderly woman’s bag.

“I can’t accept …” the older woman began to protest, with tears forming in her eyes.

The smiling woman interrupted her. “I can afford to do it. What I can't afford is not to do it.”

“Let me help you out,” the suddenly respectful bagger insisted, taking the basket and also taking the old woman’s arm, the way she might have helped her own grandmother.

I watched the checker in my line pause before she pressed the total key to dab at the corner of her eyes with a tissue.

Paying for my groceries and gathering my children, I made it out of the store before the smiling woman. I had made the right choice of lanes, it seemed.

But as I walked out into the bright December sunshine, I was not thinking about my luck but about what I could not afford.

I could not afford my current, self-absorbed frame of mind.

I could not afford to have my children learn lessons of compassion only from strangers.

I could not afford to be so distant from the spirit of Christ at any time of the year—especially during this great season of giving.

I could not afford to let another stranger, another brother or sister, cross my path in need of help without doing something about it.

And that is why I hope never to forget the Christmas hero in the grocery store. The next time I have a chance to be that kind of a hero, I can’t afford to miss it.

Beach Babe

2011-12-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

My babe and I went to the beach a couple times last week. It was so fun. This week, it's raining. Booo. I know it's lame, but I am kind of done with winter and ready for summer again. I love going to the beach all the time. June and I had great weather this day at Laguna.

Every time we go to the beach, June gets this little flip in her hair. See? I love it.

eating saltine crackers and cheese, yummy

june loves going to the beach and crawling around in the sand; she loves playing in the sand and eating it too. she had a banana she was eating and would dip it in the sand before each bite. Trying to keep a kid from getting sandy and eating sand at the beach is just impossible. So I just don't even try, ha ha. They love it.

love that face -- and that silly tongue

We stopped by the park that is right off the sand to ride some swings. June was watching all the kids playing on the playground. I think she wishes she could keep up already.

Being a mom is the best job ever. Not that every day is magical and rosy, but I just love my little girl so much and am so grateful I get to stay home with her. She is my whole world.

Crafting Diva

2011-12-07T13:10:00.001-08:00

Does anyone else look at what others are accomplishing and think... i am doing nothing. I suck.

UGH! I do. WAY TOO MUCH.

Here are some adorable amazing crafts I WISH I was doing this season. Maybe I'll do a few, but I feel swamped as it is.

Enjoy !

all found at eighteen25

Christmas Tree

2011-12-05T11:05:00.000-08:00

We went on December 1st to pick out our Christmas tree. The place we went had these awesome snowy trees. I really wanted a little one to put upstairs in the hallway decorated with sparkly white lights. Then the big one could be in the living room. Too bad they were really expensive. They were so pretty.

Oh well. Another time, right? :)

This year is soooooo fun having June with us for Christmas! I know she doesn't get very much yet, but she is still very interested in everything we see and do. I love doing festive things with her and watching her little face. My goal is to do something festive, even something small and simple, for Christmas each day this month. I just want to savor up every minute!

Doesn't it look like we are in the middle of a snowy forest? ha ha.

Maybe a little? It was FREEEEZING out this day.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Thanksgiving in the Desert

2011-11-29T14:18:00.000-08:00

Yeah, so...we were supposed to celebrate Thanksgiving in Utah with Josh's family. We had it all planned, June and I cleaned the house and packed all day long...everything was set. We were going to leave Tuesday night for St. George, stay a night there, and then head up north Wednesday morning. Well, Josh came home Tuesday later than expected, he wasn't in a good mood, he was sick, and said he didn't feel like going anymore! HA! I was pretty surprised. We weighed the pros and cons and ended up deciding to stay in California.

We felt bad to miss out on all the Utah plans, and we made sure there was even room for us in Palm Springs where my family was headed, and ended up having a lovely time. It felt really nice NOT having to drive 500 million hours up and then avoided the terrible traffic that is epic for this holiday weekend after we reached Vegas. We just weren't up for the long drive for only a few days stay. Instead we drove an hour and a half to...the gorgeous PALM SPRINGS!

My family was thrilled we changed our plans. You can't beat Palm Desert. So relaxing, so pretty, so fun and so WARM. We traded 40 degrees for 80 and loved it! We sat by the pool (which are heated at the resort we stay at), we went on bike rides, ate great food, played games, and raised havoc in Palm Springs. I'm obsessed with all the palm trees there.

hello beautiful

June got lots of attention as always. It was fun going on vacation with my family and letting them see June day and night. Her aunties love her. This was our first night when June was putting on a show for everyone in the bath.

It's also sort of a tradition to fill up the spas with soap. We had to be quiet and discrete to avoid getting caught. I am always amazed at how much a little bit of soap can cause. It wasn't until later that I found out the boys had just dumped a whole bottle in...so nevermind the little bit part, ha ha. There was soooo much it was taking over the whole pool area. You couldn't even tell where cement met pool! Such a crack up. The next day the maintenance closed the pool down to clean out the filter and get the soap out. There was still soap everywhere in the morning. No sweat though, there are about 10 other pools within walking distance at our resort, so we didn't miss out on swim time.

my dad, brother alex, josh, sister allyson, & cousin zach

alex & zach

allyson being consumed by bubbles

goofy boys

While taking pictures of the boys, I started messing around with my Nikon and it's settings. It was totally dark outside and I was taking these cool blurry pictures. This one is kinda cool huh?

On Thanksgiving Day, we slept in (which we did everyday til about 10 am) and a bunch of the kids got together and made turkey crafts. My mom got all the supplies and taught them what to do. Super fun idea. Look how cute!

anna and her apple turkey

cousin sydney and her felt turkey

cousin issac making his cupcake turkey

Our family of turkeys! Josh made them for us. One for him, me, and June!

Even Alex joined in on the craft making! We used these felt ones you see above as place cards on our table for Thanksgiving dinner. Cute idea huh?

blake and luke crafting

Cousin tori making a turkey out of fruits: cantaloupe, grapes, cheese cubes, pears, etc.

It turned out to be a labor of love.

I love being in Palm Springs cuz everyone is just in gym clothes or swimsuits all day, but for dinner we decided to clean up nice. We even sort of matched. Sort of.

june and her loving grandparents

june with her dinner place card

sisters

My aunt Heather made these amazing jellos! It's the rainbow colors with whipped cream between each layer! Seriously fun and seriously amazing. Everyone oohed and ahhed her.

cowdell family shot

holland family shot

me and my babe out for a night walk after dinner. our feast was delicious. everyone had food assignments and everyone rocked. we were so stuffed but dessert was a must. june passed out that night with a super full tummy. it was seriously rock hard. ha ha.

i never want to leave.

ben & june eating crackers

gorgeous mountains surround the whole city

can't have a cowdell thanksgiving without a game of kickball!

pictured is my sis allyson, new cousin-in-law brittney, and cousins becca & tori

cousin robyn, sis brenna, aunt lisa, & dad

june handled 2nd plate for us

june and her aunt robyn. sometimes she is cousin robyn and other times aunt robyn. ha ha. she loved getting her hands on our ball. she mostly just sat on the sidelines and at crackers.

And my uncles always light off their rockets too. The kids get a kick out of trying to catch it. It goes up super high and everyone runs to try it grab it, but it changes directions so fast. It's really funny to watch everyone running all over. The tall people usually win.

june makes this face every 5 minutes

june and aunt allyson

june and aunt brenna

we stay at the Rancho Las Palmas resort which is right on these golf courses. it's beautiful.

family bike rides to ben & jerrys, yummy!

mango and berry vanilla smoothie anyone? SO GOOD. Until 5 minutes later....this happened...

thankfully the ladies were nice and made me another one. ugh, so clumsy.

june would go down for naps in the afternoons and sleep for 3 hours. at home, i am always stuck because there isn't anyone to watch her, but here there was always someone in the condos so josh and i could lay her down and then go play. it was so nice to be free for awhile. ha ha.

robyn & john

cousins

me & robyn

jordan and my dad

uncle craig & june bonding

brenna & becca

we decided one day all the girls were getting pedicures. dad and josh came in and observed for a minute, took pictures, and then went to have some male bonding time. we ladies relaxed and enjoyed our massages. a good pedi does wonders!

my little girl cuddling with mom after pedicures. we should have painted her toes.

one last family photo before we pile in the car to go home

We'll miss you Palm Springs. It's always so hard to leave! So so hard. Thanks for always being good to us. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And have a happy Christmas season! Yahoo!

10 Months

2011-11-20T14:06:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile. I've been busy with life, hosting dinner parties, Christmas shopping, making some of my gifts this year (so excited), and playing with my girl. She is getting so big and smart!

Smiley as ever and still only wearing 6 month clothes. Occasionally some 9 month ones fit.

Starting to have random meltdowns for no apparent reason. Blankies usually fix everything. We're pretty reliant on it, ha ha. She is very tender and also very stubborn.

This picture cracks me up every time.

Crawling on all fours now instead of army crawling. Getting into everything. Not scared of anything...even the stairs! Goodie.

Loves to stand up on tables, the couch, chairs, and the crib. This is what she does when she's waiting after a nap. Silly girl. She is soo happy after nap times. Girl loves her sleep!

Sleeps from 8 pm until about 10 am now. Yes you read right... 10 am. It's amazing she can go that long! I don't know what had gotten her so tired! But I have so much time in the morning to read, eat, shower... love it. Then she is only taking one nap a day. I would have her take two, but with her waking up so late in the morning...and then taking a 3 hour nap, its like...there is only time for one nap. If I mess with her natural schedule she freaks, so I just let her do it. She takes a 3 hour nap in the afternoons. 3 hours! Crazy girl!

Silly hat from Grandma. So stinkin cute

June could read books with us for hours. She loves cuddling with blankies and mom and reading. I'm proud of her. She loves all her books.

And of course the blankie attachment remains. The corners are her favorite. She sucks on them all the time. I have to wash the thing every other day! It gets so dirty. Ugh.

While mom gets ready, June knocks down our TP tower in the closet. Pesty girl!

Daddy was showering and she wanted to play in the water on the floor of the shower. I was cracking up. She has done this with me before and I let her, but Josh didn't like her getting soaking wet. She is very attached to Josh when he comes home and gets mad when he doesn't hold her right away. He hopped in the shower real quick and she decided this was the next best thing. Josh kept closing the curtain and she would push it right back open, ha ha! We are getting a glass sliding door for the shower soon, so the curtain is temporary. Thank goodness.

Once Daddy is home, she has to be by his side every second. So tender.

Bath time is her favorite. She crawls around in the water now, which she was too scared to do before. And she eats the bubbles and makes soap beards.

Love my girl! They get funner and funner with age! Yes, I said funner.

Halloween Weekend

2011-11-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

Here is some of what we did for Halloween this year. This basically covers the entire Halloween weekend rather than just the day of. It was a busy one.

Saturday

Josh's joint venture company had a big party at Irvine Park in Orange. There was tons of food, moon bouncers, and lots of activities. Irvine Park is huge and does tons of fun things for Halloween. To say that it was packed with people that day is an understatement. We definitely had to do all the fun things though. We rode the train around the park. June loved it. And we also went to the petting zoo. June loved this even more. She loves animals. It was hot day, but a very fun one. We ate tons of food, and walked many miles. All for June :)

On the train

At the petting zoo. The goats were wearing costumes, ha ha.

June LOVED LOVED LOVED the goats. She was laughing and grabbing at them left and right. I didn't know if they would like it or hate it, but it was so fun.

We saw lots of other animals but I didn't take any pictures of them. June was very excited to see bears too. I think she thought they were really big dogs, ha ha. Dogs are her fave.

****

Sunday -- Halloween Eve

We went over to my parent's house for some more Halloween fun. They invited friends over to join in. We had a yummy dinner with ribs and all sorts of sides. Then we carved pumpkins on the lawn, and later decorated cookies inside. We ended the night with games. Naturally.

pumpkin carving!

my dad and his huge $20 pumpkin

june played with her grandma instead of carving; she showed her her books

our ghost pumpkin -- YAY

Decorating Cookie Time

June watching Elmo with her aunts

****

Monday -- Halloween Nite

For Halloween night, we ended up back at my parent's again. My mom always throws a Halloween party. They ordered pizzas and served different snacks and desserts. My siblings and I all went trick or treating. We always do. It was lots of fun taking June this year. She dressed up as a lady bug and was the cutest thing ever. Whenever someone handed her candy she dove for it in a flash. She loved grabbing and holding on to candy.

Later, a bunch of my siblings, my dad, Josh and I all went to this haunted house a few blocks away. The line was terribly long but we waited it out and ended up being so glad. It was sooooooo scary. But seriously so fun. We were screaming and running and grabbing at each other the entire time. There was so much going on in there. It was awesome fun. A great way to end the Halloween. After that, it was late and we all went home to bed. My feet were killing!

june & her grandpa

alex & riely were angry birds, clever :)

alex, riely, jordan (dressed as Kesha), Brenna (a cat), and Josh Chang (a cop)

June was a ladybug and Josh and I...not really anything.

Marathon (again)

2011-11-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

At the marathon I did there were probably hundreds of photographers out along the course and finish line taking pictures. After a few weeks they are all posted on the marathon website and runners can buy the photos that were taken of them. I ordered all of the ones I was in for $55. I thought that was pretty steep considering we had worked so hard and already paid $85 for the stinkin' race. We earned those photos and they should be free! Tevs. It was cheaper to buy all 25 pictures than to pick the few I wanted and order them individually. Plus ordering them all came with $20 to Shutterfly...so I caved. I love Shutterfly. The photos came on CD the other day and I am glad to have the memories and cool photos of me along the course...but I seriously look hideous. I am so embarrassed. But I was enduring something tough so I guess I have reason.

Anyways, of the 25 pics I got on CD, these are the few I am willing to share in public. Ha ha.

Robyn I love you. I know we don't look our best. But I am so proud of us in this photo! We did it! This was us after the finish, after we got our medals and caught our breath.

Totally out of order here. This was taken before the race had started. We are at the starting line. It was still dark out. We were all tired, nervous, pumped...everything. We had to wake up at 4 in the morning to catch the buses that took us out to the start line in the middle of nowhere. The race began at 6:45 am. None of us had really slept at all the night before.

This picture turned out crappy. Bummer. But I like it because everyone from our family that was running was all together here. So proud of us.

L-R robyn, me, brenna, mom, dad, uncle brett, uncle craig, random friend, & cousin andrew

About mile 20 or so. My cousin Andy found me and we ran/walked together for several miles. We were both reeeaaallllyyy tired and mentally weak right about here. So glad we had each other. We noticed the photographer though so we put on a smiling face. I love Andy. He is such a fun cousin and such a close friend. I am was excited to do this race with him.

The finish line. All I could think was FINALLY!! I literally could not run another step.

Official time: 4 hours 46 minutes. Not my best time, not super thrilled, but I know I did my best out there. The hills and heat really took it's toll. And I had some troubles pacing myself. When the gun went off at the beginning, with 7,400 runners, not everyone crosses the start line right at the gun. So I had a 6 minute delay to take off from the official clock. There was a chip on the inside of our numbers that calculated when you actually began the race.

mom, dad, brenna, me

This was just seconds after the finish. They had these big misters and I had just walked through them a few times and was all wet. It felt amazing. It was 90 degrees out!

THE END

Random Happenings

2011-10-27T00:32:00.000-07:00

Just in case you wanted to hear about other things besides just June's every last detail about her life...here is something new.

I got this cute 5x7 print online. Say Boo and Scary On.

I had to get it and frame it next to my BOO on our mantle. Love it.

***

Last weekend we went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. We missed the trunk or treat part but we made it to the party inside where they served chili and cornbread, had music, dancing, games, face painting, and a costume contest. June is a ladybug this year (I bought her costume before June was even born). I am still working on my "bug" costume. And Josh is a bug catcher.

***

I LOVE these cute print outs from Eighteen 25. You all remember our Summer To Do List? Well, now we have a FALL one! Hurray! We made our list during FHE and put it up to start tackling. This list actually goes all the way through to Christmas, so it's a longer one for us.

***

Shout out to Sara Jorgensen for serving us delicious Apple Cider Floats in St. George a few weeks ago. We are addicted. I bought a big tub of good, quality cider and vanilla ice cream and we sip these all week long. They taste like delicious apple pie. They taste like Fall. I love them.

***

I saw several recipes online and in magazines for homemade fruit leathers. So fun! I thought they would be so hard and time consuming. Wrong! It was so easy and there are endless fruit combination you can make. I tried Raspberry with Vanilla Bean and it was pretty good. However you need A LOT of fruit. I used like 2 cups of berries and only ended up with 4 leather strips. It widdles down to nothing. And don't do it without a silicone mat. Try it here or make your own combos!

***

I subscribe to several different magazines, but when I'm done reading them I don't always want to keep the whole magazine. I would have tons of issues everywhere between the church mags, byu mag, and then all my food, parent, & home magazines...and I don't have the room to save them all. So I started ripping out the pages of stuff I wanted to keep and put them in binders that are organized. One binder for Kid Crafts/Games (when I have toddlers) another for Mommy Tips on weight loss, dieting, parenting tricks, things to look out for, playday ideas, kid friendly recipes, the works...Another for DIY Home Decor, crafts, gift ideas, recipes to try, etc. You get the idea.

I saw this craft in... I think Better Homes...I can't remember. But I tore out the page to remember to try it. It was the perfect rainy day craft when we got lots of rain awhile ago. The perfectionist in me is a little nit picky on some of the imperfections, but I hung it up on my wall upstairs and love it. When you do something yourself it has so much more value!

home is whenever i'm with you

Pick a quote. Trace it on paper. Use an X-Acto knife to cut out letters. Mount it on paper or fabric. And Frame! My frame was white but I painted it for a color pop.

***

In the spirit of the season I went on a baking frenzy one week of pumpkin treats. Then we decided to deliver some to friends because I made too much and we CANNOT eat it all ourselves. It was so fun!

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

chocolate whoopie pies with pumpkin cream cheese filling

Special Delivery!

9 Months

2011-10-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

This little girl is such a blast and is learning so much. I feel like everyday Josh and I are like, "did you see that!?" or "Come here, come look!" June is very smart, very curious, and very fast.

She loves when mommy and daddy pay attention to her. If we both "neglect" her (meaning we both try to get something done around the house and leave her with her toys on the ground) for 5 seconds, she let's us know with tears. Except now she is suuuper fast and can crawl to our feet in seconds. She is on Cloud 9 when we stop everything and give her our full attention.

One day, I went to get her from her nap and she was just sitting like this. I was so surprised! So suddenly she just figured out how to stand up. Now she is always standing waiting for me to come get her. So cute.

Loves the airplane trick

Possibly her favorite food of all time - avocado. Especially in guacamole form. She gets so angry and grabby if we only give her a little. This picture doesn't do justice, but we gave her her own bowl and she was covered in green in minutes. Covered.

Since we learned to stand, why not do it in the bath!? She was pretty proud of herself here. She pulls herself up into standing position on anything and everything now.

June thinks it's pretty funny to pull Dad's hair out while on his shoulders. I just say "welcome to my world, babe." She pulls mine 24/7. I also tell Josh to now imagine the earrings in his ears being pulled on, ha ha. I am unable to wear dangly earrings now. Oh well.

Daddy thought this was funny. June thought it appropriate to whip out her "puckered lip" face, as we call it. She does this ALL THE TIME. Whenever she sees something new, someone new, something she likes, whenever she sees her aunts & grandma, when I open her door after her nap is over, she makes this face all day long and I never get sick of it.

June has been sleeping a ton lately. Not sure if it's a phase, or she's growing more, or what, but I am pretty thrilled. She has been sleeping from 8 pm until 9 am. And she takes 2 naps a day and usually they are 2 hours each. But somedays she will take a 3+ hour nap in the late morning and then the rest of the day is kind of weird cuz she slept so late into the afternoon that I don't want her to take another nap because I want her to be tired for bedtime. When she wakes up at 3 in the afternoon, it's like...okay June, only one nap today, ha ha. I took this picture after she had been asleep for two and a half hours. I finally went in to wake her up because I didn't want her sleeping forever and not being tired for bed.

This is how June sleeps. I was stoked to finally catch a picture. This pink blankie is her favorite. She won't take any other blankie we have, and we have tons. She just throws them. But this blankie she cuddles with and sucks on the corners to fall asleep. And then it ends up staying in her mouth half the time. So cute! I have to wash the thing a ton now with her constantly sucking on the corners. But she takes after her mommy :) I had a blankie too when I was little and I always rubbed the corners between my fingers. I still have the blankie and still sleep with it from time to time. Lovies are a huge deal to me. It's important for kids to have them! I was so touched that June attached to this blankie all on her own. She protects it and looks for it all the time.

Watch this video of June and her "Blankie Test".

See how she instantly knows which blankie is the "real" one. She can find the corners and she whines until we give her the right one. She also kicks away the wrong ones.

Cuddling with daddy and blankie waiting for dinner to be ready. She is sooo attached to Josh when he comes home from work. She cries until he holds her and won't leave his arms. Precious.

She is a humongous mess after dinner, so we clean the dishes and the table and then it's the sink for little girls! She bathes there and plays in the water for awhile. She loves it.

Getting into everything these days!

Pulling herself up on the couch to see mom. She plays on her own for awhile but then always has to come find me to make sure she isn't alone. Ha ha.

We showed June Sesame Street videos on YouTube and she is now in love with Elmo. Whenever it comes on she flaps and squawks and laughs. We pulled it up on the big screen of our computer and she was mesmerized. She thinks my phone is Elmo now too. Whenever I am on it she pulls it away and looks at the screen for it. This is June watching Elmo's Ducks on the computer. She is was so wide-eyed.

Classic Lip Face

After Josh let her eat her cereal on her own. The mess...oh the mess. It never looks so bad in the pictures.

I also have to give a shout out to my cousin Robyn Holland for giving June the book Goodnight Moon. A classic. I set it out on her dresser next to a teddy bear kind of as decor. I thought it looked cute out. Well, I have been reading with June everyday now and we started reading Goodnight Moon. Then eventually it became Josh's goodnight story that he always read to her. It was their book together. Well June is completely obsessed with the book now. Anytime we are in her room she is leaning out of my arms towards the book and reaching for it. She loves to read it and she loves the bright colors. I have to get a picture of her face when reading it...it's pretty similar to the pictures of her watching Elmo above. She just loves it and wants to read it several times a day. So cute! Thanks Robyn!

At her 9-month checkup:

15th percentile in weight...Nice June. Doctor said it's time to bulk up!

80th percentile in height

I always say she got her Daddy's genes.

She also got the Flu shot and an Iron test that said she was pretty low. So now we are pumping her with iron rich foods and taking some drops.

I LOVE THIS STUFF

2011-10-18T18:53:00.000-07:00

clinique chubby stick.

JUNEBUG KRAFTS

2011-10-12T22:45:00.000-07:00

So guess what friends!? I started an Etsy Shop! Yeah! After looking at and buying everyone else's amazing stuff, I figured it was about time I did something myself.

Since having June and meeting new friends with other little girls, I have gotten really into making hairbows and flowery headbands. I love making June cute hair accessories for all her outfits (though recently she is learning how to pull everything off her head, ugh). So with Josh's encouragement, I made a bunch of hairbands and photographed them (thank you June for your modeling) and started a shop selling them! So fun, right? I'm excited!

here is just a small teaser to get you excited as well :)

Check it out! Buy a bow! Tell your friends!

I'd love to reach all sorts of ladies out there with little ones needing cute hair accessories. Because for real, hairbands for girls...it's a need. Now I need your help to spread the word! And check back for special holiday & seasonal sales and bundle gift options. It's going to be loads of fun! June is modeling another one of my bows in the picture of her in my sidebar.

Here is the link to my shop. Thanks again June for the inspiration.

JuneBugKrafts.etsy.com

Also wanted to give a shout out to this awesome girl who designed the banner to my bow shop. Her name is Sandra and she recently started this super cute graphic design blog called SandraDeesigns. Her button is featured on my sidebar. She designs everything from baby announcements, birthday invites and banners, Christmas cards, and even home decor. She does custom designs and you print them out. So fun, right!? I love everything on her blog. And she is super flexible. So I contacted her to see if she would design a banner for me and...viola! My shop has a cute and fun banner. Just what I wanted. Below is her link.

sandradeesigns.blogspot.com

Be sure and check her out! She does giveaways and fun seasonal offers you don't want to miss. Everything is really cute!

HALLOWEEN

2011-10-10T04:26:00.000-07:00

I love that the Holiday season is upon us! All month long we anticipate Halloween, then next it's Thanksgiving, then Christmas and New Years! In between all that you also have to mix in Josh's, mine, AND June's Birthdays. Crazy! I always get so excited once Fall comes. So, I kicked it all off with a festive home. I got out my Halloween decorations, made some more decor and bought some to make the house a festive holiday.

Next on the list is baking pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and decorating Halloween sugar cookies. And decorating pumpkins. And making Halloween costumes. And Apple Cider Floats. And Halloween parties. And Trick or Treating. YIPEE.

I love having a mantle to decorate.

candy corn wreaths we made last year. they lasted great. we have two up in the house. i love them.

And all the while decorating and photographing...June learned how to pull all the dvds down off the racks. This was when I first noticed what she was doing. The mess got much worse. I thought we had a few more months before this started happening.

St George Marathon

2011-10-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it! What am I saying...WE did it. We ran the St. George Marathon on Saturday, October 1st. All EIGHT of us, which includes me, my sister Brenna, both my Mom and Dad, my uncles Craig and Brett, and my cousins Robyn and Andy. So proud of everyone!

Even though we didn't all run together, I was so proud and so boosted by running this race with so many family members. I am so proud we are healthy, strong, and dedicated to something like this. I had a lot of pride in us all for working so hard, training so hard, and really enduring the race. It was seriously tough stuff. Every time I was struggling out there I would just think of all my family scattered across the course and that would really give me the motivation I needed. Most of us had run marathons, halfs, or triathlons before and it was unanimous that this was way harder than any other race we'd done. We all were expecting to do a little better...but brushing it off! We finished and that's what matters! I'm just amazed we all survived the blazing heat and rolling hills. This marathon had some major hills.

I almost didn't post any pictures because, as you can understand, we don't look so great. But memories need to be documented, so here we go. I kind of rely on my blog to be my journal.

Love this pic of my baby June and Josh Chang

(my sis Brenna is also dating a Josh) I guess Josh is just a popular name. My Josh and her Josh get a lot of nicknames over the issue. Lately we are just referring to them by their last names. Josh Yates always says he was and is the original Josh in the fam so he should get special treatment, ha ha.

Every several miles there would be bands playing. This one was playing straight out of a truck. Surprisingly, it was entertaining. Even if just for the 30 seconds you ran by. There were so many nice people out along the course cheering for everyone. It was awesome.

I was dying that I didn't have any way to take pictures while I was running. Not of me, the scenery. It was GORGEOUS. Josh did take a few shots while out on the course cheering, but none that do the scenery justice. This was a beautiful marathon! We didn't run in St. George, they bused us out of the city about 45 minutes at 5 in the morning (so we had to get up at 4:00 AM) and we ran INTO St. George at the finish. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere out there. The mountains were breathtaking. It was also an amazing sight to see the road ahead. There were 7,400 runners in this race and the roads were completely taken up by the racers. It was so neat to see the pretty red mountains and the thousands of runners.

This is kinda how it looked. Nothing but bare mountains and plains...and thousands of runners.

Changers (my current nickname)

This was about mile...23? 24? We were just starting to come into St. George. It was also very hot by now. We started at 6:45 am when it was still dark, but it was nice and cool. But eventually that wore off and it was in the 90s. Yuck!

BEST CHEERLEADER EVER!

Mile 24. Just random people running by.

The Josh's were on sign-making duty the night before the race while all the runners went to bed early (or tried to). Josh made the funniest sign, I laughed so hard. I ran by him and June around mile 24 and saw it sitting up by her stroller. It says: "Hurry Mommy So You Can Feed Me!" ha ha, it's just so Joshie. And yes, I am still nursing. So that was a minor challenge throughout this training. But luckily she eats solids now. I got up extra early, nursed her at 4 am and put her back to sleep. Then Josh just fed her baby snacks until I nursed her again around noon or so. We made it work, but I will never again train for something like this while nursing.

Eating a popsicle...I guess when I said Josh fed her baby snacks I should have used the term baby very losely, ha ha. June loves food now. Adult foods that is. She will eat anything we eat.

There goes Me! Not feeling so great right here. It was mile 24. The last two miles felt like ten. Seriously torturous.

And there goes Robyn! YAYY! Don't hate me for posting this.

Here is John, Robyn's hubby. He was biking along parts of the course to find us and cheer. We had the best cheerleaders, guys!

Shot of the very crowded finish line. It was mayhem! But they had tons of popsicles, massage stations, bread & butter from Great Harvest (my fave), waters, juice, snow cones, photo stations, you name it. Runners got very special treatment. All those that finished also received a medal. Yay! Makes you feel good.

Joshie and Me. This was much later after I finished. When I first crossed the line I collapsed on the grass, peed my pants (ugh. too hard to explain) and cried for 20 minutes. Then I realized I couldn't walk without hobbling. Eventually I started to find some of my family members. This was way later that I finally found Josh and could bring myself to smile for a picture. I have never before felt so tired, sore, mentally drained, emotionally drained....physically drained. It was intense. Total exhaustion. Love Joshie tons for cheering me on and believing in me.

He even decorated and wrote on the back of my t-shirt I wore in the race. It said cute messages on it for encouragement. I loved it. But I forgot to take a picture of it. People commented on it a lot during the race. Pretty fun.

Dad, Mom, Me, Brenna...with snow cones. They were amazing. And free.

Me with my parents. So proud they finished. My dad was injured and still made it! Love them.

Also, this was my dad and mine's second marathon together. We did one in death valley in 2004 together when I was a senior in high school. We both did better then, haha.

mom and dad

brenna and chang

Later that day, we just relaxed. Obviously. We all hobbled around like old people. We sorta napped. Showers were much needed. And we watched Conference. And we also devoured any food around. June was obsessed with popsicles that weekend. Her mouth was so blue we couldn't stop laughing.

When the Primary kids sang in the choir at Conference, June watched it and didn't look away until they finished. Tender moment.

Basically, the rest of the weekend looked like this. Runners lounging around begging to be massaged. But tenderly. Please tenderly!

On Sunday afternoon, we piled in our cars and drove home. It was painful to have to sit so long. None of us could walk normally or at a normal pace for a few days. Stairs were terrible! I stayed downstairs in our house all day Monday. It was a sight to see. But I guess it was worth it! ha ha. Thanks for all those who encouraged us! I think we all are so thrilled to have some time off from the demanding training schedule. No more 7 am 15 milers on Saturday mornings! Woo!

The marathon has photographers out all over the course taking pictures. They turned out pretty cool (considering we look exhausted) but I ordered them to make memory books of. I may post some of those later.

Loves Her Daddy

2011-10-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

happy happy girl

Ellen

2011-09-28T11:14:00.001-07:00

I love watching the Ellen Degeneres Show. She's awesome. I've been dying to go to her show forever. Well, a few weeks ago a friend of mine who has been trying to get tickets for the longest time finally got four! She asked me to go with her. Uhhh...Are you kidding!?

I was excited for weeks. We went yesterday and had the best time. The whole experience was so fun. Being in LA, at Warner Bros. Studios, seeing the set, and being in the audience, it was all so exciting and fun.

We left Rancho at noon, got to LA and made it to the studios around 2. We waited in line and got our tickets and waited some more to be taken to the studio room and be seated. By 3:30 or so we were practicing cheers and applause with cameras rolling on us. Before the show airs, they blare music, have dancing contests, and play around like crazy. It's so fun! And then before you know it, everything clears the stage and Ellen walks out and we scream.

She interviewed this entertaining bunch of attractive people. The new judges on the show X-Factor. Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, LA Reed, & Nicole Scherzinger (also another former DWTS winner), and the host Steve Jones. They were hilarious.

Ellen, being the generous woman that she is, gave the entire audience a

YEAR SUPPLY of FREE Tide Laundry Detergent!! WOO! I don't care, that is sweet! We are going to save tons of money.

Yayy, free laundry. I love Ellen.

We also saw this guy, Jarle Bernhoft. We had no clue who he was, but now are huge fans. I guess he made this YouTube video and is now all the rage. Instead of forming a music band, he decided to record all the parts himself to create songs. He uses this cool machine to record all the layers to a song and plays it as he goes. Video is below. He is from Norway or somewhere like that and has this crazy long confusing name, so he calls himself Bernhoft for short. He is awesome though. And crazy talented. Watch his video. It's only 4 minutes. It's what made him all the buzz. He performed this Live for us after he was interviewed by Ellen. It was even better Live. Like seriously, WAY good.

At the end of the show, country singer Luke Bryan came to play his hit song "Country Girl, Shake it For Me". Have you heard it?? This was probably my favorite part. Luke Bryan is amazing, this song is AMAZING, and the performance and energy was AMMMAAZING. It's one awesome dancing song, for sure. The audience also got to take home a free copy of his new album. Yeah! Check out his song here. It will get you dancing.

Awesome day! Dying to go again already! Here are some pictures I snapped from the day. They were pretty strict on not taking any pictures. I did my best.

Warner Bros. Studios

big crowds

hugely humongous poster of Ellen's show

gotta love Ellen water

Outside the studio room there is a cute Ellen Shop with all kinda of souvenirs and things. We shopped and I got a cool shirt and a magnet to document.

Watch Ellen TODAY (Wednesday) at 4 pm and look for me, but really just enjoy an awesome show!

8 Months

2011-09-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

Our growing girl is 8 months old this month.

15.8 pounds

29 inches long

Basically we have a tall, skinny girl on our hands. She got that from her daddy. June is so petite! She is an 8-month old still wearing all her 3-month old stuff! I have been excited for months for her to finally fit into these cute 6 month and 9 month clothes...but nope. Won't be wearing those for awhile. I have to shrink stuff in the wash before it will fit her. She is just so tall.

eating cheerios and cuddling with her great grandma jackie

June rode her 1st plane! That was exciting. She did awesome. She was so excited and interested to look around at everything. It was so new to her. Twenty minutes into take off, she fell asleep and stayed that way until we landed. Amazing. We even had the whole back row to ourselves. Even more amazing. Three seats is so much better than two.

She is pulling herself up to a standing position now. And she's still army crawling on her belly, but she is dang fast now. Any day now we're expecting her to crawl for real.

Still loves bath time and swim time the most.

She is also going through and extreme daddy phase. When her and I are alone together all day, she is fine but as soon as daddy is home or around she only wants him. It is so cute. And in the mornings when we wakes up, I nurse her in our bed and she is always climbing and crawling all over Josh. If he has already left for the day, she falls right back asleep with me, but if Josh is in bed still she is all over him. As son as she is home from work, she only wants him.

We are starting to wean from nursing. June loves to eat foods and try new things all the time. My mom even got a cute highchair for her house so when we have dinner there, June has her seat. She is really good at feeding herself too.

Some of her new favs: mashed potatoes, cheerios, bananas, cornbread, jello, black beans. She also loves going to restaurants with us and sitting in a high chair. She gets to eat and drink with us, gets her own seat, and sings and smiles at everyone walking by. She always attracts lots of attention.

And just this last weekend, we popped out a tooth! Yay! Her two front ones are coming in but only one has broken the surface as of now. The other one you can see just below the gums. June has been really slobbery and spitty lately too.

Day At The Pier

2011-09-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

June and I spent an afternoon walking around San Clemente at the pier. It was a lovely day.

We also happened to have a "celebrity" sighting. Remember this guy from Dancing With The Stars? Gil Marini. He won. He was also in The Sex and the City movie.

He approached June and I offering to take our picture. I didn't want to be annoying so I didn't say anything...but then I snapped this picture of him later for proof. His French accent was amazing.

eating Cherrios with my babe while people watching

...awwwwh...

Fall Fashion Wants

2011-09-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

Not that I can afford it all...but every new season I am just ITCHING for new clothes. Fall is approaching and I'm ready to scoot the bathing suits, cover ups, and shorts aside and pull forward jackets, scarfs, and sweaters.

Currently dying to have:

I'm such a sucker.

Backyard

2011-09-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Since we moved into our place we have spent some time jazzing up the backyard. It's much prettier now that we've put some care into it. New paint job, new plants, decor, a garden, and some tender watering care is all it needed from us.

We planted a garden. Here's the tomatoes.

and our herbs

chives

basil

and green onion

and here's our onions...(not pictured: our pepper and raspberry plants)

we bloomed some beautiful flowers

and I got some cute backyard lanterns to hang up

September came too soon. We're not ready to say goodbye to summer yet. Good thing we live in California, right!? Happy Labor Day to all!

Our 7 Month Old

2011-09-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

As I always say..... My little baby grows too fast. Here is some of the things our little babe has been up to this past month.

Josh and I are realizing more and more how smart our little girl is. She is picking up on so much these days. And she learns so quickly. June is very active, mobile, energetic, and noisy. This is such a fun age! We love her.

little girl loves food and trying new things. As long as it isn't baby food. She pretty much eats whatever we are eating, given that it's safe and she can mush it.

She loves loves loves my parents dog and cat...i'm thinking we need to get her her own pet.

swims nearly every day and has one amazing tan already

getting nails done with mom, grandma, and aunts

Bike ride to the farmer's market. This is such a classic June face--when a stranger is talking and touching her this is the face she gives them. Cracks me up.

at balboa pier with uncle al

One night, Josh was holding June while playing Wii. After awhile he noticed she wasn't wiggling like normal. Apparently the sounds lulled her to sleep, ha ha. Tired girl.

She has gotten really good at crawling across the ground on her belly now. She hasn't lifted her belly off the ground yet but she can get places pretty good and fast. Just waiting til she gets on all fours and then our lives will change in a whole new way.

She went to Color Me Mine with us this month

2 Funerals :( very sad

Explored 2 new beaches with me

Went on her first plane ride

And is making lots of great baby friends

LOVE THIS AGE

Anniversary Day

2011-08-24T23:39:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th Anniversary to us today! Best four years of my life!

Our day was full of shopping, painting at Color Me Mine, and then dropping June off at my parent's house while we went to dinner at Tommy Bahamas. Can you say YUM!!

Was a great day!

Some Things Are Free

2011-08-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

We visited The Great Park the other week in Irvine. Whoever said nothing is free has never been here. Everything about it is free. Yes!

We walked around the park watching the kids playing on the playgrounds that had cool misters to stay cool. We explored the Visitor Center and then we got around to the real fun stuff. This place is awesome. First we rode the kiddy carousel. June was confused but interested. She just looks around curious at everything. I can only imagine her thoughts.

After the carousel we went to go ride the big balloon. It's like a hot air balloon without the hot air. It's tethered and they raise you up about 400 feet up in the air. You chill at the top and admire the view for 15 minutes and then they bring you down. It was windy that day so it was a little rocky, but that added to the fun. I love being up high. It was an awesome rush! Josh wasn't so sure. But overall we had a blast of a day.

Here is a view of the balloon from a distance. You can see it as your coming down the 5 freeway too. I've always seen it but never rode it til now.

Riding the carousel round and round

Here is more of the balloon--the best part of the Great Park

Joshie and June just before boarding. They even let you take strollers up!

Nervous Joshie

Beautiful OC

our view looking down

Just after we got off. We had so much fun! Little June's first balloon ride at only 7 months old. Such an adventurous girl.

Balboa Island

2011-08-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

We went on a little family outing to Balboa. We parked at the Fun Zone and then rode the ferry across the water to Balboa Island.

I LOVE Balboa Island. It's so perfect and cute. We walked around the island admiring the beautiful homes and cute families and then we ventured down to Main Street. We window shopped, looked around, and bought some frozen yogurt.

We had a great time. June was extremely interested in everything. She is very alert and interested in seeing exactly where we are. She watched every last puppy that walked by, every last group of kids playing, and watched every little store window.

Riding the ferry

Welcome to Balboa Island

This group of girls were selling sea shells along the board walk. They were 10 cents each. We laughed and then bought one that looked like a unicorn's horn thingy. Love it. A souvenir!

Main Street on the Island. Filled with quaint shops, restaurants, and treats galore.

Quite possibly my favorite fro yo place. Tutti Frutti and Yogurtland are neck in neck these days. June totally loves frozen yogurt, ha ha. Especially fruit flavors, so this place is right up her alley. We snacked on our treats on a bench and she watched all the cute puppies go by.

Seriously my favorite flowers. This house was blooming with them and I snapped way too many pictures of them all. I couldn't help it. GORGEOUS.

An afternoon outside in the sun at Balboa...just the cure for anything you need! Such a lovely day. Come with us next time!

Pool Party

2011-08-08T22:32:00.000-07:00

My two teen sisters have birthdays that are two days apart. Brenna turned 18 and Allyson turned 15. They held a little joint celebration this year and rented a moon dance slip n' slide for a day. We had friends and family over all throughout the day to come and play/swim.

Even baby June rode on it.

june and aunt ally

there is allyson and june in the distance riding the slide.....so cute

Summer Gusto

2011-08-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

Every summer I get lots of energy and gusto to get out and do more things. I always make a Summer To Do List for each new summer season and hang it somewhere in the kitchen so we can conquer it.

Every summer's list has just been on a simple white sheet of paper. No problem with that. Except this year I saw this amazing Summer To Do List print out that was seriously made for me. Especially when one of the color options it came in was yellow. Seriously.

I printed it out, framed it, added all our "to-dos" and hung it on a wall in our kitchen. Now we can check them off with a cutesy dry erase marker when we finish one. With Josh's crazy busy schedule lately, June and I will probably be checking off some of them solo. She is great company though.

Yay for Summer To Do's! I love this time of year.

Food

2011-08-02T12:42:00.000-07:00

June is slowly discovering foods. She is picky and stubborn. She won't eat any jarred baby foods still...naughty. But I have made a few recipes for homemade baby foods and she will eat those. Sophisticated palate much!? I made a roasted banana and blueberry puree and she gobbled that up. I made a spinach and banana puree and she is doing pretty good with that too. She will eat tons of rice cereal ONLY if I mix it with, you guessed it...banana. So...pretty much...the kid likes banana and she'll eat if things are mixed with it. We call them naners.

There are a few exceptions. We gave her mango once and she immediately ate it all up and wanted more. She sucks on it through her mesh baby bags until it's completely gone. Josh got her to eat a whole mango one day, unfortunately he didn't put on a bib and she was fully dressed. This is how she looked after.

Biggest stickiest mess ever. She went straight into the bath. The mess was all over the Bumbo seat, floor, her legs, hair...everywhere. That onesie was ruined too. Sad. Who knew mango stained!? I'm learning that basically everything stains. Ugh.

Another thing she loves is licorice. I know, she totally shouldn't eat it. But we can thank her daddy for that one. He gave her a stick of licorice one day and she gobbled it up so fast and refused to let us take it away. It was pretty hilarious. No more licorice though! This child needs to eat her veggies! Pretty much she likes things as long as they have no baby food label anywhere on them.

Pictures do not give the mess any justice.

Watch Your Step

2011-07-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

I love this video. Brother Holland's voice is amazing. Gives me chills just to hear it. He truly speaks from inspiration. Though, regarding pornography, we all have struggles that are "enemies of our souls". This video is worth your time. It inspired me to be better, find the enemy in my life, and watch my steps.

6 Months

2011-07-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

Reeling that I have a 6 month old. What!?

During her 6 month here are some things that went on:

Went to her 1st baseball game. I got her a cute onsie to support our team. Angels vs Dodgers. There were fireworks afterward and those are the best. June slept through them.

Obsessed with sucking on bread. Especially pizza crust. She wants to try everything we are eating. She loves it and makes a real nice mess doing it. She loves to suck on mangoes. We put them in those baby mesh things so they can taste the foods without choking. I put chunks of mango in them and 5 minutes later the mesh is empty and she wants more. Again, very messy ordeal.

refuses to eat baby food or rice cereal

Says da-da. She obviously doesn't know she is saying daddy, but she totally rocks Josh's world whenever she does it. She goes on forever, "da da da da da". Also has a few "bla-blas" in there too. She is a very chatty person.

Loves evening walks with mom and dad. Before bedtime she is fussy, but I want to wait til 8:30 or so to put her down so she won't wake up at 4 in the morning. So we always go on evening strolls around the lake. There are plenty of puppies, skaters, and toddlers out walking as well and she loves watching everything. Josh and I just watch her head turn every which way following everything passing by.

She refuses to lay back in her stroller now. She used to lay in it and take naps every so often, but now she always has to be sitting up and leaning out the edge looking at everything she can see. It's pretty cute.

Total fish baby. We swim probably 6 days a week.

Rolls all directions. Back to belly. Belly to back. She turns different ways to face us. I can't turn around for a second when she's on her changing table cuz she rolls onto her belly and leans over the side, nearly falls off every time. She is also in totally different positions and places in her crib each morning when she wakes up. She used to not move at all.

Loves to put cups to her lips and sing into them

Makes this crinkly nose face all the time

Celebrated her 1st holiday: July 4th! It was a real fun day.

Hair has lighten up a ton!

She reaches out for me. I put my hair close to hers and she grabs my cheeks and pulls me to her mouth. She also grabs my hair and plays with it. She will grab anyones hair quicker than lightning.

Daddy's Blog

2011-07-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

My cute Joshie has been making videos with June. As most new parents probably do, we have filmed a lot of life with June. Her first day home, her first bath, funny moments, just everything. The camera is always out and filming memories.

One day Josh decided to get creative and edit some clips and compile a little video together. This way, those that don't get to see June very often can watch her funny self and avoid watching our 20 minute long videos but instead see the highlights in a 2 minute version.

Now he makes new videos all the time. Sometimes it's at random and other times he sets up funny play time games with June and has the camera rolling. He is such a goof.

Anyways, he set up this blog...a Daddy and June blog, as he calls it, and he uploads his latest videos on it so those that want to see June more...in a small way...can!

Check it out and follow him to see more videos uploaded. They crack us up so much. We re-watch them all the time. Be sure and watch the Pure Joy video. It is our absolute favorite.

Leave him some comment love too. So he will keep it up :D

PEAKABOOISEEYOU.BLOGSPOT.COM

Quilt

2011-07-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

My lovely aunt is an amazing sewer and quilter. Seriously amazing. She made this beautiful quilt for baby June. She worked so hard on it and I cannot thank her enough. I am crazy in love with it. June loves it too. She is a big blankie person, like me, and is very cuddly with them.

See?

LOVE THE COLORS!

The other side is super soft and has these beautiful flower pattern and flower stitches in pink all over it. The detail is beautiful. I just think handmade things are priceless. I still have my handmade white blanket that my great grandma made for me when I was born. Priceless.

If you have a few extra bucks

2011-07-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

I came across this story online about this family, the Grimshaws. Rob, with his wife and two daughters, was feeling pain in his left hand. What began as possible carpal tunnel treatments has lead to a long road of confusion and misdiagnoses and PAIN. Eventually a specialist discovered a tumor in his arm the size of an egg. After traveling far from his family many times for treatments, tests, and procedures, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer known as Epithelioid Sarcoma that only 8 people in the US have had in the last 15 years. The cancer does not respond to chemotherapy at all. His arm has tumors ripping through his muscles and attacking his bones. It is also affecting his lungs. Tumors are in his lungs. He is in terrible pain and because of the rare form, they have received little help medically.

I know that they are total strangers, but they are LDS and their story really touched me, not to mention, totally breaks my heart. They are asking that people spread the word about them and I figured I would. The more the word spreads, the more it can help. They've set up fundraisers, bake sales, races, and all sorts of events as the LDS community has rallied around them to help. They also have a website where you can read about their story, progress, and you can also donate. We did.

Their only real option medically involves experimental therapies and insurance doesn't cover anything. They are looking at some pretty hefty bills. Please pray. His little girls need their daddy. And if you have a few extra bucks...every little bit helps!

Spread the word! Donate, watch interviews & movies, and follow progress on family blog here .

4th of July

2011-07-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

It was a smokin' hot 4th of July this year. Perfect for swimming though. June's first major holiday too. We had a blast.

On July 1st, we went to an Angels vs Dodgers game. It was fun, but we lost. And Dodger fans are super annoying and gross. But that's okay. There was a firework show after the game that was totally awesome. June, of course, slept through it and woke up when it was over.

Grandma & June

Grandpa & June

This is how I usually spend baseball games...catching up on my Hollywood gossip. This year we added a sleeping baby to the routine.

On July 3rd we went to my parents for dinner and then headed to our old high school to watch some more fireworks go off. June got all dolled up in her red, white, and blue outfit that her Grandpa Yates had bought for her months ago. I was so excited to get it out.

at the park playing and waiting for fireworks...June watched this time.

On July 4th, we went to pool parties and BBQs at both sides of my grandparents houses. There was lots of food and lots of swimming. We had a great time. Once it got dark, everyone kind of split up to different places to see fireworks. Josh and I decided to head back to RSM to watch out community's show at the lake. We got there just in time and were so impressed. It was a great show and even more fun that June watched and smiled. Holidays are so fun with kids. We love our little community out here in Santa Margarita and it was fun to join everyone at the lake for a show.

Josh and June watching and waiting for the fireworks to start

June's face was so funny. She was leaning forward the whole time watching all the pretty colors of the fireworks.

Oooooo...awwwww...ooooo!

Family Pic <3