Cali Beach Trip 2011

We just returned from a 2 WEEK vacation...I think that's the longest I've ever been away from home! We clocked a total of 62 1/2 hours of driving and 3500 miles, that's the downfall. There will be multiple posts to document all the places we went, but we'll start with the first..CALIFORNIA!!!

The girls are ready to get to the beach...let's go!

First day playing in the water, boy it was COLD! Ava never went very far in, she was always chasing and running from the waves. Though Jeremy let a semi-strong wave take her down, but he was there to rescue her.

One of the 3 pics of me, not my favorite place to be pictured. You will see NO pics of me in a bathing suit any day soon! But Mya is looking good and scandalous in her too big suit.

(SEE THE FIRST PIC...I accidently deleted it, but then couldn't get it in the right place!!)

Sleeping Beach Baby!

We practiced my Aunt Mary's tried and true method of the "Dunk & Nap"

You strip your baby of clothing, dunk in the freezing cold water to remove the mounds of sand, then wrap up and put down to nap. Worked like a charm every time! But she became fearful when near the water, sorry baby.

And she ate sand, pooped sand, became part of sand!

And sucked sand off rocks.

Oh ya, looking good!

Even just licked the sand right off the ground.

Didn't bother me a bit, I just let her do her thing and enjoy it!

Jessica, Ava & I made Jeremy into a Mermaid. And it was Jessica that gave him a "chest", not I!

LOTS of Suncream was used in this week and still lots of burning took place on this poor little white girl. Not a happy camper when having it rubbed on with a burn and sand mixed in!

We called them her "Angel Wings".

50 proof Sunscreen doesn't do a thing for this girl.

Lot of holes were dug and played in. Made the perfect wading pool for Mya.

Mya even learned how to dig, see her tracks?

Small buckets of water are better than the ocean to play in.

The last day we were there my cousin Audra & Family came a day early to see us and meet Miss Mya (they were there the next week with alot of my other family that stays for 2 weeks at a time). Audra is such a blast, wish we would have been able to do the second week with her.

Two of her cute kids playing with Mya. Mya got lots of love from everyone!

It was such a great week, though lots of work with little ones to clean up and keep track of. They both slept great in the tent with us and Ava had a cousin to play with all week. And of course lots of fun game playing and visiting at night. Not pictured is my Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle Fred & Aunt Mary & 4 kids, Uncle Wayne & Aunt Stephanie & 4 kids, my Mom's cousin Sarah & hubby Les & 2 kids and some 2nd cousins. Not sure that we'll go next year, but maybe in 2 years we'll be back for more fun!

Baby Shower!

This past Friday I threw a Baby Shower for my friend Rachel and her baby girl Kaitlyn.

She's already a Mom to two little boys, so we had to celebrate the arrival of a GIRL!

Mya was in on the party to, she enjoyed the attention and didn't care that Mommy got to hold the Kaitlyn alot.
Haha! My friend Rebecca, bet she wouldn't like me posting this pic.
We played the Candy Bar Poopy diaper guessing game, too fun.

The guest of Honor, Miss Kaitlyn Lucille!

She'll need to grow into the headband & ribbon clip I made her, she's sooo tiny.

A lady from church made her these little cowboy booties....stinking adorable!

Should have taken a pic before the food got eaten. But I made yummy choc dipped strawberries with pink choc drizzle on top and choc cupcakes with PB frosting. And of course served some healthier items as well. I had orginally spent 3 nights making cheesecake pops, but then it was slightly undercooked and way to soft after they got dipped in chocolate. Jeremy didn't approve of me serving, so I threw them in the freezer and now I'll get fatter eating them. Oh well, live and learn.

Ava modeling the clip I made, turned out cute, but kind of bulky.

And I made this cute applique onesie for the baby.

I had to experiment and make a Diaper Cake, I've been wanting to make one for awhile now.

I forgot to take a pic of the final results, I put fake flowers around the top and couple on the other layers. I've seen alot of cute ones where they attach binkies and toys and other baby items, but I'd already spent enough money on the whole shower, so I kept it simple.

It was so much fun to plan and carry out, though I wish I would have gotten invites out sooner. We still had about 8 women and some kids come to play with Ava, so it was good!

What we've been up to...

Gone Fishing!
Miss Patriotic Mya was waving and dancing for us...waiting for the Fireworks to start.

KaeLynn reading to Mya. She's going to make a good Big Sis pretty soon..

In love with Smoothies! Yum-O!

Yes I'm cute...now give me that camera!

This is a HUGE Sturgeon fish that we saw at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery!

The pic doesn't do it justice!

In front of the Bonneville Dam, kissing some flowers.

Man, it's windy by the Dam.

The same time we arrived, so did a HUGE busload of Amish peeps.

(See the lady grabbing the guys butt? Is that allowed with them?? :)

Grandma Frey & Ava, checking out the fish swimming up the fish ladder.

Poor little guys work so hard!!!

(And more Amish in the back..had to include them in my pic)

Ava & Daddy~heading out of the Zoo

HI~I'm sleeping, no leave me alone.

Ava's FAVORITE animal at the Zoo...I think I've posted that before, like the last time went.

But this is all she wanted to see, and later in the day she was sure we had missed it and wanted to go back. Not a chance girl!

Grandpa Frey and his only Grandchildren!

I know you all wanted to see a pic of the Bear enjoying his lunch!!!

It was a little chilly when we got there, so she stole Mya's blanket.

You're rocking it Ava!

ROAR!!!! Beware, I'm on the move!!!

Just thought this one was cute.

And this one too...love baby bums!

We had Jeremy's parent here for a visit for 6 days. We kept busy and wore us all out. The girls love having Grandparents to play and spoil them. I think Mya grew quite found of Grandpa Frey. Ava was won over by the candy and Ice Cream they bought here. They wanted to get the girls something, so we went shopping and picked out matching outfits for the girls. I forgot to take a pic of them together wearing it, but it's the one Mya is wearing on July 4th. We are only a few weeks away from a 2 week trip to Southern Cali, Las Vegas, Arizona, UT & ID. I'm so not ready!!! But it's going to be fun and exhausting. I'm so excited to see friends that I haven't seen in awhile and of course all my family along the way!!!! :) And best of all....sitting on the Beach, playing in the sand and riding some waves on the Boogie Board. Woohoo!

(And just for my record....Mya is now 10 months old, crawling all over, and pulling herself up on everything. She recently started creeping along furniture as well. Her 1st tooth-O- came in at 9 3/4 months old. P- is just about to break the skin. She is still so happy and content. Except when Ava drags her around and attempts to pick her up. She's starting to fight back and grunts/ or screams at Ava when she wants to be left alone. Her and Ava have screaming matches all the time...just for the fun of it and it's pretty dang funny, though deafening. She is loving all sorts of finger foods now. Ava is still the same...sassy, disagreeable, cute, loud, ACTIVE, & crazy. But we love them!)

Fun, EASY Craft! And other cute pics!

I was blog surfing the other day, just snooping on friends of family members blogs and I landed on a totally fun craft/sewing blog. This lady had a tutorial on how to make cute baby/toddler leggings and it looked so easy, then I thought to myself how I wish I would've found this sooner before I spent $8 plus shipping on a black pair to go with Mya's tutu.

Above if the finished product...but I later made one in just plain white also, after my awesome hubby took apart my sewing machine because I jammed it and then attempted to break it as well.
If any of you have a sewing machine and would like to attempt these,
here is how you do it.
1. Buy some super cute knee-high women's socks (found each pair for $2.50 @ Target)
2. Cut it like I did above, then throw out the heal part and toe part.
3. Fold the remaining foot part in half, you want the inside to remain folded inside.
4. Slide it over the long part of the sock, so that the ends match up all together (the ends that were all cut on). Pin it in place...like the pic below.

5. Sew on the inside of the sock end using a zig-zag sticth.
6. Flip it over and you've got a legging! Takes like 10 minutes to make one pair...
that is my kind of easy!

And to see the finished project on the cutest babe ever....

You work it girl!

Not the easiest to crawl with on wood floors!

And yes...I said crawl. My baby started crawling a week after turning 9 months, about the same EXACT time Ava did...how weird is that? And she's on track to get her 1st tooth about the same time Ava did.

Cute matching shirts from Target that were on Clearance!

I don't match them much, but it's fun sometimes!

My happy lady!

Her 1st smoothie! She kept crawling back for more, it was that good.

Good weather=time to use the swing.

Ava likes to take pics and steal my camera. Had to share this pic she took of herself, funny girl.

And she even managed a good one of Mya and me.

Good times!

Mya's 9 month stats:

19lb 13oz= 66%

28 1/2 inches=79%

Dr was worried about her motor skills and language...but I'm not the least concerned. She started crawling the day after the appt and babbling "mama" over and over again. She keeps trying to pull her self up on things, but only gets half way up. She loves to scoot herself all over the hardwood floor and get into whatever she can. We finally gave up trying to swaddle her and that's been a challenge. But found that she likes to sleep on her belly and stays asleep pretty good that way. Still takes 3 or 4 naps a day. We are close to sleeping through the night again, just re-learning after giving up the swaddling. And we are slowly starting to add in other foods. Apparently I forgot that she can't eat pureed veg/fruits forever, even if it is easier. I just don't want her to grow up...I'm losing my baby already!!! :(