fall break at newport coast

The kids had fall break at the end of September so we loaded up (our final voyage in our minivan) and headed to Newport, CA.  We stayed at the Marriott Villas (maybe our 4th time there?) and simply enjoyed relaxing at the beach and the resort. I took lots of photos, mostly of Truman since it was his first time at the beach. Here is a small sampling:

Beach Day One at Corona Del Mar:

 It was nice that Truman wasn't quite crawling while we were there. I mostly just kept him on a blanket in the shade. He doesn't take a binky, but I figured I'd try to get him to chew on that instead of eat sand--ha! 

He eventually zonked out on Rob's shoulder for a quick nap:

Selfie on the beach:

Happy little guy:

Beach Day Two at Crystal Cove:

The boys played lots of football and Liv and I collected lots of shells:

Cute brothers:

Sue let me borrow a shade tent that was JaneAnne's (thank you both) which made it possible for me to have a little privacy to nurse Tru. I was able to get him to take a short nap in the tent for a bit. Having a baby on vacation is a lot of work, and not much of a 'vacation' if I'm being honest. :)

 Such a cutie-pie! Love this little man.

Tru thinks Liv is hilarious! She can make him laugh harder than anyone.

Liv and Tru loving on each other post beach and baths:

  

I let Liv wear mascara for the first time and she was so excited and said, "I have the longest eyelashes in the world! I've never noticed that before." Sweet girl.

The boys LOVE playing basketball and were happy to find other kids at the resort to play with each day:

We went to Balboa Island one day--it's tradition!

Liv on the ferry:

  Ferris Wheel rides, Frozen bananas and Balboa bars:

Rob took the older four to the beach after we returned from Balboa, and Truman and I stayed home for naps and some HGTV/Food Network watching. I want to note that Truman loved the curtains in our room. A favorite thing from the trip was when someone asked about Truman and Hewitt said, "He's playfully batting at the curtains." (It's so random but we say this all the time now.) So cute!

 

Last day at the beach (Crystal Cove again):

The clouds came out for about two minutes to be able to get a really cute photo of our fantastic five:

Truman wasn't so sure about the water...

He kept picking his feet up which made everyone laugh :)

The night before we came home we decided to go out to eat (we had cooked in our room every other night) and we ended up going to three different places to get everyone what they wanted. Since it was birthday eve for Hewitt, I even ran into the mall with these two to get Panda Express! I love these next photos of getting off of the escalator and Hewitt holding up the food he'd been talking about getting for so long: 

 

 We ended up at Ruby's which is where Rob, Burke and I ate and where everyone got shakes or floats. Tosh was pretty stoked if you can't tell:

 A big hug for the birthday boy! We packed up and headed home on Hewitt's birthday. Hewitt was pretty happy to get out of helping--ha! :)

It was a great and fairly relaxing trip! We were excited to get home as our good friends were coming to visit that night. More on that and Hewitt's birthday coming up next!

september 2015

Gorgeous "Sapphire Blues" for September:

I'm sure you can tell from the photos I chose to post that I adore his little tongue!

 

In early September Truman started to get interested in books and turning pages:

Yummy fingers:

September 3rd marked three years since Rob's dad passed away. I sure miss our long conversations, his love of the outdoors (fishing!), requesting that I give prayers in Norwegian, and how he'd often express how grateful he was that I married his son. We love and miss you, Rog! 

"Free box $5"

We got this shopping cart cover at the Intel baby shower and tried it out for the first time on September 5th. Tru looked like such a big kid riding in the cart! It was at that same time that we stopped using the infant car seat and got a (rear-facing) convertible car seat for our tall boy!

Trumes loves his Auntie Sue!

We had our friends the Wazzenegers (Rob's best friend from college, Tate) over for lunch and swimming on Labor Day. We had a great time catching up and were sad to learn that they are moving from Tuscon to Kansas so we won't be able to get together yearly--although of course we are excited for their new adventure.

Later that afternoon, the Yocum family invited us for fairly impromptu combined FHE to eat pizza, have our cub scouts teach the Joseph Smith story, and then play some kick ball. The battery on our van had died that weekend (and all shops were closed on Labor Day), so the Yocums (and Reading and Rider families) came to our house. Rob had taken the boys to piano lessons and when he got back he was introduced to some friends of the Yocums. Rob just happened to be wearing his Blazers t-shirt and the dad said, "Hey, I like your shirt." It took Rob a second to recognize that he was talking to Isaiah ("JR") Rider-- a former Blazer and the 1994 Dunk contest champion! It was such a nice evening and everyone (especially Rob!) had a blast. Tosh made about five different fly-ball catches and looked especially awesome out there.

Liv lost her other bottom tooth on September 9th:

Sewing on scout badges sure reminds me of my mom! Love having her old pin cushion and this sweet photo on my little sewing table (my sister and I found this photo gem while going through my dad's dresser). Miss her (and him) so much!

Hewitt earned his Arrow of Light at his last pack meeting in September. He walked across this cool bridge that the Sherwoods made to cross from cub scouts into boy scouts:

I asked Tosh to stock toilet paper in the bathrooms and discovered this a day or two later (hilarious):

Hmmm...brothers? I've gotten lots of comments about how Truman looks like Burke. They're both pretty cute:

The beginning of a lot of time spent at the soccer fields:

I watched the twins one day and loved how cute it was to have every stool filled at the bar for breakfast:

Tosh's teacher sent me this hilarious photo of Tosh with owl pellets!

 I just happened to notice Truman's first little tooth on September 17th! I thought I saw something white in his mouth and was shocked to discover it was a tooth as he hadn't fussed much or anything. Poor Tru got a scratch on his face (caused by his toenail, I believe).

Burke and Truman hanging out together one Sunday after church.

This is the sweetest little video ever. Go to my actual blog to be able to see it (sweetpetes.blogspot,com). Watch how cute Truman's little hand is:

Kisses for Hewitt. These two absolutely adore each other!

'80's Day at school duirng Spirit Week:

(This is such a funny photo in the bright sun)

Nerd Day. LOVE this photo of sassy Miss Liv:

Can't get enough of her:

Burke's Eagle Board of Review was on September 24th! He did an awesome job and got lots of nice comments and compliments from his review board.

Truman and I went to a little breakfast at Hewitt's school and then toured the 5th grade classrooms to see all of the different cardboard creations the kids came up with for the "cardboard challenge." Hewitt's teachers sure do all sorts of interesting things to help them learn/use math and engineering.

Love this little face: 

We kicked off the fall soccer season with FOUR 8:00AM games! 

Soccer started right at the close of first quarter. Crazy that the kids were already 1/4 done with the school year at the end of September. Time is flying!!! Coming soon...fall break!