Paul's 10 year High School Reunion

We spent this last weekend up north in Logan for Paul's 10 year reunion. In a nutshell it was pretty lame, other than spending time with our friends, Spencer and Brittney, and having sometime out together with NO KIDS (Thanks Gran).

They had a picnic at a park on Saturday afternoon where we brought our kids. I didn't meet a single person...just visited with Spence and Britt, which was awesome! We love hanging out with them...wish we could more often. And Brooklynn had a blast playing with kids, sharing fruit snacks, and chasing and popping bubbles. Poor thing though did fall and scrape her arm on a wire fence...but she loved putting medicine and a band-aid on it at Mama's house.

After the park, we went to Mama and Papa's and the girls took naps. Later that night we left the girls with Gran and the rest of the family and went to the ADULT ONLY dinner at Hamilton's. Dinner was good, but there was no program or entertainment. They had a table with pictures of all the people in their class who have since passed away and everyone wore name tags and that was about it. After dinner and dessert, we went home to our beautiful girls! Britt and I tried to get the boys to volunteer to plan the 20th reunion, and really we would do it for them. But no such luck...I doubt Paul will even go to his next reunion, unless of course Joshie can go with him.

My suggestions: Rent out a hotel ballroom and have a dj, have some finger foods and desserts. Have a picture of everyone from high school next to a recent picture and have a questionnaire for everyone to fill out and then give out some awards (who has the most kids, who traveled the farthest, most changed, maybe a most eligible bachelor and bachelorette for the single people, and most beautiful couple for the married ones, or longevity of the longest marriage, etc...) Depending on how many make it, go around and have everyone briefly say where they are at in life (work, education, family, etc). I also think a reunion with your class, and a few classes above and below your graduating year would be THE MOST fun. Cause let's face it, we didn't hang out with only the people in our graduating class.

Didn't really realize we were twins that night.

Our friends... Spence and Britt.

Although Paul recognized many faces, Spencer knew a whole lot more of them. Spencer said that's because he grew up with all of them and Paul only went to school with them for two years. I joked with Paul and said he just wasn't cool in high school. Spencer said most of the people look exactly the same but a few look drastically different, and Paul is in the drastically different category because of how much he bulked up.

Here is Paul in high school...he is on the far left

Here is Paul today...nearly 70 pounds heavier (a good 70 lbs.)

Could you imagine what I would look like at my 10 year reunion if I put on 70 pounds since high school!? Ha...I can only imagine what people would say...good thing I haven't. Oh the differences between guys and girls.

Our 6-month old Maylee Kate

I did good for a few months taking pictures of Maylee on each monthly bday in a onesie, but have since totally spaced on it. Oh well.

What this girl is up to these days:
- Wearing a size 2 diaper.
- Rolling ALL OVER the place...back to tummy and tummy to back...over both shoulders.
- Wearing 3-6 month size clothes.
- Eating rice cereal once a day
- Nursing 4-5 times a day.
- Sleeping for 12 hours, but with one feeding at 7 am.
- Napping like a champ (two, 2 hour naps, plus one more cat nap in the evening).
- She thinks it is SO funny to spit while she eats her rice cereal.
- She loves to play with her toes.
- She loves to hold onto and play with peoples fingers.
- She has to see someone, preferably her big sister Brooklynn, at ALL TIMES.
- Wants desperately to sit up on her own, but is not quite there yet.
- Is still jumpy and easily startled.
- Will let anyone hold her.
- SUPER, SUPER Smiley :)
- A constant drool fest, but the spit up has slowed down tremendously.
- She has dimples in her cheeks, in her elbows and her knees... SO CUTE!
- She can finally reach the bottom of her play thing in the picture above and she loves to be in it.
- I've been bathing her like a newborn for the past 6 months and just started putting her in a big tub with Brooklynn and she is NOT a fan.
- Eyes are still bluish-green.
- Loves to talk and hear her voice.
- Loves to watch shows with her sister.
- Still sleeping in her cradle next to mommy's bed, but she has just about outgrown it so Mommy needs to start putting her in her cute nursery UPSTAIRS! :(
- We've officially put away the wipe warmer.
- She loves her binki, but still don't think she is quite as attached to it as Brooklynn was.

Our Grown Brooklynn

This girl is growing like a weed...right before our very eyes. She amazes us on a daily basis. She is mostly a happy, go lucky, smiley girl, with the daily whining of a two year old...almost two and a half! She loves being a big sister, especially now that Maylee is more interactive. I can't wait until Maylee can walk and these two can really start to play together. :) They just love each other.

Recent Brooklynn News:
- Still sleeping in her crib for her 1 nap a day (2-3 hours) and at night for 12 hours.
- We just painted her furniture white, but still have A LOT to do to her room.
- She has an INCREDIBLE memory.
- She sings so many songs.
- She loves to play games.
- She is obsessed with her new stroller and always wants to take walks.
- She loves to give Maylee her binki.
- She loves our splash park and is so careful climbing in and out of the river.
- She is still super attached to her blankets at bedtime and her sippy cups during the day.
- Tells us when she needs a diaper change or says, "I'm fine" if she doesn't need one.
- She knows how to spell her name!
- She is starting to recognize the letters in the alphabet and numbers.
- She loves to draw and can draw lines for her name, a circle, a triangle and a square.
- She likes to eat at the big table with mom and dad.
- She had her first real haircut.
- She has a recent obsession with collecting rocks and with her rubber duckies.
- She is the queen negotiator... "Just one more", "This is the last one, okay?".
- She HATES having her hair brushed...cries, and sometimes screams...when the tangles are really bad....but the girl seems to ALWAYS have something stuck in her hair that makes it so dang tangled!
- If I get upset and yell at Paul (say when I am trying to make dinner, while holding a hungry crying Maylee and listening to Brooklynn whine for some apple juice, while Paul is sitting on the couch watching the Soup) she calmly says, "Mommy, don't scream at daddy!" Talk about guilt. Ouch!


I'm sure I'm missing a ton of things, so I'll add them as they come to my mind.

Sisters

Do you think they look alike?

(Brooklynn above)

(Maylee below)

I sure do!

Enjoying the sunshine!

This last week, since being home from California, we have been spending a lot of time outside in the beautiful sunshine. The first day my shoulders got FRIED! Guess that's what happens... I'm so concerned with making sure that the girls have sunscreen on that I forgot to put some on myself! :)

For those of you who are nearby and have yet to discover our SPLASH PARK, you HAVE to come check it out. We walk around the corner at least every other day to enjoy the water. It's perfect because Brooklynn can play in the water all by herself and mommy doesn't have to get completely wet in a pool! Maylee just enjoys laying out in the shade!

Ready to go to the splash park...just waiting for Auntie Stephy and baby James...the usual! LOL.

Boyfriend and Girlfriend!

Bathing Beauty!

Playing in the river with Auntie Stephy and Baby James.

Can't get enough of this pretty face!

Playing with Daddy yesterday, on Father's Day!

More fun times at the splash park.

Rolling over...all she does these days, but only over her left shoulder!

Hanging out at the pool for Andrew's bday party! Thanks Rammells.

So glad Paul gets in the pool with her!

Cody's High School Graduation

On June 11th, Cody graduated from Murrieta Valley High School... class of 2010! It was a long awaited day for Mr. Cody and we are so proud of him and all his hard work. Over 600 kids comprised Cody's graduating class so the ceremony was packed. The weather got really chilly towards the end, but I figure that was much better than sitting out in the scorching heat! Again, I forgot to bring any snacks so Brooklynn quickly made friends with girls who had some! We are so proud of Cody and so happy we were able to celebrate in his special day! Congrats again Code...we love you!

Brothers and Sister (minus Skyler)
Ryan was an MV graduate of the class of 2000
Skyler was an MV graduate of the class of 2007
Cody an MV graduate of the class of 2010
Shayna will be an MV graduate of the class of 2012
AND I am the lonely Ridley EHS graduate of the class of 2002!

Brooklynn enjoying Uncle Cody's balloons!

Playing with her friends with the Cheez-its

Walking- in to the ceremony

All ready to go take pictures with Cody..

The newlyweds...so cute!

Mom's Surprise 50th Party!

On June 10th, my BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING mother turned 50! I know right? She hardly looks it. Anyways, several months ago I began preparations to plan her a surprise party.
The preparations began with a custom invite done by my dear friend, Jenna, at QA designs (see her button down on my sidebar):

Then my dad and I compiled the invite list. I mailed these puppies out and sure enough we had quite the turn out. Meanwhile, Paul was gathering pictures from family members to put together a slideshow of my mom's 50 years of life. It was INCREDIBLE.... full of laughter and tears. Of course it included a segment of my mom's MANY hair-do's and a special surprise...a video message from my brother, Skyler (who is still on his mission in England- for only 2 more months!)

I still think it is pretty awesome that my mom had NO IDEA. We took her out to dinner- our whole fam- to the Olive Garden while her bff, Karrie Denton, was back at the house setting up and ushering the guests in. After dinner, my siblings and I ran home, while dad distracted her by stopping at Wal-mart to pick up some "things". We had a look out and once we saw the car heading down our street we all huttled together in the family room. As previously arranged, mom came in through the garage and she actually passed the entrance into the kitchen/family room, but when she turned around we all yelled, "SURPRISE". She was so overwhelmed, she covered her eyes with her hands and started to cry. (The surprise also scared Maylee into tears). My whole goal in doing the party was to make my mom feel special and loved, like we all know she is. I think it was a success!

Thank you to all who came and pitched in to get things chopped, and set up! Thank you for coming, for loving my mom and making her 50th birthday one to remember!

Thank you also to my sweet husband, Paul, who spent countless hours on a masterpiece. The video made many speechless and most definitely made the party!

Thank you also to Brother Pearce for all the pictures and of course Dad who paid for it all!

Here we all are at Olive Garden for dinner...Mom TOTALLY thought this was the extent of her birthday celebration....little did she know!

What a beautiful couple huh?
29 years of marriage and still happily in love.
For her birthday, dad gave her the most beautiful card and she gets a new wedding ring (since her diamond was given to Brooke...sweet story- check out Ryan and Brooke's blog to read details)

Mom and Grandma.

The newlyweds....thanks for making sure you were back from your honeymoon in time to be apart of the great evening celebrating Mom.

Grubbing on some delicious Olive Garden.

Here's the evening in pictures:

Can you tell Maylee was still getting over the shock of us yelling out "SURPRISE!"?

Mom greeting all her guests who came to show their love.

Of course many in attendance HAD to watch the Laker game. Haha.

Love my mama.

We served fruits, chips and dip, cookies, brownies, lemon cake, the works, and thanks to my bff for making 4 pans of striped delight for dessert. It was AMAZING!

We played one game... "How well do you know Kimbur?" It was 20 questions and the winners, Jana and Rachelle Smedley, got to partake in an assortment of mom's favorite candies!

The camera man...he is SO HOT!

Mom blew out all 50 of her candles on her melting ice cram cake that KARRIE forgot to put in the freezer...ha ha. Love you girl. She also made her wish out loud that her next 50 years be filled with as many amazing friends as her last 50 years have. So sweet :)

Watching the video.

Special message from Skyler, on his mission.

THE END!

Happy 50th Birthday Mom... I love you, Always and Forever