a very happy father's day!

this father's day was extra special for my family here in california because this was the first year that every boy in the family is a father! isn't that so special!? i love it! it's also neat because some of the boys in the family became fathers in a unique way and so we have all different types of dads and yet, in the end, they are all fathers and we got to celebrate them all!

this year, one of the gifts i gave daron was a kite. carter literally tries to steal other family's kites at the beach and so i thought it was time we get our own. we tried the kite out the second it was opened and it was so sweet to watch these two fly it together. carter had his tiny finger pointing high in the sky shouting, "kayee! kayee!" over and over. i took a ton of pictures of him but, not surprisingly, he is only in a diaper. i am trying to do better not posting pictures of him sans clothes! so we'll have to fly the kite soon... with clothes this time ;)

i am so grateful for a day to celebrate fathers everywhere and the major one in my life. the picture above is really special to me. i took this on our ferry ride to friday harbor in anacortes. daron didn't know i was there (for real didn't know i was there, not like the i'm-going-to-ignore-you-and-your-ridiculous-camera-kind) and i caught him giving carter tender little kisses. the picture sums up the type of father daron is. 

tender and sweet.

double the trouble. double the love.

i got a glimpse this week of what 2 kids looks like.

meet my niece,

savy may...

she is the sweetest and busiest soon to be 2-year-old you have ever met. she has been staying at my parent's house (which is our temporary house) while her mom and dad find their new home in utah. for the first time, her and carter not only noticed the other was there but they actually cared. they coudln't get enough of each other and i couldn't get enough of them. 

i mean, check out this hand holding...

pretty cute, right?! 

i would put carter down for a nap and savy would ask me over and over, "where's carter?" in the saddest voice until it was time for her own nap. the second he was up, their hands were locked. i actually was amazed by how many things they could do while holding hands. 

i was also amazed at the roller coaster 2 kids can put you on. i thought i was on a roller coaster with one! add another though, and wow! 

one second, you're afraid your heart might burst. the next second, they are swatting at each other's faces fighting for the very limited space on the hips of their one and only sweeatheart.

or trying to give unwatned kisses...

then they are feeding each other,

and sliding down the slide while holding hands...

then, while you turn your back to put food in the oven, they are already upstairs turning the bath water on, chucking bath toys at the window and eating chaptsick like it's chocolate. and it's like that the entire day.  

i've decided i love it. 

they make double the messes and cause double the trouble but you feel double the love which seems to me to be a sort of indescribable feeling. 

oh, and this was a good moment, too!

  trying to take two 1-year-olds ^^^ out of disneyland on a stroller only made for one. 

oh savy may, how carter will miss you!

back to normal

daron and i just got back from "the honeymoon we never had" -as i like to call it. we took a 12 day vacation to europe! it was really incredible to say the least. i can officially check europe off the bucket list. of course, we missed carter like crazy. i tried to prepare myself for carter to have a negative reaction to us leaving him but it didn't really work. i prepared (as well as you can for something like that) but it still was so hard when he was cold to me for 3 days! he didn't act mad at me, just hurt. it was heartbreaking. he did not want to be with me. he warmed up to every body else except for his mama. i would tell him "say bye to dad" as daron was heading out for work and he would start blowing kisses to me like "see-yah later mom!" 

it was a sad story when he realized he was staying with me. thankfully my punishment for leaving him ended on thursday when we were at disneyland. out of no where he threw his arms around me and started squeezing me so tight around the neck and patting my back. it felt so good. i think he decided "hey, she takes me to disneyland. i guess she's not that bad."  

since then, we've been back to normal. 

i love normal. 

visitors + my proudest moment as a mom + my favorite day of carter's life = a really great week

we have been feeling better this week and we are so very happy about it. over the weekend, some of our most favorite friends came to visit us. (i'm so proud that i actually got a picture with them this time too! weird how hard it is..) it was general conference over the weekend so along with watching 10 hours of church -which was awesome- we also had time to swim, watch movies, swim, go out to dinner, and swim some more. a relaxing weekend was greatly appreciated especially by daron who is in his last month of grad school! we have 1 month left. i can't believe it. it's going to be a crazy one. i don't even let myself say the word "graduation" because we're in that limbo realm where life after school feels so close yet so far away.

swimming with carter is quite the treat. i think he loves water almost as much as we love him. almost. his new favorite thing is splashing! he's like a little energizer bunny splashing style that never stops. i keep telling myself that i need to teach him not to splash because it can be annoying for people but he is so cute doing it and has so much fun i can't. 

i don't have the heart yet. 

gettin' warmed up...

gettin' in his groove...

and really doin' his thing!

^our one and only picture! baby steps.

also, this week i had my proudest moment as a mom.  

                    

on wednesday morning, daron and i finished saying our morning prayers and we opened our eyes to see carter standing with his arms folded bowing his head. his tiny forearms folded on top of each other with his even tinier fingers poking out. i'm positive my heart skipped a beat. i can't believe how cute a 1 year old is praying. after he realized we were done, he started giggling like crazy. little stinker always knows when he does something we will adore. 

^trying to fold his arms this morning. i love.

i have always been nervous about the stage when your child starts copying you. mainly because all the bad things i don't want my kids to catch on to swirl around in my head. but since i've been too busy worrying about all the bad things they might catch on to i forgot about all the good! i don't think i'll ever forget that image of him.

and lastly, yesterday i said to daron 

- i quote - 

"today was my favorite day of cater's life." 

warning: it's possible that i am overly-sentimental because this week is the last week i am nursing carter. actually, this morning was the last time. 

ever. 

i can't believe i just typed those words. 

a part of my heart dies a little thinking about it. 

i'm not going to start writing about it because it will be a really long tangent. 

bottom line: 

(sentimental or not) 

yesterday was one of those days where it almost felt too good to be true. 

nothing significant happened. 

we did our normal thing. 

ate breakfast, 

played with a balloon, 

took our usual walk, 

carter napped, 

we had lunched, 

went to disney land 

(which was actually terribly crowded and would be considered a negative disney land experience) 

then carter napped again, 

we ate dinner, 

played with the balloon some more, 

read books, 

and daron, 

like he always does when he can, 

put him to bed.

i can't explain why the day was perfect. 

everything was just - good. 

the simple things throughout the day brought joy. 

i think that's what this whole family thing is all about. 

a few randoms from our perfect day -

because i want to remember it.

friday favs

just a few of my favorite photos...

from this week and last!

*not pictured: 3 days of horrific teething where carter walked around naked with chocolate dr00l all over him from about the 100th m&m he had eaten that day. 

out of the kindness of my heart, i spared you those photos... 

but i couldn't resist documenting the full picture of our last two weeks! ;)

teething = good times

said no one ever...

thankfully, i think today things are lookin' up!
happy weekend

kiss and clap

there are about a million and one things i love about carter's age. one day, i am going to get around to writing a little post about all the different things that carter does that make my day. his little 1-year-old self just kills me. a few weeks ago, we taught carter how to give kisses and it is my favorite thing he has learned thus far! if you say, "carter! give me kisses!" he gets this little sly grin on his face as he slowly brings his face to your cheek and then plants his itty bitty lips on you. then, thanks to my incredibly over the top reactions, he proudly claps for himself while looking to all for an applause. oh man, it's just the best...

our last spring break. ever!

daron and i celebrated the last spring break we will ever have. technically it's his spring break since he is the one in school but his life is my life. married life, you know how it goes. in 2 months daron will graduate from USC and we will never be students again, kind of crazy and really really exciting. we will go back to the real world and won't see another spring break until it's our kids turn.

daron's parents originally were going to come out during the week of spring break to spend time with carter because they will be watching him for a trip daron and i are going on in may. then, daron's parents had the genius idea to rent a beach house in newport and make it a whole family affair! we hadn't all been together since thanksgiving so it was quite the treat. carter got time with his only cousin on daron's side, anderson. they were pretty adorable together. it made me really antsy for them to be old enough to recognize the other is there and that they have a playmate in each other.

daron and i were designated tour guides since we were the "locals." i quickly realized that driving to 42nd street and back home and following my parents on our family outings to the coast was not very conducive to learning about the city. but i have to say, playing tour guide really helps! our first day was spent at the california adventure park at disneyland. this was my favorite disneyland trip yet. carter clapped above his head the entire stroller ride to the entrance. i guess going weekly would make it familiar, huh? southern california has it's negatives (crowds and traffic to name a few) but living next the happiest place on earth ain't one of them! ;)

linnea using smarties to draw carter in. one smart woman if you ask me!

the grizzly bear rapids ride broke down while we were on it for a solid 15 minutes. what else to do besides snap a few pictures while we wait? i couldn't remember why i didn't like this ride until a huge wave of water crashed over me making me soaking wet. my shorts stretched out and i felt like i was wearing the diaper the rest of the day. then it all came rushing back why i don't like that ride!

the next day we spent the afternoon strolling around the irvine spectrum mall.

carter is obsessed with water. he tries to get in every fountain we pass. a few weeks ago i was with friends at the spectrum when i let go of my stroller to chase down carter who was just about to jump in the fountain water. i barely snatched him to see people darting out of the way of my run-a-way stroller. good times.

^like this!

^^my little fish

^that little smirk/smile over dad's shoulder. kills me every time.

below is documentation of us bribing carter for kisses in exchange for a cupcake. this kid will give you 1000 kisses if it means he gets sugar. 

i could not get over how cute carter was looking at his grandpa. daron and steve are having some serious conversation about real estate and then there is carter - grinning at steve like like he's about to give him a lollipop.

been trying to teach "arms up!" ^^on the disney land rides. 

i think we are catching on.

that evening, we headed to my parent's house for swimming and a bbq. summer is officially in the air! we stayed late playing games and eating campetelli cookies. 

the last morning was spent hanging out on the sand finding sea shells, digging holes and playing with our sand toys.

^a little artsy find while running along the water. people are so creative!

in the afternoon we went biking in newport and on balboa island. i grew up 30 min from balboa but had never had the famous chocolate covered bananas from dad's. i was pretty excited when i realized this was my chance! then i had one and was sorely disappointed, not even close to enough chocolate for me!

^of course carter was right there for anyone willing to share

^carter being so good thanks to the ice cream bar stick. whatever works, right!?

after balboa island, we biked the wedge where we played in the water. i don't know if i have ever seen carter so happy.

thanks again grandma and grandpa! thanks to you our last spring break was a memorable one!