trippin'.

From Maui to Lake Powell we have had a great summer!  We went to Maui with my entire family to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  The kids had a blast swimming in the pools, going down water slides, kayaking, snorkeling and eating Lappert's ice cream at the Grand Wailea.  And we all loved the luau we went to.

Gaige swam with a turtle while kayaking with Matt some one yelled, "Turtle!" and he jumped right in to swim with it.

We also upset some locals by wearing sunscreen in the water at their beach and surfing in their water...Awesome.

Gaige learned to the Hula at the Luau and was very serious about it.

The grandkids put on a talent show.  Gaige sang a song about Hawaii - "I like Hawaii.  I like Hawaii.  I really really like Hawaii."  And Bentley showed us karate by kicking Chance.

All the ladies spent some time at the spa and had a massage.

We went to Lake Powell with The Wells Family and lived it up wake boarding, wake skating, knee boarding, and fishing.  Gaige and Bentley caught some catfish and striped bass off of the back of the house boat with their spiderman fishing poles and some grilled hot dogs! 

 

 

We've also frequented the beach, Disneyland now that our passes work again, and the pool. Needless to say, I am TIRED! But we have had a terrific summer. Now it's time to gear up for school and soccer.

Elle has grown so much this summer! She is at least 30 pounds and has a whole arsenal of tricks and accomplishments...

• Blows kisses
• Puts both hands over her eyes to play peek a boo
• Blows on her food when it's hot
• Gives real kisses with the "mwah" sound included
• Swims on her own in her floaties
• Jumps into the pool - falling, really
• Says: Hi, Hello, fish (ish), shoes (oosh), horse (orse), ball, Mom, Dad, yes, up
• Loves books
• Runs around with her arms behind her

Her favorite foods are clementines and ice cream. She sleeps from 7:30 pm to 7:30 am and takes a nap from 1pm to 4pm. She is happy all of the time and loves to snuggle. Her favorite person in Hawaii was her cousin Blake. She gets really excited when she sees her and any of her other cousins that she recognizes. She loves Chance too. She is a great baby and we love her guts!

 

summer = happiness

I am so happy it's summer!  The biggest decisions of my day are "Do we go to the beach or the pool?"  and "Do we go before Elle's nap or after?"  We are enjoying the beautiful weather and lack of a schedule. 

Elle is getting so old!  She is almost 15 months and has acquired quite a few new tricks in the past month.  She blows kisses (her first victim was Sister Manning), folds her arms for prayer (she did that one all on her own), walks with her arms stretched out behind her, puts her baby down for a nap, and today she even fed one of her babies a chicken nugget!  She is a total girly girl and always has a purse, a baby and a phone.  She sips tea from her tea cups, and loves to try on shoes.

Bentley and Gaige have been enjoying lots of time with their Super Soakers, playing Uno Attack, Memory, Trouble and Go  Fish. Now that we have grass in our backyard we spend a lot of time playing outside.  And Elle just got a splash table so all three of the kids have been having a blast with that.

Bentley started reading chapter books.  We took a trip to the library and we got some of the Boxcar Children books for me to read to them.  They were one of my favorites as a child.  My second grade teacher used to read them to us and we would fight over who got to massage her feet! 

Gaige is learning to read.  It is helpful to have Bentley around to read to him and help him.  He is so excited to go to Kindergarten next year.

Both of the boys are the best big brothers ever!  They dote on Elle, play with her, take care of her and love to snuggle her.  She likes to hug them and then push them away.

I have a new calling at church.  I am now a Beehive Advisor so I get to do one of my favorite things...teach!  I will still keep posting on my personal progress blog - www.luvaloo.blogspot.com because I will still be doing a ton of personal progress stuff with the girls. 

I was supposed to go to girls camp in Catalina with the girls for two days.  10 minutes before I was supposed to be picked up Elle woke up with croop and couldn't breathe.  I was totally bummed I couldn't go, but relieved because it turned out that I was super sick all day and couldn't get off of the couch with stomach pains, a fever and hot and cold flashes.  Yikes!  So no girls camp for me this year.  Maybe next year!

Happy Summer!
Last day of School...

Summer mornings rock!

Pool Party - Rebel and Bentley (future wedding announcement photo???)

elle on the move.

On Sunday, May 25th Elle decided that she couldn't crawl with a purse so she just had better get up and walk with it at church.  She slings anything that could work as a purse over her arm, including the head bands she rips off of her head.  Scripture cases are just like purses.  She couldn't get her purse on her arm during Sacrament meeting so she threw a huge fit.

When I took Bentley to the doctor a couple of week ago I brought her toy purse with us for her to play with while we were there.  As soon as I pulled her out of her carseat she grabbed her purse out of my hand and put it on her arm. 

She loves waving bye bye like a mad woman. And she gives her daddy kisses when he says "kiss kiss."  She enjoys walking around holding things.  She can crawl backwards down the stairs.  I taught her how to pour imaginary tea into her tea cup and take a drink.  She prefers to drink with a straw.  She loves to carry books around.  She loves the pool and drinking the pool water.  She gives her brothers hugs and then pushes them away.  She points at food when she wants you to give her some, which is always! 

birthday madness.
We had an Angry Bird party for the boys this year.  We got a huge Angry Bird pinata, made some water balloon launching games, had lots of snacks and even an amazing black Angry Bird cake that I made.  Lots and lots of friends came and we had it at Los Rios Park.  Grandma even came into town especially for the party!  The kids had tons of fun and got to take home an Angry Bird treat bag with their pinata candy and some other goodies in it. 

 

 

 

gaige is 5.

We now have fish!  For Gaige's birthday I made the mistake of sending Matt to get him a fish.  Matt came home with a full on tank, rocks, decor and 3 guppies.  The boys were super excited!  For Gaige's birthday I got him and his friend Tate McDonald's for lunch and they ate it at Tate's house while they played and played and played.

Bentley was the star of the week in his Kindergarten class last week.  He took a poster into school that told the other kids about him.  His favorite food is pizza.  His favorite place is Disneyland.  His favorite thing to do is ride his bike.  And his favorite color is red.  He also got to bring Happy the hedgehog home with him for the week.  Happy made cookies with us, took dinner to Shannon with us, went to the mall, and even went to church and wore his own little tie.  Bentley kept a journal of all of the things that he and Happy did.

 

 

Elle is now 13 months old. 
She is so squishy and adorable I still can't stand it!  She can take a few steps but prefers to be carried and will often throw a fit if you won't pick her up.  She likes to hold hands with Bentley and Gaige and have them help her walk, though.  She gave me her first real kisses the other morning when Matt brought her to me when I was laying in bed.  She pressed her lips up to mine twice.  She loves to hug other babies over and over again.  She snuggles her blanket and is attached to her binky.  She jabbers up a storm and is actually pretty loud somedays. Church has now become a wrestling match with her.  Last Sunday Brother Manning took her and she fell asleep while he was holding her. When you ask her a question she answers, "Yas".  She says "Dadda" when Matt comes home.  She jumps up and down on my lap over and over again when she gets really excited.  She waves bye and waves hello to her favorite people (Becky and Cash).  The only thing she won't eat is brocolli!


reunited. 
It has been awhile since we got to hang out with some of our favorite friends from UCLA.  Truth be told I was missing my old friends.  Luckily I got to talk to most of them on the phone and even got to see Em and Kelli in the same day.  I wish they were closer, but at least they and some of my other besties are still in the state of California.