Visiting with the Diaz Family

We took Zoey to meet more of her family today, including her great-grandmother Diaz who just turned 98 this year! She also got to meet a couple of her great-aunts, and loved playing with the chandelier in great-grandma's house. She was such a good girl and did great while being passed around in a new environment.

Angel & Justin's Wedding

David and I were honored to serve as part of the wedding party for Angel & Justin's wedding last weekend....and it was a beautiful, fun-filled wedding indeed! Angel made the most gorgeous bride, and the love this couple shares is simply pure and radiant. We also had a wonderful time catching up with old friends, eating yummy Mexican & Filipino food, and doing the hokey-pokey on the dance floor. Congrats Angel & Justin....hope you're having a blast in Mexico! Here's to a lifetime of love and happiness!

Silly Zoey

Even though life has been challenging for me lately, Zoey always knows how to bring a smile to my face with her goofy personality and her silly baby antics. Here are a few recent pics so you can see her cute personality and how fast she is growing up!

Laila comes to visit!

My dear friend Jenn came over for a play date on Friday with her baby girl Laila. We had a blast catching up and letting our girls play together. Laila is 6 months old, just 3 months younger than 9 month old Zoey. They are just so cute together! And from these pics, the first taken on Friday and the other taken two months ago back in early May, you can see they are growing up fast!

The Origin of the Job Interview....

HAHA. Just a "career counselor" funny for all of you. : )

Adventures in Camping: Update & Pics

So.....camping turned out to be quite a challenge with baby Zoey. One one hand she did LOVE being outdoors in the forest - watching the trees, the birds and the wind with happy, curious eyes. She was also mesmerized by the campfire, and literally wanted to jump in - ha! : ) But sleeping in the tent was a no-go. I had to wear her in the Ergo as we walked loops around the campground for her afternoon nap on day 1, and it took her over 3 hours to finally settle down to sleep on Saturday night....not fun. We even tried to take her into our bed with us, cuddled between us in our sleeping bags, but the crazy little girl was just babbling and blowing raspberries for 30 minutes before we realized she needed to be in her own bed. So after swaying my 21.3 pound baby side to side for about 20 min (yes, my arms were on fire!), she finally fell asleep and I was able to transfer her successful to her porta-crib. She did sleep well after that, but was then fussy all morning in camp. So we made the executive decision to pack up early and head home. Oh well, at least we tried! Hopefully she'll do better next summer....heck, by then she'll be a rambunctious toddler rolling around in the dirt! : )

Here are a few pics from our short camping adventure in Big Basin.

Baby Girl Bellies!

My friends Torrey and Kristina are both cooking up baby girls as we speak...Tor is due in late December, and Kris in late September. Zoey is excited to meet her new friends in-the-making! Makes me miss being pregnant....just a little bit. Baby bellies rule! : )

Umm.....ouch?!

A needed getaway into nature...

Yep, we're going camping this weekend! I was raised to be an outdoor-lover, tree-hugging type, as I spent many a childhood summer traveling around California in my dad's old VW bus, tent camping at lots of cool spots throughout the state. Even though we didn't have a lot of money back then, my parents took us on regular car trips through what felt like almost every inch of California....and I have many amazing memories as a result. Some of my favorite places we've camped include Mt. Lassen, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, June Lakes, and Lumsden....just to name a few. It always felt like an adventure to me...packing up the bus with all of our gear, picking out a site and setting up our tent and "make shift" home for the week, gathering sticks, roasting marshmallows and hot dogs over the campfire, going out on day hikes, swimming in the lakes and rivers....and getting as dirty and grimy as a kid could be. I loved camping as a kid, and I still do. While I'm admittedly much more "high maintenance" than I was back then, I still love the thrill of being out in wilderness, falling asleep to the sound of the wind in the trees, getting away from the hustle and bustle of the world, and soaking up the beauty and glory of Mother Nature.

And I am so excited that we'll be taking Zoey on her first camping trip this weekend to Big Basin State Redwoods! If you haven't been, it's an awesome park south-east of Los Gatos and the South Bay, definitely close enough for even a day-trip. They have tons of camping sites, huge beautiful Redwood trees, great hiking trails, picnic facilities, and a nice visitor's station. I have a feeling Zoey will love camping as much as we do, especially given her fascination with the outdoors. Let's just hope she naps and sleeps in her pack-n-play in our tent just as well as she does in her crib at home!

Cat/Design Funny!

Now y'all know how much I LOVE cats....but this is still just too funny to not post. HAHAHA!
Lost Cat Email Exchange: an Exercise in Malicious Compliance

Zoey LOVES the pool!

Zoey is a such a water baby! She LOVES to splish and splash around in the pool, kicking her legs and batting her arms as if she's done this her whole life. Maybe the ability to swim is an innate human instinct, given that we all come from the "water" of our mother's womb? Hmm, that's something to look into. But anyhow, we spent some time today playing in the pool with our little fish and she couldn't have been happier! Mommy, daddy, a new baby boat, and tons of water to splash..woo hoo! And she not only had fun, but worked up a big appetite for her lunch AND wore herself out enough for a nice long afternoon nap (still in progress as we speak!)
Happy 4th of July everyone! : )