Go Sahalie...it's your birthday

It's hard to believe our baby is already a year old. Thanks to all who helped celebrate!!

Unkie Dug!

Lucky for us, Doug stopped by with Precious on their way to the Golden State.

Hey! Don't Touch That Car!

"These tires are stinky, papa"




That's what the rent-a-cop told Spencer.
It didn't matter.
I surprised him (and a tired Staci and Sahalie) after they flew in from Alaska by taking them to the car show. Spencer couldn't believe there was such a thing as life-sized Hot Wheels, and many folks commented on how he was the youngest enthusiast they'd seen (or HEARD for that matter...PAPA! LOOK AT THAT MONSTER TRUCK!!!).
Hopefully he'll be tuning up our vehicles by the time he's 9.

Walking Grrl.

Sahalie started walking almost at the exact same time that Spencer did-
The only difference is that she was OK with crawling as well until a couple days ago...
She found out how to balance the weight of her big old booty with her raised arms.

Oh how I love a road trip...

A little late of a post, but July was so busy I can't seem to keep up. Our first family road trip, somewhat Griswald style. Our destination? Northern California to visit the new Mota-Parodi arrival, Benjamin Jacetip who was just 6 weeks old. And of course, to see John, Liz, and Oliver too.

We headed south out of Bend and made our first stop in Redding at the waterslide park to cool off from the 105 degree heat. The kids had a blast and I am pretty sure Paul did too. He kept sneaking off to go on the slides. Our Redding Griswald moment....the bottle opener screwed onto the motel bathroom door. Nice. Onto Sebastapol for a couple of days and then to the beach in Carmel and the aquarium in Monteray before heading home. This was really just our practice run to see if the kids, or maybe Paul and I with kids, could make the Utah journey soon and I say "Utah here we come!"
The new addition



Birds eye view

C'mon...who doesn't love the sparkler on the 4th of July?

The Golden Gate on a foggy morning. Maybe you guessed it, but Spencer loved it.

THE Aquarium in Monteray

loved those jellyfish


and the dragon seahorse...

AND my kiddos face when the waves came splashing over the plexiglass....

At the beach in Carmel

we love you guys.....for reals.

headed home

true traveling companions...at least when they are sleeping