Visitors, road trip and much more

The past three weekends we have been filled with family, friends and lots of firsts for James.

First we had a visit from Uncle Justin, his friend Mariah and her son Bronson. They watched James for us so we could celebrate our fifth anniversary. On Saturday we took the boys to the Peoria splash pad and had a picnic (both firsts for James).James & Daddy cooling off.

Bronson "not" feeding the ducks.


James enjoying his first picnic.

While Justin was in town we also had a quick visit from the Moore's (Dave's sister's family). Here is James with his cousin Thomas. It was so good getting to see them even if it was for just a little while.

The weekend after Justin's visit my mom, also known as Lady, came to see us. It was so much fun getting to see her. She left just a couple of days before her birthday so we had an early celebration. Here is James helping Lady blow out her birthday candle.
Happy Birthday Lady!!!! We love you and miss you!!!

For Labor Day weekend Dave and I decided we would take a quick road trip to L.A. and see my friend Stacy. Stacy and I have been best friends since elementary school. She had her first baby just a few weeks before James. She and her husband Nick live in Sherman Oaks now and were nice enough to let Dave and I come stay with them.

Stacy and I with the babies. Dave took about 5 or 6 of these pictures and little Amelia is staring and touching James in each one. These two were so cute with each other!

We went sightseeing on Hollywood Blvd. Here we are at the Chinese Theater.

James and Shrek just outside the wax museum.
Dave and I love the beach were so-o excited to take James. Nick and Stacy took us to a Beautiful beach in Malibu. Even the drive there was stunning. We were a little worried it would be crowded because of the holiday, but we got there at the perfect time and it wasn't crowded at all.
James!!
He LOVED the beach...not so much the ocean though. It was a little chilly.

James and Daddy checking out the waves.

We finally took James to the park. He has been before in his stroller. But now he is strong enough to go in the swings. And as you can see he LOVED it!
This has been an amazing summer with our sweet little baby!!!

5 years ago....

August 20th five years ago Dave and I began our lives together.
These past five years have been filled with many major milestones and incredible memories. We feel truly blessed to have one another and to have been able to experience all we have with each other at our side. The day we were married I truly felt like the luckiest girl in the world...and I was.

Our engagement picture.
Dave and I met in Physiology class at Weber State University. After a wonderful year of dating Dave proposed in June of 2005 (I said yes).

August 20, 2005
Our Wedding day was more than I could have ever hoped for. We were surrounded by our amazing families and friends. The love and support we had was incredible. The sealing was sweet and beautiful. The weather was perfect. I could not stop smiling all day.

December 2005
Our First Christmas together in our first apartment in Washington Terrace.



Nursing School Graduation, June 2006

August 20, 2006
Our first Anniversary Walt Disney World Florida. We were able to celebrate with my parents, sister and her sweet family. So much fun!!!

Thanksgiving 2006

Christmas 2006
Puebla, Mexico. Dave's dad and mom served as mission presidents in Mexico our first three years of marriage. We were able to go visit them every year at Christmas time.


Summer 2007
Going through our pictures I realized Dave and I have dressed up ALOT the past five years. This was for my nephew Jack's superhero birthday party. We made these costumes ourselves!

The Amazon River, Peru, May, 2007
Our first medical mission. In the Spring of 2007 Dave and I were able to travel through parts of the northern Amazon Basin with a group from our University and provide medical aide to the people there. It was an amazing experience and we are so grateful we were able to share it together.

Machu Pichu, Peru July 2008
The following year my parents surprised us and my siblings with an opportunity to go on a service mission together. This time we traveled through the Andes serving people in very remote villages high in the mountains. It was spectacular.

December 2008
Dave graduated Weber State University in the Spring of 2008 with a degree in microbiology. That summer we moved to Arizona so he could begin medical school at Midwestern University. Here we are at his White Coat Ceremony during his first year. Now he is in his third year busy doing rotations. I am so grateful to have such a hardworking and dedicated husband!

Fall 2008
Kayaking in Southern California.

August 2009
For our fourth anniversary Dave and I traveled to Italy. My parents joined us (they were celebrating their 25th anniversary!!). It was a blast!!! Dave served his mission in Rome. He had always said that he would take me there one day. We are so grateful we were able to go on this amazing trip!!

March 2010
Just two days before our lives would change forever!!! We just bought this car the day before. We were so excited and anxious for our little guy to come. Dave was so great to me throughout my pregnancy. Foot rubs, back rubs, not complaining about having cereal just about every night (my only craving). My pregnancy made me love and appreciate Dave even more!

March 17, 2010
Our greatest adventure/accomplishment/joy of all. Sweet baby James!!

We have LOVED being parents. Doing it together makes it even better. Dave is an amazing daddy. I feel even more blessed and lucky to have him now that we have James.

Thank you for 5 wonderful years!! I look forward to the many more ahead!!



And just because we haven't posted in a while here are some pictures of James...

Our little cowboy. All dressed up for the 24th of July pioneer party at church.

James is one of the happiest babies I have ever known!!

Our Big Guy is sitting up really well rolling across the room and pushing himself around in circles. It is always a surprise to see where he ends up in the crib when we go to pick him up in the morning or after a nap.

Warning: LOTS of cute pictures in NO particular order....

There is so much to catch up on I don't know where to begin!! I'm sure this post will be a bit disorganized and totally out of order, but it's filled with cute pictures of our sweet baby so who cares!?James is growing so fast! He sleeps through the night now, just in time for his mommy to go back to work! He is such a perfect little guy!!!

He loves to giggle and talk and sing. He smiles and laughs all the time. He even loves his bath time and massage now.

We celebrated our first mother's and father's day. James and daddy surprised me with flowers and a gift hiding in James' crib when I got up with him early in the morning on Mother's day. James and I got daddy a basket filled with some of his favorite things and celebrated Father's day ALL weekend. It was especially exciting because Dave had just finished taking his boards (phew!!)

James amazes us with his strength. He rolls over all the time. Pushes himself around in circles stands with a little help just for balance and can sit by himself (just not for too long).

The "bug" eye family.

James and his buddy Jay in their matching red hats.

James eats like an 6 month old! He LOVES cereal, carrots, peas, and sweet potatoes. Now I know that some of you might be judging me for feeding my three month old infant food, but he LOVES it he spits up less, is much less fussy, sleeps through the night and don't worry he still gets plenty of breast milk and formula. Besides I recently read an article saying that Finnish researchers found infants that were introduced more foods between 3-6 months had LESS food allergies AND because of this research the AAP is in the process of changing their recommendations of when to introduce foods....so there.

Telling mommy a story.

We took him swimming...he liked it...didn't love it...but liked it.

Grandlady came to help me with the transition back to work. She has come to help us for a whole month! James just loves his lady and we love having her here!!

He is so cute!

In May we went to Utah to visit family and friends. James had lots of love and attention from his cute cousins!

He loved to snuggle with his great uncle cary

James was an ANGEL on the plane rides (phew). I was so grateful since I flew to Utah by myself.

We got to see my bestest friend (since I was ten!) Stacy and her sweet little Amelia. We are already planning their wedding.

We played lots with Grandpa and Bonnie.

And He LOVED being carried around by his Grandpa.

Dave met up with us at the end of our trip to Utah to bless his sweet baby. We had lots of family and friends come to support us! Thank you everyone for coming it was so good to see you all!!!

Our friends the Scott and Romney and their beautiful little Jocelyn.
Great Grandma Lu keeping James happy just before the blessing.
Our sweet little boy.

We just love this little guy!!!