Graduation

Last week, I was brave and made the drive down to Utah alone so we could be there to see my brother and my brother-in-law graduation from BYU. The drive there and back was a little tough at times, but luckily my sweet angels did pretty well. It was so nice to be there to celebrate all of the hard work that Josh & Kevin, along with their wives, have put in over the last few years.

Love my younger brother! He's 2 1/2 years younger than me and I didn't feel extremely close to him growing up for some reason, but as we've gotten older and seem to have more in common, I feel like I've gotten to know him so much better. He and Alisha are the sweetest, most genuine, service-oriented people I've ever met and I am constantly learning so much from them. He's starting BYU law school in the fall and I'm excited to see what lies ahead for them!

The two handsome graduates!

 We loved celebrating papa's b-day and it was fun for him to have all 5 grandchildren there (Trevor was sleeping during the presents & cake time)

This shows Trevor's favorite activity- eating my hair! I finally got it cut so it's a little harder for him to reach, but he finds a way. 

We realized that Trevor is almost as big as Madison- and he's 1/2 her age! I'm hoping that my big boy is helping me to tone my arms a bit from the hours of holding him...

Trevor - 6 months

My sweet angel boy is 6 months old! His current stats are:
Height: 26 3/4 inches (46%), Weight: 17 lbs 7 oz (43%), Head: 45 cm (88%)
Apparently our kids just have really big heads :)

We've been trying to get him to eat solids which has been quite the battle- anytime any food goes near his mouth he clamps his lips together and shakes his head so fast that I can't get to his mouth. We've tried rice cereal, peaches, beans, carrots, avocado, yogurt, and applesauce. He seems to do better if I use my finger to put small chunks of food into his mouth instead of trying the pureed stuff.

Isn't this just the sadest face you've ever seen? He's still getting the whole sitting up thing down and he had just fallen backward and hit his head on the floor- poor thing.

He recovers fast though- this was 3 seconds later:

About a month ago, Trevor went from being a binky-baby to loving his thumb. I'm not very happy about that and I dread the day when we have to make him stop, but sucking his thumb soothes him better than anything else. He's getting closer to being a good sleeper...he's had several nights when he's gone from 7:30 pm to 7:00 in the morning without making a peep! But we still have lots of nights when he's up 3, 4, or 5 times with something bugging him- teething, a cold, gas, etc. Gotta love the constantly-changing baby stage!

Oh I love my happy boy. He brings me so much joy every day. I love walking in his room when he wakes up and seeing his face light up as I pick him up and hug him.

I had to add a few pictures of our princess as well. We washed our car as family today and Lyla had a blast. She insisted on using her princess bucket and we danced to our favorite disney songs as we washed.

Great trip to Marysville!

We had a great visit with Paul's family last week! Lyla LOVED so much attention from Grandma, Grandpa, and her uncles. Sue was so sweet and borrowed lots of toys, puzzles and books so that there were plenty of activities to keep Lyla busy. They cooked together, played at the YMCA, read books. We didn't take enough pictures- we didn't even get one of Lyla with Grandma. I really need to get better at taking lots of pictures.

She enjoyed watching everyone at the batting cages.

Both kiddos helped Grandpa work.

Lyla was pretty excited about her playdough work.
We went to a fun children's museum and Lyla was in heaven. She ran from one activity to another, having a blast.

Our sweet little man was a bit grumpy at times, especially at night which made us pretty tired all week. But he's so cute that of course I can't be mad at him! :)

Lyla now loves looking for Easter eggs after a fun little hunt. Pretty sure she was on a sugar high all week from gushers, smarties, princess fruit snacks, and marshmallows.

The last day we were there was absolutely beautiful and so warm. We walked around a park for a few hours and just played.

Dad & Grandpa swinging Lyla as we walked.

Lyla's expression says it all. We had such a blast all week long and really can't wait for our next visit. The kids did pretty well on the 12 1/2 hour drive, which we did straight both ways cuz we didn't want to unload everything in a hotel. There were only a few moments when Paul and I looked at each other and laughed to keep from crying. :)

We're grateful for such amazing, welcoming family members who made our visit so comfortable. It was so nice to watch General Conference with them, laugh and talk every night at dinner, play games, go bowling, and just catch up on all we miss by living so far away.