Sacramento, Danville, Cupertino ...

Nate, Beckett, and I spent the last week gallivanting around northern California. We began with a few days in Sacramento. Where we ...

Played at Grandma's:


Hung out with Brooke, Aaron, Keon, and Daysha:

What a fun family. Keon loves his Uncle Nate. He practically started crying when we had to leave.

Celebrated Nate's Birthday:

Dorothy helped carry on the donut tradition.

And Beckett got his first real taste of the outdoors:


Then we packed up and headed to Danville. While Nate was in San Francisco for conference, Dorothy, Beckett, and I hung out with Grandma and Grandpa J.

Beckett made some friends:


We enjoyed the outdoors:

Grandpa J has a spectacular yard.

The views from the neighborhood aren't too shabby either.

We spent a few lovely days chatting, watching the Olympics, taking B for walks, and shopping.


When it was time to leave Danville, the three of us made another stop in Cupertino to see Nate's friends Chad and Jen and their girls.

Grace had never held a baby before.

Emma takes her turn.

Jen and Chad, thanks for the visit.

Believe it or not, our trip to CA was not yet complete.

Visiting the Relatives

My mom, Beckett, and I went out to visit my sister and her family last week.

(Please note: Andrew doesn't usually look so droopy. My camera makes him blinky)

We went to dinner with my Gramma at Sweet Tomatoes. Here's Gramma Great with the Little B and with Paige and Andrew.

I got to steal away one evening for a night with some old friends. Beckett got to come too. He was the only kid invited. It was so much fun to see Kristen, Mel, and Sue. I miss the days when we would all run together.

We went to a party with all my mom's brothers and sisters. Here's my mom with her sister Sharon. She's headed out to Tallahassee, Florida to serve a mission with her husband, my Uncle Howard.
The Brothers and their wives:

Karen and Roger

Annie and Clark

Uncle Scott was in Las Vegas so Paige and I posed with Aunt Pam

While we were visiting Andrew celebrated his birthday. He turned one! We had a little party.
Andrew didn't get to eat his cake because it's likely he has some allergies. So my mom made him a baby peach cobbler. Look how cute it is with the candle.
But this is how Andrew felt about the cobbler:
The gross birthday dessert didn't ruin the party for Andrew. He enjoyed all the attention and presents.
On Sunday I sneaked away for an hour or so to go see the Edward's new house. They live about 10 minutes away from my sister. What a good looking family.
Beckett, of course, was his adorable self.

Just For Fun

Who's the happiest baby ever?

Zephyr, would you like your diaper changed?

It's a beautiful morning.

Whose toy is it anyway?

Gotta go. Someone's calling.

Paige, I was inspired.

Because Sometimes Zephyr Feels Like She Deserves Her OWN Blog Post

PART ONE: The Return of the Zephyr Chair

One of the beauties of living in an apartment is that all apartments seem to have an unspoken swap mart going. If you don't want something you have that is still in fairly good shape you leave it by (but not in) the dumpster, and it becomes free game to the rest of the tenants. When we lived in our apartment Nate picked up an office chair at our apartment's swap mart. He brought it home and cleaned it up and was going to use it himself, but Zephyr quickly claimed it. She sat on that chair all day everyday. Sometimes she slept on it at night. Pretty soon no one else would sit in the chair, and we began to call it the Zephyr Chair.

Because she's finicky like all cats, we were worried about how Zephyr would handle the move, but we figured she would be OK because in the new house she would still have her favorite things us and the Zephyr Chair. We were wrong.

When we moved she suddenly wanted absolutely nothing to do with the Zephyr Chair. We got it and set it up and made sure she knew where it was, but she ignored it. And, if we ever put her on the chair, she jumped off immediately.

So we put the chair in the basement. Then just a few weeks ago Zephyr began stealing my chair every time I would get up. I need a drink of water in the kitchen. I return to my office. Zephyr is in my chair despite the fact that I've only been gone 2 minutes. So, I reasoned, it might be time to bring back the Zephyr Chair.

And, low and behold, Zephyr is once more addicted to her chair. She's sitting in it now.



PART TWO: Zephyr's Encounters with Animals.

Zephyr leads a sheltered life. Although she's not allowed outside she loves other animals. She used to watch nature shows about birds with us. Her favorite movie is 8 Below (but only the parts with the dogs.)

In our new house Zephyr at least has some really nice windows. And because we live in a newly developed area we sometimes see wildlife. Usually we just see bunnies and squirrels. Today while I was getting a snack in the kitchen I looked outside and saw this:

Because I am such a nice cat owner. I called Zephyr, put Beckett down, and then placed Zephyr at the window. Even though the opossum is just a tiny white dot in the picture below, Zephyr was enthralled. We all watched until the opossum left the yard. Then Zephyr looked at me and meowed hoping I could bring it back.

Beckett at 6 Months

Chopped

For over a year now, from before I even knew I was pregnant, I've been saying I wanted to donate my hair. Now that Beckett is almost 7 months old and my hair was crazy long, it was time.

Here's the before and after.

BEFORE:

My hair was down to the small of my back.



AFTER:

My hair is a little shorter than I was expecting. Seems like stylists always cut it a little shorter than you want them to. I think I'm happy with it, and I can always grow it out again.

Here are the pigtails I'm sending in to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. They are about 15 inches long. That's a lot of hair.

Two Teeth

Beckett's first two teeth arrived on the scene at Christmas and New Year's.

Beckett's Oldest Friend

My good friend Abby has a daughter who is only 3 days older than Beckett. Beckett met Avalee for the first time when he was less than 24 hours old. Abby and I went to the same doctors' office, and we were in the hospital together.

Here are the brand new babes with their proud dads.

Every week, Abby and I have been getting together for a baby and mom class and a tasty lunch afterward.

And now, six months after that first shot, Beckett and Avalee are starting to pay attention to each other.

Or at least to each others' toys. A is playing with B's lion, and B is playing with A's giraffe.



Here's to many more play dates.

Jump!

Beckett's Grandma bought this for him a few months ago, and he's
finally reached the golden age of jumping.

Hooray for Laundry