This one is for Jeff

Jeff is so proud.

Veronica's new bed. Can you tell she's excited?
After church blues.
Relaxing with no pants.

Family Portrait

I asked Veronica to draw a picture and this is what she created. Jeff is the biggest head, I'm the not so big head with more hair, Veronica is the a smaller head with hair and David is the littlest head with little hair.

Pac-Man

David caught me taking a picture. Looks like a chipmunk with his stash of nuts in his cheeks.
Hmmm.
Close up of those cheeks.
After a long day at work, sitting in front of a computer, Jeff comes home and relaxes by playing several rounds of Pac-Man on the computer. One of the conditions is that he has to hold David while he plays. Fair trade, don't you think?

I love his big brown eyes.

I call this ... Stripes

Pretty cute. I figure by the time David will actually need to wear this hat he will be too big for it, so I should at least take a picture of David while it still fits -even if it is 100 degrees out.

6 month check-up

David's 6 month check-up was last week but we had to reschedule because we were out of town. Anywho, check-ups are always nice because I get to see David's growth chart and to see how much he has changed since he was born. David's pediatrician is an Indian man, practicing in the same office since 1982. He's a very good pediatrician, his office staff...that's a different story. Anyway, back to David, he weighed in at about 17 lbs 7 oz. According to his growth chart, he is pretty average in height and weight. Jeff seems to be more concerned about his height, since we're not the tallest of the bunch. He had more shots today, which he whimpers once they poke him but calms down pretty fast. It's putting the clothes back on after shots that is hard because they don't want to be touched and they are still a bit cautious. When we came home Veronica quickly cheered him up some more and it was like nothing ever happened. Now Veronica is asking to go to the doctor, little does she know that she will go to her pedi in a month for her 3 year check up. I can't believe she is almost three.

Where were you?

Six years ago I woke up to my radio alarm, getting ready for my classes, and I was half listening to the radio. I was wondering why there wasn't any music playing just people talking. I figured that I must've switched the stations. Then I started to listen to what the people on the radio were saying and they started to say that the one of the towers was on fire from an explosion. I quickly turned the television on and every channel was watching the towers. Then the second plane flew into the other tower. I still couldn't believe it. How could this happen? Why is this happening? There are a lot of images that I still remember. One of the most heart breaking is when I could see people jumping out of the windows because they were so scared and had no where to go. I know we will never forget what happened six years ago, let us always remember.

BYU v. UCLA

When Jeff and I found out that BYU would be coming to town to play UCLA we decided to get tickets and go to the game. It doesn't happen often and BYU games were always fun to go to back in Provo. Maybe it was a bad omen when we were in traffic, being funneled into the stadium, and the cell phone rang. Jessica, a family friend, was babysitting the kids and her number was on the caller id. Oh no, problems already? We just left maybe an hour ago. Nope, the kids were fine. But we would soon realize that we were waiting in traffic in vain, because we...forgot our tickets! Luckily the traffic going back wasn't bad. Not a good way to start off the day. We managed to get there for the second quarter and Jeff and I managed to have fun regardless. I spent the better part of the second half waiting in line for the bathroom and then even longer in line for food. Here are some pictures.

Just zooming in as much as possible. Not too bad.
Looking at the replay. There was controversy regarding the officiating.
BYU has a chance.
We're crying on the inside.

Final score.

Ward Hoe Down

Hanging out with Fraser and Lei Graham from the ward.

Can you see the boots?

Yipee...I think!

After a long and tedious effort, I think Veronica is onto big girl underpants. She hasn't worn a diaper in close to 2 1/2 weeks. It hasn't been easy or the least bit enjoyable. Only a couple of accidents while we've been away from "home base" which is an accomplishment in itself. Veronica and I are still getting used to the idea of going to the bathroom in public restrooms. When we first started the whole idea scared Veronica and frankly it scared me too. I never really liked using public bathrooms when I was a kid, I was always afraid of dropping something on the floor and I hated it if my pants/shorts touched the bathroom floor. I think once Veronica is a bit more comfortable with using public bathrooms it will go a lot smoother and a lot faster. So far, we have to be in there for at least 5 minutes before she gets comfortable enough to go. Sometimes she asks me to take her and then she'll get nervous and decide she wants to hold it. It will take us going about 3 times before she will actually go. It's hard work but I am glad that she is starting this stage in her life. She is growing up, especially in the last year she has become a little kid and not my little baby. I am a little sad that they don't stay babies long but it is also fun to see her develop and grow into the little person that she is. I'm still trying to figure out a way to make Veronica forget about the "potty treats" and to just go without expecting a reward. Maybe I'll get her a really yucky candy and then she'll drop the idea of potty treats all together. Oh yeah, lately she just goes on her own, doesn't mention it, and brings me her potty with a surprise...sometimes not always pleasant for me.

Santa Barbara

The sun was on it's way down. What's David doing? Looks like he's holding on for a bumpy ride.
Picture taken from Stearns Wharf.
Playing around. If you look closely you can see that Veronica is wearing all of her bracelets on the one wrist.

This right before we went into the Ty Warner Sea Center on Stearns Wharf.

Veronica put up a good fight, she wanted nothing to do with any touching or looking at all the sea life. I thought it was pretty cool. They had this tank of baby sharks and they let people touch them, like that little boy.
I think David was a lot more interested than Veronica. She was more interested in the toy turtles.
I caught Veronica looking at the sharks. I think she was scared of them biting her. She loves to watch Finding Nemo, but always closes her eyes at the beginning because of the "scary fish."
Aren't they cute...I think so.
Aww.

Solvang...such a cute little Danish town

You can't tell but we're freezing. We showed up in shorts and flip-flops from 100+ degrees in LA and by the time we walked through it was pretty chilly. We had lots of fun passing by quaint little Solvang.

Veronica waited and waited for her Danish pastries but they never came.

We drove through Solvang on the way to San Luis Obispo. Just another perk to Jeff's job.

Labor Day in Marina Del Rey

I thought this picture was cute of David lifting his leg. We went for a ride around Marina Del Rey on a waterbus. Pretty fun.
I wanted to take a picture of this giganto mango that my mom bought. The red plate it's sitting on is a standard size plate and as you can see...the mango overtook it. It was really good too!

Just hanging around at the park.

Random Pictures

David loves smiling for his big sister.
Veronica and Caitlin playing in the mall bathroom. They were hiding in a "tree house."
This is how Veronica has been keeping cool. Pretty good idea.

Angels

My dad scored Angels tickets. We debated whether or not to go, but since they were free...we went. We didn't take David, it would've been a miserable time for him since it was sizzling. Veronica was a brave one, she loves these outings. I think she had more fun putting sunscreen on and playing with the little girl that was sitting next to us and eating all of her nachos.

She's having such a good time. She's trying to make the same face as Jeff, I think it's pretty darn accurate.
Now that's more like it!

You can't tell by looking but it was close to 100 degrees. Even in the shade!