Happy 1st Birthday Violet!!!

Violet had a birthday in July. I know this is way overdue. Sorry.

Violet's birthday took me by surprise. I couldn't really bring myself to accept that my little baby has reached her first birthday.  This year seems to have gone like lightning, you hear it but if you blink you missed it.  Part of it is coming to terms with knowing that Violet is my last baby, very bittersweet.  I know it's right for our family and so I think I tried harder to be patient with her and to steal an extra snuggle or to keep her close to me.  Maybe that is why she seems to be a Momma's girl.  It's a little annoying because sometimes I need to do stuff and she is whiny because Jeff is holding her when she really just wants me to hold her.  None of the kids have ever done that, they have always wanted to be with Jeff.  So, it's kind of annoying but I kind of love it.   For a while, Violet had a pretty light complexion and I of course do not.  I can remember being in a really fancy neighborhood with Violet in the stroller and a nanny asking me if I was a nanny.  I laughed and told her that she was my baby and then she laughed and felt embarrassed.  That was before the summer and now she has quite the tan, especially her arms. I still don't think she looks like me, but she does look like the other kids.  Her hair, what little she has, is a beautiful brown.  In the sun it looks like it has red tints and even some blonde tints.  It's been so fun to watch her grow this past year.  I am so grateful that Jeff has a steady job that helps us be able to have me be a stay-at-home-mom.  It's been such a blessing for me to be a mom to all of my kids.  Some have definitely been more work than others but each one has truly blessed me.  Here are some things that I love about my Violet...

• Violet is feisty
• Violet is a goofball
• Violet is smart
• Violet is a muncher
• Violet is observant
• Violet adores her siblings
• Violet has dreamy eyes and when she smiles big her eyes get small
• Violet is an avid clapper, pointer and goodbye waver

Violet is such a great baby for our family.  She gave us a little scare at 2 weeks old and while not having her home for that week was such a hard thing for us, I'm grateful for that experience.  She is definitely a 4th child. If she wants a toy, she'll screech and fight for it.  She is kind of possessive, again with the 4th child thing, of her family.  If I am cuddling with one of her siblings she'll climb on me and get herself wedged in between me and her sibling.  She likes to be in the middle of things.  She's pretty laid back and happy for the most part.  I feel confident leaving her with a friend or family, because I know she'll be alright and not cry even though as soon as I get back she only wants to be with me.  I mentioned that she's smart...here's an example.  She taught herself how to go down the stairs when she was 7 months old.  She started climbing the stairs soon after she started crawling.  I think she watches her siblings and tries her best to keep up with them.  I love my little munchkin so much.  Our family feels complete with her and I'm so grateful that I get to watch her grow and do new things.  She's still not walking, while the other 3 kids were walking by the time they were 1, but I honestly don't mind.  It just means she stays little just a while longer and I'll take all the baby moments as long as I can have them.  She melts my heart and I feel like I can watch her all day long.  Happy birthday, sweet Violet.  

10 years already!!

Only old people celebrate 10 year wedding anniversaries, right?  I guess we're old.  As I approach certain milestones in life, I feel like I should feel differently or at least feel like I have accomplished more.  The 10 year wedding anniversary is a big deal, right?  I don't have a list of accomplishments, but if I had to make one it would go as follows:

Jeff

Veronica

David

Vanessa

Violet

Each child has strengthened our bond to each other and has brought out a lot of my imperfections and short comings and has brought out a lot of Jeff's amazing qualities that I never knew. He has buoyed me up when it felt so much easier to sink. He has dragged me out of myself and has known when to give me space to work on things that only I could do. He is my hero in so many ways and even though I act tough with him, I have so much to learn from him.  He's a giver, a lover, a goof ball, stalwart, hard working, dedicated, faithful, amazing.  I depend on him and I love him so much more than I did before.  I know that's a cliche and I kind of hate those but I feel like the love I have for him is so much different now.  I'm so grateful that we made eternal covenants that make this marriage worth it!  That make it worth the struggles and the snoring.  I will never give up on Jeff because I know he works so hard to make me happy and to provide a stable and loving home for our family.  I am the luckiest to have a person in my life who loves me - all of me, imperfections and all the grumpy mornings because I am not a morning person or my way of stressing out because we're late to church - and is happy to love me.  I love you, Jeff.

Jeff and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary by leaving our kids with my mom and heading down to San Diego for 2 days.  This hotel is on the Marina and our view was awesome!!  The 2 walls were all windows.  Anyway, we made a trip to the San Diego Temple, so so beautiful.  I have always wanted to go inside because it's so beautiful from the outside.  It was such a fun trip.  We spoiled each other and didn't feel guilty.

About to go out for dinner.  Fish Market on the Marina was amazing.  

On the drive home, we stopped at Cafe Rio.  This place is one of my favorites!  There are none in LA, and I originally tried this while I was at BYU.  Anyway, this just completed the celebration of our wedding. Jeff doesn't really like this place but because he loves me he treated me.  Some of my favorite things in this pic:

Jeff, BYU and Cafe Rio!

I haven't gone golfing, one of things that Jeff introduced me to when we were first married, in a long time and we hit the golf course in San Diego.  It was frustrating and fun.  I think Jeff is the only one that I don't feel embarrassed to look like a fool playing.  He doesn't even tease me when I completely crap it.  

Some things that happened in the last several months.

E-Convention

Veronica's product development annual project for school.  She didn't win but the voting was totally one-sided.  Oh well.  I thought it was a great idea.  So proud of Veronica and her way of thinking.

Jeff and I at a Collective Soul concert!  Our favorite band. We had so much fun and we were so close to the stage.  I did feel old by the end of the night, didn't know  I would feel sore from standing the whole time. Definitely a great show!

Daddy-Daughter Sock Hop. 

The girls had so much fun going to this dance with Jeff.  

He had a blast too.

Veronica's last day of 2nd grade!!!

Spider crabs that our home teacher shared with us. Pretty tasty but not that pretty.

Dodgers!!! We are fans.  Jeff collects the bobbleheads.  We buy tickets. We go. Jeff's parents were in town in July and we went to 2 games with them.  It's fun to go the stadium, most of the time.  I think our kids love how loud it is and that I pack lots of "sanity snacks."  Sanity snacks are all the really good snacks that I only pull out for occasions when I just need a few hours of non-whining children. Violet is the wild card because if she's not happy then the whole time is pretty bad...but if we just let her crawl around she is happy.  Luckily there were plenty of laps to bounce on and she didn't get the nasty floor too much.  Too bad the Dodgers haven't been very consistent but we'll still support them and the kids have such a fun time.  It's worth it.

We've been to the beach almost every Saturday this summer.  It's quite a feat. Taking 4 kids to the beach isn't always that easy.  We actually went through 2 bottles of sunscreen.  Jeff only managed to get burned a couple of times.  Kids look perfectly sun-kissed and golden.  The school-aged kids start school in a few days, which made for a very short summer but a very fun summer.  I think the fact that we only had a month and a half break that I actually tried to make sure the kids had fun and did stuff that we would not have done once school started.
 

7/11/2012
Free slurpees and 100+ temps was the perfect treat.
Violet begged for tastes...the kids were gracious enough to share.

Got Jeff a fishing voucher for Father's Day and here he is with his catch.  Pretty good. 

Lana and Veronica sharing snacks. The Tanigawa's were our beach buddies this summer.

Violet was pretty laid back at the beach.  She had some moments where she cried a lot but she managed to keep herself pretty occupied with the sandy snacks and the sand.

For playgroup we went to Underwood Family Farms and Vanessa and Violet, and all their little friends, had so much fun and left with a belly full of strawberries.  Violet loves strawberries so she was in heaven. How cute is she here...love that little face.

David graduated preschool!  He had so much fun with school this year. He is growing up so quickly and such a sweet heart.  He's starting Kindergarten this school year and I over heard someone ask him if he's excited to start Kindergarten and he said, "Yeah, but I'm a little nervous."

Here's the proud graduate.
That girl in the background with the black dress always brought David a special treat everyday and spoiled him rotten.  On this day, David mentioned that he was going to miss Saleena.

Violet is officially a crab connoisseur  and would screech if we took too long getting the meat out for her.

Backyard fun.

Always eating something!

Goodbye to summer break! We had fun.