Our "Little Darling"

Seriously, how CUTE is she?!

Kevin Starts at Spacecraft

Kevin got hired on at this really awesome company Spacecraft Collective as the Sales and Marketing Director.  I am really excited for him and this new venture.  I have to say his new bosses are amazing! It is refreshing to have one of his bosses be a female...that means no more business trips sharing a room with a girl because the boss is too cheap and lame to get another room!! Ahh...sigh of relief from this wife!

Sarah and Stephen

 (Sarah runs the business end and Stephen is the artist)

You can check out the company at this link the art is amazing!

spacecraftcollective.com

(Oh...only one problem...it's located in Seattle...doesn't it rain there 9 months of the year?!)

Kevin Turns 34!

For Kevin's Birthday, we had Kevin's family over for Kevin's favorite meal, carne asada tacos. His Mom made him a BIG sheet cookie (he doesn't care for cake unless it's a Baskin Robbins ice-cream cake,carrot or cheesecake)

Renee (his sister) made him a pail of homemade granola, as you can tell Matilda was a big fan.

(Renee makes me laugh in this picture!)

 Kevin also got some moo-la from his parents.

 (Kevin's Dad makes me laugh in this picture!)

After a the party there was a lot of hanging out and talking (two of Kevin's favorite things, especially with family)

Being goofy

Cute Hat!

So, I know every parent has a picture of their kid like this, but you truly can't appreciate how funny it actually is until it happens to you as a parent.

And ESPECIALLY when the kid doesn't even realize it's on their head and doesn't even notice you taking a picture of them because they have their eyes glued to the T.V. (Yep, I'm officially that parent!)

Matilda Gets a Package From Granny D!

My Mom sent Matilda a fun gift in the mail. It took probably 10 seconds flat to get it from box to body...lets just say she was EXTREMELY excited to put it on!

Getting dressed.

(You can see this is serious business and she doesn't appreciate me kidding around and taking pictures!)

Still perturbed, so she walks away and I don't ever get a good shot.

Say 10 minutes later we find her like this...

Mad, because she wants to go outside.  Clearly she still has all the "essentials": heels, pearls, and her clutch! Oh, and did I point out the "cute" band-aids and tape around the diaper?! (Yep, we are still having a problem with that!)

Happy 4th of July!!!

We celebrated the 4th of July with Kevin's family. We were lucky enough not to have to travel any further than Kevin's parents dock to get the BEST seats for the BEST firework show around! Dave (the next door neighbor) purchased 300 illegal stadium style fireworks and between him and his brother-in-law they were able to orchestrate a phenomenal show! And I'm not just talking about setting them off one by one they rigged the fuses and set up several sets of mass explosions that could rival the big guys. So, basically, it was truly a night to remember! Well, I'm not actually sure Oswald will remember anything...he went to bed around 5pm that night (his usual time). And as for Matilda, well, she might remember it but not for the same reasons Kevin and I will, she was FREAKED out by the extreme loudness of it all and had her head buried into my shoulder with her hands over her ears....so...she might only remember how loud it was!

Since the 4th landed on a weekend, Saturday's festivities included a BBQ with finger-licking baby back ribs and Kevin's Mom's potato salad.  There were also boat rides and wakeboarding and tubing.  I also captured a little sibling tiff that I hadn't noticed until I was looking through the pictures.  Renee (Kevin's sister) had asked me to snap a few pics of the kids playing on the hammock. I think the thing that I was most impressed by was Kevin and his brother Deric's complete lack of involvement...they were clearly watching it all go down, but it's almost like they were amused by it and wanted to see how far it would actually go!

Luckily Renee stepped in and ended it!

Oswald Walks!

So, this really needs to be documented! Oswald started walking! Now when exactly it took place...ummm...honestly, I can't quite remember. I know it was either just before his 1st birthday or just after (I would have remembered if it was on his birthday..haha!)  I do remember that it was a Sunday and that he just decided it was time and he never went back to crawling.

Here are some of the 1st pictures I have of him walking.

Who's # 1 ?!....I am!



Boat Rides

 One of the things we truly enjoyed this summer were the boat rides on the river. Matilda still asks "boat?!" and I have to tell her "No, no boat" then she usually says "Pampa" and I say, "Yes, Grandpa has a boat." Then she usually starts fussing and jumping up and down and saying "Pampa, Pampa!" and then I have to say "No, we aren't going to Grandpa's house, he lives too far away." You can see how this is going! Well, anyways, I never did get any pictures of us enjoying the boat, but I found these of Matilda and Kevin after a boat ride.

Wind blown hair

Summersaults

Peek-a-boo

 Last but not least, Kevin sending a "shout out" to my brother Doc who's currently serving a mission in the Philippines.

32 Baby!!

So, I just need to start off by saying that I had the BOMB Birthday!!

Kevin took me into the city (downtown Portland) for the 1st part of the day. We wanted to have breakfast in the city. While we were scoping out places to eat we came across this little gem.

It had a line wrapped around the block. We figured might as well try it. When we put our name in we had about a 2 hour wait, but we had time and we love walking around the city.  We ended up being very entertained, the PRIDE festival was going on downtown. I have no idea why I don't have a bunch of pictures, I guess it was because I'm renowned for having a staring problem and by time I would realize I should be taking pictures, I would have only gotten the backside of the truly legit trannys. There was one that followed us around for almost 1/2 an hour singing "Next time baby I'll be bullet proof" at the top of his lungs over and over again. Of course Kevin and I thought it was hilarious!!

When we finally got seated we asked the waitress if this was normal or if there was some special reason this place was so packed. She said it was normal I guess the place has been featured on Food Network a bunch and it has been voted Best in the City a time or two.

 I ordered the eggs benedict and Kevin got corn flake crusted french toast. Both were delicious, but mine, hands down was the BEST! The hollandaise sauce was to DIE for!

 Our waitress was nice enough to take our picture.

After that we hung out in the city a little longer then went back to the 'rents and got ready to go out to an early dinner. Kevin's parents took us and Kevin's sister and brother and their spouses out to Manzana. It was really nice, Matilda stayed with her cousins so we were able to enjoy ourselves.

 Me and my HUGE baby in front of Manzana

After that we went back to Kevin's parents for dessert and gifts!

 Matilda really likes helping!

 Kevin's Mom made me the MOST delicious cheesecake with a sour cream topping...Yum!

We had had an early dinner because my mother-in-law was attending a wedding reception that night. My father-in-law decided he didn't want to go and I looked at the invitation and noticed the girl in their ward was marrying a Falk. I knew my good childhood friend, Alecia, was in town for a wedding and I took a chance that it may be the same one.

IT WAS!! 

I finally got to meet her two cute and chunky twins!

Serious, how fun was that surprise?!

To cap off the night me and Kevin walked down to the 7-Eleven after the kids were asleep and got some snacks and a Red Box DVD. The perfect end to a perfect day!

The Most Fun Rides EVER!

Kevin LOVED  taking Matilda and Oswald for rides all around the neighborhood, just like this with the kids in the backpack and Kevin on the Go-Ped. Unfortunately, rides came to a screeching halt when a "concerned citizen" made a call to the Cops!