Dad Life (Father's Day Opening 2010)

Brian and I were laughing so hard when we watched this. Freaking love it!

What is wrong with my 2 favorite people?

Brian does not like fruit. We've known each other for almost 10 years and I am STILL baffled by this phenomenon. I mean, fruit is absolutely delicious, what is not to love? Well my quirky husband passed this on to our chunky baby girl and I'm less than thrilled. What baby/toddler doesn't like fruit?!?!

Mine.

I'm seriously going crazy and I have a slight melt down every week or 2 about it. They say to have your baby try something 10 times before giving up. I believe we are at 76 and it's still a no go. But you can bet your bottom I'm not quitting, oh no, this girl will like fruit one day!!!

The silver lining (besides her being scrumptiously cute) is that she likes fruit smoothies, so my little diva has a fruit smoothie everyday courtesy of the magic bullet. I can't tell you how jealous I am when I see other babies gobbling strawberries and blueberries down while my little punky sips her fruit through a straw.

Oh well, she did inherit some wonderful traits from her father so I can't be too mad. She's got his rockin' skin that tans very easily and lasts a long time, adorable curls, cutest dimple on her left cheek, and has a way of making me laugh more than anyone else.

Sleeping in and sunny weather=awesome week

We had a wonderful week of beautiful weather, FINALLY. Bria and I spent a majority of our time outside with pounds of sunscreen on our Oregon bodies and took in the gloriousness that is sunshine. Since Bria loves the water she had a blast out back playing in the sprinklers and my make shift pool: her infant bathtub. We are going this weekend to get her a kid pool, but in the mean time she had a blast climbing in and out of her little tub. So much so that she went in fully clothed multiple times. As long as she's having fun I figure I can always change her outfit, that's fun anyway.

Hilarious "drunk" picture

I can't resist those rolly thighs, they are adorable (too bad that's not the case for adults)

Cooling off in her mini pool

Ever since her molars have broken through completely she has been an angel. She plays so well at home and I was able to get lots of things done this week that normally she won't let me do because she wants my attention every waking minute of the day. Not only that, but everyday this week she woke up after 8 am!! Hallelujah this mama is happy. So not only did I get to sleep in a little, I also got an hour to myself in the morning to drink coffee and surf the internet, wonderful. Of course, I told Brian this so he was all excited to sleep in this morning and at 7:10 am Bria starts chatting and talking. Oh well, it was still a wonderful week :)

Brian was working late and stuff this week so I was a single mom, I made sure we kept busy each morning either going to the park with Moms club, an indoor kids park (really cool), library, going for walks, or running errands. It made the days go by so fast and we both were in good moods all week long.

Parks and Recreation is doing a Fun at the Park thing this summer and each week they go to a different park and set up crafts and lots of fun stuff and it's free so we are taking advantage of that. Bria's pretty young for it but she still has fun watching all the kids run around and I get to chat with some moms.

"Are you sure this hula hoop is the right size for me?"

With Brian's busy schedule this week he hadn't seen Bria since Monday so yesterday (Friday) when he got home he was dying for Bria cuddles. They spent a good hour together, hugging, wrestling, reading, and laughing. Both of them really needed it, they're kind of crazy about each other.

Bria tackling Daddy, Daddy in blissful happiness

Bria has started giving big hugs where she squeezes you so tight, it's by far my most favorite hug in the entire world.

"I have this guy so wrapped around my finger it's ridiculous."

Enjoying story time together

Yesterday was my birthday and Jenny offered up hers and Kyle's services to watch Bria so Brian and I could go out to dinner. Well, we didn't want to be rude and say no so we went, darn ;) We went to a really fun restaurant/bar downtown and had a blast.

We took a short walk afterwards and then slowly made our way home, stopping at a coffee shop for dessert.

Brian and the coffee dude

Then we chatted with Jenny and Kyle and just hung out at the house. We always mean to play games but we can't stop talking long enough to decide on a game so we just continue to talk. Fine by me, I love talking and the night always goes way too fast and we stay up way too late, but it's all worth it.

Seeesters!

So yeah, it was a good week and I'm pretty stoked about what the summer has in store for us!

That's right, more pictures

You didn't think we left Shasta without a bazillion photos did you? Jaime shared hers with us so I had to post a few because they were too cute not to.

Bria loved all the attention from her cousins and Aunts, here she is enamored with Kailey.

She was giving Kailey kisses but it looks like she is telling her a secret and I love that.

Just us.

Playing on the relaxation station

The cold water didn't stop Bria from having fun :)

This picture means a lot to me. I have one very similar with my Grandpa and I love that Bria has one with hers now.

Brian and his baby girl

So sweet

Laughing with Lance

Giving Uncle Lance kisses

Jenny was so sweet and picked each family out matching tanks, flip flops, and bags. She even spent hours making the guys their awesome shirts, thanks Jenny!

More pictures of Brian's graduation party

"I did it!""

So proud of my man!

Family picture with Lance and Kayla

Our houseboat!

The following pictures are our official family photos from the reunion, with the stuff that Jenny got us :) And just so you know, there was no make up or hair being did, it was au natural.

Our little family

Lance and Kayla

Kyle and Jenny

Mom and Randy

Jaime, Schuyler, Kailey, Porter, and Jaidyn

Anna, Dad, Cassidy, and Abby

The guys

The whole gang!

The girls

Ok, now I wanna go back to Shasta...minus the car ride.

Shasta 2010

Destination: Shasta, California: more specifically, houseboat on Shasta Lake

Date: June 2010

Purpose: Fun with the whole family...on a boat

Theme: I'm on a boat!

How it all went down in pictures:

Porter sayin' what's up as we arrived in Shasta

Grandma and Bria on the first night

My Dad riding the jet ski

On the boat ride in going under a bridge

Anna, Me, Kayla, and Jenny jumped off the top deck, but it took us a long time to work up the nerve. We weren't suppose to jump off the top deck, so actually we didn't do that. I'm going to try and post the video because it's seriously hilarious how chicken we were, but we did it! I think it was about 25 or 30 feet.

Brian in mid flight after jumping off the 3rd deck, all the guys did it like it was no problem.

Some of our fun toys :)

Bria dancing

We were so sad that Lance couldn't be there, but we tried to make the best of it so we printed a few pictures of him and brought him along. Here are him and Kayla Monday morning :)

Grandpa and Bria dancing

Kayla, Jaime, Anna, and Jaidyn laying out

Bria's absolute favorite activity, walking in and out of the water

Chillin' inside to grab some lunch and take a break from the sun

Schuyler and Jaime

My Dad and Anna

Jaime, Jenny, and I after going down the slide

The beginning of our awesome synchronized swimming routine

Our name is the synchronized sisters, you better recognize.

We are awesome

Grandma and her Bria

"Are you trying to kiss me Grandma?"

SURPRISE BRIAN!!! The boys went wake-boarding while us girls set up Brian's surprise party. He had NO idea what we were up to, as he walked up onto the second deck we had the pomp and circumstance song playing and we formed an aisle that he walked down. He was shocked and so happy.

The graduate and his baby girl

So proud of her Daddy for getting his MBA

Having fun with the graduation ball

Bria took a nap in Grandma's arms on a boat ride

Our evenings were spent on the middle deck eating food and playing games

My cowgirl

Getting cuddles from my baby girl

Uncle Kyle and Bria dancing

Our little family

Oh, we are so cool performing our routine out of water, so talented.

Kayla sporting her awesome Lance shirt, ya know, since her boyfriend is Lance Armstrong (for realz)

My adorable ballerina

Lil' Abby and me

Brian and me getting sun on the top deck

Abby, Bria, and Kailey chillin' in the sun

Pssh, we don't let anyone tell us what to do

Glad we didn't know there were water snakes in the lake until the last day, otherwise I'm not sure we would've gotten in. Brian took care of this one for us.

Cassidy and Anna havin' fun on the jet ski

Me, Jenny, and Jaime on the ride back into the dock.

On our ride back into the dock Bria started her nap on Daddy...

...then moved to mommy...

...then onto Aunt Jenny. It was a good little nap :)

Loading up the cars and getting on the road for our long drive home.

Details in writing:

This part you can skip, it's more for me and journaling purposes.

Summary:

• Bria HATES car rides, which means I hate them. She slept an hour on the way down, played nicely for a total of an hour, and the remaining 3 hours she cried/fussed/screamed. The way home was about the same.
• Bria LOVES the water.
• Bria rocks at sleeping on a houseboat with tons of people and noise, she did so good.
• I love my awesome family, we had a blast and I didn't want it to end.
• I jumped off the 3rd deck
• We threw Brian a surprise graduation party
• I made up a synchronized swimming routine with my sisters and Kayla, it was so good.
• My attempt at a Spanish accent came out Irish (inside joke for my girls)
• My Dad found a snake in the water and Brian killed it, Brian felt bad for killing it and wished he had just shooed it away. I was glad he killed it.
• Houseboats on Shasta lake are fun, like really fun, especially the slide.

Sunday

So we left on Sunday at 11:15 am. The plan was to leave a little before Bria's nap so that hopefully she'd fall asleep and sleep for a couple hours. Well, she was kind of cranky but eventually fell asleep around 12:30 pm or so. Then woke up an hour later and would not go back to sleep, so she cried, whined, and fussed most of the way there. This girl does NOT like car rides. But we finally arrived in sunny Shasta and we were thrilled beyond words. We loaded up the houseboat with everyone's stuff (enough stuff for a month) and began our fun family vacation. It was surreal sitting on this ginormous 3-story houseboat with the whole family just looking around at how awesome it was to be together in such a fun place.

Brian and I brought Bria's pack 'n play in hopes that one of the rooms would be big enough to put it on top of the bed, but no such luck. When I say rooms, the rooms were just a bed, no walking space. So we decided to barricade Bria in one of the rooms (again, just a bed) and it ended up working perfectly. I thought for sure she'd try to climb out or play with the curtains, but she did really well and knew it was her bed and time for her to sleep. It helped that I brought her comforts from home so she could cuddle up with them. Since Bria was in our room, Brian and I slept out on the couch that folded to a bed, the things you do for your kids :)

We didn't do too much that night besides getting our things in place and just talking under the stars, it was a wonderful relaxing night and perfect way to kick off the vacation.

Monday

Monday morning starting early with Bria up at 5:45 am, I thought she'd sleep in since she went to bed late the night before, but I think she saw it was light out and thought it was time to get up. So we started our day bright and early and got suited up for a dip in the cold lake. Bria absolutely loved the water even though it was cold, she'd suck in her breath in shock but then giggle and laugh. She splashed around and her absolute favorite was to walk back and forth between the water and shore, we did that for a long time. We had tons of fun inflatable things to play on so we spent a majority of the time in the sun, which meant we were applying sunscreen to Bria every 10 minutes, and it worked, our little girl didn't burn at all, wahoo! She did get a little bit of a tan which is adorable because her fat roll creases are still white-LOVE IT.

That night we all crashed around 10:30 or so since we all got up early and were exhausted. We meant to be party animals but the sun wiped us out.

Tuesday

Tuesday Bria was the last one up, she slept until about 7:15 am or so, NICE. I believe this is the day Brian and I got out on the jet ski's with Jenny and Kyle and had a blast. It's fun to let loose and haul ass down the lake, especially when you hit bumps and go flying, loved it.

In the afternoon all the guys loaded up on the speed boat and went wake-boarding and skiing. While they were gone we decorated the second deck for Brian's surprise graduation party. When they rolled up we got the music ready and as he walked up the stairs we play pomp and circumstance. It was awesome and Brian was in shock, he had no idea we planned it. Anna even made his favorite: chocolate cake for dessert. We had spaghetti and bread and talked about how proud we were of Brian :) It was fun and I'm glad we were able to celebrate Brian's graduation.

Bria got pretty cranky that night and was a little tougher to put down for bed. I laid with her for awhile and rubbed her back, it worked because she settled down eventually and drifted off to sleep.

Wednesday

We went for a boat ride on my mom and Randy's speed boat in the morning, then spent the afternoon playing around like usual. I really tried to soak it up since it was our last day there. Bria was a little cranky which I think was just being overtired from going to bed so late every night. Although I will say she took a fantastic nap everyday and that was nice because it gave Brian and I a chance to play without worrying about Bria and where she was.

We all danced on the deck in the evening and then moved it inside once the wind picked up. That night apparently Bria woke up and was whining for Mommy and Daddy. Neither Brian or I heard her since we were in the living room at the opposite end, but Aunt Jenny was right across from Bria and heard her. She went in there and as soon as she opened the door Bria laid down and Jenny rubbed her back for awhile and then she went back to sleep. I felt so bad I didn't hear her but I was glad Jenny knew exactly what to do :)

Thursday

Time to pack up and head out. We did a majority of the packing up in the morning so we could spend some time out in the sun before heading in. We went down the slide a bunch to try and soak in all the fun. This is also when my Dad spotted a snake. The jet ski's were tied up to the house boat and my Dad climbed on one to adjust some stuff and a snake head peered up at him. I didn't see my Dad's reaction but Brian did and thought it was a bee, then realized it was a snake and started beating it with the bumper. This killed the snake and calmed our fears a little. Although I was hesitant to get in the water because I never even though of snakes being in there and it freaked me out. Good thing it was the last day.

So we finally headed into the dock and then loaded up our stuff into the cars. We stopped at Mt. Shasta, California for some dinner and then hit the open road. Which is where Bria screamed so loud that I was able to see inside her mouth and spot her 1st molars on top! I couldn't believe she got her 1st molars, I was so excited. I'll admit I was a lot more patient with her on the ride home because I knew she was probably in a little bit of pain. So I gave her some Tylenol, played as many games as I could think of, Brian and I sang the OSU Fight song about 50 times, and then at 7:30 pm we told her it was time to go night night. And after a little fussing she did. Whew. We carried her in bed when we got home and slept there soundly until 8:30 am.

It was a fantastic vacation.