Cousins!!

Ayden, Landon

Cameron & Alex

Alex & Cameron
Alex & Cameron

Does Alex really look three months younger then Cameron? Brad says that Alex is our little sumo wrestler. And she is already starting to wrestle toys from her cousins. Just look at that intensity. Do we have another Ayden on our hands? No, I don't think so. She is still my little sweet heart. My dad says that her face just says kindness and I would have to agree. (not that Ayden isn't kind, she is just a little fiery)

It was fun seeing Brad's sister Nicki and her two kids while we were in Salt Lake. I wish we could have spent more time with them and I wish we could see them more often. Landon is 6 weeks older then Ayden and Cameron is three months older then Alex. I hope they all grow up to be close cousins. This was the first time we got to meet Cameron. He is an adorable kid. He was really sweet. Nicki and I were commenting on how our first babies were both really hard, fussy babies and we are both so grateful to have it a little easier the second time around. They all played together really well. Of course whenever there are two year olds around there is a lot of mediating going on. We miss you guys and hope to see you soon!

Could my girls ask for a better Daddy?

Do I need to say anything more? These pictures are better than a thousand words. My girls certainly love their Dad. Saturday night Ayden kept waking up crying because she was afraid of monsters. We would go in her room and calm her down and then ten minutes later she would start crying again. We kept telling her that there were not any monsters and she would say "they won't get me?" and we would reply by telling her that they won't get her because there aren't any. But she would not take that as an answer. After a couple of times going back and forth trying to calm her down, Brad finally consoled her by climbing into her bed to guard her from the monsters. Now they really couldn't get her. She must have been comforted because they both slept in until 9:00, which is a big feat for both of them. Brad woke up saying that he was so sore from being scrunched in the little bed that he felt like he was fighting off monsters all night. It was kind of nice for me to have the whole bed to myself.

Family Pictures

We took the family to Park City for a couple of days. We had not all gone to Park City all summer so we decided to make a trip before we go to San Diego. We had a lot of fun. While we were there, we had Hillary try to get some family snap shots of us since we don't have many family pictures. I think we got some good ones despite the fact that Ayden was not very cooperative. She was obsessed with the bird bath and was not willing to stop playing with it long enough to get some pictures. She had fun throwing rocks into it, splashing in it and she even drank the water at one point. Luckily I saw my Dad put fresh water in it a couple of hours before she drank it so I knew it couldn’t be too contaminated. Alex somehow managed to grab a leaf from a virginia creeper vine and was sucking on it for about a half an hour before we noticed. You can even see it in one of the pictures. Luckily it did not seem to bother her. Thankfully we got some good shots with out poisoning our children in the meantime.

This week Alex has discovered food and her feet!

Alex has had a couple of milestones this past week. One of them is her obsession with her feet. Any chance she gets, they go right in her mouth. It is nice to have something else to entertain her. Speaking of entertaining, she has also seemed to start liking Ayden. Ayden used to scare her. Mostly because most of the encounters she has had with her are negative. Ayden used to be pretty jealous and any chance she would get she would take it out on Alex. This behavior of hitting and pulling Alex’s hair unfortunately usually occurred while I was nursing. If Alex even just heard Ayden’s voice while I was nursing she would automatically start crying in fear of what might come next. I was worried that Alex would always be scared of her but fortunately they are becoming friends. Ayden does not act so jealous anymore and is starting to have fun with her. I think she is realizing that Alex can be fun. Ayden always asks where she is and loves to entertain her and Alex really likes it. It is sure making life a whole lot easier.
Another milestone for Alex has been her encounter with solid food. I was going to wait until she was 6 months to feed her cereal but Alex started acting hungry so I thought I would give it a try. I was really surprised with how well she ate it. I swear it took Ayden two weeks before she was actually swallowing more then she was wearing. That may be because I started feeding Ayden a month earlier but Alex caught on really quick and ate a lot of it. I could not tell if she liked it because by her facial expressions you would think that I was feeding her dirt or something but she kept wanting more and would start fussing if I stopped feeding her. She has seemed much more content now that I am giving her something a little more sustaining.
Alex has also finally accomplished laughing! Alex is a really serious baby. It took her a while to smile and even longer to laugh. I thought she may never do it. She has only done it once but it was the cutest noise ever so I really hope she starts doing it more.
I cannot believe that Alex is already 5 months old! It goes by so fast. She has really been changing a lot lately. It is hard to belive that she will be like Ayden running around and back talking to me before too long.

Horray it is August!!

What an awful past week and a half!! I am sure it could have been worse but it has been pretty miserable around here because all of us have been sick. The whole month of July just stunk! I hope August will be a better month. For the first part of the month we all had little colds, just the typical cough, runny nose stuff and then about a week and a half ago it all got a whole lost worse. Brad and I had strep throat and Ayden and Alex had pneumonia and an ear infection. Brad, Ayden and I have been on antibiotics for about five days and we are all feeling much better but Alex just got on them today. I sure hope she starts feeling better soon too. We also have to do albuterol breathing treatments for the girls. FUN STUFF! Oh well.

Some big news for us is that we are going to be living in San Diego for 3-4 months starting in the middle of September. Brad’s company, CH2M Hill, is sending our family there while Brad is going to work onsite on a project they have going on there. It is going to be a lot of fun but I am also sad to leave. It will be a long time away from our home and our friends. But it will be fun to be close to relatives like Taylor and Kayce in L.A and a whole bunch of other Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents. We also have some really good friends from college, Nate and Brooke, that live in So Cal as well. I am sure we will stay busy catching up with everyone and site seeing. We would also love it if anyone wants to come and visit us. San Diego has a lot to offer such as the beach, Sea World, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, LEGOLAND (I know it is calling for you Kyle!), San Diego Harbor Excursions and Whale Watch, Belmont Amusement Park, Birch Aquarium at Scripps Reuben H. Fleet Science Center (including an IMAX movie), Temecula Wine Tasting Tour, Miramar Speed Circuit Race, Petco Park, Tour Rock Bottom Brewery Tour, Tijuana, Mexico, Knott’s Soak City Water Park and now for only three-four months the most amazing attraction of all… The Terry‘s!!!. There has to be something in there that catches your eye. So plan that trip.

I have also started an in home business being an Independent Representative for a natural skin care line called Sensaria. The company started in Washington and is run like Mary Kay but the products are closer to those of Aveda. The products are made from the finest grade botanicals, essential oils, vitamins and minerals. I really love the product and think that everyone should use it so I am going to become one of those annoying pushy salesmen to try and get everyone of you to start using it!!! Not really… but I really do like it and if you are interested in learning more about it or hosting a party to get free products let me know. I have a website but company policy says that I cannot post it on any website so if you want it let me know and I can email it to you.

Well, I posted a few pictures this month of us at the pool. They were taken on one of the few days we actually got out of the house!! Ayden has been begging to go to the pool everyday, I am excited to be able to go again once we kick these viruses and bacteria in the butt. I hope everyone is doing well.
Love, Jenni

You can tell Ayden loves swimming but I am not so sure Alex does.
Was it Brad or Jim Carry who starred in Dumb and Dumber?

Ha Ha, nice hair babe.

It seriously usually does not look like that.