Trip to So Cal--Day 1 We Made It! Barely.

We've lived up here in Paradise for a year now and we've made short trips down to So. Cal for holidays, but never really had enough time to see all of the people we wanted to see or do all the things we wanted to do. So my cousin got married in July and it was the perfect excuse for me to come down and spend some real time visiting people and hanging out--just the girls and I--Bo couldn't get time off work. :( We spent almost two weeks there and it was quite an experience. Traveling with two kids went pretty smoothly...that is, after we got to the tiny Chico airport 5 minutes after their 30 minute deadline and had to beg for them to let us on the airplane that I could clearly see still sitting right there through the window. If any of you have seen "Meet the Parents"--it was reminiscent of the scene where Ben Stiller is trying to get on the airplane in the empty airport to go back home in the middle of the night. Anyway, they let us on. (I think the crying baby, the excited 3 year old, the stressed out mom look, and the prayers helped my case). The plane ride was fun for Melia. She was so excited--this was the first time she was old enough to really know what was going on and because the plane was so small, we actually got to walk out and climb up the stairs into the plane. We made it to LA and somehow in the year that we've been gone I completely forgot about traffic. I mean, I knew it was still there, but I totally forgot how to plan for it. For example, our flight arrived at LAX at 6:15 and I thought, "Ok, we can be at my mom's house by 7pm so I can feed Naiya and put the girls to bed on time." Silly, silly Laura. By the time my friend Vero, who was giving us a ride, finally got our stroller out of the oddly shaped baggage section (who knew that existed?!), we got two car seats strapped in her car, two kids in the car seats, suitcases in the trunk, and got through the line of cars to pay for parking, we emerged into good old Wednesday evening traffic. But not to fear, we ended up arriving at my mom's house with two crying children just in time to get Melia to bed and to start feeding Naiya at 8:00pm. Only an hour off of my projected time. But really, the only thing that matters is we made it just in time to see "So You Think You Can Dance". :)

Oh, My Little Persistent One

So today, the girls and I went grocery shopping at Safeway. Melia saw some balloons and was convinced that she needed another balloon in addition to the huge "Super Dad" balloon that she got for free there at Safeway the day after Father's Day that is still floating around our house and the pink heart balloon that we got at the Dollar Tree because it was only, surprise, suprise, a dollar. So she spent most of our shopping time trying to convince me that we needed to get another balloon so she could have three. My attempts to help her understand that 2 balloons were enough, that we didn't have money to buy another balloon, that we were only buying food this time, that I was done talking about it, etc, etc, were just not working today. We then get in line to pay for our stuff and Melia starts asking the checker for a balloon. I tell her that she can't just give her a balloon--that it takes money. So then Melia's next words to the checker are, "Can I have some money?". Ahh, kids. The checker then points to the automatic change thing and some money comes out. Melia gets it out and is so excited that she now has money so she can buy a balloon! The problem was she had about 14 cents and the balloon was six dollars. I almost gave it up and got her the balloon as I looked down at her sweet little face beaming with excitement. But then my sensible side took over and I remembered that, one, I didn't want to teach her that it doesn't matter how many times mommy says no because you eventually get it anyway, and two, there was no way I was going to pay 6 bucks for a balloon. So we went over to where the balloons were and I showed her the price tag and helped her count how much money she had. Once she kind of understood that she didn't have enough money, I told her that she could save what she had and earn some more and then, once she has enough, we could come back and get a balloon. She seemed to be pacified with that idea. Man, I never thought that I would have to start teaching my 3 1/2 year old about money already. I thought that came later on. She definitely keeps me on my toes. I'm sure she'll actually remember about coming back when she has more money. But when that time comes, we'll definitely be going to the Dollar Tree where we can get 6 balloons for the price of one at Safeway!

Naiya's Blessing

Naiya's blessing was really special. Bo did a wonderful job and the spirit was really strong. I cried (of course) as I heard all of the great blessings that will come to Naiya throughout her life. I feel so blessed to have two beautiful girls--daughters of our Heavenly Father that He has entrusted us with to care for and guide through this life. I'm so grateful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and to be surrounded by so many wonderful people who care about us. Thank you to all of our family and friends for being so great!

4th of July

Bo's family came up to stay with us for the 4th of July weekend because we were having Naiya blessed. We started the 4th of July early with a 5k. Bo, Shane, Azure and Dad ran/walked it and had a good time. I wanted to do it too, but it was right when Naiya's first feeding of the day starts. :( I'm proud of Bo for doing it though considering we haven't been the least bit active lately. :)


After the race, we all met down at the water hole to swim. Yes, we now swim in things called "the water hole". Ahh, small town life.



We topped off the day by eating pizza and getting good old Thrifty ice cream. What could be more American than that?

Hair We Are

After a year of being here, I finally went to get my hair highlighted and cut so I could feel normal again. Right in the middle of the process as I look like this in the above picture, Melia comes up and says, "Mommy you look so pretty. Are you done?" :)

June? July?! What?

Where does the time go? I don't know. It's now been a whole month since I've updated this and a lot has been going on, so here's a little bit. First of all, our friends, Chris, Vicky and Lenore came up for a visit for the last time before they move back to So. Cal. We had a good time like always when we see them. Melia and Lenore were so cute playing and dancing together.


I'm not exactly sure why, but I would have to say that Chris is definitely Melia's favorite out of all of our friends. She's always excited to see him no matter how much time has passed since we've seen him and she likes to spend most of her time talking to him, sitting with him, holding his hand when we're walking, etc. She even noticed when I reframed our group wedding picture and Chris got covered up because he was up in a corner. When I showed her the picture in the new frame, I pointed out Grandpa and Grandma and other relatives and Melia's response was, "But where's Chris?" I have since found a bigger mat for the frame so that Chris shows again. :)

So Bo and I decided that we were tired of not doing anything up here besides taking care of the kids and going out to eat occasionally for "fun". So we started looking into other stuff to do. One of the things we found was a hike down to a river that was pretty fun. We had a good time and it was so great to just get out into nature again and enjoy.


That's my little smiley!

Another thing we found was the "water hole". It's this place where they dammed up part of a river and paved the bottom, so now it's like a huge swimming pool. We had fun swimming and Melia is getting more and more comfortable in the water, which is good except for when I'm not paying attention. :) So the other day, we went swimming with my friend and her daughter at the pool in the gym here. Melia and my friend's daughter were playing on the stairs and my friend and I were chatting just a couple of feet away in the water. Earlier, Melia had been jumping to me in the water and I guess she decided that she was going to do it again. The only problem was that I didn't realize she was jumping to me. So I look over and see this green thing at the bottom of the pool next to my leg. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that this green thing was Melia's bathing suit and that Melia was under the water. I grabbed her and picked her up trying to stay cool so she wouldn't freak out about it cause she's not used to going under the water--especially not by herself with no one holding her. Luckily, she was fine and I was able to convince her that she was such a big girl jumping all by herself. Child protective services hasn't showed up yet, so I think I'm good.

Que Paso?

So the other day, Bo decided to shave his hair all the way off with a razor. Melia was very fascinated watching him do this and wanted to do the same thing to her head. She was pretty disappointed when we denied her idea. Hours later we were driving in the car and out of the blue, Melia says: "Sorry Dad." Daddy: "Sorry for what?" Melia: "Sorry your hair looks funny." Daddy was moted.