I Can't Believe My Baby is 3!

Max is three! I'm excited and sad all at the same time. I'm excited for him because all this kid ever wanted to do since the day he was born was grow up. But I'm sad that my first baby is getting older and older and I can't stop it! Dang unstoppable time...


I made him this shirt to wear on his birthday. New traditions we're starting for the kids -- decorated kitchen and t-shirts!







He woke up to a decorated kitchen table and special chair and presents waiting for him. He loved it! He especially loved getting the bike that my mimi and da got him. I wish I got the look on his face when he opened the front door. We told him we thought we heard someone at the door and he opened it and was just freaking out he was so excited. He actually screamed!





We decided to celebrate the day by taking him to his favorite place on Earth -- the beach!! Tyler took the day off and we headed out nice and early. There were hardly any people there on a Thursday morning so it was extra nice. Tyler and Max built all kind of sand castles and dug holes to play in.















Lia at all kinds of sand. I swear I expected to see a diaper full of sand in a few hours. Man that girl can eat!





We left just in time for naps and for dinner Danielle came over and we had In-N-Out (his favorite food). And came back to the house for cake and singing. Danielle got him a cash register and now he runs around the house looking for "bar combs" to scan.











I'm pretty sure he had a great birthday. He loved all the attention and celebration. I just can't believe he's three already. This little boy is so full of life and wonder and energy -- and I wouldn't change him for the world!! As hard as he is to parent sometimes, he's pretty awesome! Happy Birthday baby boy!! (I mean BIG boy!)

This girl loves to laugh!

And I can not get enough of hearing her little giggle. It's awesome.

Random videos that I don't feel like writing an actual post for...

so here you go. The End.

Lia crawling in the sand at the beach.




Max opening presents on his birthday.


Rhode Island pool time at my aunt's.


And just WOW.

Konyn Dairy Farm

Thanks to Monique Max and I went on a little visit to the Konyn Dairy Farm in Escondido. It was actually pretty cool! For a person who drinks milk at every meal, to quench thirst and just because -- I could definitely appreciate all those mama cows. We went early in the morning before the heat set in and got to see all the baby cows and mama cows getting milked.







We even saw a baby cow that had been born two hours before we got there!



And Max loved when he got to go in and pet the day old babies. He was so gentle with them. He just kept petting and petting and letting them sniff his hand. It was really sweet to watch him.





At the end the kids got to slide down the huge feed mountains in the feed barns. They got filthy and dusty but it was so cool to watch them run up the barley and corn and cotton heaps and slide down on their bottoms. I was kinda sad we didn't get a milk or butter sample, but other than that it was totally awesome and I want to do it again soon!

These are all the delivery tools. And I don't mean milk man delivery tools. I mean baby cow delivery -- chains? UM -- SO grateful to be a human!



A sign inside the milking barn -- I really liked it!


Feeling the cold and warm pipes where the milk goes into the storage bins -- comes in warm straight from the cow, piped through cold coils and goes into the storage tanks cold where it becomes mostly butter.


The Konyns themselves -- husband and wife -- this farm has been in the Konyn family for generations.

Another Cuz-it

Max thinks he has about a million cousins (or cuz-its as he says) and he's not that far off. We had a nice visit from Tyler's cousin Alexis who lives in Idaho for a week. She came to do a photo internship thingy with me. I was nervous to have her come because I wasn't sure I could fill our time with meaningful learning experiences but hopefully I did alright. She came to help build her portfolio for her entrance into BYU's art program. Cool, huh?











We had a lot fun, we went to the beach, drove all around San Diego looking for good photo spots, hit up a really expensive candy shop in downtown La Jolla (where I found birch beer!), we attempted to take pictures of my children (disaster as usual) and relaxed. We hope Allie comes back to visit next summer! (Unless she's too busy getting ready to head out to BYU!)

Driving South: North Carolina

The next day we packed into our fancy rental car and continued the drive down to North Carolina. I wish I had taken a picture of this, but on our way down we stopped for lunch at a Cracker Barrel restuarant. While we were outside we saw some of the hickest looking guys all wearing guns in holsters talking about what you should say to a judge if you were ever arrested for shooting someone to make it sound like self-defense. Yeah. For real. Can you imagine sitting in a restaurant with a bunch of hicks with guns strapped to them? Definitely a southern experience.

Tyler's aunt Cindy and uncle Mark and their 6 awesome kids (Benjamin, Anna, Porter, Jane, Bekah and Eve) were so soo nice to let us stay with them for a few days! I wanted to stay longer but it didn't work out with everyone's schedules. Max had the time of his life playing with all his cousins and swimming in their pool.









I actually really really liked North Carolina. It's gorgeous and green. It was so interesting to see the miles of tobacco plants there, too. AND the food was SOOOOOOO good. I'm a sucker for fried chicken and BBQ. Cindy took us to two awesome places while we were there.


I swear if I lived there I'd be 400lbs in a matter of months. That sign is supposed to say "Chicken and BBQ" although I prefer it like this :) And can I just tell you all how hot it is in North Carolina? I don't think I've ever experienced heat like that anywhere else! Wow!

One day we were there we went to this fun Natural History museum. Max thought the dinosaurs were so cool.

Max is here with Eve and Porter.

Another day we went to this awesome kids place called Marbles. It was so fun! It had a bunch of play areas and rooms with tons of toys for pretend play. They had a fire truck with fireman clothes to wear.


They had a post office with a conveyer belt, packages, and mailman clothes to wear. And they had an ambulance with a bed, IV bags and tubes, babies in incubators, all the stuff you need to have an awesome pretend time!


They even had a little play area for babies that Lia had fun crawling around in.


And the thing that sent Max over the edge into pure blissful happiness -- a huge pirate ship and lots of pirate clothes to wear. He was "boisting" the sails and having the time of his life. I think he thought he was a real pirate for like half an hour.








We had so so much fun with everyone there! Thank you so much Cindy and Mark for letting us come visit and play and making it possible for us to even go there! North Carolina is definitely on the top of our list of places we may move to (although, it's not at the very top because I'm seriously afraid I'd really be 400lbs with all that good Southern food!) We miss you guys!