Newport Beach

There’s so much to write about our fabulous vacation. Lots of photos!



MY BEACH BUM 10 MONTH OLD





Nate L O V E S the beach. I thought he would but I never anticipated this level of enjoyment. I was a little interested to see if he’d do anything but eat the sand but after the first day he never ate the sand again! He only ate the shells, seaweed & rocks in the sand. He played for hours outside in the sand and also loved being down at the water. He played in the ocean A LOT. He didn’t even mind the frigid water. Even while shivering he wanted more.


He was standing a lot on this trip. It was even easier with his feet buried in the sand!

The first day we were down there I had him down at the water. I let him play in the sand and then when a wave came, I picked him up so he could just splash in it. Wes came down to see what we were up to and we had a little misunderstanding as to who was going to pick him up when the wave came. Neither one of us did and the wave engulfed the poor little dude. It went over his head and knocked him back quite a few feet. My mom was appalled at our parenting skills but he survived and wasn’t even scared of the water. In fact, as we were walking back to the beach house with Nate a guy turned to me and said, “I did that with all five of mine.” Glad to know Nate’s tough.





Nate was such a good kid on our vacation. He rarely cried or whined. He loved being in a new place with never-ending sand and water. He loved having his cousins, aunts/uncle & grandma/grandpa around. For some reason Abbie was scared to death of Nate and ran from him whenever he came near, but Daisy seemed to really like having him around. He frequently visited her while she was eating.




PERFECT SET-UP

We stayed at a beach house right on the beach in Newport. It was perfect for our family with a 6 month old, a 10 month old, a 2 year old, and a 10 year old. You can imagine the different schedules we had going on! It made it so that while the kids were sleeping we could still enjoy the sand and sun. The back patio was probably my favorite part of the house. We sat out there A LOT just enjoying everything. The next best thing was that everyone had their own room . . . even the babies! That made it so Ali and I actually got some sleep at night without the kids in our room. They even had a great playroom full of toys for Abbie and Nate.


Nate eating his dinner on the beach


hanging out on the patio

PLAYING IN THE WATER

I love swimming in the ocean. I can’t go to the beach without jumping through waves. This year the water was exceptionally cold and the waves were quite large but it didn’t stop us from going in. Wes and I went in quite a bit. Cassie (Sam’s roommate) joined us in the ocean once she arrived on Thursday. And by Friday we got Sam, Tripp & my dad to come in the waves with us. I have to say that the waves were a little bigger than I prefer but it was still a blast being tossed around.




Abbie & Kyle loved the water, too. It took Abbie a little bit to want to play in the water but by the end she was loving it, too. Kyle spent almost an entire day in the water!










DISNEYLAND




My family LOVES Disneyland so we couldn’t be that close and not go to the happiest place on earth. Wes had to work a little bit while we were down there so we decided to have him miss Disneyland so he could be around more at the beach. I have to say that Disneyland is always fun but it’s a little different with all of the little kiddos! Thanks mom, dad & Sam for being my fill-in husband for the day and helping me with Nate. I definitely couldn’t have done that without you. Nate loved Disneyland and was such a trooper. I had a feeling he wouldn’t sleep while we were there and he sure didn’t! He dozed for about 20 minutes in the morning but that was it. The look on his face on our first ride (Winnie the Pooh) was priceless. He was just in awe at everything. He was happy all day . . . enjoying the magic of Disneyland, the people everywhere & yummy food. The only downfall of the day was how hot it was! I think I lost 5 pounds just in sweat! Luckily it cooled off that evening.




Wes met us all at Downtown Disney for dinner and then he took Nate home & my parent’s took Daisy home so the rest of us could enjoy the evening without the babies. Sam, Kyle & I went on all the “big” rides while Ali & Tripp enjoyed a night with Abbie. It was great! I love that place and can’t wait to take Nate back when he’s a little older and knows who the characters are.


Nate crawling through a watermelon at Goofy's Playhouse


Nate loved playing this piano at Goofy's House.







JUST HANGING OUT

The entire trip was relaxing and fun. I love being able to ride your bike so easily! Sam, Wes & I had some fun bike rides together. It made me wish I lived in a town that was bike friendly.
I had a good mix of being able to play with Nate when he was awake but he took some great naps because he played so hard so Wes and I had time to enjoy the sun and some time to relax. Here are some photos of all of us just having fun.


Abbie loves her papa.


We let Nate try a Sour Patch Kid.


The Thompson kiddos playing on the porch


Sam & I doing one of our absolutely favorite things: laying on the beach!





Wes entertaining the kiddos. :)

Even though my entire family lives in Las Vegas, I feel like I don’t see them that often & nothing compares to the memories we have on our annual family vacations. It’s great to spend that much time with everyone having fun! Thanks mom and dad for another great one!

"happy days" at the beach

We’re back & I miss the beach already. I LOVE everything about the beach. The sand, the sound of the waves, swimming in the ocean, the cool breeze . . . I love all of it. We had a great time with my family. I’m currently loading the HUNDREDS of pictures I took so I’ll try to load them to the blog tomorrow but I thought I’d at least post about a few “happy days” that happened to be on our trip.

The first happy day was Fathers Day. It was fun to spend the entire day with my dad as well as Wes & Tripp. They are all great dads so it was nice to be able to honor them on Sunday. Tripp had the best idea yet: to get TONS of Cold Stone icecream on Saturday night so we could have a special treat on Fathers Day. This isn’t even all of it.



I’m especially grateful that Wes is such a great dad to Nate. Thanks babe for all you do. Happy First Fathers Day. Here are some photos of the dads/grandpa in action.







The second happy day was Sam’s 25th birthday on the 16th. We spent the day at the beach & then went out to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. Happy Birthday, Sam! It was fun to be able to spend the entire day with ya. You’re a great sister and aunt.



MANY more photos of our trip to come!

Griffeth Summer Adventure #1. . .

begins tomorrow.



We're headed to Newport Beach with the Marz clan. We can't be that close to the happiest place on earth without spending a day there so that's on the agenda. As well as lots of time on the sand. Lots of time on our bikes. Yummy food. And great company.

It's an annual tradition that we go somewhere fun with my family. I wish I had my scanner all hooked up so I could post pictures of our last trip to Newport 4 years ago. It was a great trip and I'm really looking forward to this one, too. I loooovee the beach & Disneyland.

Check back in a week to see some fun photos.

my journals

I L O V E writing in a journal. I’ve kept a journal since 3rd grade. My mom recently found one from elementary school and I wrote in the front, “If you are caught reading this you will be fined $50.” She still hasn’t paid up.

I think keeping a record of your life is so important. Maybe I write down too much about what I do daily but a recent experience has taught me otherwise. Wes’ grandma Ruth kept fabulous journals. We ended up with hers for a while and we actually started transcribing them and it was amazing to read about her life. She wrote every day for YEARS. It may seem mundane but you get a true representation of what her days were like. It was fun to read and it showed me that writing every day isn’t pointless. Someone will hopefully enjoy it one day and be able to get a better glimpse in to my life.

Here are my list of journals I keep:

My latest journaling has been my G R A T I T U D E journal. My mom gave me this thing probably 5 years ago and I’m finally using it. There are lines for every day of the year so every night I write down one thing I’m grateful for and why. It pretty much turns in to a “what I did today” or “what I thought about today” journal but it’s been a fun way to record my life in 2008. And, it’s a great way to remember how truly blessed Wes & I are. Just a few of the things I’ve written down this year that I’m grateful for are: good food, my mom, memories, books, sisters, friends, eternal marriage, a clean house, weight watchers, the miracle of life, the ability to change, great weather, a sleeping pill, President Hinckley, quiet car rides, Wes & Nate, golden spoon, sleeping in, doctors, our health, long naps, play dates, organization, peace of mind, laughter, family close by, etc.

I write a journal to N A T E. I think I’ll turn it all in to a book one day and give it to him so he can see my thoughts about him throughout his life. I write monthly right now about what he’s up to and how grateful I am to be his mama.

I write my own P E R S O N A L journal about our life. I used to do this very regularly until Nate was born. The gratitude journal kinda took over but I at least write about big events like vacations, etc.

My other new favorite thing is LDSJournal.com. A friend of mine started this site. It really has nothing to do with being LDS . . . not sure why they named it that but whatever. It is an online journal so I can write in my journal whenever & wherever I want. If I’m at work and have 10 extra minutes before a meeting, I can write in my journal. If I’m on vacation somewhere, I can go online and write in that same journal without hauling the book around. I set up two accounts with LDS Journal. The first is my personal journal . . . I moved it from handwritten to online for convenience. They even have an option to turn your journal in to a printed book which I'll probably do each year. The other one is my “venting” journal. It allows me to V E N T about things I’m frustrated about or struggling with without having to gossip. Sometimes I can just tell my journal and it’s “off my chest.” This is where the therapeutic factor comes in to play.

And of course, we can’t forget about the blog and the scrapbook. I know, it’s all a little much but I enjoy doing it all. I think about how much I wish my grandparent's and parents had as much written down as I do. That's what keeps me writing.

10 months old

Nate turned 10 months old on Friday. I can’t believe I’m going to have a 1 year old this summer.

{Side note: It is getting very difficult to take pictures of him with the "month old" cards!}

Every month, he gets more and more fun. I love watching his personality develop. He’s quite the character. Here’s what he’s been up to . . . .

The most important new development is he’s sleeping through the night! It only took him 9.5 months but he figured it out. He’s been a TERRIBLE sleeper at night since birth so this is a huge accomplishment. Up until a few weeks ago he was still up 2-4 times a night. He started sleeping through the night on his own which made it easy for me to not go in at all in the middle of the night if/when he does wake up. He has learned that crying doesn’t get me in there anymore! It’s amazing what a few nights of consistent sleep will do for a mom. I feel like a new person.


{I love sleeping babies}

He’s so funny when you go in to his room after he wakes up from sleeping. As soon as he hears the door creak open, he jerks his head and just smiles. Then he crawls as fast as he can and stands up to say hi.

He doesn’t like the car anymore and really isn’t a fan of being in his stroller either. This will make our drive to Newport Beach and day at Disneyland interesting! However, he does love being in a shopping cart so I can at least still roam Target without any complaints.

His newest favorite foods are yogurt, string cheese, golden spoon, strawberries, nectarines & pickles!

{Dad was nice enough to share his golden spoon.}



He’s trying to do headstands. I often find him with his head on the floor, one leg in the air . . .like he’s trying to stand on his head! I’m trying to get a picture of this one.

He sticks out his pointer finger and points at what he wants. It’s actually kinda helpful . . . but we’re definitely playing the guessing game a lot! He also started reaching for people he wants. I love that he’s not really a mama’s boy. He loves going to anyone and everyone that will hold him & talk to him. But I’ll admit it’s fun to see his face light up when he sees me or Wes.

He loves cords. He finds every cord in our home and wants to eat it. We’re working on teaching him that cords are not toys!

He’s my little fish. He loves the shower, the bath, sprinklers, fountains and the pool. I love it.

He’s soooo ticklish! We can get a great belly laugh out of him when we tickle him. I love it. I’m working on a video of this for you, Grandma G.

He has picked up some speed as a crawler. He’s pretty quick now. And today, he successfully climbed our entire stair case . . . with Wes behind him, of course! He's in to EVERYTHING. And I mean, everything.





He finds it funny to hurt people. Granted, he doesn’t know he’s hurting anyone but he loves to pull hair, grab skin & head-butt you so hard that I don’t know how he’s not screaming in pain. He just laughs.



We had to go to Bass Pro Shop yesterday so Nate got to pretend to ride another 4 wheeler. He loved the big acquarium. He kept reaching for the fishies.

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{Pictures of today before church}

We love our little man. He's such a fun little dude!

Mr. Nate on the move

You'd think getting a video of your child crawling would be a piece of cake. Not so much for me. I finally got a somewhat decent one. He's funny . . . sometimes he's like a monkey literally on all fours . . . two hands and two feet. But when he's on the tile he looks like he has a "gimp" leg because he refuses to use his left knee. But however he's crawling, he's getting to be pretty quick and somehow he finds things that even Wes and I have never noticed.

He's officially in to everything. Enjoy the video of my little man. Notice that at the end he is climbing on me. That's his absolute favorite. Climbing.

Summer Saturdays Rock

Our summer Saturdays have begun. I really try to make the summers "project free" on the weekends so we can enjoy Grandma & Grandpa's pool or a quick weekend get-a-way!

Saturday was great. After Wes got back from painting Sam's master bedroom, we headed to my nephew Kyle's soccer game. He's quite the little soccer player. Good game, bud!

We picked up yummy sandwiches and headed to my parents for the rest of the day. They are back at the cabin so we had the whole place to ourselves! Sam and her roomie Cassie had the same idea to go swimming so they ended up hanging out with us over there for an hour or two. Nate is a little fish . . . he L O V E S the water. He stayed in for a long time and never wanted to get out. That's my boy.


Nate with Aunt Sam. I promise she has a swimsuit on. Nate's covering her strap.

Then we had our good friends Anya, Sam, Noah & Ikey Earl over for a BBQ and more swimming. It was great to see them. I love their little boys. They are H I L A R I O U S. It gives me a sneek peek of Nate in a few years. (Sorry. No fun pictures of the kiddos. Next time, for sure).

I love summer. I love swimming & being outside and I'm excited for summer to begin!

I thought this face was funny. He was perplexed by a leaf.