Camping!

DAY 4: A PHOTO OF THE LAST PLACE YOU WENT ON HOLIDAY
Just three weeks before Logan was born, I decided to get a little bit crazy and go camping... in a tent. This picture above is our campsite! Originally we had plans to camp up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Well everyone else was going to camp, but seeing as I was 37 weeks pregnant we were going to be staying with some friends of my Mom's who have a place close by. But plans got changed, and I didn't want to give up our vacation. So we borrowed a tent from some friends, bought an air mattress (because there is no way I could handle sleeping on the ground, especially being pregnant), and decided to join in on our family camping trip. We camped at Flying Flags RV park in Buellton, CA. We booked a family site, that had room for a Motor Home (which slept my parents, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin and their dog) and Sean, Brody & I had a tent on the lawn. It was a nice set up being right there all together. Most of the tent sites at this campground were very far away from the RV sites. The biggest challenge for me was being so pregnant the many times a night I would have to hike to the restroom. Good times! Brody had so much fun playing "knock down", a game my Dad helped him come up with, where he set water bottles up on a paint bucket and threw balls at them. The kid loves bowling, so this was the next best thing! I believe we spent 4 nights there, and then headed down to Anaheim where we went to Disneyland for a day and stayed in Orange County through the 4th of July. Our favorite place to be on the 4th is in Balboa, where my dad grew up. It was really nice to get down to Orange County for the last half of our trip and stay in a hotel after camping the first part of the trip. Over all it was a great vacation, and I was mostly thankful that Logan decided to stay put while we were away from home. I had been having lots of contractions... and my midwife wasn't too excited that I would be 2.5 hours away from a hospital during that time. Logan wasn't born until just a few days before his due date, so I'm really glad we decided to go on this trip. Two years before when Brody was born, we skipped out on a trip to Hawaii because I was 36 weeks along, the cut of for flying. He stayed cooking for almost two weeks past his due date, so I was bummed that we missed out on that trip. In the future I've requested my family not plan their super fun vacations at the end of my pregnancies, hopefully they will comply... :)

And here is a favorite picture of our little "Happy Camper":

Brothers

DAY 3: A PHOTO THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY

There is nothing that makes me happier than watching my boys together. Brody is such a sweet big brother. He is always loving on Logan, and it brings me so much joy. He constantly asks to hold his brother, or if Logan is crying he comes up and gives him kisses or tries to help by shoving a paci in his mouth. I love how sweet & gentle he is with him. And I especially love when he says "I Wuv You Brudder". I hope & pray that they grow up to be best friends! My boys are such sweet blessings. I am thankful for them both everyday.

Amy's Wedding Day

DAY 2: A PHOTO OF YOURSELF A YEAR AGO

Okay, so it's only the second day and I almost already forgot I was doing this! For Day 2, I chose this picture taken at my little sister's wedding last October.

They have such a great story!

Amy & Jarrod met at our wedding in May of 2007. In fact he caught the garter, and she caught the bouquet. When Sean's mom first met Amy, she pointed out that she would be perfect for her friend Lori's son, Jarrod. I told her to leave it alone as Amy was not interested in being set up as she had been the victim of many set up attempts. When I first met Jarrod, I changed my mind a little as I knew they would be a great match. So yeah the toss at our wedding may have been a bit rigged, at least for Amy... but I know Jarrod had to fight for it. Once that happened, my mom and my mother-in-law ran over to the D.J. and asked him to announce a special tradition for a dance between the couple who caught the garter & bouquet. They both knew it was a cheesy set up attempt, but were great sports about it.


They even exchanged information, but because both of them were in new relationships at the time it took them a year to even start communicating. I believe their first communication was Jarrod asking Amy (on Facebook) if she was excited about becoming an Aunt, back when we were expecting Brody. Once they started dating, it was evident that they were very right for each other. Eventually they became engaged, and then in October of last year they were finally married! I had the privilege of being Matron of Honor, Sean was a groomsman, and Brody the ring bearer.

So I know it's a year late, but Congratulations Amy & Jarrod. We are so happy to have played a part in you finding each other, and loved sharing with you in your big day!

And We're Back!

After almost two years away from the blog, I have decided it's time to revive it. I've been wanting to start writing again for a while, but have been dreading this first post. Last time I wrote, my Brody was only seven months old! There have been so many changes over these past twenty-two months... the thought of an update is overwhelming. I stumbled across this 30-day Photo Challenge over on my friend Jenny's Blog, and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get this blog back up and running! Someone better tag me in something after that, or it's possible I might just forget I even have a blog (again!).

It's my hopes that through this Photo Challenge you might be updated on the details of these past months that I've neglected to write. To catch you all up to speed on where we are now, here is a quick summary of the past couple years:

- Sean got hired by the U.S. Navy, as a civilian employee in Finance
- We moved to San Diego & lived with my in-laws for 4 months
- We took a cruise to Catalina to celebrate our 2nd Anniversary
- We celebrated Brody's 1st birthday!
- We purchased our first home!
- My little sis got married, the end result of a set-up at our wedding!
- We found out we were expecting baby #2!
- Enjoyed the holidays, spending time with both sides of our family
- Cruised to Mexico with both our families to celebrate Mom's 50th!
- Purchased a Minivan to accommodate our growing family!
- Found out that baby #2 was a healthy baby BOY!
- Celebrated our 3rd Anniversary!
- Went tent camping, at 37 weeks pregnant for family vacation!
- Sean graduated with his Masters of Science in Accounting
- Met our sweet baby boy, LOGAN EDWARD GRIFFIN! (July 22, 2010)
- Celebrated Brody's 2nd Birthday ten days later...
- Adjusted to life as a Mommy of 2, and a family of 4... loving every moment of it!

And there you have it. Hopefully this 30 day photo challenge will allow me to fill in some of the details along the way! And with that I'll start with the 1st photo:

DAY 1: YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE PHOTO


Our Family! This photo was taken by Cindy Franklin back in September, when we were up visiting my parents over Labor Day weekend. Brody had just turned two, and Logan was only six weeks old. Sadly, I think this is the ONLY picture I have of the four of us. I guess we need to work on that...

So I guess this blog is officially up and running again, lets hope I can keep up the motivation to post on a somewhat regular basis!

Seven Months

Brody is now seven months old. I'm not sure why, but in case you haven't noticed I've been neglecting this blog for quite some time. I just seem to lack the motivation to update it, especially as my sweet boy seems to need more and more of my constant attention as he is now on the move.

Brody is growing up SO fast, and a has bunch of new tricks up his sleeve. At his six month check-up, he weighed in at 15lbs,5oz, and was 27.5" long. He has more than doubled in weight since birth, and has grown more than half a foot! He is now able to sit up on his own, pull himself up to a standing position in places like his crib, the pack n' play, and on our couches. He always prefers to be in an upright position to the sitting one. Brody mastered the "army crawl" right at six months, but now has learned to crawl up on both hands and knees. No matter how many toys he has in front of him on the floor he always seems to go for everything he is not suppose to have. Brody's favorite are the electronics.. he is always headed for the DVR/DVD players, and the remote control! From the side he looks just like his Daddy, but from the front I think he looks a lot like my Dad did when he was a baby. He has a lot of hair, and his eyes are still changing. He recently discovered solid food, and dines on oatmeal and rice cereal and his favorite purees are carrots, peas, and bananas. He also likes the "yo baby" yogurts! He is learning to self feed with Cheerios, and does a great job of gumming them up before trying to swallow. He also has one tooth, on the bottom left of the two middle teeth... I think the second tooth is on its way in soon. This age is crazy full of new milestones on an almost daily basis. I'm excited for him that he pretty much fully mobile, but its a lot more work as if I turn my head for even a moment it seems he is off down the hall. As a result he is spending a little more time each day in the pack n' play or in his walker, until we get everything baby-proofed. Brody is also very "talkative", most of it is babbling, but he does say "Dadda" and "Mama", although I'm not sure if he knows what they mean yet. He just loves the sound of his own voice! I'm so blessed to be his Mommy, and I'm still loving every moment of it.

Sean and I are doing well! We are excited to announce that we are relocating down to the San Diego area in the beginning of April. Sean is attending the University of Phoenix, working towards his Masters in Accountancy, and just accepted a new job on the naval base at Point Loma to gain experience while in school. For now, I will continue to stay at home with Brody. I am also pursuing a degree in Nursing and my RN license, and I will continue taking pre-reqs for the program at Grossmont starting in the fall. We have enjoyed the year we spent here on the central coast, and it is bittersweet that we are leaving. We are looking forward to the opportunities that we have down south, and to spending more time with friends, and Sean's family!

In other news, I started taking Brody to a Gymnastics class last week called "BabyRoo's" that is designed specifically for babies starting at his age. It is structured playtime with focus on movement and motor development, and it's a great opportunity for him to get out of the house. I've included pictures here... enjoy!