Wow! What fun we have had!

I love the summer.  The sun comes out, the weather gets warm...and all of our little friends have birthdays!!  We went to Ava's birthday for a little bit before going to the Magic Castle at Disney.  Ava is such a sweetheart and Hunter just loves her.

 Ava and her little brother - Lucas.

 One Sunday we had friends over for lunch.  After they left we only had an hour before my in-laws came over, so I thought I would take them in the backyard to run around a bit.  Before I knew it, Hunter was butt naked and in the pool! Landon was trying his hardest to take off his clothes too. So, they played in the water for a few hours until dinnertime.  I love having the Baja Shelf in the pool, so they can just play and play in the yard.  It makes it very easy for me when I don't feel like leaving the house.

 Me too!

 After we pulled them out of the pool they were quite snuggly.  Nothing is better than snuggly sleepy boys.

 The 4 of us.

 We have been spending a lot of time at Anderson park in Redondo.  I probably shouldn't be going down the slide as much as I have been but Landon just loves it so much.  Lucky for me, Kate is a good sport and went down it with Landon.  He's obviously thrilled.

 Hunter, Hamilton and Andrew at the park.

 Adorable Kate and Hamilton.  I think his job was to catch her.

 This was a Family Home Evening.  Can't you tell? We're obviously at home, saying prayers and studying the gospel. Ha.  Well, here are 5 of the 7 boys.  We had one girl there too, but she is just so tiny she wasn't in the picture either.

 And back to the pool - Hunter's absolute favorite activity.  I love how much of a fish he is and how comfortable he is getting in the water.  He floated on his back (alone) for the first time today.  It was amazing.  I am so proud of him.  Oh, funny story.  He was at swim lessons and I see him swimming with his head all the way out of the water, talking to the instructor.  I've been joking that he hasn't stopped talking since he turned 3, but quite literally, he hasn't.  He was telling her all about us going to Catalina the previous weekend.  What a goof, right?

 Landon loves to throw in Hunter's cars, and Hunter fishes for them.  They're a good team and recently started getting along so much better.  Hunter is an excellent big brother.  Just this morning we were leaving the house and Hunter brought his little phone and then went back to get Landon's phone, because he knew Landon would want it.  It was so thoughtful and nice.  I was impressed.

 We went to Kids Space Museum in Pasadena with my good friend Kate.  She has two little boys: 3.5 yrs and 1.5 years.  The boys play really well together and we had SO much fun!

 The 4 boys: Landon, Hamilton, Hunter and Beckett.

 Playing in the river.

 Hunter and Hamilton climbing back down the waterfall.

 My little biker! He is getting much better on his bike with no training wheels, but he isn't comfortable yet and prefers a trike.

 Beckett and Landon at the water station.  It's so cute to see them interact with each other.

 Hamilton and Hunter doing heavy construction.  Poor kids, working in the heat of the day.

 Beckett and Landon were having a moment.  Must be an inside joke.

 The 4 boys!  The song "The boys are back in town" kept popping into my head this day.

 Kate was such a good sport about doing all the crazy activities with the boys - like climbing through a kid sized anthole.

 We went to Catalina over the Fourth of July.  Hunter loves it there.  He loves the boat, he loves the parade, he loves the food.  We really need to go over more but I don't think it's quite as much fun to go away for the weekend unless we have friends with us over there.  They kind of have the kids entertain one another and i get a break.  This weekend I got NO break.  Hunter even went to the bathroom with me and took showers with me.  Remember how I said he hasn't stopped talking since he turned 3? And he stopped napping too.  So from 6:30 am-8 pm I heard his little voice talking to me.  I adore my son, but it took a lot of energy to keep up for 4 days.

 Funny kid.

 Daddy's goggles and a bungee cord. Perfectly normal toys, right?

 He did nap this day because Brian and I went on a long walk.  He was in a rotten mood when we woke him up for dinner.  Luckily, he did snap out of it in time for an ice cream sundae.

 Landon, on the other hand, took his normal nap and was ready to go kayaking.

 And he can handle stairs like nobody's business! He is a lot like his brother in his ability to perform physical tasks.  He doesn't have QUITE as much energy as wild Hunter had at this age (thank goodness!).

 Uncle Jason and Hunter having ice cream.

 Chasing the boys on the beach.

 That's a straight drop to the ocean. Don't ask me why I trusted Hunter not to jump.

 Watermelon on our patio.  Mmmm.

 And watermelon for the big boy too.

 Oh the joys of having boys.  Hunter saw the arcade and insisted on going inside.  We played mini-bowling.

 And they rode a motorcycle and played skee-ball.  I am not so excited that he is a.) interested in the arcade because it is super expensive and b.) aware that it is there.  I have a feeling that much of our time in Catalina will be spent there from now until they are old enough to go by themselves.

 We went to the parade on July 4th.  It was just me, Hunter, Uncle Jeff and Uncle Jason.  Daddy stayed with Landon for naptime.

 The USC marching band and cheerleaders were there! What fun! It is such a USC island and it makes it fun to be an alumnae.

 Killing time before dinner on the beach.

 This past weekend we had some great friends over to go in the pool.  Coco is the sweetest girl in the whole wide world and takes excellent care of Landon.  He was SUPER into the pool and i think it's because we heated it to 87.  I even got in for a little bit!

 Watermelon face - his favorite.

 Watermelon face #2.  He was showing off his skills playing with Ikey and Portia.  He's getting to be a much better swimmer and can swim off of the baja shelf to you if you stand in the shallow end.

 That night we went to a wedding.  It is so much fun to leave the boys and go out on a romantic date.  We didn't know a lot of people at the wedding, so it felt like a private date for me and Brian.  I love weddings and watching couples in love, beginning their lives together.  Not to mention that one of my friends let me borrow this dress and I LOVED it!  I am 22 weeks pregnant.

 Tamara and her Dad.  Her dress was spectacular.

 Us under the arch

 The sweetheart table.  I love how they surrounded it with flowers.

 Who is that?!

 It's me!

 Brian, Tam and Aaron.  Aaron was so cute - he said "Wow she's gorgeous - WHOOOOO!" as soon as he saw her walking down the aisle.  Very sweet.

 Nice car :-)

We've had a super fun summer so far and plan on spending so much more time in the pool.  I don't usually have my camera with me but I feel like I want to record every moment of their precious little lives.  We've spent more and more time in the pool, as a family and that has been really relaxing and nice.

Landon has a full vocabulary.  Well, not full but he speaks WAY more than Hunter did at this age.  He can basically get his point across if he wants/needs something. He's still so sweet but definitely has his opinions about what he wants - and he will throw a tantrum if he doesn't get it.  He loves his "mama" and constantly wants to be held and snuggled by me.  He LOVES when Daddy gets home and runs to the baby gate screaming "DA-DDEEEEEEE, DA-DEEEEEE".  If Mommy won't hold him he is just as happy with Daddy.

Luckily Hunter is the "mature one"and doesn't throw as many tantrums lately.  He's becoming a very nice boy.  A friend commented the other day that if anything happens, you just need to ask Hunter and he will give you a full commentary, such as "I am upset because So and So hit me and that is not nice.  So I came to tell you about it and he should be in trouble."  He's much better about using his words than his fists (although they are still in play sometimes).  I'm really proud of the big boy he has become.

The rest of July is super busy, with my dissertation being due on August 9th I am pressing to get it completely done (ahhhhh).  We leave town the first week of August and then my amazing Aunts are in town!! I cannot wait. This summer is just going way too fast!