Just a little fun with shaving cream

I thought it would be fun to get a little tactile experience so we went to the dollar store and got a can of shaving cream. Joe gave him the shaving cream helmet, and helped out a little with the beard as well. After making a great mess of the highchair he got the hose and washed everything off and had a grand time. Ahh, good clean fun.

( Notice the Brady Bunch style photo editing job that Derek did.)

Are we really going to be residents of California?

Well, as you can see, our apartment hunting trip the past three days ended in us signing a lease. It may not look like much, but we're pretty optimistic. It's a 2 bedroom 2 bath place with a large kitchen and decent sized living room. The neighborhood is SO nice, has a great reputation for safety and being family friendly. We have heard a million great things about the public education here (which is promising for the future), and we'll have access to the community lakes, fishing, pools, parks, and lagoon (a man made beach next to each of the two lakes in the community) which require a card key to use. It is 5 miles away from work which will make it possible for Derek to ride his bike and he won't get caught in a bumper to bumper commute each day.

This is a side view of our place, (which I'm not sure whether to call a condo or attached house) where you can barely see the pathetic little patio behind the overgrown bushes. The lady who lived there before was about 80 years old and died recently leaving the property to her daughter. The daughter was planning on selling it but her real estate agent (who happened to be OUR real estate agent) convinced her to rent it out to us instead for a while. She has to do some renovations before we move in (new carpets, painting, new blinds, etc) but we might have the option to buy at some point in the future if we decide that we are so inclined.

The lack of backyard is no problem when you consider that this is our view from the patio. The wall is about 4 ft high and then we have this great big grassy park, which will serve as a fine backyard if you ask me.

We have an attached garage as well and there are a bunch of kids in our neighborhood. Hopefully it turns out as well as we expect it to. We're crossing our fingers that the renovations will be done by September 15th when we will be moving out there.

Katie's First Bites

I haven't actually committed to feeding her solid food regularly, but we tried some avocado today watered down so it was thin and she ate it like a champ. I was surprised because she is usually a big gagger if she gets a piece of something in her mouth. She only had about a tablespoon worth of avocado, but it's a start. I think we're probably going to end up being really slow about the solids (I'm lazy) but I have to admit that I'm the type of mother who seems to change my mind often and without warning. Maybe tomorrow I'll be all gung-ho about it, we'll see.

Yep, this kid is still at it.

Here is a little new twist to things. We've gone from doctor goggles and ball cap to sunglasses and helmet. Too funny!

 

The Things Kids Insist on Wearing

It's 97 degrees outside and Ryan wanted to wear his coat - WITH the hood on.

He got these glasses in a doctor's kit from Aunt Rachelle at Christmas time. He has been wearing them ALL morning. I hope you can barely recognize him because he looks hilarious - especially with that ugly bib on! We went to Gina's house and then to Sam's Club and he had them on the entire time (though he had taken the bib off by then, fortunately). He fell asleep on the way home from Sam's Club and STILL had the things on - complete with the hat as well. Right now they are off but still in his bed while he is sleeping. It's anyone's guess as to whether he'll still be on the glasses kick when he wakes up.



(You might notice my tomato plants next to Ryan in the first picture. They are FINALLY ripening. Just in time for us to move away.)

 

Come on, is this the cutest newborn ever!? This little guy is only a week old in this picture and isn't he just darling? Meet Carson David, Angie's fourth child born June 26th. Her oldest, Levi, who is pictured here, just started kindergarten. She has two others who are just as darling - how DOES she do it!?

Well, are you hungry or not?

I was sitting on a blanket on our lawn while Ryan was riding his tricycle on the sidewalk. I was eating cherries and he came over and sat down by me and ate a few. He noticed an ant and attempted to squash it. I said, "Oh, he's fine. You don't have to squish him, he's just looking for some food." Ryan got a cherry and plopped it down right in front of the ant and said, "Here ant." Nice try!

Put this one in your journal Grandpa

Adrian was walking by the BYU Bookstore's sidewalk sale today and spotted a huge lecturer's pad of paper for $2.00 and was inspired to purchase it for us. He is such a genius because just yesterday I was thinking about how I needed something like that to write our family goals on and keep track of how we are doing. It will work PERFECTLY! Plus, Ryan had a blast coloring on it this evening while I was making dinner.

Adrian and Derek traced Ryan (because this pad of paper is like 3ft by 4ft) and then he scribbled all over his "picture" with his crayons. I sat down next to him and told him what a nice picture he made and we had the following conversation,
Ryan: "Grandpa Dozza"
Me: "Oh, you want to give this picture to Grandpa Cozza?"
Ryan: "Yeah"
Me: "Should I write his name on it?"
Ryan: "Yeah. Ite my name too Mom."
Me: "You want me to write your name too? Should I write Ryan, Ryan Bayles, or Ryan Drex Bayles?"
Ryan: "Ryan Drex Bayles."
Me: "You got it."

Well, it would be large to mail to Grandpa Cozza but at least we can take a picture of it for him. I guess this goes to show that the wrestling and rough-housing during Grandpa's recent visit was not in vain. Your grandson was thinking about you Dad. :)

 

Ryan's New Trick
A photo journal says it all.

I should admit that I caught him climbing and then figured that if he was so close to getting out that I might as well teach him how to do it a safe way. Sometimes I agree that I may have shot myself in the foot, but usually he is SUPER cooperative because he likes the autonomy of getting in all by himself when it's time for bed. We'll see how well it lasts...

Maeser Barbecue/Slip n' slide

This is how we all started out. The Bayles' and the Kisby's. It was a Friday night barbecue for students and we met there for some good fun and entertainment. The Hintons met us there shortly after we arrived.

We had heard rumors that there was a slip n' slide going and the guys went over to check it out while Gina, Veronica, and I were chowing on popsicles and talking about eating raw food (go figure). We joined the guys over at the slip n' slide when we heard (from Caleb, I believe) that Derek and Brian were planning on going down the thing. Well, let me point out that the weather was cold enough to warrant Derek wearing long sleeves - probably in the upper 60's so we were definitely not all anxious to jump in the water. Derek and Brian thought that Lance and Ryan would want to go so that was their logic behind deciding to do it. We watched a bunch of other crazies going down for a while and they looked like they were having a good time. This is how the night started off...

Lance going down on Brian's lap, Ryan on Derek's.

Then things progressed to this...

And THIS... Spencer was a great sport and loved going down on his tummy.

And finally this...
The grass was getting so wet at the end of the slip n' slide that when they hit the end, they would go longer and faster on the grass and mud. You can see the grass just splashing Derek straight in the face.

Here are a few shots of how these guys looked. They KEPT going and getting muddier and muddier. We were all shivering just watching, but it was pretty amusing.

Afterwards it was about 9:30 and Divine Comedy was starting so we figured we might as well stay for it, but the guys were wet and freezing. Veronica had brought a sweatshirt so Brian took off his wet shirt and put on the sweatshirt. Veronica also had on two shirts at the time so she took off one of them and offered it to Derek. It was SUCH a girly shirt so instead I gave Derek MY t-shirt and I wore Veronica's girly shirt which was flesh colored and made me feel totally nude. At least we were all dry AND covered. As we were walking to the Divine Comedy area a guy who had Volunteer t-shirts said something like, "You guys look cold, do you want a shirt?" We all jumped at the offer and got free shirts out of the deal. We were glad the Kisby's brought a camera to document the night.