Hello All,
The blogging has slowed considerably as life has ramped up with our children's growth! I wanted to send out a few pictures though... especially because we finally got a new camera. Realize that most of the pictures we have posted this past year have been taken on my iPhone. So the real deal is a huuuuge improvement and Matthew has been very busy becoming the family photographer. He is a natural. So here are a few shots of the cuties over the past three months...
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| Matthew working on his new camera skills as Whitney paints the house with a sharpie! cute picture, though :) |
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| Mommy and Lyell on a recent hike at Wilder Ranch State Park. Lyell loves his hiking backpack, and insists on packing it himself with every special treasure he owns before we leave the house. |
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| Whitney absolutely loves her "baba." When he isn't home, she walks around the house carrying some article of his clothing and saying, "baba, baba." Usually it's his shoes, which makes for some heavy lifting :) |
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| Here is Lyell at his birthday party. Turning three was monumental for him, as it was the first birthday he could comprehend. He told us that he wanted a piñata, a parade and cake. When the day turned out to be 105 degrees, we were very happy we had planned it at the river. |
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It is very difficult to keep clothes on Lyell, and his party was no exception. Here we are banging on the piñata.
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| Blowing out the candles. |
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| Time for Cake!! |
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| Lyell has discovered the ocean, waves, salt water and sand castles. He is a big fan of all. |
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| We have loved spending time with cousins Leandra and Katie, visiting from New Hampshire. They are such beautiful young women and role models for our children. |
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| All dressed up for the Fourth of July. |
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| Whitney and her necklaces. |
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| Lyell and his beloved bike. Biking and swimming are his favorite sports right now... wonder if his triathlete mom has anything to do with that :) Sometimes I will be foggily drinking my coffee first thing in the morning and Lyell will say something to me like, "Mom, its really time for you to do your running and biking now." |
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| Wish I could tell you that they are always this cute and hold hands and blow each other kisses all day. But I'll take these moments and cherish them. |
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| Lyell goes hiking with his buddy Tamzen. It was one of my first letting-go-mommy moments, as Lyell says to me, "Mommy you can go ahead, I just want to hike with Tamzen by myself." |
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| Summer exited for one long weekend- just in time for the Strawberry Music Festival- so we bundled up big time to dance in the rain and snow. |
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| Listening to the Sunday morning Revival at Birch Lake. |
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| A typical backyard activity for Lyell and Whitney. No matter what I do, they always end up in their birthdays suits and doing some kind of experiment with water. Here they are putting the finishing touches on a 5 gallon "stew" they just brewed up. |
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| This pictures shows two of Whitney's loves right now, fashion and boxes. She likes to accessorize with hats and shoes and necklaces and usually has pulled all of her clothes out of her closet drawers by the end of the day. And she is at the developmental phase where putting things in and taking things out of boxes consumes her for hours. |
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| The typical summer playdate... |
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| Lyell and Whitney doing their thing on the banks of the Merced. |
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| Lyell's buddy and neighbor Marley. |
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| Matthew and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary with a trip to Half Moon Bay. It was the first time we have been alone in over 3 years and it was amazing. |
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This is me remembering how to relax. It took a little while and then I became an expert for the next 48 hours.
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The view from our balcony. Ahhhhhh.....
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A rare family photo (although I am hoping they will happen more often now that we are blessed with the self-timer function on our new camera.) We look forward to swimming and playing with many of you this summer, and send big love to those a little farther away.
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