Brooke's MARRIED!

Brooke Graham is now Brooke Beck.  It is so exciting! Look how beautiful she is, she was the perfect bride and the day was gorgeous. It was such a special day.  I am grateful to have been able to go in the temple and
witness their marriage.  Temple marriage is one of the most special things in this world and I am grateful we could attend.  She married Cameron Beck, who is hysterical and loves her so much.  His family was so kind and we loved getting to know them.  I got to be a bridesmaid and Marilyn was a flower girl.  The little girl dresses were amazing.  Their were 6 little girls and they all looked perfect! Marilyn and Camille, if I do say so myself, were the cutest.  They were all around the same age and it was near impossible to get a pic of them.  This is as close as we got. 

Basically, we love Brooke and Cameron and we are grateful that they got married and we got to be a part of it.  Congrats Brooke, I love you!

Way Early Happy Birthday

      When I was growing up, I was lucky because around my birthday I always got to miss school one day and go shopping with my Grandma Mar Mar.  It was the best day ever because she would pick me up at school take me to Main Place Mall (or South Coast Plaza, depending on what store was IN that year) we would spend the morning shopping all over the mall and then we would meet my Far Far at lunch, where I would show off my awesome new clothes.  Then, I got to change into my favorite outfit and she would take me back to school to show off my new look.  It was awesome, I remember one year I got a bright red velvet dress and black tights and black patent leather shoes...wow...I was so awesome...But my favorite year ever, she picked my up at the DMV (after I failed my first attempt at my driving test.)  And instead of taking me back to school to face my peers...she took me straight to Nordstrom and we on a shopping frenzy, that year I got some amazing platform shoes that had cork on the bottom? Remember those? Anyway, oh wait...another memory popped in my brain! When I was turning 8 Mar Mar took me to get my baptism dress...and it was amazing...it had tons of beading around the neck and then lace that poked out of the bottom...wow...it was amazing and I got my first high heel shoes that year...amazing!
       Anyway, since this is such a vivid memory for me and my siblings, my mom decided she wanted to do the same thing for her grand babies.  This year we decided to get Marilyn a toy instead of clothes, because she had way too many clothes...so we off we went to Toy's R Us.  First of all, that place is crazy...ok we looked at everything, Barbies and play kitchens, and dollies and Lego's.  But then we hit to doll house area...we found the most perfect doll house ever.  We knew this was it.  Even though Marilyn doesn't turn 2 until July 10th we went a little crazy and gave it to her anyway.  We broke it out the minute we got home and the for the rest of the trip Marilyn was lost in doll house land.  She named each doll and took the out to show them the backyard.  She showed her dollies that it was ok to fall over and showed them how Marilyn falls over.  It was basically the cutest thing ever.  Marilyn still plays hard core with it everyday for at least an hour...I am excited for this tradition to continue...they are special memories to me and I know they will be fore Marilyn. 

Pretend City

FIRST OF ALL, this is so cute... right? Marilyn as a dentist? love it!

Ok, seriously, Pretend City is the most amazing place on earth.  If, of course, you are 2-4 years old (or their mother). When I heard about this place, my first thought was "that sounds a little weird, would it really be fun to play dentist or librarian" Then I thought about Marilyn, and how she loves loves loves to pretend.  We dress up almost everyday and she has one baby going night-night and another one eating dinner while her puppies are playing in the kitchen all day long.  And my thoughts changed to "We MUST go, she will love this".  And it didn't disappoint, Marilyn and Camille loved fishing in the marina, brushing and putting braces on the teeth at the dentist, shopping at the grocery store, and sending out the police at the dispatch center.  Not to mention the stage they danced on for 20 minutes or the picking apples and strawberries and planting other vege's at the farm.  Check these pics...and go to pretend city. 

ALERT: These pictures are mostly terrible because the girls literally would not stop moving...sorry...

Marilyn planted lettuce and carrots in this pretend garden.  She loved sitting in the dirt and not getting dirty. 

Marilyn and I made a Turkey/Jelly/Tomato/Lettuce/Olive sandwich at the pretend subway...sick but awesome right?

This is the stage, which had crazy amounts of dress up...it had a lights and music board and the kids could change the lighting and the music anytime they wanted.  Marilyn didn't love that...but she did love DANCING like a maniac for 20 minutes straight, of course, in true Marilyn style dressed up as a lady bug. 

These are REAL chicks... the girls love love loved looking at them and saying "Silly Chick" every time they moved...so cute!

This is the pretend apple tree that Marilyn loved picking and putting back apples.  Pretty clever right?

This is the construction zone, where Missy loved banging everything with the hammer and the screwdriver. 

This is a pretend house, for some reason (even though we have our own house) Linny loved it...maybe it was the fact it was her size? or that she could moved the furniture around? or that the vacuum was small? or that she could open the fridge anytime she wanted? I don't know...

Grocery shopping...she bought all bananas



This is the art studio, where they have little craft projects to do...our girls just colored and taped stuff to their paper...



The kids got to drive these cars to all the different places...there were parking spots and everything...so cute!

Of course, since her dad is a fishing maniac, Missy loved fishing at the marina...I couldn't figure out if it was the fishing or the water...but she love it

Marilyn at the dispatch center...she got to push buttons to send the police over to the library or whatever...she LOVED it...

Basically it was a perfect afternoon.  I got to see Marilyn's little imagination working and her deliriously happy.  We are definitely going to go back so Dad can see how rad this place is.  Ok, GO...it rocks!

California

Marilyn and I flew to California to spend a week with my fam.  It was such a fun trip.  We LOVED seeing Uncle Jeff and listening to him play the guitar and actually see him in person, since he has been gone forever.  We also are lucky that Emily and Camille live there cause we had some serious cousin love time.  And I can't forget to mention how lucky we feel that we have Grammie and Far Far who are willing to let us take over their house and play with us for a whole week.  There are so many things that I LOVED about this trip, such as Marilyn decided it was time to talk in sentences, way too early birthday shopping for my sweet Loo Loo, chatting with my mom until all hours of the night, GNO with Emily and watching the Mav's win game 5 at Islands (we felt pretty awesome and non boring like).  We ate great food and played all day every day.  The thing I always miss when I come home is the feeling I have when I am home.  The feeling of family and togetherness.  Tom and I both have amazing families and we are lucky that we can visit any time we want. 

Marilyn's First Hair Cut

I never thought it would happen (mostly because of Marilyn's lack of hair) but it got to the point that we either needed to embrace her complete mullet or get it cut.  It still pains me to admit, she was starting to look a little goofy...so I found the cutest kids hair cutting place on earth, Sharkeys Cuts For Kids.  (It's on First Street in Tustin) and made an appointment.  I was pretty freaked out...I didn't know how Linny would react to scissors so close to her face...and she is a normal 2 year old who can't really sit still for more than one minute.  But all those worries went away the moment we walked in.  This place was perfect! She got to sit in a Barbie Jeep, and watch Tangled...who could ask for more? I got the first hair cut special where they took her picture and kept the newly cut hair.  I can't believe I am one of those Moms, but I feel sentimental about things like this.  Tom thinks its gross to keep her hair in a bag forever...ask me later who won this argument and if we still have the hair. The greatest part of this place is that it doesn't stop at the hair cut.  They put her hair in piggies, with new clips, painted her fingernails and gave her a sticker and a balloon.  She loved it...And she said during all the maddness, "This is so fun!" So I will forever have this memory...Marilyn showing everone her new hair cut and newly painted fingernails, she was so excited! And of course, this made me excited! Booyah, another milestone under our belts! 

too big...

It is seriously freaking me out that Marilyn is a huge kid now...seriously...she is so big.  This last week she decided that it was time to start talking in sentences.  She says things like "Mama, my foot hurts" and "This is so fun!" and "Please, Marilyn naked".  We seriously are loving everything about every second we have had and can't wait to see what comes next...

It's A Fiesta!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMILLE!! Can you believe it? Remember these two bumps?

 

Now they are enormous 2 year olds that can talk and run and scream and throw tantrums.  It is crazy to think that we are old enough to be figuring our way through a 2 year olds mind.  But we seriously love it, and sometimes we get to have huge parties that remind us of the million reasons why we love it.  On May 21st, Camille turned two and we had a huge fiesta to celebrate (I say we, but I didn't do anything, just showed up and partied hard).

Everything was perfect! The decorations rocked, as evidenced by these pictures, Camille left her mustache on for literally (for real, not in Sara language) an hour.   We played games and had a pinata.  The little ones almost got what to do during the pinata, but LOVED the candy at the end.  Marilyn put 4 pieces of candy in a cup and saved them all for days.  Camille, on the other hand, horded as much candy in her arms as she could and would not let go for the rest of the party.  So cute how different they are. 

It surprised me that Marilyn and Camille (who live 6 hours away from each other) play together so well.  I worried that they would act like a typical 2 year old and scream MINE a lot and hate every second of sharing.  But it really surprised me that they play so well together.  It makes me excited that they will always be friends and really love spending time together.  A cousin is a special friend...I think they will always feel like that...

Well, I guess, more parties will come.  It is literally shocking to me that we lived all the way until they are 2...now I feel like they will actually be kids and maybe even adults one day.  Hopefully every party is as awesome as this one was.  I think we will always remember Camille in her mustache and Alden in his many costumes.  Happy Birthday Camille...We Love You!