Blake's Finally Walking!

My baby took his first steps about three weeks ago while we were visiting Grandpa and Grandma Bell. He saw his cousin Brian (who's only one day older) walking all over the place and decided it looked like fun. Then he didn't try it again until last Thursday. That video was too long, so I took another one of him today and here it is. I love how he holds his hands out in the "Frankenstein position" to keep his balance. So cute. He just thinks it's the coolest thing. Yay for Blake!

Love these kids!

This is a post filled with random happenings, but I just wanted to show off my cute kiddos again.

We got a new elephant kiddie pool. The kids absolutely love it! Even though they were freezing, they refused to come in until I forced them.

My future kayakers!

This past Saturday we got a babysitter for Blake and then Rob, Natalie and I went kayaking down the Chama with some people from Rob's work. It was lots of fun, but we froze! I felt bad for bringing Natalie-she was shivering the whole time. But, according to the online weather report, it was supposed to be nice. When we were on the flat parts of the river, we heard lots of complaints from her about the cold, and then we'd hit the rapids, and all we'd hear were laughs. It was cute. I'm just really glad that our kayak did not tip and dump us in like it did for the others we went with.

The kids hung out with daddy that night while he unloaded the stuff.

Also this same day: we stopped for gas on our way back from kayaking. Rob was outside pumping it and I was inside the car with Natalie. I was holding my key chain and I must have hit a button on it that started the car alarm. We were scrambling trying to figure out how to turn it off. Meanwhile, everyone of course stared at us for a while and then some of them approached our car and tried to offer advice. Nothing worked. After 2 minutes, the alarm automatically shut off, but then when Rob tried to open the car door to get in, it set the alarm off again. Meanwhile, we were still frantically trying to find a way to turn it off. Another 2 minutes elapsed and finally some peace. Then Rob decided to get out to go to the bathroom, and you get the picture. Annoying! So while he was using the bathroom, the alarm shut off and then it went off again when he got back in. So we just started driving with it going. While on the road, I opened the car manual, which I had suggested that we do before, but Rob thought the alarm was installed by a company other than the one who had made the vehicle and that it wouldn't talk about it in the manual. Needless to say...I WAS RIGHT. The manual said to unlock the car from the outside to shut off the alarm. Apparently it's hard to think straight when you've got an annoying sound blaring in your ears. We enjoyed the rest of our ride home in peace.

This particular evening, Blake was having serious issues with eating his dinner. By the looks of this, you'd think we were torturing the poor kid.

So far, in our time here, Natalie has had at least 2 good friends move away. This was our last get-together with her buddy Carson and my friend Hayley before they left for Utah. It was sad to see them go, but hopefully we will get to see them every time we visit there.

California Adventures

We just got back from our one week vacay to good 'ol Cali.

Natalie did lots of this...

Grandpa with his grandbaby boys

And we all did lots of this...

Aunt Chelsea with Natalie

and more...

and more of this.

Apparently Natalie didn't get enough of this. She rarely takes naps-especially in the hallway.

Rob's parents kindly watched the kids for us for two days while we took a late anniversary trip to Yosemite. One word-AMAZING!

Look at this view! This was the first lookout point as we entered the park. It was raining really hard and we had not followed the boy scout motto. We're talking one water-resistant light jacket between the two of us (it may or may not have been Rob's) with no hood, and no umbrella. But Rob found a blanket in the back of the car, wore it as a cape, and like the gentlemen that he is, gave me his jacket.

Right before we got to see this beauty, it started raining even harder. So Rob fashioned a hood for me out of a black plastic bag from the convenience store. Let me tell you-it was SEXY. Somehow we forgot to get a picture of it, so I'll leave it to your little imagination. It provided for lots of laughs from us and others, but hey, I stayed dry.

It was so misty and magical-looking.

Yosemite Falls

We took a hike up to Yosemite Falls. Our goal was to make it the 2.5 miles to the top this year. The hike is difficult and last time we were there, we were not in shape enough to make it all the way up. There is no shortage of water in this part of California, so we got to cross lots of streams on the trail. Keep in mind that it was still raining.

A spectacular view from our hiking trail.

We broke down and bought a parka, and we got our money's-worth out of it the first day.

We made it to the bottom of Yosemite Falls! Now back to the trail for quite a ways so we can get a view from the top.

And then the weather decided to humor us with this. And we laughed...until the trail became a ski slope and we couldn't continue to the top like we had planned.

The one place where you could stay dry.

This little guy was our trail guide. He seriously followed us most of the time.

We stayed at this cute bed and breakfast place. Believe me, it was a welcome sight after a day out in the rain and snow. And the breakfast was DELICIOUS! Coffee cake and quiche and fresh fruit. To die for.

We got to drive around in this baby-Rob's dad's m3 BMW. The second day was warm enough for us to drive with the hood off. Nice ride.

A view from our hike on the second day. We went on the Vernal Falls (a 4 mile) hike. Yay-no snow!

This place is beautiful.

Vernal Falls behind us. We were about half way up at this point.

Almost there! They called this part the "mist trail" because you pretty much get soaked by the mist coming off of the falls. It felt good.

Rob getting misted at the bottom of the falls.

The hike to the top. We loved this hike! It was super steep, but so worth it!

The top of Vernal Falls. We also walked a little higher up and got to see the Emerald pool-a place where a smaller waterfall came off into a big natural pool that happened to be green. It was pretty.

A view from the top of Vernal Falls looking down. Rob took this picture because I am terrified of heights-even when there is a railing.

Making the trek back down. There was water dripping down the rocks onto the trail. After we finished this hike, we made the 3 hour drive back to Rob's parents'.

Natalie found a snail in Grandma's back yard and picked it up. She asked me if I wanted to hold it, but after seeing the slime trail it left on the pavement, I declined. Whose child is this?

We partied at Chuck-E-Cheese with uncle Scott.

You're never too old for this place. Rob played a little of this and that, while I got sucked into the "Deal or No Deal" game.

Natalie loves her uncle Scott. Two red-heads.

Then cousins Kjerstin and Brian came to visit just in time to hit the bounce house that Grandma rented for Scott's late birthday party. The kids of course loved it.

More swimming. Blake loved the water.

Grandma bought donuts for breakfast since Scott's friends had slept over. Natalie didn't care about the donuts, but she did eat scrambled eggs all by herself. Yay!

Natalie and Kjerstin practically lived on this thing.

We went to the water ski lake and uncle Scott paddled the girls around.

Rob wakeboarded and I waterskiied.

Three sleeping kids. They exhausted themselves.

Cute girlies in their matching Easter dresses before church.

I didn't get pictures of these things, but I got to go see Chelsea (Rob's sister) sing in her final choir concert of the year. She sang in a trio with two of her friends for one of the numbers and did amazing!

Rob's parents took us out to a really nice steakhouse as a mother's day treat to me. They are so sweet-love them! But I need to document that I actually ordered halibut! And it tasted fantastic! I was not a fish person at all when I met Rob, but he is slowly converting me.

Rob and his dad went kayaking twice and probably nearly killed themselves on the raging rivers. California has gotten so much rain this year, so the rivers are high and, I'm sure, scary right now.

Grandpa Bell slept in the tent outside one night with the little girls. It started raining at about 1 am, though, and the tent had a leak, so they had to come in.

And I of course had to do some outlet shopping while there and have some tennis matches with Rob, where he annihilated me.

So much fun packed into 1 week! We didn't want it to end.

Our Sixth Anniversary

I say this every year, but time really does fly when you're in love. It's amazing how five months is enough to find and marry your eternal companion. When it's right, it's right. The past six years for us have been filled with college graduation, at least three moves, two children, and lots of fun times. There of course are ups and downs, but overall, we've had so much joy-especially after our children have joined our family.

I'm so glad we found each other years ago at BYU. I know Heavenly Father led me to Rob. I was living at home and attending BYU and I started to feel the need to move out and start life on my own. Before I did that, though, it was important to me to get in a good student ward. So I prayed that Heavenly Father would lead me to the one He wanted me to be in, and then I looked up when different wards met and where. I drove to Provo one Sunday and went to the first ward. After about half an hour, I left and went to the next one on my list. After about five minutes, it didn't feel right either, so I chose another one and walked in a little late to their sacrament meeting. I didn't realize this at the time, but I sat right next to Rob. We didn't say much to each other, but I knew this was the place to be, so I joined the ward. Then I moved into the Riviera apartments where everyone from the ward lived. Rob saw me in the library one day and we visited for a little while, and the rest is history.

I am so grateful that we are a forever family. I love you Rob!

This year, a good friend of mine watched the kids for us so we could have an anniversary date (thanks so much Michelle!). We tried to go bowling, but the fire alarm there was going off, and they said it had been for the past half hour, so we left. Rob had gotten me a new camera for our anniversary, so we went to the botanical gardens and experimented with my new toy. Then we went to a nice restaurant called Seasons in Old Town-delicious!

Natalie took this picture, so it's a little crooked :)