Let Freedom Ring

On the Fourth-of-July Rocco had swim lessons in the morning! He’s such a good little swimmer and did so well that day. Then we spent the day at Seth’s Aunt and Uncle’s house swimming and eating and having sooo much fun! Rocco loved playing in the Vines toy loft, where he found a doctor thing and went around trying to listen to everyone’s heart’. At one point that got a little awkward, but we’ll just skip over that story, LOL. When Grampa Freddy showed up both kids were beside themselves with excitement! They LOVED swimming with him--- I think he must be a better swim partner than me, because try as I might they never jump up and down with joy at the prospect of swimming around the pool with Mommy. Oh well!

I attempted to make a Raspberry/ Blueberry tart for the 4^th of July. It was a fun idea and the tart tasted AMAZING! But to be perfectly honest it looked a real mess. I imagine everyone at first just tasted it because they felt sorry for me. Luckily the entire tart got eaten so I’m sure it was actually enjoyed, once tasted; Thank Goodness! I also tried making red, white and blue strawberries and they turned out looking cute; but honestly, I think the chocolate was disgusting! Never use Trader Joe’s high cocoa content white chocolate for dipping Strawberries, because honestly they were grotesque!

Unfortunately Seth had to be at the hospital that day so he wasn’t able to enjoy the festivities, but we still had fun and Seth was able to join us that night for watching fireworks at the park with friends and family!

Fireworks at the park were so much fun! We had a bunch of our friends meet us there and we all played games and ate yummy treats and did sparklers with the kids and then finally the fireworks started and we were able to enjoy them. At one point the sprinklers on the lawn turned on and when Seth ran to cover them with a bucket he slipped and got soaked from head to toe. It was so funny! He had to go home and change because he was so incredibly wet… Awesome sauce! Zeegan LOVED the fireworks! She sat on Seth’s lap with her mouth and eyes both WIDE open the entire show… Double Awesome sauce!!! It was so daRn cute!!!!
Happy Independence day all y’all!!!

Seth's a 4th year!!!

Oh yes! You read the post title right! My Man's a fourth year Med student!!! Boo-Yeah! We can actually see a light at the end of this tunnel now!-- Or maybe I should say we can actually see a flashlight at the halfway point of this tunnel (Since we've still got all of Residency to go!)! Either way, we are excited! Even though Seth is still super busy with school and research stuff, and the likes; It should go fast from here--- Right now we are doing all the stuff for applying to the residency program he wants, and then in September and October we will be going on our away rotations, then November, December and January-ish he will be interviewing for Residencies, and then Mid-March we will Match! YAY!!!

Anyway, Seth's school threw a Dinner party thing as a way of saying "Congratulations for making it this far, you're almost done!"... It was at the super cool and somewhat fancy Mission Inn and we had to dress somewhat Formal. I was way excited! I love getting dressed up! I'm seriously considering throwing an annual Ball/ Gala/ or Masquerade when we grow up!

(Sorry- I tend to go off on Tangents when I'm excited about something...)

So, I figured out how I wanted my dress to look, found a pattern that was kind of similar to my design, bought the fabric I wanted, and took my drawings, the pattern and the fabric all over to Kylene (Seth's mom)--- Cuz she's super talented and can pretty much make anything I think up (She made my wedding dress ya know...)! Kylene made the dress and it turned out PERFECT! Seriously, I know the pictures don't show a lot of detail, but it is soooo gorgeous! Then Sage (Seth's 13 yr old sister) did my hair; I wish I'd taken pictures of the back, because it was seriously Bomb! It looked amazing! Then we left our sweet kiddos with Gramma and Grampa and we went out! We had a really fun time! At the dinner they did a raffle and for the first time in my life I actually won something! I won a yogurt certificate (which considering the other things they were giving away, it was kind of a sucky prize, But I was SUPER excited!- I never win anything!).

CONGRATS on making it this far Babe! Your the Best! I LOVE YOU!

Quarter of a Century...

Well, it's official! I'm a quarter of a century old!!! I turned 25 at the end of June and it was a super duper fun day! Seth took a break from studying for a couple hours and we all went swimming. It was so much fun! Rocco was so excited to show off to Daddy all the cool tricks he can do off the diving board and how good he is at holding his breath under water. ZZ caught on to the showing off for Daddy train and tried jumping off the diving board herself... It was Lots of fun! Especially to finally just have a day to spend playing as a family.

After swimming the kids and I took a nap while Daddy studied, and then that night we all went out to dinner at PF Changs; it was super yummy and super fun!!!

The Sunday following my birthday, Seth's family did a Birthday dinner for me! It was soo yummy--- It included corn on the cob! Before going over to Seth's parents' house, ZZ had to show me the ants she found. She's so funny! She loves bugs--- She didn't get that from me! I scream at the sight of a spider! Then Seth made a really tall birthday cake and we all dug into it before it fell over... We had lots of fun and now I'm 25! LOL..

Oh PS--- I'm getting grey hair now too! I tried pulling the first couple out to scare off any other hairs that got the idea of turning grey, but that didn't work so I gave up on removing all these rebellious hairs from my poor head... Don't worry, I'm covering them up with Blonde now instead! Hopefully I'm at least getting wisdom with all this grey hair...

My Friend, My Hero, My Sister... Christa

From the day she was born, I (Obviously) loved Christa Marie! Can't ya just tell by my fat little arm reaching out to pat her cute little face?!

In high school Christa was my bestest best friend (Heck, let's be honest here; for most of high school she was my only friend!). And she always made me laugh and amazed me with her strong testimony! She was my hero even back then...

In College, my favorite times were when Christa would come sleep over at my apartment and we would stay up all night dancing and eating and watching movies and being all kinds of crazy!

And now we're both all grown up and have our own families and our own kids. And Christa lives in UTah and I live in So CAlifornia, so we are forever far away from each other and hardly ever see each other! But recently Christa did something amazing and I just have to brag even though I wasn't there to witness it or cheer her on (sorry Christa! I would've been if I could've been...). Christa ran a Marathon!! Isn't she amazing and Beautiful?! I just love my sister and I'm so proud of her for running a whole entire marathon. I could never do that! (seriously, it takes me twenty minutes to run a mile!)

Isn't she Gorgeous!?!

Here she is with her cute Hubby after her race...

And here she is with her adorable little baby girl and her biggest fan; Autumn! Autumn and Zeegan are only one month apart in age and I just hope they will be as good of friends as Christa and I were...

And here is Christa's cheer group! My family! I should be right there in that picture (let's pretend I was taking it and that's why I'm not in it, shall we?...)!

Christa you're still my hero! Way to be an inspiration to all those around you! I love ya like a China man loves rice!! And (good news, all!); I'm so excited for you to come visit at the end of the month!!! Woot! Woot!!!

Rachael came to visit!

My sister Rachael and her family recently came to Orange County (Rach was treating her Hubby to a Yankees game for his birthday!). And the Saturday that they were here; Rocco, ZZ and I went and met them at Newport Beach! It was such a fun day! Rocco LOVES playing with his Cousins!! I wish I had gotten a picture of the 5 kids together, but I didn't think of it until it was too late... oh well, Next time!

Anyway, It was my very first time ever driving to the beach! Usually Seth drives cuz I get kind of nervous in the crowded driving situations that usually happen in orange county... But, guess what?! The drive went perfect! No nervousness whatsoever! (imagine little music notes now, and sing along:) "I'm a big girl now!" Yay!!

Anyway, It was a GREAT day and so fun playing with Rach and her family!! Her poor kids though (and her as well actually), got SOOO burnt! They bought their sunscreen on the way to the beach and it was defective and they all have such fair skin that they got fried!! Rachael's baby's got blisters all over their bodies from the burns, and Rach passed out in Costco, from Heat exhaustion! Moral of the story: Use something besides Coppertone!!!

They are all doing okay now though, so that's good! Thanks for coming Rachael! Give the kiddos hugs and kisses! Rocco asks everyday if we can go to Derricks beach and play with him again...

Rocco's First Camping Trip

Rocco went on his first camp out recently! It was our ward's Fathers and Sons, and Seth actually had the Friday night/ Saturday day off, so he was able to take Rocco. And I'm so glad they went because Rocco had the time of his life!

They built campfires and made S'mores (which apparently Rocco LOVED)!

They went hiking, where I guess Rocco was a real trooper...

They played all kinds of fun games like Tug-a-War and Potato Sack Racing, and I guess Rocco got really into it and quite competitive... Don't know where that personality trait came from!

Overall, Rocco had the time of his life and even still, three weeks (or more) later, he's talking about it and wants to go again!

(See what I mean about competitive? Even after their side lost, he wouldn't give up! That's my boy!)

Well Rocco had so much fun hiking and camping, that when he came home he told me that all ZeeZee wanted to do was go Hiking. And since we trust him as her interpreter, we all went hiking! And what do ya know? Zeegan LOVED it as much as Rocco!

(Yes, we ARE in fact hiking in our Rainbows... True Californians, that's what we is! LOL)

Looks like hiking is gonna be a new family thing for us! (So long as it's all short small hikes; I hate thigh burning exercise!)