Beach Bum

Ahhh... the beach. Dominic had sooo much fun when we went to the beach in Carlsbad. (Yes, I'm still trying to catch up our summer. This was actually in AUGUST. Sorry.) At first, he didn't really like the water, but soon enough he was squealing and running into it and having sooooo much fun! Here's a little picture walk of his first time at the beach!

Dom and Daddy

(Nice hair.)

Not quite sure...
... he didn't know what to think. It looked interesting from afar, so he decided to continue onward.
Brave little soul.

Oh gosh, why is it coming after me!?

I hate it, I hate it!

"Heeeellllp, help me! Somebody get me out now!"

"Cruel and Unusual Punishment"


... Rich, trying to convince Dom that the waves are fun.



Dom and Mommy


... a little later that day, we tried out the water again.

As long as he had a hold of us, he actually enjoyed himself.

"Sand, I love you."

The sand was definitely his favorite thing about the beach. He could've played in the sand all day. Here he is, sitting in a hole that Daddy, Uncle Ross, and Ali are digging.

Buried Alive!

He had so much fun letting Rich bury him in the sand. He giggled the whole time!

Bustin' Out

Building a "Castle"... kinda

Having a BLAST!

"Dear Ocean, I like you. I forgive you for knocking me over, scaring the poo out of me (almost) and getting me all wet. You're not so bad, in fact, you're pretty fun... if Mama's holding my hand. Sand, sweet Sand... I love you forever. You feel nice and warm between my toes. You're fun to throw, and mold, and eat. Thank you for covering me from head to toe. You make me so happy. Seagulls, thank you for running around and letting me chase you all over the beach. You tired me out and helped me to take a great nap. Love, Dom XOXO"

Little Dom

Our SWEET Boy...

OK... I'm almost 34 weeks prego now. And pretty soon, I'm going to have TWO boys to blog about. So, I figured I'd better at least update my BIG litle guy and tell you all about what he's up to these days. He is SUCH a JOY (most of the time). He is VERY, VERY strong-willed and stubborn... and he's gotten reeeeeaaaaallllly good at throwing tantrums. But all that is offset by his smile, his giggles, his kisses, and all of the incredibly cute things he does. Anyway, we are just loving him (of course... you'd think I was a bad mommy if I said otherwise) and enjoying the last few weeks of his being our "baby".

Awww... isn't he a love!?

Here is a little picture walk on what our little Dom is into at the moment...

He LOVES to read. This is his #1 favorite thing to do EVER. Sometimes he lets us read to him. If he wants US to read, he'll sit on our lap, turn our hand palm up, and place the book in our hands. If HE wants to do the reading, he'll sit on our lap, open the book, and start to jibber-jabber while pointing to each picture with wonderful intonation, and turning each page until he gets to the end. When he's done, he even says "Eh-eh!" (The End.) He will read for over an hour at a time... if I have the patience.

And when I'm doing housework, he carries two or three books around the house with him as he follows me. If I'm doing the dishes, he sits on the floor by the sink and reads. When I move into the laundry room, he picks his books up, runs into the laundry room, sits down by the dryer and reads. If I leave there and go to my room to make the bed, he frantically gathers up his books, chases me in to the bedroom, finds a comfy spot by the nightstand, and continues to read. All the while, "speaking" with such feeling and pointing to all the pictures. I love it!!!

Loves to brush his teeth while sitting Mama's sink in the morning. Here he is, in his Sunday best... getting ready for church. ;) Pretty slick, eh?

His 2nd favorite activity ever... is taking a bath. He LOVES to stick his alphabet lettes on the wall and act like he's naming them. He only knows the names of A,B,C, and D... so EVERY letter is one of those. He's lately discovered how fun it is to stick the letters to HIMSELF too. Silly boy. He'll stay in the bath for as long as it takes me to get ready in the morning... even when that includes blow-drying my hair! Soooooo nice. :)

He LOVES hot dogs. And corn dogs. And Apple Jacks... mmmmmm!

He loves playing "kitchen". Rich and I are going to get him a kitchen set for Christmas. He loves organizing the condiments in my fridge, and "making dinner" with our tupperware while I make dinner. Here he is with his partner in crime, his cousin Allie, at Nana's house. They're taking full advantage of the fact that Nana doesn't have child locks on the cupboards.

He's REALLY into turning the lights on and off. It gives him a sense of POWER. ;)

He now says, "Off!" and "On!" as well.

My dad bought me this piano for Christmas a few years ago. Dominic ADORES it. The first thing he does when he enters the playroom is run to it, turn it onto his favorite "demo song" and then turn the volume up as LOUD as it will go. Then he runs around in circles (quite literally) for the next 10 minutes. Apparently, this is how he gets into the groove.

His 3rd favorite thing of all time is PUZZLES. He loooooooves puzzles. Kind of like reading, he'll sit with me for an hour if I let him, and put puzzles together.

Here he is, working with his current favorite... the fishing puzzle.

LOVES going to the park by our house and playing with his friends! He just went down the BIG BOY slide... a tall twisty one... by himself for the first time this week. He's so proud of himself and claps and says "Yaaaaay!" when he lands. This is kinda dumb, but it makes me a little sad that he is already doing things like that on his own. He's getting so big and independent... ahem, independent with some things.

He's still a major Mama's boy. :)

Loves to play with his Little People animals. He has started making animal noises... except for he growls for the horse... and neighs for the pig... and so on... but I'm sure he'll get it right soon. Haha!

LOVES to sweep. I finally found him a miniature broom (not pictured here). I've been searching for months! Whenever I'm sweeping or mopping, he frantically runs to the laundry room to fetch his broom and help me. If only this zeal for cleaning was something that will last!

Oh those BLANKIES. I should move this up to #1 on his list, actually. He cannot go anywhere without them. Woe to the mother who forgets them when she leaves the house to do errands. I've only done that ONCE... and it's not worth it.

He. loves. them. more. than. life. itself.

He LOVES going to the splash pad. We're so lucky to live right by the outdoor mall. It has relieved me many a day in the hot, hot summer. They have a play place with soft-ish toys and rubber turf too... so we'll be frequenting it all through the winter as well!

Anyway... that about sums it up! He's getting so big and we are SO BLESSED to have the opportunity to be his parents. I thank our Heavenly Father for his sweet little spirit every day... sometimes twice... sometimes three times. ;)

Okay... It's Been Waaaaaay Too Long.

Whoa. I am embarassed... my excuse is that we've been soooo busy with travel, and family, and work, and moving to a new house, and rennovating, and church, and... I am soooo pregnant (so sad that this is the FIRST time that I've even mentioned this on my blog, shame on me) that all I want to do is SLEEP... not blog. But I am so sad that I can't get on here and browse through my last few months of summer fun! So, this may take awhile, but I'm going to catch up. I told myself that I wouldn't try to do that... that I'd just pick up where we are now, but we had such an awesome summer that I want to remember it all. This may take a few posts, but here is an update from July until now.

The Fourth of July

We spent the day in the canyon in Provo, UT. with Rich's family. Isn't it beautiful? I miss the mountains.

Dom was a little unsure about the fireworks at first...

But after a few, he LOVED them!

For the bigger show, we went to the church lawn somewhere in Lehi.

The next day we had a big family barbecue! Mmmmm...

While we were in Utah, we went swimming... a lot.

On our last day there, we all went up to the mountains and had chili dogs and smores.

Yellowstone

After Utah, we headed to Idaho so visit my mom and her hubby.

They took us to Yellowstone and Jackson Hole. We had a blast!

Mom and Jim in front of Old Faithful

Daddy and Dom

The Tetons

Us in front of one of the Elk Horn Arches at Jackson Hole in the Square.

Rupert, Idaho

Next, we drove down to Rupert to visit my dad and his wife Arlene.

They took us jetskiing. It was so much fun...

until the jet ski quit on me and Rich while we were in the middle of the river. Haha!

Dad, taking it for a spin...

Rich, taking a brave Arlene for a spin...

Dominic, Poppie, and Grandma


Tremonton
On our way home, we stopped at Tremonton for the night to visit my brother Jarrod, his wife Jen, and my nephew and niece, Trevor and Zoe.


Dom LOVES these guys. Here's Trev and Dom, watchin' cartoons.




Zoe and Dom

Then Rich left for Germany and me and Rich's sister Amy drove back to AZ and...

we MOVED!!!

Dom loves his Auntie Mimi!



Family Reunion in San Diego
(This one needs a post all it's own... so I'll get right on that. But for now, here's a few pics.)

After Rich got home from Germany, we moved and then two days later, me Rich, Amy, and Dom all drove to San Diego for the Trasmundi (Rich's mom's family) Family Reunion!

Here's the Carlsbad Beach... our hotel was overlooking it.

Dom LOVED the sand at the beach... and eventually he loved the water too.


Dom and Daddy





Dom and Mommy... yes, that's my big prego belly.


I'm about 7 months here... almost.

Dom's sleeping quarters... as you can tell, he loved it.

(We shared a room with our sister Angela and her hubby, Ross, and their little girl, Allie... it was interesting. ;) But fun!)

Back Home to our New House... and a LONG Few Weeks of Renovations!

(I didn't take before and after pictures of anything else besides our new wood flooring.)

Before...

...and after.


I am so sad that I didn't take more before and after pictures! Oh well... I will take pictures of the finished product though... well, the finished so far project... and then post them so you can see our new home! :) We replaced our tile with new tile... our carpeting upstairs with wood floors... and painted every room in the house except Dominic's downstairs and the kitchenette. I'll post pictures soon.

I also just got home from a wonderfully WONDERFUL trip to see my sweet Dad. All four of us siblings flew in to see my dad in Idaho from Arizona, Washington, Utah, and Louisiana. We had such a wonderful time!!! We celebrated his 70th birthday. I am currently on a HUNT for my SD Media card so I can extract my pictures taken on that trip and post them. It was wonderful. WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH DAD!