NEWPORT 2008

In August we had our annual trip to Newport Beach with the Reynolds fam! This is the first time we have ALL been there in several years. We were so excited that Jay and Steph were able to be there for the whole week - Jay is such a good sport!

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We had so much fun! We went to the beach every day (Dallas LOVED it), had fun watching the Olympics, stayed up late laughing and talking, were FINALLY able to get a family picture (more on that later), enjoyed our morning walks, got our fountain drinks several times a day, hit the Crab Cooker (of course), cruised the bay in little boats, saw The Dark Knight and hit the fun zone too!

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We figured it has been either 21 or 22 years that we have been going to Newport! It is so fun and I have so many great memories with my family there! Thanks Mom and Dad for another great year :)

Daddy and Dal in front of the beach house
Dallas with Uncle Jake on our evening boat ride!
my favorite pic! I love the ferris wheel and 'welcome to balboa'
Isaak is such a joker and got Emily to sit on this sign...
the guys playing football on the beach

Jer and Josh - such loving brothers!
Ben and Grandpa Reynolds playing skee ball
Lisa playing dance, dance revolution
Scott and Eliza at the fun zoneGrandma and the O'Neil girlsDallie has so much fun with his cousins and they are so good and cute to him!

these two couldn't get enough of the shower! if we couldn't find them, chances were they were in there playing and laughing.
Dallas and Eliza swinging at the beach
So sweet! They were either giving each other loves, taking toys from each other or vying for Grandma's attention! So funny!
an impromptu pull up contest at the beach?!?

O'Neil setting the bar...
Steve - great form, of course

Dallas "surfing"

he thought this was GREAT! He would tumble off into the sand, laughing hysterically! He LOVED the beach!
Eliza and Dallas playing in the sand
Uncle Jay and Dallas at the beach
Kira playing with Dallas - she is so sweet to him!
artist Steve made a sand unicorn for the girls - so cute!Lisa and I on the carousel with Dallas and Elizabest buddies!

16 months old!

our sweetest little guy is 16 mo. old today! I really can't believe it!

while I am posting he is snuggled up next to me with his sippy cup of milk and protein bar watching the olympics!

LOVE does not even begin to do justice to the way we feel about this boy :)

I swear all day we are either running around or sitting with dal in my lap reading books.

I told Teag I think I read 'brown bear, brown bear' to dallas about 20 times already today.

pushing around his little popcorn thing.

I had one when I was little, but it didn't light up and count to ten like the high-tech ones of today

just playin around and being silly
so tired after all that playing!
I have so much fun with my little buddy every day! he is like a little sponge and I love teaching him about things and being there while he discovers and learns! he constantly suprises us and cracks us up!

Here's what he is up to these days...

• yesterday he shook his finger at me when I told him 'no'
• he is eating all sorts of things - last night he tried salmon! but I think protein bars are his fave...I got the idea from Kelley b/c Mason loves them. I figure they are healthy and good nutrition!
• he is GREAT at the mall, as long as I get him a Mrs. Fields first (and we all know they have the best DC for mom)
• I am SO happy he still loves to snuggle
• he is already getting into preseason football with dad - they sit together on the couch and watch. I think we will definitely have to take him to a BYU game this fall! And he may even be ready for a Steelers game too!
• he makes the cutest animal noises
• reading is his favorite! sometimes he will just go into his room and sit and "read" by himself
• his crib has become a zoo! he has to sleep with SO many of his stuffed animals!
• he is SO good at brushing his teeth! he can be seen with a toothbrush in hand a lot of times
• he is talking all the time! a lot of times it is in his own language, but he is adding more and more of our words all the time. 'dude' is the latest!
• he loves going on walks! lately we have been walking up to our dreamy new Maverik in the morning to get a krispy kreme for dallas and a diet coke for mommy

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tomorrow we head to Newport Beach with the Reynolds fam then on to Utah for a bit afterwards. I am SO excited to be with my family and for Dallas to be with his cousins. Eliza is only 6 months older than him, and Lisa and I have already been laughing about how funny they are going to be together!

pictures and stories to come in a few weeks!

lucky peak

our friends Kenna and Jason took us out on their boat Tuesday night and we had a blast! Dallas loved the water and thought being on the boat was the coolest. He loved watching everyone wakeboard and liked the other boats that passed by.

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Dallas just chillin'

cuddling with mommy!
watching dad wakeboard. Neither Teag nor I had ever really tried wakeboarding before...let's just say Teag got up in a few less attempts than me, no suprise! I did get up eventually though!
cutest Samie on her little "wakeboard"

Peyton wakeboarding! He is only 4 yrs. old!

Dallas thought it was SO cool seeing his little buddies out there!

Jason was saying we should let Dallas try next summer - we'll see...

Dallas watching the kiddos

Dallas hanging out with daddy

he is too cute in his little sunglasses and hat :)

first trip to the zoo!

I took Dallas to Zoo Boise yesterday and he LOVED it!
he was knocking on the glass where the tiger was and was a little concerned when the tiger yawned right in front of him!
just playing around
loving tigers apparently
we went to the gift shop on our way out to get him a toy or stuffed animal. at first he was crazy about this cute panda stuffed animal, but then on our way to the register he saw a stuffed tiger on the end of a stick. he seemed to love it, but on our way out I handed him the tiger and he screamed and pushed it away! it seems that he only likes the stick! I woke him up from his nap today by putting the tiger around the corner in his room and he started screaming "no! no!" I felt so bad, but it was pretty funny!

Edward or Jacob?

I don't know what you were all doing Saturday morning, but I was at Costco picking this up...

I am a couple hundred pages in and hope to finish up in the next few days!

So, who do you favor?

Edward or Jacob?

I have to say I am on Team Edward :)

summertime!

summer has been a little crazy and busy for us, but it has been fun!

we have been able to spend time with family and friends and have fun with dallas all along the way! he is SO much fun right now and we are loving every minute :)

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our friends ben & terri had us over again to bbq and swim!

dallas and ethan had so much fun!

dallas getting in with dada

he always loves to shoot hoops

getting out of his wagon to come help mom

our BEST little helper in the yard!

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then dallas thought he might like to be a puppy...

I will be in the kitchen and dallas will just be playing around, when all of a sudden I will hear a faint "woof, woof" from the laundry room...

he just thinks it is the FUNNIEST thing ever!

so, of course, teag and I think it is the funniest thing ever!

now I can't keep him from going in there!

teag thought I was mean because I told dallas to go in ruby's kennel

of course you have to put the dog food down the slide, right?!

Whiting Reunion 2008

Last week we headed to Utah for our Whiting family trip!

We stayed in cabins at Brighton Ski Resort and it was SO FUN!!!

Big Cottonwood Canyon is one of my favorite places in the world. It is so beautiful up there and I have memories from my whole life doing fun things up there with family and friends :)

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We had so much fun staying up late talking, playing 'Scene It' and 'Catch Phrase' (Teag's fave), eating great food, hiking, playing pool and ping pong, and just hanging out together!

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We were so sad that Jonathon wasn't there! He is currently serving in Afghanistan and he was definitely missed!

We missed Kaden and Gracie (Karl's kids) and hope they can be with us next year!

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Dallas loved being with his cousins, although he was kind of a bully to Emi and Valerie (both his age...). If either of them had a toy, he did not hesitate to walk right up to them and take it away. By the end of the trip he was pulling them down by their shirts and just looking up at me like nothing was wrong. The girls were good sports and all the cousins were so cute together!

Mom and Dad Whiting at Lake Mary - my favorite spot!
Chad posing at the Lake

Chad, Hailey, Karl and Staceythe kiddos making hats

Elaine had a different craft for them every day - so fun!

our little fam and onto the relay races...
Dallas and Valerie racing - she smoked him!

Of course Teag was joking afterwards that he needs to start doing drills with the little guy

we had so much fun doing the relays!

we were laughing so hard we were nearly peeing our pants!

(or in some cases literally! oops!)

Dallie boy
the cousins (minus Emi who was napping)

Thanks Mom and Dad W. for a great trip! We had so much fun and love every opportunity we have to be with our fun family!