may 14th

last saturday daddy took sarah golfing early while i caught up on some chores and baby slept in. despite dale, aleah and me all not feeling 100%, we didn't miss much action. we met some of our family at the school carnival.

there were balloons,

hula hoops,

tunnels,

and treats.

when we first met up with grandpa, he was dry:

then atticus found a ball...

and all of a sudden grandpa went swimming!

dale enjoyed relaxing,

with baby on his lap.

we went sliding,

tried out rock climbing,

and swinging.

atticus showed off some cool tricks.

nova modeled aleah's new hat made by aunt sarah.

the flowers in the garden were gorgeous.

thanks for the good times :)

later that day my gradeschool friends, rourke and irene came for dinner. dale made chicken taco salad and waited on us all. we had so much fun catching up and aleah shared all her new tricks. a full and fun day!

fun in the (late) sun

last week i played with the camera settings a bit trying to get some different effects. of course, using my most agreeable subject :)

weekend with grandma

we had a wonderful three-day weekend with grandma and uncle bruce in arizona. little one entertained us constantly.

grandma pointed out all the trees and flowers in the large backyard.

she helped aleah to play dressup with an apron. "don't i look gorgeous in my gown?"

uncle bruce is awesome! we had fun bouncing on the sofa pillows :)

grandpa made this stool for grandma but it was just aleah's size!

dale and uncle bruce helped grandma with some yardwork while aleah tried to help too (and i followed with camera, trying to keep her out of trouble :)

"grandma, where would you like me to put this table?"

very interested in grandma's bunny door decoration!

we had dinner at grandma's favorite mexican restaurant. it was delicious for sure. yummy!

i found time to take lots of pics of little one.

silly girl!

daddy caught up to us on our walk. yay!

where is the moon aleah?

it was a little hard to justify why it's ok to pet rocky but not sparky. she loves the cats and rocky was so patient as she followed him all over the house.

sunday morning we went to church with grandma. it was a beautiful service and all the women got gorgeous red or pink roses. so special.

for a good three hours, this was the view from the front seat. we had such a wonderful time, can't wait to do it again. love you grandma and uncle bruce. xoxo

sunset walk

last sunday we took a walk on a new path. the sun was setting and looking beautiful on the wild hillsides; a perfect time for picture-taking with wonderful lighting. i know the exposures aren't always right; i'm sure i'll look back on these later with a more critical eye...but until i am more experienced (and take to post-processing), i am happy with these.

aleah loves to hold anything in her hands. this time a pretty flower...

this time a cool rock...

and now her puppy dog.

daddy is really good at getting me on the other side of the camera for a little bit.

i love the sunlight in this one.

sometimes she wants to be held...and then sometimes not so much!

turn on the lights!

on april 30th, dale, aleah and i joined other family members in a fundraising walk for children's hospital los angeles - turn on the lights! - celebrating the opening of a new building. we were part of the third highest fundraising team (glow'n'go), headed by my stepmom! congratulations leslie! we had a good time.

we all wore matching orange visors:

atticus before the walk with dennis:

...and with sara:

there was a cool street party after the walk, with much food, entertainment and give-aways, ending with a beautiful lighting ceremony. though we didn't make it to the end, this was the finale:

a new baby!

ok...well...not my baby...(and not my photos), but a new granddaughter for dale and me! heather and marc's third daughter maggie kay was born last week on april 27 and she is super adorable as i'm sure you will all agree. these are some of the precious pictures taken in the first few days. congratulations to all the aunts and uncles too! we can't wait to meet little maggie in person soon. love to you!

what's she thinking? she looks like she's laughing...so cute!

peaceful in mama's arms