Finn Hearts California!

Over Memorial Day weekend, we had the chance to take Finn to California for the first time. We left on Thursday afternoon and stopped in Riverside to see GeeGee (my Grandma Jane). He got to meet her, Uncle Gary, Aunt Rose, and his cousin Kaitlin for the first time.

On Friday, we spent the day with the family and with Gerald. We went over to Gerald's place so that the boys could test out the new UFC video game. I went and took a great nap in another room. It was fantastic! We also went to Taco Surf with some dear friends and ate some delicious grub!

Then, on Saturday, I took Finn to visit Alex. He got to meet her husband, John, and their kitties for the first time! He loved them and had lots of smiles for them. On Saturday afternoon, we all got together to take the babies to Mother's Beach (that is where we all used to go when we were little kids). As you can see in the pictures, Finn didn't mind the water at first....

Then, when it touched his belly, he was NOT happy.

Blake handed Finn off to me to get warm. Besides, Drake really wanted to swim with his Uncle Blake. They had such a blast together!

...until Blake wrapped Drake in his towel, which made it impossible for him to push himself up after falling down face-first in the sand! He was so upset and, of course, we all laughed hysterically and took pictures before helping him!

We had such a fun trip! The weather was so beautiful and it was just perfect for the beach. Plus, it is always so fun to see our friends and family. And it's especially fun to go to our favorite restaurants! Some of our other pictures are on Donovan's camera, so I'll update with those later!

Bath Time

So, I had to return to work on Monday, the 11th. And my awesome sister-in-law, Melissa, has been watching Finn for us. That has certainly made the devastating transition much easier. I just wanted to say thank you Melissa (and Reese!). Luckily, I now only have 3 more days. Yay!

Anyway, when I give him bath time, I usually just use his little bath in our tub and he LOVES it. He smiles, squeals, and talks non-stop. Recently, he has started kicking and splashing. Melissa suggested that we just put him in our tub with about 1 inch of water. Here are the results! He had such a blast. Blake and I were soaked by the time he was done. I'm surprised that there was any water left in the tub!

My First Mother's Day

I have been waiting to be able to celebrate this day for a very, very long time. Of course, I tried to get away with saying that I was Molly's mom for the past few years, but most people didn't really let me get away with that. So, let's start with the great presents for my first real Mother's Day...

First of all, my Finn slept for 7 hours straight for the first time! Now, that was a GREAT gift. I only lasted 6 hours before I got up, pumped, and made sure that he was breathing. When I went in there, I noticed a small gift bag in his crib. Apparently, he had snuck out to get his mommy a special gift. I didn't want to open it yet, so I decided to wait until we were all awake in the morning.

When we were all awake, Blake made me breakfast and I opened this beautiful gift...

This beautiful necklace has an amethyst, which is Finn's birthstone. I absolutely love it!

Just as I was thinking that this is a perfect Mother's day, Blake gives me his card and I find this inside....

Yep, that's a ticket to go see "Wicked"!! This will be my 3rd time seeing it. And this time I get to see it with my great friend, Tenneal, because her hubby got her the same gift. I guess our husbands really are thoughtful and very, very sweet!

We also got to enjoy church by listening to Clint and Andrea speak in their ward. They did such an awesome job! After their ward, we went home, rested, and then went to Ryan and Tenneal's for a delicious dinner prepared by Blake and Ryan.

Unfortunately, the big downer of the day was the fact that I had to return to work on Monday. It was such a sad, terrible day. I would never have been able to make it through the day if it wasn't for Melissa and Reese who take such good care of him while I'm with my crazy, obnoxious students all day. Luckily, it's only 6 more days at this point! Yay!

The best present of the day, though, was just the fact that I'm a mom to a wonderful, adorable little boy. He has made me so incredibly happy and has brought such an incredible amount of love into our home. I simply adore this little guy. His smile (with that perfect dimple) melts my heart. I am so thankful for him and his fat, chunky face!

11 Weeks

My little guy is 11 weeks old! Sometimes it's hard to believe that he has already been here for that long because time flies by way too fast! Yesterday, I put him in this little "muscle shirt" to show off his big guns and I just had to keep taking pictures. He was so full of smiles but by the time that the flash went off, he would have this stunned look on his face. It's nearly impossible to get him smiling, but he's cute no matter what.

Blake and I went to go see "Wolverine" on Saturday. It was really good and it was a lot of fun to go out on a date with him. One of my friends from work watched Finn and he had a blast with her. He slept, ate, watched Food Network, and slept some more!

I also want to take a moment to wish my fabulous mother a very, very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I won't reveal her age, but I will say that she's beautiful, wonderful, and absolutely fantastic!!

This picture was taken when he was only a week old! He was so tiny!!

A Giggle

My heart has officially melted. I was just rocking my little guy in his room and I heard his giggle for the first time. It was one of the sweetest things I have ever heard. He was sound asleep and he kept smiling. Then, he suddenly let out this deep chuckle. At first I thought it was a fluke but he did it a few more times. For those who have had the pleasure of hearing his Uncle Kevin laugh, imagine that in a 2 month old version. It was hilarious! I really wish I knew what that little guy was dreaming about!!

A Beautiful Blessing for a BIG Boy

This past week was CRAZY (to say the least). It all started on Wednesday when Alex (my best friend of nearly 18 years) came to visit with her mom and her grandmother. They got here quite early that morning to meet Finn for the first time and spend the day with him. We had a really good time drooling over this boy's adorable face and chunky cheeks. I was quite exhausted by the end of the day because these women are pretty crazy and VERY talkative. Alex and her family have always been very entertaining and they certainly didn't leave me disappointed!! I don't have any pictures of them with Finn at the moment...I think Alex has some on her phone, so I'll try to post those very soon!

Then on Wednesday evening as Alex and her family were leaving, Sandi and Shannon came by with Drake and Sloane so we could finally meet Sloane and Shannon could meet Finn. I am absolutely in love with this little girl. It is not even funny how beautiful she is (see the pics below)! She almost doesn't look real because she is just so perfect. I kind of already knew that Finn was a heffer, but he looked gigantic next to Sloane!

Thursday was an exciting day because Finn had his 2 month check-up. I was very anxious to get his new stats: Height: 25 inches, Weight: 14 lbs, 5 oz., Head: 16 1/4 inches. The doctor was quite impressed with his height and weight. I was kind of expecting it since Blake is over 6 feet and so is my dad. I predict that my little guy will be taller than me by 5th grade!

By Friday night, we had all sorts of people in town. All of the Holloways were here and my parents flew in as well. Then, on Saturday, Gerald, Danyelle, and Hannah arrived. We got everyone together to go to Basha pool. We had such a fun time. The kids were in the water all day, and Finn was exhausted by the end of the day from playing in the pool and getting passed around to everyone. We went over to Kevin and Melissa's for a BBQ that night and ate some delicious food.

Finally, it was Sunday - Finn's big day. We had the blessing at our home after church. It was really fun to get him in his little white outfit, wrap him in his white blankie, and hand him over to his daddy for his blessing. I was already losing it before Blake said a word. Just watching all of these great men from our family gather in a circle to bless this little guy was such an amazing experience. Blake did an incredible job and had some beautiful things to say to his little son. It was a great day and it was sad to see everyone go. We hope that everyone had a great weekend and we want to thank everyone again for traveling to be here and helping us out! Here are some pictures from the big day:

Here are the men from the blessing. Note: my dad did wear a white shirt and tie, but he managed to change before we took the picture!

Grandpa and Grandma Holloway with all of their grandchildren!

This is our attempt at getting all of the cousins in a picture together. It was quite the interesting experience! Right when you got one kid to stop crying, another one would start...I'm sure most parents can relate.

Gerald, Hannah, and Danyelle...Hannah and Reese are new best friends. They had so much fun together!

Blake and Shannon decided to take a picture with Finn and Sloane next to each other to see the size difference. Finn is only one day older than Sloane...are you kidding me??

Happy Easter!!

I know this is a little late, but I want to share all about Finn's first Easter. While we were at church, the Easter Bunny snuck in and delivered a basket for Finn and Molly. Finn's basket had Disney's "Robin Hood", one little easter egg, and (most importantly) a can of formula! I guess the Easter Bunny knows that if Finn got candy, then Blake and I would end up eating all of it. Then, Molly's basket had some of her favorite chewies and treats. She was very, very excited! She was especially excited when we let her get on the couch for the pictures (this isn't our main couch...it's the one in our office. She's definitely not allowed on our other couch). There were some other pictures where Finn was NOT screaming, but this one was too funny. Then, we went over to Clint and Andrea's for Easter dinner. We had ham, cheesy potatoes (soooo good!!), green bean casserole, and all sorts of other goodies.

Also, this weekend was Andrea's birthday. We went to a place called San Tan Flat. It's a really cool outdoor restaurant. There are picnic tables, fire pits, a big dance floor, and live music. They have really yummy food and you can roast marshmallows in the fire pit to make s'mores! It's really, really fun! It was kind of chilly outside, so it was a lot of fun to get bundled up and cuddle with our little guy!

We had a really fun weekend and a very happy Easter! We hope all of you did too!