Summer Rewind... 4th of July!

This year on 4th of July we continued our new tradition with a 3rd annual family BBQ over the holiday weekend. It was fun having both sides of the family at our house for food and fireworks! We found the perfect little red, white, and blue outfit for our little firecracker too! Then on the 4th we headed over to Mattea's parents house for the 3rd year in a row to BBQ and swim with all the littles! There were lots of kids and toddlers around for Reese to enjoy! Reese loved the fireworks and even fell asleep watching them, it wasn't until after she went up to her room that the noise got to her and it was an intense evening with the baby and dogs all freaked out. Hopefully next year will be better!

ONE!

Hard to believe this was life one year ago!

And today... (well, this was actually a few weeks ago, but look at this big girl!)

What a year we've had! The first days were full of nervousness and getting to know each other, sleepless nights, many feeding issues which led to many emotional moments. The next few months we started to get the hang of things and of course it was time for me to go back to work and time to adjust again. The next months full of so many changes and milestones for our little girl. Now we have made it one year and it's gone in the blink of an eye. All those initial troubles seem so far away and all I can think of is how much I love this child. She has taught me more about myself in one year than I have learned in the other 27 I've been on this planet. She is my best accomplishment and I'm so proud we've made it here in one piece. She is the sweetest, funniest, smartest little ball of energy and I blessed to be her Mama. We are so lucky!

Happy 1st Birthday,

Reese Delaney Clark!

I LOVE YOU!

Precious Memories

A couple days after our Santa Cruz trip we got news that my Grampa wasn't doing too well. It was an easy decision to pack up and drive to visit he and my Gramma for the weekend. We had a great time visiting with my Grampa, hearing all his stories from back in the Navy and looking through his photo albums of all the tours he went on. Reese loved climbing up on his walker and they would play peek-a-boo together. I was so glad Reese got to spend some more time with her only Great-Grampa! I think Reese cheered him up some too! They have a wonderful backyard with tons of fruit trees and flowers, so Reese enjoyed taking wagon rides around to see the sites. Grampa even came out a few times on his "Cadillac" to tour the yard with us. My Grandparents are so special to me, its hard to describe how important this trip was. It is one that I will remember forever and I am so glad I snapped a few shots of Reese with each of them.

{A few shots from their pretty backyard}

{Reese in the wagon}

{Reese, Mama, and Great-Grampa!}

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Grampa on his "Cadillac"

{Sweet Great-Gramma and Reesie}

{Tyler serenading Grampa with some old cowboy songs}

Love you both Gramma and Grampa!

Catching Up!

Summer seems to have arrived and so have the 100 degree days! We were lucky enough to have a mini-beach vacation a couple weeks ago and escape the heat in Santa Cruz. We had fun at the beach, in the redwoods, on a hike to see the elephant seals, and in Monterey at the aquarium and shops of Cannery Row. Reese loved it all! We are so happy she is a beach lover like her Mom and Dad!

{Reese's first view of the Pacific Ocean!}

{Daddy got to catch some waves}

---Hot tub!---

Henry Cowell State Park, home of the GIANT redwoods!

Father's Day, a trip to Ano Nuevo State Beach and a hike to see the elephant seals!

it was very windy....

{Beach in Capitola, near the Santa Cruz Pier}

Next stop the aquarium...

{Our favorite part of the day, touching the sea life}

Natural Bridges State Beach