Creative Eli

Eli is quite a creative little three year old. Everyday he pretends to make movies. He makes car movies, animal movies, and more. He makes up story lines and just acts it out. After he is finished he sings a song to indicate the movie is over- kind of like the music that plays during the credits.

He also designed this Lego city all by himself the other day. It was very impressive. He built a table for the people to sit and eat, stairs, windows, and doors. I was also very impressed with Diego for not knocking Eli's creations over. Diego was playing right by him the whole time!

U.S. Citizen

Utah vacation- Part 1

Diego eating strawberries at the family reunion.
Our family at the reunion. I really wish I would have gotten a picture of Granny Joyce with us.

Logan Canyon rest stop- the view was so beautiful we stopped and had a snack.
Family Reunion - July 13, 2011

Family Reunion

We went on our first family of 4 vacation to Utah in July. We had a good time and I now think I could go on vacations a little more often. I pretty much thought vacations with young kids were not worth it or not fun at all, but now I know that I can have a good time! We drove to Logan Wednesday morning- we left home at 4 am because we needed to get there on time for our family reunion at 2 p.m. We made it just in time. Before the reunion we met my parents, brothers and sisters and their families at the University Ice Cream place and had a cone, then we went to the cemetery across the street where my parents will be buried and where my grandpa, uncle, and other relatives are. We borrowed a portable DVD player so Eli watched a few movies on the drive there. That helped, and we of course had snacks, books, and some toys to keep them (and us) happy in the car.

The family reunion was for all the descendants of my grandma Joyce (my mom's mom). I got to see my cousins that I hadn't seen for a while, their kids, and aunt's and uncles. It was a good time. We met at Willow Park and had good food.

In Logan we spent the night at Mark and Peggy's house. They have a nice peaceful back yard and porch. The boys slept on the floor and did pretty well. Diego woke up a couple of times in the night, but that was to be expected. Cesar, my dad, and brothers went golfing Thursday morning. My mom, Peggy, the boys, and I went on a walk around the neighborhood and just had a relaxing morning. Logan is a nice town. The drive through Logan canyon was beautiful. My dad is always talking about how nice it is and I really got to enjoy it this time. The lake, river, and mountains are so pretty. We had lunch again in Willow Park before we left Logan and drove to Salt Lake.

Cereal, Llama, and Books

Diego spilled the cereal. It reminds me of when Eli did the same thing. Diego started crying afterwards- he is a sensitive little guy. Just look at his distressed face!
We meet a llama at the library Saturday. Neither of the boys wanted to pet it and neither did I.

Look at all this nice new books! We got all 7 of these books for free from different libraries over the last few months. We just went to special story times or events and participated in the summer reading programs.

Diego's fall

Diego fell all the way down our stairs last week! It was horrible standing at the top of the stairs and just watching him go down and not being able to catch him. Poor little guy! I noticed right away that he couldn't walk after his fall, so we went to the doctor's office. The doctor checked his whole body out and his legs. She said nothing was broken and that he should walk normally within a few days. Luckily he started walking later that evening.

4th of July Weekend

We had a nice 4th of July weekend. Cesar had 4 days off, so we got to do a lot of fun stuff. Monday we went to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival- I think we have been 4 or 5 years in a row. It was a hot day- near 100 degrees. We didn't stay very long. Diego and Eli had fun just sitting in the stroller and watching everyone and everything. We got a new sit and stand stroller last month. My mom found it at a garage sale for us! I really like it. I got a free 10 minute chair massage at the festival, we watched a band perform, ate greasy tacos for lunch, and Eli got an ice cream treat. He ate it while sitting in the stroller behind Diego so Diego didn't know anything about it- pretty sneaky :).

In the evening we went to a BBQ at the Greer's house. We had a fun time and ate good food. They had a kiddie pool that both Eli and Diego got in and also a trampoline that we all jumped on. After we put the boys in bed Cesar and I watched fireworks on TV.
Friday night we had a movie night. Eli wanted to watch a Care Bear movie so we did. I'm not sure how he even knows about Care Bears. When we have movie nights we usually eat pizza too. We put down a picnic blanket and eat in the living room. I think Diego looks like such a big boy in this picture, I think because he is actually smiling at the camera.

Friday we also went swimming at our townhouse pool. It felt good because it was a hot day too.

Friday morning we had family pictures taken at Wal-Mart. I think they went pretty well. We will pick them up soon. Diego got his first haircut Friday! It was getting a little long in the back and around his ears, so Cesar took some off. He did it while Diego was in the bathtub which made it pretty easy. I didn't take any pictures- oh well.

Saturday we all went to help clean the church at 8 a.m. and then had a breakfast at the church pavilion. It was fun to talk to people and just hang out. After naps on Saturday, we went to Cherry Creek State Park. They have a beach area that we checked out. It is pretty nice. We didn't have our swimsuits with us, but that didn't stop Eli. First we just put our feet in, but then Eli got his shorts pretty wet. We will go back soon with our swimsuits. Then we stopped by the grocery store for Cesar to get somethings he needed to make dinner. I was complaining about not knowing what to make for dinner and how I always make it and Cesar said he would cook! What a nice husband. He made some really good tacos.

Sunday Cesar gave the lesson in Sunday School. It was about the Atonement. I only got to hear a small bit of it, because I had to go walk the halls with Diego. Diego has been quite the challenge at church lately. I can not wait until he is 18 months and can go to nursery - less than 3 months away! Anyways, Cesar's lesson went well. He even told me he got a little emotional at one point while sharing his testimony. He is a good teacher.

We had a great weekend and are looking forward to our Utah vacation next week!

Cesar's Birthday

Cesar turned 34 Tuesday. We had a little party for him when he got home from work.

Eli and I also recorded this video for Cesar and sent it to him at work. We gave him a frame for his desk at work and also a small water wall decoration for work also. I made him his favorite dessert (and mine too) strawberry cream cheese. Yum! Cesar's coworkers also gave him a card with a gift card and bought cupcakes for him also.