My first birthday was so much fun, and I even loved eating my cake all by myself!!!!!!

Although when everybody sang "Happy Birthday" to me it really scared me at first with all of these people staring at me and singing real loud! Once I saw the cake and got a taste, that all did not matter any more!!!

Thank you for the great birthday party everyone!!

I LOVE YOU!

I look good!!!

New video of Raygen checkin herself out! This robe is so cute and we couldn't resist getting her watching herself do her thing in the mirror! She has become quite infatuated with this mirror, practicing all of her new faces that she loves to show off!

Raygen is 1 year old!

Raygen is now 1 year old and the joy of my life. With the economy so bad and Ryan and I both getting pink slips...aka layoff notices the main thing that brightens my day and gets me through all this is little Raygen. All I have to do is see her face and I can forget it all! God definitly brought her into my life at the right time. She is always happy and smiling and full of joy! She smiles at almost everyone even when we're out shopping or eating. One thing that really does bug me, though is when she is so darling towards others...strangers and they don't even have the kindness to smile back at this adorable little thing! I want to say " what's wrong with you?" How insensitive can you be? Anyhow, she is almost walking. she loves to just hold one hand and walk by your side. She hates the walker now she wants to do it on her own. The walker is headed to storage here very soon. Her grandpa Mat has taught her to look at birds and point at them in the sky frequently. She loves to say "what's that?" to everything she points at. She can spot the smallest bird in the sky and point to it.

She is very tall for her age, it could be an early sign she'll be a tall girl and take after her daddy, but we'll see! she melts everyones hearts and brings us all closer! I couldn't imagine life without her! I hate having to look at her sad little eyes when I leave her every morning to go to work where I know that no one appreciates my presence as much as she certainly would.

Grandma Penny and Aunt Lynn came from the midwest to visit us and we got to take a trip to Yosemite. On our trip we took bikes and rode around the whole park and ate a pic nic lunch. Raygen had so much fun in her bike seat on the back of dads bike. She was watching everyone and all the wildlife and waterfalls. It was a great trip! This was her second time to Yosemite in her first year of life.

Saturday is her big birthday party, so we will post pictures later and tell you all about her big day! Thank you to all of our family and friends that have supported us and helped us take care of our bundle of Joy this first year!

Easter Vacation

Family Shot at New Melones Lake - Easter Pic Nic

Doing her gymnastics on the floor!

Raygens first easter egg she found

Raygen sitting in the bike basket at the bike shop

We tried on a helmet for her to wear. she liked it!

Easter vacation was finally the rest we needed! although Dad had baseball games 4 out

of the 5 days off so mom and Raygen got to spend a lot of time together. It did rain for 1/2 the time and snowed, too, so we couldn't go outside a lot. We got the kitchen island all done. Ryan built it himself and tiled it to match the kitchen himself, also. It looks awesome! I will post a picture later. Raygens first birthday is rapidly approaching. It looks like we're going to celebrate at the local marina and grandpa is going to barrel chicken and tri tip. Anyday she will be walking, all she wants to do is walk around with people helping her and now she is trying to move furniture to furniture...getting more daring. Grandma penny and Aunt Lynn are coming to visit for 3 weeks and my birthday here pretty soon...so she'll have quality time with her Midwest family!

update at last!

Raygen was pointing out the VW that she wanted for herself as we waited for the passat to get worked on.

So it's been forever that I have updated the blog!!! I have let months go by. I am blaming it on softball starting. Not only does mom and dad work full time but we are both coaching full time, so an extra 20 hours a week on top of the job. It's tough!!!!!! I won't complain much as I'm sure I'll have a break here pretty soon as Ryan and I both were served pink slips for layoff notices in our district. It is a hard time to be a teacher in California. That's for sure!....and I'm sure one of us will feel the pain of the layoff. Ryan is currently getting his Single subject in Math, so it makes him more marketable. He will be the only one in our district with that credential, so it would be really stupid of them to let him go, so I'm sure if someone is laid off it will be me :(

Anyhow, back to little miss Raygen! She is getting so big, so fast! she doesn't want to crawl. She scoots and pushes herself around. She is way more interested in walking. She pulls herself up and surfs the couch and coffee tables. I am putting some pics of the last few months, as I haven't put any on here in a long time. She has learned how to clap on Que. She waves all the time and points at everything (even at restaurants and stores...)which is a little embarrassing. I say, "ohh sorry she is just learning to do that so she points at everything." She loves her dogs and esp. her cat. She chases them around in her walker and laughs at them because they run away from her.

She is 10 1/2 months old, I cannot believe it's almost been a year since she was born. Parenting gets easier and easier ...boy, those first 5 months were really hard, but now she sleeps like a champ through the night 7-8pm till 630-7am, which is awesome. It's amazing what sleep will do for you. BUT we have #2 on the way, so I'm sure the lack of sleep will be coming around the corner real soon!!!! I will try and enjoy my next 4 1/2 months of sleep. I am crossing my fingers that the next one will be a SUPER sleeper... ha

Towel Tricks

Raygen enjoyed her visit so much from Jaime!

Raygie and Dutch

Here's a great look at Raygen and Dutch playing in the morning! She loves her animal brothers...all 3 of them!!!