Cutting News

This just in....

Exactly 1 week before turning 8 months, Vince has..

...

...

...cut his bottom right tooth!

Azure got this same tooth at 7.5 months, only a week before he did. I'm surprised that they reached this milestone at almost the exact same time.

This really is one of my most favorite baby stages, 6-9 months. Eating solids, sitting, crawling, teeth. This age is what I think of when I think baby. I love it! And I don't want it to end!

With him sleeping through the night again and being this adorable, I find myself wanting another but, of course we're not ready to go through all that that really entails so that will have to wait :)

More next week on the 8 month mark.

Future Aspirations

So, after much deliberation I have finally decided what I want to do as a career (making money) in the next season of my life.

I know I am strange but, sometimes I have thought, what would I do for work if Charles were to die? I have a Bachelor's degree and business and non-profit experience, but I never really loved it. And you should do what you love right? Perhaps a post on the background of all this later...

But, for now I want to announce that I've made the decision (which could definitely change since I don't plan on doing this for many years) to go to massage therapy school and become a LMT (Licensed Massage Therapist) and to become a Pilates instructor and perhaps a Hypnobabies Instructor.

I have always liked the idea of being a "guru", Charles makes fun of me :) But, with these 3 "jobs" my clientele would mostly be pregnant women. And I would be a mini guru of things relating to the sacredness of the body, which is something I feel very passionate about. This could be an eloquent post explaining why, but, I don't have the energy for that now :)

Thinking about doing these things in the future makes me happy and excited, and that's a fun feeling!

Summer Recap Part 2: Of Course

Of course, we had to go to the beach.
And play in the sand...

And in the water. Well, not me. What they say is true, the Pacific is much colder than the Atlantic. I couldn't go in but, Azure sure had fun with Papa.
And she really loved being buried in the sand. Can you tell?

She still talks about it.

Matching faces
And of course, being in Newport Beach we had to stop at the temple and show Azure where Mommy and Daddy were married. She'd never seen it before.

We've taught her about the premortal world and told her that she was in the temple with us, along with Vince and her other siblings as spirits and they were sealed to us, making us an eternal family.

"In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally."

When we pulled up to the temple she said, "I was here! And so was baby Vince!" Though, I don't think she really remembers that, it still brought tears to my eyes to hear her say it.

"Yes, Cub, you were. You were here."

Oh, how I love to see this temple...









And guess where we had dinner? Yes, another newly opened Cafe Rio in Costa Mesa! What a great day. Minus Charlie, of course.

Summer Recap Part 1

Well, Summer is definitely not over here. Still 88 degrees, though the humidity is going down. Here's some of the highlights of our summer not yet blogged about.

We took a trip to CA from July 28- Aug 4 for my friend Eddie's wedding. We stayed a week with my parents. Believe it or not TSA was actually quite kind since they saw that I was flying alone w/ 2 kids. Who knew they could be so nice and helpful?!

One of the first things we did as soon as we landed in LA was eat at the newly opened Cafe Rio in Manhattan Beach.
Yes, I am beaming in this picture. I love me some Cafe Rio. One of my top all time favorite restaurants!

Then we visited los abuelos en Carson. As a little girl I loved playing in their backyard, complete w/ a flower garden, guava, banana, avocado, and citrus trees. I probably forgot something...


I felt quite wistful watching Azure play around in that backyard thinking about how similar I looked at her age with blonde ringlets in that very same place.
As I entered my abuelo's study, I literally felt my heart turn as I saw these pictures:

This is my great grandmother Maria Alicia Gregoire and my great grandfather Franco Emilio Lamadrid.

Though, I'm pretty sure I'm not named after her, my middle name is Marie and I'd like to think that I was. I don't know much about her but, I love her so much. I can see a resemblance between us and I love it. I look forward to meeting her :)

Vince got to meet his Aunt Tally and Uncle Angel for the first time!

More Recommendations

I am on a roll w/ these. I found this site a few months ago and it is now a part of my routine to scour the recipes when it's time for me to menu plan.

I just made this the other night and oh my goodness, delicious!

Disappointed

I subscribe to Bath and Body Works emails b/c I like their lotions. But, when this popped into my inbox a few weeks ago, I furrowed my brow with a face of disgust and disappointment. It looked like a Victoria Secret ad.

I just wrote them an email explaining my disappointment in choosing this picture to advertise their new line. I originally just deleted the email, but, after going to the mall Saturday and seeing this picture plastered all over their store and then receiving another email from them with the same picture on it, I decided to DO something about it. So, I wrote them an email.

If you feel so inclined to do the same, you can here.

* I should add that the reason this is so disappointing is b/c B&BW up to this point has not had scandalous advertisements such as these. So, I feel like this will be the norm now for them. That makes me sad. Sad and then angry.

I believe that we can make a difference by doing small things like writing emails. In so doing, I feel that I am doing my part to strengthen and protect the family.

"We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society."

I Recommend...

... listening to the Mormon Channel.

This has been a great multi-tasker for me. While nursing Vince or straightening up around the house I've been listening to the live radio station, the scriptures, General Conference talks, and they even have the Ensign articles on there!

It's a lot easier to do this on an iPod Touch. Charles just got one for his rotations. I've also just listened on the computer and turn the volume up really loud.