Matchy, Matchy

(Can anyone name that movie?) Gramma Lamb brought these matching outfits for her 4 grandkids and we had to take a picture of it, of course. It's just a shame that there weren't any in Abby's and my size, too! That would've been truly precious.

Beach Bums

Joseph's family is here for the weekend so we took them to the beach today. It was really overcast and a little cold, but still very fun.

Sophie didn't like the cold water and spent most of her time doing her favorite thing: playing in the sand.

We especially liked watching Lee who came home from his mission to Houston, TX last week and has never before been to California or been to the beach in his life.

Avery lovin' her Gramma Jensen time.

I braved the cold water and tried out Joseph's boogie board for the first time. It was a riot! I had 5 good runs and 1 wipeout, so I would count that a success!

Joseph buried Lee up to his neck. Claustrophobia, anyone?

Look, we found this pink seashell on the beach and took it home with us! :) Lucky us!

Avery's Blessing Day

Avery was blessed by her daddy on Sunday. He gave her a beautiful blessing and she was so good for it! She wore this blessing dress that my great great grandmother made 106 years ago! My mom, Sophie, and I were all blessed in it as well. It's beautiful!

Three generations of girls


We had a lot of family come support us on this special day.

Avery's cousin Gabe was also blessed by his daddy Peter in a beautiful Belgian lace outfit Peter and Abby bought when they were in Belgium a few years ago. Here are all the men who made up the circle.

This is with Abby's sister's family.

What a lucky girl to have such an amazing daddy! I love this man!

And I love these girls! I am so lucky to have all 3 of them!

A Red Head After All?

Avery's hair is looking redder and redder every day.

Our Baby Cougar

Getting some Gramma lovin'

She loved to chat it up with Grampa

Thank You, George W.!

From the moment I found out what the Economic Stimulus Package was months ago, I decided that I was going to do my patriotic part to help our economy by using that money for what it was intended for. So I determined to buy myself the nice camera that I've wanted for so long, and after some research I finally did it. Over the weekend my Digital Rebel XT arrived in the mail and made me so giddy. I started clicking away and my poor family who were here over the weekend got to be my guinea pigs. I don't know what I'm doing yet, really, but I'll learn, and I'm so excited to have it! I just love the click-click-clicking sound it makes as I snap pictures as fast as I want. Joseph's got his toy (he bought a large screen TV) and now I've got mine, so thank you George W. from us both!

Sunny September Scenes

It's September but it's still full-on summer here in Southern California. We actually did get a few cooler days last week that made us feel like maybe we would actually start to see fall, but it's back up in the high 90's today, so we weren't too surprised when someone told us that September is usually the hottest month here. Really?! Yeah. So what are we doing about it? We're going on lots of fun little trips.

Last Wednesday I met up with my brother (who was on paternity leave) and his family for a half day at Disneyland. I wouldn't dare take my two little girls there by myself right now, but if there are two other adults going, I am totally game. Sophie is currently obsessed with everything Tinker Bell and has already informed me that that's what she's going to be for Halloween (don't even get me started on the ridiculous price they're asking for a Tinker Bell outfit at Disneyland though). So we had to get a picture with Tink in the background.
She usually loves the carousel, but for some reason the horses freaked her out this time and it was all I could do to convince her to get on one and stay on. She was fine by the end, I think.
We went over to California Adventure at the end and Austin and Sophie got to cool off in the water a bit at one little toddler-friendly place we found.

They're such great buds.

And here's a shout out to my brother who watched two toddlers, one of whom likes to be all over the place at once, plus two babies 10 weeks and under (Gabe was just 10 days!) so that Abby and I could ride Space Mountain for the first time in over a decade for both of us! We walked right on and had so much fun! Thanks again, Pete! I wish Joseph could've been there to help you, too! We sure missed daddy that whole day.

Then on Saturday when Joseph could come with us, we went to the Huntington Library and Museum. Bank of America was sponsoring one of their exhibits so all BofA employees got free admission, so we took advantage of it and went for a couple hours. Thanks for saving us 40 bucks, BofA!This place is absolutely amazing. They have the Gutenburg Bible in one of the museums, not to mention some first edition Shakespeare plays and the original 13th amendment and other incredible stuff. If we hadn't had Sophie we could've spent hours looking at these things! (Sadly, no pictures allowed, of course.)But we did have Sophie and that was okay because she had a great time. They had a little garden for kids, complete with jumping fountains and lots of water to get soaked in. She had a blast.

We found a lily pond full of huge, colorful fish probably much older than even we are. They were beautiful and Sophie would've been content to look at them for hours.

And this is a shout out to my best friend when I was little, Angi Beamer, whose favorite joke used to be something like "Ask me if I'm a tree." "Are you a tree?" "Yes." Don't ask me why, but we'd laugh forever over that, and it never got old. So yes, Angi, I'm a tree.

Everything was so beautiful here, we wish we could've stayed longer, but that's how it goes when your life is dictated by a 2-year old and her nap schedule, and that's okay. :)

Help Protect Marriage

I'd like to post about something that is very important to us and that we've been involved in since moving to California. Please excuse us for having to get political on our blog, but I hope you'll take a sec and read this. (Thanks, Karene, for the example.)

In the year 2000 Proposition 22 was passed by 61% of the people of California to state that "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." This summer four judges on the California Supreme Court overturned this by a close 4-3 vote. This November will be our one and only chance to overturn that decision by a popular vote at the elections.

A yes vote on PROPOSITION 8 will amend our state constitution to restore traditional marriage in California. Joseph and I have been helping in our area by making phone calls and will also be canvasing areas to get the word out about Proposition 8. As of right now our side is losing in the polls. WE NEED HELP! Please, even if you are not a Californian you can help, since this will ultimately affect everyone. ProtectMarriage.com (go here to find out more on the issue) needs financial assistance so we can make commercials, fliers, signs, and buy TV and radio spots. It is not a cheap endeavor and we need help. Those who are fighting against us just received 1.2 million dollars from the ACLU, and have the backing of major companies. They are fighting hard and we need to fight back! WE MUST PROTECT MARRIAGE! There are so many consequences to this and we need to protect marriage between a man and a woman. Here are a few facts to dispel myths that the opposition is spreading:

1: Prop. 8 is About Preserving Marriage; It’s Not an Attack on the Gay
Lifestyle. Proposition 8 doesn’t take away any rights or benefits from gays or
lesbians in domestic partnerships. Under California law, “domestic partners
shall have the same rights, protections and benefits” as married spouses.
(Family Code §297.5.) There are no exceptions. Proposition 8 will not change
this.

2: Prop. 8 does not enshrine discrimination in our Constitution.

3: The legal meaning of marriage is up to the people to decide, not four judges.

4: The narrow decision of the State Supreme Court effectively renders all civil marriage meaningless and will result in tremendous confusion for children. The state Education Code (§51890) requires that teachers instruct children as young as kindergarteners about marriage. If the gay marriage ruling becomes permanent, teachers will have little choice but to teach young children there is no difference between gay marriage and traditional marriage.

That last one is the scariest to me. If you're thinking to yourself "Who cares what they do? Let them get married, it won't affect me", you're very wrong. It will effect our children in schools (even kindergarteners!) in a devastating way. And what happens here will set a precedent for the rest of the country, so it will eventually reach your states as well.

We ask if you have the means and would like to fight for a good cause to go to this site and donate! We will be blessed in our endeavors. Thank you. Also, if you feel so inclined, please copy this onto your blog as we need to spread the word! *I want to Donate*

Now I Know My ABC's

Sophie has learned the ABC song. Now that doesn't mean she knows all her letters because she can still only identify a few. She is just very good at memorizing and can learn things pretty easily. (For example, she's got 10 states and capitals down, not because I think she has to learn them already but because it's something we have fun talking about while we're eating breakfast or in the bath. She just likes to learn and can retain info well.) She is definitely my most favorite student ever!

Laborless Day

We had a really fun Labor Day weekend. We were able to see some of my extended Lamb family and had a lot of fun with them. We met up with them at Laguna Beach for a few hours on Saturday and it was the first time in a really long time that I've actually been able to go in the water and play! Joseph and I both loved getting out far enough to ride the waves and I even took Sophie out until we were up to our necks which she liked. She's not at all afraid of the ocean and its saltiness, even when it knocked her over and she got mouthfuls of water. She also loves to play in the sand. Here she is buried up to her neck in sand and loving it.

We spent today at my Grandpa Lamb's house with my same Lamb relatives who live in California. We played in the pool and got way too much sun exposure and had a fun BBQ. It was great. Sophie wore some floaties for the first time ever and it made her even more fearless than usual in the water. She decided she'd tackle the diving board by herself, so here she is getting ready to jump in the pool to me. She'd say to everyone who was about to jump off, "1, 2, 3, Go Mama! (or Daddy or Peter, etc...)" So when she got up there, she said, "1, 2, 3, Go Sophie!" and then jumped!
She often bellyflopped down to me, but it never seemed to hurt or to deter her from getting out and going right back up. She loved it and had so much fun kicking herself around the pool all day. Thanks for letting us come play, Papa Lamb!