What have we been up to?

So, you may be wondering if we forgot about this blog or where we have been for, oh I don't know...the past several months! The truth is we have been busy with everything! Hopefully we can catch you up with some photos, and you'll feel like we never missed a beat!
Okay...let's get started. In the beginning of April Justin and I landscaped our front yard while Gianna spent the weekend with Ooda and Poppy in Santa Rosa (Jessica's Parents). It's nice because our house never really had landscaping in the front. This photo is a little dark, but you get the idea. We put in some fruit trees (Orange and Cherry) and some sun-loving plants. It looks great now that everything is really growing in.

A few weekends later we headed up to Santa Rosa for Sarah's birthday (23!). We went out to the beach one day and Gianna loved playing in the sand, although she is not too fond of the cold pacific ocean waters. We probably could have let her play on the beach forever and she'd be happy (just like mommy).


































































Gianna also loved helping auntie Sarah open her birthday presents.










The next weekend we headed up to Davis for Picnic day. Gianna loved the parade (and marching along with the bands from the sidelines) sheepdog trials and watching the dachshund races. She took a long nap and then we headed over to the battle of the bands before stopping at Dos for the best mexican food in the world and driving home.




















Here is a picture of Gianna pushing her new favorite toy, her stroller from Ooda. She loves to put her animals in it and push them around the house.









Gianna also discovered her new favorite food recently, Salsa. She loves to dip chips in the bowl or to just eat it plain. We're learning that she's a fan of flavorful foods. She also loves to put ketchup on her eggs and to take a bottle of vinegar out of the fridge and carry it around...so maybe she just takes after her mom as far as food goes :)

One of her other new fun things to do is to carry as many bags and purses as she can. It's pretty funny because all of those bags make up much more bulk than she does.













In the beginning of May, Justin threw me a surprise 25th birthday party. Thanks! It was so much fun, our friends and family were there and we had a fun day BBQing at the park. Part of the surprise was that my friend Dawn flew here for the party (and a week after) with her son, Sean, so we got to spend a great week with them. The highlights of the week were going to another friends house for a girls' night to watch Juno (so good!), and taking the kids to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Gianna loved crawling through the little tunnels, looking at the sea otters, playing in the kids area, and having lunch. The kids were super-stars on the way there and back in the car (of course, you'd be happy too if you had Dawn to keep you entertained in the back seat).



















Around that same time Gianna developed an interest in shoes (this is still going on now). When people come into our house she would point to their shoes and indicate to them to take their shoes off. She then puts all of the shoes on one corner of the couch and sits and tries them on. Most recently, she likes to help Mommy and Daddy get their shoes when she is ready to go outside and she puts them in our closet when we get home (if you think that this means she is a neat freak you should see how she likes to wipe her face and hands with a napkin at the end of a meal and how she will go get a towel out of the drawer and wipe up a mess if anything ever spills!). Just this week she has decided that she doesn't need help with her shoes anymore, she likes to put them on herself and after she takes them off she puts them in her special shoe spot. It's really funny.
For Justin's birthday Gianna and I gave him train tickets for Amtrak's "National Train Day". We took the train to Old Town Sacramento and went to the train museum and the downtown plaza. Daddy and Gianna loved riding the train (and me too). Justin especially loved the museum, and Gianna thought the horses in old town were so fun to look at. We also saw a sea lion in the river right by old town!




























Grandpa B, Grandma B and Great Grandpa B came to visit for Justin's 26th birthday in mid-May and we had a great time hanging out for a weekend. Gianna loved going up to Walnut creek for shopping and California Pizza Kitchen.










Then we spent the next 2 weeks sick (boo), but life got just as busy right as everyone was feeling better.

Gianna and I went to San Francisco for a day to visit Tracy. We had so much fun walking around San Francisco, and Gianna was very good all day, she even took a long nap in her stroller. Of course, her favorite part was the playground at Yerba Buena.








Unfortunately, this was also the week that we said goodbye to Lily. She went to heaven and we will miss her so much. Here is a picture of her and Gianna from last summer. She was always very gentle with Gianna and such a good kitty.









That weekend we went to Gianna's friend Sophia's 1st birthday party. It was a really fun party and Gianna was happy to give Sophia a dolly just like she has. Sophia ate her whole cupcake (I think she was the only of all the 1st birthdays we went to this year), and the kids had fun playing with the water table in the yard and all of Sophia's new toys.














The next week Gianna started swim lessons, she wasn't to sure about the lessons but it was something really fun for her to do with Daddy while it was hot. She loved wearing her swim backpack to class and she loved the toy duckies. By the end of the session she was brave enough to go underwater and she still loves to blow bubbles in the water (she practices in the bath).




























We took Gianna to family night at the Livermore Rodeo one night, she had lots of fun looking at the horses and getting messy while eating strawberries (as you can see from her shirt).










For father's day we went to Santa Rosa and Gianna spent most of her time playing with the hose and this little baby pool (although it was too cold to swim). It was pretty funny because it was her first time playing with the hose.









When we got home we set up her little pool in the back yard, although it didn't last long because her favorite thing to do with it is throw dirt in and make mud. While this is fun for her and funny for us, it does not make for a good swimming place :)









The last weekend in June we headed for Portland, OR to celebrate Justin's grandmother's 80th birthday. Justin's parents rented a big house with a pond and cows for neighbors, Gianna loved it here. She never wanted to go inside because she'd rather try to feed grass to the cows or throw rocks in the pond with Jadyn and Cole.
































One of the highlights from the trip was going over to Multnomah Falls. They were having an event there so the kids got to make name tags of wood pieces and play in a sandbox with a dinosaur. Smokey the Bear was there too.















Gianna loved riding Bart to and from the airport for our trip. She was being really funny on the train and so we took a few pictures of our trip back. I think that she has decided that she likes Bart way more than the car.









While in Oregon I was lucky enough to get a double ear infection and a sinus infection so I spent the next few days feeling gross and on antibiotics and Justin got me these beautiful flowers to make me feel better. What a nice guy!













Here is another weird thing that Gianna just started doing: wrapping herself in the sheets as they come out of the laundry. I think that this is something she learned from Grandma B wrapping her in her blankie while they were here, but she loves to be wrapped up and to walk around swimming in all of this fabric.





For 4th of July we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with Ooda, Poppie, and uncle Johnny.
Gianna was very interested in the touch pools this time and reached right in to pick up kelp and a starfish. It was really awesome to watch her playing in the water.




























It was really hot in Santa Cruz, so we spent a lot of time just hanging on a lawn to the side of the Boardwalk then we took a walk out on Fisherman's Wharf for some of Riva's legendary grilled cheese sandwiches. It wouldn't be a trip to Santa Cruz without going to Riva. Next we went to watch "Rare Earth" play at one of the Boardwalk's free concerts. Gianna loved playing in the sand during the concert. After that the boardwalk was getting crowded so we took Gianna on the carousel and headed home. We were back in Livermore to watch the fireworks from our car. What a busy day!











































Lately we've been doing lots of work around the house and on the cars and Gianna loves to help. Here she is helping Daddy fix something on the car. The socket set might be her favorite toy.

Last week we went downtown for "Tuesday Tunes" in Livermore with Gianna's friend Sophia and her mommy.
The girls had a great time sharing a quesadilla and beans, and then they loved going outside to dance to the music and play with bubbles. The girls were so good even though we stayed out until Sophia's bedtime!

Lastly, yesterday Justin and I went to San Francisco to see "A Chorus Line." It was so much fun to go to San Francisco, the musical was hilarious, and we hear that Gianna is having a great weekend at Ooda and Poppie's house.

Okay, you are officially up to date, except for one thing....(you might have noticed from the portland pictures), but Gianna is going to be a big sister! Yep, we are pregnant and the baby is due December 12.

Now you are really up to date! We hope everyone is doing well!