Summa Summa Tiiiiiime! (Intended to be pronounced like the Will Smith song)

     Julian is officially crawling! He sure has grown since we have moved in. He quickly learned how to balance and catch himself when sitting up (we have no carpet in the new house so his falls were a lot harder than our old place). And even though the floors are hard on his knees, it doesn't stop him from crawling like a little monkey everywhere! Julian has also started pulling himself up onto his knees and he can pull himself up onto his feet but only does it if there is something he really really wants. He also talks to e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e. he sees. He is such a flirt! He makes everyone feel like a million bucks when he flashes them his cute little grin (myself included).  I just love him to pieces! He is looking more and more like a toddler and acting like one too! It is makes me so sad to think he is not going to be a baby for much longer.

I guess I was a wee bit behind...

Clapping!

    In day to day life, Mario and I have been decorating the house a little bit at a time, Mario is in summer school, I am doing an online class (which I hate...let me tell you, I will not need to know the difference between Ionic and Doric Order Greek Architecture in the "real world"), and Baba (that is our most popular nick name for Julian at the moment) is always on the move. His favorite game is to get dangerously close to the stairs and/or television/dvd player wires. So much fun :) He is going through a kissing phase though that is quite adorable. He only gives us French kisses and a kiss on the cheek will never suffice...he is such a lover :)

Lookin like a toddler!

    We love our neighbors and our new church members (we switched congregations due to the move). Friendliest people in the nation, hands down, live in the Midwest! And they know how to have a good time too. After such a harsh winter, I understand why people live it up in the summer. So that is exactly what we have been doing. To kick off the summer, we went to the Drive In :) Our first movie since Julian has been born! Julian had a blast in the sandbox and swings…so did Mario :) We only lasted for the first movie but it was still really fun!

En el columpio!

My boys playing in the sand box at the drive-in movie

   For Memorial Day Weekend, we went to Chicago for our first family vacation! It was so fun going to visit a place as a tourist and explore the city as a family. Mario and I love the city lifestyle of walking around to get everywhere and having so much diversity in people, attractions, and most importantly food! It would be crazy living there but it is a blast to visit.  Julian especially loved all the people and mastered waving “hola” while we were there :)

Our walk down Navy Pier wore BaBa out!

Just MaMa y Papa!

The city was so inspiring :)

My sleepy head

 

The boys being silly while putting sunblock on before the
zoo! There is a free zoo in Chicago that wasn't too far from
where we went to church on Sunday, so we just walked
right on over and enjoyed the afternoon watching Julian wave
"hola" to all the animals. His favorite was the giraffe :)

Julian loved the animals so this is one of the
only pictures we have of him looking at the
camera rather than the animals.

So intrigued!

My Angel!

Padre y Hijo

The Chicago Temple!

All prepped for a summer time walk!

     When we got back to real life we decided it would be a good idea to throw a little house warming party for ourselves so we invited all of our neighbors, friends, and some of Mario’s co-workers over. Let me say that throwing a party with a baby is a lot harder than throwing one without a baby. It was still super fun though. We had the BBQ set up in our driveway, projected a movie onto our garage door, and the kids played in the front yard /street! It was a perfect summer night :)

            Our next big adventure was going to California! Julian was an angel flying as usual. He either flirted with the people around us or was sleeping. We were there for my best friend’s Cassie’s wedding but we got to see some family before the big event! My sister Regina and her family got to meet sweet little Julian for the first time, which was precious. My youngest niece, Abby fawned over him. It was so cute! Even though we stayed with my brother Anthony and his Fiancé Melissa, we probably saw them the least. They were busy with work and planning their own wedding that is coming up pretty soon. Even though it wasn’t as much quality time as we would have liked, we were grateful to get to see family at all.

         

Julian looks so accomplished

My niece Abby meeting Julian for
the first time :)

My sister Gina and Julian!

The boys with Tio Anthony!

I actually remembered to take pictures with
Anthony and Melissa this trip :)

     The wedding itself was beautiful!!  It took place at a scenic apple orchard in the mountains. Cassie and Drew looked so so happy and gorgeous! They looked like they could have stepped out of a magazine. I am so excited for them! I got to see some old friends, Mario made some new ones, and Julian danced up a storm! It was a good time :)

We forgot to take any pictures of the actual wedding but
here is the rehearsal. Just imagine it all decorated and beautiful!

Julian entertained himself with dirt and
rocks during the rehearsal...such a boy.

The beautiful bride and my friend from high school, Jessica :)

:P

She looked absolutely stunning!

Guapos!

Party animals these two

    



 After we got back, we didn't waste anytime getting back into summer festivities. Mario, Julian, and I; along with our friends Darren, Lindsey, and their baby girl Adelyn went to a local fair to watch a demolition derby. For those who may not know what a demolition derby is, I will explain. People modify cars (take out windows, weld doors shut, etc.), bring them into an arena, and run into each other until there is only one car running. Pretty much like bumper cars but for real. It is super, for lack of a better word, redneck. It was hilarious! I think the crowd was more entertaining to watch than the actually show. I love the Midwest and the country feel out here but there are just some things that make me giggle. The people of the demolition derby is one of them. The boys of course loved it though! However, the highlight for me was going down the giant slide with Julian! It was and still is my favorite fair attraction :)

Last summer we went to a baseball game with our
friends Darren and Lindsey and we took these pictures...

This year we went with them to the Demolition derby... oh what a year can bring :)

Last year, ready to pop!

Notice both of our hair is pulled back now...hahaha

The big slide!!

Mario and I went on the bumper cars :) So fun!

        
     After the fair, that brings us to the 4^th of July! Here, the 4^th is a two-day holiday so on the 3^rd, we went to a fireworks show with our friends Sam and Will and their three kids. It was a free show so it was jammed packed! It wasn’t the best crowd (lots of smokers and drinkers) but it was still fun to be with friends. A little background story on our next event... A few months ago, we sold some couches on Craigslist (online classified ads). The grandparents of the kid we sold them to came to check them out first. We wound up talking to them for about an hour and they ended up inviting us to their house for their family 4^th of July party. Long story short, we ended up going! They live on this beautiful private lake so we couldn’t resist. After that, we went to Mario’s boss’s house to watch the World Cup for a bit. And then we ended the night at our friend Heidi and Tanner’s for a little firework show in their back yard.  A very eventful and fun day :) We feel so blessed to have to many kind friends here.

Our friends Sam and Will and their children at the fireworks

Julian...trying to mooch food as usual.

We swam across the whole lake with Julian in his turtle
floatie! He kicked the whole way!

Livin' it up at the lake :)

Flying and water. Julian was in Heaven!

The wonderful couple we met through Craigslist :P

That just about covers the first half of our summer…I’m sure before we know it, it will be gone.  I hope you’re taking advantage of my favorite season and jump in a body of water somewhere!