July- 10 months old!

We enjoyed our two and a half weeks off together. Melanie goes back to work on Monday and Jason still has another month off before he starts his two days a week. Here are some highlights from the month:

Rya LOVES this Curious George stuffed animal that Jason has had since he was a kid. Poor George has a hernia, but Rya loves him nonetheless. I got tired of paying for bows, so I started making them myself. They are less than a dollar to make and about four dollars in the store.

We went to Santa Rosa to visit our friends! Pearl is about 6 months older than Rya. This is Rya and Jason on the carousel. She loved it!

Pearl was not as excited about the carousel.
Posing on a statue at the park in Santa Rosa. Very cool park with a lake. Next time we're going out on a paddle boat!
Pearl gave Rya a lot of love!
Pearl, Holly, Rya and Jason!
Rya enjoyed cruising around the play area at the Roseville Galleria (mall).

4th of July

We started the day in Davis for Jason's bike race. The good news is that he was not involved in the crash; the bad news is that the crash was in front of him which left him behind the group (along with a number of other guys). We got to visit with friends and see Grandma and Grandpa Lazar while we were at the race. Thankfully, it was not very warm- a nice change from the past few years.

We spent the afternoon resting and then we headed out to the Pyne's house for a little swimming and a barbecue followed by fireworks. Rya had a great time splashing around in the pool, eating fresh fruit, and hanging out with her two friends, Kennedy and Aubrey. She was a little scared of the fireworks, but we think she was just really tired at that point.

Water Play

We bought Rya a water table to keep cool this summer. We used it for the first time this weekend and she loved it! She ended up sitting in it after she realized splashing her arms in it wasn't enough.



Rya loves to swing, so we used her jumper as a swing and she had a blast!

Rya is 9 months old!

We can't believe Rya is already 9 months old! We heard time flies by, but now we're actually experiencing it. She isn't saying any "real" words yet, but she sure is talking! Rya has also decided that crawling is not for her and has started working on walking. She can pull herself up and "cruise" around on furniture. She also walks when guided with help from us. We haven't really put her in shoes much, so now that she's trying to walk we have been putting shoes on her to get used to them. Rya doesn't like the shoes. She stares down at her feet and tries to kick them off. She recently started clapping and is no longer scared of the parachute at Gymboree!

I am off for a few weeks in between school years. We plan to hang out at home and enjoy being a family. We're also looking forward to spending some time in the water. Rya went to a few swim lessons, but there was very little instruction so we opted out of the class and plan to just play in the water on our own or with friends.

Rya loves her pink soccer ball. She rolls it around and sometimes just likes to hold it. She looks adorable in this outfit from Auntie Shannon!
Grandma Linda gave Rya some cute outfits from Gymboree. She loves them and looks super cute in all of them! They are in the pictures below. Rya is also fond of Curious George who was Jason's childhood buddy. He's old, but he's hanging in there- hernia and all.
We bought Rya this Cookie Monster plush toy. She loves Cookie Monster. She gets so excited when she sees him on her diaper or on Sesame Street. We bought some strawberries at Costco that had a picture of Sesame Street characters on the package. She squealed in excitement and we got a lot of strange looks.
We read to Rya every night before bedtime. She likes to look at books, but her attention span is too short to make it through books unless she's tired. She's also learned to drink out of her sippy cup all on her own.
Our friends, Alexis and Kennedy, came over for dinner and we took the girls to the park to swing. Ryan was sick and couldn't join us. :( Rya looks a bit scared in this photo, but she loves to swing.
Rya and Kennedy playing together!
Rya loves toys!
Once a month we have been going to Vacaville for a family lunch. Uncle Brian and Aunt Jenny are so much fun! Grandpa is on the left- Rya really likes him (and his glasses).
Rya is so excited about breadsticks! Her hair was doing something crazy after her nap that day. I tried to wet it and that didn't work. Oh, well!

Must Love Dogs

June has been a crazy month! We've been so busy with graduation parties (congratulations to all of you!), races, and all sorts of other things.

Rya LOVES going to the park and swinging. More than swinging, Rya loves animals she sees at the park (because you know she isn't seeing any at our house!). She gets super excited when she sees the ducks- she tries to grab them! She also has a love for dogs. Cats don't seem to impress her much. We're so surprised that she doesn't seem to be more afraid of the dogs.

Rya loves to swing!
Check out the Nike onesie!
Rya loves to smile for the camera! What a ham!
She chewed on this party favor for days!
Nike 5k. 7:36/min miles! It's about time.
A friendly dog Rya was petting at the park.

Memorial Day Weekend

Rya had fun in the laundry basket while Mommy folded laundry.


Rya's first bubble bath. She loves bubbles!

Rya and Daddy at Jason's race on Saturday.


Rya was super excited about Jason racing. So excited, she napped during the second race!

Bathroom Before & After

Before...


After...