California Trip, Part 1

It's been pretty quiet around this space, but I'm going to make an actual attempt to post more frequently because I do miss writing here. Hold me accountable, friends and family!

We spent 4th of July week in Turlock, CA to celebrate Grandpa Bothun's 80th birthday! This was my first ever trip to California, not counting a day trip with a professor to collect samples of soil with naturally occurring asbestos back in 2007 (yes, I'm that nerd). Between Matt and I, we took over 700 photos, so I'm going to divide our trip into three different parts.

First, we got to meet up with a dear friend we met while living in Seattle. Nora wasn't quite as grumpy as she looks. Michaela is one of the sweetest, most driven, and most stylish women I know. We hadn't seen each other in over a year so this was highly cherished time together even though it was brief! After a quick lunch date near SFO, we were headed to Turlock.

Matt, Nora and I, along with Matt's little sister Mallory stayed at the grandparents' house. We thoroughly enjoyed our mornings together, and it was so special to see Nora with her great grandparents. 

My favorite thing about California was the fresh fruit! We visited just one of the many fruit stands in Turlock and had fresh fruit every morning...to balance out the donuts! Naturally, Nora loved it all. Even the taste of donut that Grammy snuck :).

As I mentioned, we had donuts from the 'famous' Village Donuts every most days. I must admit they were very good!

We drove out to visit Grandpa's shop to see where he builds all of his beautiful furniture!

Most of our evenings were spent hanging outside with family. We found a new appreciation for backyards. And now we want to redo ours. For now that will wait :).

Nora met her second-cousin, Ella.

And we all survived the ~108 degree days.

We celebrated the 4th of July at Aunt Sandy's house with hot dogs and fireworks.

Oh, and how could I forget? I tried In-N-Out for the first time, twice. Nora may or may not have had a teeny tiny taste of a french fry! 

I'm linking up today with one of the first bloggers I started following! 

Go meet Blair at Wild and Precious. 

Stay tuned for Part 2! 

+, Lauren Aiken

Baby Nora: 8 Months

Weight: Nora weighs around 17 pounds and is in 9 month clothes now, with the exception of a couple 6 month jammies. I'm not sure how tall she is, but we've lowered her crib once and will soon lower it to the final setting! 

Activities: We have a crawler on our hands! Last month Nora used her forehead to get around, but within a couple weeks she grew strong enough to hold her weight up with her arms. Before that, though, she mastered pulling up in her crib and sitting back down again within a matter of 3 days - thank goodness because she just stood and screamed until she figured out how to sit back down! 

Nora can wave goodbye but doesn't always do it on demand. She finally has begun showing some more emotion!! Up until now she's been pretty serious the majority of the time, but this month her silly side has come out with lots of giggles, sticking out her tongue, and dancing. It's the best :).

I can't keep up with tracking her verbal developments. Basically she has her own little language and talks all the time now, sometimes it even sounds like she's singing!

Food: Oh my goodness, this little girl will eat anything! I'm so thankful that she has (yet) to refuse any foods. She's such a great little eater. She loves a variety of textures, from smooth purees and chunky mashes to gnawing on spears of raw veggies and tiny chunks of cooked zucchini and squash that she can pick up herself. She has even been known to devour whole chunks of watermelon (her current favorite) and peaches. We're working on signing "more" and "all done." I'm not sure how much sign language we will try, but we anticipate meal time signs being useful for us. 

Sleep: Three naps a day are pretty typical still when we are home, but I think we're about ready to transition into two because they keep getting shorter. Nora has been waking up early lately (we're talking 5:30am), and does not go back to sleep, so an early morning nap necessitates midday and afternoon naps as well. We're still trying to start bedtime right around 7pm, which also consists of brushing those teeth now!

My sweet Nora, you're growing up SO fast!

We love you!!

+, Lauren Aiken

Life Lately

The high today is 93 so we're staying inside and getting settled after a fun weekend with Matt's family.

It rained most of the weekend, but we squeezed a tiny bit of (first) pool time in :). 

The weekend was fun-filled and would have only been better with Great Grandma and Grandpa Aiken there. We miss you guys!!

Linking up with Blair today :).

+, Lauren Aiken