Monday was a fun day for my family. We got up in the morning and went to the Los Angeles Zoo. Uncle Gary and Aunt Diane met us there. I always like it when my parents come into town because then I get to see them. Maybe I should just drive out on my own sometime for a visit! Anyway, I now have a membership to the zoo and I have 4 “free” tickets in my hot little hands. Does anyone want to come to the zoo with me? I have to go again or John is really going to give me a hard time about it.
We wanted to watch the bird show but they were housing animals in the theater who had been displaced by the fires. So, we got to watch a much smaller version, this girl brought out an owl and told us about it. It was interesting, this is a Hawaiian owl and she hitched a ride on a freighter and once she got to the mainland Hawaii didn’t want her back because she could be carrying disease.
We saw some giraffes. It wasn’t as cool as when I saw them in Africa, but it was the next best thing. Giraffes are really beautiful animals.
We found a nice shady place to rest next to the chimpanzee exhibit. I don’t remember why, but we waited there for a while. I guess we were waiting for the group to get back together and decide what to do next.
So, what did we decided to do next…lunch of course!
Then we were trying to find my mom, (she always seems to wander off somewhere!). Me, John, Lindsay, Kevin and Eva found a nice air conditioned education room to hang out in while we waited.
Eva’s a little cutie pie. She loved visiting baby Kevin. She kept wanting to hold him and then as soon as he was on her lap so got a distressed look on her face and said, “heavy!”
After the zoo we headed over to the California Science Center. I almost joined that too, but John convinced me it wasn’t necessary. John really liked showing this stealth jet to Kevin.
We explored the science exhibits and I tried out the high-wire bicycle ride. All my sisters tried it, but all the boys were afraid!
We watched a 3D Imax movie and then had dinner at Chipotle. It was a great day with only one exploded diaper!
We all got up early on Tuesday morning and my family headed for home. Eva gave him a few kisses good-bye.
Kevin was not happy on Tuesday. I think he was upset that everyone left! Am I a bad mom for just recording him when he’s crying? He’s just so cute, and he doesn’t cry like this very often!
Sunday, September 6, 2009 was a day I have been looking forward to for a long time. I got to witness my husband bless my son in church, it was a very spiritual experience to see him exercise his priesthood in that way. It was his first father’s blessing and I can’t put into words how it made me feel. I know all of you mothers who have been through that know exactly how special it is.
We had so many family and friends join us and we appreciate everyone’s support so much. Kevin is a lucky little boy to be so loved. Here are some pictures of the people who were there…
These are all our friends who drove up from Aliso Viejo. We love you all and feel so blessed to call you our friends. (Paul, Jeremy & Mikelle, Becky & John w/Kevin, Brandon & Jacie w/Caden, and Amber)
These are our Sherrill relatives who came to celebrate with us. John has the coolest cousins! (Meghan holding Hudson, Candace, Elena in front, Gma Sherrill, Becky, John holding baby Kevin, cousin Kevin and Brian) Yep, there are 3 Kevins in our family now!
Here are the Anderson’s who drove from Utah and Idaho to be with us. (Marcy, McKenzie, Becky, John, baby Kevin, Grandpa Kevin, Johanna, Eva, and Lindsay). Eva was not happy that we took her out of the nursery to take pictures.
Now Kevin has four-generation pictures with all of his great-grandmas. Here is Kevin, John, Leo, and Ellen. We were so grateful that Leo and Vickie drove to Bakersfield two times on Sunday so that Grandma Bunting could be there with us. She watched over John when he was a sick little baby and they have a special bond.
And here is the Bunting family… (Leo, Mariah, Ellen, Becky, John w/Kevin, and Vickie (call her Grandma, she loves it!))
And here is our little family. I had fun putting together Kevin’s blessing outfit. He and John have matching ties, so fun! And I love the blanket. I requested my mom to make that for us and she pulled through even though she had to start over when Eva cut out some of the threads. I will use that blanket for all my baby blessings, mom, don’t worry, I won’t make you make anymore!
After church we came to our little apartment and had a bbq in the backyard (if you can call it a yard!) It actually worked out really well. We had so much fun visiting with everyone and eating all the yummy food!
Labor Day weekend 2009 was awesome! My mom, dad, all three sisters (Marcy, Lindsay, and McKenzie) and my niece Eva (Lindsay’s daughter) came to stay with us for Kevin’s baby blessing. John was at work Friday afternoon but my family had made it to Uncle Gary’s house in Upland, so I took Kevin and we drove out there. It was a long drive! Lots of traffic and then Kevin got hungry so we stopped at the Neilan’s and I fed him. Janice is Vickie’s friend from when they lived in Chino Hills, John was buddies with her son, Eric. It was so nice of her to let me stop there for a bit and get away from the frustrating traffic!!
I made it out to Gary and Diane’s in time for a delicious dinner of carnitas. It was my dad’s first carnitas and he liked the meat and cheese, but not the vegetables so much. I stayed there visiting for a while and then no one wanted me to drive home alone late at night but no one was willing to come with me, so my baby sister McKenzie got suckered into it. She’s a good sport!
We got up early on Saturday morning because I was running in the Disneyland 5K. Remember how I tried to get you all to sign up for it? Well, I ended up running alone. Oh, well! It was actually kind of nice because I focused on just running and I found out I can run a 5k in 39.5 minutes. Here I am crossing the finish line!
John, McKenzie, and Kevin were there to cheer me on. They got to come in the park and watch me finish the race on Main Street. It was Kevin’s first visit to Disneyland! (unless you count when I was pregnant and we rode Indiana Jones right after dinner…not a good idea). Kevin had a fun time hanging out at Disneyland with Aunt McKenzie.
The rest of my family showed up later because Eva was running in the 100 meter dash. She got a little intimidated when she saw how many other kids were running, so Lindsay carried her. She was really cute though, and she got a winner’s medal just like mine! We’re hoping Kevin can run next year and we’ll enter him in the race. If not, we’ll put him in the diaper derby and he’ll leave all the little babies in the dust.
After the races we all came home to get ready for the beach. My dad likes to share his love of cookies with his grandkids, so he enlisted Eva in making a batch.
And then he shared a cookie with baby Kevin.
Once the cookies were made we headed to the beach. We had a little trouble figuring out how to get to the parking lot, but we eventually found it. We live about 2 miles from this awesome beach…I think I will be going to the beach a lot more now that we live here. This beach has lots of sand (not covered with sticks and seaweed) and big waves that are fun to swim in.
Kevin spent his day at the beach covered with a blanket, we only let him peak out once or twice.
Here is my dad with his 4 great daughters. Aren’t we cute??? I was trying not to lay on the sand so I look pretty weird in this picture.
On Saturday night John’s family joined us for a yummy dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. I had been waiting for an opportunity to dress Kevin in this adorable outfit we got from cousin Linda. He looked so cute and despite what his eyes say in this picture, he was having fun with Aunt Mariah!
As John mentioned, we took a week and went to Idaho to visit my family. There were many people in Utah and Idaho I would have loved to visit, but the trip was so sudden we didn’t have time to plan anything, and it was the first time many of my family met Kevin, so we stuck with family. Usually when we go, someone is out of town or my brother in Oregon isn’t able to come visit, but on this trip, we saw every one of my brothers, sisters, in-laws, nieces, and my one nephew. My grandma was visiting from Kansas, and we also saw some aunts and uncles and met Tanner too! I am so glad Kevin got to meet them all. His little cousins were so cute, Kaci, Kayletta, and Oakley gave him lots of kisses and Abby kept telling me he is so cute.
So, what did we do while we were there? Here is a rundown of the activities. I hope I actually post this and it doesn’t end up in my draft folder with a bunch of my other writings! (3 weeks later I think I’m actually going to publish this!)
Kevin had his first plane ride Monday morning, he slept the entire trip.
My sister McKenzie picked us up at the airport in Utah.
My mom and dad and Grandma were flying in from Texas at the same time so my Aunt Cindy was there to pick them up.
Four generations meet at the airport.
We had a fun little reunion, where Kevin met his grandpa Kevin. I am so happy that I had a little boy and I could name him after my dad. (Wow, Dad, you look really blond!)
After the airport McKenzie took us to Cafe Rio and to see Lindsay and Brian’s new house! Eva has grown so much! She just kept saying “Baby, baby!” and sometimes, “Kevin”. Lindsay drove us to my mom and dad’s house that night.
Grandpa introduced Kevin to tinkertoys.
Jeff and Megan and their girls showed up on Tuesday. Jeff is in trouble, his girls love babies. I think they are going to have a few more.
Kierra was a great helper and held Kevin for me a lot during the trip.
My brother Zach and his girls also came over on Tuesday. We went down to the river to ride the jet skis, and Kevin tried on his turtle swim trunks, but we didn’t let him get in the water.
Grandma promptly took him home while we rode. John and I rode around for a while, then I took one ride with my dad and he threw me off! I love playing the river more than the ocean, because I can see the other side and I know it’s not that deep and there are not weird animals. I guess it just depends where you grow up.
My brothers tried to teach me to ride the stand up ski, I never stood up, but I did get on my knees. John did a pretty good job, but I only got videos of when he crashed!
After playing on the river we had a birthday dinner for my dad. It seemed like there was a celebration every day that week. My dad’s bday on Sunday, my brother’s anniversary on Tuesday, my sister-in-law’s birthday on Wednesday, my mother-in-law’s birthday on Thursday, my aunt’s birthday on Friday, and my brother-in-law’s birthday on Saturday. I hope I didn’t forget somebody’s birthday on Monday!
On Wednesday we went to town and John got his hair cut at The Barber Center. My dad told us that is where the real men get their hair cut. He’s never had his hair cut there though! His mom used to cut it and now his daughter does! (Summer, do you remember when I wanted to go to town and you laughed and told me were already in town? I still think that was so funny.)
Wednesday night we hurried to dig some potatoes for dinner before the storm. The lightning was beautiful!
Kevin had a little accident Wednesday night. (he’ll kill me for this later). He has since graduated into size 1 diapers. I kept trying them on him but they seemed way too big. Now he seems to fit in them okay. My little guy is growing up!
My brother Josh came on Wednesday night with his family. His baby Sage was born a couple weeks after Kevin and she’s beautiful, we especially love her chins!
Kevin’s favorite oldest aunt Marcy came Wednesday night too! He was tired, but said hello before he went to bed.
This is Kevin with his only boy cousin, Colton. Colton is 8 years old and they have 10 girl cousins! (Well, 4 of them are Colton’s little sisters.)
Kevin’s cousin Oakley was teaching Kevin about his body parts.
Grandpa had baby duty Friday morning, but I think he fell asleep on the job!
Kevin’s cousins put him in this bouncer toy and came to get me and my camera.
I hope he’s not allergic to cats like his daddy!
We stopped at mom’s work so Kevin could say goodbye to grandma on our way out of town on Friday.
We went to Marcy’s house to spend Friday night. She cooked us a great dinner and took us to the fair to see her entries. Marcy thought Kevin was worth one of those big fancy ribbons.
Here is Kevin on the way to the fair. His eyes always get big when he sees the camera flash.
Here’s the city folk at the fair. We wanted our picture with the winning cow but apparently we didn’t want to get too close! (That doesn’t look like a happy California cow.)
Kevin was pretty worn out after the week in Idaho.
He hated to say goodbye to Great Grandma Knoeppel, or “Old Grandma” as my niece dubbed her.
We had an early flight home on Saturday so Daddy and Kevin were pretty tired. But, we got to sit in first class! What a treat!
We had so much fun and loved seeing everyone. Thanks to everyone for hosting us and driving us around. We miss you already! We love you all!
I stayed there visiting for a while and then no one wanted me to drive home alone late at night but no one was willing to come with me, so my baby sister McKenzie got suckered into it. She’s a good sport!
