Vivienne at 8 months

Most of Vivienne's seventh month of life was spend on the west coast.  She was able to meet most of her family for the first time minus 1 aunt and uncle and 3 cousins total.  Not too shabby!

Viv continues to be a delightful girl!  She is so very social and loves to smile at anyone who will look at her.  She continues to be a pretty quiet baby, when she does cry it is not a loud cry and she is very deliberate about any sounds she makes.  She will laugh out loud and we always love hearing that; she is usually laughing at the goofy things her big brother is doing.  

Viv has two solid bottom teeth now, which she has been using as a weapon to bit her mom during feeding sessions.  When mom gets mad at Viv for biting she just smiles super big.  She can sit up very well now and is a champ and lowering herself down if she wants to be on her stomach instead.  She is working on crawling, she has all the motions down…..just not together.  She is great at moving backwards at this point.

Viv learned to wave a week before she turned 8 months. It is pretty adorable to watch and I love seeing her learn these little skills.

 Her Cousin Reed helped her meet some Fairies in Pixie Hollow.

 Viv did develop some stranger danger during our trip, I'm guessing it was due to the high volume of people who wanted to hold her.  She became a very clinging mommas girl and that has not changed since we have returned home.

 Vivienne Dianne with her Great Grandma Dianne; I just love this picture.  

 She looked so uncomfortable in her life jacket when we went boating, but she never cried about it at all.  She is such a mellow and well tempered baby, so far her red hair has not been true to the stereo types.  She is happy as long as she is begin held or someone is paying attention to her.  She is not a big fan of being left on her own (so boring).

We just love our baby girl!  She is really developing her little personality and we are totally in love with her!  Happy 8 months my sweet little mermaid.

Utah

From Sunny California, we flew to Sunny Utah.  We were able to see a lot of family and friends while we were in town, which was fabulous.  Most of them had never met Vivienne, so it was great to show her off to everyone. 

Vivi got to meet her great great grandmother, Utella Taft who is 95 years old and still living at home by herself.  Please do not notice Vivi's sunburned arms, as it shows what a bad parent I am.  Yes, I put sunscreen on her every 3-4 hours and no that is not enough when you are the palest thing that ever met the sun.  Lesson learned.

 We were lucky to spend an evening with our amazingly awesome friendly the Santos; they are such cool and fun people and we miss them so.

 Berke got to hang with his cousin Gage a lot; Gage is super awesome entertaining kids younger than him.  He is such a sweet and nice boy.

 My mom got a new dog shortly before we arrived; the kids loved having a little dog they could pick up and use like a stuffed animal.

 Viv met her grandpa Sorrels for the first time

 We went to breakfast to celebrate my mom's birthday.  Four generations right here!

 The only picture that features me and my two brothers.  Stevie on the end and Dustin next to my grandma (who for some reason doesn't look too happy). 

 Viv also got to meet her Grandpa Taft for the first time.

 We had a really fun day at Strawberry lake boating, fishing and tubing.

Berkeley and his cousin Tristen who is just 2 weeks older than him.  These two had fun together but could not be more different.

 Utah is SO beautiful.  I took advantage of it for all the time I lived there!

 The babies took a nap together on the boat.

 We had a hot day at the zoo, which has been completely redone and looks like a different place.  It is really beautiful and the animals seem happy.

 I love spending time with my nieces and nephews, I really wish I got to see them more.  

 The highlight of the zoo trip was the bird show, which Berke has recently become obsessed with!  He want to take a picture of the Eagle so badly, he thought it was awesome.

 My sweet sister in law Marci and her four beautiful children, Athena, Cautious, Tristen and Tommy

 Salt Lake City also has a new Aquarium.  We totally got the hook up and got in for FREE.

 We enjoyed a fun family hike to Donut Falls, all the kids did awesome and didn't complain at all, so we took a trip to get ice cream when we were done.

 I was able to get together with my sweet friend Amanda whom I grew up with and was also my college roommate my first year at college. It had been way too long since seeing her and it was great to catch up.

I also got to see 4 of my best friends that I have known since I was 5 years old.  We were all able to get together for a pizza party and bring all of our littles.  What a fun group, it was pretty magical to watch all of kids play together like they had known each other for years!  I love these girls something fierce, even though we don't talk tons, I'd have their back any day of the week! They amaze me with what fantastic women they continue to be.  

The next day Christian went to instacare, got on some antibiotics for Strep Throat, we flew home, got home around 1:30 a.m. and slept as long as we could.  What a way to end the trip.

We had a fabulous trip out west, but two weeks was a long time to be gone.  

Gentry family reunion-Disneyland style

The Gentry family had it's family reunion is good ole Disneyland this year.  Six out of the seven children and their families came, so we had a nice group of 28 in tow, and were missing 4 lovelies.  We have missed the last two Gentry reunions and since they happen every two years, there were many family members we had not seen in six years/had ever met.  Disneyland did provide the magic it promised and we adored our time with the Gentry family.  What great nieces and nephews I have; I loved getting to know them a bit better and see their little individual personalities!  It was great to see all  brothers and sisters in law as well and while time was limited with some, it was very fun to be together. Berkeley just loved being with his cousins and enjoyed riding rides and doing all the magical things Disney has to offer.

Cousins: 

Bottom: Reed

Middle: (L to R) Emery, Rivers, Amelia, Hyrum, Berkeley, Joe

Top: Lily, John, Kelemen, Vivienne, Libby, Laurel and Adam

Missing: Olivia and Kingston

You're jealous of our shirts right?  I know, that are better than awesome!  We ruled the school with the coolest family reunion shirts in the park!  My sister in law Kasey had a friend who designed them, and clearly she has mad talent!

So many crushes on the all too adorable Tinkerbell.

Twin Ginger Gentrys with orange headbands! (not to mention a little photo bomb by Kelemen)

THOR

(Berkeley will tell you he loved meeting Thor, which he did, however the process of meeting Thor was not a pretty sight!  The lovely Disney worker told us that there would be a thunder and lightning storm to get to Asguard and we could meet Thor there.  Berke only heard thunder and lightning and FLIPPED out.  Disney is not a QUIET place, and was just too overstimulating for my poor sweet sensory boy.  Although we appeared to be the meanest parents on earth forcing our little boy to see Thor so he could overcome and try to cope with some of his fears, he did end up loving the experience.  The parents however; not so much!)

Captain America!

Where else on earth can you feel alright about buying a cookie as huge as your kids head to eat?

We got to meet Steam Boat Mickey; he was seriously the cutest!

Cars Land did not disappoint!  Such a fun place!

Miss Viv and McQueen himself!

Although he loves the show, he was not having it with Doc McStuffins.  She was clearly trying to get too close, too fast!

We had a great trip.  It was exhausting adjusting to the time change of 3 hours with the littles, not going to lie.  Disney was tough for my little boy and I'm not sure we will be going again for at least 5 years.  Although he had a really fun time; any progress we made on addressing his sensory issues was erased and perhaps even made worse due to this experience.  This was not something I was expecting.  He did love seeing his family and riding some of the rides, but this was just not his cup of tea.

We sure do wish we lived closer to some of these fantastic Gentrys!  Thanks for the amazing time!