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!

Vivienne at Seven Months

Each month seems to be flying by with this little gal!  She is growing so much and I wish I could slow time down a bit.  Viv has this sitting up thing down solid, she loves to sit up and play with her toys now.  She is really discovering her toys and now that she knows how to use her hands to get the toys to her mouth we are in business.  She love to put everything and anything in her mouth.  I know this is "normal" for babies to do, but it wasn't something Berkeley ever did so I'm having to be extra aware of this new development.

Vivi got to go swimming for the first time and she loved it!  No tears, just lots of splashing around, she had this face on the entire time she was in the pool but with lot of water splashes.

This month she traveled to upstate New York and enjoyed a trip to Plymouth and had fun on the beach there.  She is so fair skinned that we have to keep her covered up but she loves the beach!

She is slowly but surely growing some more hair, and it is coming in VERY red.  It is really beautiful just like her.  She continues to be the happiest and smiliest baby I know.  She just loves attention and if you give it to her she is HAPPY.  

She is a pretty quiet baby, not cooing and babbling as much as I wish she were, but I think Berke does enough talking for the both of them so she doesn't feel the need to talk much.

Her brother is still the person who makes her laugh the most.  She loves watching him and is entertained by him endlessly.  He still refers to Viv as "Baby Sister" which is kinda cute; maybe one day he will call her by her name....

She weighed in at 17.2 lbs at her check up with is in the 50th percentile, but is in the 97th percentile for her height.  So they say she is tall and skinny, but if you look at her thighs I'm not sure I would call it that.  She is wearing a lot of 9 month clothes already because she is so tall; she is growing so much faster than Berkeley ever did!

 These are some of her buddies  Magnus and Leo, they got to hang out a bit this month.  Turns out most of Viv's friends are going to be boys because girls are not popular among our friends or family as of late.  No big deal, we love boys!

Viv started eating solids this month, it took her a bit to adjust but she is eating well now.  She is still breastfeeding and drinking lots of milk, so we will attribute her chunkiness to all that yumminess.  

On her 7 month birthday she decided to cut her two bottom teeth, which has not made her super happy but they are through and hopefully we are done for a bit with those darn teeth!

We love this little lady!  I love that she smiles at me constantly.  That she is always happy to see me (probably because of my boobs, but I'll take it!)  I love how easy going she is and what a great sleeper she is.  We are lucky to have such a beautiful and happy girl in our family!  

Love you Vivienne!