Matthew is gettting so big!

Look at those cheeks!  I love kissing them.



He likes to smile!



All the kids



They are a little wacky!

The kids are growing like weeds.  Matthew is getting so big.  I take him in for his 4 month check up this week.  I am thinking he will weigh between 16-17 pounds.  He is such a cute kid.  He smiles a lot and squeals a lot.  At church yesterday, everyone around us was chuckling, because of his squeals-- it's cute but kind of loud.

Oceanside & Enoch

Over the 4th of July Ray took the 4 older kids to California by himself again, he is INSANE.  His parents had their condo for a week and he decided to go spend some time with them in Oceanside.  It is only a two bedroom condo, and I didn't think that the 7 of us would fit well in a small room with one bed, plus driving with a newborn didn't sound to fun, so I opted out.  I had big plans for when they were gone.  I wanted to paint in the house and work in the yard.  They left early Saturday, July 2nd, and I spent most of the day running errands and shopping.  Matthew was super good.  I looked at paint samples for our downstairs bathroom, Ray's aunt Karen happened to be at the Home Depot working, so she showed me some awesome colors that would look good. But, when I made my priority list, the bathroom fell to the bottom of my list of projects to get done.  Sunday, I went to church with just Matthew, and he was not acting like his normal self, he was more fussy than usual and all of the sudden decided that he hated his pacifier, even though it has been his best friend for the past 3 months - what is up with that?  Monday, was super overcast so I decided to take advantage of that and work in the yard.  I also had bought a whole bunch of chicken that I wanted to grill and freeze, so I ended up spending way more time doing that than I should of.  Some neighbors brought by a flyer inviting the neighborhood to come watch fireworks, so I went over to the church parking lot and watched them in the rain.  Matthew just stayed in his stroller, then he got fussy and the fireworks were mostly over so we came home.  He seemed warm, so I took his temperature and he had a fever.  Kara had been sick witha  fever before they left and he must of got it from her. So, for the next 2 days I mostly just took care of him and didn't get done much. Oh, well!

Ray and the kids got home Wednesday night just in time for dinner.  Thursday, Trent went to Scout Day Camp and had a blast and Ray went to work.  I washed all of their dirty laundry from their trip and repacked it to go to Enoch that night.  Ray got home and we loaded up and left around 7:30 p.m. that night.

Friday we went to the lake with my family and my cousin Sam, and his wife Kathryn and their kids.  It was overcast for the first little bit and quite nice.  The water was 75 degrees.  I went out in the first boat to ski before the water turned choppy.  John skied first, then Tennille slalomed.  Then I went, when I was in the water putting on my ski I said out loud (because lets face it I talk to myself out loud a lot!) "I don't know if I can do this!"  It had been like 5 or 6 years since I last skied.  When I learned to slalom, we had this cheater rope that was double handled and came to a "V" and you just put your ski in the "V" and I got up every time usually on the first try.  Anyway, apparently they no longer have that rope and so I had to use the regular one and I really doubted my ability to get up.  It took me 2 tries but I did get up.  I think I am just getting too old, I used to LOVE to ski, seriously it was one of my favorite pasts times, but this time once I was up it seemed like the boat was pulling me to fast, I tried to motion for Mike to slow down but I about fell, I also felt super shaky like I was going to fall at any moment.  I was afraid to cross the wake thinking I would fall and get hurt, or have to get up again and I didn't want to do that, so I just road behind the boat for a bit.  Tennille was motioning for me to cross the wake, so finally I did and the water on the side was so awesome and smooth.  We were kind of close to where our "camp" was, so I just stayed on the side, I wanted Trent and Tyler to see me.  When we got right by them I let go.  They circled around and got the ski, then I swam into shore because Matthew hadn't eaten for several hours and I knew he couldn't make it until everyone on the boat had skied.  It took me forever to swim in, but I made it.  Trent and Tyler didn't see me ski either :(  We had a fun day at the lake.  The kids had fun playing in the water and riding the tube behind the boat.  Trent tried to ski but couldn't get up.  Kara wouldn't wear a life jacket, she said it made her look ugly - OK?  So she didn't go on the boat or get in the water.  But everyone else did.

Saturday evening we went down to Pinevalley for the Hafen Reunion (my mom's side of the family). It was fun to see everyone and visit. We ate tons of yummy food and the kids played and had fun. Kyle got some cactus in his leg, the little ones that are hard to get out, Ray got most of them out - he is our injury prone child.

Disneyland 2011

Every year we look forward to our "reunion" with Ray's immediate family.  His parents have a time share and they have made the tradition of planning a trip each year.  They get us each our own condo and we spend the week together doing fun things.  This year we went to Disneyland.  It was our kid's first time and they had fun I think.  We found out at the end of the summer last year, right when I just found out I was pregnant with Matthew.  I DREADED going with a 10 week old, but it really wasn't that bad.  Months ago Ray came up with the idea that I should fly with the baby and he would drive with the 4 older kids, I thought he was CRAZY, but agreed to it because it would be way easier than driving with a newborn.  Ray wanted to leave super early, we had most of the van packed then I got up around 5:30 am and got the cooler and odd ends ready to go.  They left around 6:15 am.  I then was able to clean up around the house and go shopping a bit before Keri, my sister-in-law came to pick me up around noon.  We drove up to the airport and checked in.  She flew with me and her 6 month old.  I am so glad a had a traveling partner.  This was my first time flying with a baby.  We got to our gate with plenty of time to spare, then right before they called our zone, Matthew pooped.  I went and changed him and he had blew out so that took more time and stressed me out.  In the end I made it on the plane just fine.  Take off was good, but descending was HORRIBLE!  I had a cold and the pressure in my neck and head was killer.  I frantically chewed my gum and popped in another piece but that really didn't help.  Matthew was a bit fussy, I think it bothered him, so I just nursed him and he was ok.  I sure was happy when we landed!  I called Ray and he had just gotten there, it was 4:00 pm pacific time. Flying was definitely a good idea I think!

We had a fun week.  Didn't take as many pictures as I would of liked too.  Disneyland was good, it was overcast in the morning so I didn't have to worry about Matthew getting sunburned.  I was surprised at how many rides he could go on with us.  I also like the fastpass and rider swap thing that they have going there too.  We went to Disneyland/California Adventure for 2 days and to the beach (which was cold and overcast twice, well I only went once.)  We each were in charge of a breakfast and a dinner that we cooked for everyone --that saved money.  Here are some pictures.

Matthew's Blessing

We spur of the moment (well, like a week before) decided that the first week in June would be the only time to bless Matthew and have Ray's parents be able to attend.  So, we did it then even though Ray had a work conference in Cleveland and didn't get home until midnight on Saturday (June 4th)

I wanted to do a dinner/get together the night before so I didn't have to worry about it on Sunday, even thought Ray couldn't come.  I just got sandwiches from Wal-Mart, it is a sweet deal.  For $25.00 you get a 6 foot sub (which really is way bigger than 36 inches), plus lettuce, tomatoes, onions, mayo & mustard all on the side.  It was super easy and we all had a good time. I, of course, didn't take any pictures of the dinner. Tennille and Whit were out of town, so they didn't get to come and my dad had youth conference so my parents skipped out on the dinner and just drove up Sunday morning.



Not the best picture, but you can see how CHUBBY he is getting



I also should of taken pictures with the grandparents, but we were doing good to get this picture and be on time!  We are all so glad to have Matthew in our family.  He is getting SO chubby.  He smiles a lot and we all love him and think he is the cutest baby ever!

If you didn't see my sneaky April, and May posts (I changed the dates for my future blurb book, so they would be in the right month) they are in those months even though I just did the May one today.  Stay tuned for our Disneyland vacation pictures!

May 2011



At my cousin, MeChel's wedding reception





MeChel & Ammon, I wasn't actually at the wedding, my aunt took this picture.  Isn't her dress beautiful!




Margie is the mother of the bride and my mom's sister





Mother's Day 2011





Kara gave me this card with a darling pin she made at pre-school.  Ray gave me this Tampa Bay "Rays" jersey.  because I am "Ray's"



Tyler made this hotpad at school



Ray's Bithday



Pre-school graduation

Ray in his new recliner.  The kids love it too!

 For Ray's birthday I had ordered iron-on "Rays" for the whole family.  Well, they didn't arrive in time and I was so bumbed.  So I had everyone put on their white shirts, then I photo shopped the "Rays" on to everyone's shirts (except mine) then printed the picture and framed it.  I got the iron-ons in the mail like a week later, but I have yet to really iron them onto anything yet.  I think it turned out quite swell.  We had to do this right before school so everyone had just woke up, including me, hence the not so cute hair and no makeup.

Mike and Ashlee had Cole in the middle of May.  I am excited for Matthew and him to be good cousin buddies.