CA: Lunch with Dad

Next in CA (which, might I add, was a rather quick-packed-crunched-for-time trip) we went to have lunch with my Dad.  And what better place than In-N-Out? 

All the boys!*

Funny story: so my dad called me a few minutes before we arrived, wanting to take our order-- so I'm shouting out each of our orders.. Freddy wants a number one with grilled onions and a lemon up to drink. (Lemon up-- that was tricky to explain over the phone-- "Seven up?" "No, lemon up-- it's lemonade with seven up." "So you want seven up, right?") Tracy wants a cheeseburger with grilled onions, fries, and a cup of water. Jason wants (I forget-- something like...) a double-double with no onions, extra tomato, and extra sauce, fries, and a lemon up. Anyway, so we get the order in and then finally arrive. And then Dad's like, "Oh, I didn't realize Jason was coming--- did we order anything for him??"  I guess "Jason's order" sounded like "Nathan's order" over the phone. I just laughed.. I bet it was pretty funny to hear that a two year old wanted a double-double with such specific requests.  Ha! 

Freddy and I together. :)

Dad brought a surprise for Nathan-- a soccer ball!!! Nathan definitely wouldn't have finished a double-double with this kind of distraction rolling around! ;)

Dad and I. :)

And with Nathan, too! :)

It was fun to get to see Dad, even if it was just for a couple hours or so. (Like I said, it was a fast-paced trip, so each person only got a little bit of time, if that.) Lunch was delicious, of course-- but made better by good company to enjoy it with. :)  Thanks, Dad!

*Now, this is silly, but every single time I look at this picture, my first thought is that my Dad's middle finger is up. It's not. When we first arrived, he was on the phone-- but I wanted a picture, so he posed real quick, mid-ending-a-phone-call. And it doesn't help that the almost-flesh-colored table in the distance is strategically placed right behind his hand. Sighhh.. Whoops!

CA: Steph and Allying.

So, back at the end of June, we had a friend's wedding to attend in California, and it gave us the best excuse to drive out there! We hadn't been to CA for, oh, about 9 months, so it was nice to see everyone again.

One of the most important trips was to go see Stephanie and her new baby girl, my new niece, Allyn. 

And guess what? She's cute. Really cute.

I kept joking with Steph that she could just buckle Ally's car seat in our back seat and we'd just take her home with us! (She didn't think I was serious. I was trying to convince myself that I was joking.)

Mom and Jason also joined us-- since this was the only chance Mom would have to visit with us and see Nathan before she headed up to UT. And Jason was there because we were kidnapping him hiring him as our official babysitter for the next few days.

Nathan wasn't too interested in Ally (mostly he was just concerned that it looked like I had a new baby to replace him), but this is a funny picture, I think. He was just checking her out. 

Aww, cousins. :)

Ally and I bonding. I like her.

Nathan and Grandma Lyons. :)

They're bonding while discussing the Iron Man toy. No better way with Nathan! Way to play to the judge, Mom!

And Steph and Ally with Freddy and Jason. 

Fun, right?! I like Stephanie, and she's even more fun now that she has a little baby. It was great to be able to spend a few hours together! :)

I Had a Birthday; Shout Hooray!

Okay, let's back track for a minute here. Let's see--- before Father's Day but after swim lessons, (or well, during), I had a birthday, so let's touch on that for a minute. It was on a week day, so Freddy had work in the morning, and Nathan and I had swim lessons. Then later in the evening we went out to an Italian restaurant in downtown Glendale with my in laws. 

For my birthday present, Freddy got me the camera that I had been drooling over, so these are a few snapshots of me learning how to use my new camera.

We all shared pizza and lasagna-- both were delicious!

Freddy and I on my 24th birthday! :)

And this is what Nathan was doing, pretty much the entire time. Lining up his superheroes.

 Afterward, we actually drove out to Northern Scottsdale, because I had requested a tour of Freddy's new hotel (At that point he had just been promoted to his new property, and I hadn't seen it yet.) (Also, if he didn't go back that night to finish the schedule, he would have had to wake up suuuuuper early the next morning to go in and do it. I had been wanting to see the new place, anyway, so we made a night out of it, and he just took a few minutes in his office to finish up some paperwork.). So we all drove together and got a tour. 
After we took his parents home, and put Nathan to bed, we watched a movie together and ate warm chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream on top. Pazookies. Or snookies. Or whatever you want to call them. I just call them delicious. And that ends the birthday fun! :)

Father's Day 2012.

For Father's Day, we ended up making Freddy a cute little craft. Nathan was a great helper. He couldn't wait to get his hands on that paint. And mod podge. And glue. And paper. And ribbon. 

"Can I help, Mommy? Can I help??"

And it took a lot for me to let go of the reins ever so slightly. But yes. He did help, with every single step. Until he got bored and painted superheroes on a scratch paper instead.

And here's how it turned out! :) Pretty cute, right?  (It was based on an idea that I saw here.)

We also made him a candy bouquet, too.  This was probably the most difficult part for Nathan. You mean we buy them and have them, but we can't eat them??? That's a tough concept for any two year old.

As you can see, he was pretty thrilled when after church on Father's Day when we were going to surprise Papi with his presents. 

Happy Father's Day to Freddy (a little late in blogging)! I always knew that he would do a great job as a father, but he always surprises me with just how good he is at it! :) He has a lot to balance on his plate with work, school, church, and family, and somehow he always finds time to play with Nathan and keep his family as his first priority.  Just the other day I overheard Nathan and Freddy playing basketball together, down in the living room. Just listening to them, you can hear the bond that they share together, and father and son. Freddy's so full of love for Nathan, constantly praising him, teaching him, and showing that he cares. I'm so grateful for good fathers-- and Freddy's a perfect example! :)