Swings, Tea Parties and Baby Cousins!

We've had a fun week here in the Valley with our family. Jess got to meet Uncle Choke's cute little mini horse. She loved it and probably thought it was a huge puppy.

We've also had a lot of fun with cousin Ryan. All three of us had some fun on the swings together.

We also had some fun writing with chalk on the sidewalk. Little Ryan wanted me to write his name "super big".

Then that evening Jess and Grammy had a tea party together with her new snow white tea set. 

On Thursday, Jess and I spent the day with Tia Quyana and Cousin Ryan and Brayden. She is so amused with Brayden. She loved watching him sleep. She took this little blue stool over to his bassinet and watched him. Look at those chubby legs! haha. 

 She kept trying to put his binky in his mouth and wanted to take him out of his carseat. Whenever I asked if she wanted to hold him and tried to hand him to her she would hold her arms out then push him away. I don't think she was quite sure what to do with him.

 I loved snuggling with my tiny little nephew. He's so quiet and peaceful. I also love all the hair he has. He looks a lot like his brother and daddy but his hair is a lot lighter. 

 

On friday we all went out to lunch together at a yummy Mexican restaurant that has two of my favorites. Horchata and flan! Yum!

Jessalyn really enjoyed it and was happy sitting next to Grammy.

We went back to Tia Quyana's to hang out just a little bit more than say our goodbye's since they are all leaving for Tucson today. We wont see them all until September. We'll be counting down the days until then.

We got Grammy's three grandbabies together to get a picture and Jessalyn kept giving baby Brayden kisses. So cute!

We went over to visit with Aunt Martha and Jess had a blast with her crazy puppy Peanut. She kept climbing inside her cage and closing the door then crawling back out. Then she got attacked with kisses from Peanut and laughed the whole time. It was really hard to get her to go once it was time to leave.

Words

 We've been having fun spending time with Tio and Tia and Grammy and cousins. Tio Ryan left yesterday early in the morning for Tucson but we got to spend a little time with him. 

We've been spending some time at Grammy's house playing with toys and eating snacks on her new Minnie Mouse plate Grammy got for her.

 We've gone over to Grammy's work to eat  a few times. Her restaurant is so close so we took a walk over there. She likes going over there and makes herself a home following Grammy everywhere. 

 She likes to play on the little bench on the patio of the restaurant. 

Yesterday we took a little walk to the park and played for a little while.

This girl has been picking up so many words this past week. She is just over 18 months and here are her list of words in her vocabulary so far.

• Momma, Mommy, Mom
• Dadda, Daddy
• Puppy
• No!
• Oh no!
• Guck (Stuck) 
• Ball
• Mimmy (Minnie)
• Grammy
• Caca
• Shoe
• Go!
• Oh toodles!
• Oh man!
• Cheese
• This
• Where'd it go?
• Whoa!
• Wee!
• Baby
• Pretty (Sounds more like Pre)
• Cool
• Yeah
• Bye
• Kiki (From the Fresh Beat band)
• Hi

Fun with Cousin

Brayden's Baby Blessing

Sunday I got to go to church with Quyana and the boys.little Ryan and baby Brayden both got blessings. Of course Brayden did great and didn't make a peep. And little Ryan was so cute sitting up there by himself. Jess did pretty good during church but got very antsy near the end so we just walked around outside. Poor little Ryan wasn't feeling very well after church so these were the only pictures I got of the little ones. Doesn't he look so handsome in his church clothes! 

Meeting Baby Brayden

Jessalyn and I got into Colorado on Thursday night and we got to meet new baby Brayden Bernal Pacheco on Friday. His middle name is after his grandpa. My dad. He is a little mini Bernal because he has his long skinny hands.

Jess wasn't quite sure what to do with him. She thought he was pretty cute though and kept petting his head and touching his face. She isn't quite gentle enough for a newborn so I have to tell her to be nice but it's still cute.

Brayden is so adorable and such a peaceful little baby. We've been out with him to the store and out to eat and you almost forget he is there because he doesn't even make a peep. He looks so much like his big brother and his daddy. My brother has some very dominant genes. Haha. It's so funny when you're around a newborn you forget how little they are. I'm happy we get to spend some time with Quyana and the boys.

New Big Girl Room!

We decided to start transitioning Jess into a toddler bed so I thought it would be fun to redecorate her new big girl room. Click the pictures for a bigger view.

The color scheme I went for was light pink with black and white with polka dots to match Minnie Mouse.

I'm still in the process of finding a comforter and sheets to replace the brown one we have for the guest bed. I would really like to find a black and white polka dot comforter with light pink sheets.

A special thanks to Grammy for sending us the big Mickey and Minnie sitting on the bed and she also sent some little ones too. The mickey is sitting on the shelf above the dresser and the Minnie is sitting on the toy shelf next to her shoes.

I put my own little touch into the room and I made these window valances to match one of the pillows I made. I plan to use this same fabric for a few other things in the room.

The little pillow on the left is the one I made that matches the valance. I also made the Minnie Mouse one on the right. I'm pretty proud of it.

Jessalyn loves her room and gets excited because "Mimmy" is all over the place. So far the transition into her big girl bed has been very easy when it comes to naps. Sleeping in it at night is a whole other story and a work in progress.

Kansas City Temple Open House

Yesterday I had the privilege of spending the day at the new Kansas City Temple. I got to work inside the Temple as an usher for the open house guiding people in the right direction.

It was my first time ever inside of a Temple and it was so gorgeous. I was lucky enough to take a peak into the rooms that Jordan, Jessalyn and I will get to sealed as a family very soon.

It was really fun watching all the guests taking the tour. They were all looking around with curious eyes in awe by the beauty of everything from the tile, to the paintings, to the base boards. I spent five hours right outside of the Baptismal font and I would sneak inside a few times to listen to the tour guides explain it to everyone. I must say I learned a lot.

I'm thankful my sister in law Heather offered to watch Jessalyn while we were there. I was a little worried about leaving her for so long but I knew she was in good hands. It was the first time I have ever left her for that long. And it turns out she did great. She only cried a little right when I left and then she had a great time the rest of the day. After we were done helping, Heather and the kids met up with us to take our own tour.

Baskets and Dresses!

Easter morning before we went to church, we let Jess look at what she got in her Easter basket. This was my first time ever putting an Easter basket together so I had a lot of fun with it.

She got lots of fun stuff like eggs filled with fruit snacks and other yummy baby snacks. Little Minnie Mouse and Dora containers, a Dora bowl and cup, a bunny sippy cup, a Barbie Easter book, a little stuffed puppy with bunny ears, Goldfish, a giant Minnie Mouse pen, a little Barbie doll wearing an Easter dress and bunny ears and holding a little bunny and her favorite thing I think was the little Cabbage Patch doll dressed up as a purple bunny.

Jordan and I got baskets for each other and Penny even got her own basket with a pink stuffed animals, little tennis balls and and some puppy snacks in eggs.

Then we went to church with Jessalyn all dressed up in her pretty Easter dress. It's not very easy keeping an 18 month old occupied at church for three hours. I even had to chase her up all the way to the front during sacrament a few times. I got the chance to speak at church for my first time ever. I was very nervous and all I could hear was Jessalyn yelling "Mommy" from the back. But it went by fast and we survived the rest of church. Then we had a delicious Easter dinner at James and Heather's followed by an Easter egg hunt. That post is here

We all definitely had a great Easter!

Hunting for eggs!

Yesterday was Jessalyn's first egg hunt. She got to join in on all the fun with her cousins.

The kids hung out in the back yard while Jordan, Heather and James hid the eggs in the front yard. Jess even got this adorable Minnie Easter basket from Uncle James and Aunt Heather. She saw it as soon as she walked in the door and yelled "Mimmy!" Thanks Aunt and Uncle! It's perfect.

To make things a little easier for Jess and Roman, there were some little chocolate eggs all over the front yard for them to find and put in their baskets.

Daddy had to help her at first and show her how to put the little eggs in her basket. She thought it was pretty awesome so in between looking for eggs she would sit down in the grass and take out all her eggs just so she could put them in her basket again.Oh and if you're wondering whats all over her clothes, it's the jello egg she ate at dinner. Haha.