The Churchills

Bring on the Christmas Spirit!

2009-12-15T11:23:00.000-08:00

We love Christmas! Waking up to the smell of a fresh Christmas Tree, having an excuse to drink hot chocolate every day/night, and being able to watch the Polar Express, Elf, and the Family Stone over and over:) We've had a great time kicking off the holiday season. We've gone down to San Clemente to enjoy Santa reading us "Twas the night before Christmas" and a Tree lighting, seeing REAL reindeer!, and going to the train station to enjoy a Christmas peformance on top of an amtrack train covered in christmas lights, starring Santa and Mrs. Claus. The boys got to sit on Santa's lap twice; once at our Ward Christmas party and once at the Mall. We've also enjoyed making a ton of Christmas crafts this year (even dad and ethan helped this year:) to add to our collection. We've definately been doing the Christmas "countdown" with the boys. James asks me every night "Mom, is Santa gonna be on our roof tonight?" it's priceless! Their favorite songs to sing are "Santa Claus is coming to town" and "Frosty the Snowman" (of course their rendition is a little different from the original) It's been a blast to enjoy this holiday season through the eyes of a 2 and 31/2 year old! Now it's just time for Santa to come!!!!

Turkey Trot 2009

2009-12-15T10:25:00.000-08:00

Yes, mom did the Turkey Trot for the 3rd year in a row. I just did the 5k and only ran the first mile because I was more comfortable power walking it this year since I'm 4mnths pregnant. My sister Hether and I started doing this the year ethan was born and loved it so much that we've decided to make it a yearly tradition. So my girlfriend Liz and I and my Hethers sister in law Kim all did it together. It was fun as always and was so refreshing to wake up to a beautiful sunny day at the harbor in Dana Point. I went straight home afterwards baked my 3 dishes and then we headed over to my mom's house where we enjoyed a yummy Thanksgiving Lunch/dinner. Cameron and I spent our evening going over the good deals in the newspaper, marking the boys christmas items. After an hour and a half of sleep, I arrived at Toys R Us at 11:30 pm and got home at 4:30am and got ALL of the boys christmas shopping DONE!!! What a great savings you get on black friday...yes, it's a little nutty to stay up late and stand in crazy lines, but it's soooo worth it! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we hope all of you did too:)))

Every day fun raising these crazy cute boys!

2009-12-15T10:05:00.000-08:00

The Churchill boys get more creative and more fun every day. Of course there are days where we feel crazy but we're pretty good at enjoying the moments of how hard they make us laugh by the new things they do:)))

Pumpkin Patch...a must every year of course:)

2009-12-15T09:53:00.000-08:00

The Pumpkin Patch never seems to get old, right? We love going there and the boys do too. It kicks the start of the Holiday season. So here's some fun pics

Halloween 2009

2009-12-15T09:28:00.000-08:00

So now we get to play catch up since our camera is finally working again. Halloween was a lot of fun this year...we're finding that each year just gets better because your kids get sooooo into it! We loved getting em dressed up this year. James decided he wanted to be Incredible Hulk and Ethan didn't want to be anything but I managed to trick him into putting on a Lion costume and used his long grown out hair to make a Lions mane out of it:) We went to Cameron's aunt Marna's house for our annual Halloween get together and enjoyed yummy food and trick or treating in Talega. We had a Halloween:)

It's a Girl!

2009-11-24T23:44:00.001-08:00

Yes, that's right, a false alarm! We had an ultrasound about 3wks ago and were told it was a boy...only to find out for sure tonight that it's a girl!!! We got some "sure" shots of her female parts and are 100% certain. I'm in complete shock. I knew I felt different this pregnancy and thought I was having a girl until I was told differently a few weeks ago. Well I'm now almost 17wks pregnant and carrying different than I did with the boys. It definately explains my crazy mood swings and my skin breaking out! At least I know the reason behind it now...some moms say they couldn't tell the difference while being pregnant with a son or daughter, well I can! As you all probably know by now this is our last child. We are so thrilled to have this wonderful experience to raise a daughter. We are especially blessed to be able to experience both, having sons and a daughter in our family, I've heard they're night and day:) Well I'm excited to have a special pal since I've been outnumbered for a few years now. It's going to be so much fun doing her hair!!! Cameron and I were very emotional when we found out this wonderful unexpected surprise tonight and are looking forward to many memories to come!

It's A Boy!!!

2009-11-02T18:02:00.000-08:00

We just found out a few days ago that we're expecting a Baby Boy! Can you believe it! 3 Churchill Boys!!! We're totally excited. I thought for sure I was pregnant with a girl because I feel so different this time, but every pregnancy is different they say. James and Ethan keep talking about their brother. It's so cute that James understands this time what's going on in my belly and that there's a baby brother waiting to meet and play with him. Ethan has been our "baby" so it's really cool to picture him as a big brother. We're going to have so much fun having an "all boy" family...I'm definately gonna be outnumbered but in a very cool way:)

We're Expecting another Baby!!!

2009-09-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

We're so thrilled to share with everyone that baby #3 is coming next Spring! I'm super excited and very nauseous. I'm about 9wks pregnant and definately feel it. It's amazing how your body adapts and changes so much with each pregnancy. We are very hopeful that we will not lose this baby, as most of you know that we had a misscarriage at 8 wks last February. For those of you who don't know Cameron and I were sad to find out through our misscarriage earlier this year that they found a golf sized tumor on the only half ovary I have left and was advised to have a hysterectomy last June if I hadn't concieved by then. Cameron and I prayed so much to feel peace and comfort that we had completed our earthly family with James and Ethan. We attended the Temple often and felt strong in our decision to continue to concieve. What an amazing blessing it is to be expecting again. We feel that whatever Heavenly Father has planned for this for this pregnancy we are prepared for it. So...on that note, nausea is a good sign, even though every day feels like a million hours. I'm just so grateful to have this experience again, and most likely for our last time.
We're due next Mother's Day weekend~May 10th 2010~ What a wonderful gift!

Happy 30th to Cameron!

2009-07-11T22:50:00.001-07:00

We had an amazing day today celebrating Cameron's Big 30th! We woke up super early and went to the Temple, got into an early session and then joined friends in our ward for their sealing right after...so cool. After a wonderful morning we packed our car up and headed down to the clock tower, of course, our favorite beach spot. We invited friends and family to join in on a perfect beach day to celebrate Cameron's big day. Seriously I don't know which one was better the weather, the tide or the homemade fresh strawberry layered birthday cake:) We swam, played games, talked, bbq'd, and had so much fun with all the kiddos. Pictures soon to come, I'm too tired to upload tonight. Happy Birthday to an amazing Husband, Friend, and Father...my Cameron!

Memorial Weekend!

2009-05-26T23:27:00.000-07:00

We started out with sleeping in, yummy pancakes, followed by watching my cute little niece Jade for a few hours. Next Cameron and I got an afternoon date in to see Terminator Salvation, awesome...then headed down to SC Pier to walk the pier with our boys, or should I say run the pier with our boys j/k. and enjoyed the beautiful sunny late afternoon, the best part was James and Ethan always looks for "papa" my dad in the water on the North side of the pier, where my dad surfs typically and papa was in the water! The boys were super excited to see him riding the waves and waving to him. My dad's pretty amazing, 65 and still out in the water every day the waves are descent, he's in such great shape and has a tan year round:) So after we got done with the pier, we walked up the hill to my sister hether's house and enjoyed a yummy pesto shrimp pasta dinner with her new hubby Brian and my nephew Scott. We couldn't have had a better Monday.

Ethan's first night in a big boy bed! (20 months already!)

2009-05-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

Well, James couldn't be happier, Ethan is now out of the crib and right besides his partner in crime. The boys were so cute and excited to finally be next to eachother while they sleep:) We transitioned James into a toddler bed when he was 17 months, a couple of months before Ethan was born so that he would feel secure when the baby came...and it really worked well for him. Ethan really loved his crib more than James did, every babe is so different, but the time has come. The best advice I ever got from one of my clients was to switch your kids to a big boy/girl beds before they're old enough to know that they can get out of bed and try to sneak into yours! It totally worked with James...so now we'll give it a whirl with Ethan. So far so good. We've got wonderful boys, they love eachother so much. I had to post Ethan's first night in his big boy bed and of course them praying together in their beds. Awwww, we love our little munkins so much.

Spiritual Vacation

2009-04-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Yup, Cameron and I drove up for General Conferance a few weeks ago, it was wonderful!!! We were on the road literally the day after we got home from camping, and loaded up for our road trip to Salt Lake. We were super excited because we dropped the boys off at my sister Andreas house in Vegas, it was soooo cool that she and her family were able to watch the boys for us for 2 nights!!! This was the first time that we've ever been away from our boys OVERNIGHT! It was pretty incredible I have to admit, but was hard to take in at first (I shortly got over it because Cameron and I haven't had a weekend getaway since before we had babies and we knew they were with good loving care:) Anyhow, we got tickets for Saturday afternoon session, Cameron got a ticket for Priesthood, and Sunday Morning Session:) There's nothing better than the feeling you have when you are sitting in the Conferance Center with our Prophet, the 12 Apostles, and the Quorom of the seventy. The spirit was so strong, I had tears the whole time, especially when our prophet spoke and when Elder Jeffrey R. Holland spoke about the end of Jesus Christ's life, when he was utterly alone. The Holy Ghost truely testified to me that Jesus Christ, our Savior Lives. We were able to sustain our Prophet Thomas S. Monson, and the 12th Apostle Neil Anderson, and all of our other authorities, I felt especially lucky. We had an amazing time together walking Temple Square, and talking about how cool it is that we will be able to walk in Eternity together, with our family, we love the gospel so much.

Camping Doheny Style! (a yearly tradition now)

2009-04-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

Last year we took the boys camping down at Doheny and we loved it so much we decided to do the same thing again this year. Ethan was just a baby last year so he definately enjoyed running around and keeping up with his brother this year. We camped with our friends Owen and Britni, who are moving, and their daughter Mia who is James's age. We had a blast together, taking walks to the beach, barbequing yummy steaks, and roasting smores of course. The kids all played soooo well together and James enjoyed climbing trees, gathering, sticks, and peeing in the sand...shhhhhh. My unborn sister, Rachee, joined us later with her friends to enjoy roasting hot dogs, smores, and having some good conversation, it was so fun!

Lag Nig 4th Ward Valentines Party

2009-03-02T14:14:00.000-08:00

We absolutely LOVE our new/old ward. We had so much fun going to our wards little Valentines party get together on Sat night. Cameron and I got there late because I baked some yummy coconut butterscotch brownie bars...mmmmm they were so delicious, but by the time I got home from the salon, baked, and got ready we were like an hour late. Thanks to my marge, we had a kid free evening together :) We played the Newly/Oldy wed game and needless to say we did not win, haha, It was so fun though we enjoyed it anyway. Getting to know more people in our ward was awesome, they're so real! love it! We never go out for Valentines day because I feel like it's kinda corny...no offense to any of you who love it. I just think that Cameron does so much for me every day that I don't need an official holiday to show it. I love the idea of Valentines day, "love" and being someone's "valentine." I just know that I'm Cameron's and he's Mine..... Every day!

Time Outs work in our house! Ethan goes right to it, thanks to his big brother showing him how it's done!

2009-03-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

We have always done time outs, it seems like they don't work at first...but if you start them at an appropriate age and are super consistant, they really do work. (FYI we feel like we started James too early, we were encouraged by some friends to start at only like 10-12 months and we regret it! We suggest just going with your parental gut feeling on what age to start it, there's no wrong or right) Ethan totally knows the drill now, it's great..and James has outgrown timeouts now (he has to have consequences), but he still dislikes timeout so much that all we have to do is threaten it and he apologizes within seconds. It works every time! I also had to share Ethan getting "pantsed" by James, well more like being "diapered!" lol! Seriously, it's so fun having boys so close in age at times like these, hahaha

Just wanted to share this, I watch it often :)

2009-02-27T19:01:00.000-08:00

Advice from Elder Bueshe site:youtube.com - Google Search

James turned 3!

2009-02-23T22:35:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to James! James was born at 8:09 am so on his birthday we sang Happy Birthday to him at exactly that time and let him open one of his gifts, we are making that a birthday tradition for our boys, luckily ethan was born at 7:54 pm so they both have reasonable times to be sang to and feel special. He turned 3 on February 18th so we had some friends over with their kids to celebrate. James also got to celebrate at his preschool so I made him and his classmates yummy rice crispy treats with his favorite colors, blue and green on them. I seriously can't believe it's been 3 years since we had him...it does go too fast. He's super protective over his brother and such a buddy. We love him so much because he's just so funny and unique, definately saying things that make us laugh so hard we can't stop laughing, tears and all! James amazes us with his bright smile and willingness to help us all day, he's such a helper right now. I'm enjoying every minute of it because I've heard it doesn't last forever. He surprises us with his manners, he consistantly says "good job mom" or "thanks dad...so much" or "your welcome" through out the day. He's too cute right now. We love our little dude!

Ethan wants to be just like James, too cute!

2009-02-23T22:31:00.001-08:00

Christmas 2008! Finally....

2009-02-23T22:17:00.000-08:00

Well, we're playing catch up on our holidays, christmas was so great this year. Definately our favorite one thus far because James really understood, thanks to pre-pre-school that Santa was coming to town. Christmas eve was so awesome, we read twas the night before christmas and put out cookies, carrots, and milk. It was everything and more that I had imagined doing with my children when they got old enough to understand how fun it can be! Cameron and I loved staying up until 2 in the morning to wrap and tie bows and assemble the bigger gifts. Christmas day we decided to start our own traditions by enjoying staying in our pj's at home and just making memories by playing with all the toys and not rushing from this house to that. We did make it to my moms for a little bit to deliver gifts to all their little cousins, but then went back to our house where we enjoyed a nice candle light dinner. We had guests over and had such an amazing time together, it was the best!

We've been too busy to blog!

2008-12-29T11:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Holiday's everyone! Wow, we've been totally busy, I'm sure all of you have been too. We haven't posted pictures in a few months and part of it is because we lost our camera for a whole month and the other part is because I've been undergoing some medical tests, which I finally found out the results of. ( we had a scare with my health, but all is well for now) I feel so behind, I will be posting pictures of Halloween, Thanksgiving. Christmas, and New Years on our next post. There's just not enough time it seems these days. Hope all of you are well and life is great for ya :) Can't wait for the New Year! Yay!

Happy 1st Birthday Ethan!

2008-10-02T00:25:00.000-07:00

Well, Ethan turned 1 on September 21st! We had planned a beach party for him down at the San Clemente pier and he got sick with a nasty head cold just two days prior, needless to say we had to call it off. However, the day after we ended up having a little cake and desert celebration with a few family members and neighbors, it was actually Ethan's exact Birthday so it worked out great after all. We decided that even though we had to wipe his nose every 5 seconds, he deserved a little celebration:) I made him a curious george cake, since he dances everytime he hears the music to that cute show, and he enjoyed it thoroughly...followed by a bath and a few gifts ( that he had no interest in opening, so james helped his brother unwrap) We also made him his personalized time capsule, like we did when James turned 1, so he will have something special to open and read on his baptism day in the year 2015! Despite his cold symptoms he still managed to be a trooper through his little celebration and slept in the morning after until 10am! He was exausted. Happy Birthday to mama to! I had Ethan just 4 days after my birthday last year. It's crazy to say that I have two boys, ages 1 & 2!!!! We are so blessed to have them in our lives! They are such amazing boys!

New toys for the churchill boys!

2008-09-11T01:58:00.000-07:00

James loves his new radio flyer tricycle (and cars helmet of course) and Ethan loves his new mickey mouse fire truck ( except he pushes it instead of sitting on it, he ONLY wants to walk & run now) We're getting into a new phase of riding toys to the park, it's great. James is learning how to pedal faster now and loves every minute of it, he has so much energy he can run around all day and still be a busy beaver when we get home from the park. Ethan on the other hand is totally energetic as he practically chases James and Buster around the house for a few hours and then takes a great long nap, recharges, and gets up ready to run around again. Too fun!

Ethan's walking! 11 months!

2008-08-26T23:57:00.000-07:00

So Ethan has been taking steps for a little over a month now, like 4-8 steps in a row. For a week now, he's got it down. He walks every where! It's such a trip, he even gets up onto his feet balancing to stand up from a sitting position with no couch or wall to help him. Him and James are having a ball together! Ethan gets so excited when James runs up to him that he practically runs away from him. He's doin great. Tonight we took the boys for a walk at the Harbor in Dana Point to see the boats and get some ice cream, and ethan did not want to sit in the stroller. For the first time ever, he wanted to walk right with us. ( He walks a little slower with sandals on though but he'll get the hang of it soon I'm sure:) We can't believe our little Ethan is going to turn 1 next month!

Churchill Candids :)

2008-08-19T01:54:00.000-07:00

Ethan is already 10 1/2 months and James is already 2 1/2 , since Ethan was born last September life has just flown by so fast. Here's some recent candid photos of what the Churchill boys have been up to lately:)

Ethan is becoming mischevious!

2008-08-19T01:41:00.000-07:00

I thought this was hysterical, I followed Ethan into the kitchen, camera in hand to have proof of all the messes he's been making lately. James is starting to say "no, no, ethan!" so if that tells you anything, James was making those messes up until what? Last month. Man, Ethan's a whirlwind of energy now, it's good but not when you have to follow him everywhere. Oh, and he's now taking 14 steps at a time...almost walking! Yay Ethan boy!

We love these summer days!

2008-08-19T01:22:00.000-07:00

We've had such a busy summer with my nieces coming to stay with us from vegas for a couple weeks. Of course we headed down to the beach a few times and we also went to the San Clemente Fiesta ( it's an anual street festival with live music, yummy food, and fun things for the kids to do) It's on Del Mar so we went up and down ending at the pier. ( We love walking the pier on the weekends) Anyways, James got to hold a real fire hose so he was really excited about that and enjoyed the bounce houses, and petting zoo with my nieces. We had a great weekend!

Camping Doheny Style!

2008-08-05T00:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, we've had such a busy weekend...the fair Friday night, rolling stones Sat. night, and then camping down at Doheny beach Sunday to Monday. It's been tiring, but so much fun! Doheny camping is pretty cool because every camp site gets a fire pit, picnic table, and you're right across from the beach & it's super cheap. James and Ethan haven't been camping yet, like sleeping in an actual tents, so it was a cool first time for them. We did the beach thing during the day, and the camp fire thing at night. I grew up by the beach so of course I didn't feel like we were REALLY roughin it...but setting up the tents, sitting around the fire pit till the am just talking with fun friends (Uncle Justin and his girlfriend and daughter) felt like camping. When you have toddlers and babies, you totally have to cheat a little bit, Doheny is great for that! There are facilities close by, outdoor showers, and you still get the camping experience:) Memorable for sure!

Bring on the Rolling Stones!!!

2008-08-05T00:11:00.000-07:00

Yeah, wish we really did see the real Rolling Stones in concert. Saturday night we went and saw the Jumping Jack Flats, the cover band for the Rolling Stones, at the historical Mission in San Juan. My mom is one of the events coordinators there on the grounds at the mission and in the summer they have outdoor concerts in their beautiful courtyard, called Music Under The Stars to raise money for the preservation of the mission. They have a stage and two dance floors, it's great, especially when you LOVE the stones+dancing!!! James was my dance partner this year, Cameron isn't much of a dancer but I have a feeling our boys are gonna keep up on the moves after their mama! I LOVE to dance...and I was even able to catch up with Austin Powers! We had another wonderful summer night, enjoyed with Cameron's brother Justin and his girlfriend with her daughter, Cameron's mom, and our friend Ann Marie. Last year we saw the cover band for Abba with our friends Owen and Britni. After that we went to our favorite concert of them all The Fab Four, which is the cover band for the Beatles! We love Music, escpecially the Beatles!!! We're going to see the Fab Four in just a couple of weeks! Tickets are sold out for that one, but keep it in mind if any of you want to come with us next year, it's the best!

OC Fair, so much more fun with our 2 boys!

2008-08-04T23:39:00.000-07:00

So, we just went to the fair this last Friday night, and I must say it was probably our best year yet! Going to fun places like the fair and other amusement parks are so much more fun for us as our family has grown. Seeing everything through their eyes now, makes it feel like we're kids again! The food is yummier, the little rides are better, and the animals are more fun to ride and watch. James was to short for any of the rides last year, and I was 8 months pregnant, so Cameron got to enjoy the big slide with him and chased after him the whole time, while I ate, and ate, and ate! Even though I still enjoyed watching them have a blast and I sat on the sidelines eating everything in sight, I coudn't wait till this year so I could join in the rides! So, I of course rode the elephant with them, James loved it ( Mr. Independent in the very front) and Ethan started to cry as soon as the elephant started walking us. Ethan doesn't cry very much, so I knew he was scared...I held onto him tight. James and I rode the kiddie dragon roller coaster 4 times! He loves speed, apparently after he rode the materhorn at disneyland, he's down for rides I didn't think he would be...he's ALL boy! We had to do the Goliath slide, since I wasn't able to do it last year ( It's my personal fav) and went down twice. It was so awesome. I remember when Cameron and I were dating, we went to the OC fair and it was fun of course because we were little love birds, newly dating, but we talked about how much more fun it was gonna be once we had little Churchill's running around with us. Now that time is here and it's even more amazing than how we thought it would be!

Another sunny pool day!

2008-07-29T00:18:00.000-07:00

We've been going to the pool every day that I'm off work. James is doing so great, we decided that since he's showing all the signs of wanting to swim, that he's at the perfect age for swim lessons. He wears a little inner tube right now, and jumps in the deep end and kicks and strokes with his arms getting back to the edge of the pool all by himself, it's great. He jumps, and jumps, and jumps. Ethan just chills in his little tube while James and I jump in together. They nap so well after a couple hours at the pool. (It doesn't get any better than that!) Their cousin Madison came to stay a few days with us from Vegas and James couldn't be happier to have another swimming buddy besides mom. I love this summer so much better than last summer, I'm not pregnant, and not chasing after a toddler, so going swimming is actually really fun! It takes a while to get out of the house before our little walk there, but I've gotten down the pack up and sunscreen routine...it's a great summer!

Down...set...hut!!!

2008-07-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

James has so much fun with Cameron when he gets home from work, lately James has learned how to be a line men and definately has the head for it! It's so funny to watch him say "down, set, hut!" He's so darn cute and ALL boy for sure! He's 2 and a half now and doesn't know his own strength so we are constantly using the word "gentle" in our house. We're hoping each day the more and more we try to teach him how to be gentle (with his brother especially) that he will actually GET IT! Parenting strong little boys is pretty challenging, but we're getting there slowly but surely we hope!

Ethan's first steps!

2008-07-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

We barbequed with our super fun neighbors on Saturday night and all our kids played so good together. Ethan decided to join in on the fun and surprise us by taking 4 steps! He did it 2 times in a row. Yay Ethan!!! He's been standing for a few weeks now for like 30 seconds at a time, so we thought he'd be interested soon since he walks all around the furniture and walls and stuff. Looking back, James was walking right before he hit 11 months so it looks like Ethan is following James's footsteps:) We are so proud of him!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

2008-07-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

Cameron turned 29 on Friday 7/11 so we celebrated by just going on a date, him and I. We got the boys all set up at and we went to our favorite sushi restaurant, Takao. It's in San Clemente and well worth the drive. We had such a wonderful time eating our yummy food and just talking and laughing. Cameron and I are such buddies and have so much fun together. I love him so much and couldn't ask for a better husband and dad for our boys. We finished our night off by going back to camerons mom's house and having ice cream cake yum, and singing to him (his least favorite thing ever!) Happy 29th Cameron!!!

Milestone...for mom!

2008-07-13T15:43:00.000-07:00

So lately all my neighbors and friends have asked me to go to our nice big pool that has a kiddie pool and everything, and I have never been brave enough to go with BOTH the boys and no daddy to help me with one or the other...well, I finally did it! I loved it and we have gone practically every day that I'm off work. The boys love it, James especially because he's love to float in his inner tube. (last summer he hated any kind of floaty!) Ethan just hangs out with me we bounce and all that, he loves to splash and kick. James is such a brave little guy though, I really can't take my eyes off him the whole time because of course his favorite thing to do is jump into the deep end(with his tube on) but with me holding Ethan, there's times I wonder what I would do if James went under with out his tube, besides scream and panic. So far, so good and we are now looking into private swim lessons so if any of you know someone good, please give me their number :) So anyhow for those of you who had kids close together like we did, you can probably relate to how proud I am to go to the pool by myself now! Yay for mom!

Happy 4th of July!!!

2008-07-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

We love the 4th of July! It's a fun day of just relaxing and having fun. Every year, we go down to the pier, on the south side of the clock tower and camp out all day. This year it was totally up in the air though because, now we have two kids, and we didn't know how they would do at the beach all day long till the fireworks and everything. So we only decided the night before to go for it and it was great as always! We got down a little later than usual at about 8am and we managed to still get a pretty good spot right where we always set up. We decided not to make it too much work this year as far as all the food and so we just packed up one igloo with fruit, sandwiches, and drinks and for dinner all of us just ordered a pizza from cassanos right before the fireworks it was so easy and fun! Oh, and Ethan had his first piece of pizza, he loved it! Anyhow, the boys were troopers all day, they even took a 2 hour nap at the same time! We were so happy we ended up doing what we do every year for the fourth an decided to keep it as a tradition every year. (Last year I was pregnant and chasing after James all day, so I was especially happy not to be pregnant this year and totally able to have my energy back) We got home at 12 midnight because it was bumper to bumper on pch of course. We had a wonderful day overall and we hope you all did too!

Ethan, Ethan, Ethan!

2008-07-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

Ethan is 9 and a half months and has just become this smart baby overnight. He is so daring, makes messes, and wants to eat everything we eat! It's so funny because we feel like we just exited (somewhat) these stages with James and now we are starting them all over with Ethan. We do love it though, it's always the best entertainment watching your babies grow and learn. Ethan is such a joker. He makes the funniest faces now, and knows how to put on a show when he knows all eyes are on him. He's decided he wants to do practically everything his brother does, such as drink choc milk, have his own piece of toast, play with cars, and try to color! Our lives would not be the same with out our sweet, funny, little Ethan!

Backyard fun in the sun!

2008-07-02T17:11:00.000-07:00

Our backyard has been amazing during this wonderful weather we're having. We got James and us a slip 'n slide at target for $10 and it's so much fun! Seriously, we were laughing so hard, it reminded us of when we were kids. James kinda just runs down it unless we help him get a running start and shoot him down. We even gave Ethan a try, he doesn't really like it yet. Anyhow the boys are in the backyard most of our days lately, they love the water, James helps Ethan a lot more now and is getting to a point finally where he listens and follows directions. We also got them this cool little safari pool that has a little slide attatched and they love it. I do too! We definately pretend that we do have a pool in our backyard and sometimes I think with their little ages I would be worried to have a pool anyway. They love the water being filled just enough. It's great. Hope you're summer is starting out fantastic like ours is!

Haircuts all around!

2008-06-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

We buzzed the boys heads, including Cameron, on father's day. It's been so hot lately that we thought what the heck and did all of them one after the other. A few days later I became so fond of their short hair, that I cut all my hair off too! I love it! I've been wanting it short for a couple months now, and decided since everyone else had the same A line bob haircut that I had, it was time for a fun change. I haven't had my hair this short for ten years, and it feels amazing! I have my spunk back again, now if I could just lose the baby weight :) (It's so much harder the second time)

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

James and Ethan are so lucky to have such a wonderful dad. When Cameron and I were dating, I remember seeing the way he interacted with his nephews and thinking to myself "he's gonna be a great dad one day" and he is! He's even better than I could've even imagined. He's everything I've ever wanted in a husband and father. We are the luckiest family on the block!

1o reasons why he's the best dad:
10. He has the boys bathed, fed, and in their PJ's when I get home from work
9. He can make a stressful time funny in 2 seconds
8. He's so patient and teaches them along the way
7. He acts out the UFC fights with James, and lets James win
6. He can totally out do me on errands done in one day with both boys with him, no prob
5. He never complains, he just does what needs to be done
4. He makes them laugh so hard, they cry
3. He switches the carseats everytime, from both our cars
2. He makes them rough and tough! No sissy boys in our family:)
1. He makes them feel special, by giving them plenty of hugs throughout the day!

It's a boy!

2008-06-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome the newest member of our family! His name is Seargant,andwhat a sweet boy he is. I'm really out numbered by boys now, and I love it! We decided to add onto our family to give Buster our other dog, a brother and friend ( like James and Ethan) One of my clients dogs had puppies and let us have one. He's a pure bread Golden Retriever and will be definately bigger than Buster who is 3 and fully grown. Wow, we really have a crazy house full now. Toddler + baby+Dog+ Puppy= Work, Work, and more Work! It's the kind of work thats so worth it though. What more is there to look forward to than your family and your pets. There's never a quiet moment that's for sure. Cameron has been amazing, by doing the night shifts with seargant, and I get the morning shift. We are crate training him and he loves it actually, he has his little safe haven. Potty training has gone so well too. Better than we had anticipated. He's only had a few accidents and luckily we have travertine tile so it's easier to clean it up. We are so happy to welcome the newest member of the Churchill fam...

Night out in Santa Monica!

2008-06-23T16:40:00.000-07:00

Cameron and I haven't had a nice long night out since before we had the boys. It was my friend Natalie's Birthday so we headed out to Santa Monica in LA for a night out on the town. We met up for dinner at Tannons (yummy) prior to driving to LA to avoid traffic with our friend kirk, Chelsea, and Jamie and then carpooled down. Cameron and I had such a great time together, it doesn't get any better than being kid free on a Friday night with your amazing hubby, good friends, and of course lots of dancing! It felt so amazing to not have a curfew...seriously, you forget when you become parents how to appreciate any time away from kiddie land. (We love our boys to the moon) but for all of you parents that fear the guilt a leaving your babies for an evening out, don't! All of us hard working parents deserve dating our spouses and spending time with good friends! We ended up getting home at 2:30am, something again we haven't done since we were dating and I had to be at the salon at 7:30am for my first client. Yes, I was exausted but it was so worth it! Happy Birthday Nat!

Ethan's first car!

2008-06-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

Ethan started crawling a few weeks ago, right at 8 months and now he's on to bigger and better things like standing up and holding on to anything he can. We think he'll be an early walker, but who knows. Anyways, we went to Right Start to buy a britax car seat for Ethan because he's wanting to be a big boy like James now, and the funniest thing happened. If you've ever been to Right Start before then you've seen how the store is set up, with the little activity area for your kids so that you can shop. Well, James did play for a bit while we picked out Ethan's car seat, but then Ethan wanted out of the stroller, so we put him in a walker that was set up as a model for the store. As we were cashing out, James AND Ethan were out of our sight! No one but us were in the store so luckily we called for them and we heard them laughing right awaky. Next thing we knew James came racing around the corner pushing Ethan in the walker! He was running so fast bumping into everything and Ethan's head was going every which way with the hugest smile on his face! Boys will be Boys! The employees were all laughing with us and thought it was so cute to see Ethan enjoying every minute of it, especially because the walker looks like a black car. Well, decided to get Ethan the walker since he loved it so much, and combi makes it. (We ar combi fans) They sure know how to make boys look cool, who knew they'd actually make a car walker and in black? Love it.

Our little Picasso!

2008-06-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

James has definately hit the stage of wanting to draw, paint, color, mold, and just basically anything he can get his fingers on or around! (We have the walls to prove it :) Just thought I'd share his creative side.

Our typical weekend in SC!

2008-06-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

We love having lunch in San Clemente on the weekends and of course finish it off with a walk on the pier to let James run ( and watch him try to snatch fishing rods or fish bate) My dad is a surfer so James always checks to see if any of the surfers below us are papa by yelling "Papa" over the rail of the pier, it's so cute. Anyways, we didn't bring the "just in case" trunks for James this last time and we bumped into our friends Britney and Justin with their kids, Adam who is James's friend (only a week apart) and Ellison who was born just 2 weeks ago. The boys stripped down to their diapers and just ran around together. James kept trying to take adam down, apparently he thought Adam wanted to play football, and they loved to watching the trains go by. The coolest part of the afternoon, was that both James and Adam's papas were down at the beach. They both surf every day and know eachother from surfing down at the pier for years, so we all just sat on the sand and visited for a while, it was so fun. Next time we'll plan better and wear our suits!

Sonny's Pizza!

2008-06-04T08:19:00.000-07:00

We gave sonny's pizza a second chance. Yeah that's right I was born and raised in San Clemente, so of course I'm partial to all of their restaurants, except for Sonny's. Everyone always hypes up sonny's to be the best place for Italian and I have always disagreed until last week. My sister Hether was my last client of the evening last Friday night so we decided to call our boys up and meet for dinner. Oh my goodness, I ordered these stuft seafood shells, sounds gross right? Ok they had shrimp, crab, spinach, and ricotta cheese in them baked with a creamy marinara sauce. They were so yummy. Of course my favorite part of the night was the dessert. We all shared a grasshopper pie, it's a homemade mint chip icecream pie with oreo crust. It doesn't get any better than that. Ethan even managed to dig into the dessert and took it over actually!

Milestone...Ethan is starting to crawl!

2008-05-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

Ethan will be 8 months next week, I can't even believe it. You're second one really does grow up faster than your first. Ethan is so calm and sweet, his personality is Cameron to a T! He's a little angel. He was kinda rocking on all fours last week and then 2 days ago just started crawling! One minute he's in the hallway and the next minute he's under the table! He seems to like being on our tile more than the comfy area rug in the living room, go figure. Anyhow, he is so much fun, we just love him to pieces! Having two in diapers and mobile is going to get very tiring :)

Top of the world in Laguna Beach

2008-05-12T22:11:00.000-07:00

Cameron and I have been getting back into shape and are trying new things to change it up, so we've been trail jogging lately. The weather has been pretty good and that's the upside. The downside is that snakes are coming out now, and we did see a rattlesnake on the start of our jog down the canyon. Cameron spotted it first, and If he wouldn't have told me to stop, I wouldn't have seen it. It wasn't coiled so it blended in pretty well with the trail. I was convinced by cameron that it didn't feel threatened so we just kinda walked around it, yuck! I have to admit I totally jogged the rest of the trail (4 miles there and back) with my eyes on the trail, scared that we were definately going to encounter another one, but luckily we didn't. Our jog was so intense, the hills we jogged up and down felt like we were on the biggest loser! When we reached the top, the view was so worth the butt kicking and we were sure to take pics, who knows when I'll be back now that I know snakes are coming out of hibernation!

Relay for Life "In Loving Memory of Murray Granard" (papa)

2008-05-12T21:35:00.000-07:00

Cameron and I had the wonderful chance to join in on a Relay for Life, with my cousins in Bakersfield last weekend. We lost my step dad Murray last November to cancer and my cousins lost their grandmother and mother in-law to cancer as well last year. What an experience it was. It is a 24 hour walk to raise money to help find a cure for cancer, and to help those fighting their battle with cancer right now, or that have lost their battle with cancer that we are their to honor them with love and support. Our team was called "The Wild Bunch" and we sure were wild. We had 27 members on our team and joined in all day with big smiles and high fives to all the survivors wearing their purple t-shirts. The 24 hour represents that there is no finish line until we find a cure. So, 1 member should be walking the course at all times for 24 hours, taking shifts here and there. Cameron and I were troopers. We started walking after the opening ceremony at 8am with the James and Ethan, and ended after midnight when the boys fell asleep in the jogger stroller. One of the most memorable moments was the luminary lighting at 10pm. All the lights on the campus were turned off and all of the names of our loved ones were written on white bags with candles in them, shining. We miss Murray so much and shared our loss with so many others that evening. Our team raised the most money out of all the other teams, we raised over $16,000! If any of you have ever lost a loved one to cancer, I so encourage you to get out there and show your love by walking with those who are fighting it right now. It was such an amazing day!

Happy Mothers Day!

2008-05-11T23:49:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. Cameron and I hosted the day with my family and we had a great time. We made a yummy brunch, crapes being our main menu, and they turned out delicious! (and healthy too) After we played bags in our backyard, the moms vs. the dads (or son, fiances, etc.) we've never played it before but it was SO much fun. The moms had their victory with the first game, we smoked the dads, it was awesome. However, the rest of the day the dads smoked us, it was still fun though. It's so weird when I look at our boys, to think that they were actually in my tummy before, and that we have 2 boys now! I love it, it's been a fun filled last few years. I love being their mom, even through the days when I want to pull my hair out, it's an experience!

Our first family portrait!

2008-04-22T00:56:00.000-07:00

We haven't had a family portrait before, of course because the boys are young, there wasn't one shot with all of us looking at the camera though! I was really happy with the way they turned out, thanks to our friend Lisa Webb! Yeah, the boys were kinda all over the place, but we'll always remember how crazy it was to head down to the beach, kinda dressed up with James and Ethan this young. James, especially loves the ocean and is used to wearing trunks at the beach so it made for a pretty challenging hour,trying to keep him from running in the water. He's usually full of smiles, but he is 2, I have to remember and all the pictures we have lately either he has a straight face, weird face, or isn't even looking at the camera. Anyhow, we couldn't have planned a more beautiful day!!!

Family pics on the beach

2008-04-13T23:26:00.000-07:00

Of course we have to continue to take millions of pictures as our kids grow before our eyes but we were due for family pictures, which we really haven't ever done, so we went to the beach just below the Montage at sunset. It's so pretty down there with the view of the coastline and all the natural rocks, it's picture perfect really. So Lisa Webb went down to photograph us and I'm sure she did an amazing job, we haven't seen them yet , so this is just a cute picture of Ethan and I on our camera. I will post them as soon as we get them.

Evening fun!

2008-04-12T00:24:00.000-07:00

We love the time change! It's so fun to be able to go on a little family walk around our neighborhood after dinner or even just play around in our backyard with James and Buster. James has shown quite an interest lately to want to ride his own bike, especially when he see's dad ride his. I thought I'd show James how to peddle so I hopped on his bike and he started pushing me, it was so funny. I can't believe how strong he is because I was gettin' some speed there until....I broke the seat! Whoops!

Facing one of my biggest fears!

2008-04-11T23:51:00.000-07:00

I did it! I faced one of my biggest fears...riding a roller coaster! We went to california adventure with our good friends Justin, Brittany, and their son Adam (James's little buddy) We've been there so many times and I've always said I could never go on california screamin' the mickey mouse roller coaster that has the huge drops and a loop! The biggest I'd ever go on is space mountain, I don't even like splash mountain because of the drop. We were watching the biggest loser the other night and they were talking about facing your fears to gain courage and strength. I told Cameron that I really thought it was time for me to face going on a roller coaster (something I have always told myself I would never do in this lifetime, even for a million dollars!) He laughed at first of course because I've told him before that I would do it and backed out at the last minute. Anyways, I sat in the cart and didn't want to pull down the harness and I even told the worker that I changed my mind and was about to hop off, when Cameron and Justin told me I could do it! I pulled it down so tight and started screaming before we even started moving I was so nervous, people in line thought I was such a baby I'm sure. I kept screaming and just kept saying in my head If I can push out a 9 lb baby than I can do this! I hated the first drop but as it went on, I loved the loop and the speed. I have never screamed so loud in my life and when we got off the ride I was jumping up and down and sceaming "I did it! I finally did it, and I would do it again, even though the drops were scary." We had such a fun day after that anticipation was over with by actually overcoming a huge fear. James had fun with his little friend adam and our family day was great. Cameron and Justin went on the tower of terror after, that was a no for me! I think I would puke on that one.

Happy Birthday Marge!

2008-04-11T23:29:00.000-07:00

My sisters and I celebrated my mom's birthday by going to a girl'z movie night followed by yummy ice cream cake of course. We rarely get together, especially to go to a movie, so it was great. ( The only sister that was missing was Andrea but she lives in vegas so she wasn't able to join us.) We saw "Miss Pedigrew lives for a day" and it was such a great movie! (I recommend going with girlfriends for sure, it's a love story.) Cameron was so nice to watch all of the kids while we were out, he's awesome, so they had a little guitar hero goin' on until we came home to sing and eat cake with everyone. My mom is super cute and had a lot of fun doing something different this year for her birthday, and it was great for my sisters and I to have a break from all of our kiddies! Happy Birthday Mom! (aka marge) :)

Only Blonde for a day!

2008-04-11T23:14:00.000-07:00

So I went blonde from really dark hair and decided it just wasn't me after all my hard hours of work on it! I woke up the morning after I did it, looked in the mirror as I was brushing my teeth, and just laughed because It wasn't "me." I've had every color of the rainbow in my hair, and usually I can pull of reds, browns, and blacks (even pinks and purples) but blonde? Nope, not a fan, so I changed it to a mocha brown with carmal and warm highlights. I love it now and feel like me again. Hair color is so much fun to play around with, I don't think I'll ever do the blonde thing again though.

Color change for mama!

2008-03-29T22:48:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks so many of my clients have had me to change their hair color, it's been so much fun! I love change...that's why my job rocks. Anyways I miss the days when I would go to be the client in the salon, relaxing, and catching up on my Us weekly mags ( I love getting my hair done!) but it's going on 6 years now that I've been doing my color at home, weaves and all, I like it now because I don't feel like I'm taking away time with the Cameron and the boys. In fact, tonight Cameron helped me with a few foils in the back (Shhhhh don't tell anyone) Is he a great hubby or what? I'm going lighter for the spring, darker hair compliments my skin tone better, but what the heck, hair color is so much fun to change. I'll be back to dark in no time.

Sunny days make me happy!

2008-03-24T22:29:00.000-07:00

Cameron got off work early today, yay!!! So of course we went down to the beach, it was such a beautiful day. The water was cold but it didn't stop James and I from splashing around in it. We bumped into our friends Megan, her sister, and Addison so that made it even more fun. Aliso Creek beach didn't seem like the best for spot for swimming because of the break. The best beaches for swimming I think are if you head south more towards San Clemente like the pier, t-street, calafia, and of course my favorite Riviera (for a more quiet less crowded beach with an amazing break for swimmers and surfers) Beach days are the best days!

Easter Sunday

2008-03-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

We had a fun day starting out with church at 9 am, my mom's house for a huge breakfast and egg hunt for all the grandkids on my side, then spent the rest of the day with cameron's family. Being raised in this area has makes it harder as the holidays come and go because we always feel like we have so many places to go, especially now that we have our own little boys that we want to start our own family traditions with. James and Ethan are still young so they don't understand the whole meaning of Easter yet, but James enjoyed his breakfast consisting of reese's pieces and jelly beans before church! (Oh, and James was not to fond of the grass that was in his easter sand bucket)

My husband is amazing!

2008-03-18T01:07:00.000-07:00

Cameron doesn't like it when I show off his work, but he seriously amazes me, so I hope he takes it as a compliment. This is a before and after of a bathroom and shower remodel that he just finished for one of his clients. His work rocks!

Dana Point Harbor

2008-03-18T00:48:00.000-07:00

Cameron and I both grew up here in orange county, Dana Point is his turf and San Clemente is mine. We love going down to the harbor to just enjoy the breeze and of course let James run around and see all of the boats. We went last week one evening and it was a lot cooler than we had expected. We still enjoyed ourselves, family time is the best!

Our fun weekend with cousins!

2008-03-02T20:35:00.000-08:00

We went to Bakersfield to celebrate my cousin Melanies birthday this last weekend. Her husband Moose and her have 2 boys like us, so James and Ethan had a blast playing with them. James loves to play with Jakob and Nickolas, they are 3 and 5. He's tough and loves to follow their lead trying to do all the things that older kids do, it's great. The hubbies went to the golfing range in the morning to get a little break because later they were staying home with the boys so the girls could out for a dinner and dancing night (to celebrate my cousin's birthday). 10 girls went to BJ's pizza for dinner first, then off to a night club called replay where we danced for like 3 hours, I LOVE dancing! The music was a great mix or 80's, rock, and of course top 4o (hip-hop). My cousins Melanie and Stacy are pretty much my best friends, and we have not gone out together like we did, for like 3 years because we're all moms of young kids and babies. We had a great weekend with family and friends!

Our silly boys!

2008-02-27T01:22:00.000-08:00

Ethan is five months now and rolls all over the place and laughs at just about everything that James does or says. James plays with him all day, he tickles his feet and grabs his cheeks. We are in so much awe of how darn cute it is to watch them laugh at eachother!

Peek a boo!

2008-02-13T17:55:00.000-08:00

I thought ethan was asleep in his bassinet, but to my surprise a little head popped up to see me! He made me laugh so loud, I had to share his adorable expression.

The Ramos House cafe

2008-02-13T17:38:00.000-08:00

My sister Andrea and my nieces, Marisa and Madison, came down to visit us from Las Vegas. Before they headed home we went to the Ramos House cafe in San Juan. It's my favorite place for breakfast because the food is amazing and the courtyard is uninque, it's all historical. It's right across from the train depot so James was excited about seeing the trains stop and go. We had such a great time.

San Clemente Pier

2008-02-13T17:21:00.000-08:00

We had a fun family night on Monday, the weather was so nice. We go to the pier pretty often to let James run around, but this time James realized that the ocean is under the planks! He kept looking down as he walked, making sure he didn't walk on the cracks, but soon he was distracted by seeing and hearing the trains. James has given up lightning mcqueen for Thomas the tank engine. He still plays with lightning too, but we don't leave the house without Thomas! Ethan enjoyed the fresh air too. He loves facing forwards now in the baby bijjorn, and he smiles at everyone we walk past. He's such a happy little guy.

Popcorn!

2008-02-06T14:58:00.000-08:00

James's nightly ritual is popcorn on mom and dad's bed. He loves it, only once did he decide to spill it all over cameron's side, that was the first and last time he ever did that.

Ethan and Addison

2008-02-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

Ethan and Addison are 9 days apart! It's so much fun to get them together, they are so cute at this age. We love it when Addison and Megan come over to play with us!

Can you tell James is almost 2!

2008-02-02T23:49:00.001-08:00

Ethan is 4 months!

2008-01-27T20:54:00.000-08:00

Ethan is such a great baby! We are having so much fun with him, especially because he really doesn't cry. We got so lucky with him, I guess it's because James was a fussy baby. Ethan smiles, giggles, pushes his arms up when he's on his tummy. He could care less about a pacifier, he prefers his two middle fingers instead. He has been sleeping through the night for about 2 months now which is so great. We couldn't have asked for a more mellow little guy!

Bath Time!

2008-01-27T19:29:00.000-08:00

Bath time is always fun...James tackles Ethan any place and any time.