Weddings, family, and more

In May, we had a lot of events going on with family and friends.  My good friend from college and Pat's cousin both got married on the same day.  I did not want to miss the wedding in California, so I stayed behind and let Pat take Kalea to New Jersey by himself (an adventure in itself).

Matt and his wife, Sarah were married in a beautiful ceremony in La Jolla, followed by a reception at the San Diego Zoo.  They also had a traditional Korean ceremony with family after the church ceremony.  Here we are at the entrance to the Elephant Odyssey.

My "alligator" table assignment.

My view during the reception.

My two guys, Mark and Matt.  

After the wedding, I headed out to meet up with my family in New Jersey.  I have gotten very bad at taking pictures on vacation, but I did get this one with two of the neighbor kids.  Hi Olivia and Greg!

Some cousin time with Aydan before by baby cousins high school graduation.

We went to an Angels' game this last June to celebrate my brothers 29th birthday.  Kalea loved walking around with her Aunt Sara.

Kalea loves to look at pictures of herself on the computer

In July, we went to a Ceramic museum where my mom volunteered to help do art projects with children.  We all went to help out and Pat even got to throw on the wheel for the first time, with my moms help.  I love this picture of Kalea watching her dad.

Ahhh, my mom and dad throwing together.

Not that you can tell by the picture, but Kalea was telling Pat the story that she was reading.  She was very good at summarizing, in her own words :)

Here is a 4 generation picture with my mom and Grandma.  

Pat and I took a mini camping vacation, just the two of us in Malibu.  We had such a good time relaxing. 

Here is one of my favorite pictures of Kalea.  She loves when the sprinklers are on in the yard.  This is from July 30th.  She is 19 months old and walking well on her own, has all of her teeth, and has a wonderful personality showing more and more.  She loves to explore, repetitive play, and making her opinion known.  She has become a very strong-willed, sweet girl.   She repeats everything we say, gives us kisses, and has just recently become scared of shadows in her room at night.  She loves her stuffed animal, Sulley, from Monster's Inc.  "Sofia the First" is one of her favorite shows, and she loves "Cars", "Monsters Inc," and "Toy Story."  She will tell us when she is "All done" eating, or playing, and knows how to ask for "HELP" when she is stuck or sometimes when she doesn't want to do something on her own.  She finally passed the 20 pound mark.

So many new things she has started to do this past year.  We love her so much, and are enjoying every moment watching her grow up, way too fast I might add.  I know for myself, I make sure to enjoy every snuggle I can when she is willing to let me hold her.  

She loves to do this move when she is investigating something a little closer.  She bends down and places her hands on her knees.  

One last picture of Kalea exploring in the back yard.

March and April, 2013

Another quick post update from pictures of Kalea, earlier this year.

Hanging pool side

She loves to look at herself in the mirror before her bath.

An Easter flower child playing with her new ride-on princess car.

Kalea loves to play with her head bands with her Aunt Sara.

A big help to Mommy as she sews.

Kalea loves to read

Trying to get her used to having her hair done.  Her hair is just long enough for pig tails.  They didn't last too long though.

Playing at the park near our house.  She started to crawl/climb up on her own and she loved it!

Going down the slide with Daddy!

Riding back from the park to the house, chilling in her stroller.

February, 2013

February was a very busy month for us.  Looking back on these pictures, it is amazing to me how much Kalea has changed since the beginning of this year.  

My family came down to take her to the San Diego Zoo for the first time.  My parents came down along with my sister, brother and his wife, and my brothers sister-in-law and nephew.  We had a great time watching Kalea see the animals for the first time.   She really loved the entire experience.  She basically didn't take much of a nap the entire day because she didn't want to miss anything.  

Later that month,  we had a family get-together with some cousins on my dads side that we haven't seen in awhile (and some we were only meeting in person for the first time).

Kalea got to spend some time with my Great-Aunt Sheila (My Grandma's sister).  I was so happy to get some pictures with them together since she is the closest Kalea will get to her Great Grandma.  I know Grandma Sylvia was happy to see her big sister enjoying her Great Grandchild.

We also got to spend some time with our Ohio cousins.  Kalea was completely infatuated with the oldest cousin, Joshua.  The two younger ones, (twins  Joel and Anna) were not too into the group picture.  I love this shot!

Later that same day, we stopped by my dad's cousins house to meet up with another cousin, Talin.  He was being watched by his Grandparents.  He is about 7 months older then Kalea.  The two of them were so cute "playing together", or more along the lines of watching each other play.

Finally, Pat, Kalea, and I took a short trip to the San Diego Safari Park for a few hours.  We are lucky to have this great place only 20 minutes from our house.  We bought annual passes so we can just pop in for a few hours when ever we have a free day on the weekend.  I love that we get to do this, and Kalea loves to see all of the different animals.

Christmas, 2012

 We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  Both my brother and sister were able to spend Christmas morning with us, so like Thanksgiving, we had our entire immediate family at the house for the holiday.  With every one in my family married now, who knows how many opportunities we will have to all be together like this.  I know next year we are going to try to be in New Jersey for Christmas, and hopefully we will be able to have a second child by 2 Christmases from now, so we will probably want to actually spend Christmas at home.

We definitely enjoyed the day, and especially watching Kalea take every thing in for the first time.  Here is my parents tree Christmas morning.  Santa stopped by our house and delivered a nice tricycle for Kalea since she was such a good girl this year.

Gramma and Grampa picked out a nice Kalea sized chair for her to enjoy.

Of course Santa provides a new toothbrush, and this year he even brought 2 so she can keep 1 at our house and 1 at Gramma's house.

She really enjoyed spending time with her Aunt and Uncle.  i don't know why she was doing this, but I just loved her "Home Alone" look I caught on camera.

Every one enjoying the morning together.

The stalking all hung by the chimney with care.  Including Kalea's temporary stalking nice and small in the middle.  Gramma is still working on finishing her cross-stitched version.

Kalea really enjoyed her gift from Santa.  Here she is checking it out with Uncle John.

She likes it!  Grampa pushing her back and forth.

Daddy's turn to show her the ropes on her new bike!

What a wonderful Christmas we had.  I couldn't have asked for a better day, except of course for having Mom Mom and Pop Pop there as well!  I hope everyone  had a wonderful Christmas.  We are looking forward to the new year and what surprises and changes it will bring with our family.