best. vacation. ever.

This was my back yard for the last week. 

My parents rented a house right on the beach for our family vacation/reunion. Thanks mom and dad! We had an amazing time. We ate delicious food from crepes to tapas. We spent mornings, afternoons and evenings on the beach. We flew kites, played in the sand, ate ice pops and double stuff oreos and generally had the time of our lives.

Here are a ton of pics for your viewing pleasure. The pics are all Mal's and Ryan's. I had my camera out for about an hour before I put it away never to look at it again because why take pics when others (with better cameras) will take them for you?

 Joe and Marshall doing some yoga on the beach

 Jax working on a 500 dollar fine for playing on the dunes

 Mark teaching Sadie the art of the skim board

 I think this is the only pic of Quinn and me together.

 The elevator in the house was a hit with the kids but they were only allowed to ride it with an adult.

 Ryan was the official driver of the party van (15 passenger van that we rented).

 Fun with bows

 For some reason Stacey doesn't want to be photographed with Quinn

 Ice pops my fav was the coconut sesame ginger. Delish.

 A random birthday party for everyone.

 Marshall face

And stay tuned for our family pictures on the beach but here are a few candids from the photo session.

blessing day

We had decided to head up to Virginia for Memorial Day weekend to bless Beckham while Quinn's brother Miles was in town from LA. Then last week Quinn got really busy at work. He had to work late on Friday and needed to go in on Monday as well. So we canceled. About 5 minutes later we decided to throw caution to the wind and go anyway. We left early Saturday morning to catch a flight up. No problems. Quinn and Asher sat in coach...Beckham and I were in first class. Heaven!  Once we landed that is when things started going to hell. Beckham had a total freak out and was screaming so loud. I've never seen him like that. We finally made it to luggage after a serious hike (I'm not a fan of the layout of Dulles..why can't every airport be like DFW?). We saw our car seats right away but no suitcase. Quinn and I started searching. Picture me with screaming baby attached via baby bjorn. We looked and looked but saw nothing. A lady saw me looking and I showed her my bag claim ticket. That is when I noticed that it did not have our name on it and that the claim ticket was for a flight to Chicago. So right away I understood what had happened. Obviously, our suitcase was mis-tagged and was sent to Chicago by mistake. Notice how easy it is to come to that conclusion (this ease at which the conclusion is made comes into play later). I stood in lost baggage line with about 4 people in front of me all the while Beckham screamed and screamed. Quinn and Asher headed out front to find Cara (our ride) and install the car seats. Finally I couldn't take it anymore since everyone was just looking at me so I headed out to the car as well. Cara took Asher, Beckham and me home while Quinn went back to the lost luggage counter. Beckham finally calmed down and we made it home. Maybe 20 minutes later Quinn called and someone went to pick him up.

Now the chaos begins. First, let me state that I realize the airlines deal with thousands of bags a day and probably hundreds of lost bags, but seriously people, it shouldn't be this hard. The guy at the counter gave Quinn the impression that we wouldn't get our bag until Sunday at the earliest. Now mind you we were in town for 2 1/2 days and our bag was packed with Beckham's blessing outfit, Asher and Quinn's brand new suits for the occasion as well as my cutest post-partum church outfit. So I was really hoping they would get it back to us late Saturday night. It couldn't be that hard right, we knew what flight it was on? That flight hadn't even landed when we discovered the bag was mis-tagged. So I called back later that afternoon and talked to someone on the phone, it was like they hadn't even heard the part about Chicago. All that info about the flight, the name on the bag claim, etc...was no where to be found in the file. So I gave them as much info as I could since they had taken that claim ticket from us at the airport. Later that night Quinn and Miles decided to go back down to the airport to check on it again. Once again, it was like it was the first they had heard of it. But they left the airport feeling like they had made progress and that we would probably get our bags the next day. Miles even put in another phone call later that night and was told that the bag had been located in Chicago. So first thing Sunday morning (still holding out hope that we would get our bags before church) I called for a status update. I was told on the phone that our bag had been scanned in Dulles this morning. I told Quinn this so he and his dad when to the airport to find it. It was not there. They talked to a lady who once again acted like this Chicago info was news to her. She called Chicago and located our bag that was in unclaimed baggage. No one had ever been looking for it. She said it would be on the next flight out and arriving at 4 that day. Well, that was too late for the blessing. I cried (I have to say, I'm proud that I only cried once). Around 5 o'clock that evening Quinn went to the airport to get the bag. Guess what? Yup, not there. It didn't make that flight! It will be there at 9 pm. One more trip back to the airport and we finally get our luggage around 10:30 Sunday night. Just in time for our return trip at 8 am on Monday. Ridiculous.

In the midst of all this chaos, Beckham was given a name and a blessing by his father. That was what was really important. It was a very sweet blessing and a special day for our family. We owe a big thanks to all our extended family who clothed us. Both of my sister-in-laws Cara and Linnea gave me a church outfit. Linnea even went out and bought a cardigan for me to wear. Quinn's brother Jason loaned him a suit. Cara dressed Asher and let Beckham wear the blessing outfit all of her boys have worn. It really was a fantastic day. I don't have any pictures of my own but I'm depending on my bro-in-law Jason for the shots he took. I just don't have them yet. In the meantime, here is one that Cara took.

brothers

double 3s

Friday was my birthday. I'm 33. How did I get this old? We celebrated by going to dinner and then coming home to the most delicious cake I have ever had that Quinn ordered from a local bakery. I enjoyed celebrating my birthday with my little family.

a visit from grandma

Grandma left yesterday. We miss her terribly. While she was here she catered to Asher's every whim and he loved every minute of it (so did I since it freed me up to be with Beckham without having to worry about Asher getting into trouble somewhere in the house). She did all my dishes and cleaned up around the house and in general was great company. Oh, and did I mention she did yard work too? My house have never looked so good. The visit was all around delightful.

our attempt at a mother's day memory

Of course I forgot to take the picture before church hence our ragged appearance and Beckham's crying...but a Mother's Day memory nonetheless.

per Mallory's request

Mallory asked for more pictures. So here are two pictures just for her.

This first picture is pretty much what Beckham does all day. Sleep. He is a fantastic sleeper. He slept from 11 pm to 5 am last night and had Asher not had a crying spell at 1 am it would have been pure heaven.

The second picture is for comparison with his big brother. See this post for what I mean.

happy easter!

We started the day with a breakfast of hash browns, bacon, orange rolls (pillsbury...that is about all I'm up for right now) and juice. Then Asher and Beckham got a peak at what the Easter Bunny left them and Asher once again had so much fun finding all of the hidden eggs.

I bought adorable matching ties for all three men/boys in the family for Easter but with Beckham's late arrival Stake Conference is not in the plans for us today. I think I'll save them for Beckham's blessing day.

so far

My mom left us this morning. I want to thank her for giving up three weeks of her life to spend with us. The first part we spent having fun by going to lunch, shopping, playing with Asher, going for walks trying to get me to go into labor, etc... She made us dinner, cleaned our house, and so much more. Then she took care of Asher while we were in the hospital. Thanks mom for everything you did for us. We couldn't have done it without you. We love you and miss you already. Luckily we get to see you again in 7 weeks!

We came home from the hospital on Tuesday morning. Asher was excited to see us and triple excited to see the baby. He loves Beckham...probably a little too much. He is constantly wanting to be with him and hold him and squeeze him, etc...

Asher has actually had a little bit of a tough time adjusting to the new baby in the house. His fits and crying spells have increased exponentially. So Thursday afternoon we decided to have a little Easter Egg Hunt for Asher. He moved so quickly from egg to egg that I had a hard time getting a good picture. But he loved it and was absolutely delighted every time he found an egg.

 Beckham has been a great baby so far (knock on wood). He sleeps in the crib and pretty much sleeps all night except for when we feed. I've even had to wake him up a few times to feed him. He is just so sweet and we love him and feel so blessed to have him in our home.

And here are a few random pics just because.

he is here...finally

Beckham Arnett DelHoyo was (finally!!!) born last night Sunday, April 17, 2011. He was one big boy weighing in at 8 lbs 13 oz (I blame the extra week) and was 21.5 inches long. 

It was a fast and hard delivery but its over now so all is forgiven. 

Enjoy the pics!

chopsticks

We went to lunch today at a Japanese/Thai restaurant. Asher shared my yaki-soba noodles with me. I put some on a plate cut them up and handed him a fork. He wanted nothing to do with the fork. He used chopsticks instead. He was a pro.

He ate almost his entire plate this way. I was so proud!!

On the way home we stopped at CVS where a woman predicted I was going to have the baby today. I hope she is right.

marshall face

My nephew Marshall has a famous face that he always makes. It looks like this:

We've been skype-ing with Marshall a lot this week and Asher has been perfecting his very own Marshall face. All we have to do is say Marshall face and Asher busts this face out:

i wish

Oh how I wish my baby was 5 days old like it says in the widget to the right. But alas, my body hates me and apparently doesn't know how to go into labor.

Thank goodness my mom has been here waiting patiently with me to help keep distracted and play with Asher as much as possible. Unfortunately, I have no pics since my camera is in the hospital bag so I don't forget it...which is something I definitely would do.

I was at the OB again yesterday for a stress test for the baby. Everything is good. My midwife said the baby is just so high, so she recommends that I sit on an exercise/birthing ball as much as possible to open up my pelvis to help the baby drop and hopefully get things started on their own. The only real problem is I have to fight Asher for the ball. He is always trying to push me off of it so he can play with it.

Hopefully something will happen this weekend, if not I go in at 8 am on Monday morning to be induced again.

In other news, my brother and sister-in-law Cameron and Ashley found out they are having a boy yesterday. I'm excited that my baby boy will have at least one matching boy cousin (and possibly two if my other SIL Heather gets her wish)!

march birthday celebrations

My camera cord has arrived. Enjoy pics from the birthdays we have been celebrating at our house lately.

Quinn finally turned 30 years old.

 

 Asher blew out Quinn's candles too! He just can't help himself.

 This is Asher and Daddy on Asher's birthday morning all dressed up and ready for church. They are very handsome.

 Even though I'm huge, I can't resist posting this picture. He is just so adorably handsome.

Enjoying the m&ms off the cake. 

Loving his new airplanes.

 

 This has nothing to do with birthdays but is a cute shot of Asher helping his daddy rake leaves in our yard. And yes, we rake leaves in the spring. So what!?

Happy Birthday Asher!

stay tuned

I do plan on resuming blogging, in particular, I want to blog about Quinn's bday (last Saturday) and Asher's bday (tomorrow), however, I have lost my usb cord to the camera and can't upload pics. Don't worry, I've ordered another one and it should be here next week.

If you are really lucky I may even back-blog about the holidays but no promises.

the game industry

A video for anyone who has ever wondered what it is Quinn does for a living...

five seconds from a nervous breakdown

I have lots to blog about...like our trip to Virginia for Thanksgiving or Quinn's company holiday party or Asher's bout with the croup which kept us indoors and exhausted for five days but I can't bring myself to do any of it since I feel like I am constantly five seconds from a nervous breakdown.


Suddenly Asher has become so defiant. Just the most casual mention of the word "no" sends him into all sorts of hysterics. I just feel like I deal with tantrum after tantrum all day long. Today we had a serious power struggle over lunch and in the end I'm pretty sure he won as he ended up eating lunch on my lap instead of in the high chair. Oh, well, I'll try again tomorrow. I also feel like he has reached a whole new level of destruction not to mention the fact that I'm on Death Watch 2010 as he now pulls a chair to wherever he wants to get to, be it the stove, the knives, etc.. And have I mentioned how many times he has tumbled from these stools yet he is still not deterred??? And to top it all off all I can think of is that in about 4 months I get to add a newborn into the mix. Look for me sometime soon in a mental hospital near you.

family week

This morning was the start of what Quinn and I are calling family week. He has all of next week off, yay! And we are so excited to be able to spend all of that time together doing fun family things. And to make it even more exciting we are headed to Virginia tomorrow to spend time with even more family. We can't wait!

it's a...

Healthy and weighing in at 10 ounces. Everything is looking good for April!