Father's Day Weekend!

We had a great time celebrating Father's Day! We missed being with Blake's dad (they were in Reno for a rodeo), but we did get to see my dad and Blake's grandparents. I should have taken more pictures...sorry about that. But here are some!!

We were at the mall and they have a water fountain area that the kids can run through. Aubrey Rose had such a great time she didn't want to leave! Surprisingly, she stayed dry too!

Then, on Sunday, we went to church, lunch at my parents (with all my family!) and then BBQ at Grandma and Grandpa Smittcamp's house. It was so fun to see everyone. The family is multiplying like crazy. There were kids everywhere, which made for so much fun for Aubrey Rose. It is so fun to watch them all play together.

Here are eight of the GREAT grandkids (with some of Grandpa's grandkids)....there are a BUNCH more that we missed seeing this weekend, but we thought this was pretty good amount! After Grandpa took them for a ride on his carousel, he feed Estee some carrots and the kids got to pet his horse. The kids absolutely loved every second of it!

Happy Father's Day!!

Here Blake is getting Aubrey Rose closer...LOVE the dolphin pose Aubrey Rose!

Such fun memories!!!

Zoo Day!

Last week we had a fun zoo day with some friends. We met up with Katie, Tamara and their little ones and we had such a great time. Aubrey Rose said "Woof, Woof" to almost every animal she saw. Hopefully someday we will hear other animal sounds. :) Maybe meow, or mooooo, or even naaaaaay. I am sure those are not too far around the corner. Until then, "Woof, Woof" is still such a cute sound to hear come out of her mouth. Thanks girls (and Alek!) for meeting us and making our day such a fun memory!

I can't believe these are our little ones...Alek, Aubrey Rose, Avery and Grace

We take the kids to the zoo and they choose to play with the dirt. We kept telling them that we can do that at home. Hilarious!

Our little dolphin...

Blake loves playing with his little girl. It melts my heart to watch the two of them interact. Blake found out a while back that we have a little dolphin on our hands. I finally got it on video the other night at our Smittcamp family night. We think pretty much anything Aubrey Rose does is entertaining. Hopefully you are entertained as well!

Our little fishy!

Aubrey Rose has been taking swim lessons the last two weeks. I remember driving to the first lesson thinking "Why am I doing this? A 15 month old can't swim." Boy, was I surprised!!! It was so much fun to see the progression over two weeks. The week started with her hugging my neck as tight as possible along with the "not so happy face." She wasn't crying, but just ready to be done. By the end of the two weeks, Aubrey Rose would squeal when she saw the house we took lessons at. As we walked up the driveway holding hands, I felt her picking up her pace, practically running, as she was saying, "Wa-Wa!" Then, while swimming she couldn't get out of my arms fast enough. She would lean forward and try to dunk herself wanting to swim more, more, more! She learned to jump off the side of the pool and then swim to me. Her favorite was to swim to the steps, then celebrate by splashing the "Wa-Wa" everywhere! Her expressions were priceless! We definitely have enough video footage of our little fishy!

Here is Aubrey Rose holding on so tight to me at the beginning of the week...

and the "not-so happy face"...

By the end of the week..."this is the best day ever" expression

Splish, Splash "Wa-Wa" EVERYWHERE



Our little fishy!

Here is Miss Kim and Audrey...Aubrey and Audrey are only a couple of months apart. Kim and I are already hoping they will be the best of friends just like their mommies!

Aubrey Rose had quite the entourage show up to see our little fish swim. Mimi and Aunt B...thanks not only for coming, but for the cute swimsuit too!!

Oma and Opa

And it was such a treat to have Daddy too! Daddy and I are so proud of you Aubrey Rose!!!

Livermore Rodeo

Last weekend we got to go to the Livermore Rodeo to be with Aunt Blair (Blake's sister). Blair is Miss California Rodeo Salinas Queen this year. She has always kept a very busy schedule, involved in pretty much anything and everything, but this Queen world has definitely kept her maybe even more busy than I have ever seen her. Good thing her appearances and rodeos are usually on the weekends so we still get to see her every Wednesday night at family night or else we would probably never see her. :) We are so very proud of you Blair!!

Here is a picture of the Queen and one of her biggest fans!

There are some pictures I see of Aubrey Rose that I look at and can't believe she is Blake and my daughter. This is one of those pictures. God is so, so good!

It is so fun to see these two together. Aunt B is the best Auntie!

She looked beautiful as she rode in the Livermore parade.

Here is Blair riding in the Livermore Rodeo Grand Entrance. I think she is the fastest Queen out there!

Aubrey Rose is 15 months!

Aubrey Rose will be fifteen months tomorrow. Time is flying! Our little girl is growing up, we think, even faster these days. Daily I am starting to notice new things Aubrey Rose can accomplish on her own. And just between you and me...she probably shouldn't have shown me what she is now capable of because as I like to tell her....it is on! We are stepping up your responsibilities little one! The other day I came around the corner and she was into something she should not be doing. She looks at me and then frantically started putting each item back in the drawer where it belongs. She definitely knows! Her words are starting to expand more and more each day. The other day she came up to me and said, "HIII Mommy!" It was so precious. She runs everywhere she goes. She is my busy little bee. She loves to climb on things. She has become a little lover. Recently, she walked up to one of my friends little boys and gave him a hug and padded his back. So precious! Aubrey Rose has been learning how to swim. (I am pretty impressed what a 15 month old can already do!) She absolutely LOVES the water! This is by far her favorite thing to do. She can be busy playing with her toys and hears the faucet turn on and she says "Wa-Wa." Whether it is a big loud fountain or just a little puddle on the ground, she says "Wa-Wa" and then usually puts out her arms as though asking, "Can I go play in it?" One of my favorite words she says in sign language is please. It melts my heart when the work we have been plugging away at day in and day out, begins to come together. She is loving her books right now. She loves to open and close them, turn the pages and then pick out a different book to do the same thing to. Ever since our New York trip when Aubrey stayed at Uncle Jesse and Aunt Allie's, Aubrey definitely knows what sound a dog makes. Due to their dogs, Bud and Princess Jazmine waking her up and barking at all kinds of things, she now says "Woof, Woof" almost all day long. Every dog she sees, or hears, she gets an excited look on her face and says "Woof, Woof." Even when she sees horses, she says "Woof, Woof." It is pretty entertaining!

Aubrey Rose loves to play hide and seek. Her favorite part, for sure, is when she is being chased around the house. Oh, her giggle can make me smile all day, any day! Here is a video of Aubrey's BEST and FAVORITE place to hide.


Aubrey loves to dance to the music. You can say, "Aubrey can you dance" and she shimmies her little body side to side. Here is a video of some of her moves as we were driving home from the wedding in LA a couple of weekends ago. Sorry for the bumpiness...driving isn't always the easiest to keep the camera still. I love her rosy cheeks after she wakes up from her nap!



We continue to praise God for choosing us to be Aubrey Rose's parents. We love you sunshine!

A dream come true...

One of my all time biggest dreams officially came true this past weekend. Blake and I were blessed to go on a three night trip to the Big Apple! New York definitely did not disappoint.
We flew the red eye Wednesday night and arrived at 8:30am on Thursday. Even though none of us got much sleep, adrenaline kicked in and we hit the tourist attractions. It is probably hard to believe but we accomplished all of this...

Thursday:

• First Subway experience!
• World Trade Center and the visitor center
• Ferry over to Statute of Liberty
• Ellis Island
• Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange
• Lunch at Olivia Gourmet Restaurant
• Canal Street for some shopping
• Dinner at Serendipity (my favorite meal of the trip)
• Dylan's Candy Shop
• Trump Tower
• Saw Nicholas Cage taping his new movie LIVE. It was awesome to see!
• Cupcakes at Magnolia's Bakery

Friday:

• RAIN, RAIN...go AWAY!!! (It finally did about 10ish)
• woke up at 4:45 to go to the Today Show LIVE
• watched Taylor Swift perform in concert
• Rockefeller Center
• Breakfast at Astro's
• Macy's...where the Thanksgiving Day parade occurs
• Empire State Building
• Lunch at Saks 5th Avenue
• 5th Avenue and FAO Schwartz
• Times Square
• Dinner at Carmine's
• Broadway show...WICKED!! AWESOME!!!

Saturday:

• Went to Dean and Deluca's
• Breakfast at Duke's
• went to SOHO
• walked through Greenwich Village
• Saw Sarah Jessica Parker's house that Sex and the City was filmed at
• Shopped at Canal Street
• Lunch at Dos Caminos
• Carriage ride through Central Park
• Dinner at Tavern on the Green
• Walked through Times Square again

Sunday:

• Breakfast at Astro's again
• Took a taxi to the airport
• Arrived almost 3 hours early...only to find out an hour before we were supposed to leave we had a 3 1/2 hour DELAY!!!
• Travel time: 14 hours...including the taxi ride!! We arrived home at about 1am! LONG DAY! It was such a joy to see Aubrey Rose and chase her all around the house the next day. BEST reunion EVER! And now on to the pictures!!!

Us leaving Blake and my house Wednesday night

Christina brought us some hats for the Statute of Liberty. Thanks B&C for making this trip such a blast!!! You guys are the best!

My first Metro Card Subway experience.

Lunch at Olivia Gourmet's


I loved seeing the New World Trade Center site. After, walking around we went to the Tribute WTC Visitor Center. I loved being able to experience this.



On the ferry to see the Statute of Liberty




Experiencing Canal Street in the rain


Adorable restaurant...Serendipity

Friday morning....getting ready to watch the Today show LIVE! 6am!

This is how dark it was when we arrived at the Today Show. Taylor Swift was already singing at this point. What a life! (Not a life I would want....that is for sure.)

Taylor Swift performing

Thank goodness there was a guy selling ponchos right outside our hotel!

Probably the best $3 we spent!!

I loved seeing the Today Show live.
Here is the outside of the NBC News Studio



Below is Matt Lauer. Meredith was not cohosting this morning. Not sure if the lady is Natalie or who it was. Either way I loved seeing all of this!

Then, we went to the Empire State Building. Even though it was completely overcast, I loved experiencing this too!

Kind of fun that this LOVE sign was just on the sidewalk near our hotel.

We have the BEST husbands!!

A cute fountain in Greenwich Village


I LOVE him!!


Carrie Bradshaw's house from Sex and the City




Definitely a highlight was the madness of shopping in Canal Street.

It is absolutely impossible to pick a favorite memory from this dream come true trip, but if I had to, it probably would be the carriage ride through Central Park. AMAZING!! I never knew how HUGE it was and just a place to unwind and refresh. I loved it!

This trip definitely could not happen if it weren't for a ton of people. First, Bill and Linda, you not only watched our little girl and took such good care of her, but you also blessed us with so many of the details for this trip. We absolutely can not thank you enough! My parents and Jesse and Allie were so incredibly sweet to watch Aubrey Rose as well. Even though Jesse and Allie did not follow my number one rule, (DO NOT let Aubrey learn any new words by the time I come home!) we feel so blessed to have so many people who love Aubrey Rose the way we do. Aubrey learned BAnana (I had heard "nana" before we left, but not BAnana) and she officially knows what a dog says, "Woof, woof, woof, woof." She says this now all day long. Hopefully I can get it on video! And then, to our amazing tour guides, Blake and Christina! We still can not believe that you guys took time out of your busy schedule and spent the money to join us. You truly made the trip a blast! There is no way we could have experienced all that without you guys. They were so sweet to make a list up of everywhere we should go, organized the itinerary by locations and then guided our steps to accomplish it. BP had his IPhone, which was phenomenal, to navigate us through the subway systems and streets. Christina taught me the ins and outs, not only of the shopping, but also and what and who to look for. It was a phenomenal trip! And all the more fun to experience it with friends. Definitely a dream come true!!!