Hello Real Life

Our lazy summer vacation ended way too fast and real life began. We returned to Utah with maybe three weeks to sell our house, find a new place to live in Salt Lake, and pack up the billions of items that had accumulated in our home over the past four years; all with the dead line of medical school starting looming over our head.

We barely managed to pull it off. We had a cash offer on our house helping it to close quick. We also found a cute and clean little three bedroom duplex a few miles from campus at an affordable price to rent and immediately moved in. So lucky. I really blame Sam for this. He has this special luck that allows everything to always work out perfectly for him in the end. I hope he never loses this. The moving truck got rented, our stuff managed to pack itself (with a little help from Sam) and before we knew it we had waved goodbye to the little Provo bubble and become little Salt Lakers with a little time to spare before the endless books and cadaver labs take over our lives.

Spa Night

This is how Sam, Bailey and my Dad ended pretty much every day we were in California; the spa.

Bailey loved splashing in the water. They started out just holding her and letting her play with a few water toys, but she slowly became more brave night after night trying to kick away which made it difficult for her to hold. So we ventured to sports authority to get her something she could just float around in.

The first attempt was this little contraption. This thing was basically a death trap. She would try to lean forward and flip and then basically be held under by the tube. She was also not a fan of getting it on.
Also, Sam informed me the other day that sometimes he enjoys making her cry because it is the only way he can get her to give him a hug. I told him that was messed up, but she does give pretty good hugs.
We took the purple tube back and got a more baby friendly device which she was a big fan of.
Toys, swimming, Daddy and Grandpa...
Missing those California days.

Ice Cream Cone

After a little dinner and digesting we decided it was ice cream time.

This one couldn't have been happier about the idea!

Especially because she got her own cone that she got to hold all by herself.
However, just because she got her own cone doesn't mean that she didn't insist on helping me eat mine first to save hers for later. Typical Bailey.
I guess in her defense she did attempt to share with both dogs multiple times. Disgusting. I still cringe just thinking about it.
Then Craig came outside and insisted that she make her crazy face.
Of course she obliged. Happy ice cream cone eating.

On Guard

Want something great to teach your one year old?
Hand her a foam sword, throw in a Dad and two uncles and watch her learn that it is hilarious to wack people in the head.

Funny now. Possibly not so much later on. We shall see.

Bag of Balls

Another reason why Grandma is great? Every time she left to go shopping a new toy or book found its way into Bailey's chubby little hands. This time around Bailey couldn't be happier that she had finally mastered the art of walking.

Who doesn't love walking through a pile of 100 balls to kick them everywhere so no two are touching?
Especially when you know you won't be the one that has to clean it up.
Then when they get gathered together once more you can sit in the middle and practice throwing them all around the room.
It may be exhausting work, but someone has to do it.

Sapphire

It took some time, but Bailey finally built up the courage to meet Sapphire face to face.

And not long after she was attempting the pull my finger joke...
Getting to open and close the screen door a million times was just an added bonus.
Whatever distracts her so the rest of us could watch the World Cup, I guess.

Legos...

In case you were wondering, pulling apart legos is hard work.

It requires a lot of grunting...
and this face to make everyone around you laugh. Never gets old.

Banana Face

The little monkey loves her bananas.

It is truly amazing the size of bites she can fit into that mouth of hers.
Every time I am waiting for it to come oozing out for lack of space and ability to chew, but she somehow always manages to get it all swallowed.
Impressive? I think so.
She has also become the master walker these days...
well, minus that tricky step. I already regret this new found talent. I miss the days of putting her down and knowing she can't get anywhere. How do we get those back?

California Sunset

If only we could skip the next ten years of med school and move to California now...
wouldn't that be grand.

It's a hard life...

Such a hard life to live...

with her mini sized rocking chair...
Now she is off to watch the boys play ping pong. Never a dull moment.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Galeria

After hearing we were visiting southern California my grandparents decided to fly down from San Leandro to visit Bailey. She was a little shy at first, but after seeing they held a bowl full of treats walking to them didn't seem all that bad.

This little girl is too spoiled. She is my parent's only grandchild and the only great grandchild for all of my grandparent's.
Unfortunately they were just down for a quick trip and we didn't do much because it was a busy two days for my parents.
There was a fun evening of swimming at the hotel's pool which Bailey loved. She was the center of attention in the water with Grandpa, Dad, and Uncle Robby.
Thanks for making the trip down Grandma and Grandpa. It was great seeing you. We love you.

Fourth of July

Fourth of July morning was spent trying to get Bails to walk a little more on her own. She can take a few steps, but she is quite wobbly and will only do it when we stand her up and encourage her.

We got all ready and decided to head up to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for a little bit of patriotic festivities. When we got there it was way more crowded then we were expecting. We had to park a few miles away and then got bussed up to the library.
It was pretty warm outside waiting in line for our ride. Thank goodness for full blast air conditioning and Grandpa's who sacrifice by holding the extra twenty pounds of body heat so we could get away with not bringing the stroller.

First stop was to the craft station. Bails did a good job helping me color her American flag. She felt it was most patriotic to use orange. What can you do.
She did enjoy waving it around after it was stapled to a popsicle stick.

Next stop was the bracelet making table. I sat down and had to push a few kids over to try to get some string and beads; it was seriously so crowded. After sitting there for a minute stringing beads Sam found a baby sized one that was finished and left on the table. We both decided to ditch the one I was making and adopt/steal the one we found. Best decision of the day.
Bails liked wearing it for a second and then pulled it off so she could try to eat the beads. Sounds about right.

Uncle Robby helped Bails put her little sun visor on and sticker it up.
We had a little family photo session in front of a piece of the Berlin wall.

And then we finished off our visit hanging out in the shade while eating some delicious kettle corn that my Mom bought.
Poor Craig drew the short stick and got to walk around with Bailey while the rest of us got to sit. Unlucky for him.

The remainder of our daylight hours were spent hanging around the house. Which happens to be code for this...
...stupid x-box. At any given point all the boys have expressions like this...
while Bailey is super excited because she is obviously winning...
and very excited about it...
Our evening ended with a fireworks show on good ole Redwood Middle School's lawn. Bailey loved the lights. There was some oooh's and aaah's and quite a bit of pointing. It was such a fun day with the family. Happy fourth of July!

Pig Tails

Pretty sure everyone within a mile radius thought I was murdering this child as I attempted to get her hair into two little pig tails...

And in case you were wondering if this little one year old has any attitude...the answer is yes, she has a whole lot already...
She already thinks it's funny to roll her eyes at me. We are most definitely in for it.

Seaweed

Sam's very first visit to my parent's house in California he watched as all the Galeria kids chowed down on seaweed. Needless to say he thought we were all disgusting. He told me that his 6th grade teacher used to make him eat that as punishment for disrupting class (which may have happened a lot considering the number of his witty comments).

Well during our marathon summer vacation in California Bailey also experienced Aunt Rachel eating some seaweed and she became very intrigued.

We tore her a little piece and watched intently at her reaction.
The kid will eat just about anything so we knew it wouldn't be hard to get her to try it; keeping her from spitting it out would be the tricky part.
Well lets just say that Sam remains the only person in this family that does not appreciate seaweed. If there was a possible way for her to eat it any faster, I am sure she would have found it. That's my little Japanese baby.