Perris Auto Speedway

Once again, we brought the camera with us for our 3 day trip and took all of 4 pictures or so. These were too cute not to post. Sam totally looks like a boy in her Kasey Kahne outfit but oh well, we know she's a girl and that's all that matters. Maybe someday she will grow some hair

Pumpkin patch, pumpkin carving and Halloween

Cutest witch around




Got over the ickiness of it all and got right in there!



This stuff is kinda gross


Are they almost done taking my picture auntie Leslie?





What the heck are you sticking in my mouth daddy?


This is the one I want!


Walking? How about running instead!



This place is fun


We took Samantha to the pumpkin patch this year. She had a blast, mainly because she had just learned how to walk well so she got to run around all the pumpkins and pick out her 2 favorites. She also got to play in some straw and daddy even taught her how to chew on some. It was a gloomy, windy day but we had fun. Auntie Leslie came along and Samantha, daddy and Leslie did a couple of rides (mommy would have puked on said rides so she took pictures instead).

We then carved our pumpkins. For some reason, I don't have any pictures of the finished products...I know, wth? I think everybody knows that we are horrible at remembering to take pictures. We only have one picture of Sam on Halloween in her costume. No pictures at all of her trick or treating with the Cruz kids. Oh well, at least we have a picture of her in her costume...she was sooooo cute that day.

I'm now a toddler

First attempt at feeding herself with a spoon. Mmmmm yogurt!


Daily ritual (when mommy's not working)= dance with daddy after bath time


She liked climbing her mountain of gifts as much as the gifts themselves



The Mickey Cake that Mommy made for Samantha.


I taught her how to blow out candles, but all she wanted to do was grab the candle with her hands instead


Letting Daddy lick the frosting off of her fingers


She preferred eating her cake with a spoon rather than with her hands




Gift opening (her mouth is black from the black frosting of her Mickey cake)

Loves this Dinosaur riding toy. She dances to the songs and pushed that thing around the house. Thank you Nina Hayley and Nino Justin!


Face de pette (stinker face) She is having a blast! Doesn't even care that daddy put tissue paper in her diaper

Gotta love the naked baby that is still wearing socks and shoes

Dancing the hotdog dance with Mickey. She kissed him too. Too cute! Thanks Shelvia for the dancing Mickey, she loves him


Yup, our little girl is already a year old. Time sure flies. We had a nice birthday party for Samantha. We had it at a lovely park in Harlan Ranch (new housing development) where Hayley and Leslie both have awesome houses. Samantha has really been into Mickey Mouse lately so that was the theme for her party. I made a bunch of food that the stupid flies seemed to enjoy as much as we did. I think Samantha had a really good time. She was extremely spoiled by all. It was so amazing to see how loved Samantha is. It was very touching. I got a little emotional when everyone was singing Happy Birthday to our sweet girl. She was in a great mood all day long. She toughed it out the whole day on just a short nap. I was really proud of her. Of course, she crashed on the way home. All in all I think it was a fun first birthday for our big girl. Note to self...black frosting is not a great idea with a toddler hahaha. I was really surprised when it came out of our clothes. We did the birthday cake before presents so that is why Sam is just in a diaper for her gift opening. She also got to beat on her mickey pinata that her Godfather Justin got for her. I think Leslie had more fun beating on it than the kids did hahaha.

Samantha is doing so well. She is getting very tall. She is walking everywhere!! She started walking at 11 months. She still looks like a drunk penguin when she walks (especially when she's trying to go to fast) but we think that is adorable. She still loves to dance. As soon as she hears music, she starts to dance. She even head bangs when she hears hard rock. So stinkin' cute. She has been very affectionate lately, kissing and hugging us and all her toys all the time. She still eats pretty much anything. Some days she is picky but the next day she's fine. She has a lot of personality and lets us know when she wants something or when we are doing something she doesn't want us to do. She is very vocal (shocker hahahaha) and talks constantly. She is a very busy baby. Keeps us on our toes that's for sure.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

9 Months ( I know, its late since she's almost 10 months old now)

After swimming



High Five!

"I did good mama!"



Splashing away with Kami (believe it or not, Kami is 2 years old...Sam is just as big as her hahaha)


Splash, splash, splash wether Kami likes it or not


Trying to get a bunch of babies on the podium all at the same time for a picture...not so easy

Sam with her little friend Abby (6 months old)



Gold medal winner!


I just wanna go swimming already!



I'm ready to go swimming now mommy


The little miss is growing so fast! We went to her 9 month appointment. She now weighs 23lbs and is a tall girl. She's in the 95th percentile for her weight, 75th percentile for her height and 80th percentile for her head (she's a genius! hahaha) She is a very busy baby and sometimes too smart for her own good. She's a crawling maniac. This girl is fast. She is also standing and walking by hanging on to things like the couch or tables. She has already mastered going up the stairs. She has a nice daily routine that we try to stick to as much as possible. She loves to watch Mickey Mouse Playhouse in the morning while eating her breakfast. Mickey and Minnie are her favorite. She dances to any music (which I love of course). She has those 2 bottom teeth and has 2 more that are starting to come out on her top gums. She eats pretty much anything from pasta to chicken and ground beef and asparagus and avocado. Likes bananas, mangoes, nectarines, apples, grapes, watermelon. Loves her green veggies, green beans and peas being her favorite but she will also eat spinach. Fish, rice, couscous and tomatoes. Like I said, she'll eat anything. She's pretty funny to watch too because she chews like she has a full set of teeth.

Swimming lessons are now over and she loved it. Samantha is totally a water baby. She is not afraid at all. Goes underwater and kicks those cute little feet. She loves to splash, splash, splash. Her class had a 6 month old, Samantha who was 8.5-9 months old at the time and the rest were all 13-17 months old. She was one of the only ones that never cried, well she cried once when the teacher took her to demonstrate how to teach a baby to swim to the stairs and the teacher forgot how old Samantha was and that she doesn't stand up on her own yet so Sam swallowed some water and didn't like it but otherwise, she was great the whole time. The teacher kept saying that she forgets how old Sam is because she is as tall as the 13-17 month old babies. It was kinda funny.

She is still a talker, always has to be the loudest one in the room...total attention hog! She says momma, daddy, hi, hey, yup, up, larry and moe. (Larry and Moe are our cats Joey and Milo...don't know why she calls Joey "Larry" but its pretty funny) She loves to chase larry and moe around the house. She is great at giving kisses, nice gooey open mouth kisses. She gives High-fives, claps when you say "yay" and does "so big" like a pro.

I think that's all that's new with our little monkey. She is just a fun little girl that always keeps us entertain and is just so full of love and happiness. I still get teary eyed when I look at her because I still can't believe that I finally have this beautiful, amazing little creature in my life. Those big blue eyes of hers just grab your heart, especially when she looks at you with that big smile of hers.


Samantha swimming. It might look like I'm pulling her toward me, but I am not. I am just putting slight pressure on her shoulders so that she doesn't try to roll onto her back.



So in this video, Sam had been swimming really well then the teacher comes to see how she's doing and Sam gets distracted and bumps into the hand rail. Her swim after that one she does really well. Check out her face as she's about to "jump" in the water in her second swim

Fun in Monterey

I love mommy's lasagna!


Scaring the bat ray away. Its more fun to splash the water anyway

Sad that her otter friend swam away

Laughing at the otters

Completely fascinated by the seaweed

Mommy's little clown

Playing with the Starfish. She picked it up and put it back down because she thought the seaweed was more interesting hahaha


Talking to her penguin friend

Her penguin friend

She didn't mind sitting in the sea shell with daddy, but hated it when we sat her by herself


Talking to her friends the sea otters. Actually, she was getting mad at them when they would leave and not come back to see her.




Pretty girl all ready for church...she really needs to grow some hair haha


Not too sure about this slide thing




She still loves the swings!



We went to Monterey for a couple of days last week for our niece Ashley's baptism. While we were there, we took the opportunity to take Sam to the aquarium...she loved it! She was talking to the fish, the sea otters and the penguins. She splashed in the touch pools and was fascinated by the seaweed, starfish and bat rays. She truely had a blast. We went to eat at Bubba Gump's for dinner after the aquarium. Little miss loved the fish and chips and the orange that came with her meal. She has had tilapia, catfish and couscous and loved it all. The hotel had a park within walking distance so we took her there as well. We also went to Casa de Frutta. We took Sam on the Casa de Choo Choo and on the Merry-go-round. All in all it was a fun little weekend. Here are some pictures from the aquarium and baptism. The casa de choo choo pics are on my phone so I will have to upload them later and put them on here when I get a chance.