Update

Matt is taking a nap right now. I thought about a million different things that I could do during his nap time, like doing laundry, dishes, cleaning the bathroom a little bit, reading a book, etc, but decided to update our blog. It's so hard to be on computer when Matt is awake, if you know what I mean.

So Matt is into climbing lately. I was watching CNN on Michael Jackson's death for a minute, then I heard Matt's scream. Then I found him doing this.

He was almost stuck in between the chair and the high chair.

Goodness gracious.

Now Matt is a lot more confident with walking on his own. He walks everywhere now.

One day, he climbed onto the table. I freaked but just had to take a picture before I put him down.

Walking proudly in the kitchen

Matt loves fruit now, especially nectarines, peaches, and strawberries. It's weird because he used to hate them! Now, he can't function without them. So now we have to go buy fruit twice a week.

Yum!

Update (June)

We went to Lake Tahoe last weekend to go hiking. Sean's mom has a cabin up there, so we didn't have to book a hotel or anything. We went on a four hour hike with Matt - that was crazy!! It wasn't too bad, though. Well, Sean is the one who carried Matt all the way, so ask him if it wasn't too bad. :) But we really enjoyed the hike.

We also bought a pallet gun for a very good price. It was originally $199 but the store made a mistake and put a wrong price tag on it, for $39. But they gave it to us for that price. So we got really lucky. We had fun shooting at the cabin. I got pretty good at aiming.

Sean has a job interview with someone this coming Monday. One of his friends referred him to this health care company and they want to meet with Sean. We're hoping that they will like Sean enough to hire him. That would be really nice!!

Well, that's about it.

My Hubby's Best Friend's Wedding...

Well... Jon, it's about time you got married!!! Congratulations!! Jon, one of Sean's best high school friends, finally got married to a beautiful girl, named Whitney (although I kept on calling her "Rebecca" for some reason) in the end of May. We were unable to make it to their temple wedding which was in Utah but made it to their second reception in Folsom. The reception was beautiful. The food was great. I think I gained five pounds there! It was great to see Sean's close buddies at the reception, too!

Introducing the new bride and groom, Whitney and Jon Kenney. What a beautiful couple they are!

If you've met my mother-in-law, you know how naughty she is! So she gave Whitney a little nighty and Jon stuck it in the back of his pants (he was afraid that his mom might see!). So it was really awkward to see Whitney pulling it out of Jon's pants.

Well, needless to say, Jon seemed very excited about it. :) Oh, FYI, He's SO NAUGHTY, we couldn't believe it!!!

Well, Matthew looked the best at the reception, for sure. (Well, except for bride and groom, of course! :-)

Three best buddies - now all married!! From left, Brian and Amy Barrett, Jon and Whitney Kenney, and Sean and Sook & Matt Bunton

Kiss, Kiss. Well, Matt really likes watching me and Sean kiss.

The Bunton Family! Couldn't pass up a chance for a lovely family picture.

It was just a little warm

So we went in the pool... Oh how grateful we are for Scott and Jodi for letting our little family to use their pool whenever we feel like it!!

Seanie and Mattie (Hmm.. I probably shouldn't spell their names like that.)
Mattie loves being in the pool. At first, he didn't like it so much because it was a little cold but then as he got more used to the water temperature, he started really enjoying being in the pool with everyone.

Brandon is Matthew's FAVORITE cousin. He LOVES Brandon so much. He's about the only one that could babysit Matthew. Matthew started really liking all his cousins - especially Jodi and Scott's four boys since they live literally right down the street - and sometimes Sean and I go to the gym together for an hour or so and Matt hangs with his cousins, without crying a bit. Now that's an accomplishment!!

We were all trying to get Matthew too look at the camera but obviously it didn't work. No one, except me, even looked at the camera. :-)

Well, everyone looked except Matthew!

HAPPY SUMMER, EVERYONE!!

Matthew's 15 months checkup

Today, I took Matthew to the doctor's for his 15 months check-up. Since I missed an appointment with Dr. Sorgea yesterday, I took him to a nurse. Well, here are his measurements.

Height: 31 3/4 inches (80th percentile)

Weight: 20 lbs (30th percentile)

Well, as you can see, Matthew only weighs 20 lbs which is a concern. He is officially underweight for his height and age. The nurse was so concerned that she asked me what I fed him. We went over his diet thoroughly, then she told me not to give him water for a while, instead give him more milk and juices. She also told me to give him food with higher calories, such as cereal other than cheerios, wheat thin crackers instead of ritz, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, etc. Ahh, if only Matthew would eat more. He has a small appetite so he eats a little bit, then he's done. It is a little frustrating. I wish he would eat a lot like other babies do. But I will try to give him food every couple hours and see what happens. He has been at the same weight for over six months so we are a little worried. The nurse told me to come in again in six weeks for a weight check-up.

If you're a mother and your baby is at a normal weight or chunky, you need to tell me how you get your baby to eat more. And what do you feed him/her? I have six weeks to chunk up my baby. Details, please!!!

Cooking Club

I was offered in my ward to lead a cooking club starting in September. I am certainly not a chef, so I am not sure how I am going to do this, but am pretty excited for the opportunity to learn more from other sisters in the ward. I guess there are about 8 sisters who signed up for the club but more the merrier, so if you're interested, let me know. I will make sure your name is on the list. Also, if you have an amazing recipe that you'd like to share, let me know. It'll be fun to print the recipe for everyone to see.

Thanks!

Also, I am thinking about making a small cookbook by the end of the year. The cookbook will have my favorite recipes (only the successful ones) - from bread, main dishes, to sweet desserts. If you're interested, leave me a comment. It may cost you couple dollars for printing and binding (plus, shipping if you're not in Roseville area) but it will be well worth it!! :-)

Just so you know

The whole DMV stuff got taken care of.... They were very helpful when I went there yesterday. I was a little angry before I got there but I got out of the DMV with a smile. So that's good. I still have to wait a little longer until I get my real license in the mail but I still have my temporary license and they said they will take care of it soon.

Good Books (MAY)

I just wanted to list good books I read in May. I have been reading at least one book a week. It's been fun to be able to explore fictional worlds. People wonder how I can read so much when there is a baby to take care of. I am a pretty fast reader... And pretty much the only time that I can read is during Matt's nap time or at night when he's in bed. As you all mothers probably already know, it's pretty much impossible to enjoy reading when your kids are running around, crying for your affection, or playing with the loudest toys they've got. How come we always keep going for the craziest and loudest toys anyway?? Anyway, I turn to books to find some kind of quiet peace, to relax, and to develop my imagination skills - sadly, I kind of stopped imagining stuff when I became a mommy, although I DO believe that I need to be ever more imaginative BECAUSE I am a mom. Hmm... yeah, I really do need to be. I want to teach Matt to be creative and imaginitive. I mean, it'd be hard to live a life without being able to imagine fun, good things. Because to me, imagination is almost same as hope.

So these are the books I read in May.

Eragon/Eldest: My husband Sean gave me these books for Christmas last year. I was a little skeptical about reading them because of the whole dragon stuff. I didn't think it'd be so interesting. But I figured it couldn't be worse than the whole vampire stuff (Sorry to all those who love Twilight series. I gave it a shot. I did like the first book although it was too... I can't think of a word to describe the book... I guess I'm just not that into romance stuff. I do like books that have romance, just not as the main theme. Anyway, I read the New Moon and decided that it just wasn't for me. So don't hate me for it! :-) Paolini is a genius! He's such a good writer who keeps you entertained throughout the whole book. He's so creative and very smart, I must say. I like his writing style. I am looking forward to reading the third book "Brisingr".

The Spiderwick Chronicles: I felt like reading a children's book during our vacation so I picked up these series at the library. The books are super easy to read and I finished the series within 4 hours. Don't expect TOO MUCH from these books, though - I mean, the characters are not as complicated as the ones in adults books, of course. But I did like the simplicity of the characters and the stories. Very creative and fun.

The Wednesday Letters: I loved the book then found out that it was written by a LDS, Jason F. Wright. It's about two old couple who died in each other's arms, leaving thousands of letters for their kids to read after they passed on. By the time I finished the book, I felt a strong desire to write Sean every Wednesday. I probably won't but am definitely writing him as often as I can. It's got several twists throughout the book. I don't know how many times I said "Oh my gosh!" while I was reading it. Such a cute and thought provoking book - about faith, love, and forgiveness.

The Secret Garden: You might think "really?" but this book really "wowed" me! What a wonderful book!! I love books like this - it reminded me of "Anee of Green Gable" which is one of my very favorites. I think The Secret Garden is one of them, too. I loved Burnett's sense of humor and her honest writing style. Her description of each character in the book was just amazing. I finished the book in two days, which only means that I just couldn't stop putting down the book until 2 in the morning! My favorite character was "Colin", he believes that he is going to die because everyone around him told him so ever since he was a little baby. Colin believes that it's magic in the secret garden that has cured him but I think it was really Colin himself who cured him, by believing in himself and by believing that magic (God) could cure him. I love the ending, the BEST ending I've ever read. It was a great sociological book.

In June, I plan to read some other classic books, such as the Wizard of Oz (I've never read the book, how lame!), Oliver Twist, and the Count of Monte Christo. Also I plan to read the Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright. I am excited! If you know of any great books that you think I might like, you'd better leave a comment!!!

Our Vacation

Warning : Very Long Post

For family journal purposes, this post might be a little TOO long for you to take in. There will be lots of pictures, probably more than you'd like to see - but where's the fun in blogging without pictures anyway?

So our original plan for the week of Memorial day was to attend one of Sean's best buddies' wedding in Utah and visit good old Rexburg for a week. After examining our finance situation, we decided that it may be a little stretch to pay for hotel, food, and gas for a week. If we had that kind of money, we would probably be living in a house, not in a crappy apartment.

With Sean's vacation time already scheduled, we decided to go down to Sean's parents and spend a week there. Laying at the beach and visiting nearby tourist spots sounded more relaxing and less stressful. Needless to say, it was a fantastic week. It was great to hang with Sean all day for 10 days! I felt like we were back at school or something, just on a spring break or something. It was fun!

The drive down to Pismo Beach from Roseville wasn't too bad. We just made sure that we had Matt's favorite music CDs in the car. We left Roseville on Friday evening, at around 5 pm, after Sean came home from work. I made lots of yummy cinnamon rolls for the road. I must say, those cinnamon rolls made the trip so much easier - whenever we got bored, we ate. Now I know why I always gain 5 lbs whenever we travel. - The first half of the trip was piece of cake. Matt napped the whole time. After that, we played his favorite CD over and over again, so he was pretty entertained. When we had only one hour left to go, that's when things got a little rough. Even the McDonald's farm animals didn't help him calm down. But we survived. We arrived at Pismo at around 11 pm, which wasn't bad at all.

Saturday
(The crazy, crowdy day)

There was a lot of other family members visiting at my in-law's. I think everyone was just in the mood of visiting. We got to see aunt BJ, uncle Steve, Jared & Emily + their three kids, aunt Lisa, uncle Chris, and their daughter Kara. There were some other people at dinner, people that we didn't know, so 18 of us were there. Wow, that was crazy. But it was fun to visit with them.

Matthew fell in love with one of his cousins, Carlie. He chased her around wherever she went. Carlie was very good with him, too. They don't see each other too often, so it was good to see them get along well.

Their friendship strengthened as Matt started poking Carlie in the eye.

Then he decided to crawl in between Carlie's legs.

Matt sat with Carlie until she had to go home.

After dinner, Sean & I went to the pier with our little guy. It was a little windy but fun to see the ocean. Here are some pictures from the pier.

Playing peek-a-boo

Daddy and Matty

Someone at the pier offered to take a couple pictures of the fam. Later he said, he is a professional photographer. He's pretty good, isn't he?

Another shot of the family.

Sunday

We went to a strawberry festival in Arroyo Grande for an hour. My mother-in-law is way into that kind of stuff. She persuaded Sean and me to go for hours so we gave in and decided to go. It was fun. We walked around and saw what they had there. One hour was enough for our family. So we took off and went home. But here are some pictures we got from the festival.

Matty eying on my drink..

He loved the drink.

Then we took some pictures of us in Pontiac, the car my mother-in-law won on the Price is Right back in December, 2008.

Monday

On Monday, we went to a local petting zoo. They have lots of GREAT fresh vegetables and fruit that I wish I could get around here. If you ever go down near Pismo Beach, you must go there and get some fruit. They also have a little petting zoo. Matt was still a little hesitant to pet the animals but did like feeding them.


We discovered Matt's love for corn. We should've gotten his own corn!!


Oh boy... So cute, isn't he?

After eating the corn, we headed to Morro Bay, which is only about half an hour away from Pismo Beach. We had some yummy pastries at a local bakery, then went by the beach for some pictures. It was a bit windy but we had fun taking pictures.

Didn't want to stand up for so long... He doesn't like the fact that he has to work so much to get around. He loves to be held. :)

Papa and Nana - Matt definitely bonded with his grandparents while we were visiting. He followed them around wherever they went, which was really nice for me, because I was able to read books without any interruptions.. Thanks papa and nana for watching him all the time!

I like this picture...

That night, upon my in-law's request, I made orange chicken for dinner. It turned out so yummy. Everyone loved the tangy and sweet flavor of the chicken. Mmmm... just thinking about it makes my mouth water....

Cooking is fun!!

Tuesday

On Tuesday, we went and lay on the beach for a couple hours. We originally planned to go to Pismo Beach after eating at Splash Cafe (we HAD TO have their world famous clam chowder, of crouse!), but it was too foggy and chilly. So we drove a few more miles to Avila Beach, hoping the weather would be a little better. Sure enough, it was sunny and the sky was clear and blue. Sean and I took books to read and also some sand toys that Matt could play with. Well, actually, they weren't really toys, we just grabbed a shovel and plastic cups and a plastic hat. Matt LOVED playing with them! So we were able to read a few pages from our books before we decided to play with Matt.

Matt had fun playing with the sand..

Sometimes, the simplest things make the baby happy.

We were trying to bury Matt's feet, but he wouldn't stay still.

Just watching Matt having fun.

Matt wasn't so fond of the cold ocean water.

On swing at the beach

That night, while Sean's parents watched Matthew, Sean and I went to a hot spring nearby Avila Beach. This hot spring is seriously the BEST I've been to. There are individual outdoor hot tubs in the mountains. We got there a little later, at around 8 pm. It was quiet and romantic. It was nice to get away just the two of us and enjoy the warmth of the water. I think all of the knots on our back were gone by the time we left!!

At the hot tub

By the time we were done, we were anxious to go back and see our little Matty boy.

When we got back, we asked Sean's parents how Matt was while we were gone. They said Matt didn't even cry a bit and that he was a happy boy! We were relieved.

Matthew played with his new popper for a while.

Talking on the phone with "Rose" - Rose is one of the new words that he learned along with flower. He's been saying Rose all day, all week.

Wednesday

The Santa Barbara Mission

On Wednesday, we went to Santa Barbara to visit the SB mission and the zoo. Somehow, I mistyped the address for the zoo, (apparently they didn't recognize the address and asked me if I wanted the address for the center of the SB zipcode), so we ended up in the middle of nowhere. We were SO confused when we got to the destination. We were in some really bad neighborhood, too. ha ha So our joke was that now we've been to the center of that particular zipcode in SB. Anyway, we managed to find our way to the Mission. The Santa Barbara Mission was beautiful. There were many cool drawings on the cement. It was really neat to see all the great artwork there.

Some of the artwork at the Mission

We learned a lot about the mission. The tour costs 5 bucks per person. A little pricey but it was a good experience.

Matt, about to enter the cemetery of the mission. There are thousands of priests and nuns buried at the mission cemetery. Some bodies were buried in the walls of the mission buildings. It was really interesting to see different kinds tombs and graves.

Matthew looks so grumpy in this picture, doesn't he?

I thought the tree in the background looks quite unique.

Inside a chapel... It reminded me of the middle school I went to. I went to a Catholic school for three years and I was required to attend their Tuesday meetings during school hours.

The statue in the background was dedicated when the United Nations was organized.

After walking around at the mission, we got hungry. We drove to the wharf and ate at a seafood restaurant. Although the restaurant had a great view, I wasn't too impressed with their food. I have had much better seafoods at Red Lobster or Quarterdeck in Arroyo Grande, CA. But it was fun to sit out, looking out the great view of the wharf.

Before eating...

It's always fun to read the names of different boats.

He was actually flirting with a girl who was sitting at the next table over. I heard a girl giggle and saw Matt smiling at someone and just knew that he was trying to flirt with the girl. He always does that whenever we go out to eat. The kind of smile he has on his face when he flirts with pretty girls is totally different from his normal one. It's pretty hilarious. The Zoo!!

I have been wanting to go to the zoo for a long time now so I begged Sean to go to the zoo in Santa Barbara. It was really fun. It's a pretty big zoo, very family oriented, especially with younger kids. There is a picnic park where little kids can run around and play. There are over 300 animals at the zoo and we made sure to see all of them while we were there. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to look around and we had a blast. Matt's favorite was leopard, I think. He also liked giraffes and monkeys.

Matt amazed by the giraffes

The elephant was one of my favorites.

About to see pretty birds..

Friday

We went to the beach for a bonfire! We had s'mores, of course. It's one of the best American food!! Mmmm... I want one right now!

Matt loves nana..

Yummy!!


Saturday

Sean's grandparents - Matt's great grandparents came to visit with us on Saturday. Sean and I cooked chicken parmesan for dinner and everyone enjoyed it. We got to take some pictures of the four generations - great grandpa, papa, dada, and Matty boy.

Well, the vacation was fun and we got to spend lots of family time together which was MUCH needed. Next year, we plan to go to the Seaworld (I really, really want to go there!!)... just hoping that the plan will go through. :)

I hope you get to have a wonderful time on your summer vacation, too, if you're planning one.