half moon bay

So, this is a bit overdue, but on Father's Day, we went to Half Moon Bay with our friends Julia and Jonathan Wade. We had a great time playing in the tide pools (Ryan and Jona turned into little boys looking at all of the creatures), watching the seals on the shore, eating our picnic lunch and hiking down to their "locals only" beach. Here are some pictures of our afternoon. It was a beautiful day!

(And the html to put the whole slideshow in isn't working, so a link will have to suffice!)

a day at the beach...

it's only fair...

So, we got off to a good start today. Everyone was happy and smiling. We even played a rousing game of "where's leah" while we waited for the doctor (I put the blanket on leah's face and she bats at it until she can see me...then giggles).

Around 10 a.m. everything changed...Leah had to get her 4-month vaccinations. Because I think this is the worst for the parent who takes the child to get the vaccinations (aka ME) - even worse than for the child becacuse she apparently forgot about the whole ordeal quite quickly while I am still having nightmares - I decided something today: Each time I take a child to get shots, I get a treat and they get a treat. So, we will be getting Leah a fun mirror toy and I got a necklace. In addition, the parent who does not take the child to get shots (aka Ryan) will be grounded from something of the other parent's choice. My choice today is Ka-Glom. That's right, Ryan, you cannot play Ka-Glom for one week. Only I can. But, to make it fair, if you take her next time (August 24th, 9:30am - be there or be square), I will consent to be grounded from something of your choosing while you get a treat along with Leah. It's only fair.

meet my four best friends...

4 month pics

Happy four months to Leah today...she is growing up right before our eyes and is more and more fun each day.

She has discovered her hands - more importantly, her fingers - and enjoys sucking on them very loudly. She loves "eating" her feet, playing peek-a-boo and giving kisses (okay, more like licks).

Her smiles, giggles and all-out laughs are contagious...and bring us more joy than we ever could have asked for.

giggle...

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daddy's little girl...

Happy Father's Day (yesterday) to Ryan. I couldn't ask for a better father for Leah. He is so wonderful and can't wait to come home and play with her every day. He helps out with everything and even pretends to enjoy changing her diapers. We spent the day enjoying nature at Half Moon Bay on the coast. It was a lot of fun to see the tide pools and our friends, the Wades, showed us their "locals only beach" - and we were the only ones there! Here, our child prodigy poses with her dad after she wrote him a special father's day message in the sand...Leah told me she wants me to post the top 10 reasons why she loves her dad:

1. "He lets me throw up on him...and then thinks it's cute!"

2. "He reads me bedtime stories every night."

3. "He lets me have tummy time right on HIS tummy."

4. "He gives me good self esteem - he thinks my fat is cute!!

5. "He carries me in the baby bjorn even if he thinks it's girly (and SOMETIMES he'll even carry the diaper bag...even though it has a little bit of pink on it)."

6. "He works hard all day so mommy can stay home with me."

7. "He gives me baths and lets me splash on him."

8. "He teaches me how to be a pirate - aaaarrrgh."

9. "He cleans out my neck cheese."

10. "He cuddles with me every day."

I love you, daddy!

We also got to open some presents for him. He got tongs for bbq-ing and a utility knife with refills for life (seriously, there were like 50 of them). Leah got him "Where the Wild Things Are" so he can read it to her and I got him a season of "The Simpsons" on DVD (he's covering leah's eyes in this picture). Yah, it's his guilty pleasure as he was not allowed to watch it when he was younger (i know, LaMar and Lynnette, he's turning evil...I swear it's not my fault...i don't even watch with him!) but I seriously never see him laugh so hard as when he is watching those shows.

our little fish

We took leah swimming for the first time on saturday.







She liked it for awhile and didn't mind the sunglasses when she was in the sun, but they're still too big so i don't think they were too comfy for her.




She looked sooooooo cute in her swimsuit from aunt kelli and her cover-up on loan to us from cousin annie.







She ended up basking in the sunlight while she slept on our beach towel...my kind of girl!

the leah show

Leah has many faces...here are a few of our recent favorites:

at the beach...

bedtime... she falls asleep by pulling her headband over her eyes..."lights out!"
more bedtime...
okay, so it's been really hot here the past few days...she's much happier naked...really...
sweet shades, leah

Who are you most like?

Take the Quiz here!

I'll be honest, i wanted to be Elizabeth Bennet...

a looooong way home

Our flight was delayed last night for about an hour and a half or more...we didn't leave SL until around 11:00 pm - which means we didn't get home from the Oakland airport until nearly 2:00 am. Leah was such a sweetheart. She laughed and smiled while we were waiting to board, then fell asleep in my arms for the entire flight. Then she was so calm (although wide awake for most of the time) while we waited for our shuttle in the cold and then drove home. This is her sitting in the Salt Lake airport. What a good little girl!

here comes the bride...

...um, no, not at all fat and wide. Kelli looked beautimous on her big day. I did her hair and hopefully it looked okay. She and Ed were sealed in the Bountiful, Utah temple by Glen J. Behling - it was a great ceremony. We took pictures at the temple and then had a bbq at my mom's house. Congratulations Kelli and Edward Marshall!!

coming out of the Bountiful Temple
the Kinnersley Kids and "shmoj" (Karen, Maren, Kelli, Dan and Scott)
Ryan took a picture of his shoes at Dan and Heather's wedding, so now we take pictures of his feet at lots of places...it's actually kind of fun...we have some with him wearing the hospital gown when leah was born.

Much to the dismay of some family members, Mean Maren even made a visit to make sure that family pictures were taken as we have no idea when we will all be together again. Gotta love Mean Maren.

top left to right: Ryan, Leah (3 1/2 months) and Maren Layton; Edward and Kelli Marshall; Karen and Richard Hauley; Wesley (8 1/2 months) and Marisha Kinnersley

bottom left to right: Heather and Dan Kinnersley; Arianne (3 1/2 years) and Scott Kinnersley

friends and family

While we were in Utah, we got to be with lots of friends and family and some of them were meeting Leah for the first time:

Uncle Dan and Aunt Heather...our fellow Californians...and naked Leah.

Brinn, Hunter, Parker and Allie loved Leah. Parker even wanted another baby brother or sister because of her...hmm...

Ryan, Leah and Great Grandma Stark...she also got to meet Great Uncle Randy. And check out how cool Great Grandma's license plates are!!!

Crystal and Kaitlyn Ellis; Amanda, Annie and Jackson Millerberg; Maren and Leah - out to lunch with some friends we met in Provo.

Plus LOTS of other aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends that we got to see at showers, receptions and bbqs. It was a fun trip!

hello, Tonga?

Ryan's parents are serving a mission for the Church in Tonga right now. We talk to them using Skype on our computer and usually, because of the time difference, Leah is sleeping when we talk.

Last Sunday she was wide awake and making all sorts of noises, so it was the first time she was able to "talk" to grandma and grandpa Layton.

mirror, mirror on the wall...

...leah's the fairest one of all. she LOVES, LOVES, LOVES looking at herself in the mirror and usually ends up laughing or giggling at her reflection.

laundry time

leah likes to help me with the laundry...sometimes....

triple digits

quite the milestone, huh? we tried to do a photoshoot with leah's mouth being one of the zeros in 100 - she constantly has it hanging open...but of course she wouldn't do it when we needed her to. so we settled for the binkie to be a zero (middle row on the right). we got some great smiles, though.

one of her favorite new things is looking at herself in the mirror (bottom right). sometimes she doesn't really get what is going on and is confused that there are two of me...other times she sits there and giggles at her reflection. it's really funny to watch. and you'll notice in every picture that she is covered in slobber...no explanation...she just loves her saliva!

it's a celebration!

So, for the past few months, ryan has been studying for the first of three C.F.A. exams in order to become what is called a Chartered Financial Analyst. Had we been smarter four months ago, we probably wouldn't have signed him up for this test with just weeks to go before Leah was born. I think he got the study materials the week she decided to come...and let's be honest...playing with leah is WAAAAAY more fun than studying for a financial examination.


Ryan took the test today - he was there from 8:00 am until about 5:30 pm! We are basically just glad it's over. He won't know the results of his test for a couple of months, but we decided to celebrate anyway. He wore his geriatric "it's go time" shirt today just for the test...then we decided to go to Sizzler for dinner...can you get anymore geriatric than that? I have never seen so many happy, smiling elderly people with walkers in my life. It was awesome. I also surprised him with a fresh strawberry pie from Marie Calender's (sorry, LaMar - we would have shared with you...we'll be sure to get one when you get home!). Congrats, Ryan.

a fun little game

So my old roommate, whitney, did this little blog game and i thought it looked fun. You just google your name and then 'needs' (e.g. "maren needs") and see what comes up. The answers for my name weren't all that great - apparently 'maren' isn't the most common name in the world. But ryan's and leah's were hilarious. Here are my top five from the first ten listed of all of us, and leah's number one is by far my favorite...our little chunky monkey...

ryan:
1. Ryan needs special care.
2. Ryan needs his butt (they used a less-kind word) kicked - this guy's a dirtbag!
3. Ryan needs to be supervised because he can be physically agressive with his peers.
4. Ryan needs a bra. (okay, so they were referring to Meg Ryan here...)
5. Ryan needs a cellmate.

leah:
1. Leah needs to shed the pounds and the sooner the better.
2. Leah needs lots of play - social time with other dogs.
3. Leah needs your help to win Miss Student 2006.
4. Leah needs her own talk show.
5. Leah needs more training before she becomes the big star that she is going to be.

maren:
1. Maren needs her hair washed and combed.
2. Maren needs to shut down the entire cell phone network of Chicago.
3. Maren needs a big sister.
4. ...they can't pick out exactly what Miss Maren needs.
5. Maren needs help with the chinchillas.