Visit from Grandma and Grandpa(s) Kemp and Baby Blessings

My parents came into town this week to get away (and because my mom was finally able to get off a few days in a row).

We spent Saturday with the my parents, which also included a first meeting of William's Great-Grandpa Kemp who lives in West Covina.

 Now that things are starting to settle down here, we were able to enjoy a nice barbeque (Steve's birthday present was a grill) and have a nice afternoon together.

Life with Liam has become very entertaining. I love spending time with him at home (even if he doesn't always nap) and we have great times laughing at each other and learning new things about life. He has taken to obsessing over his hands.  He will stare at them for hours and has recently gotten into licking them when he can't figure out how to suck his thumb. We have a baby book, (DadLabs), that compares life with a newborn to hanging out with a friend on a mushroom trip: "Wow, look at all the colors.  Have you ever just looked at your hand, Man?"

Sorry these pictures are so late, but back when we were in Utah over the holidays, William Gary Garff was blessed in my parents' ward and we had an open house at the Garff's to celebrate his blessing and for extended family/friends to meet this little guy.  Both sets of grandparents were very excited for the new arrival (baby #1 for the Garffs, #9 for Kemps)

My dad doesn't smile often in pictures, but I think he was pretty excited to have his name as the middle name.

And of course, his life would not be complete if we didn't get a picture of William Gary Garff with his namesakes: William (Bill) Garff and Gary Kemp.

Here Comes The Sun

I took this photo from our bedroom window yesterday morning. After nearly a week straight of the hardest rain I've ever seen, outside of the Philippines, it feels so good to go outside again and feel the sun. The end of that miserable storm was good timing because I got the chance to cook up some steaks last night on the grill that April gave me for my birthday.

I know, I know, Southern Californians should never complain about the weather.

You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile

I was on the phone with my health insurance company and this little guy kept smiling at me to get my attention.  I had to call 3 times to get through the automated system because I couldn't resist taking pictures of his smiling face!

Exodus

It's been a hectic couple of weeks. We moved out to Rancho Cucamonga to be closer to my work. I stared working at the beginning of the new year for Wood, Smith, Hening, & Berman in their RC office. One of the major advantages to living in the suburbs is that we can afford to rent a house for only a little more than what we paid for our one bedroom apartment in West L.A.

An now, more pictures of William.

William started smiling about a week ago. It's been hard trying to get a good picture, but this is the best we've gotten so far:

April's Birthday and more Baby Santa pics

Because April deserves everything and more we celebrated her birthday over a period of several days. We took the dogs cross-country skiing twice.

We ate breakfast at Eggs in The City and dinner at the Olive Garden

After dinner we played a rousing game of Quelf. Kevin was the fasion photographer and the rest of us posed.
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And now by popular demand, more Baby Santa pics.
Santa with his elves

We had fun showing him off to all of the relatives on Christmas Eve

Uncle Bob and Aunt Laura (Uncle Bob is a notorious "baby-hog")

Gangsta Santa

And more

Merry Christmas

Our Christmas present to all of you: Pictures of the cutest baby Santa ever!

Family Portraits

We took advantage of the fact that both Steven and I got to shower today and dressed up for a family picture in front of our apartment. We even got the dogs to sit still for one picture.