JustAnn in LA: 2015

I trust the last time I posted was too long ago to remember, so let's just capture this moment in time and not even attempt to catch up.

Currently, Rachel is 2. She is in school. I am working part-time at my church doing accounting. Justin is at Vision Fund, now doing mergers & acquisitions. We are still at Los Angeles, soaking up all it has to offer. Also giving back though, leading a community group, Justin is on the steering board for the non-profit mercy and justice organization for our church, and indirectly, Rachel is giving back by saying "hello" to strangers she passes by on the street.

A little more about Rachel: She is speaking in full sentences now. She says things like, "But I'm not ready" and "I love snow". Today she told her first joke. She was drinking milk, but she mooed instead. So she combined it and yelled "Moooolk!"

She loves her Little People farm animals. She lines them up on the stairs and leads them in song. She can sing all her ABC's, count to 20 (misses 4-6, but that's okay), knows all the words to "Cast all your cares".

Overall, she is very similar to how she was as a baby: giggly, gentle, and sweet. Here are some pictures of us from the past 6 months.

Rachel's 2nd birthday party - "Hewwo Titty" themed

the night the red moon was showing we drove up to a high point in LA to watch

celebrated my bday in August

Happy Easter to all!

As I type, Rachel is curled up like a ball laying on the floor watching Daniel Tiger because she is teething 8 teeth!

What she has been doing recently:

- CLIMBING: She will climb benches, couches, YOU...at the park, she likes to find ledges to straddle and pretend she is rocking back and forth like a horse.

- TALKING: She loves to babble, but also says some words. These days her fave words are "balloon" ("boon"), "Dah" ("cat"), "doggie" ("da doh"), "bye bye", "bear" ("bay"), "banana" ("nana"), "up", "down", "shoes" ("shhh"), "ball", "egg" in Chinese, "no", "yes", "please" (ssss), "Apple" (bappo), etc

- NOISES: she started roaring like a lion, quacking like a duck (daddy's fave), mooing like a cow, barking like a dog, and tweeting like a bird

- NETWORKING: as soon as we are out the door at target or TJ's, she is saying hi and bye and giving smiles and waves. She looks like she will be an extrovert

Here are pictures from the past 3 months

Passed out with Hello Kitty (thanks auntie Jeannie)

Visits to Faraway Friends: you can live in the same city, LA, but that doesn't mean much when there is traffic-- so it is a special occasion when we make the trek or vice versa to spend time together!

Rachel met Bentley for the first time in Torrance

Explored the Fullerton a Arboretum with the Wang family

We rode the train at Descanso Gardens with the Talbotts

In March, we had many visitors from out of town:

Uncle Geoff was in town from Baltimore! We stopped by Santa Monica for a literal minute

Not pictured: Sarah and Nick came from Austin. The reason why there is no picture? I came down with a stomach bug (not as cute as it sounds) and was lying in bed for two days straight as Sarah watched Rachel and kept us alive.

Dan, tina, Steffy, and the kids made a pitstop in LA to see us. It was a mini miracle that we got a table at Din Tai Fung on such short notice 😛

Valentine's Day- we made it a family day and went to Disneyland. Rachel rode the teacups for the first time and had no reaction whatsoever! She loved Dumbo, the parade, and Mickey Mouse