because I am "that mom"...

... who takes a million pictures of her son. Below are just a few of the ones I took today during our first family picnic on the beach.

We can't get enough of him!!!

4th of July

The 4th of July could possibly be my favorite holiday... even beating out Christmas. This year we celebrated with friends and family on the beaches of San Clemente. Some of our best friends from church live in a community that has access to a private section of the San Clemente shores. They were so gracious and allowed all of us to set up camp there in order to avoid the massive crowds everywhere else.

Below is the crew:

We enjoyed playing a few games, talking a lot, swimming a little, and looking for dogs a lot. Dogs you say? Yes, dogs. You see we are a dog loving group. Between us we have 2 golden retrievers and 2 bernese mountain dogs. The plan was to allow the dogs to have a party of their own in our back yard while we enjoyed the beach. We were then going to retrieve them during the fireworks to avoid any of them freaking out. Well, my mom was the last to arrive and was just dropping off the 4th dog at our house before she met us at the beach. Long story short... the gate was open and they were gone.

You may wonder how could such an awful thing happen on such a momentous holiday. Some may say Augie, the strong one, pulled the gate open. Others may say some "not so friendly" neighbors let them out. You can decide... as for me... I am going to keep a better eye on those dog hater neighbors of mine;)

Anyway, our dog, Gunner, probably led the way. I imagine him saying, "guys this is our chance...run this way... there is water... and birds... must. run. fast..." Well, his plan failed for him and his friend Bailey. Two different groups of people celebrating at 2 different houses down the street stopped them and held them captive. However, Augie ran the opposite direction and found himself about a mile away on the other side of a busy street enjoying the tennis courts and other amenities the boys and girls club offers. After hours of driving around and meeting several friendly neighbors, all 3 dogs where found!

We finished our day with a BBQ on the beach and we all enjoyed a beautiful fireworks show. This was Hudson's first full day on the beach and his first fireworks show. It was a lot of fun to have him with us this year and I can't wait for future 4th of July adventures we will have with him.

Below is a picture of Hudson hanging out with his grandma:

Hudson: "mom, you are squeezing my face"

The 3 of us at the end of the day pretending like we were warm as the sun was beginning to set. Hudson was focusing on the funny hat in his eyes.

And just a cute video of Hudson showing off his muscles:

What do you do?

I would love to hear suggestions of how you store your photos and videos. Now that we live in this digital world we take so many more pictures and record videos. However, I don't know how to store them so that in 20 years we can still enjoy them. I have already taken over 2,000 pictures of Hudson and I don't want to loose them. How do you store your photos and videos? Also, I heard there is some way you can save or print your blog postings. Does anyone know anything about this?

And what is a blog post without a picture... so I leave you with a cute picture of Hudson on Father's Day.

Adoption

Some of our best friends, Nick and Emily have been praying about adopting a baby. After a season of infertility they really feel God has placed it on their hearts to adopt. I have so much respect for them at how they really have laid their dreams and hopes in the hands of the Lord. They have taught me so much about trusting God and allowing Him to direct our steps. They just made a website sharing their story. Hopefully, this website will be a tool for God to bring a little one into their lives. Check it out at http://www.nickandemilyadopt.com/home.html If you know of anyone looking for adoptive parents, please share this website.

4 Generations

On Friday night we celebrated Travis' Grandpa Collins' 78th birthday. It really was such a fun night to get all the family together especially since Travis' dad was able to be in town. It really was such a sweet time together and we were able to get a picture of all 4 generations of Collins' men.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

My two favorite men

Hudson's girlfriend

Today Hudson and I had lunch with his girlfriend, Olivia and her mom, Jessica. Olivia is 5 weeks older than Hudson, but as you can see in the picture he is the same size. We are so thankful for their friendship and the blessing their family is to us. We can't wait to see how much fun our two little ones will have together.

hudson here

Hey guys... Hudson here checkin in


This weekend we spent time in Riverside with the fam... below is a picture of me telling Uncle Taylor that I want a cousin and Bailey doesn't count

Then I showed off my "tummy time" skills

By the end both me and my best friend Gunner were exhausted and we slept the whole way home. 


And today I got to meet my Grandpa Collins!!!

I think he is the biggest person I have ever seen


I could get used to this big man being around more often

Life in the Collins' home

I have a ton of pictures from this last month and in order to catch up here is a quick run down of a few moments.

My first mother's day: 

Trever took these pictures at our first outing when Hudson was 6 days old.  We went to Riverside to celebrate Brooke's graduation from college. 

Gotta love those feet

Travis is learning how to take pictures with his new camera... below are a few shots he took when Hudson was about a week old. 

This was the outfit we used to tell our families we were expecting a baby

Went to lunch with Aunt Summer and Bryan
Hudson and I went to breakfast across from the pier with Emily at one of our favorite spots

Travis and I went on our first date night when Hudson was 3 1/2 weeks old (below is a picture from our night... unfortunately, we didn't get a picture with all 3 of us). 

We have spent a lot of time doing this:

And this: 

He is just so cute!

Grandma Collins came from Ohio to visit
Travis took the picture below before Hudson smiled.  He happened to take the picture right as Hudson smiled in his sleep;)


But now we are smiling!!!!! 
more smiling... I just can't seem to turn the picture ;)

 And lastly, we are working "tummy time"... we have yet to convince Hudson it is fun. 

5 Weeks

Hudson is 5 weeks old now. I can't believe how fast time goes and how much I love being a mom. We had his one month check up and found out he now weighs 10 lbs 11 oz and he is 23" long. So, that puts him in the 75th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height. He is basically long and skinny and I just can't get enough of him.

Below is our first self portrait ;)