The Gonzalez Family

For Labor Day, we decided to take a quick, 24-hour trip to California (since we get free flights on JetBlue because of Israel's job). We flew into Long Beach late Sunday night and stayed in El Segundo. On Monday we went to Manhattan Beach and Mikey loved it. He loved playing in the water and he kept trying to eat the sand. We had fish tacos for lunch, did a little shopping in Santa Monica (at H&M) and had some of our favorite ice cream before flying home that night. It was so much fun!

Here are some photos from Mikey's baby blessing. It was such a special day for our family.

For Mikey's first St. Patrick's Day we dressed up in green.

My beautiful Grandma, Beth Kirby Ransom Shelley, passed away earlier this morning. This picture was taken the day after Thanksgiving, just four months ago. I had no way of knowing that it would be the last time that I would see her in this life. She is one of the kindest, sweetest people that I have ever known. She was an amazing example of unconditional, Christlike love to all those around her, and she touched many lives through her loving service. I feel a special connection with her because I was born on her birthday, November 9th, and I was named after her (my middle name is Beth). I love her so much and I will miss her more than I can say. I will forever be gratfeul to her for creating such a beautiful family of which I am blessed to be a part. I will always keep her memory in my heart...until we meet again. We love you, Grandma! We will miss you!

I posted all the pictures from Mikey's newborn photo shoot on facebook a few weeks ago, but for those that aren't on facebook, I'm posting some here, as well. I know I'm biased, but I think he is the most beautiful baby in the world. :-)

I have been really behind on my blog because I have been so busy with the new baby! I don't get much sleep at night so I've started taking naps while the baby sleeps. It's the only way that I can have enough energy so that I can take care of him while he is awake. Being a mom is a lot harder than I thought it would be, but I absolutely love it...even on nights like last night when Mikey decided to stay up until 4:30 am! It was pretty rough.