eli turned 1.

It was Eli's birthday on Feb 5th.

A beautiful flower shaped like a whale's tail bloomed so fully from our gorgeous Tillandsia Cyanea, like it was so excited for Eli birthday also.

  Poor Eli woke up, cried and screamed for over an hour at around 4 in the morning (and later we found out his molars were coming out.) His eyes were puffy and swollen all morning, but he was in good spirit. So, the whole morning I spoiled Eli and let him to do all the destruction he wanted in the kitchen while I was making his cupcakes... just because it was his birthday. And I had no more pictures of that besides this one because he kept me really busy after that. We also made some balloons and decorated the house a bit for this special occasion.

After his morning nap, we went to his favorite park. Some dog named Mimi wanted Eli to play fetch with her, and Eli was very willing.

And he showed me his new trick: up the stairs and down from the slides all by himself...

Enjoying the breeze at the end of the slide (or, he felt pretty confident about his "exceptional work" as you can see from his "show off" face expression.)

Then we went home for some lunch.

And after his afternoon nap, daddy was already home and couldn't wait to celebrate his birthday.

We had some buttermilk coconut cupcakes for his birthday (and we shared the other cupcakes with our neighbors and friends).

 In his moments of savoring his portion...

And trying to convince himself that the liner was tastier than the cupcake itself.

And drink out of his favorite sippy cup, and there's our favorite face expression of his that we love.

Then we went to a toy store, off to his favorite isle: the vehicle isle... first checking out the Harley Davidson bike,

then his newly beloved radio flyer tricycle. He is actually happy with anything that has wheels.

Last but not least, we had dinner at his favorite restaurant: L&L Hawaiian BBQ. He loved everything off his BBQ mixed plate: white rice, macaroni salad, BBQ chicken, beef, and ribs.

Before Eli went to bed, Grandma and Grandpa Cervantes, and his cousins Malakai and Nya sang the birthday song with much enthusiasm to him on the phone, his eyes were wide opened and staring at the phone the whole time, but we were pretty sure that he was just flattered.

We each wrote a birthday letter to Eli. Our words were some emotional ones. We were both very proud and happy to see how well he has grown during the past year.

It was a happy day. It was a great birthday. We love you, Eli.

Eli's Twin Sister Reveals.

Ellie? Or not... but if he does has one, this would be her:

This picture was taken when I was visiting my sister in December (if daddy was there, you will never be seeing pictures like these). I was taking some pictures for my sister's hair bows and clips. Eli kept insisting that he wanted to join in, so we were just thinking how he could participate.

Well, Eli actually proof himself well that he's definitely a boy, even though the hair bows were so pretty and we even tried to dress him in pink. It just doesn't look right. Or, I am just too used to see him as a boy?

Here's a few more pictures from the photo session of my sister's beautiful creations:

Here's Eli again (I know, this is so WRONG):

And here's the "girls" playing together:

And Eli was so glad to go back to his "manhood":

The Pretty Girl Next Door.

These are the two adorable playmates of Eli's, Zoe and Dan. They are my next door neighbor's kiddos. Zoe is a very pretty and energetic girl, usually Dan and Eli just watch her plays and crawl after her. She is the motivation for both boys to walk and run around.

Here's are a few shots of Zoe and Dan posing for some Christmas pictures.

p.s. I absolutely love her red dress.

He Thought He Was A Happy Turkey.

This was taken on December 9th. Dirty shirt, crazy hair. I caught Eli playing inside his new found "hang out spot": the warming drawer under the oven... that would make him an over 20 pounds oversize turkey, probably too heavy for the warming drawer.

Eli's First Snow Experience.

We had been waiting for some fresh snow but it had been a few days, so Eli just had to go for the icy snow. Eli was very intrigued. (I apologize for these blurry cell phone pictures.)

First hand print on the snow.

Hmm, where did all the rocks, sand and cactus go? (That's all we have in Arizona.)

Seems pretty sturdy... It's probably safe to climb on it. I am going for it!

After that we took off his hat and his hair turned all curly (just like when he was born.)

The next day finally was snowing, but then with the fluffy snow on the ground this time Eli wasn't so sure...

Let's go sledding, Eli!

OK, maybe just sit on the snow?

Or not...

Grandma can hold you.

Oh, it's already all better. Give Grandma a kiss. (Currently Eli gives kisses with his forehead.)

It's snowing!

Conclusion: Eli thinks he's a Arizona boy, snowing is not his thing.

What a Gentleman.

 We visited my friends Heidi and Cristian last month and the kiddos had so much fun playing together.
And here's a couple of pictures of Eli being a gentleman pushing the rocker for Merayla while she was sitting there beautifully and you can see that she's really enjoying it. They were so cute, I just couldn't help it to adore this scene.

p.s. It was very nice to see you all. I love meeting Ollie, he is such a sweet little baby boy.
p.p.s. Cristian, great lunch, if you decided to quit your job you should be a chef.

The Beautiful View My Parent's House Has.

Eli and I went and visited my parents in Utah for a week before Christmas. We didn't get out much because Eli was a little bit sick and absolutely dislike his car seat (and so we couldn't go anywhere). But we enjoyed spending time with my family and it was good for them to get to know Eli more. I was a little bit sad that we didn't get to see all my friends though.

I was absolutely amazed by the gorgeous surroundings of my parent's house. The Provo Canyon and the LDS Temple was breathtaking in the snow. There were times also when the sun was out and the sky was clear, I could see the whole valley. The sunset every evening was like a painting. I almost forgotten how beautiful the winter in Utah was. When I see views like these, I cannot thank God enough for giving us lives and the beautiful World He has created for us.