July & August....

Well, I’m getting a bit better at my updates – once a month at least! As always, we had loads going on. Most important, Miss Haley was baptized on July 25th at Saint Lucy’s Catholic Church. We had a private ceremony and then a huge celebration at the Conway Compound. We opened a huge bottle of champagne we received as a gift for our wedding and were saving for a special occasion. My mom and I made all the food - a ham, turkey, tons of picnic chicken, corn salad, shrimp salad, 5 tri-tips - it was all gone by the end of the party! I think we had just fewer than 100 people in attendance! We had the Davies in from FL, family and friends from all over California. It was such a special day for us. We are so happy our little peanut has joined the faith. We are expecting quite a bit from her Godparents, Lane and Brian!

We finished one celebration and headed off to another – the annual Richardson Family Reunion. Our hosts this year were the Camerena and Richardson girls. Brooke, Natalie and Joyce did a fantastic job of organizing everything. Our Shaver retreat was the perfect location and we even managed to secure a bedroom that fit the pack-n-play in one of the condos (quite a feat with 30 or so people vying for rooms). It was a fun and relaxing week, complete with outdoor yoga (thanks Katie), loads of pinochle (I was down over $60 at one point), great food (I’m still dreaming about the lemon, cottage cheese pancakes, Aunt Rebecca) and even better company! Miss Haley even scored a few custom knit headbands made by the talented Natalie! I think we all agreed, however, to elect a pinochle score czar next year and automate the scorekeeping!

You'll notice our very drunk boys in the front!

Miss Haley attended her very fist rugby game this past weekend, to see Uncle Andy coach his 7s team from Aspen. We don’t get to see our Aspen friends very often and were thrilled to drive up to Treasure Island and visit for a few hours. We also got to see Grandpa Comstock and he certainly was in his element! It was a quick turnaround because Chris had a full day of golf lessons starting early on Sunday with Uncle Brian, Steven Spencer and the newly engaged Paul Basila.

I started back at work last week and the transition has been relatively painless. I decided on a 3 day schedule, at least for awhile, and we have been blessed to have fantastic people watching Haley. We had a rough go of the nanny situation when the person we had slated to watch Haley decided to return to Mexico as a result of some huge drama. We certainly have our guardian angels watching out for us – we were referred to a wonderful girl, Courtney, who already loves Haley. She watches her on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Wednesdays, Julie and Dawn Davies have come to our rescue. My sister’s mother and sister-in-law volunteered to take a day. I can’t believe how lucky we are to have such a fantastic extended family (I count the Davies as family). Julie treats Haley just like her own grandchild! My always wonderful mother takes Miss Haley when we need her help and we’ve even been able to talk her down from her mountain getaway to babysit!
Our newest addition to Gourmet Group, Kevin and Kelly Patterson, hosted a wonderful dinner last month. It was our first meeting with all in attendance in quite awhile. How things have changed. When we first started the group, no one was pregnant or had children. At our last dinner everyone in the group was either pregnant or had just had a baby! Something in the water...

Here are just a few pictures of our little peanut....