7 Months Old

The Mo'unga clan has had quite an exciting week; Elias reached some major mile stones! He can now sit up on his own from a reclined position, he can stand up in his crib, and he finally figured out the whole crawling thing. He's been scoot'n around since Feburary, and something just clicked this week to alternate moving the legs. Look out! We are in for one wild ride, I'm sure of it!
Last month we took an unplanned trip to California. My work is experiencing some difficult times financially, due to this awesome economy, and is mandating involuntary furloughs. Which means everyone gets to take a week off of work. The first furlough in March, we had the opportunity to choose whether to use vacation pay or no pay at all. But for our 2nd and 3rd furlough weeks, one in April and one in May, we don’t get a choice…it’s unpaid. Anyway, since I had a week off we hopped in the car and took a nice little drive to So. Cal. Okay, so with a 6 month old, the drive took 13 hrs. one way, but it was so worth it! Chris was released from the hospital the same day we arrived, a blessing and a curse since the doctor’s still weren’t sure what was going on with him. We went out to dinner with Dad, and Angela and her crew to their favorite pizza place Vincenzos Pizza Esperienza. That was a lot of fun, with the exception of the fat, high school girls who were dancing along to the awful karaoke they were failing at performing. Seriously. Damien and I felt dumb for them they were so bad.
We got to go to Jake’s flag football game, where he made the last touchdown of the game! What a little athlete! I have to be honest we weren’t all that stoked about going in the first place. I mean, who wants to watch a bunch of 5 yr old boys run around, pick the grass, and dance while in the line up? Well, after this game, let me tell you, I’d be more than happy to go to another 5 yr olds flag football game! They were so funny. It was like the Primary Program in Sacrament Meeting, only better ‘cuz they didn’t have to be at all reverent. We were laughing so hard at these little kids who were trying so hard to play the game that they clearly do not understand. It was a good day.
One of the afternoons we went down to Emily and Ryan’s and played Guitar Hero for a few hours. It amazes me that something as simple as pushing buttons to music can keep adults attention for so long. Damien and I concur that Rock Band is still better though. Sorry Wii lovers.

Along with hanging out with the family, I got to visit with some old friends. Lisa and Nicole Esposito came over for a while. Nicole is the first friend I can remember. Our moms met when they were prego with us, she’s 20 days older than me, and for the first 6 or 7 years of our lives we lived on the same street. It’s good to catch up.
We also drove down to Orange to see the infamous Struss family. Baby Elias was a surprise treat for momma Daryl, not to mention her Sugar (that’s me). We had lots of good laughs at Ricardo’s. Elias couldn’t get enough of daddy David. Damien was holding him and feeding him his bottle. What seemed like every 10 seconds, Elias would stop and look over at David and get this cheek to cheek grin across his face and then continue eating. It was great! That kid is something else. Below are some pics that Stacy took in their “Jesus light” in their backyard.