CA Trip: Fun at Nonny & Grandpa's

We had a blast hanging out and playing at my parent's house.  

The kids absolutely loved every second of being there:

Shar & the girls came down to spend some time with us and Tory & Melissa as well.
We had such a fun time playing games, reading stories, hanging out with Grandpa, coloring, and just being silly.

My mom was sick a lot of the time, which was such a bummer, but we got an extra few days with her since she drove back with us!  

We loved our trip to CA

The boys did wonderfully and my family was such a huge help. I truly felt so blessed on this trip. I was exhausted by the time we got home, but truly could not have asked for a better time (unless of course Jeff was with me!)

Thanks everyone, we MISS you like crazy!

CA Trip: Birthday Bash!

We had a big birthday celebration for these cute kiddos:

Tave's 3rd on May 14th

Abby's 3rd on May 23rd

Weston's 5th on June 13th

The boys loved getting to celebrate with our CA family. They requested a 'Transformer' party but we had to throw in some fairies for Abby. :)  We had a delicious bbq with tons of yummy food and wonderful family & friends.  

Mmmmm....

Jeff was back in UT, so we skyped with him for the singing & present opening. The boys really loved that daddy got to be 'here' too!

Ryder started crawling today (May 15th) and was SO busy and fun! He loves Grandpa Dan:

Cute Abby with her gorgeous mama, Tory!

I love this one of Shar & Kapria:

Me & my cute boys:

The boys loved celebrating with Nonny Kare & Grandpa.  They were also SUPER excited over their cool Thor swords/shields from them. 

 It is always so fun to celebrate special occasions with family.
Thanks,everyone, for making it so memorable!

We love you!

CA Trip: Oceanside Pier

First of all, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Tave-man! 

This little guy turned 3 years old while we were in CA!  (He will be getting his own birthday post soon)

We had a pretty low-key day at the beach, which is just the way this kid rolls. :)  

We let family and friends know that we'd be hanging out here for anyone who wanted to swing by. It was so fun to see lots of awesome family members that we don't see very often. Thanks,everyone, for making this day tons of fun!

~Tave~

showing off his 3 year old muscles!

~Ryder~ 

doing what he loved best, playing in the sand

 

~Weston~

He looooved being big enough (and brave enough) to go in the water. He spent pretty much the entire time running around in the water, throwing wet sand, and getting soaked:

~Kapria~

Sharing treasures:

She loved digging in the sand & finding sandcrabs

~Mila~

was good just hanging out on the blanket and blowing bubbles!

The kids found tons of these and they were HUGE:

The playground at the beach is always a favorite:

~Shar~

She was so awesome and carried Ryder around for his nap. Our boys sure love their aunt!

      

~Trav~ 

built an awesome sand castle with the kids:

~Dad & Mom~

~Melissa & Me~

I love this girl!

~Abby~

She and West became little water buddies

~Tory~

our photographer

love you!

~Kevin & Marquee~

~Alex & Kayli~

~Natalia~

~Amber & Will~

~Nonny Kare & Ryder~

~Grandpa & Tave~

It was a perfect 'last' beach day.

Goodbye beach, we will miss you!

CA Trip: Bates Nut Farm

The day after Disneyland we headed back down to my parents home.

Every trip to Nonny Kare & Grandpa Dan's has to include Bates Nut Farm. 

Feeding animals and running around for free, what could be better!

Everyone who came:

Nonny Kare, Ryder, Weston, Tave, Me, Melissa, Tory, & Abby

Love relaxing days like this!

CA Trip: Disneyland! (A picture overload)

We were so lucky to be able to go to Disneyland with my family. 

This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip and we had a B.L.A.S.T.

Our day was FULL and fun and we went on so many rides. 

Pretty much the happiest place on earth is just that! 

 I absolutely could not narrow down the pictures beyond this. I know that when I print this book, the kids will LOVE seeing every single one of their favorite rides and all of the wonderful family with whom we got to experience Disneyland. 

So skip them if you want, but these are our memories and we sure love every single one!

The entire crew!

(I'm working on names, Kevin & Markee,  Tory, Abby, Melissa, Dad, Tave, Mom, Kapria, Shar, Mila, Trav, Weston, Me, & Ryder)

It was so great to meet my uncle and cousins there! We hadn't seen them in waay too long. Tory & Melissa are the reason we came to CA and we were so thrilled to be spending time with them. I love those girls more than anything and wish we lived closer!!

My cute boys did not want to take another picture! They really were very thrilled to be here!

We met lots of our favorite Disney characters:

 Tinkerbell, Vidia, Tigger, Eeyore, & Pooh! The boys were super excited to meet them but always got a little bit shy. 

Tigger & Pooh were the favorites and even Ryder was into them...he kept trying to pull on their noses!

There are SO.MANY rides for little kids to go on!  

Here are a few of our favorites:

ROCKETS:

BUZZ LIGHTYEAR RIDE:

 it was THE favorite ride of the entire day, we had to go multiple times

TEACUPS:

another favorite, went multiple times

IT'S A SMALL WORLD:

TARZAN'S TREEHOUSE:

it's not a ride-  it is an interactive place to play and explore.

They got to make music in the 'camp' and climb all through his house. It was awesome!

 We also spent time just hanging out:

 Waiting in lines:

Visiting with family:

(Tave was my Dad's sidekick. He sure loves his grandpa and didn't leave his side the entire trip. I think my dad took him on pretty much every ride.  My ergo was my sidekick. It's the place that Ryder took all of his naps, so comfy and easy to wear.)

Eating and snacking (and if you're Ryder, flirting with the neighbors):

I felt so blessed because despite the crazy nap schedule and busy busy day, 

Ryder was always so happy:

Disneyland officially wore us out:

We could not have asked for a better trip!  We had such a great time with everyone. 

The only thing that would have made this visit even more perfect was if Jeff was with us. 

We missed him so much, but can't wait to do Disneyland with him in a few years!!!