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!

Tave - 3 years old!

Tave turned 3 on May 14th!   Here is a little bit about him at ThReE years old:

Oh our Tavester sure is a ham! 

This kiddo is absolutely SO MUCH fun! 

He loves making us laugh and being silly.

Outside is his favorite place to be.

He adores his brothers. Completely and utterly. 

He is super sweet and loves to give hugs and kisses and cuddles.

He is a GREAT cuddler which makes this momma so happy!

He still sucks on his first two fingers and has his favorite blankies that go with him everywhere. 

He is much better at eating and trying new foods.

He loves any and all things super hero. His favorite super heros are Hulk. Spiderman, and Batman. 

He is the king of dressing up at our house. Multiple capes/hats/swords/etc find their way to Tave and he MUST wear them all at ONCE!

He usually has a sword tucked into the back of his shirt.

He is still taking 2-3 naps per week but usually just loves having quiet time with Weston.

Can count to 10
Knows ABC's
Tave's Favorites:
Song:Twinkle Little Star
Show:  Phineus & Ferb, Toy Story, & a Pup named Scooby Doo
Food:  apples
Treat:  gum and chocolate
Color: green (sometimes red, sometimes orange)
Superhero: Hulk, Wolverine, Ironman, and Bumblebee
Things to do: Play with Weston, give Ryder hugs, pretend play, dress up, build things
People: his brothers
Places: Outside, swimming, disneyland, the park

He has grown so much in the past year. He is definitely good at communicating and letting us know what he would like/doesn't like.  He is a big help and loves his brothers to pieces.

We love our cute, cute Tave-man!

He was pretty excited to be Hulkified:

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!!!

CA Trip: Fun days with Cousins!

The boys had an absolute blast with their cousins. They didn't want to leave Kapria & Mila's house. 

It was so fun to see how well they get along now. They seriously played together AWEsome! 

Here are a few random favorites from the days we spent at their house:

They loved to color:

Uncle Trav's helmet + the girls' car = lots of fun for Tave:

 Bathtime! The kids begged to get to take one together. 

(this will be the last due to ages and gender)

Weston loved brushing Kapria's hair! 

(I think he would be a fabulous big brother to a girl, don't you?!)

Ryder was basically spoiled the entire time we were in CA. There was always a willing person to hold him and snuggle on him:

 He looooved his Uncle Trav, who always got adorable belly laughs out of him:

Kapria asked to feed him his bottle pretty much every day:

And Miss Mila, she is so in love with Ryder. 

She basically held him, read to him, played with him as much as he would let her:

To top it all off, Shar's awesome friend dropped off Sprinkles cupcakes!! 

In her words, 'No trip to CA is complete without Sprinkles!' 

 I couldn't agree more~

It was the perfect touch for our perfect trip!

CA Trip: Another Beach Day!

We love the beach. love Love LOVE it. 

I really can't say that enough. 

The sounds, the sites, the smells all combine together to make our happy place. 

My heaven will have a beach.

I'm pretty sure my boys agree. When we came back from our CA trip, the 2 things the loved the most were Disneyland and the Beach. So there will be a lot of beach pics posted from this trip because we went quite a few times and loved every single second.

Trav surfed while we played in the sand, danced in the waves, and laughed with our friends.

Shar's cute friend Alison and her adorable girls met us there.

Perfect day!

CA Trip: Mother's Day

We celebrated Mother's Day while we were in CA. It was an awesome day, just a little weird not being with my hubby. We did get to be with my sister & mom, so that made it great!

We skyped with Mckenon for his mother's day call. He's in Portugal serving a mission for our Church. He is doing amazing. His camera wasn't working, so we couldn't see him, but he could see us which was great. He got to 'see' all the kids and they loved saying hi. It was so good to hear his voice and hear him bear his testimony of the Gospel and this incredible work. 

We hung out & played with the kids

 Went for a walk to the playground

 Had fun playing together

and had a delicious dinner and dessert. Trav made dinner while we were outside with the  kiddos. He did his best to make Mother's Day special for all of us, which was super impressive since he was the only guy around! 

After the kiddos went to bed we talked, laughed, opened gifts, and watched a show. 

It was perfect!

I am so blessed to be a mom. Whenever I start feeling like I don't get enough done, or the house is always a mess, or I am not on top of things, I look around and realize that I am doing my best at being a mom. Everything else can fall to pieces as long as I am the best mom I can be. 

These sweet boys are what matter most. And I am so grateful for the things they teach me every single day.

I always dreamed of being a mom and I'm lucky enough to get to live that dream every day with my boys.

Happy Mother's Day!!

CA Trip: First Beach Day

Saturday we headed up to Shar & Trav's. The kids were thrilled to see their cousins and couldn't wait to get there. We played for a bit and then had to make a trip to the beach since it was so close. 

It was a chilly day, but that didn't stop the kids from having fun:

It was Ryder's first time at the beach and it was a hit. He was FASCINATED with the sand. He kept digging his little feet in and army crawling through it. He would pick it up in his hands and just watch it run through is fingers. Then, of course, he had to taste it! So funny.

We loved our first beach day and couldn't wait for more!

CA trip: Second stop- Mom & Dad's

We drove from Vegas to my parent's house. It's about a 4.5 hour drive. I think we did it in 6. Which is pretty good, considering!  My goal was to only stop once in between to eat and go to the bathroom and let everyone stretch their legs. I really really wanted stops to only be an hour at the most, but that is just not physically possible when you are buckling/unbuckling/feeding/diapering/taking to the bathroom/and walking around with three kiddos. I kind of felt like a crazy lady with Ryder strapped into the ergo, carrying Tave and a backpack, and holding Weston's hand. I definitely got my fair share of interesting looks. 

We were SO happy to get to my parents house and to visit with Grandma. Since my dad was out of town and my mom had homework and tests to study for, we stayed the one night and then headed up to Shar & Trav's house the next day. I didn't take any pics of this day because, let's face it, I was exhausted. I was just so happy to be out of the car and with my mom that we just relaxed, played, ate, and slept. 

Great day!

CA trip: First stop- VEGAS!

So I was crazy. CRAZY I tell you! My cousins were coming to CA (from Missouri) so I decided to drive out there to visit them and my fam. By myself.  With 3 kiddos. AHHHH!!! 

It was definitely a full 2 weeks, but we honestly had a blast and I could not have asked for better kiddos.  They were all troopers, and while 2 weeks of crazy schedules, no naps, moving from house to house  to house (5 different times) does cause some tantrums and a few tears were shed, overall they were amazing and I truly feel blessed. We did SO.MANY fun things with SO.MANY people that we love. I will try to get it all up and blogged about this week. We'll see.

May 4-6

Our amazing drive out to CA (by myself, remember) is due to the fact that we stopped in Vegas. My awesome college roomie lives there with her adorable kiddos. I have wanted to visit Annie for a long time now and this was the perfect chance!!  The boys are still talking about getting to play with Joshie & Aloria. We had a BLAST.  These kids are non-stop fun and craziness and it was perfect! We had a great time just hanging out, having a girl's night at Bunco ( my first time, so fun, thanks Josh for watching ALL 6 kiddos!) watching the kids, laughing, and talking. 

Oh my gosh, this blueberry bubble ball is the funniest thing EVER. Seriously, I think I peed my pants I was laughing so hard. The kids loved it and took turns rollling each other around. We had to do it in twos so they wouldn't get hurt, but they could ALL fit in there. Oh my goodness, I haven't laughed this hard in awhile!  I even got in and the kids pushed me around. This would be THE. FUNNIEST. couples date night....

A rare moment when they were all sitting still. I think they were pretty worn out by the end of each night:

Adorable and sweet little Claire-bear.  She let me read to her and even sat on my lap. I feel special. ;)

Ryder slept in the bathroom. Yup. That was how it worked out so we all got the most sleep. The boys loved climbing in with him in the morning while I got ready for the day:

 Our 6, SIX! kiddos!!!

Me & Annie...we look so tired because basically we talked the entire time I was there...not much sleep. 

I LOVE this lady. Thanks for having us!