...we love our California beaches.

I took the kids to Santa Monica Beach today. They played in the water, built sandcastles, flew a kite, played with a ball, and a frisbee, and ate, and had a great time.

Know why I love my kids? Well, one of the reasons? We were SO close to the pier with all the amusement park rides, and we even walked over to an ATM at the pier and not one of them asked me if they could go on a ride. It's like it never occurred to them. They were talking about who could get to the water first, and what kind of sand castles they wanted to build. Love it.




Destroying each others creations is all in good fun of course!

My laundromat

Travis just finished installing my mom's "old" washer and dryer, so now I have a laundromat rather than a laundry room. I LOVE IT!!! I can hardly keep up with the folding!

Griffith Park

We went with the Richards' family to Griffith park today. Can't post just one picture, so here are a few...

Sunday Activity

After Church today Paige decided to play a "game" where we each wrote down 10 questions about ourselves, and re-distributed them to each other and the family member who got your questions had to try to answer them to see how well we knew each other. Other family members could help if they got stumped. I was pleased with how well I knew most of the answers about my kids, but actually learned a few things too. The kids had fun as well.
And I never would have taken a picture of this if I weren't blogging a "picture a day"!

Ty's introduction to team sports

Ty's first T-ball game was today. Pretty embarrassing when he can't stop picking his nose long enough to watch the ball, but he actually blended in really well with the other 4 and 5 year olds. No one knew where to run, some ran to first then back home. Hilarious. Gotta love t-ball. At this after-game huddle the coach announced the MVP of the game and awarded the game ball, and when Ty was asked later if he won (meaning the game of course), he said "No, the coach gave another kid the ball." Pretty competitive honor to bestow in t-ball if you ask me. This picture captured the look of envy Ty was giving the kid who was holding that "game ball".

March 19, 2010 - Ty's Preschool Easter Party

Blogging Challenge

I've decided to follow in my friend Bethany's footsteps and accept a challenge to blog a photo a day. I can tell you right now, I'll probably miss a few, and I'll probably have to go back and add a few from previous days, but I'll do my best. My blog has been sorely neglected and maybe this will inspire me to do better. Today's picture to follow...

Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

 

 

 

 

We went to General Conference for the first time this year! We got to attend 2 sessions, plus Travis got to go to the Priesthood session. What an amazing General Conference! We had such a great experience!

Ty's bat face

Ty fell asleep on the couch "reading" a book...

I was questioning a decision that I made today. I had to decide whether to stay home and "take care of" my sick 17 year old daughter, or go to take care of a Church responsibility. Well, I decided that the other thing could be done without me there, but no one could take my place taking care of my daughter. Yes, she's 17. But, in 8 months she'll be leaving for college, and when she gets sick, I won't be able to be there. Now, I can. Still, I felt bad "shirking" my other plans. Then I came across this video someone posted on facebook. What comfort it gave me that I'd made the right decision.

72 hour kit drill

Last night my family did a "72 hour kit drill". We told the kids we needed to evacuate in 10 minutes. We grabbed our kits, sleeping bags, etc. and left for Apollo park to have dinner from our kits. We learned A LOT! First we learned we didn't have utensils in our kit. Oops. Then we learned that much of the food expired a year ago. Oops again! Also, a lot of the food I'd picked for shelf life and for the fact that I thought it would be palatable hot or cold, didn't blend well together when combined as a meal. I guess if we were starving it would be fine. But I think we're going to switch to MRE's. May not taste great, but there will be a longer shelf life at least. If anyone has any suggestions for what the best MRE's are, let me know! Has anyone tried the "bucket o' MRE's" from Costco? Okay, that's not what they call it.
So... what are the pictures all about? Apollo park is located right next to Fox Airfield and we got to watch water dropping helicopters and airplanes take off and land the whole time we were there. Since they're saying it will be 2 weeks before the fire's contained, we may go out another evening and try to get better pictures.

Don't they look thrilled? Actually, we had fun, you just can't tell here...

Station Fire

Here's an interesting time lapsed video of the Station Fire as seen from LA. We've been getting a lot of the smoke in the AV.

Conner's first court of honor

Conner had his first court of honor last night! Travis got a badge for attending Scout camp as a leader, and Conner got... drum roll please... 3 rank advancements, tenderfoot, 2nd class, and first class, and 13 merit badges including 4 eagle required! He and his leaders worked very hard this summer. If he keeps up the pace he'll be an eagle scout at 13!

Mormon night at Dodger Stadium

We had a great time at Mormon Night at dodger stadium. Of course, no one brought a camera. Don't think that's ever happened! But it was fun to see M. Russell Ballard throw out the first pitch. We had tickets in the All You Can Eat Pavilion. I had heard the seats were bad but we loved them! We were only 3 rows up from the field and yes, we were out in right field, but we could see great, and players kept throwing their warm up balls out the fans, and there was the constant danger of home run balls hitting you on the head, so that was fun! We definitely got our money's worth! Tickets were $25 each, and those seats are usually $15 without the food. Dodger stadium food is EXPENSIVE. There were 8 of us (us and my mom), and we ate... drumroll, please... 15 dodger dogs, 12 nachos, 6 bags of popcorn, 7 bags of peanuts, 11 bottles of water, and 13 sodas! If you figure everything cost an average of $4 each, which is low I think, we consumed $256 worth of dodger snacks. What a bargain! To top it off we went to get nachos for Preston at the top of the 7th, (they only serve food through the 7th inning), and they were piling all the hot dogs on the counter and the lady gave us a big stack and said "Here... bring these home"! We ended up bringing 16 hot dogs home! Guess what my kids had for breakfast today? Is there such thing as nitrate poisoning? How about sodium poisoning? Anyway... it was a fun night. Too bad we left early with the Dodgers behind, (We had to drive about an hour and a half home, then Travis had to get up at 4 to drive back to LA for work), and we missed the grand slam that won them the game. Just our luck...

Big Bear July 2009

Ty and his cousins

This was after Gammy's funeral, and the boy cousins all ended up playing in the water in the backyard. Ty loved being in control of the hose.

Jason and Christie

It may not have been under the best of circumstances, but we still loved being able to see Jason and Christie when they came for a week for Gammy's funeral. We miss them!

Love this quote...

"There is a great work for the Saints to do. Progress and improve upon and make beautiful everything around you. Cultivate the earth, and cultivate your minds. Build cities, adorn your habitations, make gardens, orchards and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure, and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations." - Brigham Young