Gotta finish one vacation before the next!

AAAh! I gotta at least finish pictures from our San Diego trip before we venture off the California again! That's right, in a few days, we'll be off to Disneyland! But before that, let me re-visit Balboa Park on the Sunday of our San Diego weekend. It was so nice outside and we had a great time walking around Balboa Park, which we didn't get to see last year. Heck...there's so much to see there we should really go back again next year!

Miss Kelsie-Lou sitting on the steps of the Organ Stadium

Maxi just had to get a picture with this dog in it because it reminded her of her favorite family dog that died. Carter was greatly loving being the second object of the photo shoot!

Carter in the gardens

Shannon and Landon

Maxi standing in front of the Botanical Building

Yep...Carter is the little red speck in front

San Diego -- WARNING! Pictures galore!

(This was a pretty rainbow we saw in the sky on the way there!)

The weekend of the 9th we took a fun little trip to San Diego! After we visited last year, we knew we wanted to go back every year because we enjoyed it so much. So, not about to break that little promise to ourselves and wanting to show Maxi the beach, etc before it gets cold, we ventured off! Friends of ours, Landon and Shannon, live there so we mostly saw them the whole time (well, Landon on Saturday). They were super nice showing us around and we had a lot of fun hanging out on the beach.

Carter and Kelsie LOVED the beach!

Our family hanging out in the waves

Is this not the cutest little picture ever? What a stud!

Kelsie was our little fearless child. She ran right into the water and loved to stand and have the waves hit her over and over! Justin let go of her one time and the wave knocked her over with her face going in! But did she care? Heck no! She got right back in without so much as a flinch! (Well, maybe a little flinch to get the salt out of her eyes)

Carter was a little more timid when it came to the waves. We had a few teary moments after getting knocked down by waves. But the little guy was a trooper and didn't let it spoil his fun! He mostly was our little sand monster, which I did not mind at all! One less little one to worry about drowning in the ocean =)

Kelsie, Maxi and I at the surf taco shop Landon took us to. It was delicious! And Maxi really liked their cheese; she said it was "special" cheese. We had fun teasing her about that because it really was only cheddar cheese! It must've been that real california cheese or something! ha ha

Landon and Justin at lunch

Me at the hotel ;)

Saturday after a long day at the beach, Landon invited us over to make us dinner! It was delicious and I am amazed because Justin has only cooked once in our marriage and always tells me he can't possibly make his own sandwich because it tastes much better made by someone else! But, I gotta give him credit for shredding cheese for me when I need it because I really hate doing it! So, for sure I rule the kitchen in our house, but this just goes to show that guys can cook too!

The view from the back yard... GORGEOUS!

Me and the kiddos in the back

Beautiful Maxi enjoying every second of California!

I'm Tagged

Okay, I was tagged by one of my best friends, Danielle and so I will do it before I go to bed =)

1) What did you want to be when you were growing up?

I wanted to be a teacher growing up. My Grandma had all these extra school supplies from when she was a school teacher and I LOVED playing school! I am a teacher of my children for now and one day, I will finish my degree and be a school teacher as well =)

2) Name one embarrassing thing about yourself?

Well I could go on about lots of embarrassing things about myself, I say lots of embarrassing things and do lots of quirky things. But I will say ... I don't know, the things I'm thinking of I'm pretty sure are just kinda gross? Okay, I really like picking scabs ... like, a lot. It sounds really gross to say it, but I really love it and my husband runs from me when he has one because he knows I will find it =)

3) If you could only rescue three things from your house what would they be?

Okay, like Danielle, I'm going to assume my family is already removed from the house. I will say my computer since it has all my pictures and family videos on it (or how about my external hard drive shoved in the back of my scrapbook?). My kids' favorite blankies and my Grandmother's painting she did for us. I feel that almost everything else can be replaced, but those are some precious things that could never be replaced!

4) What's your favorite book?

My favorite book is ... man, I wanna say the Twilight series but it's so cliche sounding now. However, I do cherish that series, could read it over and over. I also really love The Host by Stephenie Meyer, The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks and the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.

5) What's your favorite movie?

There's so many and it's hard to pick just one, but this one has always been very near and dear to me and I will love it forever. "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken." Oh man, it's the best movie, REALLY!!!

6) What's your favorite joke?

KNock Knock? Who's There? Banana. Banana Who? Knock Knock. Who's There? Banana. Banana Who? ETC .. Knock Knock? Who's There? Orange. Orange Who? Orange you glad I didn't say Banana again?

Ha ha ... okay, that's always my go to joke when Carter wants to hear a joke. Or Knock knock. Who's there? Lettuce. Lettuce who? Let us in it's cold outside!

Oh my cute boy, laughs hysterically at these same jokes every time =)

7) What would you most like to change about your house?

Hmmm...I think I would like to change the amount of trees. I want lots and lots more trees so I can pretend I don't live in the desert!

8) Do you believe in love at first sight?

I don't want to say "No" to this question, but I don't think I can fully say "Yes" either. I believe when you meet someone, you can have a "feeling" that you will cherish that person forever. I believe you can instantly care about someone and have strong feelings of love towards someone very quickly. But to have true, unconditional love for someone is something that takes time. To love and accept someone as they are takes the time of knowing exactly who that person is. So, loving someone as a whole is not something that can happen in an instant.

Movie In The Park

This last Friday, we FINALLY went to the Movie In The Park event they do in our neighborhood. We've never gone because it usually starts later (8 or something) when it gets dark (bedtime, not so good timing). But, since it's been getting dark earlier, we were able to go. They were showing Ghostbusters! Woo-hoo! Love that movie, I was totally singing the, "Dun du du du du du, dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-du. Who you gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!!!" Maxi was looking forward to this for weeks; as she said while we were walking, "I have never seen a movie in a garden before!" Carter and Kelsie love being outside in general, so it was LOVELY! It had rained earlier in the day, but luckily the grass had dried up by the time we got there.

We bought some $5 pizzas from Little Caesar's, cut up some oranges, brought some drinks, and we were good to go! It was perfect weather and was so nice to just sit and enjoy the great outdoors with a good ol' movie! They had a craft for the kids too and gave away free glowsticks, which was very awesome both for spotting my children in the dark and a good entertainment tool!

Carter holding his marshmallow man

Hayden, Mikayla, and Kelsie

Kelsie wanted to be by Aunt Nicole!

Justin and Carter eating pizza

Emma and Sophia

Maxi and I

Rainforest Cafe

This past Saturday, we had the inkling to go eat somewhere fun since we had Shelly here to hang out with! So, we went to Rainforest Cafe! It is fun to eat there with the animals coming to life and the rain falling down around. The kids and adults all had a good time, although the price won't have us returning any time soon! But hey, we're making memories here, right?

Our family on the bench at Rainforest Cafe

Carter and Libby showing me their balloon animals

Justin and Jason chatting it up before dinner

Carter drumming his utensils to pass the time... He kept telling me, "Mommy, they're not bringing me my food!" (In the "I'm telling on someone" voice)

Mom W, Andrea and I

Maxi with the kids looking over the raining balcony

Eastenn, Danielle, Shelly and Libby

Our table

Maxi, Andrea and I (with Libby and Kelsie in the corner)

We also, right before the Rainforest Cafe tried to swing by the Springs Preserve in town. They were having a free event "Asian Moon Festival" and we'd never been there before, so we wanted to check it out. Well, I was expecting something the size of the Mormon Fort that we attend here frequently. Ummm, not even close. It was so full we had to park down the street at the mall and the place is HUGE with, like 3 museums throughout and outside places to explore. So, by the time we walked in, we really only had 25 minutes before we had to start walking out again, which was pretty lame. Carter got to make a paper lantern...and then we were done. Ha ha. So, it was a weird, fast outing, that ended in a few educational pointers: 1. Plan on being there for a few hours next time. 2. When there's a free event here in town, plan on fighting a large crowd (HELLO?! I'm retarded) and 3. Tired children/adults walking in the heat with no cold water = unhappy folks. All seem fairly obvious, but I was apparently oblivious to them this particular day. oh well, we had fun for 25 minutes =)

Maxi helping Carter make his paper lantern

Carter with the finished product

Kelsie playing in the dirt, as usual =)

My hot hubby and I

Last night, we had Mom W, Emma and Sophia over for one last dinner before they go home! The kids had fun playing in the backyard and eating yummy popsicles afterwards.

Kelsie was so happy to have her own popsicle!

Gorgeous Emma

Carter and Sophia

Family Visits!

Don't you just love when you get visits from family? I know we do, especially ones we haven't seen in a while! Justin's sister, Shelly, came into town this last week (she lives in Chicago) and we were so happy to have her! Also, our two nieces, Emma and Sophia, were here! I dragged Shelly to my early morning Saturday Zumba class I teach at the church and we also got her and the two girls going with us the following Tuesday! Woo-hoo! YAY ZUMBA! Ha ha, okay, I'm done with my shout-out. So the Thursday after Shelly arrived we had invited her and Mom W over for dinner with us for some oh-so-yummy ribs! I love those things! Well, when Justin's twin brother heard what we were all eating together, he decided they should be part of this action too (and who could blame him, you can't go wrong with ribs). So, their family came over and joined us as well and added some steak to the feast! It was a party =) Here are pictures from

that evening:

Aunt Shelly with Danielle and cute little Libby

Kelsie was all about sitting on Aunt Danielle's lap, dipping her dessert in the milk and sipping out of the straw, too bad half the dessert didn't end up in her mouth! Ha ha

The kids were running around like screaming banshee's exactly 5.5 seconds before the TV was flipped on, milk was handed out and the picture was taken.

And one last one to include. This is Kelsie every day. She's always throwing her arms around me in desperation saying, "Mommy, mommy, MOMMY!!!" It's oh so cute...she says her little words so good and looks so darn cute, how could anyone resist this sweet face?

Okay, this is just getting ridiculous!

Okay, clearly 6 months is way too long to go without posting on my blog. My sister in laws reminded me I'm losing in the posting department. They are way better than me and I'm going to attempt to catch up! So, here are some highlights of what we've been up to the last 6 months!

We've been celebrating birthdays, most notably Kelsie turned one in May! We thought for sure she would be walking by her first birthday since she started pulling to stand at 6 months old, but no. She has taken her sweet time and would only walk back and forth on our bed and nowhere else. Guess she knew it was a soft place to fall! But finally, just this last week, at 15 months old, she's decided to start walking. We love our silly girl!

Our cute little nephew also turned one! He was the cutest baby I've ever seen eating their birthday cake! My kids never eat their cake...he dug right in! So darling =)

In August, we had a foreign exchange student from Germany move in with us. Her name is Maxime, but goes by Maxi. She is the sweetest girl and we love having her! Justin really likes messing with her every day and she is wonderful with our kids and I love having her around! She fits right in with our family and I can't imagine what it will be like to send her back home in June!

Carter also recently just turned four! We are so proud of him! He is the sweetest, cutest, funniest boy! He brings so much happiness to our family and is such a good big brother. He is SO excited to start school, he can barely stand it. We do preschool at home, once a week going to a free preschool program at the library, and starting this week are also doing a once a week preschool group with some friends in the ward. He is so excited and loves learning new things. He can't wait to read. He is our little adventure boy, always climbing, exploring outside and playing with other kids in our neighborhood!

On his birthday, we always do a special outing of his choice, and he chose the M&M Factory here. He LOVES that place (secretly, it's really not that exciting) but he can't get enough!

We've gone camping A LOT over the summer too! Once a month, I think is what it's turned out to be. We have had lots of fun with that and on our last trip to Pioche over Labor Day, we brought some friends, Lizzy and Crazy, some cute little horny toads, with us! They've been living with us for a couple weeks now and Carter, Kelsie, and mostly every other kid that comes to our house loves them! Camping is so much work, but so worth all the memories and I don't know if everyone else's kids are the same, but my kids LOVE being outside and nothing is better than being outside 24/7 while camping. Even if Mommy is having a heart attack about all the dirt that has collected on the children within a few hours of being there! Especially in Pioche, that was the dirtiest camping trip I've ever been on. The dirt was dark and sticky and my children looked like they rolled out of a dumpster by the end. But fun memories were made and that's what matters right? And our exchange student, Maxi was able to go to Pioche with us, which made it even more special! She caught a fish, rode 4-wheelers, and saw an up close fireworks show for the first time. She said she's never been so dirty in her life, but she had lots of fun too!

I also went to Girl's Camp for 1 day...it was fun being up there if only for that short time =) I love all those girls!

Justin had surgery in August to remove a growth on his adam's apple. Everything went GREAT! And there is no cancer, which is good =)

I've also just this last weekend officially become a certified Zumba instructor! I love this workout so much. I started going as requested by one of my good friends and boy am I glad she got me going. I am addicted and am enjoying learning all about it and especially how it's gotten me in better shape! If you've never tried it, you should! It's the most fun workout, it really is like a party! I've been teaching in our ward for a couple weeks now and it's been really fun.

Somehow, between all of this, Justin and I have found time to enjoy each other's company too by going on dates, or just stealing moments between chasing down little munchkins. I love my husband so much and am so happy I have him to myself for eternity! He is amazing and works so hard for our family every day. He makes me laugh and cheers me up when I am down. I don't know what I'd do without him. Not to mention his stunning good looks ;)

This picture was in May, we took a trip with no kids to California and went to Magic Mountain. It was so fun and a total blast thanks to our best friends!

Okay, I think that about sums it all up in a nutshell! Hopefully I can keep going this time!