Fun in the California Sun

Last week my mom and dad and my 2 sisters, Pam and Bonnie, and their families came to Newport Beach for a little vacation. This is one of the perks of living in LA. Everyone comes to visit! I love it! Anyway, we had a great time at the beach. We went to Newport Beach one day and Huntington Beach another day. We spent hours there and had a blast! We made sand castles, found all sorts of shells - even a couple clams that were still closed together. That was pretty cool until Ben threw it and broke it on the pavement :( We also found TONS of sand crabs. The best ones were at Newport Beach. We found some huge ones. Ben wanted to bring one home for a pet. I think that might be illegal so we just kept them in their home.

I have to say it is soooo nice to go to the beach when there are other people there to help with the kids. Usually when I go it is with a playgroup with other moms who are busy keeping track of their own kids. But this time there was a great adult to kid ratio. There was also their 6 cousins who they had a great time playing with. Cousins to play with and lots of adult eyes watching makes for a very relaxing and therapeutic (for me) time at the beach!

Maybe one day they'll actually use the boogie board the way it is intended to be used. But for now they are just enjoying the ride! I actually got out there on the boogie board but too bad there are not pics to show. I'm really disappointed about that ;) Especially since the waves definitely got the best of me. But at least I gave it a try.

We had fun building sand castles. Something about digging in the sand really is therapeutic for me. I loved it!

Here are the little architects. They were great little helpers! It took us a couple hours to put this together but it was fun!

So for the whole year that we've lived here, Ben has been pretty terrified of the waves. He pretty much kept his distance and just enjoyed staying close to the umbrella digging in the sand. This is how he started the first day we went to Newport Beach. He would inch up a little and as soon as he saw the wave coming he would bolt for the sand.

But he got much braver as the time progressed. Once he let the water hit his feet a few times he realized that he actually likes it and he had a great time after that. Thank goodness he's over that. However, that means that I will now have to keep my eyes open wide when I'm alone with the kids at the beach. Especially because Luke will run into the water in about 2 seconds flat. He doesn't bother waiting for me. Here are some pics of Ben getting more comfortable with the water. He's kind of hard to see but he's there.

I think my boys probably brought home about a pound of sand each in their hair, skin, and shorts. Thank goodness for baby powder. It works great at getting sand off of skin. I wouldn't dream of going to the beach without it!

Jimmy's 6th Birthday

Jimmy recently celebrated his 6th birthday! We had a pool party for him and his friends and had a great time! Jimmy is way into Star Wars lately so he wanted a Star Wars cake and decorations. It was a small and simple party but it was fun for the kids. As an added bonus Jim and I let him watch Star Wars episode IV on his birthday. We figured he is old enough for that now and he thought it was the greatest birthday present ever. He also got a razor scooter and rides it EVERYWHERE!

Ben's 4th Birthday

I'm about a month late but we celebrated Ben's birthday while we were in Utah. We had a little barbecue in Craig and Sandy's back yard with a Transformer theme. Ben was so excited for his transformer cake and for his presents. It really doesn't take much to please my boys - thank goodness. He was so excited when he received a package of glow sticks and when we told him that they were all his and he was in charge of them he thought he was king of the world! It was fun to watch his eyes light up as he saw the cake and opened his presents!

It was quite entertaining to watch my dad and Jim try to figure out the transformers that Ben got for his birthday. I was teasing Jim because it took him a while to figure it out. He does have 2 masters degrees (one in engineering) and is currently working on his PhD. Just kidding Jim, I love ya ;) My dad was happy when he figured it out and Ben was obviously happy to play with them.

At the Farm

My dad has a friend who lives on a farm out in Willard so we got to take the boys to see all of the cool things there. We saw bullfrogs, polliwogs, fish, bulls, rabbits, cats, dogs, tractors and LOTS of mosquitoes. The kids were in heaven! I couldn't believe that this cat was letting the boys maul the poor thing to death. I just kept telling it to run away and hide but it didn't listen to me. I've never seen a cat put up with this kind of thing. It was crazy! Needless to say, they had a blast - the kids that is, not the cat!

Visit to the BYU campus

Okay, I know it is taking me forever to post all of my pictures from our trip to Utah but I had like 400 pics to sort through so it's taking some time. While we were there we went to visit the BYU campus. Jim wanted to see one of his professors so while he was talking to him we went to the Bean museum and the art museum. We got to see the Walter Wick exhibit at the art museum. (He's the one who does the "I Spy" and "Can you see what I see" books.) And at the art museum I got to say "hands off" like a hundred times. But it was still fun.


After the museums, we met up with Jim and the kids wanted to see the fountain in front of the administration building. Well, Ben got a little too close and fell right in. This is him afterward. . . "Yep! I did that on purpose!" He didn't really say that, but that's kind of what it looks like in the picture. It was hilarious. He thought so too, once he got over the shock of falling in.


So after that we were just walking around campus and we say another fountain. This time, there were kids playing in it so ourboys just got right it. We figured it was no big deal since Ben was already wet. Afterward, we went to the creamery for ice cream. Then we decided that ice cream maybe wasn't such a good idea when Ben's lips were turning blue and his teeth were chattering. So we decided that maybe it was time to go home. He fell asleep in the car on the way back to Jim's parents. He was pretty worn out after such a big day!

Hike to Battle Creek Falls

We got to see some great mountain scenery in Utah. This particular hike is only about 5 minutes from Jim's parent's house and it was a perfect distance for the boys. At the end was a pretty cool waterfall that was pretty fun to watch. Gotta love the mountains. I think living in the city is helping me appreciate them much more:)

Luke just needed a little break and some shade. The perfect hide out for a 2 year old.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

We had the opportunity to take the kids to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. I was a little nervous about how the whole experience would be with the boys (especially Luke) but it turned out really good. It was a great learning experience for Jimmy and Ben. They really learned a lot about temples. Jimmy wants to go back and get married in the sealing room and Ben keeps talking about how he is going to go back there and get baptized with the oxen when he is 12. It was a beautiful temple and a great experience for our family and I really hope the boys remember it.