Beach Day

Yesterday, we went to La Jolla Shores to enjoy the weather. After about an hour on the beach, I rinsed off the kids and they had fun on the new huge playground.

SD Zoo 2010

Our annual passes for the zoo and wild animal park are about to expire, so Paige and I took the kids to the zoo today. It was fun and the weather was beautiful.

St Patty's 2010

Grandma helped kick off our St Patrick's day with a green breakfast. She made french toast & eggs, but Lexi doesn't eat eggs. We had a pretty good day at the YMCA and watching Irish Dancers at Grandma's work. The kids watched a video with Grandma that night, while I played on the computer. The funny thing is that we spent last St Patrick's day here in California too and if you are wondering - yes Lexi was wearing the same thing (I bought a size 4 last year).

Posing with Jordan

Watching a video with Grandma

First Church Talk

Lexi had her first talk in church on Sunday. My mom volunteered to help. It turned out to be more help than she had guessed thanks to a wave of sudden shyness. The Sunbeam (4 year old) that went right after didn't give her talk either. Her mom did it while she hid her head in her mom's shoulder.

Rockstar Relative

Saturday night, we drove up to the St Regis hotel at Dana Point to see Aunt Carol & Uncle Milton. Milton had a fancy gig for a charity. We got to watch him set up and do the sound check. We also got to walk around the hotel and go out to dinner.

Papa is Back

In January, Papa Malcolm flew to Asia (several countries) for work. Before he came back, we headed to Utah. Right before we were on our way back, he flew to Australia for two weeks for work. So...we haven't seen him in about two months. The kids were really excited for him to come home yesterday. They really liked that he brought them presents. Lexi got a platypus. She named it Perry after Disney's Phineas and Ferb.

Playing Around

The best pictures from childhood often come when you are just goofing off. However, it is those daily moments that don't often get captured on film. By the end of this week, we were working on getting back into our normal routine. Lexi and Jordan were entertaining themselves, so I decided to snap a few photos.

Kid Ventures

We came back in time for me to focus on a huge work deadline. In addition, my mom & step-dad decided to put their house on the market, which is tough because we are living in a house that has to stay immaculate and we need to leave every time someone wants to see it. Their realtor scheduled an open-house for other realtors on Wednesday, right before my work deadline. I needed to take the kids to a place where I could work & they could have fun. I found Kid Ventures online and decided to try it. They have a bunch of different play areas surrounding a cafe with free wireless. I took the kids & Paige there. It was a little pricey, but perfect. It is a nice option for those crazy deadline days that happen about once a month.

Back in Cali

Sometimes when you return from vacation, it is a good idea to remind yourself what you like about where you live. We may not have friends here, but we love the beach even when a storm has washed all the sand up onto the boardwalk.

Song from Phineas and Ferb

Yesterday, Lexi had a song from Disney's Phineas & Ferb stuck in her head. She was singing and dancing all over the house. Of course, she didn't ham it up quite as much once I turned the camera on, but you'll get the main idea...



By the way, we're back in San Diego. We got here on Saturday.

Annette

Our Utah vacation is coming to an end on Friday. We have had a great time and enjoyed seeing lots of people. More than anything, it has been fun to reconnect with old friends and get to meet each others kids. We have been lucky that Annette, my best friend from Jr. High, invited us to stay with her. The last time I saw her, her 17 year old was only 1. We have kept in contact over the years, but not as often as we would have liked. It has been great redeveloping our friendship. Lexi & Jordan have certainly grown to love her and her family too. We are really going to miss them, but we have been here 3 weeks and it is time to head home.

Snow Time

Yesterday, I took the kids up to Spanish Fork Canyon to play in the snow. Snow is one of the main reasons for our trip and they haven't been able to play in it very much. This time, it wasn't nearly as cold. Lexi and Jordan even got to slide down the hill (see the video below).

Babysitters

One great thing about Utah is that there is never a shortage of babysitters. I haven't really used this great resource, until last night. I went to meet old few friends for dinner and asked another friend if her 17 year old daughter could watch Lexi and Jordan. I dropped them off at their house last night and had a nice dinner without my sweet little loud mouths. The funny thing is that I used to babysit her kids when I was in college. Her daughter (pictured above) was 3 the last time I saw her. What a cute girl she has turned out to be.

I am putting the picture below in because everyone keeps commenting about how long Lexi's hair is. Even I am amazed:

Outhouse Experience

Yesterday, Lexi got her first experience in an outhouse. Annette's family all gathered at the Benjamin Cemetery to place the headstones for her father, brother, and Aunt, who have all died in the last 2 years. Lexi had to use the potty of course, so we walked over to the building and found that they had a small outhouse. She kept telling me that they didn't have a flusher and asked how it would go down. All I could do was laugh.

Two Exciting Things

Yesterday, the kids experienced 2 extraordinarily exciting things. First, we woke up to see big beautiful flakes falling. Lexi and Jordan were very excited. Later, we drove up to Roy to see one of my old friends from college and her family (six kids). All the kids were running around her house and having a blast. That evening, I got a text telling me that the friends we are staying with had a surprise when they got home.... their dog had four puppies. They hadn't even noticed that she was pregnant.

Snow Time

Last night while in bed, I realized that we only have about a week left here and there are a million things that I still want to do. One of the main reasons we came was to play in the snow. This morning, I drove up to Provo Canyon. There isn't a lot of snow here in the cities, but there is some in the shade and plenty up on the mountains. I knew we wouldn't be out long because the highs are about 35 degrees. The kids had fun even though it lasted about 15 minutes. That is when Lexi announced that she had to go to the bathroom. Since there are no facilities up there and I didn't want her bum to feel as horrible has my hands, I decided it was time to head out.




**By the way, I wish I had better pictures to share. Unfortunately, my camera has gone missing. I remember having it the first day we arrived, but it is now in some black hole, which bugs me more than I'll let on. I hate blogging or being on vacation without it. At least I have my silly little phone and was able to take these.

Visiting Mom's University

We embarked on a road trip to Utah. We arrived at the end of last week, but haven't taken many pictures until today. I took the kids up to BYU to show them where I went to college. We didn't stay long though because it is cold here and it is a huge campus.


Building where my grandma worked (the one Lexi got her middle name from)

Building where most of my classes in my major were