July 28, 2013

Ventura Beach

A few weeks ago Travis had to go out of town (again) and so I decided to take the boys to Ventura Beach on my birthday with my friends Emily and Tara and their kids.

 While Benji was pretty content to simply hang out in the sand and play, Peter joined his friends in the water and had a blast chasing the waves.


It was a perfect day and the best imaginable way to spend my birthday with Travis gone. Thanks for joining me ladies!

Dodgers Game

The day after we got back from Utah, we headed down to LA to meet Grandma Deb for Mormon Dodgers Night. Since Elder Holland was throwing out the first pitch, we got some sweet tickets and everyone stuffed themselves with a ton of junk Dodger Dogs, cotton candy, and cracker jacks.




  

 The boys were pretty squirrely by the end, but we had a wonderful adventure. Thanks again Grandma Deb for the fun evening!

Utah Part II

One of the big reasons we went to Utah in June was to go to our dear friend Amber's wedding at the Bountiful Temple. Of course, I didn't get any pictures of beautiful Amber and cute James on the big day, but here we all are the night before having a few laughs.
I so miss these fun kids. 
And here's another one after the wedding at the temple.


While in town, we went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point with my mom. 


 The boys especially loved the water/sand tables.

 Another day, Grandma took the boys and I to Hoogle Zoo which was so much fun. Peter was totally in heaven as they had several life-sized Lego animals on display throughout the park. 



 The carousel was also a big hit.

We also spent a morning with my brother David at the mall.
 Benji cracked us up with his imitation of 'Uncle Dabids."

Thanks again Grandma for the fun times!

July 2, 2013

Utah Marathon Vacation

Be prepared for a pretty long-winded post coming up - Just after Peter's graduation a few weeks ago, we headed off to Utah for a few weeks of good times and family outings. Travis stayed with us the first week but was a party pooper had to return home due to work so I stayed with the boys and hung out with the Grandparents and cousins for another week. 
And then I made the road trip back home just me and the kids. That's a whole 'nother story there though.
One of the first trips we took was up to Cascade Springs with my dad for father's day. 


 It was so gorgeous up there, the kids loved it. And Benji was in heaven with all the 'wa-wa' (water).
Next up we headed out to go 4-wheeling and motorcycling with my dad. Which was amazing. It's been years since either Travis or I has been on a motorcycle and I had forgotten how fun it is.

Although Peter was mostly ambivalent about riding (he was fascinated with Grandpa's 'party' van however), Benji had the time of his life. You could barely get the kid off the thing...
 Another day we went up to my sister's cabin in Sundance with my dad and the boys had a great time playing in the creek up there. 
 Despite the creek's freezing temperature, the boys were not shy about hopping right in.

 This pretty butterfly even happened to land on Grandpa. I sure hope we're around during the winter to go sledding up there!
The last day we went to Deer Creek Reservoir and went boating with all the cousins. Which was so much fun.
 Here's the entire clan
 And one more with all the squirrely grandkids with Grandpa -- eek! minus Benji. I have no idea where that kid was. Probably with whoever he had suckered into giving him a treat at that particular moment.
We had such a wonderful trip and the weather was so perfect for all the fun adventures we had. I sure do miss living in Utah - mostly I miss living close to my wonderful family. Thanks for showing us such a good time!
Hopefully I'll get more pictures soon (since my camera died before our trip and these are ones I bummed off other folks) and post them too.