St. Pattie's Day!

Since I seem to be way behind I thought I would post about our St. Patrick's Day on the last day of March! I can't believe March is over!!
We had a special leprechaun drop in and leave a trail to places he visited in our house. He left a special treat for each of the kids and to top if off, lucky charms for their breakfast! He even managed to turn the milk green!
We kept the festivities by making a green dinner too. The girls were a little grossed out by green potatoes & green pork chops, but it was fun to do.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Family trip-part 4

Thursday was another lazy day. Little A was actually not feeling the greatest when we got back Wednesday night and ended up having a fever all day Thursday. We layed around and watched cartoons so she could feel a little better. After awhile we were a little stir crazy and decided to head out. I had found where we could go to a place called "The Chocolate Factory" and watch them make chocolates and buy some too. Well we went there and it was closed! Who is closed at 2:30 during the day? :) So no chocolate for us! We then went down into Monterey and walked around the Fisherman's Wharf and other areas of Monterey. Luckily we could carry CJ in our hiker pack while we pushed around Little A in the stroller. She was a trooper since she still wasn't feeling good.

We came across a place where you could purchase fresh fish/prawns/crabs, etc. M&M looked like she was going to hurl when we walked in due to the smell. I got a laugh from it! She immediately wanted to leave. Both the girls haven't quite got used to the different smells there are around the ocean :)

We headed back to make some dinner, and attempted to watch the sunset again. This time on the beach. Brrr, it was windy and cold so M&M didn't want to stay long. We took a few pics and went back to the room to watch a movie & head to bed!

Friday, we started our journey back. We took our time to pack up and headed out after lunch. (we ate all the leftovers for the week first!). We made a stop in Sacramento to eat dinner with one of James' missionary friends. Chevy's, yummy place! Thanks guys for joining us for dinner. We had fun catching up. We drove to Sparks, NV and stayed at a hotel to break up the drive. Here's a sweet picture of CJ displaying his hanging skillz. He held on for a good 15 seconds..tough guy!

It's great to have such a nice trip with the fam! More enjoyable than I thought it was going to be and I'm already thinking about our next one. Until then!

family trip-part 3

Tuesday we had a relaxing day. We headed to the beach mid-morning and played in the sand. It was CJ's first time actually crawling around on the beach and he loved it! Sand, seawead, sticks & even a bird feather all went (or really close) in the mouth. When he crawled around he would flip up sand into his face, which he didn't seem to mind. He cruised a bit while flipping it all over. It was funny. Little A stayed FAR away from the waves, while M&M and James played the "run away from the waves" game. I got in on the action as well. We took the video camera with us so no pics. :) After the beach we came back, had some lunch and hit the pool! Wow, it was a bit chilly. We spent the majority of the time in the hot tub (which is huge and felt like a pool) and eventually ventured into the pool. I just realized today that we took no pictures of us at the pool any of the times we went! So I had to document that we really did go swimming. We went again today and the pool was warmer so we played a lot more in it.

Wednesday, after some exercise (heh, we had to do it at least once during the week) we went down to Carmel. We drove "17-mile drive" and saw some very pretty scenery and awesome views. It's so beautiful around here! There are also some really nice houses down in this area.

(A couple sea lions playing along the beach)

CJ was sleeping in the car during this pic :)

After the drive it was time to hit Dennis the Menace Park. This was by far the coolest park and we could have spent hours here. We took a picnic for lunch and then tackled the park. The kids loved it.


When I was younger we went to Carmel beach and I remember getting there right when the sun had set and it was dark. I remember how pretty the beach was (white sand) but I couldn't see much else. So we went to check it out after the park. It's such a pretty beach with all the white, soft sand! The girls had fun building a river, a lake, & cinnamon rolls in the sand. I had reapplied sun-screen on CJ so he didn't have as much fun. He kept flipping sand by crawling and all the sand would stick to his face. He had sand everywhere.


To top the evening we hit a great place to eat. We made it there during their "island" hour and our meal was 50% off! Score! CJ had a taste of his first lemon too.

We made it back to our room to see the sunset. We stopped at Walmart and grabbed some ice cream and waffle bowls & ate it while watching the sun set. We didn't stay outside too long because it was getting breezy and cold.
The view from our back porch of our room.
We couldn't have asked for a better day!

Family trip-part 2

Monday we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is such a cool place with SO much to do. We spent all day there, with taking a break for lunch at a local diner on Cannery Row. We had fun exploring jellyfish, touching starfish & other slimy things, learned about penguins, saw all kinds of fish & even sharks too! The girls loved all the interactive things they had for kids.


M&M's favorite part: playing the fish/water games they had
Little A's favorite part: seeing all the pretty jellyfish
CJ's fav: taking a nap in the stroller
James' fav: the "outer bay" area where there was a huge tank with shark, barracuda, tuna, hammerhead shark & other fish to watch.
Charise's fav: watching the fresh water seals turbo through the water.

Family trip-part 1

We're off! Our first official family trip with just the five of us. We drove first to Winnemucca, NV and stayed the night, and then drove most of the next day to Marina, California (which is by Seaside, Monterey, etc). It's beautiful here! The weather could be a little warmer, but it's sunny and really nice so we couldn't ask for better weather. The whole way down the girls were SO excited to get to California. Little A would constantly ask, "Are we in China yet?" We would correct her everytime, and 10 minutes later she would ask it again! She couldn't get it that we were going to CALIFORNIA. One time she said:

LittleA: Are we in China yet?
James: China?
LittleA: Oh, I mean Mexico.
James: Mexico? We are going to California.
LittleA: Oh yeah! California! Are we in CALIFORNIA yet?

She was pretty funny about that. On the way we stopped at a couple parks. Here we stopped in Sparks, Neveda. Close to Reno. It was a really nice park next to a little pond/lake. It was CJ's first time playing with bark/dirt. Add that to the "in the mouth" checklist!



We finally arrived to our destination and are so happy with the accommodations. A cute little place with a full kitchen, living room, 2 rooms & even a washer/dryer! It's fun to have a place like this to ourselves. Since M&M watched movies the whole drive down she asked:
Do people really live in California or just people in hotels?
Umm, I think she managed to miss all the houses we passed while driving :)

The first day was pretty chill. We found a ward to go to (which half of it was in spanish-translated) and also relaxed by walking around where we are staying. The beach access is really close and the girls love it! It's fun to see their reactions about the ocean & the beach. It's a first for both. M&M loves going down to the water and running for cover when the waves come. Little A did it at first until she did a face plant in the sand and the water drenched her in her jeans. She steered clear of all waves & water today.


This post is getting lengthy, so stay tuned for more!

9 months!

Wow, I can't believe we have officially hit the 9 month mark with Mr. CJ, but he's there. He's a crawling machine, can conquer a few stairs (definitely not down yet), and pulls & stands up on anything he can get his hands onto.
Found in the mouth tally:
-leafs from the only plant in our whole house
-a few pieces of dog food
-minuscule crumbs from the floor
-2 new teeth!


This photo isn't very good, but it shows what he loves to do with his tongue now that he has a couple teeth. He twist it all the way around, and does it all the time. So cute!

I love this!

The first 3 people to respond to this post will get something made by me. My choice. Made especially for you.

Restrictions and Limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It will be done this year.
4. You have no clue what it's going to be, because I don't even know what it's going to be!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The Catch: You must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who comment on your post and agree to do the same! So get ready for your mystery treat... but be prepared to share the love! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you get when you get it.