Californ-i-a

We went to California this past week with Sissy, Nate, and my mom and had such a good time. I had far too many pictures to pick from so there are a lot, but you know me...nothing is better than a good picture. We started off our trip with a stop at the beach. I had no intentions of getting too wet, we were just going to check it out. My boys ended up soaking wet and running around in their underwear.

The next morning we got up and went to Sea World. The highlights of the day were feeding the dolphins, feeding the stingrays, and holding the starfish. Kesler loved the polar bears and I had to laugh that he actually resembled them with his white hair and blue eyes. He brought a stuffed animal polar bear home and named him "Icee". Brevin chose a shark and named him "Sharp". He was going to get a whale, but said that he couldn't name a whale...a shark would be much easier.

The following day we went to the Wild Animal Park. We had heard fantastic things about it, and we did love it. But many of the most exciting experiences had an age minimum of 6. The cool thing about this place versus a zoo is that there are no cages or bars. The animals are in their natural environments. The highlight was probably the gorillas. They were out and lively first thing in the morning and they boys loved them. We spent a lot of time watching them.




After a near heat stroke for half our party we decided to head back to the beach to cool off. The boys are so in their element there...they love it! It is too funny that everywhere we go people tell me that my boys look like little surfer boys with their blond hair and tan skin. I didn't really realize how much until they were there. Bryson and Nate rented boogie boards and had tons of fun playing in the waves.

The last day we were there we went to La Jolla Cove for some family pics. Kesler wasn't being very cooperative, but we managed to get a few there. It was an amazing area. We only wished we would have had more time there. There were little crabs running around everywhere and the boys were totally fascinated. Brevin cried when we had to leave. I told him if we didn't get going we would miss the plane. He told me that that was okay...we could just get on another one.

We had an incredible time and we're so glad we were able to share this time with Grandma Mary Ann, Lindsey & Nate. We were already talking about next time on the ride to the airport.

Oh my American Idol!!

We are American Idol junkies! We attended our third, and by far, best American Idol concert on Tuesday night. There were so many contestants we loved this year we knew it would be so good and we were right! I got online and bought the max amount of tickets as soon as they announced the second show...the first one had sold out. Brevin was so excited to go to his first concert. He was the most excited to see Brooke White (I couldn't agree more) and Kristy Lee Cook. Bryson was excited for Jason Castro...yeah, I know...you didn't like him...I'm aware! But we did! I thought it was funny when we took this picture that Lindsey and Bryson look like the happy little family. ha ha The crowd was swarming with Archuletta fans! Tons and tons of people had on shirts with just his face that said "I voted for David Archuletta" too funny. Check out the cowboy in the back of the picture. ha ha He thought he was hilarious.

The concert starts with the tenth finalist and counts down to number one. The first two were okay, and then came Michael Johns...holy Hannah, he sounded amazing live. I was soooo impressed. I kept screaming "Take me home Michael!" and laughing hysterically at myself.

It just got better from there. When Carly Smithson got up the first thing she said was that the Utah crowds had been the loudest by far...I should have got a picture of Brevin plugging his ears for proof. The next fun thing she said was that Brooke had taken her to see her temple that day, and how beautiful she thought it was. Then she announced Brooke by saying, "This is the Place." Brooke then rose up out of the middle of the stage on a piano playing "Let it be". The combination brought me to tears. (I know I'm pathetic, thanks for the emotions, Mom)

When David Archuletta got on stage it went absolutley crazy. He couldn't even get a word it, but when he managed to he just said, "I cannot tell you how good it feels to be home." His performance was flawless. I can't believe how effortlessly he sings and never misses a note. David Cook got on stage after him and said he had no idea how he was supposed to follow that.

We seriously had so much fun! I haven't had that much fun in a really long time. We were super silly and screaming like twelve year old little girls the whole time, I made a total you-know-what of myself, which is documented on camera, and I am praying that no one decides to blog the crazy pics of me...thanks sister.

Again, I was tired of lugging my camera around, so I didn't take one. I have officially decided that I need to just buy a little one to keep in my purse for stuff like this. So these pictures are courtesy of my little sis, and there were a couple on Jillene's camera that I can hopefully get posted by this weekend.

The 4th of July

We absolutely LOVE the 4th of July. It is our favorite holiday!

Malad is definitely where the action is...we start on July 3rd by pulling into Malad and heading straight to the Horsley fireworks stands. I let Brevin and Kesler pick some fireworks that looked exciting while I got to visit with one of my favorite friends of all time.

Kesler was totally confused about those perfectly packaged colorful products not containing some amount of sugar. He kept asking which one had treats in it. I tried to explain, but apparently he didn't believe me. He took a blue smoke bomb and popped it in his mouth, just to be sure.
The morning of the 4th begins with the parade. Brevin claims that this was his favorite part of our weekend. I am sure it had a lot more to do with the candy, than the actual parade. Kesler's favorite...the horses, of course.
After the parade, we headed to Grandma Mary Ann's for a quick BBQ and then down to the park for the kids races. Brevin raced against his fellow 5-year-olds and got 5th place. Kesler placed 3rd among the 2-year-olds. I love the look of determination on his face when he runs. Then as soon as the races were over it was off to the dodge ball tournament. Bryson, Marcus, Tyson, Brad, and Scott played fiercly and took home some Malad pride, and championship T-shirts. They even posed for a picture in the paper, which totally busted me up. I promised my cousin, Deidre, that I would clip it from the newspaper and post it as soon as I can get my hands on it.

That's where the pictures end...I guess I was tired of lugging the camera around. We finished off the day with a hypnotist show, the finals of Malad Idol, and the fireworks show. It was seriuosly such a fun day.

The next morning was the alumni volleyball tournament. I love, love, love playing volleyball and spent most of the day doing so. Two of the teams in the tournament were short 1 player so I played with both of them and ended up playing in every single game of the tournament. I was so tired by the championship game that I could barely move. It was so much fun, but I am sore in every single solitary place in my body...places I didn't even know existed.

What a perfect weekend...family, friends, and so much fun!

Bear Lake 2008

We went to Bear Lake last weekend for a short, and much needed, getaway. A friend of ours let us use his amazing cabin. It has an incredible view of the lake, and so much fun stuff to do inside. We spent two full days on the beach playing in the water, frisbee, volleyball, and of course, baseball. Our kids were in heaven...and speaking of heaven, Bear Lake is a photographers heaven. The blue water, the sand, the cutest subjects possible :)