Just the Two of Us

Thanks to some beautiful, forgiving, sweet people, Caleb and Marci, Nathan and I escaped for a few days to Los Angeles. They were real troopers in watching our four yay hoos for so long. When we picked up the kids, Marci was even smiling...oh wait...that may have been simply because we were picking them up. Anyway, we were celebrating our 10-year-anniversary. Wow! Has it really been that long? It was so fun to get away and spend some one-on-one with each other...sleeping and eating and sight-seeing.

We spent quite a bit of time at the beaches in the area. Here we are on our last day at Venice Beach. We loved watching the interesting people: the fishermen, the surfers, and the street dancers. Oh yeah, and I think every person in L.A. owns a dog. No kidding.

The last day we were in L.A. we visited the Getty Museum. It was HUGE! The gardens were gorgeous and so was the architecture. However, if you are immature like us, the art INSIDE the museum may not be for you. Mucho, mucho, mucho bare-chested women. I just don't get that. There are so many other beautiful things to paint...right?
Here is just one of our favorite pieces at the Getty. Nathan's interpretation was "jungle gym" mine was "light bulb cut in half". What do you think? We are sooo artsy.


See the floating shrubbery? Love it.


I loved these things. So gorgeous.


One of the days we spent in So Cal we went to Magic Mountain. Can we just let it be known that we are officially old farts? After the second ride, we were both sooo sick. Blahhh. We had to wait about 45 minutes between rides for some recovery time. I know, I know...pathetic. We were disappointed in ourselves as well. We did have a great time people watching though. And eventually found a few rides that were more our speed (slightly geezerish, but still fun).



Being in California, we learned that capris are "in" for men. So here is Nathan trying to pull off the look at the beach. Woo woo.


Our stop at the tar pits. Waaa Hooo!

Festive Tulips!

Last Friday we headed out to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point with my parents and siblings. The weather was a little drippy but pleasant. It was so fun to spend time with each other and to see the splendorous flowers in bloom.




We had a rather large case of "the grumpies" on our outing. It was like pulling teeth to get a happy photo. Here's the proof.


Little Sweetie Pie


Cute Mom and Dad humoring their daughter with a photo op.



We had a fun FHE the other night. We met up with Caleb and Marci at the "U" for some bowling. I stunk REALLY bad. Next to Henry, who is 2, I had the worst score...a 62. Henry got a 61. I guttered nearly every first ball I bowled. I guess the Wii has messed with my stellar real-life game. Ha, ha, ha. Oh yes, that never existed.

Thanks Grandma!

The girls in their very pretty new dresses from Grandma. Thanks mother dear.

Stompin' Grounds

We took a quick trip up to Logan to celebrate our survival of tax season. We had a great time together swimming at the hotel, eating some good grub, seeing a movie, going to the park, visiting the beautiful temple, and walking down memory lane at good ol' Utah State. Here the girls are sporting their new Aggie gear.


Our visit to Willow Park.





Here they are by the "True Aggie 'A'". We told the girls all about the tradition of kissing atop the platform during a full moon at midnight. Mostly they were horrified and disgusted that anyone would do such a thing. However as we were leaving Logan on our way home, Mallory exclaimed, "Ohhhhh, we forgot to become True Aggies!" Cutest thing I think I've ever heard.


Since we moved to Utah County, the crazies here have brainwashed three of our children into thinking BYU is the only option...well, we decided to do a little brainwashing of our own. Here we are at Old Main. I think our attempts worked. Now they claim Utah State is their favorite school and BYU is second. We'll see how long the effects of our journey last.


A cute picture of daddy and two of his little girls.


I had Libbie take a picture of the "love birds". Not much has changed in 10 years. Ha Ha Ha.


Not sure what parent was letting their child roll down the hill at the temple ;).


A little excited to be heading to the pool.

Chicks and Rabbits

A whole bunch of my favorite girls on Easter Sunday. Pictures like these are priceless to me.
One of our favorite Eastery things to do is an egg hunt at Grandma's of course.








I guess Claire was a little left out of this holiday...maybe next year. Here's a cute/funny picture of her during the egg hunting.


The Easter Bunny left a trail of hidden clues to find the location of the girls' baskets. Despite a small amount of complaining about having to go oustide for some clues, it seemed as though they had a good time.

Look at the urgency in her face...so innocent and excitable.

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Mallory taking the next clue to our designated "clue reader".


So happy the Easter Bunny really left them baskets.


Had to include this cute fishy face.


Here they are hard at work...making eggy masterpieces.

This is what happens when you ask Libbie for her "best smile" these days...I am sure she'll appreciate this face when she's older. She does make a cute crazy person though.

Fer Fun Fer Us

We had a couple of our favorite house guests stay with us over the last week. We had a great time and are glad they made the loooong trek across the wintry country to hang with us for a bit.

Grandma set up many and egg hunt for the kids. Luckily, at least one of the days they were here, we are able to do one outside. Super fun. Here they are eating their finds on the trampoline.

Mallory had Grandma and Papa play "just a few" games of Hungry Hippos.

A favorite tradition of a visit from Grandma and Papa is the nightly pillow fight. When we asked the girls what they wanted to do with Grandma and Grandpa before they arrived, their only response was to play Hungry Hippos and have a pillow fight. Done and done. I love their simple pleasures!

This Grandma means business!

Sweetie Poo's Birthday and the Gorgeous, Gorgeous Weather

This past week's weather has been too gorgeous for words. We've flown kites, played at the park, spent hours in the yard (playing not working) and even went to the zoo yesterday on the gracious invitation from Marci. We had a great time seeing the animals, running around, and having a picnic.



A favorite past-time at the zoo...climbing on the Rhino...at least until Gavin slipped and slammed his chin on the rhino's back.



According to Mia, Wednesday was Nathan's 22nd birthday. He likes it that way so we'll just pretend it's true.


Very excited about some new digs.

A little bit more randomness

Last week we got to have Gavin and Henry over to play. We had a great time! Here they are making all sorts of things with play dough and of course they all had to fit on one chair to watch a movie.


Well, the cold and wintry weather left us for a brief moment. We thoroughly enjoyed some time outside. Here are the girls picnicking in February.


This winter has led me to try things I have tried before but have never really accomplished. Case and point - the French Braid. It's a little sad, but I was soooo happy when I finally did this and it looked somewhat decent. Maybe there is hope for the future! I also have to brag about myself on the point of sewing. My mom-in-law bought me a sewing machine years ago, and I finally broke it out and taught myself to do a little sewing. It was a true, natural high when I finished my first project - a microwaveable heating pad.