High on our priority list when we came back to Utah was to spend time with Josh's sister Annalee and her cuties, Madison and JJ. We wound up braving the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point on a discount day. The place was packed!! It was so much fun, though.
Time with family has to be my all time favorite thing.
I can't help but notice what a good song writer Alex Ebert is. I'm cleaning this morning with no kiddos at home and you better believe the music is blasting. Just when you wonder if the romance in modern music is lost....
40 Day Dream
Well, I been sleeping for forty days and I know I'm sleeping 'cause this dream's too amazing She got gold doorknobs where her eyes used to be, yeah One turn and I learned what it really means to see
It's the magical mystery kind, must be a lie Bye bye to the too good to be true kind of love Oh no, I could die Oh, now I can die
Hey, I been sleeping for sixty days And nobody better pinch me I swear I'll go crazy
(love the line below:) She got jumper cable lips She got sunset on her breath now I inhaled just a little bit Now I got no fear of death now
It's the magical mystery kind, must be a lie Bye bye to the too good to be true kind of love Oh no, I could die Oh, now I can die
It's the magical mystery kind, must be a lie Bye bye to the too good to be true kind of love Oh no, I could die Oh, now I can die
It had been way too long since Denise and I had gotten together with Linda and Heather as a group. They were our first off campus roommates. We had known Heather since our moms were pregnant with us. It was such a plus that when we got to BYU, she had such an amazing cousin, Linda that who meshed with the three of us so well. Heather lives just blocks away from the Santa Monica Pier, so once again, we headed to the beach!
Heather's house is a vacation! It was dreamy.
It was so awesome to get our kids together. I had been dying to meet her little Ella. What a DOLL! She was such a seasoned beach goer. :) Gotta love those Shirley Temple curls.
This guy was an absolute terror when we got to the beach. Everything made him cry. He was really mad at the sand, and the boogie board, and the towel, and momma...
...Then this happened:
and it was all good. I guess traveling and staying up late all the time takes it's toll. Poor little guy. He slept for three hours on the beach! (Don't worry, I built a little tent for him right after this picture).
It was so fun to build these beach memories with the kids. They got to see a slice of our childhood
and they loved it! Jack fell asleep in my arms for half the time. What an angel!! I miss all of these guys to pieces. So fun to see everyone's personalities and interestes.
I couldn't believe how interested in reptiles and sea creatures Joel was. He had so much focus with his sand crab searches.
Denise's daughter Anora was so confident in water. She was an excellent swimmer and took to the ocean like a fish! The waves were thrilling to her. She body surfed and boogie boarded like a natural. So cute! Here is a video of here and Denise. I wanted to catch Denise riding a wave, but Anora caught one first, then we got moved by the life gaurd because of surfers.
Watch Anora on the right.
These guys were so cute together:
So hard to say goodbye to such a wonderful place.
That night, we had dinner and Heather's incredibly generous husband offered to watch all of our kids for us while we went out on the town and got dessert. How sweet is that? He had one baby under two, one three year old, his own two year old, a four year old, a pair of six year olds and an eight year old. YIKES! Love ya Chris!!
We shopped around and talked and talked.
we also indulged! Mmmm.
Cute Linda. I really need to do a family portrait session at night in the city. Any takers?? I love those city lights and store windows!
In 1999 the four of us as roommates made a time capsule! How funny is that? We had this vintage suitcase that we filled with magazines, photos, momentos, letters, notes to each other, etc. It was the most hilarious thing going through all that stuff. Heather was laughing uncontrollably! Chris got a million pictures. --Send some my way, will ya?? We were so sweet together as roommates though. We'd write little notes to cheer each other up. We'd help each other out as much as we could. We were there for each other. I think a lot of people must go through this period of adjustment when they get married and suddenly they aren't surrounded by their girlfriends.
The other event of hilariousness was when Noah, Joel, and Anora were sound asleep on an air mattress near where we were up talking. Anora made a little coughing sound in her sleep then rolled over. We went to check on her to find a huge amount of throw up all over Joel's left side! Anora puked on her brother in her sleep and never woke up! since none of the kids were awake and crying, we gave it the green light to pretty much DIE LAUGHING at that one! WE were the ones in tears as we all pitched in to carefully clean up the mess. Not waking a single little soul. It was unforgettable! Chris got plenty of photos of that one too. Ah hem. I'll be waiting for that email mister!
Tonight we went on a fabulous, spontaneous date thanks to my friend Brittany. The Bishop (or pastor) of our church in Cambridge is an expert in the history and architecture of the area. Every year he guides a boat cruise on the Charles River. Josh and I wanted to go, but didn't have the energy to find a sitter to watch all three kids. We totally forgot about the whole thing. Then My sweet friend Brittany called saying her and her husband couldn't go and they would love to give us their tickets + watch our kids for us while we went. She called it a late b-day present. Holy cow! It was a wish come true! After a week of drenching rain, today was gorgeous and Josh and I had been postponing date after date lately. This was PERFECT.
Isn't Boston cool?
Don't we look happy? Unexpected dates are the BEST.
This sunset was the reward after putting up with all the rain. I actually liked the rain (as long as I wasn't shuffling kids in and out of the car in it). It is getting me excited for fall. We are already planning a fun Halloween with a visit from Josh's cousin, Porter. Yay for visitors!!
We watched one of the many specials about 9/11 last night. I can't believe it's been 10 years. I was in Mexico doing my student teaching when it happened. It was four months before I met Josh.
Right after the special, the news came on and said NYC is on high alert on bridges and tunnels. They said Boston will be too, just to be safe. It kind of creeped me out. Then we wind up on the river, cruising right underneath most of Boston's bridges!! I was on high alert for any suspicious activity. All was clear:) You can rest easy guys.
Since Labor Day was the day before the kids started school, we decided to spend the morning getting rooms cleaned and things organized. Josh bought a fire proof safe to keep all our birth certificates and important papers in. I think it was a huge highlight of the weekend for him!
In the afternoon, we went to the Museum of Science and saw an Omni movie where the screen is a half dome and you feel like you are in the movie itself. It was "Dinosaurs Alive!" That we actually saw in Utah, but we got to see it with Josh this time and now my kids know all about the amazing finds in the Gobi Dessert (as narrated by Michael Douglas). We also went to the Planetarium and watched the Collision Constellation show. We learned how the moon was formed and what is going to happen to our galaxy in millions of years! We also saw this guy sitting right by us:
He is the creator of Family Guy. Josh thought he looked familiar, then we looked him up on Josh's smart phone. It was the spitting image. Josh heard some other couple ask if he was Seth McFarland. His girlfriend answered no for him, but you could tell she was lying.:)
I snapped some photos at the park where we left our car. This park is one of my favorite photo locations.
Great variety and cool Boston scene with tall buildings, Charles River, The T, and boats. Plus our Bishop from church designed it. So we think it's pretty cool.
There's the museum behind us!
I LOVE this guy. I am really getting used to this "Holidays Off" stuff. Presley took this photo:
Well, the day has finally come, I have all three kiddos in school! Today Noah started third grade and Presley started first. Charlie is at Joy School at my friend, Danielle's house in MIT housing. Bitter sweet I tell ya!
Presley has the same first grade class that Noah had two years ago. He wanted to be the one to show her where to go. I had to keep a slight distance behind them. They wanted to do it all by themselves. Funny, the second we got into the building, Noah forgot the rest of us and hustled off to his own classroom! I think he got anxious. These guys are going to have a fabulous year. Great teachers, good mix of friends in their classes, and I have to say they did a lot of growing over the summer. They are going to love being back in the classroom to write about their summer adventures.
What's on my agenda you ask? Oh, I have three loads of laundry going, I've got cleaner soaking the whole bathroom, and I need to run some **QUICK** errands--they will be quick because I have no slow pokes to stop at every toy or candy isle. And of course I am enjoying a few moments to blog :). Maybe I'll have time to actually train for the 5K I am still considering for this weekend!
After Valencia, Denise and I drove down to Santa Monica to meet with our other sister, Sue and her kids (minus one who is on a mission). This was Denise's kids' first time at the ocean. Joel was so into the sea creatures!! Here he is with Susie:
It had been over six years since we had last seen these guys. They were in elementary school when we saw them before! Now Tyler is going to leave for his mission to the Philippines in October and Bri is in High School! They are like rock stars to our kids.
Charlie and I in front of the Santa Monica Pier. I grew up going to this place with my mom and our family and friends. So many happy memories here. This is where my love for California began!
We were so glad to share it with our kiddos.
Denise's little Anora was quite the surfer girl. More on that to come...:)
In a few years we will have our own little high schoolers!
We got to meet my niece Jen's cute little family for the first time. She's got an 18 month old and one on the way. Her husband Ben is a corrections officer keeping the peace in Cali! Check out their photo session here.
My sister, Susie was always the best at french braids! When I was little, she would braid my hair at night and I would lay so still hoping not to mess it up for school the next day.
Brianna has mad skills when it comes to manies and pedies.
Presley and Anora tag team wrestled Tyler. I think to them, he was Prince Charming!
For fun, Brianna gave PK and AJ miss america make overs!
We love our California family!!! I'm so so glad we got the chance to get together. It was such a great experience to have our kids meet such amazing family members. All through college, Denise and I were able to visit for Thanksgiving and watch these guys grow up. We are so proud of them!
L to R: Brianna, Jen, Denise, Tyler, Greg, and Blaine
L to R: me, Susan, Charlie, Blaine (BYU Idaho student body prez!!-had to brag), Brianna, Tyler, Denise, and Jack. **Doesn't Susie look WAY too young to a) be a grandma and b) have kids in their 20's?? I hope I inherit that gene.
