California Sun

We can't resist playing outside when we are in California, the weather is always PERFECT! We decided to play in the front yard sprinklers instead of the backyard pool because the water was a bit too cold for us. We had our cousins Paris and Ty come over to play too.

Ella and Paris

Paris and Ty Ty.

Stealing Papa's popsicles!

These two fought like crazy when they were together but whenever it was time to say goodbye they both cried and cried!

Whit and I trying to get that golden california tan! It really is a different color than what you get in Utah.

I'm pretty sure Ella had an ICEE everyday we were there. We were on vacation so its okay, right?

Kash just took a big bite out of his popsicle and he has the most sensitive teeth!

and I still have more pictures to come of our little trip....

The Arboretum

While we were in California we visited the arboretum in Santa Anita. There were peacocks roaming around everywhere so the kids could walk right up to them. I never knew they made such loud noises, Ella and Kash were imitating them for days!

If you look close you can see the turtles. As soon as we got to the bank they came to the shore. There were TONS. We would try to feed them but there were these catfish that would jump out of the water and get the food before the turtles or ducks could get to it.

These birds were pretty smart because as we would feed the animals they would perch there until one of the baby fish would come to the surface for a snack and would sweep down and grab it! They just held them in their beaks until they died and swallowed them whole!

It was really pretty there, Whitney might even take her bridal pictures here! More pics to come of our fun week.

We are leaving for California tonight! Yay! Matt is going to be out of town all week for work so I am taking the kids to spend the week with my fam. Should be lots of fun....not so much the 5 1/2 hour drive with the kids.....But it will be worth it once we are there!

A little outing

Matt has been wanting to take the kids to feed the ducks for a while now, so we finally did it. Honestly, it wasn't as great as I thought it was going to be. For one thing it was so dang HOT! For another, Kash kept wanting to jump into the pond. And lastly, these ducks could have cared less that we had brought them food. The pond had rotted food everywhere and when they saw we only had bread they were not very interested. But the kids liked being able to get outside and see the ducks...maybe next time we will try out another pond!

Too bad my shadow is ruining the picture...I'm not the best photographer.

Ella ran right at this one...

I'm pretty sure Kash ate more bread than the ducks did.

I'm so glad they have a fun dad that wants to do things like this with them!

Ella and her cheesy little grin.

As you can see Matt had to literally hold Kash back. I kept warning Matt to stay close to him because there was no way I was jumping in that murky water to save him! I am such an awesome mom I know.

What better way to cool off than with an icecream cone?

The whole top of Kash's cone fell off. They were both fascinated watching it slide down the hot driveway!

SpLaSh PaD

So we pretty much go to the splash pad everyday. I have taken the kids to the pool a couple of times but it is just so stressful with 2 kids that I can't control! This year is definitely going to be hard....especially with Kash who is CRAZY in the pool. He really thinks he can swim. And when he goes under and swallows water he could care less. Almost drowning would scare most kids but he just jumps in over and over again coughing and laughing hysterically. His belly is big but I think it gets double in size with all the pool water he drinks! So I have found the best alternative is the splash pad! I can actually sit and relax a little bit and not constantly be worried about one of my kids drowning. So here are way too many pictures of our everyday activity, I think these are pics from a couple different days:

I have discovered that one pieces are better for Ella...

We love the downtown splash pad with the waterfall and river.

Kash loves walking in this "maze" of flowers.

I think Ella is going to make her papa proud because apparently she is a natural cowgirl. I found her sitting on this, one hand in the air, saying "giddy up!"

I told you he had a belly!

We didn't have a bucket for Adam to play with so he improvised and found this construction cone....hey it worked.

The best is when Matt brings us Judd's breadsticks on his lunch break.

Taking a break for a wet hug.

Kash spends most of his time playing at this part where the water shoots up.

Ella and Aubree doing a little sunbathing.

Hair DISASTER

I decided to have a few friends over (Corinne, Becky, Leah) and have a little hair-dying party. Becky wanted to dye her hair and my roots were growing out. The last time I high lighted my hair I had my mom and Whitney do it and I loved it! It turned out really good and I saved some money so I thought I'd try it again. Bad idea. Horrible idea. Horrific idea. Take a look for yourself:

Here is my first glimpse of myself once the foils were out...

Here is my ORANGE hair!

The entire top of my head was completely bleached. I've had hair drama before but NOTHING like this!

The next morning I decided to be smart and go to a professional. She weaved in some brown but now I feel like I have black and white stripes. I guess it is better than orange? Here is the after picture:

So much for trying to save some money! Now I want to go again and get some more blonde in it but I am afraid my hair will fall out!! I think I should probably give it a break for a while. My hair has been in a bun ever since and will most likely stay that way for a few weeks.....I don't have anyone that does my hair right now so if any of you know of a good hair stylist let me know, I need all the help I can get!

It's CLEAN!

My poor car NEVER gets washed. I keep telling myself one day when I have a nice car, I will wash it ALL the time. Hmmm I wonder if that will be the case. Anyways Matt came home from work and told the kids we were washing Mom's car. They thought it was great! Playing outside with the hose, what could be better? Ella was such a good little helper, it was pretty funny because she was so into it. I loved it because I had time to make dinner in peace and clean up the house a bit. Sometimes its good that my husband is so anal because that car sparkled from the inside out! Thanks Matty!

Oh the Ponitac, shes a beauty I know.

Hard at work.

Kash was much more interested in the airplanes than helping Dad.

Soccer Games

We have had so much fun this past month because our Craft Cousins from Cedar City have been coming down every Saturday for soccer. It is such a fun Saturday activity, we get to go run around and play outside in the warm weather and hang out with family! Ella is absolutely OBSESSED with her cousin Sydney. All week I have to hear, "I wanna see Sydney mom!" Now she knows that she sees Sydney on Saturday, so I hear, "Ella see Sydney on Saturday!!!" Madeline, Julia, Lauren, and Syd are so dang cute with my kids, they are the best little babysitters. I always get to sit and relax when they are around, they take such good care of them.

Kash and Julia

Sydney is such a good little mom to Ella.

If Kash has a ball he is happy. It was just unfortunate that we were sitting on a hill....which of course means we were chasing after it the whole time!

Lauren, Kash, and Julia.

Whitney is ENGAGED!!

My little sister Whitney is engaged! About a week and a half ago it was finally official, but I am just now getting around to blogging about it. She is marrying Ryan Jackson, who is also from Glendora and his family is actually in my parent's ward! We both new him in high school but they never really dated until after his mission. They have been dating for about 3 years off and on.....it has been KILLING me! I was pretty sure this was going to happen(and I think Ryan was too) but Whit took her time to figure it out :) haha. They are so happy and we are so excited to have another boy in the family! Matt has been the only brother in law for a long time, so he is especially happy to have Ryan to hang out with! This past weekend I went up north with Whitney and my mom and she bought a dress, so now we all feel like this is really happening and we can plan the wedding. They are getting married in the LA temple on July 25. I am so happy for them and love them both so much!
She also graduated this past weekend from BYU.....Congrats Whit!

Kashy Man

I don't know how Kash got this nick name, but EVERYONE calls him Kashy Man. He is such a boy, he is obsessed with balls, and can REALLY throw. I swear he HAS to stomp his feet as he walks, he growls constantly, he is SO strong, and obviously HUGE.....I could go on and on, but basically he is a BOY! He is so rough and tuff but then he is also such a lover, he gives the best hugs and kisses! One night Matt was blowing up the air mattress for one of my sisters to sleep on and Kash wanted his face as CLOSE to the pump as possible.......

He thought this was so funny, and so did we. When he was done screaming and laughing hysterically, he had some time to give his famous, huge-lipped KISS!

LOVE YOU KASHY!

Kite Festival

Last year was the first year that we went to the Kite Festival, but by the time we got there they were closing most of the things down. So this year we went and were so surprised to see all of the stuff they had! The kids loved it and we wished that we had more time to spend but we were in a hurry. Here are some pictures of what we could fit in:

Matt went on the train with the kids, Ella was so excited when she saw this thing, she spotted it from far away and said, "choo choo train!"

Then we hit up the bounce houses, they had a TON there.

Kash was so funny on the ferris wheel, he kept smashing his face against it and we could hear him saying, "ohhhhh."

Sharing a snow cone.

Ella was all about the snow cone but Kash preferred my $5 drink! I love this lemonade but it is such a rip off!

Kash flying his spider man kite.

Ella and her Dora kite.

Becky was volunteering at the festival and was in charge of the hoola-hooping. We talked Matt into trying out the hoola hoop, he was actually pretty good.....but Becky had all day to practice...she is a pro! :) (and so lucky that the pic I took of her didnt turn out.)