Bend Trip

This week has been really busy, I can't believe it's Thursday!! Last weekend we went over and spent the week with Grammy and Papa in Bend. Ryan was able to get Friday off and we left Thursday night. It was a great weekend. The kids LOVED the pool and water fountains. We went to breakfast Friday morning at our favorite OPH (Original Pancake House) and the kids ate a ton. Then we went to my favorite store Real Deals. Then naps and then the pool. We spent a long time in the pool. The kids loved the little pool, just the right size, but then Tyler got daring and would go jump in the big pool to Daddy. It was a lot of fun. I'm glad we had extra eyes on the kids. Thanks Grammy and Papa!! Saturday we relaxed for awhile and then made another trip to Real Deals (bought a star that we had been thinking about) and then naps and the pool. That night Grammy watched the kids and put them to bed so Ryan, Doug and I could go to see a big bike race downtown. It was crazy!! The bikers were professional and went for 90 minutes around a couple of blocks. They were really fast and we got some pictures. It was a really fun weekend.

Sydney loved making "making waffles" with Papa on Saturday morning. I'm sure she was a big helper! Papa also taught Tyler how to shake hands. Then he taught him how to say "Hi, I'm Elder Alexander." It is the cutest thing!

Sydney was asked to do the scripture and prayer in primary. It was Mosiah 4:13. Daddy helped her practice. She did a great job!! Tyler loved the pool. He especially loved throwing the ball from the little pool to the big pool where Papa and Daddy were. Mommy stayed mostly in the little pool. It was warmer. :)

The kids each got to pick out a book from the library for finishing the summer reading program. They love their new books and loved having Grammy read to them.

Summer Activities

We have had a busy summer. Recently I took the kids camping with some friends. Sadly Ryan had to work. We missed him greatly, but still had a lot of fun. We camped at Beverly beach and the kids loved it. They slept great in the tent and loved playing at the beach with the Watson family. We went to Newport Aquarium one morning. The pictures turned out really cute.

We also went blueberry picking, which is a favorite for my kids. Every year we go and pick blueberries and make blueberry cheesecake ice cream. They love blueberries!!

It was also Tyler's official birthday. We celebrated his birthday 3 times. First in Utah with family there. Second in Oregon with family here. And then the official day. What a lucky boy! On his official birthday (July 8) we celebrated by eating donuts for breakfast (a tradition) and going swimming at a fun pool. For snack that morning I gave the kids apples and raisins - trying to do something healthy after the donuts. Tyler loved the raisins, but pushed the apples away and said "ice cream please." It cracked me up. He had to wait until that night for cupcakes and ice cream. And he got his favorite dinner - pizza! Thanks to Grammy (Gayle) for coming up and celebrating with us. The kids had a lot of fun.

Because the kids both had their birthdays recently, I asked Doug to come up and take some pictures. They turned out really cute. It always takes some patience, and thank heavens for digital cameras, but we got a few that I absolutely love! I am so blessed with these two wonderful children. I absolutely love them. I am also thankful for Ryan for working so hard so I can stay home with them. It is such a wonderful blessing.

Happy 4th of July

*** This is the last of three posts - so don't forget to look at the other two posts and pictures. Be sure and leave a comment too! :)***

Happy 4th of July. This was a nice relaxing weekend. Ryan had the day off Friday and we spent it catching up on some errands and being able to get things done around the house. We bought Sydney her first bike. The perfect bike for a little girl. It is purple and has streamers. She has a purple helmet to go with it. She loves it! Tyler is glad to get the tricycle all to himself. The morning of the 4th we went to our ward party. They had a waffle party and bike parade. The kids loved it - but we did have our first fall off the bike. Sydney fell and scraped her knee - but got right back up after a few kisses better. The rest of the day was spent working on projects and doing some birthday shopping. Ryan did the projects and I did the shopping. :) It was nice to get out for a few hours with out getting anyone out of a carseat. Ryan hung our ceiling fan in the family room - which ended up being a lot of work. Thanks honey! All in all a good productive, but relaxing weekend.

Tyler's Birthday

Tyler has a big birthday coming up. He turns two! While we were in Utah I made a cake for him. He loves Mickey Mouse after spending time in Disneyland, so I made a Mickey cake. Thanks to my Mom for helping me. It was fun being able to celebrate his birthday with family we don't get to see often. Here are just a few pictures. My mom and I have the same camera and I mixed up taking pictures on hers. I'll get them from her soon and post some more. :)

California Vacation

Recently we spent 10 days on vacation. We had a great time. We went with my sister and her family. She has two kids. And my parents went with us too. Here is what we did each day.
Day 1- Left after my family got off work to drive to Las Vegas and stayed at my grandma’s house. Got in late and went to bed.
Day 2- We went to Costco to get some food. Then we spent the rest of the day and early evening swimming. The kids were in the pool for almost 5 hours.
Day 3- Father’s Day! Drove to California. Got in before we could check into the hotel so we drove down to the beach. We walked out on Balboa Point and drove through Newport. Checked into the hotel, went to get some dinner, and went to bed early.
Day 4- Disneyland. With our vacation package we got into Toon Town an hour before it opened. This was perfect for the kids to meet the characters, get their signatures, and pictures taken. They also did a program where Mickey made all the kids Honorary Mayors of Toon Town like him. We spent the rest of the day in Disneyland. After Toon Town we waited in line to see the princesses. We were able to see Cinderella, Ariel, and Jasmine. Sydney loved seeing them although she was a little shy. Cinderella was especially cute with her talking with her and asking her questions. Tyler liked them too – he blew kisses bye bye as we walked away.
Day 5- Again with our vacation package we got in an hour before the park opened to visit Fantasyland. It was perfect because all those kid rides that have long lines we only had a 5 minute wait. We got all the Fantasyland rides done in an hour and half. We then spent the rest of the day at California Adventure. Sydney and Tyler liked these rides. They were both tired from the long day before, but enjoyed the Tea Cups and Dumbo the best. Sydney didn’t like going in the air on the Peter Pan ride, but enjoyed Dumbo. Her favorite ride of all was the Carousel. She absolutely LOVED this ride. It was a good one for her to like because there wasn’t a long line.
Day 6- We got up to go to Goofy’s Kitchen for breakfast. This was a lot of fun. Although after the first day Tyler decided he didn’t like any characters that he couldn’t see their faces. At one point in the meal Goofy came over and put his nose in front of Tyler. It was priceless because Tyler didn’t realize he was there for a few seconds and then when he looked up he freaked out! It was funny. He did like Alice from Alice in Wonderland. He danced with her and thought she was really cute. Sydney liked Dale the best. He drew this picture of him and her on the paper that was really cute. It said Dale and Sydney BBF. We loved the breakfast. We had visits from Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale, Alice in Wonderland, and Baloo. We got to help Goofy make a cake too. Then we did whatever anybody wanted to do for a second time. Sydney really liked the Carousel and Autopia (she is a crazy driver!). Tyler loved the Pirates of the Caribbean. He was asleep the first time but today we went and did it again. He has been singing the “Yo ho yo ho a pirates life for me” ever since. DARLING! We also see Fantasmic which we waited for our spots for 3 hours so we could get good seats. After the show we watched the fireworks which were amazing. Disneyland really does a good job with fireworks. We really enjoyed sitting so close to watch all of the show.

We all had a good time at Disneyland. They were long days and very tiring. The kids each took at least 1 nap a day. The first day we ate lunch around 1 and Sydney literally fell asleep while she was eating. We had to wake her up enough to finish chewing her food so she wouldn’t choke. I really appreciate all the help we got from my family while we were there. Thanks for holding the kids while they were sleeping and staying off rides while we went on the “big kid rides.” We loved being able to go and spend time with everyone.
Day 7- Checked out of our hotel. Drove down the coast towards San Diego. We went to the beach in La Jolla. Sydney loved the beach and was playing in the sand. Tyler had had enough of the fun was pretty cranky today. He didn’t really enjoy much of the beach. I did get him into picking up seashells and he seemed to like that. This was our coldest day of the whole trip. Checked into our hotel in San Diego.
Day 8- Sea World. We saw all the shows and aquariums. Tyler and Sydney both took really good naps today at the park, so they enjoyed a lot in the afternoon. They especially liked the Starfish and Sting Rays that we were able to touch. Before we left Alisa ordered the Showtime Picnic for lunch with Shamu. This was really fun. The kids got a lunch box of Shamu and the lunch was really good. This was the only day that we got some sort of sunburn. Pretty good for a week in California.
Day 9- Drove to Las Vegas. We had to hurry back so we could eat dinner at Red Rock. We then swam for a few hours before going to bed.
Day 10- Drove home. A big thanks to my Mom and Dad for letting us ride with them. The kids were very good in the car. They loved watching movies and having people back in the back to talk to them and be with them. Sydney especially liked playing princesses with Grandma. It was a great trip!