Spring Break 2012

Back in April we surprised our kiddos with a trip to San Diego for Spring Break. It was so hard to keep it from them! But it was worth it. Ryan checked them out of school a little early and told them to come home and pack their traveling bag (we packed their clothes and other needed items). They were perplexed! All along the  way we kept putting them off and finally told them after we crossed the state line into California what our plans were. We stayed for a night with the Reis family (why, oh why did I not take any pictures of our close friends???) and then continued south.

We stayed in a hotel in between my dad's house and Heather's apartment... and Sophia was enamored with her crib. Until she had to actually go to sleep that is... then she loved that she could get out of it. I thought it looked like a sad little jail, but it all worked out :).

We love visiting Balboa Park. They had a group with exotic birds and Olivia got to hold one! I loved this picture in the middle of my cute family with my dad while they were looking in the pond. We spent an afternoon at The Nat (the Natural History Museum) in Balboa Park. The picture on the top left is what I spent my time doing (chasing after Miss Sophia) but we had a great time! They had an interesting display to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic which was fascinating.

It was warm enough to go to the beach! The last few trips we've made to California have been in the late fall or winter months, so we were thrilled for seventy degree weather. The water was FREEZING but that didn't stop Coleman and Olivia for developing a love for boogie boarding. WE loved being at the beach together and ended our day for yummy milkshakes, fries, and onion rings at our favorite beachside joint Hodad's.

We were there on Easter Sunday and visited a ward somewhere that started at the time we wanted :). Ryan took some cute photos of us in our cute new Easter clothes.

I asked my dad if he and Heather could plan an egg hunt for the kids... they went crazy and hid so many eggs! The kids loved searching for eggs in his lovely back yard. Sophia wanted to open every one and eat the candy right there. I loved the expressions on their faces!

Coleman LOVES Legos. We decided this was the year to make the trek to Legoland since Sophia was still free and Olivia still qualifies as a "child." I know there are fans of this park, but it wasn't our favorite place. It was expensive (despite finding some good discount tickets), the lines were long, and the rides weren't the best. There were several rides that we "got" to power ourselves. I'm not in any way against exercise... but if I pay so much money for an amusement park, I really don't want to hoist myself up and down a tower. Coleman loved it though... and the displays of Legos were rather amazing. We were excited to be there for the new Star Wars mini-land. Despite not loving the park, we still had a good time together and there was great people watching, especially while I sat on the bench and held napping Sophia for an hour and a half.

We reprised the seashell t-shirts(we made them with my dad when I was young and again with Liv when she was little... the photo on the bottom left shows them off ) for our day at the San Diego Zoo.

We went to Old Town for dinner and tried to eat at the Old Town Mexican Cafe... but as the wait was way too long, we ended up across the street at Fred's. Dinner was delicious!.

We did a lot of fun things while we were there, but most of all we loved spending time with my dad and Heather. Sophia calls Heather "Helly" and it is just adorable. Even now she pretends to call her on the phone and have funny conversations with her ("Hi, Helly. Yeah, right. Giggle, giggle."). We made gourmet quesadillas (apples, pepper jack cheese, and pepper jelly; pesto and mozzarrella; etc.) and met Heather's fun friend Serena. We spent our last morning at Cabrillo National Monument and the kids got to see the low tide and the lighthouse. We even incurred international roaming charges because it juts out into the ocean enough that our cell phone company thought we were in Mexico.

All in all it was a great trip and so fun to surprise our kids. I highly recommend it!

Easter 2011

We had a wonderful Easter, celebrating with...

...new ties for the boys...

...new skirts for the girls (thanks to Tina from Sewing Tink who made darling skirts and hair clippies for Soph and Liv)...

...a smily, wobbly Sophia, who is successfully taking several steps at a time before plopping down on her behind or falling over.... (She thought it was so wonderful to toddle and crawl around finding eggs filled with treats. She dutifully picked up each of her eggs and plopped it in her basket.)

...lots of hidden candy and treats...

...sugar cookies dipped in chocolate and toffee bits (recipe courtesy of Our Best Bites--I just got their cookbook from my dear friend and I have been baking and cooking my way through it... these cookies are a variation of their sugar cookie recipe--they were tasty--get the sugar cookie recipe here).

...and more sugar cookies with traditional cream cheese frosting. We had (have) sugar overload at our place. We are still working through the piles of candy....

But most of all, we felt grateful for the Atonement and Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He Lives! I loved this message and wanted to share it, even though Easter has passed.

Sunday Will Come

This is one of my all-time favorite Easter messages. Sunday will come!

Easter in Connecticut

Before our trip to Paris, we got to spend a few days with Ryan's parents in Connecticut. They've lived their for about a year and a half, and it's lovely! We were lucky to spend Easter Sunday with them. Olivia and Coleman were very excited that the Easter Bunny found them all the way across the country, even though their parents forgot to leave him (her?) a note telling them where to find them. We dyed eggs on Saturday and before church they had a fun hunt for the candy. They both loved Primary and were happy to sport some new Easter duds. New clothes have long been a tradition in my family, and when I tried to explain the rationale behind it Ryan rolled his eyes but accepted that it is a tradition that won't be dying off any time soon. We loved spending Easter with Terri and Bruce!

Happy Easter!

These last few days I've been so happy to see signs at businesses stating they would be closed for Easter Sunday. Local retailers say, "Thanks for coming, have a happy Easter" after we check out. I am comforted to know that this holiday is celebrated and honored.

I loved Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk, "None Were With Him" and found this great (short) video clip:



My favorite quote: "...may we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not only in the flush of comfortable times but in deed and in courage and in faith, including when the path is lonely and when our cross is difficult to bear. This Easter week and always, may we stand by Jesus Christ “at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in, even until death,”21 for surely that is how He stood by us when it was unto death and when He had to stand entirely and utterly alone."

**What do you do to remember the Savior at Easter?