California Trip

The first week of April we went to Las Vegas/California (along with most of the state of Utah). We used my grandma's time share and stayed at a great condo-the same one me and Mark stayed in on our honeymoon. My mom and sister took both of my kids and flew to Las Vegas while me and Mark drove with my dad and brother. We all stayed the night in Vegas and then drove the rest of the way to Newport Beach, CA. The weather wasn't great until the second half of the trip but it was better than Utah.
The view from our condo.

Easter Sunday.
My cousin Kady and her family ,who live in California, came down on Sunday. We had lunch together and the kids did an Easter egg hunt. Thanks Kady.
Henley and Beck on the patio

Henley with her eggs

Henley with Owen and Tess.

Just chillin.

Aquarium of the Pacific

This aquarium was so much fun. We have gone to the aquarium in Hawaii and it wasn't great, so we were a little nervous to try this one. But, it was supposed to rain that day -it didn't-but we decided to give it a try. It had so many fun exhibits and you could touch the sharks, sting rays, and star fish.

The only thing Henley would touch was the starfish.

Octopus

The kids had so much fun.

Beck loved seeing all the fish.

Hanging out on the pier outside the aquarium.

The plan was to go to Disneyland on Wednesday because we knew it was supposed to be good weather. My dad and brother and sister were also going to Six flags and Mark was going deep sea fishing. So that left me, my mom, and the kids with nothing to do on Tuesday. It turned out that was ok. We headed to the pool, even though it was barely warm enough, like 70 degrees. Henley had fun, but Beck only wanted to be in the pool for a minute. Then the kids got naps and when Mark got home we all went to get dinner in Laguna Beach.

Disneyland

Wednesday was a very warm day so we headed to Disneyland. We knew it would be busy and it was but we still had fun. We had done the Disney Service thing to get free tickets so it was really worth it. We didn't get to go on a lot of the rides that we would have liked but we were worn out by the end of the day.
Henley with Princess Jasmine and Aladdin.

In front of the castle.

She went through Sleeping Beauty's castle with dad.

Tea Cups

Beck had a great time hanging out with the family. I was worried because he doesn't love his stroller but he actually did really well.

Waiting in line for the Finding Nemo ride, and getting tickled by grandpa.

Heading out of the submarine.

Pixie Hollow

Dumbo ride. In line for this ride Henley told me she just wanted to go on this ride and then go home. I asked if she wanted to go on Peter Pan or Winnie the Pooh and she said "no just Dumbo then let's go to the hotel". So we did.

Grandma bought Henley a Princess Tiana Barbie and then is was time to head out.

Late night snack- you can tell by looking at those pink cheeks we had a long hot day.

The beach.

The last day we were there me and my mom were packing up getting ready to go and everyone else went to the beach. Mark said we should have spent a whole day there because Henley loved it.

Sandcastles with Kelsey and Mason

She got flipped over the the ocean by a wave and was caked in sand.

Hanging out with dad.

Tide pools

Vacations sure wear you out.

I have more pictures on my other camera so I will have to post those later.

Busy, Busy!

Well we have been pretty busy lately. Here is what we've been up to.

First a random picture of the dogs. Normally, I would get mad at them for being up on the couch but I thought this was kind of cute since these two are best buds.

Beck

Beck has become such a busy little boy. He is crawling everywhere including up the stairs, yikes. He pulls himself up on everything and walks/cruises around things. He loves playing with his toys and eating. I think he officially said his first word which was of course Dada. Why wouldn't it be Mama? I'm only the person who carried him for 9 months, nursed him, and take care of him every day but sure say Dada first. I'm really not bitter, Henley said Dada first too. Beck actually said Hi Dada first a few weeks ago. Now he just says Dada.

Henley was playing with the camera a while ago and took this picture of Beck. He was waiting for his breakfast and this is how he felt about it. He loves to eat and gets so mad when he has to wait.

He rarely sits down to play with things, he loves to stand.

I was trying to take pictures of Henley the other day and as soon as Beck saw the camera he came right over. He loves to have his picture taken, the problem is he won't stay still. He just crawls closer and closer to the camera.

What a babe.

We just found out a few weeks ago that Mark's grandpa Wayne has stage 4 melanoma. Which really sucks. We are wishing him all the best and hope he feels better. We went to visit right after we got the news and here are pictures of Beck playing with aunt Tia. As you can see she has food and so he is very interested in her. He probably would have been interested even if she didn't have food, everyone like aunt Tia.

He was practically jumping up an down.

The other day I heard a crash come from the kitchen and Beck had stood up and pulled this bin of toys on the ground and he was quite proud of himself. He is the sweetest little boy and we love him so much.

Henley.

Mark went to see his cousin wrestle in the Idaho State Championships. Henley wanted to go along.Here she is with Grandpa Wayne.

Henley and Aunt Jill

Right before Valentines Day Henley was begging for pink Valentine cupcakes at the grocery store. So of course I bought them and for some reason she got frosting all over herself including her hair. She is really a much messier eater than Beck.


We also finally finished Henley's new room. Her and Beck have been sharing for a few months and it was really crowded. She loves her new room and I love that they each have their own space. The day the carpet got finished she started moving stuff down all by herself.

All finished.

Grandma Huntsman came to stay a few weekends ago so me and Mark could go away for our birthdays/anniversary. She bought some paint and pages to color. After she left we were all painting some pages. I left for a minute and came back to this. Sadly, Mark initiated it and Henley was just a victim.

Mark's grandpa has a tiny violin that we are borrowing so Henley can do violin lessons. We are not crazy parents that expect her to be a great violinist, but for now she is excited about it. Hopefully, she learns more about music than me, which shouldn't be hard because I know nothing. One of Mark's swim teachers teaches violin out of her house and so we decided to let Henley do some lessons.

Here she is right before her first lesson, she was so excited to go meet teacher Arianne

Mark said she did such a good job and her teacher was very impressed. She even remembered everything when she got home and told me all about what she learned. She knew all the parts of the violin and how to hold it and even played me a song. Here she is practicing.


She concentrates so hard when she plays, it's adorable.

Here is a little video of her playing what she learned.