Pioneer Picnic

My parents ward had a Pioneer Picnic last night. The weather was great, the food was good and the games were fun. I don't know how it happened but I ended up in a sack race. I think I just ended up jumping up and down and did not make very much forward progress but it was still fun. Trevor and I also did a three legged race. I ended up with a bruised foot from getting stomped on and Trevor has a scrape on his elbow.Kyle just hung out in his seat the whole time enjoying the great outdoors.

The girls in the sack race. They were much better than their mom.

The girls were great partners in the three legged race. They hit their stride about half way through and then they flew.

Me and my two of my sisters. Kaylee comes in next Saturday and then the picture will be complete.

La Habra Childrens Museum

On Saturday we went to the children's museum. They have a really fun dress up room with tons of costumes and a sound stage with a working microphone. We went to the same museum when Emma was four and she treated us to a rendition of "Scripture Power". This year both Emma and Abby sang "You Belong to Me" by Taylor Swift. These were their outfits of choice. The bride and the prom queen.

Then they found the masks...these were my favorite.

The museum had an animal show and both of the girls got to hold something. This is Emma holding a bearded lizard. She was so brave.

Abby got to hold a dragon. I can't remember exactly what kind of dragon it was but Abby thought that it was great.

Trevor got to hold a tarantula which I thought was gross and scary. The lady who brought it out told us that we all needed to be quite because tarantulas are very sensitive to sound. Well it was a room full of little kids so it was anything but quiet. I was a little freaked out, but Trevor said it was very light and soft which was not what I would have expected.

My astronauts on their mission to Mars. The museum had a whole section on travel in America. The girls favorite modes of transportation were the horse at the start and the spaceship at the end.

Random Happenings

Just some cute pictures of what we have been up to this past week besides the beach... There is a park down the street that the kids really enjoy. I got tired of pushing the girls so they decided to swing sideways.

It seems like Kyle has grown up so much since we have been here. He is army crawling all over the place. I think that he likes the hardwood floors because he slides along a lot easier.

Kyle likes his Grandpa. They have had a some fun bonding moments and Grandpa says his goal is to get Kyle to be able to reach out with both arms which would make his occupational therapist so happy.

Enjoying the swing at the park. It is so nice that he is finally able to enjoy something at the park.

Abby being creative. Grandma bough some fun sticky foam that the girls were suppose to use to make some projects but Abby decided to decorate herself instead.

Kyle and my sisters daughter Kelsi. Kelsi has had a hard time warming up to so many of us at once but she loves "be-be" Kyle. They should be great friends by the end of our visit.

We love being with family again. We will have to make sure it is not another two years before we do it again.

Enjoying the California Sun

We have been in California for a week now and we are really enjoying it. After some really annoying problems with USC Trevor has started his externship and things are going well. While he is working away we have been enjoying the sun and the sand. Kyle has become a fan of the beach. He lets me put him in the water and he only cries when I take him out. He reaches back to the water with both hands. I guess that we just needed to get him to the right coast.

These little gals have always been fans of the ocean. The first day we went we hit some really big waves with strong rip tide but I still had a hard time keeping Emma out of the water. The next day she has scrapes and bruises on her legs but she had a great time!

Another miracle! Kyle fell asleep in me! The waves must have lulled him to sleep. If there was only a way to get that sound piped into the airplane when we fly home it would save everyone a big headache.

Abby doing what she does best...eating cookies and sand.

We are so happy to be here and are looking forward to many more beach trips.

Our Garden

We were challenged by our bishop to plant a garden as a way to increase self reliance. I have to admit that I was not excited about the idea. We don't have a whole lot of room and I am not a huge veggie fan. I planted things with a pretty bad attitude. I knew that we were going to be gone the whole month of August when things were most likely to produce. After a lot of complaining I am really glad that we planted our little garden. It has been so much fun to watch it grow and it is so fun to eat things that you have grown. I have learned a few things along the way. I planted things a little too close together so it looks like a bunch of weeds but all the way to the left is a green pepper plant and then in the middle there are three tomato plants and a cucumber plant on the right.

This is our pumpkin plant. Abby planted it from a seed at preschool and we transplanted it so it will be fun to see if we get our own pumpkin for Halloween.

Here you can see our big tomatoes. None of them were red before we left so our neighbors will get to enjoy them for us but the cucumbers were very tasty. It has been fun and we are already try to figure out what we will plant next year.