Visit from my Sis

My super amazing sister brought her wonderful family (that's 7 kids, people!) for a visit. My Mom came along too. It was so much fun to have them all here. The kids had a BLAST with their cousins. And I got a nice long break from Cooper while my cool nieces took over the baby care.

McKay and Kyra hit it off.


How low can you go?


The big boys. Taylor just got engaged to a super cute girl.


Cammie and Ryder. Cammie just moved to Alabama to work on her masters and was informed she has an accent.


Breckyn is obsessed with Mary. She was on cloud nine the whole time she was here and hasn't stopped talking about it since!


Patty (or Isaac) doesn't seem to mind the love. Breckyn just informed me the cats new name is Isaac. Whatev.


Elise and Mom/Grandma. Cuties.


Emma and Brigham. These two are very entertaining :)


The girls in their jammies, planning their take over and our demise.


Thanks for making the long trip! It was so fun to hang with you all! :) Where are the pics of Bronwyn? She was there too, I promise!

future plans

Ryder: Mama, Ima go radiator spings for college, k?
Mom: What? You are going to college at radiator springs?
Ryder: yeah, Ima ride my lighning queen car there.
Mom: Cool! Can I come to?
Ryder: Mmhmm. You can ride Dine-co.

Spanish Church

We go to a Spanish church. We love it! Of course, we do speak Spanish. The children however... weeell, let's just say we have to tell them if is a prayer or not. It has been a struggle for us to keep them somewhat quiet and still. I have been very creative in the past, bringing their favorite (quiet) toys, books, coloring books and crayons, snacks, fancy quiet books, file folder games... rotating it weekly to prevent boredom, blah blah blah. They were always wild animals no matter what I'd bring for them. Until I decided they (the girls) are too old for all that and they are capable of sitting still and quiet for an hour. They each have a church bag.

Inside they keep a notebook and a pen. Maybe some water. That's it. And guess what, it is all they need! Of course, Ryder is a different story entirely, but he is 2.

Breckyn likes to read, but I wouldn't classify her as a bookworm exactly. Writing is her favorite. She definitely see's herself as an author and will write pages and pages of stories, quizzes, journals, lists etc. She can't spell a lot of words correctly but it does not stop her, she spells it how it sounds. Like, 'Picsee Holoe', and 'you did stoopendis!' I love it! I find the best things written in her church notebooks.




Kyra happily draws queens, fairies and princesses. I love how she keeps her 'Cheerleader Champion' ID card that she got at Chuck E. Cheese. Very important to keep that.


Now if I could just figure out what could help Ryder be a little less wiggley and a lot less quiet, we'd be doing pretty good!

The new 'do

Ryder hadn't had a haircut in quite a while. Everywhere I went someone would comment about how the poor boy needed a haircut. Whatever! I loved it just the way it was. Even Kyle thought something needed to be done. Well, fine. I did something about it. I hope you're happy now :)
**I can't type that sentence without busting out in song. Thanks Wicked.**

Adorable long locks


The new 'do. He loves it.




What do you think?

Yosemite Experience

After San Fran we needed a break from all the people. So.. we went camping. We weren't quite sure WHAT to expect but it turned out to be not exactly what we expected. You know?

Yosemite is gorgeous, but there were A LOT of people everywhere. It is a tourist destination, not so much a laid back "camping" trip.

We had lots of fun, even though we spent a long time waiting in line to hike rather than actually hiking. And the campers that were camped 5 feet away from us were really nice. The s'mores were delish and my kids got good and dirty. I think camping is especially important for kids today. Unplugging for a few days feels great. We love camping and wish we could go more often...




































Now, if we only had a few big boulders in our backyard my little hikers would be set. Nothing like rock climbing in your pajama's first thing in the morning! :)

The City by the Bay

Whew! I am way behind in blogging, but what else is new? I better get these photos up before our next trip comes along!

We went to San Francisco for Kyle to go to CE. My mom met us there so we could go out and about with four kids easier. Some highlights:


Our first evening there we ran into these super cute twin ladies. We happen to be given a table next to them and they talked our ears off. They were so adorable but one of them kept repeating herself more times than I could count. They finished each others sentences and broke into song simultaneously the entire time. Very entertaining. After we came home I discovered pictures and videos of them all over the internet. Here is a video I found on youtube. Check them out!




We visited the Golden Gate park. It was HUUUUGE. In there we saw the Japanese Tea Gardens. The girls kept thinking it was full of fairy houses.


I hardly have any pictures of Cooper. That's because he was stuck in this thing the whole time.










Also in the park was a carousel that we rode 5 times. There was a playground that was amazing, it had "wave" climbing walls and an awesomely tall slide.


Just in front of the hotel:


Browsing China town was really fun. The girls went in each jewelry shop there (there are tons) and admired almost every piece of jewelry.

One night my mom and I went to Wicked. (thanks Mom!!) So gooooood!!!! (No pics of that)...

Pier 39 had tons of cool stuff too. We found a fun mirror maze, the kids loved it.


Kyle and I rode the ROCKET BOAT. It was so fast and fun and I got drenched. It was my favorite thing!


Check out those strawberries! YUM!


Another day we went to Yerba Buena gardens and found another AMAZING playground. I think we hung out here for like 4 hours. Ryder couldn't get enough of the little water streams and his new cable car, Breckyn went down the massive slide a million times and Kyra scampered here and there doing a little of everything.



Breckyn found this picture and was so excited because she learned all about him in Kindergarten.


Of course we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and it was breathtaking.


It was pretty there. Even on the freeways.


On the way out we stopped by the Oakland Temple. After all the business and hullabaloo of the big city it was nice to feel peace and quiet again.


Thanks Mom for coming along! We loved having you with us :)

I know that was a generic and boring travelogue but I don't have time for any more! :)