Pictures of our CA summer trip

Here’s a photo journey of our vacation to CA. I would of taken more, but I needed a little break from pictures. It was nice to relax, sit outside in much cooler weather, and see my family and cousins. Seriously, I wanted to sit outside all the time, it was gorgeous.

Ethan with Brian, on the oh-so-relaxing chair. Love this shot of the boys:)

Jacquie had all these great balls, and the boys enjoyed them immensely!

Thursday, we went to an outdoor farmers market and other goodies. Jacquie treated Ethan to a pony ride, and he loved it. It was so thoughtful, and made a great memory:)

Food, glorious food! I had some fun doing some detail shots. I LOVE berries!

So funny, this is where the photo journey for me all began, with food and flowers. In 2000, I took an intro to Photography class up at Ricks. At the time, I worked in the cafeteria on campus, and so I took pictures of the produce there, in black and white film. Seeing these pictures brings back so many memories.

My cute baby, who’s almost walking. Took 5 steps today. About time!

The beach was awesome, so fun to share with young kids. After seeing the beach on Baby Einstein DVDs, it was great for Ethan to see it live. He’s seen the beach before when he was younger, but I don’t think he remembers it.

Kevin content on the blanket.

Cool, totally un-planned shot:)

The water was so stinking cold!

This was Ethan’s favorite, getting dirty and burying himself. I love letting him do boy things:)

Sunday, I had the great joy of visiting my dear friend Jenny. She’s serving in the Anaheim mission, doing sign language. I brought her a care package of some bath and body works shower gel, church music cds, and a big box of mac and cheese from costco. Its really neat to see your friends in mission mode. She has adapted to the deaf culture big time, as she was a lot less vocal than I remember her. When I served in Florida, a sweet friend visited me in my first area. She came to my ward to see me. I’ve never forgotten it, and was thrilled to pay it forward to Jenny:)

4 years ago, Shaun and I were in CA for our honeymoon. I had the desire to go back to my hometown of Burbank, CA, and take some pics of my first home. When taking the picture, I had not changed my settings from the day before. I remember clearly hearing a prompting of ‘check your settings’, and I ignored it. ( So stupid!) Later, I saw the pics of my home and they were totally over exposed and worthless. Heavenly Father is so wonderful. He seriously cares about anything that matters to you, period.

So, I got a second chance. Sunday, we drove down with the boys to Burbank. After we broke down on the freeway, got gas and kept going, we made it here. Just a little memory lane for me, you’ll have to indulge me:)

This is what I remember seeing all the time as a child, the studios. Walt Disney Animation studios is not far from my home, along with NBC.

The mailbox that I always wanted to walk to and deliver mail. Mom would freak, thinking I would get kidnapped because I was a cute, little girl. Being a parent now, I totally understand.

The beautiful trees that covered our street, which brought tons of squirrels to be fascinated by, and acorns to make mini boats out of and play with.

The sweet old lady’s house, who lived across the street from me. Looks totally the same.

My mom’s bedroom windows, with awesome French doors that opened. Sometimes, I would sleep on the floor in her room by these windows. The doors would be opened, and I could smell the night blooming jasmine plants. Heaven.

There she be. It looks different without the apricot trees in the front yard, and the new paint. Looks remodeled, but that’s my home I grew up in with mom, before all the living on the road and friend’s homes adventures began. Its always interesting to see your former home and playground. Clearly, times have changed, loved ones are gone, but the memories are there and are priceless.

My home away from home:) Growing up, I had one wonderful best friend, Summer. When mom went to work on “Dukes of Hazzard” (which is playing all weekend long on CMT this weekend, woo!!) she would drop me off at Summer’s home, in the early morning. I spent many days here, and love what I can remember. Jumping on the trampoline with Summer and her brothers, getting bounced everywhere, pretending the black fence and gate in the pic below was entrance to my own castle, and more. I think one of the best things of being a young kid is having a great imagination. Summer and I definitely had that!

The upstairs bedroom, where Summer, her sisters and I would be. Her sisters were teenagers then, and I clearly remember hearing 80’s music on the radio, “Shout” and “Take on Me” :D

Lastly, my date with Shaun to Raging Waters. No pics for this one, but it was wonderful. To have a break from kids and have a day with your best friend is truly a gift. We forked out a ton of money to get in, got our lockers, and ran to the water. We hit ride after ride, floated in the lazy river, and hit some more rides. I wussed out on the super steep, tall slide. I went all the way to the top with Shaun, and freaked out. Too steep for me. We shared a wonderful pineapple smoothie drink, out of a carved pineapple, got a terrific sunburn, and splashed in the wave pool.

I think of that day often now, as I take care of the kids, and Shaun is back at work. It helps me get through the motherhood troughs. I think taking a time out for another honeymoon/date with your loved one is so needed and so wonderful. I can’t wait for the next one. Thanks to Jacquie and Emily ( I think? Sorry!) for watching the boys, changing all the cruddy poops, and doing my job for one day. Eternally grateful.

That’s our vacation, thanks for taking the journey:)