On Wednesday Sam's parents drove the boys back up to Cali, along with Sarah and her two boys and Meg.  It wouldn't be a Schmidt reunion without a trip to Disney!  It a perfect day for the park-beautiful weather and short lines.

Parker loves the Dumbo ride (he's still telling anyone he meets how he went to Disneyland and his favorite ride is Dumbo).

spontaneous

Lincoln always has some sort of food on his face because he's always eating.  After a cinnamon roll breakfast.

We were especially excited for the trip because we finally got to meet Max & Beckett (or Bucket as Parker likes to call him)!

Parker smothering Max

Apparently Disneyland doesn't rent double strollers.  Who knew?  

Grandma sitting with the sleeping babies

Captain EO

Attempting to get a shot of all four boys

See what I mean?  

Aunt Meg, Lincoln, Parker

Four boys on the carousel.  Beckett was not a fan, but  l love how it looks like Max is riding alone.  

sword fighting with dad

We left our hearts in San Diego

Before Sam started school again, we took a little family vacay to San Diego.  The four hour flight with the boys went fine, but poor Sam was fighting off the flu, so I (poor me) was pretty much flying solo with the kids.  Once we arrived we and all our stuff (still not sure how we did that) headed over to get the rental car and the line was ONE HOUR long.  Seriously.  Note to Dollar: schedule more people to work over labor day weekend.  The boys were troopers though and waited patiently outside.  

Love how much stuff you cart for only a week

After grabbing some lunch at a great sandwich place in Point Loma we headed over to David and Solveig's, our gracious hosts for the week.  We took it easy for the rest of the day, just relaxing and swimming in their pool.

Sunday after church (we visited our old ward which was really fun), we drove up to my grandma's house in Rancho Cucamonga.  The boys had a blast playing with her and didn't want to leave.  She has lots of fun toys in her basement, some that I played with as a kid.  I have so many great memories of this house and always love visiting.  PS-Isn't she so beautiful?

playing with Mamaw

Mamaw, L, P

We spent a few hours in Rancho Cucamonga, and then drove to Baker where we met Sam's parents.  Finally ate at Mad Greek after passing billboards for it for the past 10 years.  Meh.  But now we can say we've been there!

Once the children were gone, the real fun began.  Sam and I spent 3 blissful days alone. We had a long list of places we wanted to eat and places to go, so it wasn't hard to fill up our days!  Monday we slept it (duh) and had Wahoo's for lunch (oh how I miss Wahoo's).  It was kind of rainy (for like the first time in a million years in San Diego), so instead of going to the beach we headed to downtown San Diego, looked in some shops, ate, and remembered why we love it there so much.  Tuesday was actually gray and chilly again in SD, so we went up to Orange County for some sunshine (stopping at Cafe Rio on the way).  We walked around Balboa to see the cute houses and grab a treat.  When we got back the sun had returned so we chilled at the beach in Del Mar until it was time for our Fantasy Football draft.

Balboa Bar

love watching the surfers (or in this case boogie boarder)

drafting

Wednesday morning we attended the temple (is there a more beautiful temple?) and then spent the rest of the day on Coronado.  Our favorite part of the day was renting bikes and riding around the island.  I LOVE Coronado, it's so stinkin' charming; will someone please buy me a little beach cottage there?  And the beaches are the best.

Coronado Bridge in the background

Coronado beach-Hotel Del peeking out

Those three days were incredibly relaxing and fun.  It was so nice to be able to spend uninterrupted time together hanging out, doing whatever we wanted!  Thanks to Kevin and Sue!

Since We've Been Gone

A lot has happened with the Schmidt family in the past few months and the blog has been sorely neglected. Here's a quick recap.

Sam and Ashley went to Puerto Rico with some other Kellogg students

We had fun at the aquarium in Chicago!

The boys and Ashley took a trip to Texas and went to the pumpkin patch

The Schmidt boys on Halloween

Visited the dino at the Field Museum

Lincoln changed from this...

...to this!

And our view went from this...

...to this!

PA

I've been putting this off, but I'm sure everyone's been wondering how our trip was :) Once we finally made it there on the right day and everything we had a great time! Parker and I spent a few days in State College visiting with old friends. Sam and I moved just a few weeks before Parker was born, so it was fun for him to meet all the people who knew him in my belly!

This is my old manager and friend Patty Treaster and her girls Payton and Talia.

We were also able to visit with some friends from our old ward. Lauren Christensen and her daughter Isabel and Megan Baylis and her daughter Sophie.

The three kids "playing".

I just liked this picture of Parker.

I spent LOTS of time with my good friend Kim (who I miss dearly), her husband Troy, and their new baby boy Cole.

Me and the two boys

Kim and my man.

After our visit to State College, we drove back to Philadelphia to spend some time with Sam's parents. While we were there we met up with Rob and Amy Edwards and their baby Logan who we also knew in State College, but have since moved. It was so fun to see them. Their little guys was SOOO cute and such a happy baby!

Amy, Logan, me and Parker!

The Wedding

The Saturday of the wedding, as luck would have it, brought the worst weather of the week. It was cold, windy, and rainy. BUT, it didn't seem to affect Annie and McKay at all. They had a beautiful wedding, despite the weather.

{I forgot my camera battery the day of the wedding, so these pics are swiped from my SIL Meg's facebook page!}

a shot of the clouds

Luckily the rain stopped for a few minutes so we could get a few pictures. It was windy though!

They were married in the Draper Temple

The newlyweds!

When the reception rolled around, the rain really started to pick up. That's Annie and McKay running to the tent that was set up outside.

Meg, Justin, Sarah, and Stafford

All in all it was a beautiful day. As Annie and McKay were leaving the reception the rain stopped and the sun broke through the clouds. We all thought it was an omen for the rest of their lives :) Congratulations to the new Coppins family!!