Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day Weekend this year we just stayed home and did a couple of little day trips. We had two extremes weather wise-we spent one day in Big Bear which was FREEZING. I had on two jackets and my winter coat-and then on Monday we headed down to Newport which was wonderful and warm-although I wasn't too tempted to get into the water!

Finally made it to the lake. We love it up there, but the drive up is not my favorite. Luckily Cody is a skilled driver and managed to drive up there without making me want to vomit the whole way! 

Do my kids even have a chance?

The whole way up Max kept talking about how he was going to go rock climbing. Luckily he was pretty satisfied with rocks this size.

Big Bear is SO pretty.

Remember how I said it was freezing? Nothing can keep this girl out of the water-I just like her wet little bum. She started off with her coat on but I decided to take it off in an attempt to keep some warm item of clothing dry. 

Max and Cody found some bigger rocks to climb-the perfect sized rocks for a five year old boy.

Sad that she can't keep up with the boys as they were climbing up bigger rocks. 

We decided to go on the Alpine slide that they have up there. To say that Max was excited would be an understatement. He was so excited he couldn't hold still-the excitement was just oozing out of his little body!

View from the top of the slide.

There were about six dolphins that kept jumping around in the water out there. I did what any wildlife photographer would do and attempted to capture their images from my chair. Yes I was having a nice and lazy day at the beach. I am loving the fact that my kids are old enough to just play at the beach and be completely happy with little to no need for mom and dad. It is the best!

Max taking a chance to warm up a little bit.

Max and hit little buddy Carson.

Pretty sure that Cody is going to love that I put this picture up. He could be the one in charge of the blog-but he doesn't do it so sometimes things like this have to happen!

Layla loves the beach-she frequently tells me goodbye and that she is heading to the beach. It was a good way to end our fun little holiday weekend!

Lego Land

One of my best friends from highschool and her family came and stayed with us for a few days in May-it was fun to have them with us and fun to go and play with them too! We went with them to lego land, which is something we had never done and a place that Max had been begging to go....so it was a win win situation.

We started Lego Land on the wrong side-and waited forever in lines for all the lame rides...this one was the first ride that was alright.

What little kid wouldn't love to sit in a lego car.

It is absolutely amazing what they can make with Legos-seriously who thinks up this stuff?

We had so spend a lot of time checking out all the Star Wars Lego creations-my question is, will star wars ever die?

I'm pretty sure Layla is trying to figure out how to get over this little fence and into the model area.

Out of all the starwars guys Max chose to have his picture with Yoda-funny thing is that Max seriously kind of looked like Yoda when he was a baby-he was very cute but just a little Yoda looking!

Cody and Austin with all the kids on this thrilling ride. I wish I could post the video of it because the sounds they made when the ride dropped and bounced them all was priceless! Somehow Kensey and I didn't get a picture together...what were we thinking? We have too many kids to take pictures of to even think of taking a picture of just us!

Australia

We were SO lucky to be able to go to Australia with Cody's company. We loved it and I frequently daydream about going back. I'm not going to make a long post because most of my pictures are already on facebook and there are just way too many!

The Opera House-such a cool building-I could take pictures of it all day long.

In front of the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

Feeding the Kangaroos and Wallabies -definitely a highlight!

Hanging on the beach with my best friend in the whole world....what more could a girl want!

Easter

Easter also came and went while my parents were down visiting. I love that Max is old enough that he remembers and understands the true meaning and importance of holidays....not to say that he doesn't still think about and love the fun aspects of them too. 

I found Easter eggs this year that came with foam stickers. They were so cute and more fun for the kids to decorate! Layla was the lone decorator this year. The day that we were decorating eggs-Max was struggling....and I was done dealing with a grumpy boy! Maybe I am a really mean mom-but in the end it worked out for the best.

The finished product.

Its amazing what a good night sleep will do to bring back my sweet boy! He was so happy the Easter Bunny knew about his Lego obsession. 

Max and Medusa with their stash. 

Layla eyeballing my brother's Easter basket...he was still in bed and I think she was a little jealous of all his chocolate.

The best picture I could get of the two of them in their Easter outfits. What do you do?

Hunting for eggs in the backyard-by the time we got home from church they were a little bit melted....oops. I guess we aren't in Kamas anymore, where there is usually still a little bit of snow on Easter!

Not quite sure.

Layla also loves her uncle...he puts forth very little effort-yet she still goes and cuddles up with him all the time.

The preschool group's Easter Egg hunt. 

Layla was so excited to be able to participate with the bigger kids in the hunt.