Thursday, October 29, 2009

Let's be honest...

...who can resist a baby in a bedazzled sweatsuit??



Not me!!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Thursday, October 22, 2009

California here we come/came!! VOl. 2

What a Fantastic Trip we have had....
We have been so excited for our trip to California. It was one of the major FHE announcements for a solid month.We are now home and enjoying all of these wonderful memories!!

Riding on an Airplane our kids LOVE to ride on airplanes! Steve on the other hand does not love to ride on airplanes with our kids! He is spoiled by all the travel he does alone for work. While it felt like heaven to have 2 extra hands to help out at the airport and on the flight, Steve was a bit stressed out...can you tell??


Hanging out at Grandma & Papa's house

Riding in the Tractor
...who cares that one of the tires was totally flat and that the back of the trailer was totally jerry rigged.....it was a big hit!! Uncle Donnie usually followed close by incase anyone was bucked off!


Spending time with Grandma
...while all the kids LOVE their Papa....Grandma is an absolute Celebrity! Maggie is learning quickly that Grandma Ward is full-time fun!


The Swings
...this set that our crafty Grandma Ward concocted are the kind I live for....they have loooong chains so you can get going SO high! Although I cannot stomach it for quite as long as I used to-it was still great fun. However I will say I am much more intimidated by jumping off in mid swing! It's good to know that the next generation is loving the swings just like their mom!

Eleanor is especially a fan of the swings!

She loves to go really high and I don't even worry about her because she has been a swinger since she was a year old. She holds on better than the boys and is WAY more daring...she loves to go high and lean all the way back! She even knows how to pump now!

Hide & Seek in the dark
...Grandma provided glow sticks and a little supervision for a mean game of H & S. It was so fun to see all these little cousins playing so well together. Maya was especially good at hiding that she made it through a few different seekers before she was found!

Taylor & Eleanor are SO sneaky!
Why is Oscar so happy??

GLOW STICKS!!


Seeing Steve...it was WONDERFUL to have his undivided (well semi-undivided...there were many boys activities for the wedding!) attention!


Finding old treasures...Grandma & Grandpa Ward are moving so they were cleaning out attics and old boxes. In all those secret places there was treasure hidden. All of the kids came home with various keepsakes from those old boxes...the boys LOVED these boxing gloves and Maya was a shoe-in for this old cub scout shirt--it fit her like a glove and had some really cool patches on it!


Visiting Coloma for the Mormon Battalion Event!...this is where Gold was first discovered in California!! Every year they have a series of reenactments and a weekend long festival about the Mormon Battalion--It was great fun!


Visiting the Sacramento Temple...

We scoped out where Grandma Ward had planted some of her Dad's (Great Grandpa Oscar Larson) plants and told Oscar a little about his namesake! It was a good time!

The trip to Monterrey...


Oscar was REALLY tired!!

I drove down Friday afternoon the 3+ hours from Sacramento with the kids--Steve went up Thurs morning for the bachelor's weekend full of golf & games! On the way down I was able to stop off and see one of my best friends, Sydney Rose Davies . It was so fun to catch up with her!! (PS thanks for letting me borrow your glasses Candy--they had remarkable coverage!!)

Here it is..this is the view from where Matt & Sara will be married...

SO BEAUTIFUL!!
I swear these are some of the same rocks that I was nearly swept away into the ocean from as a little girl. Many years ago on our trip to California all of the kids were out looking at the little tide pools when all of a sudden what seemed like a tsunami came and almost dragged us into the cold water! Luckily we all clung to the rocks and walked away soaking wet!

We love these kids!

Our FAVORITE Aussies...Elise (due in Feb) a sad Taylor (3) and Annabelle (1.5)


Gordon loved holding onto his cold ears! he's just like his uncle Daniel who can't resist a cold ear!
Princess Pants


I love these plants that grew all over they're little greenery things that change colors with the fall!

Oscar's little BFF Garrett Madsen


As the adults were going through the plans for the wedding and arragements and positions for the kids were all playing on some rocks by the bike path and I start to hear Gordon yelling, "Help, HELP" I look around and don't see him anywhere...obviously I start to panic thinking that someone has grabbed him (we were a bit distracted with the planning of seating etc. and all the men were out for the bachelor's day so the moms were totally outnumbered) but as he continues to scream louder and more panicked he isn't getting quieter like he's being taken...interesting...I am calling his name and the others realize that I can't find him so they start looking and calling...then the laughing begins...and he yells..." hey I 'm up here" still we're looking...looking...he's still laughing...then a tree...a very small tree mind you starts shaking like crazy as he's yelling "Up here! Up here"... and there he was perched at the very top of this tiny tree! It's a good thing he's so small...Jenny broke a few of the tiny branches just trying to get him out!

Thanks for saving him Jenny!!


I can't get enough of her!

...or her for that matter!
Gordon was a great mountain goat...jumping from rock to rock

Ellie enjoyed climbing...or attempting to climb and "babysitting Annabelle"


Oscar loved "climbing and throwing rocks"...I don't think that the bikers loved his rock throwing since they all landed on the bike path...luckily I got most of them!

There were lots of new cool bugs (a black crickety thing) and some old favorites (roly polys) to be found under all the boulders...it entertained the boys quite well!

We had a little time for relaxing at the hotel

The wedding...more to come here!


We just had a great Family trip to California to Celebrate Uncle Matt's Wedding!! We didn't get many pictures of the wedding since Steve was in it and I had 4 kids to juggle...I'll post more of those later but here is what we have!

I just want to welcome our newest sister into the Ward Family....Welcome to the Craziness! It was a long time in the making but we are so happy to finally have you!
We Love you Sara!!