Sunny Days

This past weekend we visited my brother and his family in California. They had their third child and we went out for the blessing. Our adventure started at the airport or rather in the car as we were arriving at the airport. We pulled up to the long term parking, pushed the button to take our parking ticket and discussed where we should keep the ticket so we don't lose it. I decided to put it in my wallet. I reached in my purse to get my wallet and to my surprise it wasn't there. Are you freaking kidding me?!!! Our flight leaves in an hour and a half and we have to drive home during rush hour to get my wallet with my ID. Larry navigated well and we arrived home in a hurry. I found my jacket I shopped in the night before and there I found my wallet. We jumped back in the car and cruised back to the airport. We made it!!! Larry had the good fortune of sitting next to 2 Hillcrest cheerleaders. I had even better fortune and sat next to my boys. I did get to listen to a naive cheerleader in the row behind me tell the 22 year old Jewish guy sitting next to her ALL about the gospel. It was pretty funny. The funniest question I heard her ask was "Do you have the Pearl of Great Price too?" She talked about everything from the length of dresses we should wear to Patriarchial Blessings, to group dating..."but after you get back from your mission you can go on single dates because now that you are home from your mission you should find a wife or husband, so it's okay to single date.", to the sacrament prayers.

It was interesting, uncomfortable at times, and thoughtful to listen to this young girl share the beliefs of our religion.

Disneyland was first on the agenda. My parents and brother and his family planned to meet us there. The highlight of Disneyland was discovering Huckleberry Finn Island. For all the many times we have been to DL I have never been to the island and, of course, it was the highlight of the day. Dresden and Logan loved crawling through the caves and trying to find "treasures". It was a gorgeous day and DL made a bundle from the thousands of other guests that embarked on the "Happiest Place on Earth". (see Larry's blog) The other highlight of the day was when Dresden and Logan heard the theme songs of Star Wars and Indiana Jones being played to the firework show that evening. They thought that was very cool! After the firework show ended we decided to bid our farewell to Disneyland and join the herd of people heading for the exit. I carried a sleeping Logan and we squished our bodies on the shuttle back to our hotel. As Dresden and I were laying in bed we both felt like we were still riding Space Mountain. Although our bodies still felt like they were moving our minds quickly shutdown and sleep found us.

The next day we tried to get up early to make it to our Whale Watching boat excursion. We didn't give ourselves enough time and accidentally turned the wrong direction out of our hotel so we didn't make our 9am appointment. They booked us on their noon sailing so we had time to play at the beach. It's amazing how kids just love the water. I absolutely loved sitting in the sun and watching the waves form and crash on the sand. I love watching the water receed of the sand and back to the ocean and I love the smells and sounds of the beach. It's safe to say I could handle living in beach house. Our whale watching excursion turned out great! The gray whale migration from Baja Mexico back up to Alaska is happening right now so we were fortunate to see 3 gray whales. The captain of our boat was giving us the best show he could. He got a couple hundred feet away and sailed along side of the whales so we were able to watch them surface for a good 45 minutes. The boys weren't too impressed...I think they were expecting a Sea World, jumping out of the water, type of excursion but Larry was very impressed and glad we were able to witness such an amazing part of nature.

After our whale watching excursion we sat in traffic for 3 hours...

Finally, we made it to the hotel in Thousand Oaks, where my brother lives. The boys came in the lobby with me with their Pirates of the Carribean swords and battled it out in the lobby until I asked them to kindly remove their little bodies from the lobby and take it outside. The lady gave me our keys and we drove around and parked. By the time we got all our stuff unloaded from the car and up to our room the lady from the front desk was waiting for us. She said she was going to move us from the room she assigned us to the suite. She thought it would fit us a little better. SUITE!!.. I mean SWEET!!! The room was great! We had one really large room with the two queen beds and then a living room. Seriously, I was so grateful to her for being so kind and upgrading our room. We really did appreciate it. We even thought about extending our stay just so we could take advantage of the room. We didn't.

Sunday was the purpose of our trip and Mike did a wonderful job of blessing Creed. Creed was an angel during the prayer and he was blessed with many beautiful blessings. It was fun to spend time at Mike and Nikki's and to see their darling kids. I think I would have been a nervous wreck watching all the older cousin boys playing so rough on the playset that Mike and my Dad built last summer but Mike and Nikki are so laid back I don't think anything phased them. I could certainly take some lessons from them. I'm certain Larry would agree.

Anyway, the whole weekend was a whirlwind but certainly well worth it. We LOVED being in the sun and being with family and having a little time away. It's always nice to get back home but we certainly would have been much happier if we didn't come home to snow. Seriously, enough is enough!!! I NEED SPRING!

My little pirate!

Dresden had to buy this key because he was sure it would open the treasure on Huck Finn Island.

Logan, Savannah, & Dresden

Papa and Savannah

Nothing like a bribe to get the kids to sit still for a picture...the bribe didn't work well.

Starving, hot, and tired...waiting for our food to be served.

The morning whale watching tour that we were supposed to be on saw hundreds of dolphins. This is the lone dolphin we saw all day. (top center of picture) It's amazing I was able to capture it when I wasn't even trying.

Bedtime is a time of night that I really do not look forward to. By the time it is time for the boys to go to bed I am pretty tired myself and I just don't want to fight with them to get them to stay in their own beds. Dresden is really pretty good about getting all tucked in and falling asleep right away. Logan, on the other hand, is my struggle. That boy just does not shut down and can go and go and go. Every night I have to go in and lay down by him, which I fight and fight, I want him to fall asleep on his own. But by the time I give up and I lay down by him I instantly LOVE my time with him. He is such a cuddle bug and will wrap his little arm as far around my neck as possible to hold on to me. And then, I don't want to leave! I just have to list the many lovable things he does that make me feel so happy. He loves to cuddle. When he comes into our room in the middle of the night (I know, he shouldn't be doing this and I shouldn't be allowing it but we really don't mind) he molds his little body to mine and has to be close to me. When he was a baby, I'm talking infant, he wanted his face right up against mine. He wouldn't fall asleep unless our noses were practically touching. I think he liked feeling my breath on his face. I love that when I hold him to give him a hug he pats or rubs my back (he does the same with Larry and we both find it so adorable) I love that when he sees pretty things like a pretty necklace or ring he wants me to have it. I love that when he finds a flower he will pick it and put it in my hair. I love that he likes to brush my hair and make it look pretty. I love watching his little face while he sleeps. I can watch my boys sleep endlessly. They both have the prettiest shaped eyes when they are closed. Dresden's eyes have such a pretty curve when they are closed and his eyelashes just make it all the prettier. Anyway, I love that Logan loves to love people and I especially love to be loved by him. I was looking at his baby pictures with my mother in law and I was just reminded of what a loving baby he has always been. He is always happy and adventurous and wants to make people happy. And, apparently I have taught him some manners because the other day I over heard him talking to his cousin Sydney. I told them to go wash their hands before helping me make breakfast so they ran up to the bathroom and then I heard him say, you go first, girls are always supposed to go first. I have to mention that Dresden is also pretty thoughtful. Larry told me that the other day when he went to pick Dresden up from school he was pretty late getting to the car. Larry asked him what took him so long and he told Larry that he was waiting with Sophie until she got picked up in the front of the school. Dresden sure does like Sophie and I'm glad to know that he looks out for her.

Wow, that was quite the ramble but I have been thinking these things for awhile now and I just had to share them. I feel so blessed that I have Dresden and Logan to love and that they love me back.