Adventures in Blogging

Anyone remember that movie "Adventures in Babysitting"?  I have made reference to it a few times to my movie lover husband Todd and he has never seen it.  Anyway I digress.  I have been trying to fiddle with my blog and somehow lost my blog list so if you used to be on my list and are no longer there, please let me know.  I can't recall who I am missing.

Bri and Ray get Married

The reason we planned this big trip was for the wedding.  Bri and Ray got married on May 26.  Between Todd and I we took about 1000 pictures.  That is not a joke.  So here are some highlights.  Ray's family put together the reception the night before and it was beautiful.  They had these tables that were set up as buffets.  So there was a nacho buffet, a baked potato buffet, a dessert buffet, a drink buffet, and a candy buffet.  I wish I would have taken pictures of all of it, especially the candy table.  It was all in the colors of the wedding and was really pretty.  Ray's family was very kind and gracious to us and we had a lot of fun that night.  Our turn is coming up this weekend as we have a little reception here in Iowa.  We have been busy cleaning up the garage at my parent's house and have a lot of work ahead of us.  Especially since my parents are taking a mini vacation until Wednesday.   

 Some cute pics with the bride and groom to be.

 Some of the decorations.  I put together those little candles. Yeah me;)

 We had a ton of fun dancing and enjoyed being silly.

 The next day at the temple was beautiful.  Luckily a friend of Bri and some relatives of Ray were able to watch all of the hooligans during the ceremony so that we could all be in attendance.  We started a little late, but it was nice to be all together for the wedding.

 A quick family photo op.

 We took a bazillion pictures of both families.

Some messing around was involved.  Brody, Dylan and I hung out in the Limo for a few minutes after the Bride and Groom were out.  All in all it was a great day and we are so glad that we were able to be there for the happy couple.

The Beach

As I said in the last post about Sea World, the weather while we were in San Diego was kind of chilly.  In the low to mid 60's and cloudy most of the time we were there.  That didn't stop us from having fun and doing all sorts of things.  One morning we took the family to Konos (a breakfast joint) out on the beach during lunch time.  Yes I did have breakfast for lunch.  I have been craving Konos since we decided we were going to go to San Diego back in October.  It was recommended by our friends Peter and Ashley the last time we went to San Diego and we loved it.  So we talked it up and took our family there this time.  Good thing it was still as good as we remembered.  We didn't want to let anyone down. I didn't get any pictures there, but after we walked down this pier and then down to the beach. 

 I am the only "fun" mom who wouldn't let her kids get in the water.  I knew we were going to go to another beach on a different day and I didn't have a change of clothes so I knew they would complain and be cold.  Most of the kids started with their feet in the water and then "fell" in.

 Bella was down to her underwear because she fell under at one point.

 Cute Alyvia.

I wish I could have gotten a picture of this, but Jim was trying to save one of the kids from some waves and didn't notice how close the water had gotten and totally soaked his shoes.  We were all laughing because he had been so diligent about keeping his shoes dry.  The kids loved the beach even though it was cold and we had fun watching them.

Sea World

The day after we arrived in San Diego we headed to Sea World.  We got a Southern California pass that gave us a day there, 3 to Disneyland/California Adventure and 1 to Universal Studios.  It was great.  the day we went to Sea World was pretty chilly and the cloudy.  It was kinda perfect for crowds though.  We had a ton of fun and the kids loved all of the shows.

 The Shamu car was too cute to pass up.

 Waiting for the drivers to come back from free parking a few miles away.

 Bella was stealing snacks from Mercedes.

 Me on the spinning ride.  Mercedes would not ride with Uncle Jim.  I don't do well on spinning things so it was interesting.  Good thing I had my Dramamine.

 She was pretty worried about this ride when it started.  By the end of our trip she had been on enough rides that it wasn't so bad.

 Shamu show.

 I can't believe I actually got a picture of the two of us with him looking and smiling.

 Elmo and Big Bird were playing with Lincoln and Porter's hats.  The kids were giggling like crazy.

 Mercedes of course would not go near them so I had to jump in the picture.

The tiny kids play area was perfect for the little kids.  They enjoyed that during times when the older kids jumped around on the other stuff.

Family Reunion = Craziness

Almost a month ago now my parents had a family reunion for our side of the family.  This was planned a while ago to coincide with Brianna's wedding.  Brianna was getting married in San Diego so we were going to take advantage and have fun in southern California.  We started off the trip with a nice plane ride.  (This trip will come in segments because it takes too long to do everything at once.)

 We were on Southwest so each time was a race to try and sit all together.  With 15 people that can be a bit tricky.  We also had 9 kids and 6 adults so that was kinda fun.  I only took pictures on one flight.  All of the kids did pretty well on each flight - 2 there and 2 back.  With iPads and other electronic devices and some non-electronic entertainment we were able to keep them busy.  Everyone was pretty excited at this point.

 It was even a first flight for Ian-in the red shirt.  He giggled for almost the entire take-off.

My mom, Hailee and Emma were in front of me so I couldn't quite get a picture of them.  I know my mom did so it is documented somewhere.

And this is a picture of our wonderful luggage.  With car seats I checked 7 pieces on the way out and 8 on the way back.  I love that Southwest has free checked baggage.  Alisha and Chad and my parents were similar.   Packing for 11 days with kids is tough for sure.  We originally rented vans because we knew this would happen.  Then we found out we could get a $450 savings if we just did a big car, so we switched.  Well, Todd, Alisha, and my Dad were able to sweet talk the agents into giving us vans for $5 extra per day.  So we paid $238 for 11 days with a van.  That was our pretty sweet deal for the week!!  I'm so glad we did because I don't know how we would have fit everything without the vans.  We had such a fun time.  Look for more pictures to come.

A 4-Year-Old

Well I officially have a four-year-old.  I can't believe how the time has flown.  I love my Lincoln and how much joy he brings to our little family.  He is such a helpful little boy and will bring me diapers, tissues, and other things whenever I ask.  He also has a great imagination.  He always wants to play monsters, treasure map, or some other random game.  He is a great snuggler and especially loves to come to my bed in the early morning and sleep for the last hour or two in our bed.  I won't complain too much.  He has really started to learn so much.  I'm always surprised at the things he knows that I haven't taught him or that we talked about once a long time ago.  He knows a lot about the church.  He's quick to say I love you and he is really a great big brother.  He wants to have another baby sister not a baby brother.  (not an announcement) We love this little boy so much and even though he is very strong willed we are grateful every moment of the day that he is ours.  

The Saturday before Lincoln's birthday we had a friend party with some of the kids from his Preschool.  We played with water guns, bubbles, the new swing set, tag, and pin the wheel on Lightning McQueen.

 This little girl did not want to participate in group pictures.  She's a fiesty one.  Adorable though.

 Present time.  He got a sprinkler, an Ironman, a water gun and bubble gun, money and candy.  He was in heaven.

 The cupcakes.  We had an Avengers/Lightning McQueen theme.

 A picture of the handsome man in my life.

 On Sunday we had his family party since we would be in California on his actual birthday.  We had a shared party with Bella since her birthday is 2 days before Lincoln's.

 He got a lot of fun stuff I don't even remember it all, highlights were his scooter, a new Red Sox hat, a Mickey shirt and a Toy Story beach towel.

 He wanted a football cake.  This kid changed his mind daily on the type of cake he wanted so we just stuck with one he had said earlier that was easy to make.  My mom made the cake.  It is so nice not to have to worry about that at parties.

Happy 4th Birthday to my beautiful Lincoln.  I love you so much and love to see you grow and change everyday.

Big Boy

I think I said something about this on Facebook, but thought I would do a post about it here.  A little while ago Lincoln learned how to ride his bike without training wheels.  He absolutely loves it now.  When the weather started to get warm we started to get the bikes out and I thought I would teach him how to do it.  Well the first few times were not good.  So I decided I would wait until summer.  I told him that he needed to practice balancing with his training wheels on and worked on it for a few weeks.  Then about a month ago we were at my parents house and he wanted to ride a bike.  However, we did not have his bike and they do not have any with training wheels right now.  So I asked him if he wanted to try it with one of the little bikes.  He did and he just took off after one or two times of me running on the road beside him.  It took him about 2 or 3 more days to figure out the turning, stopping, and starting by himself stuff, but he did a great job.  I'm not sure how great this video is, it is from my phone.