Our California Adventure

We just returned from a family vacation to CALIFORNIA! It was a vacation I've been looking forward to for months and it lived up to all my expectations. David and I had an absolutely wonderful time and are so grateful to my parents for allowing us to make these memories with all of my brothers and sisters and naky babies. What a wonderful way to start 2012!

David and I flew into LAX on Saturday and drove to Anaheim where we were staying. Seeing my family for the first time since becoming pregnant was extremely emotional. It made me feel so blessed to have this opportunity since it will probably be the only time my family will see me while pregnant. Thanks again mom and dad. It meant a lot to me!

On Sunday we attended church with my mother's cousin. Afterwards we headed to the cemetary where my great-grandparents are buried. My mom and her cousin talked about their grandparents and some of our other ancestors. It was a nice way to start our vacation.

The cemetary where my great-grandparents were buried is one of the nicest cemetaries I've ever been to and it has a whole plot owned by the LDS church for members to be buried in. It was really neat.

Afterwards we stopped by the New Port Beach Temple. We weren't able to walk around the grounds but it was nice to stop by and see it.

We then stopped by Huntington Beach where my Grandma Ivins grew up and spent her summers. It was fun to think of her there in her bikini flirting with the lifeguards!

My brother Brian and his family spent some time with us there and we had a great time picking up shells, looking at starfish, and hanging out on the pier.

These two guys were not afraid of humans at all and kept popping up looking for food. It was amazing to be so close to them!

On Sunday night we had a family dinner in our hotel room and talked to the kids about going to Disneyland the next day. As usual it was a little hectic with nineteen naky babies.

Here's our group at Disneyland! This was actually taken the third day we were there so if we look tired that would be why. You can just see Sleeping Beauty's castle behind us.

Here's JD and Doug's families getting ready to go into Disneyland: California Adventure on the first day we were there. I had never been to California Adventure and it was pretty fun! JD and Doug were nice enough to let us tag along with their families for most of the time which made our experience even better!

And the couple that made it all possible!

Bumper cars in A Bug's Land

Mr. Incredible with his newest sidekicks, Kaleen and Bridger.

At the 3-D Muppet Show

That night we went to the water show, World of Color. David and I didn't stay for the whole time because I wasn't feeling well but it was still fun to see the park at night.

For dinner, we went to Boudin's Bakery and got clam chowder in breadbowls. It was delicious! Sophie and Lilly were excited for their Mickey Mouse cookie. Too bad it turned out not to taste too great!

Meeting some Disney characters!

Kaleen, Logan, and Bridger begged David to go on the teacups with them. I warned them about David's crazy-fast teacup skills but they didn't listen. Still, I think they enjoyed themselves!

My absolutely favorite place in all of Disneyland is a little-visited area of New Orleans square. I seriously have wanted to share this beautiful place with my husband since I was a little girl and I was so excited to have David see it. Thanks to my sister, Kimber, for taking some pictures.

After playing at Disneyland for three days we headed to Universal Studios. I think David's favorite part of the entire trip was the burning car we past on the way to Universal. They had just put the fire out when we got close enough to take pictures.

At Univeral Studios

The next two pictures were taken by my naky baby, Gracelyn. She did a great job! Thanks Gracie!

After Universal we headed down to San Diego for the last few days of our trip. When we arrived at our hotel they had a welcome sign and welcome bags for our family. It made us feel pretty special.

Here we are at Sea World. Don't we look happy? Or maybe tired?

Our favorite thing at Sea World were the beluga whales.They were feeding and training the whales when we arrived at the exhibit and it was so interesting to see the whales doing some tricks. When we went to watch them under the water one of the whales came right up to the glass and actually pressed his head against it. He sat staring at me for probably 20 seconds. It was one of the coolest things I've ever had happen to me.

The kids loved Sea World too and just got a little wet!

Our last day in California we did several different things. First we went to Old Town and visited the Mormon Battalion Museum. They've changed it since I've last been there and I was extremely impressed. I would recommend it to anyone, especially for kids. They've done a great job retelling the story of the battalion.

Here is Lizzie after the tour getting us some water while the rest of the kids panned for gold.

And Lilly loved her horse ride. I love how her pigtails are jumping in this picture!

We then headed for the Coronado Beach. My Grandma Ivins had a condo here where she spent her winters every year so the beach held a lot of memories for all of us. It was bittersweet to return there without my grandma but I'm so grateful we were able to go.

We also walked through the Coronado Hotel, my favorite place in all of San Diego. Built in 1888, the hotel is absolutely beautiful and holds a lot of memories for me since it was one of my grandmothers favorite places too.

The kids enjoyed playing in the beach and relaxing.

Overall, it was a great trip. It reminded me how wonderful my family is and how grateful I am for all of them! Thanks, mom and dad, for allowing us this memorable opportunity.

I'm Thankful for Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. We are spending it with David's family at his mom's house this year and I can't wait. David's dad is also coming up and will be spending the long weekend with us. It should be a wonderful (and yummy) weekend!

To celebrate Thanksgiving, David and I made a "Thankful Tree." I just got a branch from our backyard, put it in a vase with rocks to stabilize it, and cut out leaf shapes from colored paper. Then David and I wrote on the leaves what we are thankful for and hung them up. It was a fun activity and reminded us of how much the Lord has given us.

We also celebrated by harvesting the sweet potatoes from our garden! We planted these on a whim and we couldn't believe how many grew. We will definitely be making these yummy vegetables an annual member of our garden.

Random Pics and Easy Halloween Decor

Here are just some random pictures I've been meaning to post.

This year our garden produced a lot of peppers, tomatoes, some zuchini, and even a couple of pumpkins...but our favorite thing was the watermelons! Neither of us had ever grown watermelons before and it was so fun to watch them go from a small pod to something so large. We will definitely be growing watermelon from now on!



We also recently celebrated Courtney's birthday. We had a fun time getting together as a family and, as always, eating lots of good food!



Finally, here's just a quick idea for a Halloween decoration. I bought these orange candles from Ikea for .99 each. I used some black letter-stickers that I had to spell out "BOO" and the pedestals the candles are sitting on are actually just cups turned upside down with a black ribbon around the top. I then got some leaves from the dollar store and spray-painted them black to put around the base of the cups. For spending $4 I don't think it turned out too bad.

Back Porch Reveal--This is for you, mom!

The last "room" in our house to be redone was our screened-in porch. It sat, unloved, for several years after we moved in and, while we kept thinking about fixing it up, we never actually got around to it. Several things deterred us--the general dilapidation, the dirtiness, and the bugs. However, we finally got the motivation to finish it and are so happy with the results.

{FYI: The reason this post is dedicated to my mother is because she has LOVED our porch and begged us to finish it every since she first saw it. She's been looking forward to having it redone more than we have I think but it was her excitement that gave us the motivation to finish it.}

Here are some before pictures of the porch. The floor was green and I don't think anything had been repainted since the house was first built in 1941. All the paint was chipping, the ivy was growing through the screens, the ceiling fan was rusted and only had one working light, and everything was just dirty!






We started the process by cutting down all the ivy and scrubbing EVERYTHING. We took an entire day {and a half a box of brillo pads} just to clean and we couldn't believe how much better everything looked afterwards.

Then we started painting!

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the left side of the board has been painted and the right side hasn't. There was a stark contrast in how dirty the old paint had become compared to our new coat of white paint.


David even painted the ceiling...in the dark...without any lights...because we had taken the fan down. I love my husband!


Instead of buying a rug for outside we used painter's tape to make a border on the floor. We painted two coats of white, put down the painters tape, and then painted over that to seal the tape. Once we painted the floor, we took the tape off and have a border!


It was all a little bit of a messy process.


David even learned how to install a new ceiling fan!


And the best part is...it has a remote. So cool!


When everything was installed, cleaned, and painted....and painted again....switched the paint color and painted again....one more time.....THEN I got to decorate.



I got the idea for this wreath from my sister-in-law. I just bought a cheap straw wreath form and glue-gunned kidney beans on it in a circular pattern. It didn't take as long as I thought it would {two sessions of general conference} and the result turned out really fun!








Now all we need is for mom to come visit so she can see it in person!

Grandmother's Passing

Three weeks ago my Grandma Ivins passed away. It was very sudden and unexpected but we were grateful that she went quickly and was able to live her life right up to the minute of her passing. She was a wonderful person and I was extremely close to her. Her passing was difficult because of how much we relied on Grandma Ivins to always be there for our family. She was the center of our family and she will be missed.

Even though her passing was sudden, David and I were fortunate enough to be able to get off work, get a last minute flight, and fly to Utah for the funeral.

We were able to walk through her home one last time as a family. It was bitter-sweet with all the memories that are present there.

It was fun to see all of the family together. At the funeral it was mentioned that Grandma Ivins had 147 progenitors. WE LOVE OUR FAMILY! I loved growing up with a support system that was so large and loving.

Here's a picture at the luncheon of me with the cousins that are my age: Sydney, Nick, and Nicole.
Here's some pictures from the graveside service.