The Beach

The day we arrived in Cali we headed straight to the beach. No stop at the hotel, we just changed in the car. We had been in the car for way to long and it was time to party. It was PERFECT, 90 degrees, sun shining, the waves were perfect, not too big and scary. Andrew and I had made sure to scare the snot out of AnDee about how dangerous the waves could be and whatnot. She tends to be a little fearless and we didnt want to have her diving in all by herself. We apparently did a good job because she refused to touch the water unless one of us was holding her hand. When Aunt Amber and her kids showed up and her kids dove right in AnDee was mortified! She was yelling at all of her cousins that it was dangerous in there and they were going to drown. I didnt want to ruin the ocean experience for her but I think a little fear can be a good thing sometimes. Eventually she loosened up a little (not too much) when she saw that Brigham could splash in the water without dying and she got a little more adventurous. Pep.... was Pep. He chilled in the sand, got his toes wet and was just happy in general. I think his favorite part was chasing the seagulls and pigeons away from our food.

 Little Gracie goo..

 Andrew catching sand crabs for the kids... Pretty sure he had more fun than them.

 Ok so AnDee has been watching avatar with her dad.. she now does these weird avatar moves all the time. She quite often tells me that she is a water bender.

We caught crabs and saw dolphins and just had  a good time in general. Andrew and I even saw a itty bitty shark swimming by us. It was SO good to get out of the car and on to the beach!

DISNEY!

OK so everyone likes Disneyland, right? Even Andrew has admitted that he likes it now that we have kids. Kids really do make it WAY more fun. The truth is that I have become one of those weird people that really adores Disneyland. I love it. We went for 3 days and it wasn't enough for me. Although I think 3 days was more than enough for my husband and probably even my kids too. We drove out there, which made me nervous at first but my kids are awesome and we took our time so it really wasn't bad at all. We got to spend some time with cousins while there as well as Nanny and Poppy and we got a special day at Disney with Dave, Dyl and Whit. AnDee was in heaven. We had a blast and I am really grateful that we have the means to be able to do these kinds of things. We are spoiled. Like REALLY spoiled. Pep is only 18 months old and has already been to Disneyland twice. Crazy.

So you cant see it very well but I made the pillow that is around AnDee's neck. Its just like a normal neck pillow but the back is WAY smaller so it doesn't push her head forward. LIFESAVER. Ill never travel long distances without them...

 You can kind of see my Dad and Buggy in this one... if you look hard..

 Why do I always look so lovely in these pictures?

 This was about the most time we spent with my family. Not sure why we didn't meet up more often. I think AnDee enjoyed just hanging out with them more than going on the rides. We got to watch an entire 20 min parade with them! Next time we will plan for more cousin time.

 AnDee wanted to go on EVERY ride with Whitney. New best friend??? Very possible.

 Poor Xavi boy got left behind on more than one occasion. AnDee was big enough to ride a couple of bigger rides like Splash Mountain (moms favorite.... scared the snot out of her) and Big Thunder Mountain.

 Ok.... So I am a horrible person and snuck my fat pregnant belly on  a few rides that I wasn't actually suppose to be going on "in my condition" (What does that even mean?!) but seriously... I doubt that Splash Mountain is going to cause any real harm. If the kid comes out with brain damage, you can all blame me (please bless it doesn't come out with brain damage)

 Poor Pep... how embarrassing.

 My kids took about a two hour nap everyday... in the park... they are awesome. And of course Andrew would never pass up the opportunity to sleep :)

Pep got a Pooh bear...

He drags that thing with him everywhere now. He LOVED the Pooh ride and made us go on it multiple times. AnDee got a baby Dumbo (you can see it in the parade pic) She too takes it with her everywhere. Again... spoiled. SO spoiled

Winnie the Pooh wasn't the only surprise Pep left Disneyland with...

The day after our last day at Disney Pep looked like this most of the day...

 And then this started to appear...

 yup! Disneyland gave us Hand, foot and mouth disease! Wahoo?!

These pics were taken on like day 3 of the rash... its worse now, so much worse. The skin is cracking and peeling off. He is in pain pretty much always. When we finally got him in to the Doctor yesterday the doctor said it was one of the worst cases he has ever seen. We are just waiting for AnDee to come down with it... as well as Andrew and I (Although it wont be nearly has bad for us) Its inevitable. Ill let you know how it goes.

A Trip to Aunt Gayles

Sometime in October (Dont ask me when. I cant remember that far back.) We took a little trip up to play with Aunt Gayle. She spoiled us, as always. She let the kids help frost and decorate cupcakes and we got to play outside in her trees and swing and boat (I know... its weird but playing in the boat at Gayles house is really high up on the 'fun things' list.

 why did we take this little trip to Aunt Gayles? Because mom chopped her hair off while Gayle watched the kiddos. Almost a foot. Funny thing is... NO one has noticed. How do you cut a foot of hair off and not have it noticed?

Dont be jealous of my super cute pic.

Halloween 2012

Ok so here I am trying to catch up again. We are going to have to go back to some old stuff but I will eventually catch you up with the new.
We got to do a few of Halloween parties this year. One with the ward, one with the Cowley family, one at Daddy's work and then on Halloween day we went to Grandma Naugle's and had dinner and what not.
This year AnDee decided she wanted to be a "polka dotty monster" and Pep got to be the Hulk. I was a lacking a little in the 'wanting to make costumes' department this year so the costumes were slightly disappointing but here are some pics of the costumes and party fun!

 Some how AnDee and Brigham ended up being the same thing except AnDee had polka dots and Brigs had squares...

 Some of the kids getting ready for the balloon popping game

 They were split in to teams and had to run to the end of the yard and find a way to pop their balloon and then run back. It didnt take long for them to figure out that the tiny little lilac bush was the perfect place to pop. Even Pep joined in the fun. AnDee however refused to play. She was totally disgusted that they were popping perfectly good balloons. (dont worry, directly after Pep popped his, he began to pick up all the pieces of the balloon and throw them away. Its weird how much this kid cares about things being clean)

It was a laid back and fun year for Halloween. Its always a blast to dress up AND play with cousins!