Hiking at Morgan Territory

Only 10 minutes from our house is this sweet little spot called Morgan Territory. It was a fun little Memorial Day family hike.

There were these weird trees with smooth, purple bark.

Cute! Eating their dinner on a rock together.

Livermore, CA is beautiful!

Natural Bridges State Park

California is treating us right! After spending time with the Cramer's and the Duncan's and going to Raquel's wedding (Steve's sister) we headed for Cali for Steve's dream job (actually an internship). Our first Saturday we headed to the beach. It was the first time the kids have seen the ocean.

The water was FREEZING! Cody needed water for his sand castle, but didn't stick around long.

We went exploring on these rocks where the waves would crash and splash. (We saw dolphins here!)

We found a hermit crab.

Here's another crab we found too.

Taking the kids to the beach was awesome. They were completely content within a 10 foot radius with a few snacks and some Wal-Mart buckets and shovels. Can't wait for the next beach on our list!

Camping in Peoria

We packed up our little Honda Accord with everything we would miss for the summer and headed out. After two and a half long and crazy days in the car we made it to Utah where the fun began. Our first big plans were to camp with Nana and Bob (Steve's grandparents). We went to Peoria where they have been camping for a decade or so.

Oh yeah. Did I mention that we traded our little Honda Accord in for this beauty? What better way to celebrate a four wheel drive vehicle than to take it out in the wilderness. Steve had to dig it out, but only once (for an hour!). One thing about Steve is when he does something, he does it well. Our car is now affectionately called Sandy.

Cody's big ambition on this camping trip was to catch a lizard. Which he did within 3 minutes of arriving at our camping spot. Nice job!

S'mores were a hit with the kids (and us!)

Cody hanging out by the fire

Kylee hanging out by the fire.

Ever heard of a Moqui Marble? The are everywhere here. And they are really cool.

Kylee wasn't up for much hiking around so we strapped her on and headed out. She fell asleep and it got pretty chilly so Steve put a coat over her. It made it a little hard for him to sit down for a snack.

Then it was my turn to carry Miss Kylee around. She was pretty warm in her little cocoon.

Cody was in heaven climbing on rocks and playing in the sand.

Then Grandpa Bob let Cody take the GPS and lead us back to our base camp. Of course he had fun being in charge. That is what Cody does best.

On the way back Steve found this arrowhead. He even impressed Nana and Bob who have seen it all out here.

Cody and this shovel were best friends. All he needed was a little sand and he would have been happy forever.

If you look really close you can see us on the right of the picture on top of the cliff in the shadow. We were watching the cliffs to the left as the sun set behind us. It was awesome!

Watching the cliffs at sun set. Grandpa Bob, Cody, Nana, Steve, Tif, and Kylee.

Cheesing it up!

The awesome view.

Harry (the Bear) and Cody cracking us up. He did his infamous "Grandpa Dance" for us.

Thanks Nana and Grandpa Bob for a super fun trip! We look forward to the next one!

Mother's Day Adventure and Goodbye Pittsburgh

On Mother's Day we decided to take some fun pictures around the city with our friends, the Westover's. We squeezed it in between church and a farewell barbecue that our friends put on for us since we were leaving the next day for the summer. It was freezing cold, but it turned out to be totally worth it.

During Pirates games they close this bridge to traffic. PNC Park is right on the river and this bridge works as the entrance and exit to the stadium for all the fans.

Cody could watch the game from the bridge. It was pretty sweet!

It was a great day and a fun way to say farewell to Pittsburgh for a few months.

Goodbye Pittsburgh....Hello California!

Painted Nails

I painted Kylee's finger and toe nails for the first time a few weeks ago. She couldn't stop looking at them and talking about them.

It worked out great as a distraction too. Anytime she was upset I would just ask to see her nails and she would calm right down and show me her nails. I love learning those little mom tricks.

Cody Darth Vader

Cody loves dressing up like Darth Vader. He puts on his cape (on the Batman side--since it's black), puts a harmonica in front of his mouth, and sometimes a box over his head (like in the video below) and starts doing the Vader heavy breathing.

Cody Superman

Cody was being hilarious the other night while getting ready for bed. Steve and the kids were on our bed and when I walked in the room Cody said...

"Hey mom, my cape makes me jump really far....(as in jumping off the bed)....

Watch! I'll show you. Let me take my cape off. (He takes his cape off and jumps off the bed about half as far as he usually does.)

Now watch this, Mom! First I need to do my exercises (he starts hopping on one leg 5 times on top of the bed and then he hops on the other leg 5 times).

Now I'll jump REALLY far with my cape on! Watch, Mom! (then he jumps as far as he can)

*******

The entire time he was talking like he is in this video. It was so hard not to laugh.

Check it out!

He's saying: "Can you feel it? Ready!"

What a goofball.

Brady Hair

Cody has a new hair style these days. It's pretty much an obsession. Every night when he brushes his teeth he gets the very front of his hair wet and pulls it straight up over and over until he falls asleep. He calls it his Brady hair. (Brady is Cody's inspiration and on top of that he is marrying Steve's sister in a few weeks).

side view

front view

I gave him a hair cut a few weeks ago and the whole time I was cutting his hair he was reminding me to cut the sides only. NOT the front.

He's four years old. Isn't it a little early to be this hair-conscious?? :)

Just asking.

Today I asked Cody about church and the only thing he said was, "Nobody said anything about my Brady hair."

Too bad.

If his peers only knew the time and energy he put into his hair these days.

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I'd like to dedicate this post to Brady: the guy behind the new do. Look how much he has influenced our family for good and he isn't even officially a part of the family yet. I see a lot of potential here. Can't wait to see what else he's got for us. Thanks Brady!

So Behind on March Blogging...

We have been up to a lot of fun things lately. The kids have been keeping me really busy and Steve has been doing homework non-stop.

Here are just some random things about March...

Every morning the kids eat an apple. Bet you didn't know that! Pretty exciting eh?

One day Kylee wasn't feeling very well (Boo the teething stage!). While I was making dinner she got her blankets from her bed and layed under the kitchen table. Cody decided to lay by her and make her happy. He was being so sweet and cute with her, making her smile and feel better.

We went to a ward Easter Egg Hunt at the church. In this picture Kylee had gathered some eggs but had no clue that they were full of candy.

After she had the Easter Egg thing figured out she wanted all the eggs opened!

We invited our good friend Ellie to come to the Easter Egg Hunt with us (and her little sister Zoe).

Other bits...

1. Whenever Kylee tries to climb up on something and can't get up she says: "I'm heavy!"

2. A few weeks ago Cody and I registered him for Kindergarten. A lot of conversations have been about school and all the things he needs to do to be ready for school (like get dressed and eat breakfast without taking 2 hours). I guess you could say we have been in Kindergarten Boot Camp the past few weeks training for the big transition. He is getting really good at going potty, making his bed, and getting dressed as soon as he wakes up and without being asked. One day I was talking about how long the school day is (Kindergarten is all day here) and how he would have to be a big boy all day. He said, "So, big kids go to night classes?" All of Cody's life his dad has had "night classes" so now he thinks it's his turn.

3. Kylee is turning into a tease. She likes to tease Cody by saying that he is a "nice sister" and calling herself a "nice brother." She thinks that is pretty funny.

4. Kylee is a girly girl. She especially loves shoes and she can put them on herself so she is constantly changing them throughout the day. If you aren't quick enough at getting her dressed in the morning she will put shoes on while she is still in her pajamas. As soon as you get her dressed she puts her shoes back on. And at night, she squeezes in a little bit more time with her shoes by putting them back on after changing into her pajamas and while we are getting ready for bed.

Her obsession for shoes does come in handy though. If Kylee isn't being nice to Cody all you need to do is remove one of her shoes and you've got her attention. That's worse than Time Out!

5. Kylee also loves chap stick. One day Cody was gone playing with a friend and so Kylee and I had some one-on-one time. She wanted me to read books to her so she spent the afternoon on my lap looking at books with an open tube of chap stick in one hand and the lid in the other. The entire time I was reading to her she was rubbing chap stick on her lips. Kylee was in heaven with mom and a tube of chap stick all to herself.

I know there are more stories that I am not remembering right now. I'll have to think...