last day

watching surfers at Huntington beach then enjoying the Newport Beach temple (our Layla and Perry sealing temple) before catching our flight home

day 6

the last day at the parks

day 5

the sun and the sand

day 4

another Disneyland day from open to close, the happiest place on earth

day 3

our favorites:

Layla--parade, Thunder Mountain ("this is the best ride ever!")

Perry--"driving" Indiana Jones

Kacin--Splash Mountain

Kyler--Matterhorn

day 2

California adventures, thank goodness for motion sickness bags and the "Perry pass", swimming, fireworks from our hotel window

day 1

after the airplane ride,

checked into the "castle"

ballerina

On her way to another ballet class . . .

Oh, how I love these days with this cute, spunky budding ballerina.

These days

Here we are nearly at the end of February. Just two days until we leave for a week of California sunshine! There is a lot of excitement around here about that. We haven't had a lot of sun around here lately and these gray clouds sure get to me. Looking forward to a fun vacation has helped to ease the gloom.

Look at this cute Noodle Necktie.

If Layla could choose, she would have yogurt with frozen blueberries for breakfast, lunch, and snack.

We have all been having a lot of fun with magna-tiles lately. Endless fun.

Kacin spent a few evenings at baseball tryouts.

He is excited for the season. And so am I. This kid has spirit and passion and determination and it is fun to watch. We just found out he was drafted to play for the same coach as last year. Such a blessing in our opinion because he was an amazing coach.

In preparation for our move, we are going through everything to weed out as much as possible. I found this at the bottom of one box--the only football game I actually remember going to in HS, when the Westwood Warriors went to state. Go Warriors! See, why do I still have these things . . .

In Jr. primary, Eric came through the time machine as Enos.

He gets a lot of comments about his beard. I think other men must be envious. And maybe other women are jealous because I get to kiss a face with that luscious manliness on it and they don't. One of these days we will have to sit down and braid it or decorate it. Because what's the point of a long beard if you can't have a little fun with it?

We found a way for Kacin to express himself artistically. He had a blast with those face paints.

The neighborhood boys were kind enough to let Perry join in on the football fun. Sometimes he can't get enough of his older brothers.

Layla got her first real hair cut. She was a little nervous, but she was so good for Julie.

I love when we get together with the Nielsen's. And this last time the kids entertained us with music performances and a play. Layla performed "let it go". I have to get the recording on here someday. So cute!

Kyler has been working his tail end off to earn money for a Go Pro. He has babysat, been diligent about his regular chores, asked nearly every day to do extra work, and even sold his old desk on craigslist.

The weeks of hard work paid off yesterday when his GoPro arrived in the mail!

He took these while I was speaking with Ms. Nikki who runs his ABA program now. I deleted at least 30 more of his selfies. But this face is too cute! I couldn't delete anymore. He has the best facial expressions.

I had a gift certificate to get a pedicure. I am scared of getting pedicures. I am extremely ticklish. And I can never understand what the people are saying to me. But I faced my fear and went to that place. It was as bad as I imagined--it tickled, I almost kicked her accidentally, I could not understand where she wanted me to go and where to put my feet when it was time to dry my toes. I don't think these places are meant to stress you out like that. I guess some good came of it. I got to sit in a massage chair and then I walked out with pretty toes ready for the beach next week.

Happy Friday!