Cruising!

After our stop at Grandma Snowball's house it was time to go on our cruise!  Mom dropped us off at the dock terminal and drove off with a screaming Talia.  I hoped she would calm down quickly.  From what I heard she did and was a sweetie the whole time she was with Grandma.

The guy who took our luggage kind of made fun of us because we had so many bags.  He assumed all of our kids were coming with us based on how much stuff we were bringing.  He laughed and said that it's ok since it was our first cruise.  "Next time you won't bring so much!" he told us.  And he was right.

Sadly, due to an unfortunate dip in the jacuzzi, Ian's phone that had all of our pictures on it had to be replaced when we got back to land, so we don't have any pictures from the first couple days of the cruise.  Luckily we sprung for the photo package when we went parasailing and brought along our point and shoot take pics from the air, so we still have lots of photos from that.

Anyway, we got on the boat pretty painlessly and went to our stateroom.  It was actually decent sized with a big window.  We wandered around the ship and took some pictures, ate a late second lunch, and went to the safety briefing.

We had dinner in the dining room.  It was fun to be on our own and be able to do whatever we wanted!  Since we opted for the "anytime dining" option we weren't at a big table with a lot of people we didn't know.  We sat at a different two-top table at each meal.  It was super nice with ocean views (of course).  The food was yummy.  Not the best I've ever had, but fun!  Pretty much every meal we ordered 2 or 3 starters, an entree (two if we didn't love the first one), and a couple of desserts.  Each.

That night we went to a little game show type thing in the lounge and explored a little more before going to bed.  We were pretty tired from the first few days of our trip, so we hit the hay early.  I loved sleeping in!!!

Tuesday morning we had breakfast.  We went to the dining room for breakfast almost every day too.  I love me a good breakfast and they had really good eggs benedict.  We decided to take a slow morning and wait to get off the ship until closer to lunch time.  It was a good call.  After breakfast we mini golfed up on the top of the ship and grabbed an early lunch.  We took a tender boat from the cruise ship over to the dock in Catalina and made it just in time to check in for our parasailing excursion.

Parasailing was SO fun!  I definitely would do it again.  Especially if I could find a deal for it.  I loved the boat ride while the other people in our group parasailed too.  I thought I would be scared since you go so high, but it was surprisingly relaxing.  It was so quiet and peaceful.  I loved it.  If you are ever on the fence about going parasailing do it!
Getting ready in our stateroom

Going up!

We were so high!  There's Catalina and our cruise ship in the distance.

After we got back to shore, we wandered around and shopped a little in the beachfront shops.  We got my parents a pretty wind chime and I got a necklace.  We also got our traditional magnet.

We got back on the boat in the late afternoon.  We put on our bathing suits and laid out by the pool until it was time to get ready for dinner.  Tuesday night was "elegant night."  It was fun to dress up and curl my hair and go to a fancy dinner with Ian in a shirt and tie.  I had lobster and shrimp and Ian had prime rib.  After dinner we went to a Latin themed stage show.  It was pretty good.  And lots of fun.  We ended the evening with a soak in the jacuzzi.

Getting There

It took me practically the entire week before we left on our California trip to actually get ready to leave for our California trip.  I had to go tanning, get a pedicure, figure out what we needed to pack and pack it, type up the kids' schedules for my mom, gather cruise documents, get the oil changed and tires rotated on the van (which turned into almost $1000 worth of work on it; boo), and more.  It was pretty crazy.  

Beckett playing on the toys in the waiting area at the oil change/car wash place.  Those balls were probably really gross but they kept him really happy!

This was our first trip since we had Beckett and I felt like it was much harder to prepare for than any trip we have take before.  It was also complicated by the fact that I felt like I was packing for 2 trips.  The one to visit my family and the cruise.  Needless to say I did finally get everything done and we packed up the car and headed out on Friday morning.

The drive that day was pretty good considering we were driving 600 miles with four children.  They all plugged into their screens and were content.  Talia loved having her own headphones that fit and she could get on and off of her head all by herself.  Weston seriously thought it was the best day of his life.  Unlimited screen time, McDonald's, and snacks.  What more could he possibly want?!? Davin and Talia each napped a little bit.  Beckett slept quite a lot and was really really good.  The last hour in the car he got fussy, but still not too bad.

That evening was nice.  Jules and Rick came over and we got to hang out with them.  Ian and Rick went and saw Man of Steel while Jules and I just hung out and girl talked.  Later we made a Target run with Mom.  We got maxi skirts and other random stuff (I forgot a couple things and needed baby food for Beckett).

Saturday morning the kids were up suuuper early.  I was up with Beckett at 5:15am and all the rest of the kiddos were up by 6.  Welcome to vacations with little ones.  Not exactly restful.  I met up with Jules and Rick to hike the Fullerton Loop "later" that morning.  Later being 8am.  It was really fun!  I loved getting to spend time talking with Jules and Rick.  It was a nice, cool morning and the views were pretty great.  We even ran into a cute old man out walking his dog who sang us "Let Me Call You Sweetheart."  It almost made me cry because Grandpa Snowball used to sing that one.  Definitely a fun way to start the day.  I rewarded myself for exercising on vacation with a donut on the way back to my parents house.  :)

Saturday day we took the kids in the spa and played at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  That night after dinner we watched The Hobbit with my parents.  Sunday was Father's Day!  It was fun to be with my dad for the celebration.  Especially because a special day meant a yummy special meal.  My Grandma and Grandpa Olson, Uncle Rich and Aunt Joyce, Lance, and Aunt LeeDean came over for dinner.  My dad grilled tri tip and baked potatoes.  It was delicious.  He even made homemade ice cream for dessert.
All of the dads opened up their presents and we enjoyed visiting.  I can't believe I didn't take any pictures that night!  I'm so lame.

Monday was cruise day!  Ian and I gathered up our cruise stuff and after lunch we drove down to Long Beach.  We stopped in to visit Grandma Snowball before going to the ship.  It was so nice to see her and spend a few minutes visiting.

Next stop was the cruise ship!  Then the real vacation started.  We had a blast.  So glad we finally made it there.

Father's Day!

Since we were going to be in California on Father's Day again this year I decided to go ahead and have an early Father's Day weekend on the 8th/9th.  We made Ian some of his favorite foods, gave him gifts and cards, and he got free foot rubs and back scratches from the kids.  It was a fun weekend.  

Sunday morning I made pancakes and he opened his gifts.  I got him a camp stool for playing guitar (and camping I guess), a new electric razor, and a hand-picked gift basket from Bath and Body Works with his favorite scent.  The kids made him cute cards and Weston gave him coupons for 20 minutes of free back scratching or foot rubs.  :)

We are all so lucky to have Ian as the father in our home.  He works so hard to provide for us then spends all of his free time playing with the kids and hanging out with me.  He grills the best burgers (ask anyone!).  He plays the guitar often, which automatically makes him a pretty cool Dad.  He makes all of our lives better with his tech savvy.  He shows the kids interesting things and builds Legos with them.  I could go on and on about all the great things he does as a Dad, but basically we think he's the best and we love him!  Happy Father's Day Ian!!!

Crawling

Beckett is officially crawling!  Actual forward motion and everything.  It's more of an army crawl for now with his legs kicking like crazy behind him, but even since I shot this video he has gotten faster.  

He is my earliest crawler at 8 months.  Weston was the next earliest at 10 months.  I think it's because they both had carpet to roll around on.  Dav and Tal had hard floors and they didn't want to be on the floor as much.  Pretty exciting stuff, but I'm kind of sad that my baby is growing so fast!  He can now get into all kinds of fun mischief!

Baseball

Weston started coach pitch softball during his last week of school.  He will only be able to participate in about half of the season since we will be out of town for a couple of weeks in June, but so far he is loving it and is pretty good at it too!  

This is a video of his first time at bat at his first game.  

He is lucky to have a skilled baseball coach in his Uncle Brad.  Uncle Brad has been able to go to both of his games so far and has practiced batting and catching with him at home.

School's Out for Summer!

Last Thursday was Weston's last day of 1st grade!  I can't believe how quickly this school year went by.  I don't know how to slow down the time, but I swear the years go by faster and faster the older I get.  Sigh.  Anyway, we are all excited for summer!  It will be a bit of an adjustment for me having all 4 kids home all the time, but we will make it work and the summer will fly on by. 

We started the summer off right by buzzing the boys' heads!  I did Weston's buzz a few weeks ago and ever since then Davin has been asking me to do his hair buzzed too.  Weston's already needed a trim and I decided to do Davin's too.  He loves it and I love that I don't have to comb anyone's hair in the mornings.

The kids are going to spend this entire summer playing with friends.  I love our neighborhood!  Especially the cute next door neighbor boys.  This morning they played Legos.  They made this scene of mini figures doing a cha cha cha dance then they did the dance and wanted their picture taken.  They crack me up.

Talia had a friend play last week too and Beckett is just adorable and goes along with whatever the rest of us are doing.  He especially loves the swing in the backyard.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had the best Memorial Day weekend!  My parents flew in Saturday morning to spend some time with us and we had a blast.  Saturday morning was Davin's last soccer game of the season.  He did great and had a lot of fun.  The weather was sunny and nice (if a bit windy) too, so we ended the season on a good note.  

(L-R Evie, Landon, Davin, Liam, Jacob, What'sHerFace, Belle)

After the game we went home for lunch and some down time.  Later that afternoon we went to the Salt Lake Temple with Brad and Mel and Mom and Dad to do a session.  It was really really fun!  I hadn't been to the Salt Lake Temple since we were first married, so it was all new and fun.  The temple is just so beautiful.  I can't believe we didn't get a group picture in front of it!  Oops!

After the temple we were starving.  We went to dinner at a Mexican place in Sandy.  It was yummy and gave us chips and salsa and bean dip as soon as we sat down.  So it was perfect.  We had a really fun meal and stuffed ourselves with good food.  We headed back to our house to relax and hang out.  When Mom was getting her temple bag out of the trunk it fell closed on her head.  Poor Mommy.  The ice pack and a JCW's shake helped.

Sunday was super chill and relaxing.  We don't have church until 1pm so we stayed in our jammies all morning.  Mom and Dad played Skipbo with the kids and they did some coloring/stickering.  It was fun that everyone got to come to see Davin give a talk in Primary.  Then we had Sunday dinner together.  Mel and Brad headed home fairly early that night since they had to get up early on Monday and we had stayed up really late on Saturday.  After they left we watched the first episode of the BBC Sherlock with Mom and Dad.  It's such a good show!  I think we got them hooked.  

Monday morning Mom and I ran a few errands, then we all went on an outing to Scheel's.  Scheel's is this humongous sporting goods store.  Think Bass Pro Shop or Cabela's, but in the center of the store they have a Ferris wheel!  We rode the Ferris wheel and wandered around the store a bit.  

That afternoon we had a bbq.  Aunt Barbara came down and Mel and Brad were there.  We grilled burgers, hot dogs and brats.  It was all delicious.  It was a nice day out so the kids played in the water table and we even filled up their new kiddie pool and made the Squishy Baff that Grandma B and Grandpa brought.  The kids loved it!  Mel made cute sand pudding cups for dessert.  It was a wonderful holiday.  We ended the night with two more episodes of Sherlock before we all crashed for the night.  

Mom and Dad flew home Tuesday morning.  I already miss them.  Luckily we will be going to their house in 2 weeks!  I am so super excited!  Thanks for the great weekend Mom and Dad!