Cousins

Our cousins just moved to a far away place called Kansas. We were lucky enough to spend the last night with them having dinner and sitting around singing and playing. Aunt Meg brought her guitar and played a song that she played and sang at our family reunion last summer. (It started the tears)

Here is Beach Bum and Mario age 6

Also Brittney, Jeanette and Eleanor (the chippettes)

Here is the whole gang all together! We sure miss our cousins! It just isn't the same without the mass chaos when we are all together! We have a lot of good memories with them and wish them the best in their new home! We love you Allen Family!

Kennedy, Addison, MaKenna,

Luke, Davis, Samuel, Nathan, Claire, Matthew
Jackson

Blue Claws Baseball

So we have a child playing an organized sport! We haven't had any of our kids playing anything. I think it is because they were just young and our oldest two lack interest in playing. So when Davis agreed to play we were excited. We decided to go with Columbia Little League instead of Parks and Rec. We were told he was going to need to tryout! I have to admit I was nervous for him! It all went well and he was put on the Blue Claws team. I think he is the youngest team member and one of the few who have never played before. The coaches are pretty serious and they have really taught them a lot. Davis has improved so much over these past couple weeks and most importantly he LOVES it!

Notice the ball just to the left of the red chair? He was a little late on his swing in this picture.

He is so tiny and so skinny! I promise we feed him!

The coaches require him to wear a cup! He has spent many innings in outfield punching his cup because.....he can?
There is something that just warms your heart when you see your kids accomplishing something they love and also watching them improve. Davis had one game that he struck out several times in a row. He slowly walked off the field, sat on the bench and put his head down but couldn't keep the tears back. Daniel went and put his arms around him and told him that it is OK because his mom just struck out in her softball game the night before. We took the pitching machine home and went to the park a few times during the following week and now he is hitting like a champ! He is so funny, full of laughter, energy, and excitement. He is a wonderful boy and I am glad he is ours.

America's Finest City

San Diego, CA; America's Finest City

Sid and I recently took a trip to San Diego to enjoy some fun in the sun without children. Normally, no children is the main ingredient to having a nice relaxing vacation but we added lots of fun sights and activities. Neither of us had ever been to California for anything besides flying into LAX so we had been looking forward to this trip for a while. Sid's mom was kind enough to come stay with the kids while we spent five days running around San Diego County. The marina above is actually in Mission Bay where we spent the first couple days. This was an award trip I had won through work so the first two days was spent cavorting around Mission Bay and Sea World with co-workers. We had an awards banquet the first night and then hit Sea World the next day. The pictures below are from Sea World and are Shamu heavy so if you've seen the show you can skip past them. They are amazing animals and really quite breathtaking in person. Sidnee had a bonding moment with one of the whales so you'll have to ask her about it next time you see/talk to her.

The following pictures don't do the show justice.
Did you know that the Killer Whale is actually a member of the Dolphin family?
I'm not sure why this lady was so scared. The Whale is not going to jump out of the tank and gobble you up lady.
We were sitting around where these people where but then wimped out and moved higher up out of the "Soak Zone."
The whales line up for treats much like our kids do.
This was part of the finale. It was really cool.

One of the other shows they have at Sea World is Sea Lions Live. They have a couple Sea Lions trained to do all sorts of tricks and play with the actors. It was pretty funny.

Sea Lion love. How cute.

Most everyone from work went home Sunday but we extended our trip a few more days. We drove around San Diego until we found a chapel and attended a singles ward meeting. After that we drove over to the temple. It was a beautiful day and we even ran into one of Aubrey's (our niece) friends from Syracuse, Utah while roaming the grounds. Small world. Anyway, the temple was getting a patch job on the roof so half of it was covered in scaffolding.

They have a senior missionary couple stationed at the temple on Sundays to answer questions. He also doubles as a photographer when he's not answering questions.

This is one of the views along the beach at La Jolla. If you've never bene to La Jolla just imagine Cannon Beach on Steroids. Same kind of set up only the shops are pricey and there are BMWs and Mercedes lining the streets. Swap the hooded sweatshirts and rainboots for short shorts and bikini tops and you have La Jolla, CA.

We stopped by the Mormon Battalion Visitors Center on Sunday night in Old Town San Diego. It was interesting. The Sister Missionaries used me to play the new fun game "Mormon Battalion Dress-up." It was a blast.

Sidnee tried her hand at panning for gold. I think her problem was the lime green pan she was using. They didn't have those in the gold rush era.

Sunday afternoon we checked into our second hotel of the weekend. This Hilton is right on the bay front in downtown San Diego and it was a really nice place. It seemed like a great deal on Priceline but then they end up fleecing you for parking and charge you $15 a day to use the treadmill. I will never stay there again. It probably has more to do with the fact that I'm a cheapskate than anything else.

Petco Park (San Diego Padres) was across the street from the hotel. We spent some time Monday morning wandering around San Diego looking at some of the shops but mostly looking for a place to eat. We found a wood-fired pizza place that was delicious. Here is a picture of Sidnee perusing the menu. Isn't she cute?

This shot would never have happened if we had our kids with us. We were actually able to take a moment and look at the brochure and THINK about what we wanted to do next. This was a fountain in the middle of Balboa Park. We ended up visiting the Natural History Museum. It was great.

Sidnee in front of some pond. She is most likely angry because I keep taking pictures of her. She sure is cute when she's angry.

Monday night we watched the Padres play the San Francisco Giants. Attendance for a Padres Monday night game is pretty low so field level tickets are pretty cheap.

This is me next to one of the greatest hitters of all time. Well, a statue of him anyway.

This is David Eckstein and Bengie Molina chatting during warm ups. They used to be teammates on the Angels when they won the World Series a few years back. You probably don't care because you are not a baseball nerd. David Eckstein ended up hitting a game winning home run in the bottom of the tenth inning to win the game that night. I'm not a Padre fan but it was pretty cool.

They have really cool plants in San Diego that would not survive in the Northwest so we took a few pictures to share with our kids. You are free to enjoy.

Sidnee enjoyed the plant life so much she wanted to be a part of it.

It was a good, restful, fun weekend, but mostly restful. I highly recommend San Diego to anyone looking to vacation in California.

The End.

Mossy Rock, Washington

We had a wonderful get-a-way on Easter weekend. Our beloved Aunt Jill (that means all of the Allen family) will be moving to a land far away soon and we wanted to have one last outing with them before they move. We rented a lovely cabin that accomadated our families and spent 2 nights in the middle of no where, doing..... nothing. It was a very relaxing weekend. I can't say we did nothing, conference and final four basketball was on so we watched that on saturday and sunday. The kids asked us many times why we were watching so much tv. I must admit, I do not watch it much at home but it was nice to not have anything else to do.

The kids had their own room to mess up...(and watch movies)

It snowed on Easter eve. The kids kept hearing sleigh bells instead of the Easter Bunny.
We stuffed our faces with lots of good food and treats!

Here is proof of the kind of activity the adults had all weekend long!
Papa and Ammie joined us on Saturday. It was nice to spend the day with them!
We did a little exploring.

We threw rocks!

We dropped rocks on eachother's heads!

It was really a wonderful time away. Thanks Allen Family for a great weekend!

How do I keep him busy?

How do I keep my little one busy while I make dinner? It is a tough time in the afternoon when you are trying to make the food and little ones are pulling on you wanting your attention. Luke this particular time needed something to keep him happy and I let him play in the sink. He had a wonderful time. It worked out perfect.