Angels

This is a post about something I will never do again . . .
which is, take my kids to an Angel's game after spending all day at the beach. And further more, I will not take my kids to the Angel's game after not spending all day at the beach. If my kids ever go to a baseball game again, it will be because they are full grown adults or because they went with someone else.

My Brother and some of the Young Men

The Family before they got miserable . . .

The brother's fam . . .

I can't remember at which point Kiera said to me, "Mom, I thought you said this was supposed to be fun?" And I replied, "Yeah, boy was I wrong!"

The Mom and Dad

Ryan's good side . . . he was sitting right above me:)

My sweet little niece Aarilynn (I have no idea if that is how you spell her name:))

The fortunate miss . . . Bubba stood up from his seat at the exact same time that a man (from your family Lauren) dropped his nacho cheese cups right where Bubba was sitting. If he hadn't of stood up that cheese would have been on his hair and all down his back and not just on the seat and my arm. It was seriously a close one.

Though the fire works after the show were AMAZING, I may never set foot in that stadium again . . . Farewell Angels! (I had no idea that it was possible to have more than 9 innings . . . talk about total torture!)

Crystal Cove: A well Kept Secret!

I love this beach. It's waters are almost clear. There are tide pools and the shore is close to the water. It is my favorite non-Hawaii beach. Kai's first order of business on our Ca trip was to take the Young men from our ward to frolic in the waves. They were a little bigger than expected though and the were shore breakers, so Kai was pretty nervous the whole time that one of his 11 young men were going to drown. But all was well.
Bubba had a great time with hi little girlfriend, Kelsie. This is the second vacation these two have been on together:)

Kiera, with her seaweed brooch.

I love this picture so much because I think it is what every kids does when they are young! Run from the waves!

My kids were very into the seaweed . . . this was Cambria's Rapunzel hair:)

Bubba was so funny! He had a great time surfing in Hawaii and was determined that this little kick board was to be his next surf board. He crouched in the below position for a good half hour letting the waves push him closer to shore. But on one occasion, a large wave came calling for him. It pushed him so hard that his feet flipped high up in the air and I was sure he was going to topple head over heals. But little did I know of his determination not to let go of the board. He flipped, but his feet landed back down in the same position and he was none the worse for the wear, which sent me into hysterics. You may have had to be there:)

RUN!

Waiting for the perfect wave!

We filled this boat with water to bee a kiddie pool! It got so nice and warm!

Cambria helping, Bubb stand on the kick board.

Cambria trying to surf on the kick board . . .

Handsome Kai.

More Seaweed.

Raia showing me that she is "not" eating sand. (and loving every minute of it)

The moms of the trip. We even got to boogie board while the dads watched the kids. Once your body went numb, you couldn't feel how cold the water was at all:)

Looking for sand crabs.

Showing Raia a sand crab . . .

Raia loving the beach and the other kiddies pool we brought. What good times we had!

If you haven't already, please check out my new blog the Craft Bucket and become a follower so we can grow our blog:) and become big timers like my cousin-in-law Heidi! Thank you!

Hide the Ice Cream and Donuts!

Oh, my . . . perish the thought!

U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi, you ugly!

California Dreamin'!

(BTW there will be another give away from my craft blog when we hit 50 followers, I'll love you forever if you become a follower and spread the word to your friends:))

They say you can't go home again . . . and I guess to some extent that is true. But in a lot of ways that is SO wrong! It had been almost a year since I had been to California. I grew up in the OC and unlike my two closest friends, I never wanted to leave. It's funny to think that my two friends are still there with no plans of ever settling anywhere else and I will most likely never again call California home. It's not that I don't want too, its just that it most likely isn't in the cards for us.
Thank Goodness We have a Grandma and Grandpa who are willing to let us stay with them and completely take over their little house!
I can't tell you in words that would describe enough how wonderful it was to be with my family again. Not just my mom and dad, but my grandmas and aunts and uncles and cousins and of course my brothers and new SIL and nieces! (we miss Chris and Sarah and wish they were there too) When I am home I just feel loved and accepted. Not that I don't in my desert home, because I do. It's just different.
It's like the theme song from cheers, "Sometimes you wanna go where every body knows your name, and there always glad you came."

You don't have to explain yourself or where you've been, you just get to be. Does anyone else know what I am talking about or am I just rambling??? It's happened once or twice:)

So this is the first of a series of California posts (which reminds me I never finished my Hawaii posts- which will always be the second place I think of when I think of home).

It all started out as a weekend trip for the Young Men in our Ward. Kai is the Young Men's President and always takes the boys on the coolest outings. I decided that me and the kids needed to tag along and that we needed to stay a little longer than the boys:)

We left early Thursday morning and followed the Mormon trail:)

We had quite the motley crew! 11 boys, 4 couples, 1 bishop and 6 kids.

We stopped in Barstow at the Harvey House.
We love that musical and so we love this train museum too.


This is so typical of the young men's theories about life.

i love this picture of Kiera because I wanted her to look at me and smile and she said, "Mom, I don't always want to do what people expect me to do."

Okay Kiera, Don't look:) smile at the door:)

In a moment you will see why Raia is captivated by her brother and sisters.

We had quite the rousing game of "back seat noogies" going on:)

Before the boys all got to heir host homes (brave members of the ward I grew up in) we stopped in my aunt and uncles house in Pomona to swim and have a delicious pulled pork sandwich lunch. Kai also arranged for our ol' buddy Mike Rieben give a talk about being both a college athlete and a missionary and why it was possible and worth doing both things.

I wish I had pictures to show you of the crazy dives and tricks that occurred off of the diving board and the bumps and scrapes that happened afterword but I have sworn an oath never to put the picture on the Internet in anyway shape or form that they could be viewed by others but those involved:)

A big thank you to my Aunt Wendy and Mike Rieben for being so wonderful!
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Want to Win a Headband Like This?

Yes, I know I'm promoting my new blog "The Craft Bucket." Some of you don't care about stuff like that . . . but, If you like free stuff and would like to win a free fabric flower headband similar to the ones pictured below. . .
Then checkout my new blog "The Craft Bucket" and become a follower . . . that is all you have to do to be entered to win. Easy Peasey.
Mahalo:)
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Oh, What Do You Do in the Summer Time?

I am not a small town girl. I grew up in Southern California, with several malls within a 15 mile radius, grocery stores aplenty and a gas station on every corner. So when we first moved to Southern Nevada, my mom may have said it best while we were playing at a park in our new neighborhood while watching buffalo and cows graze nearby. She said, "I never would have thought my granddaughter would grow up as a small town girl."

What turned into a three year plan has stretched into seven. I never would have thought to consider Mesquite on a list of possible places to live. My list consisted more of cities like San Diego and San Clemente.

So believe me when I tell you

that I never imagined within the realm of possibilities in my life time that I would swim in a water hole

smack dab in the middle of a cow farm.

And guess what . . . It was AWESOME.

Welcome to Bunker Pond. Home of the Bunker's.
It is a large rectangular, man made pond surrounded by cat tail with a slight smell of cattle depending on which way the wind blow.

A huge structure was built that includes a dock, a zip line, a few high dive locations, a rope swing, an enormous trampoline, and an extremely fast slide created from an irrigation tube. It is a small town wonderland and I do mean that with fondness and delight.

I have seen pictures of this place before, but they just didn't do the place justice. You really can't tell how amazing the place is until you step foot near the lake. (The other cool thing I saw, was the cow . . .um . . . stalls (?) I'll call them for lack of the appropriate term- they had fans all over them to help keep the cattle cool!)

Not just anyone can go to this pond, but lucky for us Kai planned a young men's activity at this location and he was nice enough to let us tag along.

Kiera on the zip line . . . so fun!

Cambria on the zip line . . . I so wanted to try it but I didn't want to make a fool of myself in front of all the young men in case things went south, so Kai said he would take me back another time when I could try it under less intense pressure:)

Can you see the floating head in the water. That head belongs to Cameron, one of Kai's best buddies. Cameron is a woodsy kind of guy, like Paul Bunyan or Davy Crockett. Cameron sat by the bridge catching cat fish with his bare hands. Bubba was trying to jump into the water with him right when Cam threw a cat fish on the dock . . . catching Bubba by surprise with all it's wriggling and jiggling.

A closer look at the cat fish . . .

Kiera has amazing upper body strength. Seriously this girl has muscles on her arms. I think the muscles are the product of serious monkey bar swinging (which makes me think I should add that activity to my exercise routine:)) Anyway, here is a picture of her swinging into the water from the rope swing. In the back you can see the large, rectangular trampoline that sits atop the water.

Apparently, Captain America had a very irresistible costume:) Kai had some of the young men from our ward over doing chores in an attempt to earn money for an upcoming beach trip. Bryton is the 4Th one to adorn the red, white and blue superhero garb.

You can't really see it here, but Kiera is trying to show off here new hair style . . . it is tied in a knot on her forehead. She wanted to make sure that I "blogged" about it:)

And finally . . . if you would like to know how to make these cute little name blocks I made a tutorial and a shopping list here, on my new blog "The Craft Bucket" It is a very simple craft that the most inexperienced crafter can make and love:) Spread the word pretty please:) When I get ten followers I am going to give away a fabric flower headband to one of them:)