Catching up (6 months worth)!

It was been a little while since I posted on our blog - okay a LONG time! Please forgive me if you have been checking regularly and keep seeing my little princess and knight in shining armor.

Things that have been happening with us since October 2009 ....

The Cline family came to California for Thanksgiving, Michael and his boys (JP & Colin) joined us as well. It was fun to have everyone here for the holiday but we did miss Jennifer and her girls.

Bryce officially entered his 30’s … he turned 31 this year! He has always wanted to skydive so this year I was able to talk Mark into going since there is no way I will do it. It became a family affair, Polly and Cody joined and the four jumped out of the same plane – crazy people!!

Unfortunately we lost a wonderful member of our family just before Christmas. Bryce’s grandmother passed away on the 21st of December. Christmas was her favorite holiday and the family thought this was her way of bringing everyone together again. We spent two weeks in Utah visiting with family, some of whom I had never met before and Bryce hadn’t seen in over 10 years.

January is a special month for us, not only is it the beginning of a new year but also the month that our two precious children came to us. Diddy and Tpa flew in from Utah to help us celebrate their birthday. They are now four years old and we couldn’t imagine life without them!

Easter was so much fun this year. Misti and her family came to the desert and the kids didn’t want to see them go. Grandpa Jack kicked on the heater to the hot tub and they spent endless hours playing, swimming, and just laughing together.

Bryce and I spent a week in New York and Connecticut in mid April. Grandma Vera and Grandpa Jack were nice enough to have the twins spend a few days with them. Then to mix things up, Diddy and Tpa arrived and took over for the last part of the week. We had so much fun seeing the sites and exploring new places. Once we got back to California we headed down to La Jolla for some relaxing on the beach! I’m sure both sets of Grandparents were exhausted after a week with the twins but we sure did appreciate how willing they were to take on the task.

In between the big events we have just been hanging out, enjoying our nice weather and dreading the heat.

Trick or Treat!

The kids celebrated Halloween over the course of two days this year. Brooklyn dressed up as a princess and Beau was her knight! On Friday they had a huge party with Veronica and all of their little friends. I was so happy to see that instead of giving them lots of candy as a treat after the games they were able to pick prizes instead. When they came home they told us all about their fun day and showed us their bucket full of toys! On Saturday we went with Cody's family to the 'Trunk or Treat' at their church and headed over to Grandmas afterward. They are still getting the hang of the whole trick or treating thing but I think that after next year they will be pros!

We love Sundays!

Sundays have always been a great day for us. It gets even better when fall comes around because we are huge football fans. The days are spent lounging around watching all of the games on TV and eating yummy "football" food.

Today we started off a little different. Beau has been asking to go to church all week. I don't know what made him bring it up but he insisted that church was fun and he wanted to go. This morning when we woke up I told him it was Sunday. He asked if he had to go to Veronica's and I told him no. Then he asked if he could go to church so I said of course! Brookie not wanting to be left out joined us.

The twins did great through sacrament and decided to stay for primary. Cody and Jenie were so nice and offered to bring them home afterward. As soon as they arrived it was non stop talking about what happened and how they want to go back tomorrow!

After the kids got home from church, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Jacks for a quick visit. They made a huge platter of chicken nachos and we watched the second half of the Bronco game. I'm a huge Denver fan and Bryce will cheer for anyone who is playing against them, I'm happy to say that the Broncos won and are now 5-0.

Sundays are a GREAT day!

La Jolla - Again :)

Brookie and Beau - they are best friends!

Beau, Bryce, JP, and Brookie playing in the ocean.

Beau and Colin

Grandma Vera and Grandpa Jack

Lisa, JP, and Beau

Bryce - he got soaked!

More Utah photos

Utah Visit

We had a great trip to Utah and we were able to see lots of family/friends. Our schedule was full, as always, but we did manage to sneek in a few relaxing afternoons. The kids enjoyed spending time with their cousins and all of their new little friends in Copperton. A few highlights of our trip included:

• Celebrating 4 birthdays!! Madison (Bug) ~ Mark ~ Tim ~ Todd
• Making a trip to the farm where the kids fed cows and rode a horse.
• Having dinner with the Bailey family (and met their newest addition for the first time).
• Bryce playing golf at six different courses.
• Going to the beach at Daybreak Lake.
• Going swimming and taking several trips to the park.

We have more photos - I just need to upload them so keep checking back :)

Colin's Visit

Colin drove up from La Jolla to spend a few days with us. He and Bryce played golf the first night and went out for a second round early the next morning. Beau, Brookie and Cassius were so excited to have him here, they didn't let him out of their sight. It was a quick trip but we enjoyed having him at our house and can't wait for his next visit.