The Young and the Restless

Beach Bums

Whatever happened to my visions of sitting on the couch watching Oprah and eating licorice (yes, the updated version of the soap operas and bon bons cliche) now that my kids are in school? It seems like life has been busier and crazier than ever, so we were definately ready for a relaxing trip to the beach! Before we took off we had some fun with Jason's sister, Jessica and her boyfriend, Harry who came and stayed for several days before she headed off to her study abroad in China. It was so fun spending time with them and the kids had a blast. They especially loved Harry because he let them use him as a human paper and draw all over his arms. Yes, now I am constantly confiscating pens and markers to prevent more tatoo artists in the making--thanks alot! Totally kidding, Jayden even liked Harry so much that when we were at the store today he saw a Chinese guy and pointed while saying loudly "member him? Harry? Come my house?" Jessica, we hope you're having a blast in China and we love getting the email updates!

After they left we packed up and headed to Cali for Labor Day weekend. Jennifer has never been there and since she left today (sniff, sniff) we decided to take her there for a last big horrah and to tell her thanks for ALL the babysitting :). The plan was to leave at 4am on Saturday morning with the mindset that the kids would sleep in the car and wake up just before we got to the beach. Of course the whole thing backfired when we didn't leave until 5:30, then the kids woke up as soon as we put them in the car and stayed awake for the rest of the trip. I thought that I was doomed for a day of crankiness, but instead they were grinning ear to ear the whole day and took naps later in the car. We hit Mission beach first and I had forgotten how much fun the beach is (despite the holiday weekend crowds), especially since our kids are at the perfect age. They spent the morning running from the waves, boogie boarding and building sand castles, it was a blast. That afternoon Jennifer was dying to experience life outside of the US and given our very limited budget and time we opted for the ever fabulous Tijuana. The fear of my children catching some communicable disease, or even worse not being able to bring them back across the border since we didn't have their birth certificates was enough to deter us away from the idea of bringing them along. Instead Jason took them to a park while Jennifer and I braved it on our own. After a couple of hours, lots of cheap trinkets and a few solicitations from some unruly gentleman, we decided to call it a day.


We were hoping to run into my brother, Tyson, while he is on his mission in San Diego, but unfortunately that city is too darn big. We did happen to run into some sister missionaries at the temple's visitor center (which consisted of a folding table and chairs in the parking lot) who happened to know him, so that was cool.

We were such great hosts and even took Jennifer for a stroll down the Walk of Fame. Hollywood is definately one of those places where you just go once to say you've been there. We've already been there our one time, but for you Jennifer, we would put up with the crazy people (like the shirtless drugged maniac running into traffic...) and smutty shops any day! :) It was cool to drive through Beverly Hills and see all the huge mansions, though. We laughed at those star maps, but once we were up there we were kicking ourselves for not buying one! We also hit the Santa Monica pier where people were packed together like sardines. I made the mistake of letting my kids just put their feet in the water (we didn't have their swimsuits) and of course they ended up with sand and mud all over. We knew it was our cue to leave when Jayden accidentally kicked mud all over the back of this lady's dress. I pulled one of those "look the other way and pretend like that's not my kid" tricks. I think it worked. After a couple amusement park rides we were dying to get out of the crowds. We met up with 2 of Jason's friends from highschool, Shawn and Trent and their families that night. It was so nice to just relax, hang out and get caught up. Trent was staying with his family at a time share in Newport beach and so we jumped at the idea of spending the day at a more secluded beach. So the next day our friends Nate and Tara met up with us and we all spent the day relaxing at the beach (Dave and Candace, you were the only ones missing!). Tara probably didn't relax much since she was always busy chasing her adorable 2 yr old twin boys, I don't know how she does it! We had some good laughs as we piled 9 people into a 5 passenger car to give Nate and Tara a ride back to their car several miles away. In this picture keep in mind that Jason and I are also packed into that front seat. We definately played the role of white trash Beverly Hillbillys very well. When we got there and they started getting out I felt a hand move out from underneath my swim suit clad hiney. I'm not quite sure if it was Nate or Tara's hand and I'm not quite sure I want to know! Definately fun times. We met up for lunch before we took off and were quite the spectacle with all our kids, but we had a blast. The kids were so wiped out and crashed in the car at 5:45pm. I thought for sure they would either wake up once we got home and wouldn't go back to bed until midnight, or else wake up at 5:00am. Luckily I was wrong, they both slept until 7:00am the next morning. It definately made for a pleasant trip home. It was such a fun little weekend getaway! My only regret is that I forgot to bring my SPF chapstick (how did I not learn my lesson last time??) And now I've got another hideous sun blister on my lip. Those things always come at the most inoportune times, considering I just started teaching preschool today and Saturday I have to teach a class for some big stake Activity Day thingy. Hello boys and girls, I'm Miss Lippy. Alas, life goes on.


So my nanny left today, it was a sad day (now it's back to reality)! Kylie cried most of the way home from the airport, we are all going to miss her! We spent Jennifer's last night here going out for ice cream with the family and then some sisterly bonding time at none other than the infamous dollar theater. Yes it is dirty, and yes something goes wrong every time we go (the sound doesn't work, the screen freezes, it's blurry....), but the call of $2 tickets versus $9.50 was too much to resist so we ignored the sticky floors and opted for the cheap seats. We saw "License to Wed", which was cute. Some of my favorite memories with her are: the knife show, late night Wal-mart trips, the Office, otter pops, Subway, rafts, haircuts (especially the "layering"), chick flicks, sleepovers when Jason was out of town, Evon, prunes, Sadowski, liquid metal, "Adventures in Babysitting", and so many others.

I know this is a long one, but I can't end a post without including some of my favorite kid moments for the week. Kylie has a birthmark on her arm that she is very proud of and is always showing to people. Jayden also has one and I wasn't sure if he knew what it was called, so I pointed to it and asked him what it was. He proudly responded, "it's my birthday!" The kids love playing "Marco Polo" in the pool. They enjoy the game, but I don't think they understand why one person says "marker" and everyone else says "pillow". Kylie's class has just started checking out books from the library. I thought for sure she would pick out the most girly princess books, so I was a bit surprised at her selection, that is until she excitedly presented Jayden with the pirate book she had chosen and told him that she picked it out just for him. The next week she came home with a dinosaur book she had carefully selected for him as well. I can't explain the feeling I get to see them become the best of friends. It's what being a mom is all about!