June/July 2016 - California Trip/Shayna's Wedding

Pat's cousin Shayna Ridley was getting married on July 1st in California. We 

were able to go with Tammy, Gwen and Lana. We were so lucky and blessed 

to have family willing to help us with the kids so we could be gone for 4 days. 

June 30th (Thursday) started out with Me and Melody matching in 

our BB-8 shirts. We packed up the kids and headed to Mana's house.

Karri met us at Mana's, we loaded the kids in her car, and she took them to Lisa's house (on her way 

to work). Once done at work, she would pick them up and bring them back to Mana's to sleep. 

This would be done again the next day (Friday), then they would spend Saturday and Sunday 

at Mana's.They were pretty excited to spend so much time with cousins while we were gone. 

Mana took us over to Roger & Tammy's where we met Lana & 

Gwen then all loaded up the car and went up to the airport!

The last time we flew together was in 2011 when we went to Disneyland for the re-opening of Star Tours! 

The flight was quiet and uneventful. Once in California, we got a rental car. Here's 

Gwen, Me and Lana waiting for the car. Had to get a picture with the palm trees

We found an In-N-Out to have some lunch. It was so small inside and could only 

hold less that 20 people! There were tables out front so we ate our lunch there.

I got a text that afternoon from Lisa, she had taken the kids to her 

friends pool and Melody liked hanging out on the inflatable pizza.

She even fell asleep

And they made a little 'tent' for her!

We were staying with Ryan & Brooke, dropped our stuff off there, then 

headed to Kevin & Kimbur's where the wedding dinner would be that 

night. It was in their backyard,which is gorgeous, and overlooks the valley.

The dinner was really yummy and it was so great to see so 

much family, we were excited to see them more the next day.

Friday, July 1st. Shayna & Mitchell were getting married in the San Diego Temple.  

The last time Pat and I were here was in November of 2002, right after we were 

married, when his cousin Tara got married!!  On that trip I convinced him to go to 

Disneyland for a few hours. It was totally crazy, but it made me happy.

I pulled out my selfie stick for a group picture.

I love the windows! So pretty!

Here they are! Shayna & Mitchell Juergens

Side note: Mitchell and his twin brother Garrett play football for BYU!

When I saw these flowers it made me think of Mara.

After pictures, we headed back to Ryan's house, after stopping for a Jamba Juice and 

to check out a Toys R Us.  After Ryan's we went back to Kevin & Kimbur's for the wedding 

reception. It was a very fancy formal reception, with dinner, a program and dancing.

Here we are with cousin Megan Ruth.

Here's Brooke, Ryan, Pat and I. These two are so amazing and 

we so appreciate being able to stay with them this weekend.

It was a long fun day!

June 2016 part 4

I had Melody with me one day at the library, I turned around and found her like this, loving a book.

I had walked outside one day and could hear a lot of chirping. Turns out we had a 

nest in our tree with four baby birds. I quickly grabbed my Rebel and my telephoto 

lens and was able to get a few good pictures of them and even the mommy bird!!!

Ben and Amber were in town for a few days and we were hanging out at Morri's. The 

kids were in the backyard playing on the trampoline. I just love that they included Melody.

They even played 'crack the egg'. 

It was Jaina's turn but she couldn't jump that big, so Xander helped her out.

After Morri's house, we brought Addi and Aubrey home with us to spend the 

night. The next morning we got ready to meet up with family at Seven Peaks!!

Jaina loves her goggles and my waterproof camera!

Melody is starting to like the water more and her floaties too.

Melody just loves her older cousins.

The ones that went down the Avalance!

They made a train to include the younger cousins.

Me and my girls

Bryton is seriously a child whisperer. 

She loves to play with the little ones and they love her too.

Mara really loves making perler bead creations. 

Saturday morning coloring.

One Sunday night we were at Mana's and found this wonderful artwork in her 

back room. After a lot of talking Jaina and Finley finally confessed to drawing 

on the walls. They had seen the older girls measuring and writing their height

 on the wall next to the door so they thought it would be okay.

We made them clean the wall for a bit, sadly the crayon didn't come off hardly 

at all. But Lisa came by another day with some awesome cleaner and took care of it.

Pat and I were getting ready to go on a trip without the kids, 

so we decided to take them out to dinner  at Denny's before we left.