vacation.

For Father's Day Matt and I were asked to speak in sacrament meeting. When I mentioned it to my mom she said, "Oh, it's too bad your church is so early (8:30 am) or your dad and I would like to come." Right after church started Bentley looked out the chapel door and said,"It's Grams!" My parents surprised us and came to watch the boys while we gave our talks. Needless to say I blubbered through the parts of my talk when I told stories about my mom and especially my dad. I don't think I'll mention it to my mom when we are asked to speak next time.

The boys decorated some homemade ties for Matt and were so excited to give them to him. They also made Grandad some pictures too. We went down to my parents' after church and had dinner with them and Trace's family.

Matt had the last 2 weeks in June off from school. We stayed in paradise because it doesn't really ever get better than Southern California. Especially when you get to do awesome things and sleep in your own bed!

We went to Legoland with Grams, Grandad, Alexa, Chance and Dane. We had lots of fun. The boys loved riding the rides with their cousins, shooting fire hoses, and playing in the water. Matt and I got to ride a couple of roller coasters too. The boys especially loved the fireman show and love to sing "You put the wet stuff on the hot stuff and put the fire out!"

Matt and I escaped for our very first vacation without kids since we had them! That's right, we have never left the boys overnight. My parents took them for 3 nights and Matt and I went to Santa Barbara. We stayed at the Fess Parker Double Tree for two glorious nights without kids. We had lunch at Longboards on the pier, went to the harbor, visited the mission, hung out and did some shopping on State St. And we ate the most amazing enchilada of our lives at El Paseo. Seriously, it is amazing. We are talking filet mignon in at least 3 types of cheese with a sweet enchilada sauce. It was expensive and totally worth it. We also had lunch with Jerry and Heather and hung out at the pool. My favorite part was all of the chalk murals at the mission. They were so amazing and fun to look at. We had a great few days together, and surprisingly my parents survived too.


Fourth of July weekend we took the boys to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. This is one of our family's favorite places to go. The boys love the fish, sharks, seals and sea lions. They used to like feeding the birds too, but both of them got bitten this time and now Gaige thinks that every bird he sees is going to bite him! They loved the giant crabs and touching all of the sea urchins, anemones, starfish, sea cumbers and other critters. After the aquarium we walked around in the harbor and had some fish and chips for lunch. The perfect way to spend the day...look at fish and then eat some! We didn't take the stroller for this excursion which is quite a milestone in our lives! The boys were tuckered out by the time we headed home. I think it only took them two minutes to pass out once we got in the car.

Lauren organized a fourth of July barbecue so we spent the evening hanging out with the Maucotels, McDaniels, Hoovers, Johnsons, Jensens, Cordons and Morrises. Then we headed over to the Redfords for dessert. We decided not to fight the crowds to see fireworks, though the boys love them. We put them to bed and watched some fireworks from our living room window. They weren't too bad. I got to see a few of my favorite fireworks - the happy faces. =D

Now that vacation is over Matt is extremely busy trying to work on all of his patients with the limited amount of clinic time he has since he is on rotation doing pedo and part of the Venice Select where he sees patients other than his own. So he stays at school for night clinic every Tuesday and is also gone on Thursday nights twice a month. The boys and I have been spending lots of quality time with our favorite people at the pool and the playground. I don't know what I would do without all of my wonderful friends and their kids!

Em and I went to the Renegade Craft Fair. The downside of going to a craft fair is that I never buy anything because I always think "I can make that myself." Then I never make it and never have it. It was a very fun girly day. Thanks, Em!

The weather here has been super overcast and chilly which is not normal in July here. Bentley took his first swim lessons with Alex, but was always so cold I had to get in the pool with him to get him to swim with his instructor. He usually gets out of the pool every 5 minutes to warm up in his towel, not so good when I am paying for him to have swim lessons. He won't be getting swim lessons from anyone but me anytime soon and I think he prefers that.

My friend Becky came into town and spent a whole day with the boys and I. It was so fun to spend the entire day with her like I used to everyday (and sometime nights) when we lived in Provo. Becky and I worked at King Henry together and devoted our lives to single college kids and their social and apartment happiness. The boys love her and have given her 2 nicknames, mostly because they can't remember or say her name - Ducky and Spikey! We love you, Ducky!

Paige turned 24 this month so we took her out to dinner/cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory in Marina Del Rey. I instructed all of the girls to get dressed up and wear heels for a girls' night out. We had lots of fun and are grateful for our friend Paige. She is pretty, fun, smart, and wears some killer loafers!

Accomplishments this week:

1. Went to the beach four times in the last 6 days. Yes, I am getting pretty tan.

2. Gaige is potty trained and isn't even 2 1/2 yet! We still have a couple accidents now and then, but he is going strong!

3. I beat my 14 year old nephew at arm wrestling without a sweat. Seriously, less than 1/2 a second. He's promised to work out so it doesn't happen again.

4. I slept in the same room as the boys for 3 nights. Bentley snores like a bear!

The End...for now! I promise there will be more soon!