Goin', goin' back, back to Cali, Cali

Our family recently took a trip to California. We had a great time! It was so fun watching Ayden get excited about the different rides and characters. The first day I spent most of the time sick in bed at the hotel while Kipp took Ayden to Disneyland. But thanks to some great rest that day-I was able to feel much better throughout the week. We were going every second and would crash by about 9 every night-only to start again early the next day.

This is one of the first things that Ayden saw at California Adventure-and he was star struck! We are a big fan of Cars at our house! He almost didn't know what to do with himself. The Buzz Lightyear ride was also a big hit with Ayden. Because Kipp is a sucker-Ayden came home with Buzz jammies and a Buzz Lightyear action figure.
It sure was warm enough-and there are several great little splash areas for kids to stay cool.My cute niece Taylor-what a sweet heart! She is the most smiley, easy-going thing ever!Ayden left a little of himself in Disneyland (and I am afraid brought some home with him as well)The cute boys of the family. Ayden and his cousins. This was taken while all of the girls in the family were meeting fairies and princesses.If we ever want Ayden to come with us and he is being slow about it-all you have to do is say, "on your mark, get set, go!" He squats down and then takes off running the direction you want. People got a kick out of this. Sure did come in handy on this trip!Ayden also loved the Pixar parade.
We also visited Sea World. Ayden wasn't the biggest fan of the shows-but he enjoyed watching the sea lions and whales swimming. Check out his hand on his cousin Cael's back-maybe he might be a good big brother afterall!San Diego Zoo was another great stop on our trip.

Ayden watching a monkey exhibit. The monkeys were quite active. They were wrestling and making Ayden laugh. He stood there for a good 20 minutes-not wanting to move.


The rest of that day was spent at the beach. And yes-Ayden made major strides since Hawaii:

He actually played in the sand and seemed to enjoy it!My nephew Cael wasn't too sure about the sand-he preferred to be on the boogie board Kipp enjoyed some boogie boarding while we played in the sand.

My nephew Mason showing off his muscles

Cute Taylor-of course smilingAnd my cute niece Avery playing in the sand

Confession

Okay-so you will all find out what a horrible mom I am-but this was too funny not to post. I was downstairs cleaning when I heard Ayden head upstairs-normal. I then heard the bathtub turn on-pretty normal (he will sometimes play with his toothbrush in the water). Finally Ayden starts crying when playing with water-not normal. So I head upstairs to check on him. This is what I found...The little stinker had got in the tub, plugged it and filled it with cold water. (The cold water was why he was crying-otherwise I am sure he would've continued playing in silence-having the time of his life!) He has only ever climbed into the tub one other time and has never plugged it up himself and started the water too. I realize how dangerous this potentially could have been. He could have drowned or burned himself-but since nothing horrible happened-I think I am okay to laugh!

Girls Camp

We recently had our ward's girls camp. It was a ton of fun. The first day was spent at a ropes coarse in Provo where the girls and some leaders were able to zip-line, do a huge swing, rock climbing/repelling, and play some team-building games. They all had a ton of fun. Afterwards we went canoeing and jumped in the river to cool off (no pictures of that because I didn't trust our canoeing skills enough to bring along the camera-and it was a good thing!) We also found a rope swing along the river that several of us used to jump in. Kipp was one of the Priesthood members that came along that day along with our friend Jeff Wood-they had fun with the group-and I think a couple of the girls developed a little crush! Kipp and Jeff were very helpful and also provided some good laughs. At one point Jeff biffed it pretty hard. I was glad to see Ann Marie laugh at her husband-it made me feel better about laughing at him as well!

A picture of all our crazy girls and leaders and our instructor that day.

Rebecca climbing the pole to the zip line

Right before Jeff ate it on the low ropes coarse. If only I had taken it a second later!

Jeff on the giant swing-this was by far the girls' favorite activity!

The girls working hard to pull each person up on the swing

Kipp about to climb the wall (and get his trash kicked by Jeff-the girls timed them-it wasn't pretty!)

Cute girls!
We then headed up to the Spruces where our campsite was. We had a Boot Camp theme this year-"Be Of One Team"-and we talked about putting on the Armor of God and made our personal Titles of Liberty. Our camp director did such a cute job planning and putting together so many fun things for the girls. All of us sporting our camp shirtsWe hike Doughnut Falls-which really isn't a long hike at all-but we hiked from our campground instead of driving which turned into about a 5 mile hike. We had a couple of leaders carrying infants and the girls were tired-but they were all great sports!Some of our sweet YW on the hike We have the best leaders and Priesthood leaders ta-boot!The night that they Bishopric came up, we performed skits using bags with a bunch of random things in them. It was leaders vs. the YW. The leaders cheated a little by adding other things to the bag and we were not so creative and used the one person puts their arms through the sleeves of the shirt and does the other's makeup and brushes their teeth. We had a great time though and I nearly wet my pants several times. The girls were very creative and stuck to the rules and came up with a great skit.

I had to include these great pictures I got of the girls and Rebecca playing chubby bunny! Hopefully none of them will be upset with me including them! I can't play this game-it makes me sick! But it sure was fun watching. Actually watching made me a little sick too!

Summer Days

We have had a great summer full of activities

This picture was taken at a family BBQ. I think he looks like a little boy here-so grown up!We had a great night at Draper Days with family and friends watching the kids on the playground equipment, playing with glow-sticks, and watching fireworks. Ayden once again didn't love the fireworks-but eventually got used to the idea. We also made it to the zoo. It was an extremely hot day-so we were glad that we got there early enough to leave by noon. Ayden has always been funny about cold things and therefore doesn't eat ice cream-but to show you how hot it was:I love this boy's eyelashes!I love this picture of Ayden's friend SadieOne evening I needle to run to get some fabric at Gardner Village-so we took some bread to feed the ducks. The last time we did this, we caught the ducks during nap time so none of them were interested. This time that was not the case. We literally had about 12 ducks and several birds gather around us. The ducks were getting a little too aggressive for Ayden. One even tried to nibble on his leg-he quickly jumped into my lap.

We have made a few trips to the splash park this summer. This particular night Kipp dropped us off at the park and had to run to Walmart quickly. He had a hard time finding his way to the park entrance and caught back up with us once the water was already turned off.

Ayden is not a big fan of the splash park. He prefers the sprinklers

We went to the Days of '47 Parade. We had fun-although Ayden lost interest and we ended up walking up and down the sidewalk for a lot of it. Kipp asked me about 50 times if it was almost over.My sister Nicole, her hubby Shaun and their little boy CaelAyden and Grandma SueThe Carlisle clan