"I Love You Beach!"

yelled Ashlyn as we left Balboa on Saturday. I love that my kids love being outside. They really do have a zest for life (despite my sarcastic comment at the end of the last post), it is true. It doesn't matter if we are in the mountains or at the beach or here in Corona at a park, they love to be outside running around. Sand or snow they are happy. Their excitement makes life fun!

They played in the sand for hours.

And despite the numbing temperature of the water, Taylor and Ashlyn were in it.

However, Andy was content on the warm sand. Smart boy!
It was fun to have the Bladhs come meet us.

Another beautiful day!

Everywhere we go she is doing the dance.

I love the beach too!

Easter Egg Hunt.

Please note the time of this post....Yeah can't sleep. I have nothing else better to do at 5AM so I might as well post something for all to enjoy.

The 1st Easter Egg Hunt of the season was on Saturday. Once Andy and Ashlyn realized there was candy inside the eggs, they were done by egg #1. They just wanted the candy.

Is she not the cutest thing?! Slowly but definitely scraggly we are growing out her bangs.

Ash in her own personal heaven....a basket of candy and a mom not telling her to stop eating it.

Showing off their personalities.

And flexing their muscles.

LOVE these kids despite the anxiety and stress they create. Did you know my kids are "active" with a "zest for life?" That is the PC description for hyper crazy! If you sat anywhere within 20 rows from us at church today (actually yesterday), you would agree. They are cute though!

The Big 3-1!

It's true, I am officially in my 30's. Where does the time go? I swear I was 21 yesterday. Hopefully, the next 9 years won't go as fast as the last 9 because oh my goodness I will be 40!!! However, life does keep getting better with each passing year so I am looking forward to great things happening this year.

Thanks to Disney and their Celebration theme, we headed off to Disneyland to redeem my $69 birthday voucher. With just Taylor in tow, it was a really fun and easy day (despite all the spring breakers).

Thanks again to Sara for watching the other two. How can I train Taylor to look at the camera with her eyes?!

Since there is no "J" or "T" in California, we like to use the "A" for our little 2 year olds.

Taylor's 1st time on Space Mountain. Eyes once again not looking at the camera.

I was worried we were going to traumatize her with this ride but she did say it was fun but the lap bar hurt her tummy. (eyes again!)

And Kobe Bryant made an appearance just for me. How nice!

The Flower Man Came to my House

with a great birthday gift. After months of complaining about the hideousness of our front yard landscaping, someone heard my cry. My father in law came over with lots of flowers, his work pants, and tools and set to work on ripping out the nasty builder plants and replaced them with

pretty flowers. Hooray!

He had lots of happy helpers!

And the finished result!

Vegas!

Excess timeshare points + a free weekend = off to Vegas to see my sister!

If I forget how Andy and Ashlyn wouldn't stay in the pack n plays and therefore did not have a nap for 3 days or go to bed on time, a broken bowl and a spilled full cup of milk at CPK, and a broken picture frame at the Secret Garden gift shop, we had a great trip. Seriously I think we received more stares from people than anything else in Vegas and there is a lot to look at there. It was a crazy few days but we had fun.

Does anyone have the problem of children fighting over pushing the elevator button? My goodness it is as bad as when my siblings and I would fight for the front seat when we were younger. We finally had to formally set up a taking turn policy. It was only 48 degrees (I thought Vegas was supposed to be hot) but that didn't stop the kids from wanting to swim. So in the hot tub we went.This is one reason I want to go to this resort without kids.

So I can lay in this hammock and listen to the relaxing music playing in the nearby speakers without children crawling all over me.
We decided to go to the Springs Preserve. Turned out to be ridiculously expensive but for free you could play in the play yard and hike the "botanical gardens."

Hiking the "botanical garden" AKA cactus and dirt.

Secret Garden at the Mirage.

On the last night, my cousin watched the kids so the adults could go out to dinner. We went to Switch at the Encore Hotel. The walls, ceiling, and music change every 20 minutes. It is pretty amazing!

"Momma I'm a Big Girl Now!"

Today was Taylor's 1st dance competition. They did AWESOME and took home the 1st place trophy AND the "tu-tu" cute award. I'm not at all biased but seriously they are the cutest things ever!
Practicing the routine one more time.

Taylor loved being on stage and dancing. She wanted us to cheer for her REALLY loud. She informed me that she couldn't see me when she was performing so next time I need to stand up, wave my arms, and yell "Mommy's right here!" Right!

Here are our VERY PROUD trophy captains.

I was so proud of Taylor today. She tends to be shy and apprehensive in new situations. It usually takes her awhile to feel comfortable but she has grown up so much in the last few months. I think dancing has really helped that aspect of her personality. There was no fear today (at least that was visible) and she did awesome!

1 competition down, and only 3 more to go. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Here is a video of their dance. The color isn't great. Taylor is the 4th one in from both sides.


What do you want to be when you grow up?

Pirate explanation: This week I told Taylor that her and Paige were going to be the trophy captains. Later she seemed confused and asked me if Paige and her were the trophy pirates (???) Apparently, that was the 1st thing on her mind when the man with the microphone asked my normally shy daughter what she wants to be when she grows up. It gave us all a good laugh. She has since clarified that she was just joking and she doesn't really want to be a pirate. She thinks a "ballerina teacher" would be great!