Happy Easter...Yes, behind again!

Easter has come and gone in a blurr. I have really slacked off on my blog again, so therefore, there's a million posts coming in the next week. We had so much fun preparing for Easter. My sister and her 2 boys and my mom came down to dye easter eggs. The kids were so excited to do that together. Then when Easter morning came, the kids got up bright and early to hunt for the Easter eggs that the Easter Bunny came and hid throughout the house. They got a basket full of treats and some spring clothes. We went to church and then headed up to Morgan for a wonderful dinner. While we were up there the kids brought their silly string and got Grandma Shell pretty good. It's always great to spend time with my family....I love them so much!

The kids made egg people this year! Here's Mazzy's favorite.

Here's Stryder's X-Man egg.

This is Bronson's cyclops egg. Yes 1 eye!

Easter morning.

This is the awesome egg I made for my dad. So cute!

Silly string war.

Grandma wasn't so happy as the rest of us...it was funny!

Destination: California, Day 6 Homeward Bound Day 7

The night before we left Paul and Rachael took us to San Luis Obispo to go to a Farmer's Market there. It was so fun! They had THE BEST oranges and strawberries you've ever tasted in your life! No joke! It was fun to finally get to do something with Paul too. He had to work the whole time we were there, so we only got to see him in the evenings once our playing was through. Above is Paul and Rach....I think we wore them out! Below is Paul and Rach, Bronson, Sydney and Mazzy walking to the Farmer's Market.

After 6 awesome days, it was time to head home. So on Day 7, we woke up, had breakfast and headed back to Utah's cold weather. I took some pictures of the beautiful vineyards and a few other things.

I loved all of the vineyards on the hillsides...it was just so beautiful to me.

The cold front hit California too, the morning we left. Ry and I thought this was pretty cool to see the ice on the vines.

All of the orchards were all alive and pretty and then there were these few orchards here and there that were still kind of dormant, just barely starting to leaf out. Don't have a clue what they were, but I thought this was a pretty picture of one of them and the green hills in the background.

We drove through a town called Tehachapi and the hillsides were covered with windmills everywhere you looked. It was kind of cool.

We drove straight home. The drive was fine until we hit St. George and ran into all of the snowstorms. It seemed like forever to get home. But we made it safe and sound! Just want to say thanks again to Paul and Melinda for giving us a place to stay on the way. And thanks to Paul and Rachael for graciously opening your home up to us for an entire week! You guys are the best! We are so lucky to have such amazing friends! Love you guys!

Destination: California, Day 5

On Day 5 we headed out by ourselves to go up to Monterey. The scenic coastal way was closed, so we took the fast way there. We got there right at lunch time, and decided to conserve some money, since we would be eating lunch and dinner out, so we walked the strip of Monterey until we found something reasonable. We ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and YES Ryan and I had Fish-n-Chips yet again! The kids got their kids meals and the waitress told us that they came with a fun slushy drink in a light up cup....well needless to say those "fun" drinks did not come with the kids meals. We paid $5 a piece for their meals and $8 a piece for their "fun" drinks! We just laughed and said....enjoy your souveniers children! After lunch we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which the kids and I loved. Ryan didn't think it was so cool for as much as it cost. But I thought it was worth it. We saw so many cool things. The above and below pictures are of the "Kelp Forest" which was a 2 stories high. It was so beautiful and peaceful, I thought.

Here is a Sea Dragon...I think these are the coolest things ever!

I think this was the most fascinating thing to me...This is a Leafy Sea Dragon, and yes the leaves on it are attached. Pretty cool, huh?

Here are the kids at the penguin exhibit.

We got to watch the Sea Otters at their feeding time. They are very playful.

After the Aquarium, we decided to take Paul's advice and go check out Pebble Beach. When we entered there was a toll booth that you had to pay $9.50 to drive the scenic Pebble Beach 17 mile drive. Needless to say, this was our favorite part of Monterey. It is considered one of the most scenic coastal drives in all of California. We had a map that was numbered with specific spots to stop at and see, and it gave a brief history of everything. It's a gated community and there are like 5 golf courses in it. I think they said it was $500 for one round of golf there. The drive was through the Del Monte Forest also. It was GORGEOUS!!!

As you can tell it was VERY windy and pretty cold.

This is a Cypress Tree that has been there for over 250 years.

Very rough seas.

My first "white" sandy beach!!!

There were many more pictures from this drive, but these are my favorites. It was an awesome day!

Destination: California, Day 4

We woke up a little earlier this day to get a head start because we were making a few stops at different places. First Rach took us up to San Simeon to see the Elephant Seals. The momma's and babies were up on the beach. The first thing I asked Ryan when we walked over was..."Are they dead?" A lot of them just looked like blobs, not moving. They were everywhere. The kids had fun watching them and listening to them.

Here's a cute baby, throwing sand on itself.

The lighthouse was closed, so we couldn't take the kids to see it up close.

After San Simeon, we drove down the coast a little to Cayucos to hang out and get some lunch. What did we have????? Fish-n-chips!!! We LOVE fresh fish-n-chips! Anyway, it's a place where a lot of surfers hang out. It was fun to just sit and watch them, they were very friendly also. The kids got to swing on the beach and play for a bit.

We walked out on the pier, which by the way was very windy and cold. But it was a beautiful view.

Ryan and I at the end of the pier.

This is a picture of the waves underneath us on the pier.

When we were finished in Cayucos, we headed down the coast even further and went to Montana de Oro. We took a beautiful hike up and around some cliffs. Initially, we went on the hike to go down to some really awesome tide pools, where you can see a ton of things, but unfortunately it was closed that day. But the hike was still worth it.

Bronson and I hiked out on to a cliff point (if that even makes sense). It doesn't look like much of a drop off around us, but it was, and I had to make myself do it. I am terrified of heights. I almost had to crawl out there.

Ryan, Mazzy, Rachael, Hunter and Londyn hiked out on the other point from where Bronson and I were. I couldn't make myself take the trail out on that one.

There was a beautiful little meadow full of these flowers on the hike, so I had to take the kids picture.

After our hike, we went down to the beach to look for seashells, starfish, and anything else we could find.

We found Pete's Dragons cave!!!

Some lady left this starfish for the kids to see. Don't worry, it was already dead, that's why I let the kids hold it.

Ryan was out looking in all the little tide pools behind Mazryn. We actually spent a lot of time out there, and saw tons of anemones. It was pretty fun.

Brons cleaning the rocks out of his toes.

Hello! Wish you were here!

Wrestling on the beach.

Mazzy took this picture of Ryan and I.

The kids and I taunting the waves to see if they could get us.

I had to throw this video in because it shows all of our cute kiddos!!! I recorded it for Bronson because he loved watching the elephant seals play. Of course when I started to record, they weren't as active, but it was cute of all the kids in it, anyway. And because I didn't take a picture of Rach, yet again....she's in it with that cute baby boy Hunter!!! I thought that I had taken pictures of them, but I didn't....I'm so sad!
(Ok, so I'd add the video if it would upload....I'll keep trying.)