Happy Leap Day!!!

I hope you all have a great February 29th! Since we only have it once every 4 years I thought we should probably celebrate! I have a friend who was born on this day, her dad and uncle were also born on this day...and she just had a little boy - although he came just a few hours previous at 9:15 pm on the 28th - how crazy is that! To all others who have a birthday on this day I hope you are sincerely spoiled!!!

Now, the reason for the picture! I would love to be celebrating today with a HUGE serving of this delicious fruit - perhaps my favorite of the fruits! And since they are cheap and so yummy right now in Cali you would think then why don't you?! Well, apparently something in them (I have NO idea what) is the cause for my severe headaches and I can't eat them right now in my pregnancy! Yes, of all the weirdest things to me it is very odd that this fruit could cause my head so much pain! I am not sure why, but EVERY time I eat it within 5 minutes I get a headache....at first I thought it was a fluke, but after a few times noticing I tried two different tests with just having no headache and then eating a few bites and both times the same severe headache came right on within 5 minutes. So, sadly, I have to say goodbye to this for a few months til I have this baby........and I just pray once she comes I can go back to enjoying this fruit headache free and plan on eating some good ole pina coladas this summer!!!

Happy Leap Day!

Redondo Beach and The LA Museum of Natural History!!!

Where did last week go?

Really, it probably has been the fastest week of the year for me, and that is saying something!!!!
Maybe it is the fact that I had 5 straight days with no nausea and minimal headaches that helped, or the fact we kept busy and did stuff every day, or that I finally feel a little more settled, or some other reason - but I am glad it went fast.......mostly because that means I am 1 week closer to going to Utah to visit for our trip and I am WAY excited for that. But anyways....here is a little re-cap of our week and weekend, and then also today!

We went to the beach 3 days straight since it was great, warm weather!

The kids made friends and played with their toys one time - and yes, Griffi still insists on wearing his beanie even at the beach - awesome that it matches his swimmies huh!

We did a WHOLE lot of this......or at least I tried to rest like this at the beach, but with Griffin wanting to dive in the ocean every two seconds mostly Cash rested and I chased Griffin!

We basked in the sun and felt so great and warm, and also got to see about 10 dolphins one morning really close - they actually swam with the surfers that were out - it was awesome!!!

Ah! Some day when we go I will be able to do this and just soak up the rays!

Then on the weekend we decided to take the kids somewhere fun - we looked up a bunch of places and settled on the aquarium at Redondo Beach (it was the closest and quickest and Chip had 2 bball games to get back for!) So we headed off down south to the place. Cash was SO excited to see and touch the sharks. It was more of a water tank place, where we got to take a tour of exactly how we get our water here and see the plant - it was actually pretty interesting, although more for Chip and me then the boys.....then it was time to go on the live animal tour, where we could see and touch the water animals!

Here Cash is holding a blue sea star (actually NOT called a starfish, although that is the more common term we use!) It was interesting.

It was pretty neat, and I loved the jeweled sea-stars, they felt a little more soft and slimy, but didn't get a picture of them. Griff enjoyed touching all the animals too!

Here we are at the shark tank. In front of Cash was a baby shark - we touched it and the pregnant mother shark - they were both pretty small, but it was really interesting! They would both swim around and around and you could touch them - however, the mom was swimming around and when i was touching her she popped her head up out of the water as if to talk to me! Maybe she could sense another prego in her midst! It was pretty awesome. They weren't as smooth or slimy as I would have thought!

Here Griff is touching a shark egg. It looks like a sea-shell made out of seaweed, but was really neat to learn about - this one was empty!

It wasn't really much of an aquarium, but still fun for the kids and we spotted one of our FAVORITO food places to eat at on the way so we had to stop on the way home for a little of this yumminess!!! AHH! Pork salad never tasted so good!

So our weekend was great, and after the basketball games we just had fun hanging at home that night. The weekends always go way too quick for me!

Today was the start of another week- and the forecast was 55 and rainy all day so a lot cooler for us. I decided to take the kids on an adventure and go to the LA Museum of Natural History. Cash has been wanting to go for a long time and asks each week when we will go there! So we did it! It was actually great and a lot of fun! Worth the trip for sure!

One of our favorite exhibits - the elephants! The biggest elephant to date they have found weighed 26, 400 lbs. Wo!!!

Cash wanted to read about each animal and find out what they eat and where they live. It was actually pretty interesting!

Checking out how big his wing span was in a different section!

They had a place where you could touch animals and dinosaur bones and horns and things, and this polar bear was a part of it. The fur was actually very thick and tough, not soft really at all!

Our week should go quickly this week too, especially since I get to go on two dates with my husband this week! Happy leap year week!

Kimmy's Visit for California Open!!!

Kimmy came to stay with us last Thursday and we had SO MUCH FUN!!!! We love visitors, and Cash told her numerous times that "Kimmy you are the best! Kimmy you are the best aunt ever! Kimmy I am glad you came to visit us!!!!" He really loves his relatives! She was so good with the kids and Cash wanted to spend every waking moment with her - including the first day at 6:45 am when he woke up and I heard him telling Griffin in their room "Griffi - do you know who is here - Kimmy - she came last night and she is in the guest room.....I am going to go talk to her!" He then walked through our room but didn't say a word to Chip or me, and went to her door and started knocking til she let him in! He was just so excited. He also watched her do her hair and makeup for a couple hours and just sat on the toilet talking to her the whole time before we had to leave for the competition, and then told us he wanted to go too.....so in a couple weeks he is going to come to nationals to watch her when we go to Utah!

Kimmy and Cash upon her arrival and before we headed off to the beach!

Friday morning it was warm and we hit the beach before having to get ready and leave for the competition! Griffin was so excited too! And of course, wanted to wear his beanie the ENTIRE time!! This kid loves his hats!

Cash was ready too and smiled nice for Kim to take a pic!

The only pic of Kim and I the entire weekend, and of course I have NO makeup on and am less than glamorous - but hey, it was the beach and she looks great! I got a gorgeous lil sis!!!

Griffin hanging out with his shovel!

We had fun burying him in the sand and he loved it too!

Griff LOVES the water and was happy to have Kimmy take him to get some water so we could build a sand castle!

Cash didn't care to get in the water, and instead was content digging for treasure and playing by the blanket with all our beach toys the whole time!

Checking out what Kimmy made with the wet sand!

Fun times!

Another trip to the water and now on their way back!

So much fun with Kimmy!

The dance comp took us 3 hours to get there on Friday night, when it is only 42 miles away! We were VERY frustrated and SO HAPPY to get out of the car when we finally got there. Luckily she still had a long time til she danced so it was ok, but we missed the BYU youth teams and that was a bummer!!! There was WAY TOO MUCH Pro/Am stuff and we pretty much had ourselves laughing silly over certain things by the end. I had a great time sitting by Mary and Brent and Blair Treu and picking out the winners of different events and stuff. All I can say is thank heavens for the BYU dress code so we don't have to ALWAYS see nasty old people dancing in costumes that show WAY TOO MUCH!!!!

This is evidenced here by this lady! It was simply awful!

Here is another shot - and she seemed to be competing in EVERYTHING and winning it all too! It was very interesting! She is probably in her 60's, had a TON of Botox in her cheeks, and when she danced the jive she tucked the back part of her skirt into her bum so it was shorter - it was pretty interesting!!!!! Not something I want to ever see again! :)

Saturday morning we took a trip to the Santa Monica pier. The aquarium was closed for a birthday party so instead we hung out at the arcade, the boardwalk, and then rode the rides. Here Griff is enjoying a small little merry-go-round - LOVE Chip's face!

Happy boy!

While Cash played the arcades with Daddy, Kimmy, Griff and I went off to look at the rest of the pier. We came to a bird guy and he set this live parrot on Griffin - Griffin LOVES animals, but wasn't quite sure what to do at first!

Here he is getting a little braver!

And here he really enjoyed it! However, when the guy took him off and then put him back - Griff had had enough and picked the bird up and threw him off of him! It was hilarious!

Cash and Griff riding the fun truck!

Cash has wanted to ride this green dragon ride since we got here and he finally got his chance! He was SO excited at the first, and by the end looked TERRIFIED!!! He said it was fun after he got off, but when we asked if he wanted to go on it again he said no! :)

So instead he joined Kimmy and I on one of my favorite rides - the Scrambler!!!

We all had a blast!

However by the end my entire stomach was shifted to the right side of my body and pretty sure our little girl was only on the right half of me - all squished up!!! After I got off Chip pointed out the ride said not to ride if: you are pregnant! Whoops!!!

I didn't take any pictures of Kimmy at the comp on Saturday night due to them prohibiting any outside cameras or videos! I just enjoyed - but she looked absolutely GORGEOUS and danced beautifully! I LOVE watching her dance, and it was great to have a night with no kids and just enjoy watching friend and visiting with friends and seeing all the BYU kids out there!!! What a great weekend!

On Sunday Griff refused to do nursery again by himself (maybe due to the fact that he missed last week so we ended up having to stay with him!) He does really well when we are there, and he is wearing his beanie again because he refused to take it off for church!!! He just LOVES his hats!

He is such a cutie tho with his little legs crossed eating his snacks, and boy do they feed them well in nursery!!! He pretty much got a full meal! I loved watching him sit there, and then after he preceded to do somersaults on the rug they had in there - what a funny kid!!!

We are always entertained by Griff at dinner and Sunday night was no exception! Here he is displaying his new eating utensil he wanted to use -the measuring spoons! He ate all his chicken and rice dinner with it, and also the cute wooden high chair I love he gets to sit in!

We all enjoyed laughing at his dinner manners - watch and see!

We were all super sad on Monday morning when Kimmy had to take off! We LOVED having her and hanging out and spending time with her! Good thing it's only 2 more weeks til we get to see her again! Thanks Kimmy for such a fun weekend!!!

Our home in the 9-0-2-1-0!!!

Our decision to move was a great one, since this house doesn't have stairs and is bigger and wejust like everything about it MUCH better!!!

The front!

What you see when you enter - the long hallway!

The family room to the left of the front door!

Another view!

More formal living room to the right of the front door! How awesome is

it they have a piano! Wahoo!

Another view!

The view of dining room and kitchen from the family room!

Another view of the formal dining area - and yes - that is a LOT of liquor and alcohol on the cabinet on the right and they said we were welcome to have whatever we wanted - so generous eh!!! We informed them we don't drink and they won't have to worry about us taking any!!!

A view into bathroom from kids room and into master bedroom!

View of the breakfast nook and the Kitchen! LOVE Griffin's wood highchair! So vintage (ok and so girly but still really cool!)

Nook in the kitchen to the back door!

View of the guest bathroom across from the kitchen!

Cash and Griffin's room!

A view of their beds! Yes it was a girls room - but they still love it!

The tub the kids LOVE to get in each night!

The shower and my little sweeper!

The master bedroom!

Another view!

The only thing we didn't love about the house was the fact they don't have blinds for this bedroom, and the window faces the guest house where Steve (the owner) and Mario, the upstairs tenant in the guest house lives. So we put up this wonderful makeshift blind - oh yeah, gotta love the sheet!

Guest room and our computer area!

Where lucky visitors get to stay when they come stay with us!

There are plenty of pillows, and books if they are interested!

Guest bathroom!

View of the backyard from the guestroom!

Right outside the back door part of the side yard!

Keisha, my kids new best friend to play with!

View of guest house to the right of the back door!

View into the back yard!

I LOVE the colorful house, the bright cheery feeling, the open floor plan, and the fact we NEVER have to climb stairs or carry groceries that far once we are home!

Yeah, life is good in Beverly Hills!