Spring Fever.....and Birthdays!!!

 I always LOVE spring and the beauty and blossoms and birds chirping in the morning that comes with it - and also the PLETHORA of b-days of friends and family it brings.....ok mine is in May so that might be why too!  But spring is great and we have had the chance to celebrate with quite a few friends out here for their birthdays, and I have made the cake for 2 of them so wanted to post!

First, the cutest SWEET 16 year old Emma I know! She is darling and such a nice girl.  I love her and the only thing she wanted on her birthday was my coconut cake - so I had to deliver!  Her favorite color is orange so that was a must and then threw in the pink for girly twist! She was so excited and surprised and I love that we got to celebrate with her - her mom threw her an amazing surprise party later that weekend that we went to and it was so much fun!

My good friend Nicole also had a birthday and invited a few peeps over for a delicious dinner her hubby made and games and it was SO MUCH FUN!!!!  We loved celebrating and Justin asked me to make a cake because she loves my cakes and so it was another coconut one - made in yellow ombre roses with little pearl centers (edible of course!) Turned out yummy and cute I think!

 Her house is amazing and always so perfect and the dinner table was straight out of a magazine!  Beautiful and delicious - So yummy!

Love her and we became bff's so quickly and just love talking, hanging, and getting ALL her style tips as she is the fashionista and just has great taste!  So happy to celebrate her being born!

Make a wish!

 

 Cute girl and cute couple - the dinner Justin made was seriously DELICIOUS!!!!

 One of the funniest parts of night was getting group pictures - the guys took the ladies first and then we took theirs - so much fun and makes me laugh remembering it!  Handsome hubbies!

The girls - amazing at how many different takes and cameras (all phones) were used!

Yeah for spring birthdays!

Sunday Outings....and Easter stuff I forgot!!!

Lately we have been taking Sunday drives to different points, and going up to Lanada Bay in PV was one of my recent favorites.  I love spending time with my little family, watching as the kids are SO excited to be with their daddy, and experiencing different beauty of California.  It makes for a great day - and since Chip has been gone for business and I have been missing him immensely (with all the housing stress left on me at the moment) I thought I would post some pics of my handsome man and kiddos!

She LOVES her daddy!  I love how she grabs his hand and takes off!

 Trying to get a pic with everyone looking, the LA skyline in the background, and PV too!

 Love them so much!

 Off to find "cool" rocks!

 Forgot to post pics of this cool treat we gave Griffin's teacher - found this great mug that read 2 teach is 2 touch lives forever ( 2+2=4)

So cute and we made giant rice krispie treats dipped in white chocolate and with sprinkles in the shape of eggs.  Yummy and fun!  We love his teachers so much!

 They have a fun easter egg hunt at his school and this year was no exception - Ivy and Cash got to join in because I was working in the classroom this day!

 G is always so happy and smiley when we help and is so much fun!

 After the hunt - SO many eggs!

 Ivy loves to have her toes painted and brings me the paint often and says "paint toes...pink mom!"  Love it!

So ready for the weekend and somehow I keep thinking today is Thursday - can't come soon enough!

Spring Time = Visitors!!!

A few weekends back we had conference weekend, and also a visit from friends that used to live here by us! It was so much fun to get together and hang out and catch up.  Especially cuz it felt like they had never moved.  We sure miss them!

Here Ivy was dressed and ready to go to the beach with them, and had her first twist in her hair into piggies - was too cute!

 This girl handed me the phone and said "pittcher, mommy......cheese!" and then posed all on her own - way too cute!

 She is miss personality and is so much fun right now!

 Hanging with her daddy at the beach - way too fun with everyone - and altho cold we all had a blast!

"Reunited and it feels so good!".......Cash and Owen are my favorite here because they literally were SO excited to see each other and never parted the whole time - doing everything together and acting as if they see each other every day! Best buddies!

 After the priesthood session we went out with this fun group, adults only, to a delicious meal at Petros and a very fun night.  The girls sat together, and the boys did too and it was perfect!

Here the boys are concocting their plan of dare and how much someone would have to pay you to jump off the Manhattan Pier at night and then swim to shore.  Little did they all know that Chip would really be serious about it and actually do it!  Kyle joined and it was a very adventurous and crazy next little bit after leaving.  I can see that the stories his mom tells me of his HS days and crazy boy activities are probably not exaggerated! LOL!

 I left Ivy downstairs the next day to do something and then came down to this - her second time falling asleep in her high chair - struggles of a 3rd child I guess!  Also, a few days later she pulled her shoes and bow and necklace off and left them just like this on the ottoman before her naptime - too cute not to take a pic of!  Love having a girly girl!

 Then on Monday Grammy and Papa arrived and we couldn't have been more excited to have them here during Spring break.  We had way too much fun playing with them, going to the beach, reading, hanging out outside with George, going to the Park, the Pier, watching Frozen, having them help us with projects around the house and the housing search that is not so much fun but I really appreciate, and just getting to spend time with them.  The kids were in heaven, and I was too!

Good sports about helping the boys build sand castles!

 Papa Dave is the best at this type of stuff!

 So much fun with Grammy!

 Playing with the surfboard!

 Buddies!

Reading with Grammy is always fun!

 Altho it was a week early we also had the great experience of dyeing Easter eggs - too much fun!

 Outside was beautiful so we spent a lot of time out there - Ivy loves the swings at the park and will stay in them the whole time!

 Crazy hair!

 The last night we went to the Manhattan Creamery for ice cream and then walked down to the pier - it was pretty, altho a little cold!

 gorgeous sunset too!

The morning they left Papa played baseball with the boys for awhile outside!

Ivy wanted to play too! And Griff joined too!

Papa read one last story to Ivy!

 

 She didn't want to get down at all! She wasn't wanting papa to leave!

And I was busy working on a birthday cake, and I didn't want my mom to leave either (don't mind I am in my pjs still!)

We all cried when they had to leave!  Come back soon!

Thanks for such a fun week.  We sure love you guys!