Are women born this way?

Check out THIS VIDEO. It is hilarious and it will be worth the 25 seconds it takes to view it!

Go check out how cute we are!!

My friend Kris is an amazing photographer and we had her take some family pictures of us while she was down in California. As they are copyrighted, I can't copy them and post them to my blog. SO, I'm sending you to her blog where she's posted a few of them. I LOVE how they turned out. Go take a gander . . . http://meetmycamera.blogspot.com/
We're under the title "Life's a Beach"

Memorial Day 2009

It took me a while to get these pictures posted, but you shouldn't be surprised by that! We had a great Memorial Day this year. Ameri wasn't working and we learned that the Elder's Quorum from our church had organized a get-together at the beach. I was worried that the usual holiday/L.A. traffic would make the day a disaster, but luckily people don't like to go to the beach on overcast days and so we actually got there in about 1/2 hour (unheard of when traveling to and from the "West Side" of Los Angeles) and enjoyed the day! The only thing that would have made it better would have been family.

Old lady Charley has developed a fear of the water this year (?!) and sat in her beach chair most of the morning. Luckily the sun came out a little later and she started acting like a kid again - on the swing set, etc. NOT near the water.

With her best pal Hadley

Maddie, on the other hand, LOVED the water! Notice that there is practically no one on the beach behind them. It definitely didn't feel like Memorial Day! All the better for us!

P.S. We don't take pictures of Kristi at the beach anymore unless I'm fully clothed ; ) Who am I kidding? We don't take pictures of Kristi at the beach or anywhere because I'm the one taking all of the pictures!!!

Late for Dinner

When dinner doesn't get to the table on time, this is what happens in my house:

Don't I look pretty Mom?

Charley likes to use my make-up. She knows that there are only certain pieces she is allowed to use. I was busy putting Maddie down for a nap and Charley was off making herself pretty. She found my cover stick and this is what I found:

Maddie in her manger

This pretty little girl makes me giggle every time I go into check on her while she's sleeping. She loves to have her legs out of the crib and her body under her pillow. There is no sleeping in the same bed with this one!

San Diego Part II

Ameri and I were due to have another family picture taken and when we found out my photographer "cousin" * was coming down to visit her family in San Diego, I jumped at the chance to have her take some pics of us.

Kris' family was going to be spending the day at the beach and she invited us down to join them. We traveled down to Coronado Island and had a great time. Kris' parents brought their R.V. to the beach and we were treated royaly! It will be hard to go to the beach without an R.V. next time :)

THANK-YOU to the Walker family for a great day - and a HUGE thank-you to Kris for taking such great photos! If you're interested in seeing her work you can check it out HERE and HERE.

* I grew up with a guy named Chris Kanenwisher. Chris married my cousin Johnny's cousin Kristen Walker who was once roommates with Johnny's wife Laura. Did ya catch all of that? Sounds like in-breeding but it's not . . . it's just what happens when you grow up in a small town!

On the beach

Entertaining the wee ones

Playing on the lifegaurd station (notice the "keep off" sign!)

Maddie and Daddy

Kris the memory maker

Lookin' good eh?

Charley made a new friend (Kris' dad!)

Maddie made a new friend too!

She also wanted to drive us home!

I peed my pants a little . . .

Cinderella

Maddie is an observer. She loves to imitate and I have a feeling she'll be a little intense like her daddy. I am often wiping things down and moping floors. When you live in an apartment with all tile and 2 kids you mop . . . a lot.

Maddie is constantly pulling out baby wipes and dish cloths to clean up toys, floors and the nearest person. I caught her busy at work a couple of days ago.

She knows where I keep the dish cloths.

Busy at work.

San Diego - Part 1

Ameri and I got a call from our good friends Kevin and Lindsay telling us that they were going to be in San Diego for a wedding. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to go down and see them since they were so close. My sister Katie lives there too so we were able to have a relaxed weekend with some of our favorite people. We were talking about our visit after we got home and we realized how relaxing being around people who accept you as you are actually is. There was no pressure to impress or talk a certain way. It was great just to let our hair down and truly be ourselves!

Ameri randomly chose a restaurant to meet at and it just happened to be right across the street from the San Diego Temple. We figured since we were so close we should go and visit it!

Maddie - enjoying the sunshine

Maddie and Charley running around with Kevin and Lindsay's boys Jackson and Ethan.

Charley and Ethan

Old mission buddies.

Some of the gang.

We headed down to one of the beaches in La Jolla. Maddie loved the beach!!

Kite flying was one of the days activities.

By the end of the day Jackson had had enough of the sand!

Goofing Around

Charley is looking forward to swimming lessons this summer. My brother Steve and his wife Vicki told me that getting goggles for their son Josh really helped him enjoy his lessons more. I was at Target the other day and decided to pick up a pair. Charley has been begging me to let her wear them. I acquiesced and, as a result, was lucky enough to catch my girls in some goofy moments! Here they are in Charley's "water goggles":

No goggles here, but I can't even stand how cute Maddie is in this picture!!

The field is multi-colored . . .

all ready to harvest!

Here are a few pictures from our Easter egg hunt on the Saturday before Easter.

Maddie and Charley in their Easter best.