Lauren's 10 year old trip

A million years ago when my niece turned 10, my parents decided to take her on a trip.  They continued that tradition, taking the grandkids on a trip when they turned 10.  When my mom died, my dad continued the trips.  Logan got to go to Las Vegas for his 10 year old trip.  His desire was to stay in a cool hotel with a pool that had a slide, and go to a medieval dinner.  So, he stayed in the Excalibur, and had a great time doing many of the child-friendly activities available in Las Vegas.

When my dad asked Lauren where she wanted to go for her trip, she chose Sea World.  Then, unfortunately, he died.  So, David and I decided to take Lauren (before she turned 11) to Sea World.  We informed Liz (Lauren's step-grandmother) and she also came.  She actually took Lauren to Sea World on their own,

while David and I went to the USS Midway.

David the pilot

Rozanne overlooking cool statue

That night we ate Mexican food in Old Town.

Old Town San Diego

Then we went swimming in the hotel pool, until 5 bajillion boys got in.  The next day we took a surrey ride in Balboa Park,

Liz and Lauren surreying

Lauren, David & Rozanne taking a break

then went to the San Diego Zoo.

Scary monkey types

That night we visited the Mormon Battalion Visitor Center.

Lauren and another boy ready to join the battalion

After our journey with the Mormon Battalion

 The next day we drove up to Long Beach and had lunch with the Steeles (minus Emily and Ryan).  Then we flew home, and Liz came with us.  On Sunday we rested.  Logan took Liz to church in the truck, she wanted to have him take her for a drive. Monday, Liz treated Lauren, Easton and me to fun times at Liberty Park.  We rode the pedal boats and the ferris wheel.  Lauren and Easton rode the big swings (twice) while Liz and I watched.  Then the kids played in the water features.

Mom & Easton

Liz & Lauren

Lauren, Liz & Easton admiring flowers

Lauren & Easton cooling off

We got some frozen custard on the way home.  That night Liz requested In-N-Out for dinner, and we happily complied.  The next day she flew home.  Lauren really enjoyed her trip, and the fun times we had even after we got home.  It was a great start to our summer vacation.

May happenings

Easton got to play a little baseball with the most unorganized team ever.  He did learn a few things, and he even hit a few balls.  

Easton was able to sing in a French choir at school this year.  His final concert was in May, the same night as Logan's final band concert for this school year.

Logan is much more confident driving the truck, and even picks up Easton after school . . . one less trip for me!

Lauren had her first paid babysitting job in May.  She and her friend went to watch a little girl while her dad was busy doing yard work.  Lauren was so excited and had a great time.

We are all looking forward to summer vacation.  Logan is supposed to get a job . . . let's hope for success in that department.

Failure

Such a failure.  I am on the computer for hours every week, and I can't even make one measly post a month.  April was lovely.  We had some rain, some nice weather, a titch of snow . . . all very spring like.  My sister came to visit, we took a little road trip to Rexburg to pick up Kelly. We had all the fun Easter festivities.  The Friend magazine had a cool little picture program for the week before Easter, and Lauren, Easton and I did that every night leading up to Easter Sunday.  Craig came for the weekend and that was fun.  We miss him in the Summer.  Next Fall we'll have Craig, Bret and Jessica in Provo and hope they will visit often for general merriment and partying.
A friend lost her baby in April, and it brought back many of the memories of burying a child.  The timing, however, was fitting as we celebrated the resurrection of our Savior.  I substituted a Primary class on Easter Sunday and the lesson suggested talking about a loved one who had passed away.  I told them all about Dallin and how excited I am to see him again.  Craig found Easton's future wife in that class, we'll see if it all works out.
Now it is May.

Saturday morning these two found the Easter Bunny

Saturday night we dyed eggs . . . 

and Craig made some beautiful artwork.

Sunday afternoon Craig took some lovely pictures while we waited . . . 

and waited . . . 

for David!

Cars

When I married David, I knew he liked cars.  It was exciting to buy our first car together, an Acura Integra.  It was a great car, and we enjoyed it.  The next purchase was a Subaru XT6.  It was a fun car to drive, but had a few problems at first, and some bigger problems at the end.  Our first venture into SUV land was the Honda CRV.  We couldn't fit two car seats very well in the back seat of the Acura, so the CRV was a great addition.  When the Acura finally wore out, we bought our first new car, the Nissan Sentra SE-R.  David said he could keep this car for at least 10 years.  As our family grew, and Logan tired of being squished between 2 car seats, we upsized to the Honda Pilot.  I loved this car.  I felt like our car family was at a great point.  We could drive these cars for a long time.  Then disaster -- the engine decided to eat the catalytic converter in the Nissan.  David hadn't even grown tired of it yet.  Eek!  So, the guy who loves to shop for cars, had to shop quickly for a car, which we found out he doesn't really like.  Anyway, the first colorful car joined our family, the Mazda 3.  It's a fun car also, but not fun to drive in the snow.  It is probably the cutest car we've ever had.  And then, just for fun, we replaced our Honda Pilot with a Honda Pilot.  Now we don't have to buy any cars for a long time, right?  Well . . . Logan got his license and we weren't thrilled about driving him to seminary or being without a car all day, so we bought a Ford Ranger.  David has always wanted a truck, but not as his primary car to drive to work every day.  Within a few weeks of buying the truck, we had all of its problems fixed (we hope) and Logan can almost drive it.  NOW we can wait several years before even thinking of buying any cars, right?

SURPRISE!!

So, I went to visit my sister, and my other sister and niece came, too!  Fun times.  We originally planned to surprise Elizabeth, but she is so busy we couldn't make it work. Suzanne ended up telling her she was coming out for a visit. Then, when Elizabeth went to pick her up at the airport, Emily hid behind a pole, then jumped out before Elizabeth pulled away.  Surprise!  When Elizabeth suggested going to get a bite to eat, Suzanne and Emily convinced her there was a really great place to eat in terminal 5, so they should go there.  Surprise!!  I was at terminal 5.  Then we really did go grab a bite to eat.  Since Elizabeth has no kids at home, we each got our own rooms, and got to try out the luxurious new bathroom.

On Saturday we went to Target.  What sisters get-together would be complete without a trip to Target? Then we went to Strathearn Park, in Simi Valley.  We got to see some Simi history, and hear how it was going to be called Simiopolis!

Emily trying to figure out the phone booth

We also crowded into a surrey with a fringe on the top:

  Later that evening we went to Moorpark and attended a play.  We saw "The Fiddler on the Roof" and then those songs were stuck in our heads instead of the surrey with the fringe on top.

Sunday we went to church.  Then Del had to leave for a business trip.  I'm sure he was sad to leave all the women at his house, but he had to do his duty.  Some of us took naps, and that evening we ate treats and hung out.

Monday we were contemplating Griffith Observatory, but they are closed on Monday.  So, we headed to L.A.  We started at Olvera Street, then walked to Chinatown.

Suzanne, Emily, Elizabeth, Rozanne

Elizabeth, Suzanne and Emily on a bench in front of a cool pond

 Then we walked over to Angels Flight, to ride the shortest railway in the world.

Unfortunately, it was not running.

We walked back to Olvera Street for Churros, then had to take Emily to the airport.

The sunset with the palm trees was really pretty, too bad I don't know how to use a camera   

After we dropped her off we enjoyed a 2+ hour drive back to Simiopolis.

Some more of my amazing photography skills

I guess it wouldn't be a real trip to L.A. without some excellent traffic.

Tuesday morning Elizabeth headed back to work, and her friend took Suzanne and me to the FlyAway, where we caught a bus back to LAX.

It was great fun visiting and playing, and eating really yummy food (thanks Elizabeth!).

I got home just in time to pick up Easton from school, and life goes on.

100 Days

So, according to Easton there have been 100 days of school.  This means the school year is about half over.  Once again, I am going to attempt to blog at least once a month this year.  Last summer was fun, with Disneyland the highlight.  We went to Lake Tahoe for my family reunion. Logan had the opportunity to trek across Wyoming.  Lauren and I traveled to Idaho to visit her newest cousins.  Then the kids started school. We went to our ward campout the weekend after school started.  Our family went back up to Idaho for the baby blessings, and we've traveled to St. George a few times, also.  Logan has taken the ACT, and is getting ready for a mission in about 18 months.  Lauren is finishing up elementary school and will start at middle school next year.  Easton is in a French immersion program and is LOVING it.  He came home the other day and told me he wishes he could stay in French class all day long.  All 3 of them are doing well in school, which makes me very happy.  Logan is still unlicensed, but most likely will be a licensed driver in a month or so.  Lauren is on the student council at school, and the safety patrol.  Easton enjoys singing in the French Chorale.  I applied for a job at our library, but didn't get it.  I can't decide whether I'm happy about that, or not.  For the first time ever, I am alone every day.  Also for the first time ever, David works Monday through Friday, 8-5.

Logan, home from trek

Easton in Snow Canyon, St. George

Lauren w/new cousins

Logan -11th grade

Lauren - 5th grade

Easton - 1st grade

California

Since we went to Disney World a few years ago without Easton, we promised him we would take him to Disneyland before he turned 7.  So, we did.  We drove to St. George the first day and visited David's parents in their new vacation home.  David's sister and brother-in-law were there and we enjoyed hanging out, eating, and watching weird Disney kid shows late at night.  Logan caught a lizard, but it got away during the night.  The kids liked chasing lizards all over the backyard, even though it was very HOT while we were there.

Logan with his lizard

Ed, David, Rozanne, Lauren, Dolores & Dick enjoying the back patio

Cindy, Lauren, Easton & Logan looking for lizards

The next day we drove to my sister's house in Simi Valley.  We always love going there and we had fun relaxing after our drive.  Lauren and Easton even snuck in a quick swim while Elizabeth and I visited in the shade.

Easton's towel @ Elizabeth's

Lauren's towel

Logan's towel

Rozanne's towel

David's towel

Sunday we went to church in Simi, then hung around, played a few games, then drove to Anaheim to check into our hotel.
I got the youngers into bed while Logan and David went on an exploratory walk.  Right as the kids were falling asleep, the fireworks began!  So, we let them get up and we all went out on the balcony to watch the fireworks.  Monday morning we got up and walked across the street to California Adventure.  We rode a lot of rides, starting with the new ride in Cars' Land, and had a great day.  Easton really liked Soarin' over California.  We got a lot of fast passes, and really only waited in one long line the whole day.  We walked back and forth across the park a lot, but that is better than waiting in line.

Lauren & Minnie

Easton, Lauren & David trying to run into us

The Super Family

My favorite Kiddos

 The next day we went to Disneyland.  We made Easton go on Matterhorn, even though he has a huge fear of abominable snowmen.  Again, we really didn't wait in any long lines, until that night for our 2nd time at Star Tours.  We went over to Tom Sawyer's Island (now it's pirate island or something) for my first time ever.  The kids had fun exploring the caves there.  We all loved Space Mountain, and it was a fun day.

Easton & Goofy

The kids on the island (Easton & Lauren are saying 'yo ho')

Easton & Lauren learning the Jedi art

Logan, David & Lauren on the rockets

Easton on the rockets (he waited all day to do this one)

Lauren & Rozanne in their teacup

The next day we slept in, or tried to.  The hotel was doing some construction which started at 7 a.m., but miraculously, the kids slept through it.  Then we spent a little time in the pool at the hotel.  We checked out and headed to Torrance.  There we showed the kids where we used to live there, and tested Logan to see if he knew which one was our apartment.  We visited some good friends, then took David to the airport to go home.  The kids and I went back up to Elizabeth's for a few days of fun and relaxation.  We swam in the pool, Easton had cooking lessons, Lauren had sewing lessons, and Logan watched a Batman movie every night.  Logan started wearing contacts while we were there (but I had to put them in his eyes for him).

Lauren with the pajama pants she made

Lauren modeling pants

Easton making grilled cheese sandwiches

Craig and Easton with the ice cream they made

Early Saturday morning we got up and drove away.  We stopped for lunch and a break in St. George, then came home.  Logan drove from Cedar City to Fillmore, and we didn't even die.  The drive was very uneventful both ways, which I am SO grateful for.