more from UTAH.

It snowed the perfect amount. The amount that leaves enough for the kids to play in, but is gone the next day. 

 Thank you UTAH for bringing my kids snow to play in, they were seriously in awe. And thank you for taking it away so that I didn't have to drive around the valley in panic. :)

I spent a day in Lehi with all my GIRLS! I put together a fun girls lunch with the kids. Take out from Kneaders! YUM!

I love that every time I come back to visit I plan something fun and each of these girls always do their best to come party on with a long lost friend that has moved away. I love these girlies and miss them all so much!

 *Thank you Jessie for letting us crash your house with lots of food, drinks, cookies, and while kids running all around.

 The kids had a blast hanging out with old buddies and playing at the park. It felt like old times... and it really made me miss my friends and old neighborhood. AND even though I grew up looking at these mountains every day... when ever I come back to visit I can't believe how beautiful they are! I love the UTAH mountains.

 Love and miss my this girl so much. We ended up sleeping over and Taylor stayed home with the sleeping babies while we went out and pretended like I never left... we spent over an hour in Smiths Marketplace, a tour around all the changes that have happened since I left, and we ended with a trip to Mavericks that resulted in ICE CREAM and KRISPY CREAM DONUTS. Yum.

 I came back to find my cute sleeping angels.... that last word only occurs while they are fast asleep. :)

And the next we woke up and headed out to visit my friend from Esthetics School, Michele. Love this girl, love her cute kids... especially wild Naomi, I love her adorable new house, and I love that whenever I spend time with her it feels like no time has passed. Even though the last I saw her was almost 2 years ago. :)

St. Patricks Day... FIRST DAY IN UTAH!

Our first day in UTAH was St. Patricks day! One would think waking up with cousins in Utah would be fabulous enough - but add in a GREEN breakfast and creating leprechaun traps for the sneaky little guys and you have A CHILDS DAY IN HEAVEN. And a momma's day in heaven as she sits back and watches the kids play!

Unfortunately no leprechauns were caught... but gold coins, treats, and fun little toys were left behind. The kids LOVED it and couldn't believe how smart the leprechauns were for escaping their traps.

Cute cousins all dressed in green! No pinches accomplished. :(

That afternoon we spent with my dad's side of the family, The Richards, celebrating my wonderful Grandparents. It was so fun seeing all my cousins - it has seriously been years! But thank goodness for blogging and Facebook, it felt like it had only been a few days. :)
*The event was complete with Cheetos and Root beer Floats, a staple at my Grandpa & Grandma's.

We let go Balloons in their memory. Green for my Grandpa that was born on St. Patricks day. And Red for my wonderful Grandma. It was quite a site.

 Phil & Elma.

All the Richards Ladys.

Amazing day... a GREAT start to our week in Utah.

Kindergarten Open House

Jackson had his kindergarten open house a few weeks ago. He seriously was talking about it for WEEKS before it was even time. He was so excited to show off all of his art work and his clean room! The day of the open house, he was sure he needed to wear his "work clothes" to school so that they could clean their room and have it ready for all the parents.

I love that he takes everything his teach says so seriously... like he honestly thought if he didn't wear his work clothes he would get in trouble. And he thinks if he doesn't eat ALL of his lunch he will get in trouble... in the mornings he always has to double check his lunch to make sure I don't put too much - because then he won't have time to eat it... and the teacher says to eat EVERYTHING. Ha ha. Literally, this boys has a hard time understanding the difference between sarcasm and reality. It is funny, and I love it about him.

They each cut a picture out of themselves and put it on a banner. He is pointing to himself, and of course he always gives himself a mo-hawk.

The morning of open house - he lost his first tooth! It came out while he was brushing. I don't think he knew if he should be excited or burst into tears. I think he was completely freaked out by it, or by me running around the house yelling - "You lost your first tooth! Oh my goodness Jackson Randall lost a tooth!" Yeah, I was somewhat out of control. But someone had to be, because it sure wasn't him. :)

What a fun night celebrating his first year of kindergarten! 

Scott's Grandparents visit California

We feel so lucky to be living in California! It is a place that most people visit at least every couple years. And because of our proximity to Disneyland, the beach, and LA.... we have had so many visitors!

Scott's grandparents were on their way to Huntington for a vacation. So we had them over for dinner and celebrated Scott's dad's birthday. We had so much fun. Grandpa and Grandma Randall are incredible, we love them so much!

Grandpa Doyle counted the kids money in the Elephant Banks. He then gave them each $1 to add to it. They were pretty darn excited!

The kids love their Papa Randall.

All of us.

Swimming & Splash Pad

Last week we had amazing weather! Friday we went swimming with friends. I would lie if I said we didn't miss our swimming pool at the apartment. We went ALL THE TIME. And now it's not too often that we find a pool to go play at. And although I would not trade our yard or house for the apartment and pool in a million years.... I still miss it... we will have to get creative this summer as the heat picks up!

So... on this hot day we went with our friends. And the kids had a blast.

 Clara is quite the fish. I didn't even bring her floaties. When she gets out too far from the steps she sticks her head out to see where she is and then buries it back in the water and kicks kicks to the stairs! She is seriously so fun to watch and hilarious because she really will do ANYTHING.

Saturday we went to the Splash Pad. I guess now that we don't have a pool we spend a lot of time here. It's not far, the kids love it. And after we always get a smoothie and play at the playground.

This time was weird. Jackson was having issues with taking his shoes off. Yeah, you read that right. And because I didn't bring flip-flops for him (which I NEVER have brought before)... he did not want to get in the water. SAY WHAT? He is usually the first one to jump in and play around.

 So he sat and ate grapes while he watched the rest of the kids play.

 And pouted. Thinking that maybe mom would pull out an extra pair of shoes after 20 min. and say "JUST KIDDING, I HAD THESE THE WHOLE TIME".... Yeah, don't think that was gonna happen.

 And Clara played!
*Don't mind the swimsuit that is showing a little more than it should. Ha ha. Looks like I need to tighten the top on this one a bit. ;)

 All smiles.

Salt & Vinegar chips. Hello... yum! I have turned both my kids onto these! They are so good, and completely impossible to stop snacking on one you start.

Clara likes to play a game where she can't step on any cracks. Its funny because she has been doing it for a while now, and it's nothing I ever showed her. I loved watching her little tow try to maneuver through these small bricks.

 AND FINALLY... he gave up. He took off his socks and shoes. Got in long enough for me to snap a picture and then was ready to play at the playground. Ha... this kid. He seriously can be one of the MOST PARANOID child in the ENTIRE WORLD. For reals. 

A fun couple days in the sun. But now we are back to our cold 60 degrees. I know not as cold as other places, but cold to us. Boo!

SeaWorld Field Trip

A friend of a friend of a friend... put together a group deal for Sea World. How it all worked out, I have no clue... all I know is that I heard the words SEA WORLD and $5 a person in the same sentence, and I said, COUNT ME IN!

I surprised my kids the morning of, by pulling them out of bed at 6:15 to get dressed. Both sleepy eyed they asked where we were going? And when I said to SEA WORLD and their friends were waiting outside in their cars ready to drive down, they were jumping off the walls in no time.

This was our fun little group of Western Momma's!

We went through the Turtle Exhibit, something I had never done before and it was awesome... maybe my second favorite thing at Sea World.

We spent all day. Literally ALL DAY. We arrived at 9 am. And left at 5 pm. Those are the hours the park opens and closes. Yeah, like I said... ALL DAY! The best part about it was....
a). The weather was PERFECT. Mid 60's and SUNNY.
b). We took out time. Our sweet sweet time going from one thing to the next. No rush. No running to get to the next show. We just enjoyed.
c). Friends. Friends. and more friends. Friends for me, friends for my kids. I loved it.
d). It's Sea World ladies and gents. Why wouldn't we spend all day at Sea World?

 The starfish were fun for the kids to touch. The sweetest worker that was speaking kept emphasizing "DO NOT TAKE THE STARFISH OUT OF THE WATER". Do you think Clara listened? NOPE. Everything, literally everything goes in one ear and out the next for that little girl. And then Jackson, oh my dear paranoid Jackson. He was scared to touch them. But he did! And was so excited, but was more excited to wash his hands after he was done... because that is what the announcer said to do... "WASH YOUR HANDS". Nothing gets past that boy, nothing.
*Could my kids be any more opposite?

We stopped and let the kids run out some energy. This piece of grass was amazing. Disney Land needs a spot like this! They played tag, tackled each other, and pretended to be sharks for almost an hour.

 These boys were SO excited to sit in the SPLASH ZONE at the Dolphin Show. Two of them didn't make it and went running to their momma after the first round of splashes came. Jackson stayed the whole show, and loved it. I wish I could have captured his smile when the splashes came his way. Oh well - it will forever be captured in my mind.

The dolphin show.... BLUE HORIZONS. My ultimate favorite. I could watch it 3 times a day, and I would love it more and more each show. It is incredible.

Oh Shamu. Not quite what it used to be when the workers could get in the water, but despite it all... these Orca Wales are quite amazing.

 Until you are splashed with something that looks like this... ha ha. Suckers.
*Thank goodness we were one section over. We were barely missed.... I would. have. died.

I loved this day. Good memories.

Quick AZ weekend...

Scott's brother Brad, graduated from Law School... WOOT WOOT! He pushed through and finished in 2.5 years, pretty amazing! Jaime, threw him a big Graduation Dinner Party. Although Scott is buried 6 ft under with Dental School, Church, and Boards... I loaded up the kids and drove to AZ to spend a quick weekend with family and be there for the big PAR-TAY.

We played with Nana's toys and dress-ups. Why are other peoples toys always so much cooler than your own?

Jaime did an ama-zin' job with the dinner. It was so fun. She had a "Roast' for Brad. Everyone had an opportunity (if they wanted) to get up and say a little something about Brad/Lawyers. Can you imagine that jokes that people were pulling out...? Yeah - it was hilarious. A whole lot of laughing!

 The next morning we all got together at Kristen's cute new house. The cousins had a blast jumping on their mini trampoline, eating chicken nuggets & hot dogs, playing with toys, and being completely out of control... the one thing that kids do best. :)

 ALL the grandkids. It's rare when you get all the grandkids in one place at the same time! This may not happen for a while - so we will hold on to this picture and always be grateful for the morning we had all together.

Kristen lives across from the park. How amazing would it be to live across from this park. Seriously - I have dreamed about it ever since I left AZ. Someday... maybe someday.

Thank you Randall's for such a fun weekend! Congratulations Brad & Jaime on the big GRADUATION and on your future! Kristen & Garrett, your house is adorable! And Jenna, it was so fun to see you! Love you all.
P.S. Traveling without the man of the house is never easy, but thank you everyone for making it oh so fun even though he wasn't there to share the fun weekend. :)