Lake Tahoe

I have a favorite Aunt and Uncle who live in Northern California. I am really close to them and it had been a while since I had seen them so we decided to meet them in Lake Tahoe where we spent the week hiking, swimming, freezing lol, and visiting with two of the greatest people on Earth!

It was a great opportunity to teach the kids about marsh lands, forests, and different flora and fauna of the area. We went on a couple little hikes and even saw a snake on one of them. Summy thought it was pretty. She also did a little hip-hop routine on the pier.

My beautiful little angels. Haha. We have so much fun together. I love getting away together.

Family picture time! It really was so beautiful there. The weather was quite similar to what we have in Utah. One day it was warm and sunny, the next was snowy, and the next was cool etc. We packed for it though so we were ready.

Hey Buddy!

We were ALL so excited for Sandy and Chuck to arrive! I used to spend a week with them every summer when I was a teen. We would go to San Francisco, the beach, Chuck's football games (he was coach) and spend hours talking. She was the one person in whom I could always confide. It means a lot for her to see my children and interact with them because my mother cannot.

Sandy and Chuck sat for hours listening to Trace talk about legos, watching Ev wield his sword and listening to Summer pretend to talk on the phone with her boyfriend, Milo.

Sandy and I still had plenty of time to talk makeup and shopping and life. I just love her! I love having Summer grow a relationship with Sandy too. They are both "princesses".

We found this HUGE rock in the back of the resort and the kids played on it for probably an hour.

We couldn't leave without hitting the Hard Rock Cafe (actually we could have) so Ev showed us his orangey smile.

It was such a great trip, although the drive was horrendous. Driving to Reno sucks! The kids did better than I. I would do it all over again to spend some more time with my favorite aunt and uncle!!!

Califorrrrrrrrrniaaaaaa.....here we come!

Before we had time to put all of our Christmas decor away we packed up and headed to LA for Naomi and Barry's Wedding. We drove down with Mike, Melody and Ashton and stayed in Vegas the first night to give us all a break.

Ev and Summy had to compromise while playing together. Ev wanted to be a Jedi and Summy wanted to be Mary. LOL They made it work. Summer has no problem letting her brothers know who is in charge. She climbs all over them, kicks them in her sleep and just plain makes herself comfy in the car, not caring in whose way she is getting. 

Our first day in LA was Father's Day so Mike woke up to a gifts and a homemade meal. Okay, so it was Continental Breakfast. One gift he received which he was NOT happy about was a new alternator!!!!! We had driven to the store the night before to stock up of groceries and his car began showing the tells of a dying alternator. Booooooo! Because it was a weekend and Mike has a foreign car we had to wait a couple days to get a new one. 

We spent the day before the wedding with no car and ended up walking several miles. We had saved all of our gift cards from Christmas so we walked to Target, Toys R Us, the Mall.......it was great exercise and would have been wonderful had it not been RAINING and our kids weren't so grumpy. Trace got blisters and kept saying, "We are just like the Pioneers!" Hahaha! I love that boy's drama. We had quite the adventure! I only wish we could have helped out more with the wedding. Sorry Nums!!!

The day of the ceremony was beautiful. I mean, look at those palm trees and the beautiful ocean! It was breathtaking scenery for a wedding. Everett followed Brad around all day. Those two are peas in a pod. I hope they always stay buddies. Summer had the chance to be a flower girl and enjoyed THROWING the flowers down the aisle.

Gorgeous bride, handsome groom, beautiful backdrop.......it was incredible!

It took a while to get our whole family looking at the camera so this is the best we got. I still love it. The ocean and my family are two of my favorite things so I wanted them in a pic together.

The reception was a total party! There was dancing, and food, and cakes, and music and family and friends and fun fun fun!

I feel I must explain the first of these pictures. Naomi need a song to dance to so we all got out our smart phones and searched the web. I thought it made a for a funny picture. I also probably should not have taken a picture of Riley and Summy during the prayer, but come on!! They are so stinking cute!

The next day we hit LA and Hollywood to be tourists. I love feeling like I have a second set of in-laws with Mike and Melody's family. We had a great time in the city and had strangers take pictures of us WITH THEIR cameras. It was bazaar. The boys wanted a pic with Bumble Bee but Vader must have felt left out because he jumped in too. lol

We spent out last day at the beach. It was too cold to swim but we still enjoyed ourselves. I had been sick for about two weeks so I look miserable in most of the trip pictures.

After the beach we found an awesome playground. I won't say what Ev was drawing in the sand, but he had a great time with his Uncle Mike. Summer was buddy buddy with Liz and Trace was just showing off to whomever would watch.
We had a wonderful trip and are so thankful for the Hagen family's love and acceptance. As for Barry and Naomi, WE LOVE YOU and wish the best for you always. XOXO