Our Month in California

We had a great time at my parents' house. I loved hanging out and enjoying the gorgeous weather. My parents yard is beautiful. I could sit on the porch swing and look at it all day. It condones an amazing feeling of relaxation and all's right in the world. There are no neighbors or cars or busyness. I loved having my kids have that freedom of playing outside whenever they wanted and essentially doing whatever they wanted: tree house, trampoline, swing set, bikes, kitchen set, table tennis, and all the other outdoor activities. They played inside a lot too: cars, games, movies, and more. It was relaxing for all of us; no school or chores or places to go. I think kids these days need more free time like this.

 Kaitlyn exercising with Mama (my mom.)

 Spencer and his cousin learning to chop wood with Papa (my dad.)

 Mama was a huge help with my little girls. She's so good with them and Kaitlyn adored her.

 Makenna

 Spencer on the zip line.

 One Saturday we had a great time burning brush with Papa.

 Afterward Mama let us roast marshmallows.

 Yummy s'mores!

 My beloved house I grew up in.

 The front yard and field.

 One day we took the kids swimming.

 Papa taught Spencer how to drive the lawn tractor pulling a load of leaves. My dad was so good to teach Spencer all these yard chores as well as car maintenance. He can fix anything and I was glad Spencer could spend these weeks with him and learn things he can't at our house.

 One of the few pictures we got at the fireworks. We had a great time.

 Makenna Marshmallow

 After 3 weeks at my parents' house we went camping with all my brothers and sisters. My older brother got us all matching family reunion t-shirts.

 Madalyn relaxing in the hammock.

 Kaitlyn

 Thomas spent a lot of time playing cars in the dirt.

We water-skiied, knee-boarded, played on the water trampoline, swam, rode bikes, played catch, and lots more but I don't have pictures of those.

 Our last day was Alexis's birthday.

That night we drove to my BYU roommates's house in Reno where she made a cake for Lexi.
As we left California it hit me that our vacation in California is over. I've been looking forward to our trip home because of all the fun sites to see but I got sad realizing how much I love California and our stay there was over. It went by too fast but I'm grateful for all the wonderful memories we made that we get to take with us. Hopefully it won't be another 6 years before we go back again.
So Thursday we left CA and now we are starting to make our trek back east over the next 2 weeks. First stop is Utah where we'll stay the weekend seeing relatives, BYU, the temple I was married in and first apartment, and Temple Square. Next Tuesday we'll drive to Wyoming and continue site-seeing and driving east from there, arriving home late July 25.