Uncle Jeff

Today we were visited by our Uncle Jeff, Craig's brother. It was so wonderful to see him! He is super-fun and the girls adore him! We got to have lunch with him, (yummy Middle Eastern) spend the afternoon together and he also spent the night. I don't know why I didn't take more pictures than this one-- but at least I got this before everyone went to bed. I needed to post this just to say how much we LOVE seeing Uncle Jeff!!

Excited to garden

Today we went to our local Armstrong Garden Center to buy some berry bushes!! We bought blueberry, raspberry, blackberry and boysenberry bushes. We also bought some strawberry starts. We are sooooooo excited at the prospect of having all these yummy berries to eat! We might not get a lot of berries this year, but we hope to get lots in the years to come. We love to go to Armstrong because it has so many gorgeous flowers and fountains and fun gardening paraphernalia. It's very inspiring. Their fruit and vegetable plants are also organic. The girls had a great time! While we were paying, Ceci wandered off for a second and came back wearing this hat!! I love my little baby doll!

Just had to share this!

Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose - 3. Rachel Esplin from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo.

This is a 20 minute video but TOTALLY worth the watch. I am so impressed with this girl's articulation-- such intelligence! Have any questions about the Mormon church? Just ask her!

Laundry Princesses!!

Okay, I haven't blogged in a while. Partially because of laziness, and partially because of busy-ness. I totally plan to catch up because we've done some really great things over the past couple of weeks!! But it's going to take a while. For now, I'll just post a really cute picture I took of my kids today. Great laundry helpers that they are, I asked Bella and Olivia to put the washed laundry into the dryer for me. First, they had to take out the dry towels and this is what I caught--they were right in the middle of dress-up. I love these funny princesses!!


*UPDATE* I'm caught up now!

A beach day with the Klevens!

So my sister Cindy and her family were in town for Yazi's baptism and today we got to go to the beach together! We ended up going to Manhattan Beach which is one of our favorites. The kids had a blast playing in the sand and the waves. It was a beautiful sunny day. Cindy and I got to talk which was nice--I hadn't realized how long it had been since we had! I got really sunburned on my face! :( (I'm such a vulnerable white girl.) It hurts!


Anyways, after the beach, we went up the hill a couple blocks and met my dad at the Kettle for an early dinner. It was very nice. The kids loved the coloring page and crayons they got! We all got some really great French onion soup which the Kettle is famous for. We then walked down the hill to the Creamery (where we just went last Friday with Anne!) and got ice cream. It is such a cute place and the kids had so much fun being together eating their yummy ice cream. At this ice cream shop, you can literally see the ocean from where we were sitting eating our ice cream. It's really cool. After the ice cream, we went and watched the sun set before we packed up to go and said our goodbyes. The Klevens were driving straight back to Utah! I hate saying goodbye, but it was a really good day and a good visit. I love you Cindy!

A visit to the Rices

We had the most beautiful, amazing time.  They now live in Lake Elsinore completely in nature.  We went to church with them at their new ward from 8:30-11:30.  I was so glad to see it was a very nice ward.  Afterwards, we drove 4 miles on a dirt road to get to the place where they have their trailer set up.  They live on a 20 acre property working for a farmer who has a big home up the hill from them.  They work as helpers to him in exchange for staying on his land.  Their water comes from a well and was delicious. It was so wonderful to be with the Rices again! I love Brieanne sooooooooo much! They recently bought a family of goats that they will eventually use for milking. The babies are still nursing which was so cute.  (If you click on the picture of them you'll see that they are nursing.)  They have the mom, Amelia, the dad, Patch, a girl, Lucy and two little boys. Brieanne jokingly told me not to get too attached to the boys because they plan to eventually use them for food! She jokingly said their names are "Birria" and "Asado" or "almuerzo" and "cena!" I love what a farm girl Brieanne is! She's amazing.

She made me wish I lived in a trailer out in the middle of nowhere. The sky was so BIG and gorgeous, everything around us was so beautiful. They are living a very simple life, going to bed with and rising with the sun. They are unfettered by the complications of modern technology that so many of us are dependent on. The kids are learning early about farm life and work. They are living in harmony with God's creations and are more in touch with them.

We had a yummy lunch of avocado, tomato and cheese sandwiches. While we talked, the kids loved running around with the animals and playing around the nearby pond. Of course, Lala fell in! After the sun got a little lower we took a wonderful walk around the property up and down the hills. The goats and the dogs came with us. We picked a bunch of beautiful wildflowers. Brieanne knew the name of every single one! There were tons of California poppies everywhere. It was wonderful! A huge part of me wishes I could do what the Rices are doing. I am very impressed and proud of them.

After our walk, we had a DELICIOUS dinner of sauteed broccoli, garlic and mushrooms in butter and a barbequed roast. WOW. It was really amazing, Brieanne is such a talented cook. It was dark when we were done and I wished I could just crawl into their bed and spend the night!! ( and maybe never leave?) The frogs were out and croaking like crazy. It was sooooooo pretty--God's lullaby to us. But instead we had to get ready to go! On our way out, we stopped at the pond and Bella and Tristan picked up some frogs!! Lala was too scared but cried because she wanted us to bring one home so badly. It was hard leaving. I can't wait until we can go back again.

Yazi's Baptism

So last Saturday was my adorable niece Yazi's baptism. She is my big brother's oldest daughter. We drove down to Imperial Beach where my brother lives for the baptism. My girls were soooooooooooooooooo happy to see their cousins!! It has been quite a while. I made Yazi a little bracelet of pearls and crystals with a heart clasp for a gift. It looked very pretty with her dress. It was a wonderful service! It started with us all singing "My Heavenly Father loves me" which brought the Holy Spirit so strongly. Not only is that song beautiful, but it reminds us all of my mom. We could feel her presence there, too. 

Next, Yazi's Aunt Yazmin gave a talk on baptism and then Ari and Yazi sang "When I am Baptized." They were amazing. They sounded so pretty! Then my brother baptized Yazi. Afterwards, my Dad gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and then I was honored to sing "The Holy Ghost." I was so happy that they asked me to. Then, my brother gave Yazi the gift of the Holy Ghost. We ended with a song and a prayer. It was such a special service.

We then had a little dinner and cake in the cultural hall. All the cousins had a blast running around together playing. It was so nice to all be together. I'm so proud of my brother and what a good husband and father he is. I am also amazed at my sister-in -law, Sandra and what a great wife and mother she is. They are a great team and family.

A visit from Annie

My dear friend Anne Goodrich came to visit me last week. We were at BYU together and shared a studio space in the ceramics building which was a wonderful time. We had so much fun back then making art. (Okay, and stressing out!) I LOVE her!! She lives in Portland, is an amazing artist, (sculptor) a high school art teacher and just lives beautifully. She was here for a conference at the Convention Center. I got to have her in the morning and the evening for two days. She brought me these yummy chocolate covered lavender caramels topped with sea salt. They were DELICIOUS!! The label was so cute, I had to blog it.


I was so happy to take her to our local farmers market. We had a blast tasting yummy things and she even bought us this gorgeous tart!! We enjoyed elote, samosas, and more.



Believe it or not, we took the kids home to Craig and Anne and I went to President Thai because it's the best Thai ever. We went a little crazy and ordered A LOT!! Craig was so happy with the leftovers and we even had more for leftovers the next day. It was soooooo good!










For breakfast the next day, I took her to Heirloom bakery in South Pasadena. I knew she would love it. We had a super delicious breakfast-- an omelette, a Spanish tortilla and some kind of bread pudding. YUM!! And the desserts were killer!! Anne and I have always bonded over beautiful, delicious food. It was so fun to take her to my favorite places.













For our second night together, we all drove out to Manhattan Beach just in time to see the sun set. We walked out on the pier and then on the beach-- Anne and the girls put their feet in the water! We had such a great time--it was windy! We then went to an adorable ice cream shop and got home made ice cream. (I got nutella flavor which is their specialty.) I'm hoping Anne will come out to visit more often!! Her stay was too short! I love you, Annie. To see some pics of when we visited Anne in Portland almost 2 years ago, click here.