We had such a fun weekend! It started when we went camping Friday night with the Johnson Family. They are so much fun, no matter what we do with them is a blast! The twins have never been camping and Ammon has only went with Dad for Father and Son camp outs. We were getting ready and he said “You are camping too Mom?!” I responded yes and he said, “Wow I didn’t know Mom’s camped!” Poor guy, guess we need to go camping more!

The kids were all excellent helps setting up camp and cooking our hot dogs for dinner. The whole time Britain and Kalixta kept wanting to go to bed. I kept telling them no! Finally we finished eating all the s’more and they asked one final time and I let them go to bed. They were so excited to sleep in a tent, I guess. I left the two of them in there. A little later I went to check on them. They were asleep holding hands. It was so very sweet. I wondered if they were a little scared and holding hands made them feel safe!

Here are a few pictures of our fun night. The kids were so good we will definitely have to go again soon!

We got home Saturday, unpacked, relaxed a little and then got ready for Kenny’s Birthday BBQ. It was at the coolest park and a perfect day for a BBQ and hanging out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENNY!

They had a pinata! My kids were so thrilled! It was been a while since we got to break a pinata! There was so much candy in the pinata that every hit sent candy flying.
Everybody’s ready! (I love the bunny ears Ammon’s giving himself!)

Ariana didn’t really get the whole thing at first, but she loved the flying candy!


Britain was quite a slugger! Adam wants to sign her up for softball!

Ammon was so fast it couldn’t be captured on film!  Zoe did a great job too!

We had a great time! Thanks guys!

And Happy Birthday Kenny!!

We sure love you!!

When we got home from CA all the puppies were walking. It is fun to see them grow. We let them wander about the kitchen for a little while a couple times a day.  The kids love to watch them and play with them. It is hard not to think they are super cute.

Nikolas wanted to see pictures of them. So here you go Bud!  They are about five weeks here.
 
We have to watch Ari carefully around the puppies. She LOVES the puppies and wants to hold and strangle and kiss and squish them.

Ammon is the other one who constantly wants to play with them. At least he is much nicer! 

Our great friends The Masks and The Thunells are at Aspen Grove. They invited us along with the Johnsons to come and visit them. We have such a good time visiting with them and letting all the kids run wild!

There was a little mining town set up. The kids loved playing with everything, exploring the woods and playing with their friends. There was an awesome horse swing made out of a tire!!

Kalixta exploring the mine!

Two bank tellers!

All aboard! Choo-choo!

My two little Indians!

Thanks guys for letting us visit! It was so so good to see you!!

As we left CA to go back home we had one more stop to make…

…Santa Paula…

…Joe Torres…

…Smokin Joes!

Joe Torres is one of Adam’s childhood friends. They have TONS of hilarious memories together. They lost touch when Adam went to Utah and then on his mission and Joe got married and started a family. Four years ago we signed Nikolas up to play football and Joe was his coach, his son played, and his wife was the team mom. It was great to get to know this fun family.

When we were in CA we found out that Joe had just opened a BBQ restaurant in Santa Paula called Smokin Joes. We had to go. We got their in between the lunch and dinner rushes and were able to talk and hang out with Joe and his wife Wendy. Here is Joe and Adam.

The restaurant is really fun. There are two TVs up with sports playing. Joe has tons of football uniforms framed and up on the walls. He also has pictures of teams he played on like his Oxnard High School football pictures. He has a picture of him and Adam when they played baseball at Oxnard College. My favorite picture is this one, when he and Adam played baseball together for El Rio. I think they are twelve years old. Can you find Adam?!

The food was great! Huge BBQ tri-tip sandwiches and crinkle french fries! Mmmmmm good! So if you are every in Santa Paula or just want some good BBQ go look for Smokin Joes on Main Street and Eighth. I know we will be there every time we are in California!

Every year Adam’s Dad and Mom have a fiesta at their church. We have missed it for the last two years. We were not going to miss it again! It is a great excuse to go to CA and see everyone. Plus we get to go on tons of fun rides, eat yummy food and play games! There were lots of new rides this year. The kids all had blast! There wasn’t many for Ari so she kept me company!

The best thing about our visit to Oxnard was being able to see Nik. He has been there for two weeks and will stay four more. He drives me crazy when he is here, but I miss him so much when he is gone. I mean come on, I have no one to take out the trash, mow the lawn, get the mail, take Ari for a walk, the list goes on and on! He is my biggest helper, my extra set of hands. Even if he grumbles the whole time.

I miss more than his helpfulness. I miss his silly sense of humor. I miss him saying that he is stronger than me, knowing one day (soon) he really will be!  I miss his begging face that I told him I didn’t think was cute even though it is! I miss his stories. I miss him blushing when I tease him about a girl who lives next door! Anyways, enough of that or I’ll start crying!!   

I miss you buddy!!

Happy Pioneer Day! I hope everyone is enjoying this day. Here is Utah it is a state holiday, so no mail, no banks open, etc. Adam still has to work so our day won’t be too different, but I still had to do a blog. We had the chance to go to the Camarillo Stake’s Pioneer Day celebration when we were in CA this past weekend. It was amazing! I don’t have words to describe how great it was. The tables were decorated to look like covered wagons. There was lots of great food. Adam and I loved being able to visit with many friends that were there. There was a wonderful program that I really really enjoyed. Great Job to everyone to helped and participated!

My mom had the assignment to dress up like a pioneer women and tell a story to everyone. She did a great job! 
 

We made it home today from our trip to CA. We had a great time visiting family and friends! We accomplished so much is a short amount of time. I was able to go to the thrift stores and get LOTS of uniform bottoms for the kids. I was so excited to shop at the 99 Cent Only store! (I really love this store! I need one in Utah.) I stocked up on hair ties that you can’t get cheap here. We all had a blast at the Fiesta. We were able to go to the Pioneer celebration for the Camarillo stake. It was amazing. We loved staying with Uncle Eddie and Aunt Caroline. They treated us great! Thanks again guys. We had lots of amazing food at our favorite places…In & Out to name one. We found a new favorite place to eat called Smokin Joe’s BBQ. Adam made his annual stop at the Adidas outlet. He even managed to do some productive business while we were there.

Unfortunately Adam had a camp out tonight and was gone within an hour of getting home. He took the camera with him so you will have to keep checking in to see pictures and get more details.

Marci and Kenny gave Ariana the cutest pair of sunglasses for her birthday. They are just like Marci’s, of course! On Sunday we were trying to get Ari to wear them so we had a little photo shoot.

Here is Ari and Marci with their matching sunglasses on!
 

Here are the cool guys! Ammon’s “sunglasses” are the pair he got when he watched Journey to the Center Of the Earth 3D. Aren’t they hilarious?!
 
The movie stars!

The pretty girls!

I must hear this phrase a hundred times during the day. It bugs me most when the next word is shoes! There is one place for shoes, just put them away and all would be well. Apparently that is way too difficult. So today as we are trying to hurry out the door to go swimming at Marci and Kenny’s pool I hear Ammon yell, “Mom, I can’t find my other sandal.” So me, being the patient mom that I am yell back, “Well I guess you can stay home with Dad.” That sure made him hurry! It wasn’t until he was buckled in the car I noticed his shoes.

Both left shoes! It cracked me up that he even put one sock on! Oh well, at least he didn’t have to stay home!