Little Lamb

This is like the picture in our living room

Becca: "Who's that?"

Mom: "Jesus"

Becca: "Ooooooo, what's He holding?"

Mom: "A little lamb."

Becca: "(surprised smile) Mary had a little lamb Tooooo!"

Funny, silly, and sweet...

One of this families favorite things is to have Movie Marathons. Our last one was Star Wars...except they only like Return of the Jedi so thats what we "watched". hee hee

Austin has found the best seat in the house...no sisters to bug him and there's usually food!

She is just so sweet! :)

What's it called?

Shayna: "Mom, can I have that thing that has pigs and is wavy and makes your fingers wet?"

She was talking about bacon lol. I was able to put 2 and 2 together only because Mark was cooking it at the time ;)

R.A.D.

I just started taking the R.A.D. (Rape Aggression Defense) course through the Davis PD. It's an awesome class! The first of the 5 classes was last night and I have to tell ya, I am SORE! We went over (and over and over) blocking and hitting and voice projecting. There are 10 ppl in the class, the youngest is 19 and the oldest is 92 :). We were all a bit shy when it came to yelling NO! every time we hit and blocked, but the instructors loosened us up pretty quickly. And I thought I would do fairly well with the hitting thanks to Billy Blanks, but I learned a lot. They (there are 2 instructors) showed us how to get the maximum power out of our bodies. I was truly amazed at how much harder I was able to hit just from rotating my hips. Just amazing what some knowledge gets you ;). In later classes, we will talk about how to avoid being a target in the first place, which I think will be even more useful to people. One neat thing is that once I pass this course, I can participate in it again, any where in the nation, for FREE! So for $25 I get to learn valuable skills and refresh myself anytime I want :) If you were ever considering taking a course like this, I highly reccomend it. Not just for the knowledge of how to defend an attacker, but it does build confidence and its a great work out :)

On a side note: Have you ever read the Anna Pigeon Series by Nevada Barr? I am a huge fan (most of you already know that heehee). The main instructor is EXACTLY like Anna Pigeon. Her attitude, the way she phrases her sentences...its unreal. Now when I read those books, I'll be picturing her as the main character. :)

What do you say to that??

I was at the grocery store tonight. Just me and Austin (nice, I know) ;) . Anyway, the checker said hello and was very nice. Then he said, "Wow, that boy has a huge head! How is it with having kids with big heads?"

WHAT?!?!?

At first I thought I heard him wrong but then saw his expectant look...nope, I heard him right. Maybe he's referring to giving birth to kids whose heads are bigger. Which, sure, isn't exactly comfortable, but what kind of question is that to ask in the check out line? Then I realized that the whole time I'm thinking these things, I'm standing there with my mouth open, wide eyes, and completely bewildered. So now I'm trying so hard to quickly think of something to say...something witty?...nothing comes to mind. Something sarcastic?....still nothing. Smile and chuckle?...couldn't bring myself to do it. Should I be straight forward and tell him that was a stupid question?...would have worked if I wasn't already staring blankly at him for so dang long. I ended up giving him the double look and walking away. I was almost to the door when the lady behind me complimented me on not totally letting loose on on the guy. Which thankfully helped clear my shock. I confessed to her I would have if I wasn't struck dumb.

Maybe these moments where all words seem foreign and you can't talk are blessings in disguise. I don't really know what this guy was thinking after all. But goodness....I wish I could have said something.

Easter hunt

Another wonderful Easter at Nana and Papas place....
Austin and Mark watching the girls play with the goats.
Kelsie holding Minnie, and Becca
Brooke always enjoys picking the little wild flowers.
Kel playing tug-o-war with Sugar...guess who won... ;)
Getting ready for the hunt (bottom: Shayna and Becca; Karlee and Brooke; Brenna; Kelsie (behind Bren); Brett; and Tori)
Becca slowly finding her eggs. She wasn't feeling well, so there was no running around with her.
But the older kids took off when it was their turn :)
Brooke and Tori searching the machines
Shay getting lost in the tall grass
Brenna: "I GOT A DOLLAR!!!!"
Karlee and Shayna :) Shay was a bit excited about how many eggs she got :)
The negotiations
Austin was just happy to be outside :)
Checkin' out the loot

Monterey

(loads of pictures to follow)

We had a fantastic time in Monterey this past weekend. It was a perfect way to end the girls spring break! Even though it was a bit cloudy, windy, and cold, we had a great time. It only took about 2 1/2 hours to get there. We went straight to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to get our passes then headed to Denis the Menace Park so the girls could stretch their legs a bit. Brooke was under a year old last time we came here...things have changed since then, but it was still fun.




This is a real train they can climb on. Because we go to the Train Museum in Old Sac, the girls weren't duly impressed with it, but Austin thought it was funny seeing his sisters up there :)
The next day , we went to the Aquarium right when it opened. It wasn't too crowded so we had a pretty easy time of getting around. This is the tank that is 3 stories tall and takes up most of the center of the building. It was making me sea sick looking at it because they have a machine making the water/plants move.
Below is the tank that shows how the animals adapt to human trash in the water. They had pictures outside the tank of when they first built it. The trash was all new looking. Now, the boot that is in there is completely covered in moss and urchins,and other things have been made into homes. In the pic, you can really only see the fishing pole.

Here we could "play" with starfish.

Looking out the second story balcony. The video is of the tunnel they have that looks like you are under a wave. I love how Becca is kinda wondering why they are just sitting there lol.

We left the Aquarium at lunch time and there was a HUGE line outside of ppl waiting to get tickets. Thankfully we timed it just right. We went to Bubba Gumps for lunch. It was super tasty, I highly recommend it if you are in the area. Because it looked like the aquarium was going to get pretty crowded, we went to the beach instead of going back in. Below are pics from the Pebble Beach area. The girls found a few shells and played in the water a little, but the wind was picking up so we didn't stay long. Even though it doesn't have white sand or blue water, I still like Zuma....it has the warmth ;)
"Bring it on!"
The next morning we walked around Fisherman's Wharf, had clam chowder in bread bowls (it was perfect on the cold day), and watched the Sea Lions. Then it was time to come home :( At least we had a somewhat peaceful drive ;) (We were going to go to Gilroy Gardens on the way home. When we got there, we found out that it costs almost as much as Disneyland! We, of course, turned around. It may be cool in the park area, but I highly doubt its Disneyland price worthy!) We are looking forward to coming back over the summer. Since we got a family season pass (it was only $10 more than paying for our family for the day) we are going to make it a day trip next time. :)

Spring Break Fun!!

Today a huge group of families from the ward went to get donuts then headed to the park. I just love vacation days when we can do fun things any old time!