California Extravaganza! Part 4

Our next stop was Sacramento! We spent a few days with my brother and his family and it was lots of fun!

My neice Sophie showed us her adorable bumble bee tap routine!

Monday morning we went to the park a round the corner. Look at those cute kids!

Playing in the sand.

On the playground they played "pirates".

Later we filled the pool and the kids played (Maxwell was asleep).

Popsicles! Mmmm. Hooray for summer!

Cute cousins! These two girls aren't related or anything. They have the same exact hair almost...light brown, thin and not very long.

We got to meet our new neice Clara! She sure is a cutie!

Becca and baby Clara. She was SO enamoured!

Monday night for FHE we went out to the Fountains shopping center to get frozen yogurt and check out the fountain show.

It gor really misty!

And the frozen yogurt was good to the last drop!

becca wanted to hold baby Clara, it was super cute!

Kids with the water show.

Such pretty colors!

Sophie has a chest of dress up stuff and Becca sure liked the princess stuff.

The next day we went out to another park and the kids played in the sand.

And on the slides. It was a nice relaxing day.

Becca and Maxwell on the piano.

After naps we went to the mall to play in the play areas there.

Too cute.

Riding a "bug"

Sweet Clara!

We had so much fun with them those first few days! More to come soon!

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California Trip Extravaganza! Part 3

This is the last section of my trip in Seal Beach!

Kittens:

These are the kittens that were hanging out in my mom's yard! I was so in love with this white and grey. Their mom was totally feral though and as soon as we showed interest in her little family she moved on. We were very sad we couldn't get them to trust us more and catch them and give them to good homes.

Hanging with Grandma:
One of the best things about going home is spending quality time with Grandma Bowen!

Reading Bedtime stories



Art projects!

This isn't the finished caterpillar, but we got most of it done that day!

Wendy's 30th Birthday:
Otherwise known as the day I became the only Bowen sibling in their 20s!

Breakfast of home made blueberry oat muffins, eggs and lots of bacon (this baby likes bacon as Wendy would put it)

Dinner Out at Lucille's
Becca and Christian

Wendy with her Jacob candy, yes I lowered myself so much that I bought her Jacob candy.

But I got myself some Edward Candy to balance it out. So we're good.

Blowing out the candle.

Me and mom! It was a yummy night! Happy Birthday Winnie Pooh!

Mother's Beach:
In Belmont Shores off of a canal there is a little city park called Mother's Beach. It is so great! It is shallow and no huge waves, a great place to take little ones. Mom and I took Becca one morning/afternoon and it was fabulous!

Look mom "Beach!"

Lugging water.

Making Castles

Making friends. These two kids were so cute, they helped us dig and build a little wading pool.

Swinging at the little playground with Grandma.

Then In N Out (right by the beach) afterwards for lunch. My little girl loves her Cheeseburgers!

Saturday Afternoon:
Saturday we went out to Tustin to see my old roomate Jen and her family! It is always so fun to see her kids and have time to chat! Jen was the best roomate. There for me when Tyson and I first started dating and super patient with my constant clothes mess and talking.

My favorite Jen quote "Stacey, I really need to sleep now, so you can keep talking, but I'm going to fall asleep."

Love ya Jen!

Us at Wahoo's! Yum, yum!

Then Tyson flew down that night, we played games and then got ready to go in the morning! I couldn't beleive it was over!

Sunday Goodbyes!

Becca and Aunt Wendy

Cousins

Bye guys!

It was so good to see you! Wen we wish you and your family the best with your new little one and we'll miss seeing you at Christmastime this year!

I love my home so so much! I was sad we didn't have enough time to go see family in Ridgecrest (but we will be all yours in Dec. this year!) Off to Sacramento for us!

Until next time....

CA Trip Extravaganza! (Part 2)

This section just covers some of the things we did on the weekend.

Celebrating!
My sister and Grandpa's birthdays are close together so we took them out for thier birthdays early (since Wendy was supposed to be leaving on Saturday) to Claim Jumper, yum yum!

Happy Birthday!

Then Sunday night when Wendy and Christian were gone to her in-law's Grandma Bowen and Becca and I did some "scarf dancing" to my Easy Virtue Soundtrack (old 30's style music)

Monday morning when I got up Becca had found a pen and paper and drew a happy face and a sad face all by herself! I was a proud mama when she showed me!

Monday afternoon we went out to the Cemetary.
Becca at Grandma Riccilli's grave.

Me and Becca at the bench.

Up by my dad's grave.



Looks kindof funny to have my mom's name on there right now, especially in this shot where you can't see dad's name...

This was funny, there was a funeral that left just as we got there and they left so many flowers just all over the place on the grond that had fallen out of the arrangements etc. So I gathered some up and made some bouquets. My dad would be proud.

I know that was a shorter one, but I am trying to break these up in a reasonable viewing size!

It is always good and bittersweet to go back to the cemetary to see my dad's grave. I think as I live my daily life it is easy to forget sometimes that he has gone on. I don't know what I would do without the gospel and the knowledge I have that I will get to see him again someday.