Hansen Family Reunion

 I could seriously write pages and pages about this trip that we took. We planned a trip with the Hansen side where we rented a house in Southern California.  We spent about four days together and even though we didn't do a ton of activities I don't think we could have had any more fun than we did. The house that we rented had the most amazing pool and a beautiful huge back yard and bunch of bedrooms and a big kitchen.  It was just perfect for us.  I was in charge of the meals because I love to make food and I know how stressed out my mom gets about having to do food, so I thought there would be the least amount of stress if I just took it over. I did end up getting a couple of complaints about a couple of things from some grumpy people who will remain nameless but other than that it ended up being great and we ate great food for very little money. The kids pretty much lived out in the pool for almost the whole time we were at the house.  They were like little fish!  As soon as they got up in the morning they were out in the pool and they went from the pool to bed.
  I wish I had gotten more pictures but honestly I spent a good portion of my time in the kitchen.  But feeding people and showing my love to them through food is one of my favorite things to do. And everyone told me how much they enjoyed the food so it made it all worthwhile.

 I feel so grateful that Chanelle had Lucy!  Its so fun for my two little girls to have a little cousin that they are close to. These three had a great time together and I think it is just a shadow of things to come.

 One of the days we went to the beach and although I didn't have the greatest time, if I am being honest.  Maybe one day when I don't have tiny children anymore that I have to watch like a hawk! The kids had the greatest time! I don't know what it is about kids and the beach but they love it!

 Thankfully Russell and Annie wore their floaties the whole time so that at least made my anxiety a little better.

 This was the kids attempting to make a little lake, but the waves just made that impossible. They had fun trying anyway.

 I just couldn't resist this picture.

 Luckily Clara wasn't really that brave and stayed away from the waves for the most part.

 These four sure had the greatest time together. Watching my kids have something that I wished so much I had in my childhood but didn't makes me so happy. They are really the best friends with their cousins!

 Back when I didn't even know about he dab.  How ridiculous am I!?

 I sure do have fun being with this guy though. I just cant get sick of him no matter how much time we spend together.

 Annie loved being with Grandpa. She loves to crawl up on the couch and sit with him.

 Russ kept finding his buddy Harvey and McKay too. I just thought this picture was darling.

 Russell and Annie became the best most fearless swimmers on this trip. It was crazy how much they grew in that department.

These three were just so cute together.

Dodger Game with the Fam

It was so fun to go with all the family, well the ones at the reunion anyway, to the Dodger game.  Kevin and I were in charge of the tickets and we had some issues getting some of the people into the game, and that wasn't very fun with trying to deal with grumpy people, but oh well. We do the best we can.  Its so fun that we are all Dodger fans so we could really enjoy going.

 It was really cute because Russ was totally enthralled with baby Harvey.  I think he just didn't know what to do with himself seeing a baby boy, which is so foreign to him. He loved getting to hold him and wanted to do it constantly.

 It was a super hot day but we were able to find extra seats in the shade.  They were really high up but I thought the view was great and you cant beat $7 seats!

 I sure love going to Dodger games with my favorite person. We went to a dodger game the night he proposed to me so there are such great memories attached to them!

 Clara did really well all things considered.  As long as we kept stuffing the kids faces they were great! haha!!!

 Here is a picture with some of our group.  The kids sure love being with their cousins.  It is one of their very favorite things in the whole world.

 Janie and Jack.  These two always have a good time together.

 Annie decided that she did really like Cotton candy. I love her blue teeth.

The Dodgers ended up losing which really stunk, it would have been great to see a win, but we still had a great time being together!

Magic Mountain

Because we were going to be down in Southern California for our Hansen Family Reunion we decided that it seemed totally ridiculous to be able to go to Magic Mountain for free because of our 6 Flags passes and not take advantage of it.  Janae and her family, Chanelle and her family and Grandma and Grandpa were able to come with us.  It was a little bit hard with that many people to figure out the whole logistics of who is going with who etc.  So it made it a bit frustrating because there was a lot of waiting for people to meet up so in other words, a lot of sitting around. We also actually only saw the big girls for a brief moment because they were off in their own little group going on all the big rides and we were with the babies.  It will be nice when the kids are all older for things like this, but we still managed to have a fun time!  Kevin and I went back out after we put the kids to bed and my parents watched them.  we got in a couple of the roller coasters and it was a blast!

 I think that Annie is going to be a little daredevil.  She wanted to go on the roller coaster with me and she did really good!

 Jane had a good time being with her buddy Jack.  She wasn't tall enough to go on some of the bigger rides but she liked going on the in between stuff. She is pretty daring as well but unfortunately doesn't have the height necessary to go on many of the scary rides.

 These little monkeys sure were cute on the merry-go-round. Clara though she was pretty hot stuff!

 Clara did pretty well all things considered.  Its tough for kids at places like this, plus it was over 100 degrees that day so it made it a little more miserable than it would have been otherwise.

Clara did like being with Grandpa.  She really adores her Grandma and Grandpa and I love seeing the relationship they have developed even though she is still little.

 I love to see Nellie and Max together. They have the best time!

Dry Creek Exploring

We have a good friend that puts together a park day every week, which is so fun for the kids.  Especially during the summer when all the kids are home. It's nice to have something to do at least once a week.  one of the weeks we went to the little creek that is near our house and let the kids play.  I try not to turn into paranoid mom when we do that and worry about the kids catching some weird disease from the water.  The kids with the exception of Clara had a great time exploring the area and didn't want to leave.

 The girls actually found some wild blackberries that they had fun picking.

 The water was really pretty warm and shallow which was so nice for all the little kids.

 Clara just wanted to sit on my lap, but she does really like taking selfies.

 Nellie and her best friend Kennedy had fun fishing for tadpoles.

 Lizzy got a little scarred by going down a ways were some ladies were dressed as mermaids and one decided to take her top off. Yikes!  There are so strange people out there!!

Russ was being such a great big brother and helping Annie get back.  They were even holding hands which was the sweetest thing! We will definitely have to go back to the creek again!

Fourth of July

This year Kevin and I decided to start running.   Starting in January we had gotten up at 6 every morning so we could run, and we decided to run the Fourth of July 5K through the city.  Kevin and Lizzy did it together last year, but now with Clara being bigger I wanted to run it with Kevin.  It was a lot of fun to run together and we ended up finishing with a time of 28 minutes which was pretty good for us.  I cant wait to run another one with him again. I love having him as my running partner.

 This was us before the run,  we really pushed ourselves at the end and I thought I was going to throw up.  Kevin sounded like a wounded horse.   The big girls ended up going to Utah for the fourth so we just had the three little ones with us. We went and got them and took them to the parade after we ran.   Its not a very good parade but kids usually don't care. They liked the free candy that they got.

Annie's face here makes me laugh.

 We invited three families over that we are really close to and had them for dinner and fireworks.  It ended up being such a fun night and I actually really want to continue this tradition next year.  I have always felt like the fourth of July here is no fun compared to Utah but we had such a good time this year. 

 Annie was really close to Ruby that night, because her big sisters were out of town and because she really likes Ruby.  It was really cute to see.

 

I really love this boy and his cute smile!