New Brighton Camping Trip - what a blast

We just got back from our 1st annual camping trip w/ some friends:

Day 1 Camping Trip

Setting up camp:

I was so excited to be camping (since this was the first time Scott & I had ever been together) that I stole the rake from Scott, so I could prep the spot for our tent.

Will playing in the tent - the setup was super comfy (notice Will's sleeper in the background - He did such a great job sleeping our first night of camping. He went down without any problems & woke up in the morning with his face pressed against the mesh while smiling at & talking to Scott & me):

My mom gave Will a skull & crossbones tat the night before (we call it his mini tramp stamp):

Snuggled up with daddy:

Josh entertaining Jaxon & Carson:

Tiffani planned the entire trip (reservations, food, activities). She did such an amazing job, as she always does at everything. The first night, we had Costa Vida salads - Ben & Scott were on dish duty:

S'mores anyone?

Tiffani:

Josh:

Reiko eating her very first S'more:

Leslie, Hilary, & me (w/ Will, of course):

This was the little pyro - Curtis loved burning anything & everything - he finally confessed to his dad that he would rather be a firefighter (like Scott) than a cop (like his dad, Ben) - low blow Curtis ;) Actually, Scott put Curtis up to telling his dad that - as of now, he is still undecided on career:

The gals: Hilary, Tiffani, Leslie, me, Reiko, Catharine:

Day 2 of camping

For breakfast, Tiffani planned banana chocolate chip pancakes. They were absolutely amazing. Scott took over making the pancakes at the end to give Tiffani a break. You know when you hand pancake batter over to a couple of guys (Scott & Ben), things like this are bound to happen: 2 HUGE pancakes w/ chocolate chip nipples: "breast"fast anyone?

Andrew eating the massive cakes:

Will & Caylee getting to know each other:

Tiffani & Carson:

Catharine & Jaxon:

Brian w/ Caden & Josh w/ Jaxon:

For our second day camping, half the group decided to go to Roaring Camp for a train ride while the rest of us stayed at camp to let the kids nap

Andrew, Tiffani & Carson on the train - Carson loved the train whistle:

Hilary, Brennan, Brian & Caden:

Ben & Sara - she's such a cutie:

Ben & Leslie w/ Curtis, Ethan, & Sara:

We met up with everyone at a really good pizza place in Santa Cruz called Pizza My Heart. While enjoying our food, Josh had the privilege of having a random guy off the street come up to him & start talking about cilantro (he happened to have a little bunch of it in his hands at the moment - the guy was obviously crazy, but we had three CHP officers on hand, so I felt pretty safe ;)

After lunch, a bunch of us went to Marianne's for ice cream. My favorite ice cream (out of the two that I tried) was the Horchata - William seemed to enjoy it too:

Reiko & Brad w/ Caylee:

After ice cream, we headed over to the Boardwalk. I love spraying suntan lotion in Will's hair b/c it makes for the best wispy Mohawk:

Josh, Catharine, & Jaxon:

I love the ocean - it's so calming & beautiful (minus the sand, I'm not a huge fan of it - it runs along the same line as chalk, flour, & velvet for me - none of which I care for too much - icky)

On the dragon ride:

Will's first time on a bigger-kid-ish ride (minus Disneyland) - when the ride started, it spun faster than I expected, causing William to slide into me & practically end up lying down on his side. He was so little sitting next to me. It probably would have been better just to hold him in my lap:

As many know, Will LOVES the water. He could care less about the ride, he just wanted to play in the water that was on the outside of the ride:

Brad was one of Scott's best men at our wedding - they're great friends, & I'm so glad that we had the chance to meet up with him & his family for this trip:

Reiko & Brennan - he was always stuffing his mouth so full of food. Poor kid couldn't even chew the hot dog, & Leslie had to pull some of it out, so he wouldn't choke:

Hanging out after eating dinner (75 cent hot dogs). Usually I would love hot dogs, but these definitely didn't settle well with me. On the drive home last night, I got car sick & got to have seconds on dinner in a gas station parking lot - not the best feeling when it comes out the nose (is that too graphic?):

Carson "making friends" with some random girl on a ride - I assume that Tiffani was trying to get his attention, & the girl in front just decided to make Carson look at the camera while posing for the picture herself . . . awesome:

Curtis & Ethan enjoying the rides - I love how psyched Curtis looks:

The end of the day & our 1st annual camping trip with our 9th ward group of friends (even though only one of the couples actually still lives in that ward):

It was a blast guys, & I'm already so excited for next year!

Shark Cupcakes?

Brandon, Spencer, Chase, & Kailee came down to visit this week. Before heading down to Nana & Papa's, they stayed at our house for the last 4 days. We watched movies every night, played Mario Kart & Super Smash Brothers, went bowling a few times, went out for frozen yogurt at Big Spoon, went swimming at the aquatic center, ate at Costa Vida, & made an Octopus lemon cake w/ vanilla shark cupcakes to go with it. I didn't get any pictures of our time together except for the Shark cupcake extravaganza.

Chase is the chef of the Rich-&-Becky family, so he made the vanilla cupcakes. While Chase frosted the cupcakes, Brandon & I attempted to cut Twinkies, so they would look like sharks coming out of the cupcakes. My "Twinkie Shark" was a total failure (I didn't even frost the whole thing, & I had to prop it against the Twinkie box to stop it from falling over). Brandon had much more success with his. We didn't realize until after we'd gotten this far -->

that we were supposed to freeze the Twinkies onto the cupcake before frosting anything (so they'd actually be firm enough to frost), & that we were then supposed to melt the frosting & dip our shark into it, so it would come out smooth. After all of this, we were then supposed to frost the cupcake, so that it looked like the shark was coming out of the water & not melting into it.

We gave up on decorating after my failure & Brandon's semi-success (we'll try again another time)

Chase hates Twinkies, but felt like he needed to taste his creation:

Did you know that "beef fat" is listed as an ingredient in Twinkies? I didn't either. Though I'm not completely surprised, actually reading it instead of hearing rumors made it very difficult to swallow my Twinkie bite.

And it didn't make it any easier for Chase either:

A Work in Progress

After finishing my Christmas quilt top, I got excited to work on another quilt I'd started back in January.

A sampling of the fabrics for my quilt:

William playing with the scraps:

I was able to try out a circle rotary cutter for the first time, & it worked wonderfully - all my pretty little circles:

Christmas Quilt Top!

I started this Christmas quilt about two years ago & just couldn't get myself to finish it. Recently, I have been very inspired by quilting blogs (& Laurie, who finishes her quilt tops so quickly), so I decided to whip this bad boy out & finish the top within a week. Once determined, I get things done - I ended up finishing it in two days (granted, I had already done most of it over the last 2 years, but it probably would have taken me another 2 if I hadn't set a deadline)! Now I just need to buy the batting & backing & have this thing quilted (since I don't know how to do it myself yet).

William lounging on the lovely (if I do say so myself) quilt top:

I never want my quilts to end up on display in my home & treated with a "no touching" policy. I want them to be used & cherished by my family. Life's about enjoying!

Happy Boy & Visitors

Every time I try taking pictures of William, he starts straight for the camera - he was playing drums on his overturned bucket, but the camera was suddenly much more interesting:

Reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear"

Eating his bunny rattle:

Pulling ladders:

Dennis & Gail dropped by for a few days before heading up to Oregon. Will loved playing "Pat a cake" with Grandma (he's totally concentrating on her hands trying to figure out what to do).

Playing with Grandpa's razor - "What's this for?"

This is one of my new favorite pictures. Scott just adores his son, & I love the look on Will's face:

Splashing in the sink - he soaks everything. There were puddles all over the floor & counters, & even standing across the kitchen, you still get splashed (and I don't mean just a little). William LOVES splashing in the water, & nothing slows him down, not even water in the eyes:

We went for a walk, & for some reason, William had the stroller strap in his mouth the entire time (maybe he likes the texture?). He looked like a dog taking himself for a walk:

with Grandpa Dennis & Grandma Gail (sorry for the closed eyes). We love you guys & are so glad you could come visit. Please come again soon: