A Turtle!

For our first summer mutual activity we went to the Chinese Temple in Oroville on a tour and I took our family. It was very interesting and in great shape. Everyone should go check it out. There was this fun bamboo for taking pictures in. They had fish in a pond outside and were not happy because there were turtles eating the fish. They wanted the turtles out so Terry took it upon himself to catch them so the trip quickly turned into a Turtle rescue.

Everyone thought they were so cool and wanted to take them home. They were very happy to oblige so one of my Laurels took one and we ended up with the other one.

No one was happier than Tayla! Who knew she loved turtles!

However, when we got him home we put him in a cooler with water and bricks to climb on to get out of the water and some lettuce and watermellon rines. It wasn't good enough for him and he kept trying to climb out of it and ended up on his back and couldn't turn over. After the 10th time of flipping him over we let him out on the grass and he did everything in his power to get out of our yard. He was trying to dig under the fences and everything. Finally we decided that he just wasn't going to make it at our house.

So we took him out to Grey Lodge and let him go. Tayla cried all the way there and begged and pleaded to keep him. No matter what we said she wasn't consoled.

As she put him down and he ran for the water and took off swimming, she was ok with it, but still not happy and convinced that we needed to go to the pet store and get her a new one. Lucky for me, I think she's forgotten about it now and we're off the hook.

Every year they have a little track meet in Gridley. There are no practices ahead of time and no other meets, but just the one. You say what you want to do and show up and do it. We decided to take the girls to the track a few times before hand to at least give them a little practice. They both did very well. This is Cypress receiving the baton in the 4x100 relay in which her team got 1st out of 4 teams all the same age.

This is her winning team, they are also the winning team from last year!

Here is Tayla finishing strong in the 4x100 relay in her age group where she also got 1st out of 4 teams.

This was her winning team!

They both got other ribbons and medals for the 200 yard dash, 100 yard dash, 50 yard dash, and the softball throw. It was very fun. Tyden can't wait until he gets to be a part of it too! Of course, Kasen can outrun them all, but I think he'll be more of a distance runner. :)

Memorial Day Weekend

We wanted to go camping to Little Grass Valley and since you can't have a reservation there, we went up Thursday night to get a spot. Unfortunately, there was so much snow there Still that they weren't even open so we had to find somewhere else to go that was close. We found a campground called Strawberry and it was pretty nice. This is the fun river that was running through about 50 yards from our camp site.

The kids loved exploring a new place but it was still pretty cold and rained and snow on the ground in some places.

We borrowed Terry's parents RV for the trip just because we did think it would be a little cold for a tent. It was very nice to have it, we could get used to camping that way, not that we mind sleeping in a tent, it's just so nice not to have to set up your beds or anything when you get there.

Cypress had a track meet at school on Friday so she didn't come with us. it was a good thing though, since she received 3 first place ribbons and one 3rd place. We are very proud of her! She was sad she missed out on the real camping though.

We all enjoy a good campfire! We roasted hot dogs and marshmellows.

We decided that Kasen could do a commercial for smores. It was very enjoyable to watch him eat it.

We all took our bikes and throughly enjoyed riding them. It was a hard first half all up hill but of course that means it was a very fast, no peddaling all downhill second half. Kasen couldn't quite make it up on his own so he got to ride with dad. He was really mad at first but got over that really quick when he saw how much fun it was.

Tayla and Tyden were addicted, then did it 10 times as often as Terry and I.

The next morning it rained all morning so we decided not to stay there. It was too far and too cold to have more people join us so after looking for a different place all the way home, we ended up at a camp ground in Live Oak and it was great. It was cheep, not busy, green, had a river for fishing - not for swimming but it was too cold to swim anyway. The Hunters joined us and we had a great next 2 days. Here's Grandma and Kasen enjoying a little horse shoes.

Terry was in his glory because he caught a beautiful striper, a good sized one too as you can see. They cleaned in a fried it up and ate it for dinner!

There wasn't quite the hill to coast down there but the kids still enjoyed riding their bikes all over the place. We could barely get them off to eat!

Terry and Cypress had some good bonding time fishing. The other kids are all too impatient.

Eventually it started raining there too and we had to cover the fire with our awning and huddle. It was okay for a while but we all went home sooner than we'd planned. We wouldn't hesitate to go there again though!

Rain or shine, you have to have an exploration walk with Grandpa. Tyden and Tayla went too, they just ran back ahead of everyone else.

Mother's Day!

I had a fabulous Mother's Day, starting with Breakfast in bed where all the kids joined me and then to presents and picture time. I got some fun shirts and cute school projects, including worker coupons!

After Church we went to my mom's where my dad, husband and brother had made us dinner. it was very nice and the table was all set fancy and everything.

Mom, modeling her cute new sweater that dad actually picked out on his own :)

Then the FUN!!

When the work was done, we went to San Francisco and Pacifica for the last 2 days of the break. It was rather cold and windy both days but we still enjoyed it as best we could. That's the Golden Gate in the background. Kasen missed it. He slept this whole time on Terry.

We found quite a few dead crabs and crab shells like the one Tyden has but it was the best when Terry caught a live, 3in., crab with his fishing pole and new crab trap!

It's never to cold to chase the waves with Uncle Tom!!

This is at the Pacifica Pier (above) Below is a wildlife reserve that we like to frequent.

We all enjoyed exploring but Kasen was very interested in what dad had to show. As you can see from Tayla's hair in the background, it was VERY windy and that did take away some of the fun. :(

Tyden ended up in a little more than he would have liked, but still came away smiling!

Everyone enjoyed stomping through the tide pools.

I think that they found something good. There were always trying to make the annenamies eat things.

This is Cypress Hill on the cypress hill :)

There were multiple chicken fights held in the hotel pool that evening. I think that Tayla and Nick have to be deamed the winners.

Everyone enjoyed the nice heated, indoor pool in the evening and the next morning, especially since it was so cold at the ocean.

Inside our hotel after our morning swim.

Out hotel, which the kids say was the best part :)

Trying to use the umbrellas to block the wind instead of the sun. Not working well enough :) We had a great time though, swam, walked, BBQ, flying kites, fishing, the whole nine yards!

Work first!

We just finished Spring Break and it was a good one! Before we could play though, we had to get some work done. The kids refinished their swings, with the usual colors, and we, with the help of Grandpa, put in a few extra sprinklers. We also got our weeds rotatilled up and new grass seed planted. It's only taken us 2 whole years to get our act together and act like we really own our yard :) The jobs go so much faster when you have such good helpers!

We just LOVE helping Grandpa!!