Fun in the sun

We just got back from 8 fun-filled days in San Diego with the fam. We rented a beach condo for a week with my in-laws (who are great travel companions, by the way -- they made this trip so nice!) and we played every day. We went to Sea World & LegoLand and had beach days in between. We're all a little sunburned (except for Haley who tans like nobody's business) but it was a blast. Here's a recap in pictures:On the way down, we stayed in Las Vegas with Mike's cousin, Debbie, and her family. Steve (another cousin) and his family came over, too, which was great since we don't see any of their families very often. Here we are at Rainforest Cafe at the MGM Grand. The walk through the smoky casino was enough to make the kids decide they don't like Las Vegas very much.Mike's brother, Chris, drove down with his family from the bay area and spent the weekend with us. We had a girls' night doing hair and painting nails. Gotta love girly cousins. :)

On Sunday we went to church with Mike's cousin, Rob, and his family who live 30 minutes up the coast from where we were staying. They had us all over for dinner afterward (thank you Lana!) and we had another fun time catching up with cousins we don't see often enough. While we were in the area, we also stopped by to see my mom's sister, Bobbi, and her husband. I haven't seen them for 20 years so it was fun to introduce them to Mike and the kids.After we got back, we walked down the beach and to the end of the long pier in Oceanside. The kids loved seeing all of the fish that people were catching and we even saw dolphins swimming close by. There's a restaurant at the end of the pier, too, which we ate at later in the week.We spent two days at Sea World and loved every minute. It has always been a favorite of our kids in the past and this year was no exception.Can you see Shamu off in the background? No? How about now?This was at Breakfast with Shamu, which was definitely a highlight for everyone. Nothing like getting up close and personal with a killer whale while having french toast and eggs.Paige loved touching starfish, Christian & Haley loved the Wild Arctic exhibit (here they are in an "ice cave") and Elle loved "Amu." Sea World is always a hit.I knew LegoLand would be Christian's favorite part of the trip but I didn't expect how much we'd all enjoy it. The whole park is geared for younger kids (perfect for us) and had amazing Lego creations everywhere -- from Darth Vader and Indiana Jones to not-so-small-scale reproductions of various US cities and world monuments. We could have spent all day in the water area alone. This life-size Lego family (complete with Lego baby and stuffed animal) was in the parking lot. Pretty cool, huh?We even found a princess for the girls. "She's a seriously real princess, mom!" That's right, Paige.Check out the Sydney Opera House in the background. And finally, the beach. Christian and Haley spent countless hours boogie boarding while Paige and Elle played in the sand and dodged the waves.Grandpa spent lots of time at the beach with the kids. He took the girls "seashell hunting" almost every morning before breakfast.

Great vacation, great memories. And now loads of laundry to catch up on.....

A posh party

My little Paige is a huge fan of the Fancy Nancy books, and I love them almost as much as she does. Her wardrobe and attitude are considerably more fancy (at least in her estimation) since reading about Nancy and she throws words like "accessories", "excursion" and "fiasco" into daily conversation. I, of course, encourage this.

My favorite little bookstore here in Bountiful, All Tucked In on Main Street, had a Fancy Nancy party today and Paige & I went together. What a posh party! Bonnie, the store's owner and a cute friend, loves to throw themed parties based on books . She's had Curious George parties, scary Halloween book readings, Twilight vampire parties (of course I'm going to the midnight Breaking Dawn release party!) and others. Her book store is seriously like the one on You've Got Mail that Meg Ryan owns - only better since she also sells unique toys and clothes for kids and moms. But I digress....

When we arrived at the outdoor party, there was tulle wrapped in the trees, sparkly hearts hanging from the branches and little tables & chairs where different activities happened: nail painting, choosing feather boa's, wrapping ribbon around a princess wand and eating dainty cakes with fancy frosting. Paige was in heaven. Then Bonnie read several stories to the girls - the perfect ending to a perfect party.

Bonnie handing Paige her new and improved princess wand.Paige kept trying to hold her pinkie finger up while she ate the treats but she couldn't quite get the hang of it.What says "fancy" more than sparkly nails? I ask you ....This is Bonnie reading to the girls. She kept asking them if they knew what certain fancy words meant ... and look whose hand popped up every single time. We know these books a little too well. :)My fancy Paigie (notice the extended pinkie finger). She couldn't get away with this look in 20 years so I'm indulging her now. :)

Did you know I have a twin?

My college roommate, Amy, has been in town this week with her 5 kids. I haven't seen Amy for 9 years, even though we keep in frequent contact via phone, e-mail and reading each other's blogs. To actually get to hang out together this week, though, has been so therapeutic for me! To quote Ann Shirley, we are "kindred spirits." :) Almost more fun this week has been watching our kids get to know each other and become friends themselves. By the time they left tonight, they were convinced they were cousins and were calling us Aunt Misty and Aunt Amy. Actually, during college we were frequently asked if we were sisters. BYU quarterback Ty Detmer even asked if we were twins - our little claim to fame back in the 90's. In fact, we even decided to actually dress like twins for Halloween one year.Now, 17 years and several double chins later (only on my part, Amy) I guess the similarity is still there. What do you think? (My sister, Erin, is the short one - Love you Erin!).There's some fun history with the three of us. Erin and Amy met freshman year at BYU when they were roommates. I was 2 years younger and thought college life was a huge improvement from high school and stayed many-a-weekend with these two. That's actually how I met Mike (a whole other story that I'm sure most of you already know). Fast forward 2 years: Erin is married and Amy and I move in together. So it's a 3-way sisterhood. The last time we were all together was 11 years ago in Seattle when we had a girls' weekend to see U2 in concert. Good times.This is Paige with her new "cousin" Danny, Amy's 5 yr. old son. These two were an equal match in hyperactivity and creativity. Can't you just see the attitude in them both? :}These are the two Haleys. Haley Nielson is 11 and so obviously was named first. When we were considering the name for our Haley, I had to ask Amy to make sure she approved. She said, "Absolutely! The world needs a million Haley's. You just have to promise that you will spell it the one and only true way." Hence, Haley Mayfield -- not Haylee or Hailey or Hayleigh or Haelie ... I've seen some strange spellings over the years. These two Haley's became cute little friends.

Thanks for spending your vacation with us, Nielsons! Think how fun it would be to live close together, Amy. I'm just sayin' ....

Dinosaur hunting again ...

We had a great time today with Grandma Farley at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. She was a good sport to go with us to help me keep everyone accounted for. The kids loved the water area (always their favorite) and also loved assembling a giant dinosaur made of pillows. It was so fun to hear their ooh's and aah's as they rounded each corner and saw the next "ginormous" dinosaur. Here are the highlights:Check out Christian's new haircut. He begged me to do it for him ... it's only hair, right?

4th of July

I love the 4th of July. What a great holiday. Our ward has a couple of fun traditions ... a kids parade - complete with decorated bikes, scooters and strollers - that goes through the neighborhood while older ward members cheer from the sidelines and then ends at the church where we have an outdoor breakfast and program.It's such a fun morning. The festivities start the night before with bike decorating and then the kids are up at the crack of dawn ready to ride in the parade. Truth be told, it ends up being more of a race to the church than a slow parade but the kids have fun.

The food is always a full-blown hot breakfast (pancakes, french toast with fruit and whipped cream :), bacon ... "nummy" as my sister would say). Part of the program this year was a rousing number by the ward choir (including yours truly) with a little bit of choreography added at the last minute. You know I was lovin' that! :}

That night, we had another tradition (for a few years running, anyway) of a bbq on our front lawn with 20 or so friends and neighbors and then fireworks at night. This year, the Steenblik's brought a snowcone machine -- nothing says a good time like a sticky child on a sugar high!(This is Elle's friend, Luke. Wouldn't their children have amazing eyes??) Such a great day. And only a few more weeks to celebrate again on the 24th!

A Happening

We had a "happening" (as my mom would say) Monday night with the Preslars. Troy and Mike went to high school with Mike Tuckfield, who was then and still is an amazing diver. He coaches and does other things professionally and he also dives at The Mayan once a week for fun. So we arranged to go eat while he was working to watch him dive, plus get a behind-the-scenes tour of the diving area.We had a great time and even found a yummy dish (which hasn't always been the case at The Mayan in the past -- try the fish tacos!).Thanks, Preslars, for a fun night -- and way to go, Tuckfield!