April

Clara took a ballet class in April and May. She loved putting on her ballet outfit (actually a bathing suit with a tutu) and going to class each week. Her attention span didn't last too long, but she loved looking at herself in the mirror and touching her toes. 

Clara and I spent 3 days at home working on potty training! We set a timer, drank lots of juice and spent a lot of time outside with her little potty. She filled up her sticker chart to earn her Elsa dress and was so excited to put it on! She also was moved into a big girl bed and likes to tell all the neighbors about her new bed! She's growing up!

Paul took the girls on a much anticipated daddy daughter campout. It was fun for all of them! And Clara and I met Papa for a walk on the pier and acai bowls for breakfast while they were gone on a beautiful Saturday morning. We had fun watching the surfers and being together.

Kate's been working hard on her project for the science fair. She baked cornbread, waffles and cookies to compare the differences between baking powder and baking soda. Kate works so hard in school and is so responsible about getting her work done. Go Kate! (And lucky parents!)

A few fun outings-- Gwen and I took Mimi to see Cinderella the musical for Mother's Day. Kate and I went on a date to the MCO spring concert and boudin for dinner. Paul surprised me with flowers just because. We are so blessed.

March 2016

Gwen turns 7! We started off March celebrating our Gwen girl. Some things about Gwen at age 7: Gwen is so creative. She loves to play make believe and create things. She is so good at making lego creations and building villages for her lil woodzeez and polly pockets with blocks and organizing her fairy garden. She loves to play pretend with Clara and Clara gets so excited for Gwen to come home from school so they can play "school". Gwen is determined and once she sets her mind to something she won't give up! Gwen loves to have her back rubbed at night to help her go to sleep. Gwen loves most fruits and requested a berry pie again for her birthday! She is fun to be with and loves to tell jokes. We love having Gwen in our family!

Gwen had a party with friends from school. We had a pajama party and movie night.  The girls made their own pizzas, watched the new Cinderella movie and had a dance party. Gwen set up her own "sweet shop" and had the girls choose candy for their movie treat. 

Paul and I had a few fun date nights. We celebrated my Dad's birthday with my siblings. We also went to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA to see our talented friend, Tammy Mumford, perform with the LA Philharmonic.

Gwen and I had a mommy-daughter date to McKenna's tea cottage for tea and scones. Gwen loves to be fancy! We played the card game Sleeping Queens and enjoyed the morning together.

We made it to Brianhead Utah again with the Walker and Lloyd families! We love these friends and it was such a treat to spend a few days with them doing one of our favorite things--skiing! We stopped by the St. George temple on our way there.

We ate delicious food and had another lip sync party. We played games and enjoyed catching up with these good friends. We got lucky and had a foot of new snow to play in the second day we were there. It was a bluebird day with amazing conditions! Kate and Gwen improved in their skiing and it was fun to catch up with them after ski school to ride the slopes. We are all looking forward to next year!

A few random pictures from the month. A tea party on a sunny Sunday morning before 1pm church. Clara with her friends at "playgroup preschool" and Gwen and Clara enjoying a beautiful afternoon in the jacuzzi. We spent a morning picking strawberries at Tanaka Farms-- delicious!

Easter with our 3 girls. A few outtakes from our photo session. Clara cracks me up in the photo below. She looks like one of the most old fashioned photos where people never smiled in photos.

True personalities shining through!

We visited the Easter Bunny at South Coast plaza, rode the bunny carousel and shopped around. We made a bunny cake and colored Easter Eggs.

We had a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt and the Easter bunny visited our house. Mimi and Papa hosted a fun Easter dinner party. We went to church to worship our Resurrected Savior--the reason for the holiday!

Spring Break we did a few days "staycation". We visited the LA Temple Visitor's Center. We enjoyed all of the exhibits there and enjoyed the temple grounds. We stopped by Diddy Reise on the way home for some delicious ice cream sandwiches! Our 

We spent a lazy morning in the jacuzzi and went to a neighbors for a Cardinal crew pancake breakfast. On Saturday of General Conference we listened in the car as we drove to the Skirball Museum to check out the Noah's Ark exhibit. So cool! General Conference Sunday was filled with cinnamon rolls, a snack shop set up by the girls, lots of snuggles on the couch while we listened to inspiring words from our church leaders.