Sunny San Diego (without any sun).....

We went to San Diego for a few days this week. It was WONDERFUL! Though we did not see the sun ONCE while we were there and it was warmer in Utah....we still had many laughs and magic moments.

Oliver started his time in California with a solid nap as soon as we got into our rental car:

Here is Oliver at our Hotel. We stayed in La Jolla at the BEAUTIFUL Grande Colonial House.

Oliver in the courtyard:


Here we are at the beach, in the pacific ocean. Notice that we are the only ones foolish enough to do this on such a cold day.

Sweet boys:

Self portrait:

Here I am expressing my dissatisfaction in the lack of sunshine:

We had not planned on doing any of the local parks, but with the absence of the sun, we decided to go to the San Diego Zoo:

We chose the Zoo because Bryce told me the sweetest story about how he wanted to the San Diego Zoo SOOOO bad when he was little to see the Koala Bears.

Here he is with Oliver, finally realizing his dream:

And here are the boys again, completely worn out:

Another great thing we got to do was to see our friends Jud and Julie. They live in L.A. and drove down for a night. It was so great to see them....

And here is our only family photo from our trip.

It was an amazing trip! We are so lucky we got to go.

First horseback ride EVER....

Today we stopped by the stables in Midway to let Oliver play with the horses. At first, he was very stand-off-ish, as they were much bigger than the pictures in his books. Here he is, taking it all in:

But, eventually, we got him on one:

He was very brave and serious about the whole thing. It was pretty funny.

And then....he was worn out:

Thank you, Joe, for letting us introduce the boy to horses!

Criminal

Okay, okay. Let me preface this photo.

Oliver picked up Bryce's sunglasses.

He put them on.

He laughed and said "picture".

I laughed.

I made him stand against the wall and COULD NOT get him to change from this expression:

Until....I tickled him and he changed to this expression:

Is it just me or does he look like he is 16 and the first picture is his mugshot?

Hilarious.

Now for a little back yard fun.

Oliver continues to LOVE kicking balls.

Bryce made him pose like this, because, as he says, it is how EVERY soccer picture is posed:

Then, at some point after that shot, Oliver did this:



Can I just say, I love my boys?
Sweetest picture ever.

For Oliver's whole life (all 21 months) he has loved to play with any type of ball: soccer, football, baseball, basketball, wiffle ball....you get the drift. He is quite the little kicker.

So the other day, we put out our laundry basket to see if he could sink a few baskets. Well....looks like soccer may not be his ONLY sport:

ENJOY:

Barista boy...

I know that I have been the worlds worst blogger lately.....

We are all well. We've been working outside a lot and preparing the earth for our FIRST garden.

Here is a video that we recently shot of Oliver helping Bryce grind coffee beans.

The grinder is really loud and makes him laugh every time.

Enjoy.