California Trip--a little late!

In late July I had the great opportunity to go and visit my wonderful family in California! Spencer did not escort me this trip because he had scout camp in Wyoming for a week. So I took the opportunity to take a quick trip and boy was it worth it! I was able to spend some really great quality time with my mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, and my adorable nieces and nephew. Everyday was special because I was with my family! It had been quite a few months since I'd been home to beautiful SONORA!

And of course, here are some pics!

Bryan, the oldest, riding his bike. This kid is incredibly talented, funny, smart, and I love him to death! We had fun eating snow cones and taking a walk together (just the two of us). I was there the day Bryan was born and I was the first one to hold him! I can't believe he's already 9!

While Bryan was riding his bike the girls and I were playing on the play ground. Well, they were playing, I was taking pics and turning them on the merry go round.

This is Lainey (the youngest--and sooo cute!)

Lillian Eva, 6 years old. The nicest little girl you'll ever meet! And the silliest.
She'll laugh hysterically if you get her going :)

The girl who's half responsible. Laura is an amazing mother. She is also training to run a marathon someday. She is an awesome runner and a very healthy eater. She and I went on a couple beautiful runs together during the week. Let me just say I love running at the ditch!

I snuck a picture.

Lainey, Kate, Julie, Lilly

Bryan "the man" Brown

It has become a tradition for me to take the girls out to ice cream when I come home. Lily makes sure I don't forget it :) This time we went to the dollar store, tried to find a charger for my phone since I left it at home!, ate some delicious ice cream at Baskin Robbins and then to the county library where we
checked out a couple of books.

Love this little girl. I don't want her to grow up!

Kate is getting soo big!

Bryan got stuck unstacking the wood. What a trooper.

Only boy in the family so he has to do a lot of the manly work.

One of my favorite things about these girls is they have such an imagination. They put on a couple of very cute puppet shows for me. So creative!

Hooray! My dad loves me so much that he came into town all the way from Nevada! We went swimming at his hotel for like 3 hours! So much fun since it was a really hot day. I love swimming with my dad because he always has made it really fun for me.

As you can "see" it was a very BRIGHT day!

Lily rockin' the motorcycle my dad just bought a couple months ago. Another reason why my dad is so awesome! He is getting married in 2 weeks!

Here is my dad and Dustin (my brother). Dustin just painted their house, repaved the front parking lot, and put new sod down this summer. As a result he has a broken foot, again! Poor guy. They went out for an evening bike ride. My dad and I went and watched the movie Inception the night before and he took me for a ride. I love riding motorcylces!

They found the bubbles! I don't know what it is about bubbles but every kid goes crazy for bubbles! Isn't this picture absolutely incredible? Gosh, they are so cute!

Me and my dad the night before he left. He'll be moving to Virginia soon to be with his new wife. I'm so happy he's getting married!

The kids LOVE the motorcycle. Bryan went on a short ride with my dad around the parking area.

On Friday we celebrated Laura and Smokey's birthdays! Smokey is my step dad. We had lots of great food thanks to my mom, and really great cake thanks to Laura!

My mom and Smokey. They've been married for over a year now. So cool! I had the best time with my mom this trip. We spent almost everyday together doing something from shopping, to eating out, to walking down town and we even went and saw the movie Eclipse! It was her first time seeing it. I love spending time with my mom. She and I are best friends and I trust her with so much!

My grandparents picked me up from the airport and drove me back to the airport (they only live 15 minutes away from Oakland). I went to breakfast with my Grandpa Brown and spent some time with my g-ma.

Before I knew it my trip was over :( I was anxious to get home to Spencer though. This was our first week spent apart since we got married. It was really weird the first night but I soon got used to it. When he picked me up from the airport I ended up being like 1.5 hours late! My plane could not land because of inclement weather so we had to fly to Twin Falls, Idaho to get some more fuel! I was so mad because all I wanted to do was get home to my amazing husband. Ugh. Plus, I get claustrophobic in small planes so I was anxious to get home and out of the plane. Luckily on our way back we landed just fine and I finally was reunited with my love. It is the best feeling when you see your spouse for the first time in a long time. We went out to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate and had a wonderful time! Spencer had a wonderful time with his teachers' quorum in Wyoming. He took some awesome pictures with the underwater camera I bought him for his trip, along with some love notes and other treats :) Spencer and I will be going to California again in just two weeks for my dad's wedding! I can't wait!