no need for spring

who needs spring, when summer is begging to show it's beautiful face early?! we were fortunate enough to get a sweet taste of Vitamin D just a week before our trip to Cali and it felt so good that water play was a must!

An early morning (starting at 4am) of traveling and the kids were excited to finally be off a plane, out of an airport and in the rental car; on our way to Nana's.

"Shouldn't I still be sleeping in my bed at home?"

But first, we needed food!!

we met up with Mark's old mission companion, Wes (Mulligan) and he introduced us to "In N Out"...

Grace gave it 2 thumbs up

and Ez said, "nice try, but I'm definitely NOT wearing this."

With a clean diaper and food in his belly, Ezzy crashed!...

But Grace was a fighter!

She kept those eyelids open the whole time - just too excited to see Nana & Papa... and the pool :-)

Finally, we arrived at Nana's and minutes later we were in the pool!...

Gracie's 1st time at the Cheesecake Factory and it was outside by a flowing river -

 how awesome is that? 

              

We loved playing in the sun all day then showering and enjoying the warm evenings. Here the kiddos are smoochin by the Fountain. *LOVE*

The fun really began once Gracie's cousin, Remedy joined us!

Just kicking back, enjoying Grandma's Popsicles :-)

On Mother's Day I was pampered from the start of the day till the end.

The kiddos surprised me with a nice breakfast...

Then Nana gathered the girls together and they performed a heartfelt skit where they did "The T-shirt girls" rendition of  'You are my sunshine'. so sweet!

Then daddy took care of the boys all day so I could literally lay by the pool for hours. Heaven on earth. BEST mother's day EVER!!

For FHE we took a drive and visited the Newport Temple. Now, we've seen every temple in California within reasonable driving distance from palm Springs!

Always time for a Pedi! 

And whats a vacation without a few random selfies on your camera roll?

Here's a few of Gracie and I being goofy...

Like always, I miss Palm Springs!! 

So glad this spring has jump started Summer early for us - I CAN'T WAIT FOR ALL OF THE FUN IN THE SUN ADVENTURES THAT AWAIT US!!

growing like weeds

So, you will have to excuse the many typos i am about to make: i have only one free hand because i am nursing while i type. also, not sure how much longer ezzy will be napping for so spell check is most likely not an option. at least i'm still blogging though. youre welcome grandparents :-0

in march, i threw the boys in some of mark's old clothes...

so, i know, the white collared shirt unbuttoned at the top totally looks john travolta in saturday night fever. found out later that a plain red shirt went with this flashy get-up. makes sense. sorry ezzy!

luca vernon at 3 months old...

after one of our costco runs, gracie made a boat out of one of the boxes. the boys love their super fun big sissy!

ok, so ezzy wanted to take over big kid duty but luca wasn't so sure about that!

Papa Craig came by for a visit so naturally we... stripped the boys shirts off? I have no idea why they both are half naked. Got to admitt that I'm happy to see ezzy not pinching his nipples ;-)

and then there was EASTER...

like always, nana surprised the kiddos with goodies. grace has learned to love checking the mail, cause she just 'knows' that nana will send her something. ezzy is quite fond of the big boxes that he gets to rip open! thank you so much grandma marlene!!

per tradition, we met grandma & pop francis for breakfast on the saturday before easter. the kids were excited when i told them we were going to ihop for pancakes...

after breakfast we made our way over to the arlington easter egg hunt. this year grace moved up to the big kids age group which split mark and i up, as he stayed with her and i went with ezzy over to the little kids section.

also, we met up with our friends shane & brittany hedahl (and their little cutie pie, charlotte). ezzy & charlotte had a quick fling but when we all ooed and awed over them smooching ezzy did NOT appreciate it and he quickly buried his head in pop's crotch and refused to look at anyone until he could compose himself. 

so, since this serves as our family journal I want to take a few minutes and talk about each individual kid, starting with grace...

she still LOVES to create things. EVERY day she either draws, colors, writes, builds (yep, hammer & nails) glues, molds or tapes something together. she is so stinken creative and I have to admit some of my best ideas come from her.

also, she loves being photographed and has been known to photo bomb from time to time...

she is a REALLY kind big sister and I honestly couldn't take care of the two boys as well as I do if i didn't have her.

on to ezra...

where do i begin? well, for starters, he is a boy. I mean, a rough & tough, eat dirt, lick the toilet plunger, jump off of the walls, B-O-Y. also, he's a cowboy...

who will get buck naked and climb onto the counter if you aren't careful! Can't leave him alone for 1 second! 

 

words like 'stop', 'no', 'yucky', and 'dangerous' mean absolutely nothing to him.  the only thing that will subdue him is a back tickle...

so, with ezzy being a handful i am very grateful to say that so far luca is a very happy, laid back little guy and just rolls with the punches.

he loves snuggling on mommy and he thinks daddy is the best!

last, but not least, here's a few pics of the kiddos a few days ago out in the backyard...

 

LOVE doesn't even begin to describe what we feel for these beautiful souls.