have I told you about our exciting excursions lately?

it started with that eventful trip to the bay. we were lucky enough to have jenny come stay with us for a few days over her spring break and we decided to go visit erin while she was here. we arrived friday, late afternoon. during our visit, we walked the streets of china town, saw a fortune cookie factory that was incredibly interesting, toured HM, saw cannons being fired aboard a pirate ship, rode a trolley--jaden even got to hold on to a pole on the outside for one leg of the trip, ate at the rain forest cafe and had our first taste of ethiopian cuisine.
oh yeah and whilst awaiting the arrival of the check at said authentic eatery, a lady comes running to our table asking if we drive an acura suv to only then inform us that it had just been broken into and whatever was attached to our windshield stolen. that would be our portable gps. we always considered its portability a bonus, hum. so saturday, what was supposed to be 45 min. turned into most of the afternoon being spent at the glass shop. of course we had to leave saturday evening because a certain furry somethin' would be arriving in the morning to hide the easter eggs. and we left beckam's stroller at home. oh, and on our way back to erin's house on friday evening our car started making this strange knocking noise. and I'll just stop there.

after a good nights sleep and the morning festivities, including creamed eggs on toast, I got the courage back to pack up again for our road trip to arizona. "our" being me and the boys (just the little ones). we were a little curious about that knocking noise considering the hundreds of miles I'd be covering in the next couple of days so micah set out to access the situation. what he found--oh, two of our lug nuts loose enough to turn with his hand. coincidence? I say NO. had it not been for our lug nut locks, I think we may have been missing more than our gps (micah's not convinced).

I'm happy to report our trip to arizona was perfectly smooth and only eventful by way of visiting with old friends and family (including my 93? year old great, great aunt) and fun kid activities. I have to give a shout out to my incredible boys, who I'd wager are the best 2 and 5 year old road trippers ever. we were on the road for 13 hours each way (broken down to 4 hrs. one day and 9 the next) and there was never a complaint heard or a whine uttered--AMAZING! yes, I realize that will ALL change in 6 months but that's precisely why I did it now. I also have to admit that the only dvd watching was during beckam's one nap (each way), which was a welcome and much deserved reward.

so we've just been recovering lately and trying to get back into the groove. I was in bed by 9:30 the first few days, which really cut into my blogging time--I had no idea how exhausted I was. I think we're back now.

summer lovin', having a blast

and no pictures to prove it. how disappointing I know.
so this is our first month of summer regurgitated
(if any body reading has any photos to prove where we've been and what we've been up to, please send them my way. I've been a major slacker in the photo dept.).
I'll try to make this short.

we pulled jaden out of school a week early because disneyland is way more fun than any end of the year party (and you all know about my disneyland rules, don't you? rule #1: I don't go during the summer and especially not during summer break) we had plans to meet the hatch's (friends from BYUH, live in WA) there and as luck would have it, when the kearns (also friends from BYUH, live in UT) called to wish micah happy birthday, we found out that they were going to be at the happiest place on earth the very same days as us--what are the chances?!

we stopped in bakersfield on our way down to celebrate micah's birthday again. there was swimming, a water slide, climbing wall, golf cart, trampoline, basketball, lots of food, including brownies and homemade ice cream, friends and family--the perfect recipe for a great time!! THANK YOU to everyone who was there and contributed!!

next we headed to the oc for our week-o-fun. we logged about 30 hrs. at disneyland and ca adventure with three perfectly well-behaved kids and lots of time spent (though not enough) with some of our favorite friends and their adorable kiddos. we enjoyed an evening out with the maughans at the melting pot to celebrate all of our birthdays. another dining highlight included a trip to the cheesecake factory (have you ever been? the menu is like 50 pages long. there was no way I could make a decision so I asked the waitress to pick for me)---Yummmmy! lots of time was spent poolside soaking up the sun--fabulous!!

then it was back to bakersfield for my surprise birthday week celebration. micah organized a-party-a-day. each day included lunch, dinner and babysitting. perfect. yes! some days included shopping sprees w/ muy, muy cute clothes, other days just included shopping minus the spree. there were manicures, pedicures, perfume, jewelry, new sunglasses, CUPCAKES from the cutest little cupcakery, candles, b&bw goodies, flowers, balloons, cash and cards---whoa, what a week! it made turning 30 worth it (I was apprehensive). then I had to leave my throne and return to reality but not for too long.

I brought my three nephews home with me and we loved every minute of the 9 days of camp cousins (my favorite part was having the coolest, most responsible 15 year old nephew here with me--he was the greatest help). this was during that weird heat wave so we enjoyed lots of beach days. with kippy joining us for some of that time, I even had one beach day w/ the big boys while asher hung out at home with her (why don't we live closer to family? this question seems to keep coming up). we had two more overnight guests during that week along w/ a visit from papa dave to retrieve the boys and return them to my sister.

then there were 4 days to regroup before jenny came for a visit, which included yet another birthday surprise (thanks to micah for coordinating). a trip to san francisco w/ her to visit erin sans big boys. we left friday and had a fabulous girls weekend in the city. I'm happy to report there were no broken car windows and our gps is safe. asher was a complete angel and endured a late night at the theatre, restaurants and more shopping. he got lots of attention for his sweet smiles and perfect disposition--it was such a treat! and perhaps a little deceiving to my two best ladies: one is only 3 months away from motherhood and the other maybe 3 years. asher made it look a little too romantic. I returned home to cute kids, a hot husband, clean house and folded laundry--what more could I ask for?!

so now we're trying to catch up from all the fun. and I'm thinking another trip to bako is only 4 days away (micah goes back to the oc for a week and I'm a whimp). I hope the blog neglect improves but I can't make any promises.
we are the family of perpetual motion.