Beach Fun!

While Grandma Carol and Grandpa John were here, we chose the warmest day to head to the coast. We ate at the Splash Cafe (the best chowder breadbowls on the central coast, maybe anywhere for that matter!), we braved the wind on the beach, walked around, and had a great time! Yes, that first picture is of this very strange looking crab the girls found, kind CREEPY, but hey, everyone in our family loves sea life! We also saw a dead otter, which made the girls very sad :( Perhaps the coolest find though, was that it was low tide, and there were TONS of sand dollars everywhere! They filled a bucket and insisted on taking it home...

so here is their collection, actually pretty impressive, i think...

It was so windy, but lots of fun!

Lunch at Splash!

okay, they were starting to get annoyed at me insisting on pictures!

And as if that weren't enough fun already, we started talking back and forth on the walkie talkies about stopping at Hanford for some Superior Creamery Ice Cream! I didn't take pictures there, but the peach and the chocolate chip are the beeessst!!!!!! A great day, and a great way to get out of the valley heat!

Visalia Rawhide Game (formerly Visalia Oaks)

One of the days my parents were here, we went to the recently remodeled stadium in town and enjoyed some good old fashioned baseball! I am still not sure why Visalia Oaks had to change their name to the Visalia Rawhides, but they did. In any event, the stadium is ver nice now, they have patio seating along the third base line and stadium seating, as well as a grass area if you want to bring your own blankets or chairs to sit on. They have a VIP box, a few snack barsm, and a gift shop too. We ate nachos, hot dogs and snowcones, so we got our fill of the good junk food that was there. And the kids met Tipper, the mascot. Later they got little Tipper stuffed animals to remember the evening. We had fun cheering and singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and even did the wave a couple of times.

Mal and her friend from school

We had a great time, even with the boys that kept playing chase down our row back and forth repeatedly. Finally, I just put my chair right in the middle and told them this row is closed for running! (ha- don't mess with a teacher, right, lol!). Anyway, the team went in to extra innings because the score was 0-0, and we left before the final score. We found out that the Rawhides got a homerun after we left, so they beat the Lancaster Jethawks 1-0! Woohoo! Rollin', Rollin' Rollin'....RAWHIDES!

Mallory's Birthday/Team Bowling Party!

Mallory couldn't wait for her softball team party, since it doubled as her birthday party too! She got there and immediately got into her bowling game. SHe is the one on the lane in the far right, with the navy blue shirt on. There were so many kids here, and so much going on this weekend with it also being baptism weekend, and me doubling as the coach, that I didn't get very many good pictures. I even forgot to get a picture of the birthday cake, which was a baseball diamond with a mitt in the middle of it. It said "GO Comets!" and "Happy Birthday Mal"

some cousin fun!

Even the littlest cousin had fun!

That was an attempt to get a picture of all the gifts she got. Among them were a toys r us gift card, a movie- Hotel for Dogs, nail polish and lip gloss in ALL colors imaginable, a purse, a High School Musical secret pillow/diary, money, bracelets and beads, a fairy garden kit, and a snow cone maker (which all of us are enjoying!).

The girls got t-shirts with the team picture made my one of our moms, and had fun signing each other's. I gave them each a goody bag with a baseball theme (forgot to take pictures of them!). They had peanuts and cracker jacks, jolly ranchers, a bouncy baseball, a baseball keychain, a little clacker and a baseball pinball game, etc, just little things like that. I also called them up and gave each one a certificate and talked about them. Some of the awards were "No matcher for our catcher", second base- second to none!", etc.n They liked that...

Here I am with my "Thrilling Third Base" players!

my awesome first base, having fun bowling

my girls!

my boy!

fun!

It was a great party, but again, I am sooo mad that I was so busy and everyone was having so much fun that I didn't get a picture of the cake or the goody bags before I gave them out! Oh well. Everyone had a great time, and for the second time that weekend, Mallory felt very special! I am proud of my team, and who knows, maybe coach Kim will return next season!

Mallory's Baptism Day!

We had a very special day May 2nd- our baby Mallory was baptized by her father! We got there and found out that there were 5 kids in all being baptized, so it was a very special event!

We had quite a crew there- here are the kids! We were excited that the Armenta family came, we got to be in a special ceremony at their church, and two of the boys, next to Becca and Grant were in my class. Sweet family. We also had the Greenes, the Clarks, Jeb and Amber and kids, Grandpa Dennis, Grandma Carol and Grandpa John, Art and Tisha Alvarez, Jeanne Liberato, and others at the church, like Sister Schofield, Bishop Henrikson, and Brother Pace.

I am glad that everyone was taking pictures! Mine didn't really turn out great, so I will be asking for copies burned onto CD for me...

Gettin' some Brooklynn love!!!!!

The three musketeers...

plus Keilana and Brooklynn...

opening presents with Grandma Carol- I am mad I cut my mom's face out partially and didn't even know it! Mallory got a CTR ring from Auntie Amber, a journal from Grandma Carol which we found her laying on her bed and writing in later, a necklace and bracelet, a baptism memory book from Grandma Judy, a beautiful little figurine from Aunt Cammi, another necklace, a stuffed dog, and lavender body wash. All this, and we haven't even had a birthday party yet!

There are more pics to come, I am sure!

with our long time friend Jeanne!

We love you Mal! She had a great day, but we missed Grandma Judy, Aunt Cammi and Uncle Lance, and Carter and Reilly a lot!!! We know they were there in spirit, though, and Mallory knows how much she is loved because she wrote " a lot of people love me" in her journal :)

Thank you everyone for truly making this a special day for a special girl!

Grant's Birthday Party- April 20th

SO, this entry actually is backwards- sorry! This was the next morning, when they ran outside in their jammies and spent half of the day in the bounce house before Amber's friend came and picked it up. Grant had a Spider-man party with a bounce house, snow cone machine, hamburgers and hot dogs, cake, a pinata and a pin the web spinner on Spidey game. Lots of fun- we barely made it on time, rushing their after our double-header Saturday!
more jammies in the bounce house fun!

My sweet Brooklynn (sister-girl!)...

The after-party party! Becca, with Grant's play carpenter goggles, Grant, friend Maya, and Mallory

Plenty of pretzels, water, and a movie!

presents!

There were more kids, but some of them had been there a while and went home by this time...

and this is why their mouths are all red in the picture above this!- Messy snow cone face kids!!!

the other little one next to Becca is Isabelle, Grant's cousin (Jeb's brother's daughter)...

Good times! I don't have pictures of when Amber and I got in the bounce house. We had fun in there too, and were actually in there a while too, hahaha!....

Our Aunt is Awesome!

We were SO very excited to get home today and see a package addressed to the girls from their Aunt Cammi for their birthdays. She was so sweet and thoughtful to send them something. This picture shows Becca perfectly when she gets a present. Carefully removing the paper and savoring every bit of opening it.

And then there is Mal, heehee! She always excitedly dives in, paper flying everywhere!

Such cute jammies Aunt Cammi, we LOVE them!!!

They couldn't wait to take showers and put them on! They looked so cute!

Again, thank you so much Cammi, you are the coolest aunt! We love getting cute and comfy jammies! Your gifts are always the best!