"39 red ballons go by.."

The twins woke up to this after naps....

They ran around for an hour straight!


Followed by a water balloon fight at the beach:

Gotta love how happy kids are when balloons are present!

38 Strips of newspaper and a couple of bones...

Where can you go that you can find:

A coy pond and fountain:

A dolphin water feature play area (not pictured)

A 15,000 gallon salt water tank with sharks, puffer fish, and other tropical fish:

Huge books as the entrance  (Merrick and Berkleigh were in awe at the "bee books"):

A huge Tyrannosaurus Rex Skeleton:

A huge tree complete with rainforest sounds:

A space ship:

A lighthouse and a night sky that changes color:

And a green screen with a video camera to put you and your family into different worlds?:

The Cerritos Library, of course!

IT WAS AWESOME. 

It is only 20 minutes from our house (which is 20 minutes farther than our closest library), but I think we will frequent this library.

It had cute little tables with lamps to read at and millions of books!

The Cerritos Library apparently has an AMAZING story time... while we were there, we found out that there is a waiting list to get a storytime slot. (Crazy!) I put our names in the waiting list for the next storytime... hope we get picked! Cross your fingers for us. :) 

I wanna go back. Anyone want to come?

You may be wondering what 38 strips of newspaper has to do with the library...

Well, it has no correlation, except that it was part two of Fun Day 38. The twins are making their first pinata.

We prepared the string to tie the balloon up for better paper mache-ing techniques:

Ahh, finally ready:

Gettin' down and dirty learning a skill that will help them out in all aspects of life...


The goop: My philosophy, you didn't have fun if you didn't get messy. 
Notice Berkleigh's dainty finger taps. She wanted nothing to do with the mess.
As we speak the pinata is hanging to dry outside. Tomorrow step two: Paint and fill.... and we all know what happens after that!

The (37) Lost Playgrounds of Atlantis

Well... Day 37 actually started last night.. when my wonderful mother in law picked up the kids and took them to her house for a sleep over. Gotta love those! Tyson and I went on a mid week date to El Torito (yum) and Transformers (yuck).

Today, we went to the Atlantis Play Center in Garden Grove (said with a holla at the end). 

We went with Max, Autie, and Ivy.

Huge slides...

Possessed sea creatures... (Yes, Merrick is kissing this beaut.)


Possessed sea creature A:


Possessed sea creature B:

Possessed sea creature C:


And to top it off, the possessed King Neptune:

I might be worried that the possessed powers of those sea creatures rubbed off on my boy...


And some fun on the swings...
I love new adventures... and I would go back to this park again.

!!!36 Butterflies!!!

There were more than that, but I am getting sick of seeing a number at the top of every post. We went to the Environmental Nature Center this morning.

We...

(did everything I am about to tell you for free...)

played with different animal foot print stamps and water:

Looked at snakes and frogs:

Colored butterflies:

Read bug books:


Went in the butterfly house:




Got really close:


Butterfly kisses:


Went on a little hike around the nature center and saw...

Lizards:



Dragonflies:


Waterfalls:

(Berkleigh looks concerned in the picture because she is looking for the hippo I told her was behind me so she would look at the camera.)

Picked up sticks:


Hung out with Brooke:


And last but not least... got our buy one get one free smoothies from Jamba Juice:
Gotta love summer!

Monday, Day 35: Sea World

We got to see these bad boys yesterday with the Moussers, Haights, and Brooke. There was a white heron that kept flying right by Shamu. I wanted to see the circle of life... but Shamu was to busy putting on a show. 

(Yes, I took this picture. No, I am not dumb enough to sit in the splash zone. The beauty of nice camera is you get to crop a far away picture and make it look close.)

I know, redundant, but I needed you to see that we spent some time with the aquatic life, even though most of the time was spent here:

I don't love Elmo, but he sure makes a mean play area for the toddlers. When it is 80+ degrees outside, Elmo is my favorite person.

Mission Accomplished: Worn out!

And to make it through a LONG trip back from San Diego, we stopped at Mr. Frostie's, a Kristy (the person with me) favorite, for some delish Chocolate Mint Oreo Shakes... mmm.

34: I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream

Part Two: Sabotaged...

Instead of part two of fun day, some person had to go and dislocate their talus. I wish I had some good medical terminology for you, but this picture will do.. Tyson is working on someone right now, the kids are asleep, and instead of Part 2, I will be watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Ahh, relaxing.. stay tuned. It will happen soon. :)

33: Part One

This morning we went to Lakeshore Learning for their Free Craft Saturday. Kinda lame crafts, but the kids have tons of fun using glue and using all the different craft supplies. Plus, I didn't have to clean up the mess. :) Love that!








Proud of her finished product. While Merrick uses his as a sword...


Look later tonight for Part Two of Day 33

harses, harses, harses, harses...

Every time we go to the library, we pass by an equestrian arena. I have always thought it would be fun to sit and watch the horses jump. So that was fun day 32!  We drove in, went to the main office, asked if I could take the twins around to see the horses, and got a tour out of it! It was awesome. The twins were in heaven.

This wonderful woman, Marcia, taught us how to approach a horse. This horse is one of 400 horses at the stables in Huntington Beach. I couldn't believe it! He only had one eye. I don't remember his name so I call him One Eyed Willy.

After our little tour, we got to walk around and see the horses taking baths...

We continued our walk past more horse stables...

And then up to watch the horses jump...
B & M loved it.
Then we went back to Mother's Beach, because we had a random visit from Tyson's sister. We love random... so we ran with it!

We played in the water...

Played in the sand...

Played with cousins...

Played with grandma...
And ate pizza...

Another wonderful summer day!

There are two references to movies in this post. Can you find them? I also want to see who actually gets to the end of this post. Sorry for the length.

Take Extreme Caution:

Bed head is hereditary...

Life's a Beach: 31

We went to two different beaches today:

Mother's Beach...

and The Wedge.. duh duh duhhh.

Mother's Beach is a great beach for kids, cause they can actually play in the water, and an AWESOME beach for mom's cause we can actually talk and not worry our kids will drown or be swept away. That is pretty perfect all around.

Hailey and Dallin, our wee little friends that came...


Max and Berkleigh "ready, set, go"-ing into the water


The Result


Now Merrick wants in...

The Wedge has HUGE waves right now, and everybody knows about it..


We had a blast watching the 15-20 ft waves and the crazies who were actually boogie boarding out there.
Tyson had to hold them because the water would crash on the shore so high up, that one of them would have been swept away for sure.

The Big 3-0

No.. I am not 30 yet.. sheesh.. I am not THAT old! jk jk...

We have pretty much hit the half way mark of our summer fun challenge, and we still have many more fun things planned. I have made a calendar and planned every fun day until the end of the summer. :) Yipee!

Today we went to the free Regal movie theater movie. We wanted to see Charlotte's Web, but I drove us to the wrong theater, so we ended up seeing The Pirates that Don't Do Anything, a Veggie Tale... um.. snore fest.

This is before the movie started. (When the kids didn't know what they were getting into...)
We went with Autie, Ivy, Max, and Lisa, Emily, ,and Lauren.




This is what Berkleigh looked like while she was bored to DEATH during the movie. I mean, it was cute, but there was too much talking and not a lot of action...


Next time it will be better... hopefully! :)

We also went to the splash pad from yesterday.

(Sorry, stock photo from yesterday, I didn't take my camera in this time...)




Berkleigh didn't look like this: 
as much as she did yesterday. Although she spent ample amounts of time warming the bench. Thanks Po Pos for a fun day!

Viente nueve

I have been on a search for a GOOD splash pad. I really liked this one. It had a fence around it, and TONS of water... I mean. I was soaked! It felt so good though!

Merrick loved it! Hence Exhibit A-D...






If you are wondering why I took so many pictures of Merrick and not of Berkleigh...

The reason would be she did this:

...most of the time!

And a quick dry off at the park next door before we got back in the car.

2 8owling twins (28)

We had a great time gettin' some free bowling on Monday! We drove to Anaheim, to a bowling center that has a kids bowl free program. I knew I needed to pay for shoes, but when we got there, they didn't make me pay for the kids shoes cause their feet were to small... they got to wear the shoes they came in. Awesome... free bowling! Gotta love it!



Waiting for the results.



Their favorite part was watching their balls magically appear.

Yes, Berkleigh had a pink ball, and Merrick had a blue ball.

Seriously, on a bad day, I can get like 83... they did so good. They each got a spare!

Gotta love Sonic on the way home!

The Playbill : 27

I made this a couple weeks ago...

I have been dying to use it...

A lazy sunday fun day is just the ticket for its maiden voyage...

Tyson started with a rendition of Under the Sea and Big Scary Black Sock will Eat All the Little Animals.

Merrick tried to save us from Bruce, the scary shark, that tried to eat the lonely lion... because the shark is naturally the predator of a lion, they share the same habitat.


Then it was Merrick and Berkleigh's turn to show off their thespian skills...

25&26

Day 25: I found a splash pad not to far from our house...well kinda far, but it was a fun little adventure for me and the kiddos.


Berkleigh didn't want to get wet as much as she wanted to spray every kid there. 

We ate left over pizza...

..and then went next door to the uber playground. 

Seriously, the slides were out of control!

We played so long, that I lost track of time! One the way home I had to keep them awake so they would take a nap when we got home... so Mc D's for some ice cream cones!

We then took the munchkins to the in-laws so we could go out for our anniversary! 

We went to Morton's with a gift card of $150... our meal cost $142. We just paid tip! Awesome way to celebrate!

Day 26 started with sleeping in... the kids had a sleep over at grandma's, so we could go on a early morning date with our neighbors, the Haights.

We went to see Harry Potter at 9 am. (Sounds odd, but there was not a single line, folks!)

We then went out to eat at Boudin, grabbed our kids from Grandma's and headed to Goathill Junction for a little free train action...

I love busy days...

24: Fixin' Ta Land

Our Fun adventure for the day started with a simple trip to the grocery store. The twins each picked a treat of their choice, and I got a drink. We packed some books, the camera (obvi), our blankets, and our snacks. We backed up on a street that dead ended at the John Wayne Airport runway, opened the back of the car and watched the planes land and take off. B & M loved it!

Drinking Soda...

Watched more planes...

Eating Fruit Snacks

Watching the "daddy ehplanes" come in... The "baby ehplanes" were the little Cessna's that came in between the commercial planes.

Right at the fence.

This is the face I saw the whole time we were there! 

Lake Arrowhead: 22-23

The twins and I left daddy home, and went with the YW to a cabin in Lake Arrowhead. We had so much fun playing in the water, eating junk food, wakeboarding, watching movies, taking naps, and seeing Harry Potter at midnight!


Me and my friend Kristi... geeked out with the lightning bolts waiting to get into the theater.

HB 4 Young Women excited to see Harry Potter... We took up half the theater. It was so small! Notice Kristi and I aren't the only geekers with lightning bolts. :)

Playing outside in the mountain air, and acting WT. What is up with B's dress, and M's trunks?

Get so excited about the next fun day! It was my favorite one so far!

The Farm: 21

We went to Tanaka Farms on Monday for a little 1 1/2 hour tractor ride through a cute 30 acre farm.

Working in the fields...

It is fun to be pulled by a tractor!

On the way we made stops and got to eat TONS of freshly picked fruits and vegetables along the way.

Tomatoes

Carrots


Bananas


Corn


Onions


Watermelon


Cucumbers and Zuccini


Picking our own watermelon:

I will be going back for more tours.

7 Years

July 12, 2002

Tyson and I sealed the deal and tied the knot. It was a beautiful day in San Diego, I loved every minute of it, and every minute since...

Thanks for being a great Dad and Hubby.

He does what is best for our family.

He loves us.

He works SO hard for us.

He always comes home with a smile, and isn't too tired to go out and have fun.

He secretly does the dishes when I am gone.

He always compliments me on our clean house, so he knows that I know he notices. :)

He makes me laugh.

We can talk for hours.

He keeps me on my toes.

I love you Tyson!

We love you daddy! M&B

Days 18-20

I have taken a nap almost EVERY day this week. The sun has finally decided to show itself, and I am worn out after Summer Fun is over for the day... 

I call Friday, Day 18: Gracias for Gratis! (Thank you for free!)

It was opening day at the OC Fair and if you got there within the first hour, you got in free. My friends, that is the way to go to the fair! For free!

We went with Megan & Addison, Brooke & Zach, Becky & Hailey, and Melody & Corban.

I didn't get any pictures of Merrick because he didn't care about the animals. He just cared about the dirt clods on the ground and throwing them at every animal that we saw.

Berkleigh on the other hand is our animal lover.. look at that face, that is euphoria!

After we got in free to the fair, Megan and I stopped off at 7-11 for our free slurpees from the Penny Saver. 
Disclaimer: Not one of my monies was harmed or spent in the making of this day.

Saturday, Day 19: I like to call this day, "Thank-you-Target-for-giving-museums-money-so-I-can-get-in- free" day!

We went to the La Habra Children's Museum. It was cute. I am glad I didn't have to pay for it though...

The Miniature Grocery Mart

The Bus

The Kids: Berkleigh, Merrick, Lauren, Addison, (Megan), and Emily.

And it was July 11... so we got our free slurpees from 7-11. Umm, yes we enjoyed them numerous times at various locations. :)

Sunday, Day 20: Celebrations all around.. some get their own post.
Celebration 1: Our wedding anniversary! (Gets its own post)
Celebration 2: I spoke in church today, so I don't have to speak again for another year...
Celebration 3: Friendly BBQs with our awesome neighbors, always a reason to celebrate!
You choose your battles you wanna fight... this one I wasn't going to fight. If you want to wear a felt Buzz Lightyear outfit in this hot weather, its all right with me. 

If we were going to Disneyland, and he wanted to wear his BL outfit, I would fight that. Not because it would be to hot for him, but I can't stand it when people where 2 things to Disneyland:

1. Disney Apparel

2. BYU t shirts.

There is no question about it. :)

Happy Summer!!

...17: pool party play date...

We went to this awesome pool with some friends. The baby pool was away from the large pool, and it was only 1' 3"! There were lounge chairs all around the baby pool and we just chilled while the kids played.

Fun for all!

Merrick, Zach, Berkleigh, and Addison

Just a 1ittle 6odypaint (16)

We decorated ourselves with mustard, ketchup, whipped cream, yogurt, and strawberry ice cream topping. What a fun and messy day!




Merrick looks like he got shot in the back.

Addison our neighbor. She looks cute even though she has mustard all over her!

Time for a soak down.

f.i.f.t.e.e.n

Tuesdays are my problem days. I want to do something fun, but I can't go far, cause it is my cooking day. (See here if you don't know what I'm talking about.) So while running and shredding with my friend Megan this morning, we decided to do something close, and something we have both wanted to do. 

We took our kids to the Spectrum and went to this cute little cupcake shop that I pass whenever I am there.  It is called: 

Berkleigh and Merrick got to pick the cupcake they wanted:

The frosting they wanted:

The candy they wanted:

Then we sat down and decorated our cupcake.

Then we ate them: 

The best part... they were to into the candy to worry about  the cupcake, so they picked off the candy, and I got to eat the best coconut cupcake I have ever had. (WAY better than Sprinkles coconut cupcake.)

After our little mid morning snack, we headed to the splash pad and let the chillins' run free.

Ferried to 14

This particular fun day has been on my list for awhile. It was perfect weather today, so today we went.

We drove to Newport Beach.

Parked among the beach cottages.

Walked to the ferry.
Watched the yachts and sailboats pass us.

Get off at Balboa Island.

Buy a Balboa Bar.

Try and split it, because I am to cheap to buy them each their own.

Watch the mess that follows. (I know they loved it! Look at these faces!)



Rode home.

What a beautiful day!

Shadows of 13

Our token fun for the day was playing with shadows. 

On to the shadows...

I read them this book...

I picked out different objects I thought would have fun shadows.

We played around with the shadows.



Tyson started getting creative with his shadow puppets skills.

Tyson got an  old x-ray examiner light from work. I have been so excited to use it! 

Colored and played around with shapes shadows.

4 (Day 12)

4 cute people decked out in red, white, and blue.
I made Berkleigh's 4th of July dress by sewing to bandana's together. Click here to see how.

Rode our bikes along with every other resident in all of Huntington Beach to the parade.

Watched the parade.

Played at the park.

Got ready for a BBQ with the Scotts and Thackers.  Got to see Brittany and this cute newly engaged couple, Tyson and Brianna. (Yes, I got his name right...another Tyson!)

Swam and created a tsunami.

Berkleigh and Merrick felt like they needed to be in on the action.

They are so coo...

Did a little slip n' slide.

Played a fun game of "balls". I don't know what it was called, but it was like horseshoes, except with balls on rope. 

BBQed and swam some more.

Bought some illegal fireworks. Seriously... kid in a candy store. He cracks me up!

Lit off some smoke bombs.

Walked to the HB pier to watch the fireworks along with the projected  1 million other people.

Snuggled with mom as booms sounded all around.

Put the kids to bed, and had a party with just the parentals. We ran inside everytime we "thought" we saw a cop...

Look what I got!!!

Thank you exlim for deciding to kick the bucket.



We had a great 4th, and lots of fun days this past weekend. I just have to upload the new pictures from my new camera to my computer. Days 12-14 on their way!

Growing p1ants and f1owers (Day 11)

We read this book...

and then...

we posed for this...


We put the dirt in here...

We poked holes in the dirt...

We picked up the seeds we chose at the garden store the day before...

We planted the seeds...

We watered our seeds...

Now, we watch them grow...

Hang Ten

Well, day 10.. we weren't on surf boards, but we played with water ALL day long.

We painted the sidewalk, had a squirt bottle fight, swam in the shark pool, and slipped on the slip 'n slide. Awesome...

Splish Splashin our way to Numero Nueve

Our Apartments are under some heavy construction right now, so we decided to venture a little farther for Summer fun. We went to Sea World with Meg, Addison, Autie, Max, Ivy, Kristy, and Dallin. Fun was had by all.


Waiting for Shamu.. who must be a very confused whale, because they kept calling him Shamu, even though there were 4 of them, and they all had other names. Where is PEDA when you need'm. We have name confused whales over here.. .that sounds just up PEDA's alley of pointless battles to fight for the rights of animals. ;)

Yes, Berkleigh is our Trekkie. She is doing the Volcun sign. Spock is her idol.

Trying to get a better look at the sleeping bear.

Elmo isn't my favorite... however they have an amazing Elmo play park at Sea World. We played for quite awhile. Splash pads, playgrounds, and...



this awesome place! It was a pit, so the kids couldn't get out. Then you throw some big foam blocks, padding everywhere, and a bouncy surface and you have a "parents-sit- and- chat- while-kids-run-around-crazy" party. No parenting is involved in the pit. I love it!