Dland and Sea world

We had an awesome start to our vacation by heading down to my friends place in California. We went to Dland and Sea World and stopped off at the beach before we left. Disney was a bit crowded for my liking, but the kids still had fun. Kai's favorite part was the Toy story shoot

'em up ride and watching the Jedi training show. Darth Maul was putting his fingers to his eyes and pointing at Kai the whole show saying "I am watching you" It was pretty freaky cause he was a black guy that had his face painted really well and had pretty crazy fake teeth in. It was pretty intense. Darth Vader was huge and Kai was a bit intimidated. Next time he wants to be picked to fight them, but this time he just watched. He got a pic with the army man from toy story and that was definitely another highlight for him, who cares about woody right... he walked right past him and went right to the army dude :) The fireworks were awesome and Kai actually fell asleep on rich's shoulders watching! They were so hammered. Then we went to Sea world and met Kai's little buddy there. The shamu show was a big let down and the kids were super bored because it was so long. The trainers of course weren't allowed to swim with the whales anymore, so it was kind of lame. However, to make up for it the new dolphin show was awesome. The kids were so drawn in, they couldn't get enough, they were in a trance it seemed. The playland there is great and we spent a couple hours running around there. Then our plans to drive to sequoia national park flopped so we just decided to sit at the beach for a while, so that is what we did. We played in the sand, buried eachother, saw seals in the ocean, and caught lots of crabs. It was great fun!

New Slide Show!!!

4th year!!!

It's official! We now have 1 year left! I can't believe how fast time flies when your having fun. We have had so many good times this year. 3rd year required a lot less studying so we really had some good family times. The kids are growing up so quickly and before you know it I will have a 2 year old and a 4 year old. Speaking of my 2 year old, I want to shed some light on some mis conceptions about her. This is what she appears to be...

sweet, kind, loving, precious... those words might be used to describe her. Mostly folks, she's just pretty to look at, because this, is what I deal with on an hourly basis... Prepare yourselves, it isn't pretty... oh and try to ignore me I'm kind of rediculous, sometimes I just light to spur her on...

Sometimes I feel like I am dealing with a preteen. She is hormonal and naughty and sometimes I just wish she'd get over this phase! Meanwhile, I'm trying not to wish away her premature terrible two's...

Family

Despite getting together for a funeral, we had a really fun time with family we haven't seen for a long time! It was so great to have everyone on Rich's side together. It was great to see all my beautiful sister in laws again and let Kai and Meili reacquaint with their cousins. Meili and Ava became little buddies. They would chase eachother around and as long as they kept an arms length away from eachother, Meili couldn't injure her! hahaha :) With a little encouragement they did really well :) Kai loved playing with all his little man cousins and loved seeing the new baby Alysa. He now says that I am going to have a boy baby named Taylor. What??? whatev. Maybe he knows something I don't ;) He played so well with all his man cousins and it was so fun to see him be rough and wild with them! We stayed up late everynight and played games. Rich gave a great talk at the service and I actually think Kai understands that the spirit and the body separate at death. We had some lengthy conversations during our drives and he surprised me constantly with his knowledge of the subject. It even shocked me that during the viewing Meili said, 'Ganpa Jensen', when she saw him. It was crazy, I'm thinking she picked it up during our talks in the car, but really not sure. It was neat. Everything went well with the funeral and we enjoyed time with our family. We are blessed in countless ways :) enjoy these picssorry these pics turned on meMei and ms Alysa :)

one of the highlights of Kai's weekend...dragon jammies

Life

Today we celebrated Life. Rich's 30th birthday was today and we did a simple evening with eachother. It consisted of cupcakes, many happy birthday wishes, wrestling with babies, and panda express :) He is such a loving and caring husband and father, we are so lucky to have him. Today we also pondered his grandpa's life, as we found out this morning that he passed away in his home. We are comforted to know he is with his wife and daughter now and that we will see him again someday. We will miss his quiet sweetness and love :) It must run in the family. We will be heading to price this weekend for funeral services. I guess we need to spend more of our days celebrating life, as we are continually reminded that it is so precious... Here's a few pics :)

Sadly, there are only a few photos of the kids and Grandpa Jensen, wish we had more recent ones.

Bellagio & Mother's Day

This last week we got to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Holt since they were celebrating their 1 year anniversary. The had a room at the Bellagio for 2 nights and we got to swim at the pool and hang out and eat great food! It was excellent :) The kids loved it and we enjoyed seeing them again.Haha! If you can't tell in this pic, the kids have already had a long day of swimming!

For Mother's day weekend I was definitely spoiled. My wonderful hubby sent me shopping without kids, which never happens! It was excellent. We all made a big breakfast sunday morning and Kai told me all weekend, "Happy Valentine Mother's day mom!" Can you tell we just came off of Valentines day?? He's a little confused, but he'll get it :) My favorite part of the weekend was when I walked in on Rich changing Mei's daiper and he was trying to get her to repeat back to him "happy mother's day" Which came out, "Appy Modder" and that's it. It was really sweet to catch him trying to teach our 1 year old to come tell me "Appy Modder Day" :) Love my babies and love my hubby :) What a great weekend it was...

Kai took this pic of us, Isn't he great!

IRON woMAN!!!

We spent the weekend in St. George watching my sister Michelle and her husband do the Iron Man! It was one of the craziest events I have ever seen. It was really something neat to be a part of. These athletes are so passionate about life and what they do. It was an awesome atmosphere. After 140 miles of swimming, biking, and running, they finished together, holding hands, with about 15 minutes to spare. (They planned it that way.) It was such a fun experience to be a part of and we are so proud of them! They conquered a goal of theirs and it was awesome to share it with them. We spent 2 nights in a great hotel and swam, which the kids just loved. We even got plenty of exercise chasing them around at different checkpoints, being their paparazzi. It was such a fun weekend and we're sad that it went so quickly! Here's a few pics of the event :)

Before the race at 6am :)

Over 2,000 people starting the swim at the exact same time...

Just out of the frigid waterTransition from swim to bikeWaiting and swimming...The run wasn't pain free...Approaching the finish...With 15 min to spare :)IRON woMAN FINISHER!!!

P.S. Don't forget to check out the new slide show pics!!!