Ella's love

Me: Ella, are you happy?

Ella: Yes

Me: What makes you happy?

Ella: All of my love that I have for you.

Pray

Pray for my friend's brother and his family. You can see their inspiring story on the Team Ryan link on my blog list. I can't stop thinking about what they are going through and relating to it in many ways. My last couple of months with my mom were the most difficult of my life--but at the same time so wonderful. I know that might seem strange without having experienced it but my family and I all agree it was a deeply cherished time in our lives. We laughed and cried and grew so close. Those memories are one of my greatest treasures. I've been thinking about those memories alot the last couple of days and I hope this sweet family has peace. I think they do. They have faith. I think I can share this...I want to. A couple of nights before my mom died she had a moment of alertness. She said,"I am totally prepared." She said it a couple of times and couldn't finish the thought. We tried to fill in the blanks with everything but what we knew she was trying to say. We knew. Thanks for indulging me...I know it's kind of sad.

Spring Break at the Beach

We had a really fun spring break. My dad, Karie and Austin came down and we went to the beach house for the week. Karie's sister Jodi and her three kids also came. I don't have pictures of Jeremy and Addie but they were also with us at the beach for one night.

I'm pretty sure that my dad is laughing at Karie and Austin getting smashed by the waves. My dad--as many times as he has been here has never been in the ocean. What a wimp:)

Carson was pretty sick for a couple of days. On this day he came with us to Zuma because we had been feeling alot better that morning--after a round of beach volleyball this is what he did for the next few hours. It was sad.

Uhh...basically this is Kade's drool.

Ella, Brinley, Claire and Haley

Me, making sure Carson is hydrated. Poor guy.

The girls went out for mani-pedis. They, of course, loved it. Lots of sparkles.

Kade--frolicking.

Kade loves Grama Karie. He was so excited for her to come and she came through with plenty of playing and attention.

Ella and Griffin

Bubbles!

Austin was the favorite uncle this week. He put in plenty of play time with the kids and they loved it--and this seemed to be his best pose.

This is Carson's lovely photography at the Santa Barbara zoo.

The kids also went to Alice and Wonderland and How to train a dragon. We ate lots of good food and played on the beach. We played softball. The girls (Claire, Ella, Brinley and Haley, planned a girls night with plenty of activities and the boys (Carson and Griffin) responded with a less organized boys night. The kids had a lot of fun. And so did the big people.

mud puddle

This was yesterday--can you guess who it might be?

Dr. Seuss

Carson was Dr. Seuss for his class oral presentation. He was not excited about the beard but in the end thought it was fun to dress up.

April fools!

So this year Claire was really into april fools day. This is how Ella and Kade woke up and Matt's car was covered in saran wrap!

The beach

Sometimes I can't believe these are mine.

Surfboarding

I love this boy. Even today when he has been whining at me all day. I love his smile in this pic. He loves the beach and "surfboarding"

Sorry Ladies...he's taken.

Yep...he's all mine. Matt grew a beard last fall. Before he shaved it all off he donned this little number...for a few hours.