LA Zoo and Hiking at Mormon Rock

We went hiking for Memorial Day to see Mormon Rock located in southern california. They are really amazing rock formations, although they look insignificant in the pictures. Brett hiked 1.2 miles...he is getting strong.


The LA zoo is a really fun place. It is a clean zoo and they take really good care of their animals (nice big exhibits, very clean). The kids LOVED it. Dantzel mostly liked looking at all the people. Brett would squeal at each exhibit, and say "bye bye (gorilla, lion, giraffe)" before we left each exhibit. It was a great, exhausting day!

They look so amazed...haha, it cracks me up. We were just looking here at the California Sea Lions, and yes they were in a bit of a trance.

We try to keep busy on the weekends so we don't feel sorry for ourselves not being able to be with Jeff. The Neeley's invited us to go camping with them and it was great. The mountains were so green from all the rain and the temp was in the 70s.

Dantzel eats dirt, but dirt don't hurt, right?

Brett learned how to break up big dirt clods, and spent a lot of time doing it.

Brett doing his favorite thing: riding "cycles". He loves to ride these things, especially with Trevor. Poor Trevor, Brett was asking him ALL day "Trev I go cycle ride?" What a good sport Trevor was, Brett got a lot of time in on the cycle.

We took an off-roading ride to the top of Mt Thomas. The kids both fell asleep on the way up, and I was amazed at how their wobbly, bouncy heads stayed asleep.

No longer toothless. She got her first tooth that night while camping, and did so good. She slept the whole night through and didn't seem bothered a bit. What a good baby.
Look at those eyes, she gets complimented on them frequently, thanks Mom.

Jennifer and Dusty were married in the San Diego Temple on Saturday April 30th. It was a beautiful day and a fun experience to be a part of the wedding. We are so proud of them!

Jeff and his siblings (minus Derek)

Dantzel lovin' kisses from "dada".

So fun to be a bridesmaid. Jennifer is an amazing girl, it was a great day!

Handsome!!

Cutest flower girls EVER!!

Mt. San Jacinto Hike

The kids and I had an amazing Saturday. We were able to ride on a rotating tram up the tallest peak in southern California. The tram is a 10 minute ride and you ascend 2.5 miles. It is INCREDIBLE. Both kids were eyes glued. Sorry no tram pictures, we were all too busy looking out the windows, amazed.

Once we got to the mountain station we had our picnic outside, but Brett was so excited to hiking, he didn't have much of an appetite. Notice how distracted he is in this picture, he is watching other people start on the hike. He was ready to go.

Me and Sissy hiking together, what a happy hiker. They had easy 3/4 mile nature hikes which we did twice. I was proud of Brett for walking that far without being held at all!!

Dantzel enjoying nature, as usual. She was so happy the entire time, even though it was right in the middle of one of her naps.

Brett in the woods. It is so good for little boys to explore and get dirty. He spend a lot of time finding rocks, pine cones, and sticks and throwing them in the water. He told me at the end, "mom, I go hikin' in mornin'" I think he was planning on heading back tomorrow morning.

Brett touching a Jeffrey Pine. These trees are awesome becuase they have a vanillay-butterscotch smell and most importantly they have a GREAT name. We missed Jeffrey so much today... he is working so hard for our family, we love him for it.

Moms

Being a mom is the BEST thing in the world. Tough, yes... but mostly awesome!My two little sweetie bugs!!

I love this picture of my mom, she looks so happy. (and smiling with teeth showing, that is big for mom Allen)

My sweet grandma...love you.

Dantzel -- 9 months

Wow, my baby is 9 months old. She is such a little lovey. Not crawling yet, but rolling like crazy. She is starting to take nice long naps because she can roll onto her stomach, she sleeps so much better that way.
Dantzel has learned to clap her hands and wave bye bye. She is ALWAYS smiling that big gummy smile (no teeth yet).
Dantzel all dolled up before Jeff's sister Jennifer's wedding. She actually kept her bow in all day!! She was the cutest flower girl!
She can say "dada" "mama" "baba" and "nine nine" which she says when she's angry and I think in means no.

Update on Brett

Brett is doing so well and loving life in California. He loves to be outside and running. He is potty training this week and doing awesome, only 1 small accident the last couple of days. He is such a big boy, and I love seeing his white tighty Hanes sticking out of his shorts!! Brett loves motorcycles, and currently has an obession to a show about dirt bikes called "Michael Michael Motorcycle" He loves riding his bike and doing wheelies. His favorite color right now is black, but he calls it brown. He has mastered all his colors but he can't seem to get these two straight. I'm thinking he likes black so much because of all the black motorcycles we see on the road as we are driving, and he points out each one!

Brett can't resist these giant red balls outside of Target.

A slight blanket obsession.

Brett riding on the yellow bump. He loves riding on technical things: curbs, speed bumps, and piles of clothes. He rolls up clothes on the floor and uses them for jumps, it's pretty cute.

Easter 2011

Easter egg hunt at the apartment complex. Brett was so excited, and kept saying "I so esited". He picked up his first egg and sat down on the ground ready to open it and partake. We convinced him to go look for more eggs. He ended up getting only 3 eggs but he was in heaven!! What an angel!
Dantzel had no idea what was going on but was happy to be outside watching all the kids running around.
This chubby nugget isn't crawling yet, but she did for a jelly bean. "will crawl for candy", I should make a shirt!
Besides the Easter egg hunt, we had a small lesson with Brett about the death and resurrection of Christ. He actually was very attentive and concerned about the "owies" on Jesus hands. We are excited to make new Easter traditions in the future with our kids, any good suggestions?