California Vacation - Part 2

Pretend City

This girl loves to sleep! When we are out during the day, she often times tells me that she is sleepy and needs to go home for a nap. And she can ALWAYS find a place to lie down. She loved the beds at Pretend City.

Chuck E Cheese

Kaylie had so much fun with cousin Blaine!

Vacation in California! - Part 1

I am way behind on posting... The month of May was SUPER busy for us. Between going on vacation to California, Utah, and Idaho Falls, packing up to move, and moving to Cleveland, we haven't had a lot of spare time. But, now that we are moved in and our internet is working (hooray!), I figured I better do some updating.

We had the chance to go spend some time with my family in CA for a week, which was awesome! I hadn't been home to visit since last August, so I was eager to be home and see everyone. My mom made sure we had a fun-filled agenda, and also made sure we didn't spend a dime while we were there. My mom spoils us rotten! First on the schedule...

The Beach

It ended up being kind of overcast/cold most of the time we were in CA, but we still made it to the beach (just not in the water). Kaylie and Mark had fun making sand castles, and Kaylie really loved getting buried in the sand.

Time with Friends

I love that we always get to see good friends when we come home to visit. Our friends, Brad and Mandy, came down and stayed the weekend with us, which is always so fun! And we got to see our friends Ric and Rachel a few times too, and their new little baby (she is adorable)! We love our friends!

Playing games at Dave & Busters

Kaylie LOVED Mandy!

Disneyland with Grandma Brown

We had a lot of fun at Disneyland with Grandma. It's funny how Disneyland is totally different with a little kid than it is when you go with older kids. We spent most of our time in Toon Town visiting Mickey and Minnie's houses, riding it's a Small World, the carousel, Autopia cars, and the train around the park. I felt bad that my mom spent so much money when we didn't even go on many rides, but Kaylie really had a fun time, so that's all that matters. :)

When we first walked into Toon Town, we saw Minnie walking away from her house, and Kaylie just started running after her. She was so excited to see her!

To be continued...

Graduation Week

Mark graduated from U of M at the end of April! Hooray! I am behind on posting because we have been really busy since, but thought I would update everyone quick on where we are headed. Mark received an offer to work for a development group in Cleveland, so we will be moving there (with two other graduating MBA's from our ward - kind of funny) at the end of this month. We are very grateful to have a job, and Mark is really excited because it is exactly the kind of job he was hoping to get after coming back to school. And I'm excited because since Cleveland is so cheap, we are actually going to be able to rent a cute little house with a great backyard and everything! So we are hoping for the best in Cleveland.

During the week of graduation, there was a special MBA Kids celebration for all the wives and kids of the MBA students. It was a great event - yummy food, a short speech from the Dean, and just a fun time to spend with friends. Mark's graduation was a few days later, and it was fun to see him walk. We are done with school!

Kaylie's diploma

The graduate!

The house we will be renting in Cleveland - cute, huh?

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Donald and Daisy - Kaylie's favorite Easter gift

Becca and I hid some Easter eggs for an Easter egg hunt, and about 10 minutes later, Mark's dad saw this squirrel taking off with one of our eggs!

About 10 minutes after that, I looked outside again and saw that a few of our eggs had been broken into.

The squirrels were eating right through the plastic eggs to get the candy! Who would have thought?

Our friends, the Hansen's, came over for Easter dinner at Mark's family's house.

Hooray!

Mark finished his last class/last final on Wednesday, and is now officially done with school! Hooray! He graduates next Friday, April 29th...same day as the Royal Wedding. Which should I watch...decisions decisions... JK. It is so nice to be done. Mark got to go out and play in some MBA games today (football, ultimate frisbee, basketball, etc) to celebrate the end of the year, and it was fun to go watch. Normal life, here we come!

Dreams Come True!

Before Kaylie came along, I dreamt that motherhood was all about staying home and making cookies with your kids. I don't know why, but that's the picture I always envisioned when I thought about my future family. When I call and talk to my sister, Diana, she often asks me if I am "living the dream" (usually in jest after I am done whining about how hard it can be to be a mom sometimes). I have decided that Kaylie is old enough now, though, to help me start living my dream, so here we go. Kaylie is now my assistant in the kitchen (assistant = taste tester and buddy to talk to), and she is a super cute one.

Reading break...when will the cookies be done??

St. Patty's Day

I am a little late posting about St. Patty's Day, but better late than never. It has been a pretty gray, cold, long winter this year, but I kept holding out hope that it would be sunny and warm enough to go to the park like we did last year on St. Patrick's Day. And it actually happened! It has since been cold and cloudy again, but on St. Patty's (and the day before and after), it was sunny and warm. I was so grateful! I really needed some sun! I think I had more energy and excitement in those few days than I have had all winter.

Anyway, we decided to celebrate by having a few kiddo's over for some green fun. We made green necklaces, decorated shamrocks with Lucky Charms and M&M's, and colored some St. Patty's pictures. We also went to the park - which was great! Then, we had a super yummy lunch - green pasta alfredo, green grapes, and peanut butter celery sticks. And of course, a green dessert: cupcakes! It was a great day!