A visit from Germany

Here's Will and MacKenzie. Will is from germany and lived with Bruce and Kathy for a year doing a foreign exchange program. He and his parents came through California for a visit and MacKenzie loved them!!! We all did, but MacKenzie cried when Will's mom left.

Remembering the pioneers

Here's a cute picture of my sister Khristie and her husband Bob on their "Trek" through the wilderness. Totally thought about them while they were gone and what they were recreating out there. I don't know how far they walked, but it wasn't as far as the original pioneers who sailed across oceans and then pushed and pulled handcarts across the country all for the sake of building up Zion. I love the pioneer stories of these people barely making it to Utah, if they made it at all, and doing it just because they were asked to by the leaders of the Church. What lessons of faith we can learn from those who have gone before.

Grandpa's face lift

Justin's dad had skin cancer removed from his nose and has to have a skin graft. Lucky for him he gets a free face lift in the process. He says it's not worth for any of you thinking about it :) Here are the girls with him the day after being sliced open. He and Kathy were at their time share at Ventura Beach while he was laying around recovering so they invited us to come for a few days and it was beautiful.


Here we are at the indoor carrousel on Rudolph. Kennedy LOVED it and had to go twice. The second time was with her Auntie Katelyn.

Pool Party

Last week Justin's older brother Jared and his family came to visit for a week from Utah. We invited our friends the Williams over at the same time and we had lots of fun swimming in the pool and eating. My favorite part was watching Nathan jump off the diving board regardless of the part where he really didn't remember how to swim. And he wanted to jump again. No fear! From L-R we have Ian, Nathan, MacKenzie and Kennedy (with her goggles on).


We tried to get Kennedy to give Nathan a kiss and he wasn't going for it at all :)

Happy Birthday MacKenzie!

Here's our birthday girl! We can't believe how fast she has grown. Some of the things MacKenzie can do are pull herself up to the buttons on the tv and turn it on and off and change the channel. She can climb up on the end tables to get the phone and push buttons. Then she can be found trying to talk on the phone and saying, "hi". She has a few words... hi, baby, hi baby, no, mama, dah dah, uh-oh and it sounds like she says Lucy (the dog) and Kennedy but they are not clear. She is still a very happy baby and loves her family and we love her.

Other exciting news we found out today... we're having a BOY!!! He's due Halloween which with me means a few days later. Yay for our 2 girls getting to have a little brother.

Bye Bye Daddy

Justin is off to the CHP Academy in Sacramento so here's a quick family shot.


A little advise from the siblings on how to use the ipod for his 4-5 hour drive. Good luck with the electronics Justin :)

Oil Museum

We went to the Oil museum this week trying to get some culture into our lives and expose the kids to it as well. My grandma would be very pleased. We live in the middle of oil country and there were lots of displays of OLD trucks and pumps they used. It was fun, but it's getting pretty hot outside too. Great for swimming, not for walking around outside at a museum.


Here were are in front of an old oil truck.


Kennedy by the pump.

Busy Day

Last week MacKenzie and I went to pick up Bruce, Kathy, Jordan and Heidi from their trip to Europe while Justin went to his brother Jacob's graduation. It was a busy day for everyone. Kathy found LOTS of cute things the grandkids "needed", but cutest of all are these gold ballet slippers! Kennedy already was unloading the suitcases of clothes and found the socks or leggings i guess and then put the slippers on over them and I couldn't stop laughing at how funny she is.


Here's a picture with the CSU Bakersfield grad! He the first on Justin's side to complete his bachelors and finished with an accounting degree. Now he gets to find a real job. Good job Jacob!

MacKenzie's Pony Tail

Here's our cute little baby that's turning one at the end of the month. Her hair is just long enough to make this goofy looking pony tail:) She's growing so fast!



This is the "I'm getting mad" look. There's a whine that goes with it and lucky for you you can't hear it on the picture, but it is funny.

Tractor ride

Here we are at the Brown's who live about 40 minutes away from Derby Acres in a place called Cuyama (Kweee-yah-mah). Justin and I had never been there before, but we couldn't miss it, right off the highway the only house with a VERY large windmill. And I forgot to take a picture of the windmill because I was so excited about the tractor! :)



MacKenzie didn't care that she wasn't riding the tractor. She's such a happy girl.


Here's a little family shot.

Toothpaste

It seems like I'm only taking pictures of Kennedy and the toothpaste and the lotion, but that's what she does all the time. Maybe we will get to locking drawers someday. Anyway here she is...again!!

Staying @ home...

When we're at home we find all kinds of things to get into. MacKenzie is now slithering around and Kennedy is potty trained. This means I let Kennedy stay in the bathroom for long periods of time as she likes to have the door shut when she's going #2. Sometimes she likes to get into other things when she's finished. The other day she climbed on the counter and took a bath in soap. If it's not soap it's toothpaste.

We found a cute little rocker unfinished for $15!!! had to get it!




Pool time after Aunt Heidi's dental hygiene graduation. Good job Heidi. Kenney liked being on the floaty and macKenzie liked just being in the water with Uncle Jordan.

Coloring the eggs

Or dropping the eggs. We ended up making deviled eggs out of the cracked ones.

Ummm... yummy crayons! MacKenzie made sure everything was up to taste.


So cute under the table. Nothing funnier than eating with everyone around the table and then someone jumps up wondering what is licking their feet... and it wasn't the dog:)

Easter

From L-R Madelyn, Kennedy and MacKenzie pose in their cute Easter dresses made by Grandma Pollock.

Here they are in Jacob's new wagon and note the little chicken in Kennedy's arms. She loves her chickens!

And here is what happens when you hold the chickens too long :)

Ventura Beach

Justin & I planned to visit Ventura to see his sister Katelyn a few months ago and they closed the grapevine on us!!! The other day we decided to try again and it was a blast. The girls had never been to the beach and Justin was dying to get in the water. Me... I like to let the water heat up A LOT before getting in. Here's a picture of Justin and Katelyn preparing to go snorkeling... yes in the Pacific. Didn't see much, but had fun doin it.

Kennedy is a girl after my own heart. She wasn't so sure about the freezing cold water but loved holding the crabs her Grandma and Daddy found.

And our sweet little MacKenzie... she had fun watching it all. She even took a good nap:)

Sounds of silence

I think many moms can relate to the deafening sound of ... quiet. Kennedy found her way out to the mounds of dirt which used to be in the front yard:)

Jacob's Birthday

Every year around St. Patrick's Day Justin's mom makes corned beef and cabbage. I never had this until i joined the family... and I love it, but not as much as Justin LOVES it!!! So for his brother Jacob's birthday we celebrated yesterday with all the fam minus Jared & Kami, by eating yummy corned beef, visiting and taking a stroll down to the park to play. I wasn't sure who was more excited about going, Kennedy or Katelyn and Jordan.

From L-R Justin, Jacob, Heidi, Katelyn and Jordan. We were missing Laura & Maddie who we home feeding and the grandparents who were enjoying the few minutes of quiet.

Then we have our cute little swingers :) Makes it easy to push just one swing. They love it!

Derby Acres

Justin is getting ready to go into the CHP academy and we moved in with his parents in Derby Acres. Look @ the population on the sign... I love it and we are having a great time. We moved in 2 weeks ago and Kennedy misses her friend Austin, but loves to be able to run wild in the country. We have been swimming in the spa everyday waiting for the pool to warm up so we can jump off the diving board. We have looked for worms... no worms out here. Imagine Middle East climate. Only thing out here are oil fields and it's beautiful in its own kind of way.

Emus!!! "Moo-ove like an emu moves" Kennedy keeps calling them peacocks :) And check out the stroller we found for free on the side of the road! Free is always a good price!

Cute little sheep and a goat.

The Old Gage House

As we were out in the sticks of Fresno a month ago we went by this old house. It used to be my great grandparents house and I remember going there Sunday afternoons for dinner with ALL the family (2nd cousins, 3rd cousins...) It looks excatly the same minus a few trees and veggies:)

Tumbling & Rolling

Here's what happens when you leave the laundry room for 1 minute! :) And if you look closely you will see Frosty the Snowman in there with her... it's not Christmas, but every time I try to hide him she gets him back. Frosty can be found sitting next to her on the couch and is a fabulous dancing partner!

Kennedy is still learning how to pedal, but she loves her birthday bike and wants to wear her helmet while she rides just like Daddy!