Our Trip to CA in June

Brek & I were able to go to California for 10 days in June. Sadly, Joe was unable to join us. We missed him. But we had tons of fun too!

Our first day there was my birthday. My cousin Tammy, her son Bryce, and my Aunt Donna came up and shared cake with us.

Adelynne, Me, Brek, & Amy after I blew out my candles

For my birthday, my mom took me and my sister out for pedicures and shopping. I love the new clothes she bought me! It's so refreshing to look and feel good in the clothes you wear. And it was fun girl time too! Thanks to my brother-in-law Dustin and brother David who watched the kids while we were out!

Another fun thing we did was my brother David treated us all to Chuck E Cheese. Brek wasn't into the rides for himself, as is evident by his facial expression:

He did like that Bob the Builder's steering wheel actually spun. He loves spinny things.

One of the other great things I did while in California, was to actually go and see friends. I don't get out to CA as much as I'd like to, and I generally just spend the time I have with family. But this trip out I was able to take a couple days and see friends, many of which I hadn't seen in 3 years.

Our first visit was up in Truckee to see the Schrams. Quincy, Jade, Brek, Samantha, & Braedon

I love these kids!

And their beautiful mom Lucy.

Lucy was my middle school band teacher. She has since been a long-time friend. Quincy and Braedon are "my boys." I started babysitting Q when he was just a couple weeks old. I got to live with their family for a few months in the summer when the boys were little and Lucy was pregnant with Samantha. Braedon has always been my cuddle bug who also loves to wrestle.

Since it had been 3 years since I had last seen them, I was a little nervous how it would go. I was especially worried that the boys wouldn't love me like they used to. Luckily, I had no reason to be nervous, AT ALL! Both boys greeted me with huge smiles and big hugs. We had fun talking and playing and chasing Brek around. It definitely too long before we get together again.

From Truckee, I drove to Sacramento and met up with my "twin" Sara, who drove up from San Fransisco. We had dinner, and laughed at Brek who clapped every time the man behind us cheered for the baseball team on TV. Sara recently graduated with her Masters, so it was fun to catch up on new jobs and such that's going on in her life at the moment.

Thankfully, Brek has good taste in liking my friends.

The final set of friends I was able to visit was the White Family. It was so great to introduce Brek to Kay, and I really valued and loved swapping adoption experiences with her.

The rest of our time in California was with family. Brek learned this skill:He loved following Annalies around and trying to keep up with her. And I LOVE that he learned to manage the stairs because we have 2 small sets of stairs in our house. He's done a great job with them, and his first tumble happened on his birthday. But generally speaking, he's a pro!
I really love all the cute pictures my sister takes that I can steal off of her blog. :)

For example, such an adorable smile from Aurora!

And this cute grin from Annalies!

Brek had his first experience with a stroller while in California. He really was just in the early stages of walking, so whenever he got behind a stroller, he was running to keep up with it. But he loved it! His favorite thing to do with the stroller was to knock it over on its side and spin the wheels. But one morning, Tracy put Aurora in the baby stroller and the 2 of them had a blast!

I love that both of them are sticking out their tongues in this picture.

I like this picture because it's one of the first ones I have of him sleeping. I went into the room we were in to grab something and check on Brek. At first I couldn't find him because he is curled up in the front corner of the portacrib. This is how he ends up sleeping when he cries and fights going down for a nap.

Here's Brek wearing Uncle David's sunglasses.
Katie striking a pose

Popsicle time!Heather & Adelynne
Katie & Amy

On our last day in California, my mom, sister, and I took all the kids and had their pictures taken. It was a workout! I wish I had a way of putting those pictures here on the blog, but I don't. Instead you get pictures from the rest of the day. We promised the girls lunch at McDonald's and going to the park if they were good for pictures. I love the pictures my sister took at the park.

Katie & Amy in their matching lemonade shirts drinking their apple juice.

Adelynne & Heather

The rest of the pictures at the park are of the babies, because it was HOT and we tried to hang out with them in the shade. And, most of the pictures I stole off my sister's blog are of Brek, because I think he's adorable, and I love all the facial expressions she caught.

This one is my favorite! I can't believe the scowl he's got going here!

This is such a sweet picture of AnnaCute baby legsBrek exerting his dominance."Really mom, she likes it."I think this picture is just showing us what is to come: I can just hear the 2 girls complaining, "Brek is getting in our way and messing everything up!"
That's what you get when he's the only boy.

Well, playing at the park was super hot, so we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house and played in the water. This is when I learned how much Brek loves water.I really couldn't keep him away from it.This is a cute shot of all the girls (minus Aurora) huddled around the water toy.A cute shot of Anna in her swim suit.Katie & Amy drying off.Brek on the towel. He was shivering like crazy but he wasn't very happy about being away from the water. It took a lot to distract him.Love that smile!

I'll end this post with 2 pictures my sister took when she and her family stopped to visit us in Utah, while en route to Vegas and then California.

Gotta love our chocolate and vanilla babies!