Third batch of pictures from California.

Well it has been a month since our trip. I can hardly believe it. I have loaded a few more pictures up. Enjoy.

Heath Jr. and Olyvia digging in the sandy mud.

Ellie Claire throwing the sandy mud.

Olyvia was called up on stage to help with the Pigeon demonstration. She was such a good sport even when the trainer told her that the pigeon pooped on her head.

Ellie and Logan pose for a smile while Olyvia is way to captivated by the tomato dicer being used at the Mexican restaurant we ate at the first night in Disneyland.

My little graduate.

Olyvia Renae has graduated from kindergarten and I can hardly believe it. Come this fall she will be in 1st grade, going to school all day and my Ellie Claire will be in her last year of preschool. It has gone quick, like "they" said it would, but I am so excited for all that lay ahead. So many new experiences and new adventures. I took a few pictures at Olyvia's end of the year picnic and will post them soon.

Everyone that I know that has children, I encourage you to enjoy each moment. Don't try to rush the next step but rather enjoy each phase your child goes through when they go through it. Before you know it that step will have passed and if you aren't careful you will have missed it.

A little more of California.

Here is some more of the pictures from our recent trip to California. These pictures were taken at the San Diego Zoo and La Jolla beach where we went with Catharine and the boys for an afternoon of fun.

These guys were all sleeping the entire time we were there. This wasn't a huge surprise though since they sleep 18 hours in a 24 hours period of time.

The panda bears were beautiful as they lazed on the rocks.

The girls got a huge kick out of all the spit all over the camels.

We were very lucky to get to see the newest member of the gorilla family up and around. The girls loved to watch him play.

One of my little monkeys. :)

Loving the water.

Merritt and Ellie working together to cover Ellie with sand.


Ellie uncovering herself.

Robb thought Junior needed to be hauled out a little further into the water.

Daddy with his girls.

Filling the room with love.

Olyvia loves to show me love. She loves to show love period. Hugs. Kisses. Cuddles. The other day she was at the office, getting ready to go with my mom to her house for the night and she came to my office door, stopped at the threshold and said, "here mom, I am going to fill your room with love." She then started kissing into the air and blowing them into the room. She must have done this 20-25 times and then she said to me, while holding her hand to her chest, "my battery is full so I will have more love for you when I see you tomorrow." I couldn't help but clutch my heart and thank God for the wonderful blessing he has given me to have such wonderful and loving children.

Feeling Caught Up In Life.

It is that time of year again. The time of year when we send big congratulations out to all those graduating from high school or college. The time of year we send them on their way with an open book of hopes an dreams telling them they can do anything or be anybody. That they are on their way. I know quite a few that are graduating this year and as I was putting together a little something for each of them I started to wonder where along the journey of my life I forgot to be true to myself. Where along the way did I get so wrapped up in life that I forgot to live? Have I totally forgotten or am I just temporarily on a side trail with trees on either side that I can't see over?

I often feel like that. I swap between feeling like I am wandering without a goal to feeling like I am fulfilling another person's goal. Some would say, "Do something about it." Easier said then done I suppose. And then I realized, that is what we tell seniors when they are graduating from high school. We tell them to "Be bold and get out there and conquer the world." We encourage them down an unknown path, reassuring them God will be there to help them find the way. I feel like a hypocrite. Here I am telling these kids to "be bold" and I myself have trouble doing that same thing.

As I pass on these wishes to graduating seniors I have begun to analyze how I ended up where I am. I think what happened is that I was so sure of what I wanted when I was graduating that no one thought to suggest alternatives to me. No one thought to encourage me to see what else was out there. They just let me follow the track I was sure that I wanted, even though really I didn't have a clue. So, here I am feeling like I wasted the time I was in college chasing after a dream that wasn't really me, closing my mind to all the other possibilities that may have enabled me to chase the dream that was me. This isn't to say that I didn't have wonderful experiences and fabulous mentors along the way, because I did. It is just that I didn't allow myself to see the other options that surrounded me because I was so set on what I had decided. Does that make sense?

If you are a graduating senior or even if you have already gone off to college, I would encourage you to look around and make sure you aren't closing your mind to all the possibilities that lay ahead of you. You never know, you might be walking by what you are called to do every day and haven't given it a second glance because you are too set on what you think you want to do.

California

Our trip to California was fabulous. We had a great time with family and friends. The girls experienced so many new things. It was wonderful to watch their faces explode into smiles every time we saw a character or princess and their parents' love of rides has definitely been passed on.

Here are a few pictures from our trip. . . To take a look at all the pictures you can check out my Facebook page where I will post all of them.

Here are the girls with their daddy at Sea World just about to feed the sea lions.

The dolphins - Ellie's favorite Sea World attraction.

Olyvia giving her impression of a dolphin.

The Killer whales.

Amazing creatures for sure.

Our beautiful girls watching the sea lion show.

Ellie as she waited patiently with her mommy while everyone else got to go on the Indiana Jones ride. She was actually pretty bummed although this picture doesn't show it. She was our ride guru for sure. Her favorite ride of all was the Tower of Terror. She went on it twice and wanted to go on again but we didn't want to wait in line.

Olyvia was quite the trooper on all the rides and liked everything except the Tower of Terror. She wasn't hugely impressed with Space Mountain but Tower of Terror definitely made her hate list. That said, she did go on it twice by choice.

It was great to be able to meet up with Justin and Jen for a few hours, hit some rides and have dinner. The girls had a great time with them also.

The worst lines that we waited in were in the Bug's Life area of California Adventure.

The play areas where the kids could wet were a huge hit with the beautiful weather we had.

The girls crashed in the rented stroller while all us adults took turns on California Screamin. They didn't mind the break. :)

Logan and Ellie gear up for Toy Story Mania.

Does this even need an explanation?

Logan isn't quite sure why he should be so excited for a princess. Now if that was Darth Vader it would be a whole nother story.

The first princess they saw was Jasmine. It was SOOOO exciting. :)

Olyvia fell into the role of a famous supermodel as soon as she saw the limo pull up.

Having their own luggage worked great and they were wonderfully helpful with the elevators wherever we went.