Hollywood Boulevard

This is as close as we came to the famous landmark.

Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditorium!

Some of the many stars on Hollywood Blvd. and some of the few we saw and recognized.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre


Posing with Bumble Bee from Transformers.

Keaton and Freddy Kruger

Our first trip to Hollywood...and probably our last! We dropped Cindy and Jen off at the airport on Saturday and decided to do a little exploring. We thought it would be fun to go to Hollywood. We headed north and drove forever. We had no idea Hollywood was soooo far away. We finally arrived and were surprised at all of the characters in costume lining the Blvd. Anything for a tip, we came to find out. All of the characters were basically dressed-up beggars. A photo for a tip - no exceptions. We fell into the trap and took a few pictures. Andrew was worried about catching a disease from one of the characters and wasn't interested in posing for any photos with characters (we saw Darth Vader, Yoda, Superman, Superwoman, Batman, Spiderman, Shrek, Snoopy, Cat Woman, and many others). We then took a tour at the Guinness Book of World Records Museum. It was strange and interesting. All in all Hollywood was a disappointment. We were exposed to lots of graffiti, interesting characters, angry street preachers,and so much more. This was definitely not our favorite trip. In Keaton's words,"It was loud, dirty, busy, and crazy. You wouldn't be sad if you never went there." That sums it up. And now we know that other than a trip to Universal Studios we probably won't be returning to Hollywood.

Enjoying Time with Family & La Jolla Beach

Cindy and Jen came for a visit last week. It was so nice to see them - we only wish they could have stayed longer. We spent our time visiting, shopping, doing crafts and exploring. Matt loved all of the attention. Luckily, the boys were out of school on Friday and Chris was able to take the day off so we spent the day at La Jolla Beach. It was windy and cold for California. We bundled up and went to see some seals and find some tide pools along the beach. Jen was brave enough to reach her hand in for some shells until she saw a crab or two.

This beach was beautiful with lush greenery, flowers and cliffs

And lots of cool weathered rock formations

On the beach with Dad

Exploring the awesome rock formations

The boys loved climbing on the rocks

The tide pool area

On our way to see the seals

Seals waiting to have their pups

Jen, Cindy & the boys seal watching

We dropped Cindy and Jen off at the airport on Saturday. It was sad to see them leave. The boys kept saying how it just wasn't as fun without them.

Exploring Southern California

San Juan Capistrano Mission

Koi Pond with Giant Goldfish

San Juan Capistrano

The family

The boys

At a distance

We've been trying to see new things each weekend. A few weeks back we decided to take the Ortega Highway on our way to the mission San Juan Capistrano It was a steep, winding two way street . The view of Temecula and Lake Elsinore from the top of the mountain was amazing. The boys didn't like that there were no tire guards or railing to keep our car from going off the road. It turned out to be a long drive with most of us feeling a little carsick.

San Juan Capistrano was a really neat Catholic mission, all but the exterior walls of the church were destroyed by an earthquake several years ago. The boys had been learning about some of the missons at school and thought it was neat to see it firsthand. There was also an olive press (it looked like a giant wagon wheel), garden and cemetary on the grounds. It was a beautiful place.

On to our next adventure at Tom's Farm.

Panning for gems/rocks at Tom's Farm

Matt enjoying the train ride

Me and the boys after our quick train ride.

Tom's Farm is a neat place not too far from home. They have carnival rides, restaurants, a furniture store, a produce stand and candy shop. They also had a shooting gallery, train ride and mining area. The boys loved panning for gems and rocks in the mining area. They were excited to find an arrowhead as well as several other minerals. The train ride was very short and a bit dissapointing but the atmosphere was pretty cool with a live band and cowboys roaming the streets.

Homemade Surprise

I copied this from my friend Diane, I thought it sounded like alot of fun. If you want to participate, here’s how it works:

1. Be one of the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post and I will send you a handmade gift sometime in the next 3 months.
2. You get to pay it forward as well by doing the same thing for 3 people on your blog, plus one back to me.
3. Once you leave a comment telling me that you want to participate, you need to make a pay-it-forward post on your blog within one day.
Get crafting!Go right ahead and be the first three. You never know what you might get!

I love this little guy!

Matt is growing so quickly! This picture was taken before we left Arizona. He sure looks like Trouble. At ten months he is rolling around, trying to pull himself up and rocking back and forth, no crawling yet. He loves to stand up and bounce to music. He makes all kinds of sounds and seems pleased with himself. He is generally happy and the fact that his hair naturally sticks up makes me smile.

Hello From Sunny California!

Hello everyone! We finally have an internet connection, so it's time to catch up on our posts. We packed up and moved over the New Year's holiday. Thanks to Jason & Denise for letting our boys sleep over and for feeding us and loaning us a bed. We miss you all. We are so excited to be settling in here in Murrieta, CA. We stayed in a hotel for four days waiting to move into our home; those were long days and nights with everyone in the same room. Luckily we were able to get out and see some sites.

We had fun at the beach in Carlsbad. Matt wasn't sure what to think about the sand. We were going to go to Legoland but it was rainy in the morning and we didn't want to go for just a half day so we went to the beach that afternoon after the weather cleared up. It was still a bit chilly and we weren't planning to get wet but... The boys started running away from the waves. Then they took off their shoes and rolled their pants up to their ankles. Then up to their knees. Then they pretty much jumped into the waves head first. They didn't seem to care that the water was a little chilly. When it was time to leave they were so wet and full of sand that we had to have them take their pants and shirts off and sit on garbage bags until we could get them some new clothes. We also learned that it's not a good idea to wash sandy clothes in the washer unless you don't want your washer to drain. That was an expensive lesson. We didn't know why the washer wasn't draining but a plumber came out and found 2 cups of sand blocking the drain line.

The boys said, "this (the beach) is better than Legoland!"

On Sunday we went to see the San Diego Temple. It was beautiful! The missionaries showed us several pictures of the interior and other pictures. Did you know that there is an open-air atrium in the middle of the temple?

On Monday we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The boys really enjoyed the safari train ride. They took lots of pictures, fed the ducks and saw giraffes, cheetahs, gorillas, lions, elephants and other animals up close up close. This park is only about a half hour from our house.
Looking out over the Wild Animal Park. Andrew kept asking if he could take a ride in the air balloon they had in the center of the park. This was the next best thing. The boys bought a stuffed animal to remind them of all the real animals they saw that day.

Farewell to Arizona

Goodbye Arizona! The movers will be here tomorrow to start packing us up. We are so sad to be leaving so many wonderful people and places in Arizona yet excited for a new adventure. I think our missions brought out our sense of adventure and desire to see and experience new places. Arizona is our new home away from home. We have loved it and it has been a great place for our kids - Keaton and Andrew have made a lot of great friends that they hope to stay in touch with as well. After living here for over three and a half years we have so many fond memories and have enjoyed making new friends and exploring the great sites here. We will also miss the mild winters (but not the hot summer days). Who knows - maybe someday we'll be snow birds and live here in the winter... In the mean time please drop us a line or stop by if you're ever in the LA/San Diego area.