Spring Break, Disneyland and San Diego

Spring Break has begun for the kids and we spent the first three days in California. Monday, March 15th, we spent the day at Disneyland. Our family had participated in the Disney Give a Day, Get a Day program that encouraged families to give a day of service to specific agencies and in return the members of your family received a FREE day at Disneyland (that saved us over $700.00!!!) Kassidi drove up from San Diego and joined us for the day. The park was pretty crowded with long wait lines and it was a bit warm, but all in all, I think everyone had a great time. We saw several other families there from our Ward and Stake and that was fun. On Tuesday we drove down to San Diego to spend a couple of days with Nathan and Kassidi. Tuesday we went to Mission Beach, got sunburned, but had a good time. Wednesday we drove out to Coronado Island for a bit, then we went to Old Town San Diego where we toured the Mormon Battalion Musuem. It was really good and the kids had fun 'panning for gold'. We recommend to anyone that will be in the area to go visit it. It was a quick trip, but a lot of fun.


At the Mormon Battalion Musuem in San Diego
Panning for 'Gold' at the Mormon Battalion Museum
Mission Beach, San Diego
Kregg, Kellan, Parker and Julia on the 'Teacups'
Our 'Give a Day, Get a Day' at Disneyland

Karsyn loses her 1st tooth!

Before
After

Karsyn lost her 1st tooth on March 13th (with a little help from Kregg). It's only a matter of time before the one next to it falls out. I think she's the youngest of all my kids to lose a tooth.

Karsyn's 5!!!!

Karsyn turned 5 years old on March 3rd. She was a bit disappointed that we didn't have a big party with friends and cousins, but it just wasn't going to happen--too much going on. Earlier in the day I took her shopping and then we met Grandma and Grandpa Larson for lunch at McDonalds. After lunch, Karsyn went with me to read some Dr. Seuss books in Parker's classroom. That night, we made her a cake, she opened her gifts and the evening was nice. She thought she was going to start Kindergarten immediately now that she was five, so I had to break it to her that it wouldn't be for a few more months. It's hard to believe that my 'baby' is now five. About this same time she suddenly had to teeth that were loose. She wasn't too sure she wanted any loose teeth and we had to convince her that it was ok, it happened to everyone.

"90th" Birthday Party

This past Saturday, February 6th, was my Grandma Hamblin's 90th birthday. Wow! Can you imagine the things she's seen, the changes that have happened throughout the world in the past 90 years? It almost boggles the mind. We had a big birthday party for her at my house and I think she really enjoyed it. She is quite healthy and certainly doesn't look or act her age (meaning that I think of her being a lot younger than she is). She's a wonderful woman and an amazing example to myself and the rest of her family. She was born Margaret Willis (in Snowflake, AZ) and then married my Grandpa (J Dudley Hamblin) more than 70 years ago. I have many fond memories of staying at their house as a child and loved visiting my grandparents any chance I got. I'm very thankful to be her grand-daughter and I love her very much.

Parker turns '7'

Parker turned 7 years old on February 5th. What a fun little boy we have--he brings so much happiness to our family. Parker is so good natured and very caring. He loves going to school(1st grade), riding his bike, playing the piano, and playing with his friends (oh, and of course, the Xbox). We love Parker very much.

La Jolla w/ Kass and Family

Our last day in California, we drove down from Newport to meet Kassid and Nathan and their kids in La Jolla for a day at the beach. We had a lot of fun and as you can see from the photos, the sand was the main toy for the day. It was a terrific end to a fantastic week in California.

Mason loving the sand
The family (minus Steven who went home a day early for work)
I don't know what they were doing, but they were sure having fun!!
Mason
Karsyn

Newport, California

Our family spent the first week of January in Newport Beach, California. We had a blast. The weather was perfect. One of the days we took a boat out to look for Dolphins and Whales. we didn't see any whales, but we saw tons of Dolphins--3 different varieties. It was so cool; I loved it. Another day we went to Knott's Berry Farm. It was great-not crowded, great rides, a fun time for all. The rest of the week we pretty much spent at the beach. The water was cold, but it didn't stop the kids from getting in. We had 3 wetsuits, so the older boys had those. Henrique and Dustin rented a surf board and did some 'surfing'--Henrique did surfing, Dustin attempted surfing. Steven even went out in the water w/out the wetsuit a couple of times and some other surfers thought he was crazy, but told him 'he was the man' for toughing out the cold. He thought that was pretty funny. One evening, Kregg and I did a session at the Newport Temple. The whole week was perfect, the kids didn't want to come home(they were already missing school), and asked when we could go back(Steven had already flown home a day earlier because of work).




Kourtney and Karsyn at the pool
Newport Beach
Knott's Berry Farm
Dophins swimming under our boat