A quick getaway

We decided at the last minute to go away, just the 4 of us. We surprised the kids, I got us all packed up and told them to get their suits on cause we were going to the beach. We went to Mandalay in Oxnard. When we parked and walked into the hotel lobby the kids were confused and then after Jake got us all checked in the kids asked, "are we staying here?" Yep! "we are?!" There were huge grins and pure excitement. They were so excited when we got in the hotel room to see every little thing. "Look at this, look at that!" We LOVED every minute. So fun to be together and spend that time. I told my little family as we were walking on the beach together that this is heaven on earth, being together in such a beautiful place.
This is us in the hot tub...
We were at the pool first and then we were at the beach and then back to the pool.
Showered and went and got pizza.
Picked up a liter of icecream and 4 spoons.
Got free nachos and popcorn from the hotels Happy Hour.
Went back to the hotel room and ate icecream, nachos and popcorn. What a combination! :)
When we checked in the reception upgraded our room to ocean view, THANKYOU!
We watched the sunset from the balcony of our hotel room.
We watched Yogi Bear.
Went to sleep.

Totally worth the one night, would do it again! :)
I LOVE this little family of mine!

Mammoth...

Look at this sweet baby, Corbin, my nephew! I LOVE this picture of him, his first time in the snow...I just love him!

LOOK at all the SNOW!
Funny story about these boots. Ashton has black snow boots but I got out these pink ones that used to be Sierra's because Lincoln needed a pair to take to Utah and we were looking at all of our options before new boots were purchased. Ashton saw these boots and wanted to wear them, HE wanted Lincoln to take his black boots because HE wanted these PINK boots. He was insistent. So funny! He loved his pink boots!


This mountain of snow was right out in front of the condo.

and then we drove and hiked to our original location and had so so much fun! Notice I'm carrying Rossi and a sled. :) Us aunties gotta do what we gotta do.







Sierra and Nixon were snowboarding...on a sled!


kids found several secret hideouts this time in the trees because there was so much snow...can you see Ashton?

snow was so soft, hard to make a decent snowman but we did it and it was tiny

I just loved these babies the whole time...Luke left and Corbin right


Uh oh!! Rossi's blanket got dirty!

until next year!

Mammoth January 2010!

Mammoth is always a time full of family time and fun!

First things first, we have to play in the snow and slide on our bums!

and throw snow in the air!

and go sledding everyday! :)

(shane, ashton, sierra sledding down)
sledding down usually involves several hikes back up :)

a fun daddy!a fun mommy!
cute little Rossi, didn't want to sled just run down the hill :)
fun time with hubby :)
why is it that uncles are the funnest?!


snowball fights!


watched lots of movies, read and slept!can't leave out eating yummy food! My mom always goes all out and cooks for us the whole time. We eat so good! My fav was homemade buttermilk pancakes every morning, oh and homemade french toast, homemade lasagna, and homemade chili and satay chicken (with peanut sauce) and some other yummy chicken and hot lemonade. It was all my fav, so DELISH!!!!


Jake had to leave midweek to get back to work, I just enjoyed my kids! and being with my family!

Mandalay Beach

This year for my birthday and for Jake's birthday we decided we wanted to go away to Mandalay. On Monday we packed up ourselves and the kiddos and drove to Oxnard, to Mandalay Beach and stayed 2 nights and came home today. We have gone there several times over the years with my dad and Tori but never by ourselves. Mandalay is a great beach and a great resort. We always have the time of our lives. Every morning you get a free breakfast and this includes a freshly made omelet to your liking. Jake and I got an omelet with potatoes both mornings. The kids would get a smorgasbord, a piece of bread, some fruit, a muffin, a pastry (Ashton called it a donut), Sierra would get bacon and sausage and some Fruit Loops. My favorite part of being there by ourselves is that my kids played together so nicely. We got there on Monday afternoon and put our stuff in our room and then headed out to the beach and then to the pool. We went to the Whales Tail for dinner and brought back with us a slice of chocolate cake to share. When we got back to the hotel we ran out to the beach and sat on the sand wrapped up in a blanket and watched the sunset, then we walked down the beach a ways and then went back and watched Night at the Museum 2 and ate chocolate cake. Yesterday the sun was out the moment we woke up. Me and the kids went to the beach at 10:00am and Jake met us down there about 11:00am, he doesn't love the beach quite as much as we do :) and we were at the beach or the pool all day until about 5:30pm we headed back to our room to take showers and then we went out to have pizza. We all got a little sun toasted that day! Today we packed up our car after breakfast and then went out to the beach for about an hour and at the beach we saw dolphins swimming in the waves and jumping and playing so close to shore just like we saw at Point Dume about a month ago. When the kids started complaining about all the sand in their suits we went to the pool for a bit and when the kids were done we left. We enjoyed every minute!

I just love this man of mine!

Looking for sand crabs...





This is Sierra's garden, she made and was watering it with the watering can...


This is Ashton's garden that he made and was watering it with the other watering can...


This sand way back here was so warm...


This was our hotel, The Embassy Suites

Ashton is swimming in the giant spa

I played paddle ball with Jake and I played a little bit with the kids but this was me most of the time; relaxing, reading and snoozing.



There's Ashton's cute little crack again :)

Jake is a FUN daddy!!!

The kids made these "stick warriors" yesterday and they were so thrilled when we went back this morning and their "stick warriors" and their gardens were still there.

A GREAT VACATION, GREAT MEMORIES!!!