Laguna Beach, a Birthday and Easter

Hitting the road and getting out of dodge!

Pit stop at the park.
Benj judges the distance between Utah and California and mistakenly believes it is not that far.

VERY FIRST meeting of the ocean.  Nice to meet you!

I bought a white swimsuit to trick you into thinking I have tan skin.

Maddie slept in the bathroom all week.  And woke up reaaaaaally early every day.  She made sure we did not miss a single sunrise.

We love these REI beach chairs.  Relaxing in the sun!

"I hate the ocean!  Roar!"
The loud crashing sound of the waves was a little scary to Maddie.

On one of our walks in the hills of Laguna Beach.  The views were amazing.

We loved the swimming pool!  It was heated real warm and Benj never wanted to leave.

Here we are, this is the beach we played at every day.

Maddie watching the swimmers.

Sunburned and beat, but very handsome.

The view from inside the condo we stayed in.

Our favorite walk was through the beautifully landscaped gardens at the hotel next door. 

The walkway along the cliffs overlooking the ocean.

Best birthday present ever!  Uncle Isaac brought "Ween" home from Disneyland.

The giant sandbox

We hiked to the Top of the World

visit to Newport beach

Do you know about these donuts???  Well you should.  Holy smokes.  Most delectable treat ever.

Isaac and Maddie having a snack on the patio.

The brothers, building a sandcastle

Exploring

He thought this was hilarious.

Exploring the tide pools at Dana Point.

In a sugar coma.  Dreaming of donuts.

At the tide pools

On the patio where we ate dinner every night.

On the drive home we stopped in St. George.  Each kid got their own bed.

Pretty sure Benjamin has no clue that he had a birthday, since we spent almost the entire day in the car, but we did give him a new toy to play with when he started going stir crazy.

And we celebrated with Pop Rocks.  I have to admit, watching him experience Pop Rocks for the first time was a really wonderful, really entertaining moment.

We had a picnic dinner at the sand dunes in Snow Canyon.

Happy Birthday to the most terrific two year old!

 Happy Easter!

Trying to get a decent picture of the two of them sitting together was impossible.
We had a lovely Easter.  No Easter bunny, no candy or egg hunts, just a really great testimony meeting at church.
Jesse and I are talking about what kind of Easter traditions we want to have in the future when the kids are older.  We talked about maybe going to visit Grandma Caron's and other family members graves and talking about how we get to see them someday because of what Christ did for us. We definitely want them to know the real reason for the holiday.  I am so incredibly grateful for my knowledge of the atonement, that the Savior lives, that life goes on after death, and that families are forever.