Arizona Road Trip

We took a last minute road trip to Casa Grande, Arizona one weekend because Grandma Evi and Grandpa Gary flew down to babysit Trisha and Tim's kids while they went on a business trip to Hawaii. With Arizona being only a 4 hour drive, we couldn't resist the opportunity to go see them plus give Kayla a chance to play with her cousins Kendis and Mason. And since Trisha and Tim didn't leave until Monday, we all got to spend a couple of days hanging out together! As soon as we arrived, their cat Komo came up to greet us at the door and Kayla was instantly smitten.

She had so much fun playing with Kendis and Mason and all of their toys!

It was hot, a great day to go swimming and splash in the water.


Here's Kendis and Kayla enjoying frozen Go-gerts.

Once we were all done swimming, Kayla threw a fit and would not let me put her clothes back on. Then she ran off into the toy room in her diaper. After a while, I went to go check on her and I found her happily playing by herself. She was talking to Kendis's baby doll while strapping her in the car seat. It was so cute, I had to snap a picture!

The kids had so much fun together. Time for a group hug!

They took turns taking pictures with my camera. Of course they all came out blurry or off center except for this one turned out great! Kendis is quite the photographer!

Tuesday, September 7th

On Kayla's actual birthday we went out to dinner. I can't believe my little baby is already 2!

But first we took her to Toys R' Us to spend her gift card. When we got there they gave her a birthday crown and balloon. We walked through the entire store and all she was interested in was this ball. (Just great, we have a whole house full of balls and she wants another one!) Finally, I convinced her to pick out a My Little Pony too. (Actually, I picked it out because the colors matched her outfit and it has butterflies on it!)

Here we are at CPK on El Paseo waiting for dinner to come.

Happy 2nd Birthday Kayla!

Kayla's actual birthday is tomorrow, but we had her party on Saturday at Good Stuff Pizza in La Quinta. Choosing a theme this year was a no-brainer, Yo Gabba Gabba all the way! Here's the invitation I designed.

I decorated the tables with Yo Gabba Gabba printouts from Nick Jr's website and spread crayons all over for the kids to color.

Mmm, mmm! Pepperoni pizza! She's probably thinking, "this sure beats the stuff Mommy normally makes me eat for lunch."

Playing with her friends Caleb and Connor.

Nicky (7) was the oldest kid and was an excellent helper!

Check out Nicky's work of art...

I was very proud of how my Foofa cake turned out!

¯Happy Birthday to you…¯

Kayla couldn't wait for me to cut the cake so she helped herself to the nearest cupcake.

Once she ate all the frosting off, she moved on to cupcake #2.

Hooray, time to open presents!

I wanted to get a picture of all the kids together, but the boys wouldn't cooperate. So here's Nicky, Makenzie, Kayla and Lexi. Thank you everyone for coming! We had so much fun!

The Yo Gabba Gabba party favors.

After everyone left, I gave Kayla a sucker to occupy her while I loaded up the car. She thought that was pretty sweet!

No rest for the birthday girl. After the party, we went to Mike and Christian's house to go swimming! As you can see, her mouth was still blue from the sucker she had earlier.

Come on in guys! The water's just right!

Ahhh, life is good!

She was excited to play with all her new toys the next morning.

Oregon Trip

We flew up to Oregon to visit Devin's mom and family for five days. She lives on a 40 acre farm in Sherwood (about 40 minutes southwest of Portland). Kayla enjoyed helping Grandma Evi feed the chickens.



Kayla's first pony ride! At first she was a little hesitant. But after a while, she liked it and didn't want to come off!

Devin loves airplanes so on Friday, we went to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. Thanks to Evi who has a friend that works there, we got in for free! Seeing the Spruce Goose was pretty amazing. I had no idea how huge it was and that 95% of it was made of birch wood!

Kayla currently has a fascination with seat belts. She loves to buckle them all by herself.

Linae and Lance had us over for dinner later that evening and Kayla got to jump with Carson on their trampoline.

She also liked playing with their cat LaFonda.

Erica and Brian took us out boating Saturday afternoon on Hagg Lake.


On Sunday morning, we went to the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry. Lucky for us, it was free admission that weekend! Unfortunately, that also meant it was super crowded.

It was so much fun and worth paying to go again next time!

Kayla LOVES balls! So of course we had to go inside the ball room.

They had lots of exhibits and hands-on activities for kids.

Voodoo Doughnut in downtown Portland is famous and ever since Devin and I saw it on the Food Network, we've been dying to go there. So here we are waiting in line at 3:30 pm in the hot sun!

Ahhh! Finally, we're inside!

The crazy menu...

After waiting in line for 40 minutes, we get to the counter and they've just sold out of the Bacon Maple Bars! We were so bumbed! So we just got a variety dozen.

Everyone came over for dinner Sunday to celebrate Carson's 2nd Birthday! Kayla and Carson teeter-totter while Elijah and Tyson swing.

Kayla's turn to swing.

Kayla meets MorMor (Devin's grandma) for the first time!

Too bad Kayla is the ONLY one not looking at the camera!

Four generations...

Playing in Grandma's sunflower patch with cousins Sydney, Ellie, and Nathan.

Thank you Grandma Evi and Grandpa Gary (and Milo the doggie)! We had a such great time!